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Imperius Build Guide “Valor will be victorious!”
Welcome to our guide for Imperius, a Bruiser in Heroes of the Storm. Within these pages, you will find everything required to understand how best to play this hero, in both different map styles and team compositions.
Imperius's Overview
Imperius is a high-damage melee Bruiser that can also be played as a tank. He has a variety of self-healing mechanisms allowing him to pursue his enemies relentlessly. While his damage is to be respected, his limited mobility and underwhelming peel potential usually require him to be paired with another frontliner.
Imperius's Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
Outstanding self-healing- Strong burst damage
- Decent in lane
- Good late game
- Can be played either in solo lane or as a main tank
- Great follow up for crowd controls
Weaknesses
Dependent on hitting 
Celestial Charge- Limited mobility
- Has no peeling mechanics until Level 20
- Can be kited easily by enemies with high range
- Mediocre waveclear
- Weak against knockbacks, roots, and slows
Imperius's Talent Build Cheatsheet
Basic Attacks Build
Recommended
Imperius's Basic Attacks Build improves your waveclear in the early game and your burst damage in the late game.
The additional waveclear and Mercenary clear
comes from 
Consuming Flame at Level 1
and particularly 
Holy Fervor at Level 7.
The cooldown reduction provided by 
Divine Rage at Level 13
allows you to get more value from Melting Touch at Level 16,
Holy Fervor at Level 7,
and Sovereign Armor at Level 4 while fighting enemy Heroes.
We recommend choosing this Build when playing Imperius as Solo Laner, especially on Maps where waveclear is too good to pass, but it can also be used when playing as Tank there.
Molten Armor Build
Situational
Imperius's Molten Armor Build is all about improving your burst damage during team fights, at the cost of macro.
Melting Touch at Level 16 allows you
to reduce the Armor of enemy Heroes
and Divine Rage at Level 13 lets you use it more often.
Avoid going for this Build when playing Imperius as Solo Laner on Maps where waveclear is important to have. We recommend this Build when playing Imperius as Tank, especially if your team lacks Armor reduction effects.
Celestial Charge Build
SituationalImperius's Celestial Charge Build allows you to reduce the damage done by enemy Heroes once you get to the mid game and also provides a high amount of damage.
The damage boost comes from 
Celestial Swiftness at Level 16
whereas Pathetic Mortals at Level 13 reduces the damage done
by enemy Heroes. In addition to that, both Talents help you stick on your target
by increasing your Movement Speed and by Slowing down enemy Heroes respectively.
Avoid going for this Build when playing Imperius as Solo Laner on Maps where waveclear is important to have. You can go for this Build while playing Imperius as Tank, especially if you need damage reduction effects.
Imperius's Synergies and Counters
Imperius synergizes with
Imperius's mobility is one of his greatest weaknesses, consequently, he pairs
extremely well with Heroes like Jaina or Fenix that can slow
enemies, so Imperius can catch them up with Celestial Charge.
On the other hand, Heroes like Mal'Ganis or E.T.C. that can keep enemies
in place are even better, because Imperius is very dependent on hitting his Charge,
and a sleeping or stunned enemy is a guaranteed hit. Furthermore, as a tank,
Imperius requires another resistant Hero in the frontline that can compensate
for his lack of peel, like Yrel or Blaze.
Imperius is countered by
Imperius has limited mobility, and can be easily punished by ranged Heroes if
he cannot hit Celestial Charge. For this reason, slows
and knockbacks are very good against him, since they
greatly facilitate the kiting against Imperius.
Imperius's Maps
Imperius falls slightly behind other solo laners when it comes to waveclear. However, he excels in teamfights due to his high damage and sustain. For those reasons, Imperius is a great hero in teamfight focused maps that do not require you to double soak, such as Towers of Doom, Volskaya Foundry, or Alterac Pass.
Imperius's Tips and Tricks
Molten Armor is very strong in a 1-versus-1 situation, as it focuses all of its damage on the same target. 
Angelic Armaments can be used to take down enemy Heroes, so do not hesitate to use the activatable component if you do not have to worry about getting damaged. - Celestial Charge can be used to impale and Stun several enemies at once, however, keep in mind that Imperius cannot move during the animation.
- Molten Armor can be activated while Imperius is impaling enemies with Celestial Charge to maximize his damage output.
- Stutter-stepping is crucial when playing Imperius in order to maximize
Valorous Brand's damage output. - To improve Imperius' waveclear, use
Solarion's Fire when the enemy Minion wave is lined up in a straight line. - The closer your target is from you, the easier it is to hit Celestial Charge. If you aim Celestial charge very close to Imperius, it will hit enemies much sooner, because there will be no time spent moving towards the enemy.
Imperius's Role in the Current Meta
While Imperius's sustained damage may be slightly higher than that of other Bruisers, his poor waveclear turns him into an underwhelming bruiser if you need to constantly double soak. For this reason, Imperius can also be picked as a main tank, where he will still bring all his damage to fights, while not compromising your macro play.
Imperius's early game is decent, however, he truly shines in the later stages of the game with increased self-sustain and damage thanks to his Level 7, 13, 16 and 20 Talents. Imperius will be a dangerous threat after level 7 and beyond, so it is recommended to play carefully before those power spikes.
Changelog
- 19 Jun. 2021 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 19 Jun. 2021 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 19 Jun. 2021 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 10 Mar. 2021 (this page): Builds updated.
- 10 Mar. 2021 (talents page): Builds updated.
- 01 Mar. 2021 (talents page): Minor fixes.
- 25 Feb. 2021 (talents page): New layout.
- 20 Jan. 2021 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 20 Jan. 2021 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 20 Jan. 2021 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 01 Dec. 2020 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Patch.
- 01 Dec. 2020 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Patch.
- 01 Dec. 2020 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Patch.
- 25 Oct. 2020 (this page): Builds updated.
- 25 Oct. 2020 (talents page): Builds and Descriptions updated.
- 12 Oct. 2020 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 12 Oct. 2020 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 12 Oct. 2020 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 19 Sep. 2020 (this page): Builds updated.
- 19 Sep. 2020 (talents page): Builds updated.
- 16 Jul. 2020 (this page): Builds updated to reflect current meta.
- 16 Jul. 2020 (talents page): Updated Talents and Builds to reflect current meta.
- 19 Jun. 2020 (talents page): Updated Builds and Talents to better reflect current meta.
- 19 Jun. 2020 (this page): Guide updated to address Imperius's tank capabilities and Celestial Charge build.
- 19 Jun. 2020 (abilities page): Reviewed and updated the abilities section.
- 15 May 2020 (this page): Updated guide to better reflect current meta.
- 15 May 2020 (talents page): Updated Builds and Talents to reflect Pathetic Mortals' changes.
- 13 Apr. 2020 (talents page): Updated Builds and Talents to better reflect current meta.
- 12 Dec. 2019 (this page): Added an entry about the current Anomaly to the guide.
- 12 Jul. 2019 (talents page): Updated Imperius' Talents and Builds in accordance with the latest Balance Update.
- 12 Jul. 2019 (abilities page): Updated Imperius' abilities in accordance with the latest Balance Update.
- 10 Jun. 2019 (talents page): Revised the Imperius guide and applied several minor updates.
- 28 Jan. 2019 (talents page): Changed Burn the Impure from from Situational to Recommended and updated the Build accordingly.
- 10 Jan. 2019 (talents page): Changed Sovereign Armor from Situational to Recommended.
- 08 Jan. 2019 (this page): Guide added.
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Elitesparkle is a multiple times Master player in Europe who plays Heroes of the Storm since its release. He is an active member of the community who likes to teach new and veteran players all he knows about his favorite game. He also produces more teaching content on his Buy me a coffee page.
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