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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 durable Bruiser with extraordinary burst damage potential in close combat and a kit that provides his team powerful crowd control Abilities but lacks waveclear.
Imperius's Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
Outstanding self-healing- Strong burst damage
- Decent in lane
- Good late game
- Can be played as a Melee Assassin or an Offlaner
- 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
Celestial Charge Build
Recommended
Imperius's Celestial Charge Build is designed to increase your damage output and your durability in team fights, but also features a damage reduction effect that can be used to increase your own survivability and the survivability of allied Heroes in the late game.
Pathetic Mortals at Level 13 allows you
to reduce the damage done by enemy Heroes. Impaling Light
at Level 1 lets you use it more often, unless you decided to pick
Burn the Impure at Level 1 in order to deal
more percent-based damage.
Due to its lack of waveclear, you should not choose this Build when playing Imperius as Offlaner but only consider using it when playing Imperius in the 4-man.
Hybrid Build
AdvancedImperius's Hybrid Build is designed to increase your
damage output in team fights by empowering
Celestial Charge, survivability against
burst damage, and damage contribution
during team fights in the late game
by reducing the Armor of enemy Heroes.
Melting Touch at Level 16 allows you
to reduce the Armor of enemy Heroes,
so that you and your teammates can burst them down.
Divine Rage at Level 13 lets you use it more often.
Due to its lack of waveclear, you should not choose this Build when playing Imperius as Offlaner but only consider using it when playing Imperius in the 4-man.
Molten Armor Build
Situational
Imperius's Molten Armor Build improves your waveclear in the early game, survivability against burst damage, and damage contribution during team fights in the late game by reducing the Armor of enemy Heroes.
Melting Touch at Level 16 allows you
to reduce the Armor of enemy Heroes,
so that you and your teammates can burst them down.
Divine Rage at Level 13 lets you use it more often.
The additional waveclear
comes from 
Consuming Flame at Level 1
and particularly 
Holy Fervor at Level 7.
Due to its limited amount, however, you will not be able to
double soak.
When playing Imperius as Offlaner,
you should pick Consuming Flame at Level 1.
When playing Imperius in the 4-man, you should pick
Burn the Impure at Level 1 instead.
ARAM Build
ARAMImperius's ARAM Build is designed to increase your damage output and your durability in team fights, but also features a damage reduction effect that can be used to increase your own survivability and the survivability of allied Heroes in the late game.
Pathetic Mortals at Level 13 allows you
to reduce the damage done by enemy Heroes. Impaling Light
at Level 1 lets you use it more often, unless you decided to pick
Burn the Impure at Level 1 in order to deal
more percent-based damage.
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 and can be used
to interrupt Celestial Charge.
Imperius's Maps
Imperius falls slightly behind other Offlaners 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 on 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
- 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.
- In combat, use
Solarion's Fire for Celestial Charge or 
Wrath of the Angiris. In lane, use Solarion's Fire when the enemy Minions are lined up in a straight line. 
Molten Armor can be activated while Imperius is impaling enemies with Celestial Charge, ideally on isolated enemy Heroes to maximize his damage output.- Use
Angelic Armaments to increase your survivability in combat. If the Shield does not get destroyed, reactivate it to launch 6 swords that deal damage to the first enemy hit. - Due to hits cast time, Wrath of the Angiris should ideally be cast as a follow-up to another crowd control effect.
Imperius's Role in the Current Meta
Imperius is a high-damage melee Bruiser that can be either played as Melee Assassin in the 4-man or Offlaner, depending if you build him for damage or waveclear respectively.
With access to a variety of self-healing and survivability mechanisms, he is a strong duelist as well as a powerful combatant in team fights. Due to his limited waveclear, he does not excel at clearing Minions and is not capable to double soak.
To get the most out of his kit, you should draft Imperius with Heroes who can
engage for him and against Heroes who cannot easily
interrupt Celestial Charge,
otherwise its Stun ends pre-emptively.
Changelog
- 26 May 2025 (talents page): Builds reorganized.
- 26 May 2025 (this page): Builds reorganized.
- 17 May 2025 (talents page): Guide updated for the latest Balance Update.
- 17 May 2025 (abilities page): Guide updated for the latest Balance Update.
- 17 May 2025 (this page): Guide updated for the latest Balance Update.
- 18 Apr. 2025 (talents page): Guide reviewed.
- 18 Apr. 2025 (abilities page): Guide reviewed.
- 18 Apr. 2025 (this page): Guide reviewed.
- 13 Dec. 2024 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 13 Dec. 2024 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 13 Dec. 2024 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 16 Oct. 2024 (talents page): Guide reviewed.
- 16 Oct. 2024 (this page): Guide reviewed.
- 05 Mar. 2024 (talents page): Guide reviewed.
- 05 Mar. 2024 (this page): Guide reviewed.
- 29 Oct. 2023 (talents page): Guide reviewed.
- 29 Oct. 2023 (this page): Guide reviewed.
- 20 Sep. 2023 (talents page): ARAM Build added.
- 20 Sep. 2023 (this page): ARAM Build added.
- 07 Dec. 2021 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Major Patch.
- Holy Fervor's Description improved.
- 07 Dec. 2021 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Major Patch.
- 07 Dec. 2021 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Major Patch.
- 03 Aug. 2021 (talents page): Builds updated.
- 03 Aug. 2021 (this page): Builds updated.
- 19 Jun. 2021 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 19 Jun. 2021 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 19 Jun. 2021 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 10 Mar. 2021 (talents page): Builds updated.
- 10 Mar. 2021 (this 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 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Patch.
- 01 Dec. 2020 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Patch.
- 01 Dec. 2020 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Patch.
- 25 Oct. 2020 (talents page): Builds and Descriptions updated.
- 25 Oct. 2020 (this page): Builds 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 (talents page): Builds updated.
- 19 Sep. 2020 (this page): Builds updated.
- 16 Jul. 2020 (talents page): Updated Talents and Builds to reflect current meta.
- 16 Jul. 2020 (this page): Builds updated to reflect current meta.
- 19 Jun. 2020 (talents page): Updated Builds and Talents to better reflect current meta.
- 19 Jun. 2020 (abilities page): Reviewed and updated the Abilities section.
- 19 Jun. 2020 (this page): Guide updated to address Imperius's tank capabilities and Celestial Charge build.
- 15 May 2020 (talents page): Updated Builds and Talents to reflect Pathetic Mortals' changes.
- 15 May 2020 (this page): Updated guide to better reflect current meta.
- 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 Talents and Builds in accordance with the latest Balance Update.
- 12 Jul. 2019 (abilities page): Updated Imperius's 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 has been hooked on Heroes of the Storm since day one in 2015. Over the years, he has consistently competed at Master level across multiple Seasons and has even climbed into Grand Master a couple of times. Known for his logical mindset and love for theorycrafting, he thrives on breaking down the game's mechanics and engaging in high-level strategy discussions with the community.
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