Mephisto Build Guide “Creation shall tremble!”
Welcome to our guide for Mephisto, a Ranged Assassin 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.
Mephisto's Overview
Mephisto is a ranged Assassin who excels at following up allies' ability-chains. In other words, he works well in team compositions that are designed for "wombo combo". Mephisto can be devastating to the enemy team when his attacks are carefully planned. However, poor positioning and hasty use of Shade of Mephisto are easily punished by enemy Heroes who have had enough of the Lord of Hatred.
Mephisto's Strengths and Weaknesses
- Lord Of Hatred allows for liberal use of Basic Abilities
- Decent waveclear from Basic Abilities
- Has great follow-up
- Can secure takedowns on enemy Heroes globally with Consume Souls
- Can secure takedowns on fleeing enemies with Shade of Mephisto
- Somewhat reliant on allies for set-up
- Shade of Mephisto is easy to punish if enemies can see initial cast location
- Poor ability to solo-capture Mercenary Camps
- Susceptible to burst damage
- Susceptible to ganks when solo-laning
Mephisto's Talent Build Cheatsheet
Skull Missile Build
RecommendedThe Skull Missile build focuses on buffing up Mephisto's Skull Missile. Through the level 1 Quest, we get an extra charge of Skull Missile. Combination with the later Talents turns Mephisto into a Hero with strong burst capabilities. The core strength of the build shows up at level 16; should you have the level 1 quest completed, everytime you dive in and are able to land your abilities, you turn Mephisto into a Skull Missile machine-gun.
Standard Lightning Nova Build
AdvancedThe Lightning Nova focuses heavily on sticking to your enemies with your Nova, rewarding you greatly for doing so. Frost Storm makes it much easier to keep Lightning Nova applied to enemies for maximum damage, but any of the Level 7 options can be very useful depending on the team compositions. Shard of Hate helps out with reducing the basic ability cooldowns of Mephisto, allowing you to dive in more often with Shade of Mephisto. Static Field greatly enhances the damage and effective area of Lightning Nova. Once Mephisto has Mimic, it becomes possible for him to completely reset the cooldowns of Lightning Nova and Shade of Mephisto. At this point, his Health and Mana are the only things limiting his ability to keep two Lightning Novas active throughout a team fight.
ARAM Build
ARAMThe ARAM Build focuses on Skull Missile and Mephisto's Trait. This allows for massive poke opportunities and more frequent usage of his Heroic Ability.
Mephisto's Synergies and Counters
Both of Mephisto's Heroics are excellent follow-ups, and can be devastating to enemies caught by setup Heroics like E.T.C.'s Mosh Pit, Zarya's Graviton Surge, Deckard's Stay Awhile and Listen, and Diablo's Apocalypse. Mephisto's Basic Abilities also greatly benefit from strong crowd-control.
Mephisto can be countered by Heroes who can quickly close into melee range, as they will avoid taking damage from Lightning Nova. The most effective counters will be able to survive some damage from Mephisto's teammates if they attempt to help him. Other heroes such as Kael'thas or Kel'thuzad can use their abilities on the shade right before Mephisto returns. Junkrat is able to place a mine on the shade and Displace you back to where you teleported. Stitches and Anub'arak are able to either Gorge or Cocoon after you cast Shade of Mephisto, negating the return teleport.
Mephisto's Maps
Mephisto does well on maps that force teams to fight for objectives in confined areas. These maps make it very easy for him to land his Abilities on enemy Heroes. Mephisto may struggle on maps with wide open areas, where enemies can freely reposition to avoid a lot of Mephisto's damage. Mephisto is rather unremarkable with regard to his interaction with Battlegrounds. He is not capable of solo capturing Mercenary Camps efficiently, but he does have an acceptable amount of waveclear.
Mephisto's Tips and Tricks
- Remember that Lord Of Hatred will reduce your cooldowns when planning Ability use.
- Cast Skull Missile toward enemies with impaired mobility.
- Keep in mind that Lightning Nova's radius is the same as Mephisto's Basic Attack range.
- Carefully plan Shade of Mephisto use; you will return to the initial cast location after a short time.
- Consume Souls should be channelled from a safe distance, so that it can not be interrupted.
- Cast Durance of Hate toward enemy Heroes who cannot move, to ensure that it will land.
- Watch for opportunities to follow-up your allies.
Mephisto's Role in the Current Meta
Mephisto fits well into team compositions that are designed to wombo-combo, as most of his Abilities provide exceptional follow-up damage. He performs best with the assistance of his allies, and may struggle against strong duelists when solo-laning. Mephisto has an adequate capability to waveclear, but it is not strong enough for him to be drafted for that purpose.
Changelog
- 07 Mar. 2021 (talents page): Guide has been updated with talents and builds.
- 07 Mar. 2021 (this page): Guide has been updated with talents and builds.
- 06 Dec. 2020 (talents page): Guide has been updated with a new build. Changed Lightning Nova build talents.
- 06 Dec. 2020 (this page): Guide has been updated with a new build. Changed Lightning Nova build talents.
- 09 Nov. 2020 (talents page): Guide has been reviewed and no changes are needed.
- 09 Nov. 2020 (this page): Guide has been reviewed and no changes are needed.
- 19 Jul. 2020 (talents page): Guide has been reviewed no changes are needed.
- 19 Jul. 2020 (this page): Guide has been reviewed no changes are needed.
- 14 Apr. 2020 (talents page): Updated talents and build.
- 14 Apr. 2020 (abilities page): Updated talents and build.
- 14 Apr. 2020 (this page): Updated talents and build.
- 15 Dec. 2019 (this page): Updated Role in the Current Meta to include information on current Nexus Anomaly.
- 12 Jul. 2019 (talents page): Removed reference to Talent "Anger" which was removed in balance patch. Updated text on rebalanced Talents.
- 12 Jul. 2019 (abilities page): Removed reference to Talent "Anger" which was removed in balance patch.
- 12 Jul. 2019 (this page): Removed reference to Talent "Anger" which was removed in balance patch. Updated text on rebalanced Talents.
- 26 Nov. 2018 (talents page): Updated Talent discussion to reflect meta developments.
- 12 Sep. 2018 (talents page): Updated Talent discussion to reflect meta developments.
- 04 Sep. 2018 (abilities page): Guide added.
- 04 Sep. 2018 (this page): Guide added.
More Ranged Assassin Guides
Outofmilk is an avid Heroes of the Storm player, and has been playing this game since the first wave of Alpha invites. He currently plays around the Grandmaster / high Master area and is now here to share his knowledge with you.
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