Xul Build Guide “All who oppose me: Beware!”
Welcome to our guide for Xul, 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.
Xul's Overview
Xul is a melee Specialist who excels at dominating lanes
and inflicting various debuffs on nearby enemies. His strong AoE damage allows him
to clear Minions waves and Mercenary Camps very quickly, while his resurrected
Skeletal Warriors are capable of applying additional lane pressure. One of Xul's
greatest strengths is his ability to significantly slow the attack speed of
nearby enemies, which makes him a great counter to most Warriors and melee Assassins
in particular. Since Xul only has limited mobility, knowing when to cast Bone Armor
becomes crucial in order to ensure his survival on the battlefield.
Xul's Strengths and Weaknesses
Exceptional waveclear
Strong solo laner
Both
Poison Nova and
Skeletal Mages are viable Heroic Abilities
Decent self-sustain thanks to
Bone Armor
Mortal Wound counters healing abilities
Susceptible to crowd control
Fairly high learning curve
Weak burst damage
Requires good positioning
Xul's Talent Build Cheatsheet
Cursed Strikes Build
Talent calculator »The Cursed Strikes Build turns Xul into a potent Bruiser with strong self-healing.
We recommend picking Skeletal Mages at Level 10 to prevent nearby enemy Heroes
to escape too easily. At Level 20,
Kalan's Edict can be replaced by either
Mortal Wound if the enemy team features multiple Supports, or
Cold Hand of Death if you require additional crowd control during team fights.
Scythe Build
Talent calculator »The Scythe Build offers plenty of AoE damage thanks to the reduced cooldown on Spectral Scythe
and the additional Scythes offered by
Echoes of Death at Level 13. Ultimately, due to
Mortal Wound at Level 20, this Build becomes particularly
powerful against double Support composition who rely on a lot of healing.
Xul's Synergies and Counters
Xul synergizes very well with Heroes like Arthas
or Jaina who can trigger his Executioner
talent. Last but not least, Xul's strong early game pressure can buy enough time for late game Heroes like
Nazeebo to shine after Level 16 and 20.
Xul's Maps















Xul excels at pushing several nearby lanes, which makes him a formidable pick on Blackheart's Bay, Dragon Shire, and Tomb of the Spider Queen. It is often recommended to let Xul rotate between two lanes, while the remaining four team members focus on pushing the remaining one. On 2-lane maps we usually do not recommend picking Xul, since his laning presence is not strong enough. The only exception is perhaps Braxis Holdout, where his waveclear can still contribute a lot in the quad lane.
Xul's Tips and Tricks
- Thanks to the strong waveclear provided by
Cursed Strikes, Xul should normally rotate between several lanes in order to raise as many Skeletons as possible.
- Xul has limited mobility and escape mechanisms during team fights, which is why he should usually engage after one or both Warriors.
- We usually do not recommend picking Xul on 2-lane maps, since rotating between lanes becomes quite difficult. Braxis Holdout can be an exception to this rule, as it requires lots of waveclear which Xul has plenty of.
- If available,
Skeletal Mages can be used to lock down targets in the enemy team's backline allowing your teammates to follow up quite easily.
Xul's Role in the Current Meta
With the lack of mobility being Xul's only major drawback, Xul turns out to be
an incredibly powerful laner. His Skeletal Warriors provided by Raise Skeleton
reinforce the lane, while
Spectral Scythe and
Cursed Strikes
allow him to severely damage enemies from both ranged and melee distance. Since
Xul is a formidable duelist, overextending in lane can become tempting, however,
it also makes him vulnerable to enemy ganks.
Xul is an excellent pick if the enemy team consists of several melee Heroes, as Cursed Strikes can greatly hinder their combat performance.
Furthermore, he has the ability to counter healing Supporters like Rehgar or Uther
in the late game thanks to his
Mortal Wound talent at
Level 20.
Changelog
- 20 Nov. 2019 (talents page): Updated Xul's talents and removed the Skeleton Build, as we no longer consider it viable enough.
- 16 Jul. 2017 (talents page): Updated Xul's talent descriptions.
- 14 Jul. 2017 (talents page): Corpse Explosion changed from Not Recommended to Recommended.
- 11 Jul. 2017 (this page): Updated guide for Stukov's patch and moved to new guide format.
More Bruiser Guides
KendricSwissh has achieved Grandmaster rank in multiple seasons while playing Heroes of the Storm since the early stages of the Alpha version. He is also creating game related content on Twitch where he will gladly answer all of your questions about the game or guides here on Icy Veins.
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