Heroes of the Storm Forums

Since the patch I have noticed more and more players (poom, Korean barcodes, etc) playing Diablo in a much more sensical, strength-based role. Though Diablo is a displacement style tank, he does not have the same displacement niche (as stitches hook 5v4).... Yet. This thread will introduce a way of playing Diablo that meshes much better with his kit and his displacement control.

Intro: any good uther player understands that much of his strength comes from baby sitting a carry. Uther is a solid pick to help your carry deal with pesky backline divers (tyreal, arthas, Kerrigan, zeratul, Muradin, etc) via hoj, cleanse, divine storm, etc. Uther is aptly described as a support-bodyguard in the top tier team play scene. I believe Diablo fits a similar role as a tank-bodyguard.

Stay tuned, more to come.

"Play Diablo at the backline? Are you kidding?"
-Diablo has 2 displacement skills to abuse, [charge] and [dunk]... (At late game you have Improved overpower to give you 2 dunks). This is a lot of cc and displacement that divers HATE. They have a limited amount of time and hps during their dive, and during that crucial proud they need up time. You build a team to supplement this by having a dive tank yourself to push way in. Now your team fight is layered. If enemies want to get to your carries they have to get through you.

"So what, Diablos main weakness is he has low damage anyway."
This is why you take [lightning breath] instead. Before you scoff and x the window consider intelligent, objective-based uses for the short cooldown ult.
-lightning breath is only interrupted-briefly with hard cc.. This cc would otherwise be used on your carries. Not good enough for you? Me neither, let's keep going.
-Diablo is the meatiest hero in the game, he can soak with the best of them. Imagine playing the normal, objective-focused way as your team pushes a lane to siege a tower. You have 2 ogres with your backline sieging a tower/fort/wall. How can you ensure your team gets the structures down before you pull back and grab another objective? Diablo parks himself in the middle of the lane infront of his carries and channels lightning breath down the narrow lane. For 3.5 seconds the enemy team WILL not actively defend the siege. If they do they will be thoroughly roasted before a team fight even begins.

"That's cool but come on, team fights, surely apoc as a tank is better?"
Through watching even the best teams use Diablo (smg, wildfire, etc), the only way to reliably hit 2+ target apocs against good players is to pair it with Sonya leap, or zagara maw, or SELDOM uther dstorm. This generally hits 1 person guaranteed and maximum of 3 in perfect, fortunate, well coordinated scenarios. And if apoc misses? Your basically a stitches after having missed a hook. Not a great help.

"So you want to use [Lightning Breath] to make up for Diablo's low damage... what use does it have for team fights? Does it even really do good damage?"
-Lets address the latter question first. Lightning Breath does huge damage, but this damage is only really noticeable by players when they are hit by the skill for over 1.5-2.0 seconds. Here is an easy, general breakdown of how much damage [LB] does, per channel second, based on the hero role effected.
1 second of [LB] = ~20% of a carry hps 1 second of [LB] = 10% of a tank/bruiser hps
2 seconds of [LB] = ~40% of a carry hps 2 seconds of [LB] = 20% of a tank/bruiser hps
3 seconds of [LB] = ~60% of a carry hps 3 seconds of [LB] = 30% of a tank/bruiser hps
4 seconds of [LB] = ~80% of a carry hps 4 seconds of [LB] = 40% of a tank/bruiser hps

[Lightning Breath] damage is VERY noticeable if you nail carries with it for 2+ seconds, this is damage that your team doesnt otherwise have to do... which feels very strange as diablo, offering damage to your team... On average, I would say good 'bodyguard' type Diablos will nail 3 seconds of Lightning Breath damage, which is both devastating and very noticeable.

To answer the first question of the prompt you MUST have good positioning and instincts to get a good, worthwhile [Lightning Breath] (however the same is true for current use of [apoc], mind you)

[Lightning Breath] fires in a frontal cone that can be slowly moved to follow/chase heroes. Proper positioning for "worthwhile" (2+ seconds of roasting, solidly) can happen 2 ways:
1. By bodyguarding your carries between your pushed in tank and your backline carries, as you fire [LB] from your backline, to the opposing team trying to reach your backline. This is a DANGEROUSLY good [LB], generally this will provide the most team damage, and it highly punishes any heroes that have stepped forward at all, and are in a slow/cc of any kind (thanks Arthas team mate, or ETC, etc)
2. By pushng very far forward to the enemy team backline, and trapping the enemy team between you channeling [LB] and your team mates on the other side. This is clearly riskier, but Ive seen Poom nail these in NIGHTMARE teamfights to 5-0 sweep.

"So how do you team fight as this Diablo? Sounds finnicky."
-Its actually insanely simple. In the important late game team fights you ABUSE the {Improved Overpower} talent after 16 for 2x the dunk. There are phases of the teamfight as this type of Diablo.

Phase 1: Stick next to your carries, as they get pressured, use your instincts to punish divers by using one charge of [Overpower] and [Shadow Charge] to create that space (or smash into a wall).

Phase 2: (Now that one charge of Overpower is on cooldown, youre sitting on the other) Its [Lightning Breath] time, body block and [Fire stomp] as you find good positioning and let loose a Lightning Breath down the team fight

Phase 3: continue peeling or chasing (depending if youre winning the fight or not) via [Overpower] and [Shadow Charge]

Using this spread allows you to have a charge of [Dunk] in your 'back pocket' once your [LB] is over. You are effectively abusing the {improved overpower} talent so long as you aren't sitting on 2 charges of [Dunk].

Playing Diablo this way in a team fight means your are constantly being a help for your team because when you arent actively displacing/ccing/peeling heroes, you are roasting damage, and when you are done roasting damage, you are back displacing/ccing/peeling heroes.

(last part) Spec
level 1-- {Soul Feast}
--Not even a debate

Level 4-- {Amplified Healing}
-Not even a debate given your passive/talents

level 7-- {Endless Death}
-Not even a debate

level 10-- [Lightning Breath]
-Looks cool, jkseeabove.

level 13-- {Crippling Shadows} or {Relentless}
-Take Relentless if the other team has enough CC to be annoying, you'll usually take the charge slow though. The slow after the charge is big considering youll always try to [Dunk] before you [Charge] enemies into your team, if at all possible. The slow from the charge even more help to allow your teammates abuse your charges with cc/dmg.

level 16-- {Continuous Overpower}
-2 charges of overpower is huge. As stated above, always have opportunities to [overpower/dunk] passively running through your head as you play. So long as you've used at least one Overpower, you are making effective use of the talent. Having an overpower before AND after Lightning Breath is huge for team fights.
*If youre taking lightning Breath you dont need the fantastic damage that you would otherwise get from {Firestorm}

level 20--Bolt
-Set up for [Dunk] into [Shadow Charge] back into your team
-Set up for [Lightning Breath]

This looks more like a guide, than a discussion about the hero itself and future updates for said hero.

Please post it in the correct section next time: http://www.heroesfire.com/hots/forum/build-and-guide-discussion

If youre focused on the integrity of the site, you move it. If you have no personal stake in the site move along young buck

Just telling yah to put it where it belongs next time, no reason to be rude.

Edit: Had a few questions about lvl 20 talents

(level 20 talents) You can also situationally go with [Storm Shield] to provide more support and tankiness for the dmg partners you are blocking for. [Storm Shield] just before you start to channel [Lightning Breath] makes the time spent shoosting fire that much more valuable. I would strongly consider [Storm Shield] if the enemy team has more than one diver, and against any Tyreal team.

*improved lightning breath-- {Hellstorm} isnt worth it. you get enough damage from the first 3 seconds of Lightning Breath, the fact that Hellstorm makes Lightning Breath longer is actually not good, you want to get back into the fight displacing as soon as possible... and the range doesnt matter as 90% of the time decent players will move across the cone to dodge, not away from the cone... making the range increase useless.

I think it's ok to talk about Hero playstyle in this forum, though the lines are kind've blurred. Thanks though Apple!

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