Malthael is one of HotS' greatest anti-tank heroes. Reaper's Mark is a powerful tool that allows Malthael to put a great deal of pressure on Warriors and meatier Assassins and Specialists, and this build allows him maximize the damage he deals with it. A single iteration of Reaper's MArk will take away 2.25% of the target's hp over 4 seconds for a total loss of 9% hp. It should be noted that while he can deal a great amount of damage to tanks, squishy and high burst heroes will out DPS Malthael. Bear this in mind when playing him and always have a friend nearby, just in case.
The key talents to this build are at levels 4, 10, and 16.
Level 4: Black Harvest (quest). This quest requires MAlthael to get a total of 150 seconds of damage to enemy heroes with Reaper's Mark. Doing so increases the duration of Reaper's Mark by 50%, and the amount of damage of a single Reaper's Mark increases from 9% to 13.5% of the target's hp. Completion of Black Harvest allows Malthael to get more boon out of poking heroes with Death Shroud or a single auto attack, and multiple pokes on a single hero can make them an easy target for your team.
Level 10: Tormented Souls. Tormented Souls' ability to keep enemy heroes afflicted by Reaper's Mark has a great synergy with the rest of his kit, Black Harvest, and Memento Mori. Any hero that is within Tormented Souls for the full duration would take a total of 22.5% damage and allow Malthael to heal himself greatly off of the marks. Tormented Souls is a great enabler for team wipes or for deterring an enemy push.
Level 16: Memento Mori. This might be his strongest ability because of how well it causes him to snowball. If an enemy is afflicted by Reaper's Mark for more than 4 seconds the damage of Reaper's Mark increases by 80%, going from 2.25% per second to 4.05% per second. This doesn't mean a lot from a poking perspective, but after picking up Memento Mori Malthael can get more aggressive about reapplying his marks to his targets and being rewarded with forcing the enemy to either die or heal.
His less important talent levels have some variety to what can be picked, but for this section I am just going with what I typically pick.
Level 1 & 7: Death's Reach and Mortality. These two talents pair well together and set Malthael up for getting good refreshes on Reaper's Mark. The extra range (35%) allows him to chase people more easily (just be careful about not going too deep) and the extra damage (4% hp) allows him to put even more pressure on his target.
Level 13: Ethereal Existence. This talent combos well with Tormented Souls. Between the two you should have no problem getting 4 heroes marked, which increases Malthael's armor rating to 60, and making him much more likely to finish his enemies.
Level 20: Reaper of Souls. With all the other talents this build picks up killing someone while Tormented Souls is active should be simple, enabling more Tormented Souls.
Level 1: Fear The Reaper can be a great tool for getting Malthael out of a tight spot if he's being chased. Its a good tool if you intend to do more solo laning than sticking with a partner or group.
Level 7: Cold Hand goes well with Fear The Reaper if you need to escape someone quickly.
Level 13: Soul Siphon and Shroud of Wisdom can be good alternatives to Ethereal Existence depending on the enemy team composition. Shroud of Wisdom should be used if the enemy is particularly mage heavy and Soul Siphon is a decent compromise between the two.
Level 20: Final Curtain can be useful if the enemy team isn't grouping up well enough to make maximum use of Tormented Souls. The lingering affect and the refresh that it gives can turn Death Shroud into a make shift and smaller Tormented Souls.
Heroes of the Storm Build Guides
Quick Comment () View Comments
You need to log in before commenting.