So you want to play the highest win rate tank in HotS? These are Big D's Golden Years. Keep reading my friend. I will show you some things based on my own experience and backing it up with data from http://www.hotslogs.com/Sitewide/HeroDetails?Hero=Diablo. As time goes on there will be ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes but this website will keep you up to date.

Also here is my general strategy guide that applies to all heroes to get to rank 1 Admiral's EZPZ rank 1 guide

Big D has no natural escapes. He is beefy and hard to kill but he can't run away if he gets in trouble.

He's got his mother in whirl, she's not sure if D's a boy or a girl. I don't know if D is a Starman or Lady Stardust, but I'll refer to D as a "he" because it is easier and it is a male voice actor.

He is a Scary Monster, a natural predator, a gank warrior. Combine him with one or two damage dealers and he can stun and position enemy heroes in a way that puts them in real danger. If possible he should roam during the early laning stages. He's an ok laner in the early game, not great, not bad.

High health, low mobility, low damage, high CC.

In team fights you are the tank, you will try to look for enemy heroes out of position and move/stun them even more out of position. This is your key role. If you can get your hands on an enemy China Girl and use the "toss and boss" (below) you will most likely win the team fight.

You can also defend your own Jean Genie team mates by moving enemy heroes away from them. Against Sonya, Illidan, Greymane, The Butcher and other dive heroes, save your abilities for them once they dive. Otherwise make a nuisance of yourself without diving too deep. Keep the high damage dealers under pressure - worried that you will charge in and flip them into a Space Oddity.


Play Video


As a 5 man death ball you often can't just run up and say Let's Dance, at level 13 you get a decent poke with Firestorm and you can use this to say John, I'm Only Dancing with the enemy - getting some damage in before you see your spot to engage. You have high HP but even that won't help you if you simply waddle into a group of 5 enemies. You have no escape, remember that.

D has some mana issues, but not a lot. You just need to not use your abilities when you are doing mundane things. Sure it may be faster to clear a wave with fire stomp - but is speed important right now? Or can you take your time?

Shadow Charge works well against walls, the stun gets slightly longer.

As we talked about, your big skill is moving people where they don't want to be. You can make that even more effective by using your big fat body to stop them moving away.

You can jungle (take mercenary camps alone), but you aren't very good at it. You will often take significant damage forcing you to retreat to the Hall of Storms. Once you hit 13 you can jungle much better but you are still not amazing at it.

He pairs naturally well with Zagara, Thrall, Zeratul, Kael'thas and Tyrande. They all have ultimates or stuns which work well with him.

He is a good counter to Sgt. Hammer, Nazeebo, Nova, Sonya, Greymane and Illidan. his Apocalypse and ability to stun and move works particularly well against these heroes.

Trait: - You collect the souls of enemies who die around you, giving you more HP. You resurrect after 5 seconds if you die with 100 souls collected, but you lose all your souls. This isn't much use in the early game, but later on being able to resurrect in 5 seconds is HUGE. Don't throw your life away, but a 1 for 1 trade in the late game is a big win for your team.

(Q) - Charge your target, stunning and knocking them back. Stuns are good to disrupt some enemy abilities that require channelling. The "boss" part of the "toss and boss" (or the boss and toss if you can't get close without it). Not a great damage dealer. It can be used as an escape to an enemy minion but it requires specific circumstances.

(W) - Sends aoe fire waves in lines emanating from your body. You should usually spam this during team fights, it is an essential part of the build. Again, damage isn't great but it is aoe.

(E) - With this ability you slam your target over your shoulder, usually in perfect position to use your Shadow Charge. The "toss" part of the toss and boss. Once again damage is underwhelming - they key here is moving people to bad positions.

Shadow Charge into Overpower is the standard Diablo combo. It's decent it's effective and it moves the enemy hero and stuns them. However, what is really devastating is Overpower and then Shadow Charge. This will move an enemy hero far into your team/your territory and put them in huge danger.

Even at high levels, plenty of heroes in the early game will get too close to your walls - a quick "toss and boss" and they are in range of your cannons, you body block, and secure serious damage or even a kill.


Play Video

Soul Feast is the highest win rate on this tier. With Lt. Morales on your team go ahead and pick up Devil's Due or perhaps Block against a Raynor or Valla.

Fire Devil is always useful for early wave clear, good at finding Nova, Zeratul and Creep Tumor. There are no other sensible choices, it has a win rate 5% above all others.

Soul Steal is the best pick when you are the only tank. If you are trying to get a little more damage then Battle Momentum is a very good choice (battle momentum has a slightly higher win rate).

Apocalypse Fire breath is very devil like, and it looks cool, turns Ashes to Ashes but Apocalypse is the better of the two heroics (9 of the top 10 builds use it). It is a fire and forget ability, always useful, however skilled you are. It can also be used from the other side of the map which is occasionally useful. It combos very well with Void Prison, Devouring Maw, Grav-O-Bomb 3000 and Sundering.

Use it when the enemy team has just engaged, they usually use some kind of "get in quick skill" like Ruthless Onslaught or Ancient Spear - use it just after that. Also useful in tight spaces, when the enemy is grouped up or have just activated heroics that require them to stand still like Ravenous Spirit. The stun and damage on its own is relatively useless, but with a follow up it is huge.

Firestorm: the most broken of all big D's talents - it enjoys a win rate 10% above any other talent choice at this tier. It is a huge spike in your power. It more than doubles the damage from firestomp. Even if they have an ability burst hero like Li-Ming, I would still take this over Spell Shield. With this talent you have huge wave clear, the ability to jungle well and suddenly the ability to poke before team fights relatively well. This talent is the only reason D is the highest win rate tank at the moment.

Rampage is the best of the talents at this tier but none of the others are bad. Feel free to customise as you like. You should take Imposing Presence if they have 2 auto attack heroes like Raynor and Valla.

It is close between Lord of Terror and Dying Breath. It depends on the type of fights you've had earlier in the match. If they are often grouped up, or have melee assassins take Lord of Terror, if you are dying in team fights or skirmishes are fairly frequent take Dying Breath. Dying is never a good thing, but Diablo should be the one to die at this late stage if it saves another hero or significantly helps your team. At level 20 you should have full souls for a 5 sec respawn timer and 2 Apocalypse close to each other can really help out.

I find Lord of Terror more useful in more situations. It is aggressive and has sustain. Bolt of the Storm is a fine choice too, nothing wrong with it. It may save your life, but if you have souls your life is not as valuable as those people with 60 sec respawn timers. You can even use it aggressively to bolt in then Shadow Charge them back towards your team.

All in all this talent build is simple to use, there is only 1 extra ability to activate. It relies heavily on firestomp so keep it active in team fights. They key is knowing your positioning (because you can't escape) and messing with the enemy's positioning.