Zeratul - Oblivion Descends by Zaeious

Zeratul - Oblivion Descends

By: Zaeious
Last Updated: Jul 24, 2015
1 Votes
Rating Pending
Build 1 of 1

Zeratul

Build: Dark Prelate

Level 1
Level 4
Level 7
Level 10
Level 13
Level 16
Level 20

Threats to Zeratul with this build

Threat
Low
High
Show all
Threat Hero Notes
1
  No Threat
2
  No Threat
3
  No Threat
4
  No Threat
5
  No Threat
6
  No Threat
7
  No Threat
8
  No Threat
9
  No Threat
10
Nova You can burst her easily, she can burst you easily too. She has a decoy for luring you out. And she also has cloak. Very dangerous.
10
Zeratul The better Zeratul wins. A better Zeratul is a better player. IMHO a spell Zeratul is as powerful and frightening as an auto-attack Zeratul.
10
Illidan An auto attack Zeratul will have a hard time with a dodging Illidan. An Illidan without dodge is easy.

About Zeratul Top

Zeratul is a dark templar prelate and one of the main Protoss protagonists in the StarCraft Franchise.
A renowned psionic warrior and assassin, Zeratul is somewhat secretive and calculating, but is nevertheless honorable and loyal to his species.

Zeratul is an assassin in Heroes of the Storm.
Being an assassin, he has the ability to kill enemies with relative ease.

Stats:

  • HP: 820 (+135 per level)
  • Mana: 500 (+10 per level)
  • Attack Damage: 47 (+13 per level
  • HP Regen: 1.707 (+0.281 per level)
  • Mana Regen: 3 (+0.098 per level)
  • Attack Speed: 1.11

Let us now look at the Pros and Cons of Zeratul.

Pros

  • Escape and Chase Ability
  • Cloak
  • Reliable High Burst Damage
  • An Optional Crowd Control Skill
  • AOE Skill

Cons

  • Melee
  • Technical (will be explained later)
  • Low Sustained Damage
  • Survivability
  • Low to Mediocre Team Presence

And now let us proceed to his skills.

Skills/Abilities Top

Basic Abilities


Trait: Permanent Cloak Automatically cloak when out of combat for 3 seconds.
Taking damage, attacking, or channeling reveals you.
Spoiler: Click to view

(Q): Cleave Deals (92 + 17 per level) damage to nearby enemies.
Mana Cost:40 Cooldown:6 seconds
Spoiler: Click to view

(W): Singularity Spike Flings a Singularity Spike that sticks to the first enemy hit. Deals (120 + 20 per level) damage after 1 second and slows the enemy by 40% for 3 seconds.
Mana Cost:60 Cooldown:12 Seconds
Spoiler: Click to view

(E): Blink Teleport to the target location. Using this ability does not break cloak.
Mana Cost:75 Cooldown:10 Seconds
Spoiler: Click to view

Heroic Abilities


(R): Shadow Assault Your basic attacks causes you to charge at enemies and have 20% increased Attack Speed. Lasts for 6 seconds.
Mana Cost:100 Cooldown:100 Seconds
Spoiler: Click to view

(R): Void Prison Slows time in an area to a near standstill, making allies and enemies invulnerable and unable to act for 5 seconds. You are not affected.
Mana Cost:100 Cooldown:100 Seconds
Spoiler: Click to view


Now to the talents.

Talents Top

About the talents:

  • I will only discuss or explain the talents recommended for this build.
  • I will include the talents that you may pick other than the recommended one.
  • I will also include the reasons why the other talents are not preferred.
You are allowed to choose 1 talent per tier.
One tier appears every 3 levels.
1-4-7-10-13-16-20
Instead of Level 19, the last tier of talents would be available at level 20.

Talents is a special game mechanic in Heroes of the Storm.
Talents are "skills" that
  • Improves your hero's skills by modifying the skill's mechanic itself.
  • Adds another usable ability/skill/spell (what you may call it).
  • Passively improves your hero's skill.
  • Gives your hero some passive bonuses related or not to the skills.

Talents: Levels 1, 4 and 7 Top

Level 1:

Seasoned Marksman For every 6 enemy Minion or Mercenary kills near your Hero, gain 1 Basic Attack damage. Hero Takedowns count as 2 Minion kills.
Spoiler: Click to view
Greater Cleave Increases the radius of Cleave by 33%.
Spoiler: Click to view

Aside from Greater Cleave not providing any damage, I personally take Seasoned Marksman for two reasons, damage and experience.

Spoiler: Click to view

OTHER TALENTS
Spoiler: Click to view

Level 4:

Focused Attack Every 10 seconds, your next Basic Attack deals 50% additional damage. Basic Attacks reduce this cooldown by 1 second.
Spoiler: Click to view
Sustained Anomaly The Singularity Spike explodes for area damage and slows, regardless if it hits a target or not.
Spoiler: Click to view

This is a very hard decision considering that Sustained Anomaly is an exceptional talent. But having Focused Attacks makes your burst damage even more terrifying.

Spoiler: Click to view

OTHER TALENTS
Spoiler: Click to view

Level 7:

Searing Attacks Activate to increase Basic Attack damage by 50% for 5 seconds. Each attack costs 15 Mana.
Spoiler: Click to view

OTHER TALENTS
Spoiler: Click to view

Heroic Abilities Top

Now comes Lv. 10, choosing your Heroic Ability.

Shadow Assault or Void Prison?


Let us first take a look at Shadow Assault.

Spoiler: Click to view

Now, let us analyze Void Prison.

Spoiler: Click to view

VERDICT


Spoiler: Click to view

Talents: Levels 13, 16 and 20 Top

Level 13:

Assassin's Blade Gain 25% Attack Damage for 5 seconds when breaking cloak. 10% increased Movement Speed while cloaked.
Spoiler: Click to view
Giant Killer Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes deal bonus damage equal to 1.5% of the Hero's max Health.
Spoiler: Click to view

I would recommend Assassin's Blade over Giant Killer.
Spoiler: Click to view

OTHER TALENTS
Spoiler: Click to view

Level 16:

Double Bombs After you cast Singularity Spike, you can cast a second one for free within 3 seconds.
Spoiler: Click to view

Berserk Activate to increase your attack speed by 40% and your movement speed by 10% for 4 seconds.
Spoiler: Click to view

You cannot go wrong with these two. I pick Berserk 80% of the time.
OTHER TALENTS
Spoiler: Click to view

Level 20:

Rewind Activate to reset the cooldowns of your Basic Abilities.
Spoiler: Click to view
Nexus Blades Basic attacks deal 20% more damage and slow the target for 1 second.
Spoiler: Click to view

OTHER TALENTS
Spoiler: Click to view

Some Pictures Top

A.

This is a Level 20 Zeratul with the following specifications:
Spoiler: Click to view


B.

This is a Level 20 Zeratul with the following specifications:
Spoiler: Click to view


C.

This is a Level 20 Zeratul with the following specifications:
Spoiler: Click to view


Comparison: Stats are taken from triggered bonuses. Seasoned Marksman bonus is not included.
Attack:
A. 720
B. 514 Has a Bonus 5% (Up to 15%) Ability Power
C. 662
Attack Speed:
A. 1.78
B. 1.11
C. 1.33
Abilities:
A. 1 Cleave, 1 Blink, and 1 Singularity Spike
B. Rewind gives another Cleave(Added Range), Blink and Singularity Spike
C. Rewind grants another Cleave, Blink 4 Singularity Spike
For B and C, the maximum singularity spike is 4. Thanks Double Bombs and Rewind.
The damage of his abilities at Lv. 20:
Cleave: 415 Singularity Spike: 500

Shadow Assault Vs. Void Prison Top

This part of the guide is exclusive for these Heroic Abilities.


-

Read the details of these Heroic Abilities first.

-

Done? Okay, good.

SHADOW ASSAULT:
Spoiler: Click to view

VOID PRISON:
Spoiler: Click to view


A lot of players are in favor of choosing Void Prison over Shadow Assault.
The reason is the game is heavily team-oriented.
A skill like Void Prison almost ensures a win for the team, if used at the exact right moment.
As i have said, it removes the chance of your enemies having a fair fight against your team.
Your team will almost always have 4-5 bodies, while your enemies will be limited to a number lower than yours.

In competitive games, void prison is an invaluable skill for your team.
I cannot stress how much VOID PRISON changes the game in your team's favor.

However there are things which you need to have in mind.

This skill is rather predictable.
The enemy team expects you to pick this Heroic because of its strength.
Using it on part of the enemy team is expected, that is why they would invest their time in focusing you before you can cast this Heroic. If successful, it would switch the odds to their favor. Just to remind you, Zeratul goes down very easily when focused.
Picking this ability will lessen your burst damage considerably.
With that in mind, your enemy team knows that they are rather at a considerable advantage because the Zeratul cannot fit the role of a BURST ASSASSIN properly. They would just need to watch out for your Heroic and worry a little bit about the damage you can deliver on key targets.
If you follow the suggested talents build, it would not lessen that much. But still, it is "weaker" compared to a pure burst one.

THE PROS OUTWEIGHS the CONS of this skill.

Now, to Shadow Assault.
This Heroic is a STEROID for Zeratul. It allows you to burst down key targets with relative ease.
Picking this Heroic will not increase your team-presence to epic proportions compared to taking the other Heroic. It would however make Zeratul the burst assassin he truly is.
You can pick key targets carefully. Your key targets are often, assassins, supports and specialists with insane amounts of team presence. Killing these targets successfully can shift the advantage to your favor.
Killing the assassin would reduce the amount of damage your team receives, murdering the support will reduce the amount of shields, buffs or heals your opponent receives; allowing your teammates to effectively deal the damage they were supposed to deal. It will also limit crowd controls that the supports can cast on your team. The same goes for the puny specialists you chose as your target.

You will often be not glorified when you win the game when picking SHADOW ASSAULT.
(Your presence, skill and effort often goes unnoticed when picking this Heroic Ability.)

BOTH HEROICS shifts the odds to your team's favor when you used it at the right moment.

However, i will pick Shadow Assault over Void Prison, even on competetive games.
Why?
ASSASSIN. Zeratul is supposed to kill his enemies. Not set them up for others to kill.
If i want to set up the enemy team, then i would rather pick E.T.C..
You won't get any recognition for picking Shadow Assault, unlike Void Prison.

REMEMBER: This is your choice to make.
You can bask on the glory you deserve for ensuring your team the win with VOID PRISON.
Or.
Stay hidden with SHADOW ASSAULT without gaining attention after killing targets that will otherwise cost you the game.

DONE.

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