Abathur is one of the most difficult heroes to play with. So it's highly recommended you get to know with the different map mechanics and gameplay in general before even trying this hero. You also need to have extremely good game sense and map awareness to get the most of this hero.

Video coming soon (I hope!)

Abathur, the Evolution Master of Kerrigan's Swarm, works ceaselessly to improve the zerg from the genetic level up. His hate for chaos and imperfection almost rivals his hatred of pronouns.

Threats

Every hero can be devastating to you if you don't watch your back. However there are few heroes you should definitely look out for. Those are Tassadar, Tyrande, Zeratul, Nova and Brightwing because of their abilities or burst damage.

Tyrande

In my personal opinion Tyrande deserves a chapter of her own. Tyrande might be one of the worst opponents you can face -- in your point of view --, especially if she wants to hunt you down. Why?

I've played against Tyrande when her mission obviously was to destroy me down while I was using the "Lane pushing" build. She unlocked the Shadowstalk ultimate and she also buffed her Sentinel a lot. And of course the map was Cursed Hollow which is huge and therefor she made a right decision. Whenever she used her ultimate she also sent the owl on the way towards me. As you may know, it makes more damage the further it travels because she buffed it all the way through. So basically I lost more than half of my HP immediately and there were already someone waiting for me and bursted me down.

I should've known better and keep on moving way more often because of that. I didn't, I died right before crucial teamfights and basically I lost the game for our team.

However the reason why Tyrande still ain't the hero you should look out for the most, is simple. She has to contribute a lot -- including her ultimate -- to reveal my position, and if they have team coordination and communication in a good shape, I'm dead. But if she happens to find me because of my Locusts I still may have a chance. It all depends how fast you are going to react to the threat and how good she is with the skill shots.

But be aware of this High Priestess of Elune, she might be the one that kills you every single time she decides to use her Shadowstalk combined with Sentinel and a roamer.

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Allies

The best heroes to combine with Abathur are strong melee assassins with a great amount of burst damage like Illidan, Zeratul and The Butcher, or warriors with crowd control or fast movement abilities such as Muradin, Arthas, Johanna and Tyrael.

Assassins

You have to remember few things, though. There are better choises than the others to use your Symbiote on, but none of your teammates is bad to hook up with. The reason why I took these three assassins as an example is because they have great survivability in teamfights if the enemy team does not focus on you. If that happens you may want to take another hero to Symbiote because it has 4 seconds cooldown after the link breaks. That basically means that if you're lucky you are able to connect to someone else during the fight before it's over. Still, I recommend to switch target so you can contribute a lot more in teamfights.

Also remember -- or at least try -- to avoid ranged assassins because you're not able to use your Spike Burst so efficiently.

Warriors

When it comes to warriors, tanks, there are a lot of good choises. Still the best choises would be those who have some sort of initiation skill to get in the middle of the fights. Anub'arak is also one choise but the reason why I did not include him to the example list is because he doesn't do that much damage from basic attacks - of course at this point I'm talking about when you're going with the "Boost (Teamfights)" build.

Abathur is an excellent choise in large maps. With a right team composition it's basically a valid pick in any other map than Haunted Mines and Battlefield Of Eternity.

In large maps with objectives that spawn in a specific part of the map is like a dream for us. Below you can find a bit more specific information about the maps and how to play them.

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Sky Temple

On Sky Temple the first temples spawn near the middle and top lanes. At the very first few minutes before the temples you may be in any lane basically -- still preferably either in top or bottom. When the temples spawn you should move to bottom lane to be safe. Just be aware if enemy team manages to destroy the towers and gate, and possibly a fort, that you're very vulnerable.

The second temple is near the bottom lane. At this point you should move to top lane where you can play more aggressively. Hopefully your team -- with a help of the temple(s) -- have already pushed down at least the tier 1 towers and gate. This means you have a lot more space to move to an aggressive position so your Locusts can push the lane even further. Just remember to look around you and keep your eyes wide open to not get killed.

Video coming later (I hope!)

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Cursed Hollow

Cursed Hollow is one of the best maps for us. It provides a lot of bushes, space and it's a large map. Also the objective itself is in favor to us. Why? The Tribute always spawn either near the top or bot lane. This means whenever the tribute spawns there'll be entire enemy team to fight for it -- with a few exceptions, of course -- so you can move aggressively on the other side of the map to soak XP. Still, remember to be aware of your surroundings.

When the Tribute is collected you move back to a little bit more safe position so you're not killed that easily.

Video coming later (I hope!)

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Other maps

Blackheart's Bay, Dragon Shire, Garden of Terror and Tomb of the Spider Queen requires a little bit different approach to your positions.

Blackheart's Bay

Blackheart's Bay is quite large map but it doesn't provide that much places for you to hide and therefor push the lanes. But with a right teamwork and vision you're able to pull it through well. Also the coin camps located around the map makes it more difficult for us to stay in a safe location to soak XP.

Dragon Shire

No matter Dragon Shire has three lanes it's still incredibly small map. It basically doesn't provide any positions for you to hide in. But it doesn't mean you shouldn't pick Abathur on this map. It's just really hard for you to push the lanes in any other way than using "Lane pushing" build or mixing up some of its talents with the build your team needs. There are a few quite good places where you can place your Locust Brood together with Locust Nest.

Garden of Terror

Garden of Terror has more better locations for you to stay in than Blackheart's Bay and it's also a little bit bigger map, but the problem is that the objective is basically all over the map. That means it's really hard to find a place to soak XP and push the lanes with Locusts.

Tomb of the Spider Queen

Tomb of the Spider Queen is in fact almost the same than Garden of Terror. It's smaller so therefor it's actually a little bit harder as well. But the positive thing over Garden of Terror is in fact the size of it. You don't have to go too deep to the enemy side to make your Locusts effective in this game. And besides, they work quite nice against and with the Weavers as well.

Early game

In early game it's extremely important for you to find a place where the Locusts are able to push the lanes. So staying in your base is not a valid option. If your team manages to push down the enemy fort during the early game make sure to switch the lane.

If you feel the lane where you're at is too dangerous to be in you can always use your Deep Tunnel to switch lanes in a matter of seconds.

Still, no matter what, the most important thing you have to make sure of is to help your team to get early kills in ganks and possibly save them from a tough situation.

Also remember to place your Toxic Nest from time to time around you to provide vision and all over the map in crucial spots to prevent early ganks from the enemy team.

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Late game

In late game depending on the choise of build and whether you're winning or losing defines your way of positioning your hero. Naturally if your team is behind the enemy team you should definitely back off and preferably even stay in base to make sure you will not be killed. If you're ahead of the enemy team and doing well you may play a little bit more aggressively.

However, make sure that if you decide to play as a lane pusher you really should not stay in your base under any circumstances. If this happens, your build is completely off the tracks and you are not able to contribute enough to the game.

If you are roaming around the map to push the lanes you have to keep on moving across the map. More information about this can be found on "Maps" section.

The following map suggestions for each build is not the absolute truth. It all depends what kind of team you have and how you want to play the game. The suggestions are here only to give you some advice what I've found the best on each map.

When it comes to your ultimate -- this does not concern the lane pushing build, though -- you may decide which ultimate serves your team better.

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Boost (Teamfights)

The best Symbiote target may not always be the melee assassin, but sometimes the warrior because he or she is the one in the middle of the fight -- at least he or she should be.

- This goes very well for every single map. It all comes down to the fact do you really need some boost your team in teamfights or not. This build is when you and your team want to concentrate more on teamfights than pushing the lanes and you have good support(s) already. Just remember to push to your tier 2 towers in early game to make some more pressure on a specific lane.

Video coming later (I hope!)

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Support

This build provides a shield that lasts longer and even after Symbiote. Because of our Regenerative Microbes talent we also heal our allied heroes -- remember that secondary cooldowns are reset when the symbiote breaks.

- In fact this is very situational build choise for us. You're not able to push lanes that much, but you may give your minions and mercenaries more survivability, though, but you help your teammates to stay on lanes and, possibly, on objectives much longer. You have to remember that no matter what kind of build you're using, you still give some nice burst damage and boost to your teammates. This build however doesn't provide any extra in teamfights.

Video coming later (I hope!)

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Lane pushing

Spawn Locusts with Locust Strain, Locust Brood and Locust Nest around the map to push the lanes. Use the Toxic Nests to provide vision but also to protect yourself from the enemy team -- and do not stay in the same location for too long.

- Absolutely my favorite build. No matter your team is losing most of the objectives and even maybe the teamfights but they still have to deal with us combined with the ultimate pushing strategy. Your Locusts deal a lot of damage especially to structures and they simply can not be ignored. You just have to make sure you indeed have enough teamfight potential or you just might have lost the game for your team. However, you might be the one that wins the game for you if everything goes planned.

Video coming later (I hope!)

The most safest build for Abathur is definitely the "Boost (Teamfights)" build. Abathur is, in my opinion, one of the very few heroes in Heroes of the Storm that are able to change their build in the middle of the game but still be effective. And here's the reason why:

Our hero is one of the greatest to give our allies some boost on teamfights. It doesn't provide any kind of crowd control whatsoever, but we're able to deal a huge amount of damage in the middle of everything. And actually two of the main talents for our hero can be unlocked at first three tiers on talent tree.

If you notice your team lacks some pushing power or you need another kind of strategy you can always change to lane pushing strategy after ultimates. This gives you some nice boost on teamfights and lane pushing power on later game.

Unfortunately the support build is very situational and rare to be used because it's not so valid in the end especially on teamfights nor it pushes the lanes on its own.

Video coming later (I hope!)

So here's the build which can be used to combine the "Boost (Teamfights)" and "Lane pushing" builds:

Notice!

I left the level 20 talent out of this. Why? Because it is a very situational and you have to decide which one is better for your team and gameplay. Both have advantages over the other.

I also chose Evolve Monstrosity over Ultimate Evolution because we get much more lane pushing power with it and if we have to we're able to get into teamfight in matter of seconds to help our team. Of course -- like with level 20 talent -- both have their good and bad effects when compared to each others. Usually, however, I like to go with Evolve Monstrosity.

Keep your eyes closely on the minimap because it'll be your best friend when playing as Abathur - unless you have friends with whom you're playing with and you have a good communication and synergy between each others.

Learn map mechanics carefully and try to look around for possible hiding places in every map - no matter you wouldn't even be playing Abathur at the moment.

Also another great way to master the Abathur as a hero is to watch your demos and see how the enemy team is moving in the map; how long does it take for them to notice where you are or might be and which gave you away.