Hello, my name is Cro3 and I am a master Probius main that has been playing HotS on and off since 2015. I was always intimidated to try Probius, hearing that he was "situational", "C-tier", and overall a "garbage" hero that can only split push. I tried him during a week he was free-to-play and I was intrigued. I had no idea what I was doing but was excited by his siege capabilities and wondered what else he could do.

Learning how to play Probius is difficult. I was losing 3/4 games, my teammates were frequently frustrated, certain matchups felt unplayable at times. Probius has a very high skill floor. But once you get the hang of it, his high skill ceiling will allow you to carry games and have a blast doing it. I hope this guide serves as a tool to help you improve your Probius mechanics and strategies against every particular matchup.

Today, I have achieved a solo Quick Match MMR of over 3,000 and am top 50 in the global Quick Match leaderboards exclusively playing Probius. I also have the most uploaded games on HeroesProfile for 2023 Season 1. I have a YouTube channel where I exclusively post Probius content if interested.

Worker Rush (Z) is Probius' mount equivalent that allows him to zoom around the map. Unfortunately, any damage cancels this effect. I use this to speed to an uncontested lane to soak, to catch enemies with Null Gate, to juke, and to escape. Be more cautious when this is on cooldown. If bleeding or poisoned, refrain from using Worker Rush until the damage over time expires, or use it to avoid being hit in the first place. The level 4 talent Turbo Charged greatly empowers this trait.

Warp in Pylon (D) is Probius' passive ability that makes anywhere on the map feel like home. Since at least two can be down at once, use your first Pylon for mana regeneration. Your second Pylon can be used for vision, tanking, and/or escaping. Pylons can be placed in nearby bushes or key objectives to see incoming gankers as well as reveal enemy heroes during team fights. If getting ganked by heroes with skill shots like Nova, Hanzo, and Li-Ming, a Pylon can be placed while retreating to absorb any potential damage. This helps compensate for Probius' tiny health pool. If getting ganked and moving towards your fort is not an option, safely travel through enemy forts by dropping Pylons, which will immediately take and keep tower aggro as long as you do not damage an enemy hero while within tower range. I prefer to do this with Photon Cannon but if its on cooldown, this is another valid option.

Disruption Pulse (Q) is Probius' bread and butter ability. It effectively replaces the need to auto attack in most cases. It entails firing a narrow burst of energy outward, damaging all targets along the way. While its damage from a single use is not a lot, its short 3 second cooldown makes this a large source of Probius' damage output. Most importantly, it allows for the strategic detonation of Warp Rifts. Firing a Disruption Pulse into the center of a Warp Rift detonates it once active. I use Disruption Pulse to safely poke enemies in lane. Often, I will exclusively use this ability during bruiser matchups where I cannot contest the regeneration globe and do not want them to have it. This ability chips away at their health, and then Warp Rift can be used once the wave is at my Fort's walls to safely gather the globe. I also use Disruption Pulse to interrupt channeling, like a Zul'Jin's Regeneration, and to defend objectives during Alterac Pass, Cursed Hollow, or Towers of Doom. I also use it to dismount enemies chasing me and reveal stealthed heroes. With its low mana cost and cooldown, do not hesitate to use it on cooldown to check bushes before entering or passing to avoid ganks and Abathur mines. Disruption Pulse has game-changing synergy with the level 1 talent Echo Pulse, level 7 talent Tower Defense, and level 20 talent Probius Loop.

Warp Rift (W) enables Probius to become an assassin. It allows you to do significant area of effect burst damage, especially if your team has a lot of crowd control. Just because a Warp Rift becomes armed does not mean it needs to be detonated right away. If you let it be but still harass with Disruption Pulse, often enemy heroes will forget the Warp Rift is still there and take damage from it once it passively detonates. Warp Rifts can be used to zone enemies from key objectives like during Volskaya Foundry. Once an enemy hero experiences getting hit by one, they will likely make more of an effort to avoid them. Use this to your advantage. Warp Rifts make it easier to predict enemy movement (they will move away from it), which allows more Disruption Pulse damage or a successful Null Gate for your team to follow up on. If you enjoy a sneaky play style, place a Pylon in a high-traffic bush for vision. Wait for an enemy to approach the bush while you wait on the other side. Then place down all the Warp Rifts available inside the bush. Detonate them using a single Disruption Pulse once the enemy enters the bush. This strategy is even more powerful if the level 1 talent Warp Resonance and Probius Loop are taken.

Photon Cannon (E) allows Probius to siege forts independently of their own minion waves. I prefer to place at least one cannon defensively to ensure I always have the level 4 talent magic resistance from Photon Barrier active. While cannons provide vision like Pylons, the disadvantage is cannons will nonspecifically attack any enemy in range, thus alerting enemies of your presence. However, a big strength is that Photon Cannons placed within range of a Pylon reveal all stealth enemies. This significantly neutralizes heroes like Valeera with no effective way to teleport to a target if not in stealth. Placing Photon Cannons between you and an enemy is also a terrific way to tank skill shots, particularly Stitches' hook. Photon Cannon synergizes immensely with the level 1 talent Gather Minerals and level 7 talent Tower Defense.

Pylon Overcharge (R) is a great way to reliably do damage to enemy heroes in range and protect Pylons. This is the ultimate I always chose when first learning Probius. There are various uses given the fact that enemies tend to disengage when this ultimate is used due to the high damage output. Thus, it can be used to prolong and defend a siege, to safely escape or fight if overextended, and most commonly, to zone enemies off of key objectives. Ideally, wait for two Pylons to be down prior to ulting. If in a pinch, additional pylons can be placed during the 8 second ultimate. If the level 20 talent Construct Additional Pylons is taken, try your best to wait for 3 Pylons down to do the most damage. This will require careful and strategic Pylon placement leading up to predictable fights. Unfortunately, heroes like Nova and Samuro can counter this ultimate with their clones, because the Pylons will attack the nearest enemy hero, including clones. Thus, well-placed clones could eat most of the damage, potentially hindering its effectiveness. Placing secret deep Pylons can compensate for this somewhat.

Null Gate (R) is my preferred ultimate. With a cooldown of just 20 seconds compared to 80 seconds for Pylon Overcharge, it will almost always be off cooldown when you need it so use it excessively. It can be placed directly parallel on an enemy fort's wall to damage both the wall and towers. It can be used to slow enemies down when escaping, and my favorite, used to lock down enemies. Null Gate allows me to reliably land double Warp Rifts for heavy burst damage. It also synergizes perfectly with heroes like Kel'Thuzad and E.T.C. who can take advantage of slowed, clumped enemies. I even use it to safely check for Abathur without getting blown up by mines. Practice placing Null Gates on top of the path you predict enemies will run to maximize their time in them.

The level 1 talents are all solid. Echo Pulse is my favorite due to its synergies with later talents (Tower Defense and Probius Loop). It allows for better lane pressure by forcing opponents out of lane from the boomerang effect of Disruption Pulse, effectively doubling its damage. It can also be used to damage forts more defensively. You can run up to a fort or minion wave, use Disruption Pulse while immediately placing one or two Warp Rifts (or vice versa). On Disruption Pulse's return, it will detonate them while you can already be a safe distance away. This makes Probius much harder to kill because he can stay farther back and still detonate his Warp Rifts reliably. Disruption Pulse is also much harder to dodge than Warp Rift. Thanks to this safer play style, this talent is a good choice against every matchup regardless of your own team composition. Warp Resonance enables Probius to do much more burst damage thanks to the Warp Rift damage increase and additional charge. If you can reliably land Warp Rifts on enemy heroes to complete your quest quickly, this build does the most damage. The additional Warp Rift charge is also great for even better zoning and one-shotting. If you enjoy being sneaky and killing enemies with one combo, consider this build. Detonating two warp rifts on a squishy Lost Viking or Abathur will kill them without them even realizing what happened (any damage done notifies them). Detonating 3 Warp Rifts on a hero will kill many, and with the level 20 talent Probius Loop, it will kill everyone. The downside is this build requires Probius to be closer to enemies to detonate the Warp Rifts--high risk, high reward. This build shines when your team has a lot of crowd control. This build is not recommended against teams with many high mobility assassins, because it will be more difficult to complete your quest and reap the benefits of this talent. Gather Minerals is loved or hated. Some Probius players swear by this talent, choosing it exclusively. Once enough minerals are gathered from fallen minions and heroes, Photon Cannon gets a large power spike (35% damage increase) as well as 8 health for every mineral, up to 560 bonus health. Fort towers do 250 damage per hit, so this means one's Photon Cannon could tank 3 additional hits. And 2 additional Keep tower hits (330 damage per hit). This is fantastic on maps where you can get away with split pushing uncontested for extended periods. This build shines on Towers of Doom, allowing you to continuously push. The downside is that farming minerals could put you in a vulnerable position to be ganked. To do this safely, you would have to wait for the minions to die in front of your fort. The downside is you would lose early siege damage on enemy forts and result in less potential experience gained for your team. Beyond solo split pushing, the issue with this talent is it relies so heavily on a single cannon, albeit a powerful one. It prioritizes attacking enemy heroes if in range, but sadly, it locks on to whatever its first target is until it is out of range or dead, even if it is a clone or minion. So the damage is not as reliable.

The level 4 talents have two commonly chosen options. Photon Barrier is the reason why only Zeratul and Alarak are big Probius threats and not mages like Chromie, Kael'thas, or Fenix. These heroes, as well as Nova or Mephisto, can cause unavoidable spell damage. Photon Barrier simply allows you to play the game against these heroes without constantly dying. The key is to place at least the first turret defensively. As long as a turret is within range of a Pylon, you get 40 spell armor. Thus, if willing to sacrifice some potential damage from a Photon Cannon (worth it), this means you should always have this buff, making you unable to be one-shot by any spell damage ability or combo. The fun part of this talent is it allows you to duel any mage and many tanks that rely on spell damage like Blaze. I will always have a soft spot for Turbo Charged because it was my go-to talent while learning Probius but I no longer take it now. It cuts Worker Rush's cooldown in half and lets you travel 10% faster around Pylons. While the extra low Worker Rush cooldown is easy to enjoy, Probius is still able to move quickly without this talent and the base cooldown is already short (30 seconds). There are also many sources of unavoidable or at least potentially devastating spell damage that makes this talent less optimal. While learning Probius, positioning cannons to constantly reap the benefits of spell armor can be tricky, making Photon Barrier less useful. Feel free to learn Probius with Turbo Charged, which can help you retreat if overextended or quickly double soak lanes. It can also help you position Warp Rifts during team fights. Shield Capacitor is the most popular level 4 talent because it passively protects from all sources of damage. It grants Probius a permanent shield worth 10% of his health that regenerates after not taking damage for 5 seconds. I spoke with a terrific, well-known NA Probius player named Azmodan about this talent choice versus Photon Barrier, and here is what he had to say. "[Shield Capacitor] is a good choice for any build that isn't lowering photon cannon cooldowns. Probius is a very mobile hero that doesn't auto attack so should always be fluidly moving to avoid most magic skill shots. The 10% health barrier helps recover from getting hit from stray auto attacks or tanking some merc hits. If you lower their spell damage with [Interference] at 16 then casters immediately become less of a threat to you so choosing the flat shield for survivability works better than more spell armor." You cannot go wrong with Shield Capacitor.

The level 7 talents have two terrific options. Particle Accelerator is not one of them. The main reason is its unreliable damage compared to the other two options. After hitting 3 heroes with Disruption Pulse, the next detonated Warp Rift fires 4 additional pulses from the next Warp Rift, 2 perpendicularly and 2 thirty degrees from Probius. I have found enemies are not likely to be hit by these pulses. But if they were, the pulses would do slightly more damage than a normal warp rift. I also have found the .5 second decrease in Disruption Pulse cooldown to be negligible. Rift Shock rocks! It is the safest talent to choose because it guarantees a damage increase, at least in PVE. It will help Probius clear camps, waves, and siege more effectively. It synergizes nicely with the level 1 talent Warp Resonance but can be taken regardless of other talents. If you are able to land Warp Rifts on enemy heroes, it will provide a nice damage increase as well as prevent certain heroes from stealthing due to the 3 second damage over time effect. This is the perfect talent for those who want to live up to Probius' ranged ASSASSIN name. Tower Defense is the most popular talent chosen by top Probius players, and rightfully so. It allows one to have multiple Photon Cannons down at the same time. This is perfect for blocking skill shots and increasing uptime of spell armor if the level 4 talent Photon Barrier is chosen. I like this talent because the damage is more consistent compared to Warp Rift-centric builds where the damage is all or nothing. Having multiple Photon Cannons up around an objective allows you to be a threat and get kills even after you die! I would highly recommend this talent against heroes like The Lost Vikings, Samuro, and Nova, where you can take advantage of extra heroes on the battlefield to put down even more cannons. Even if the cannons may sometimes prioritize clones, I still think this added pressure is a safer strategy than going for a Warp Rift build in these cases, despite faster Warp Resonance quest completion. However, this talent only shines if near enemy heroes. If you intend to mostly split push uncontested lanes, take Rift Shock instead.

I believe both level 10 talent options are viable, but I appear to be in the minority. Every other top Probius player's most popular build takes Pylon Overcharge, while I choose this talent the least. I took this talent while learning Probius and enjoyed it, but have found players are more keen to counter it as my MMR climbed. If enemy heroes still chose to fight around 2-3 Pylons and remain during the entire ultimate's duration, this talent would still be my go-to as well. Now, if an enemy team notices I have had time to set up 2-3 Pylons at an objective, they tend to pressure the map elsewhere instead, or only softly engage. The main reason I avoid this talent now is I have found team fights to be highly mobile, thus I no longer ever have time to set up 2 Pylons at a sporadic fight location. And using this ultimate with just one Pylon is far less effective beyond guaranteeing at least one Pylon remains up for the 8 second duration. Null Gate deserves way more love. I have even found that random teammates prefer its crowd control over pylon overcharge's increased damage. Null Gates utility is phenomenal. It enables your team's melee heroes like Butcher to stay on a kill target, allows heroes to better land skill shots, and makes you a genuine threat without needing to hide in a bush. I enjoy using Worker Rush aggressively to get the jump on heroes and position a Null Gate. Heroes like Azmodan are especially susceptible due to their larger hitbox. After detonating a double Warp Rift, they are dead! Without Null Gate, I would have a far more difficult time getting solo kills. Chasing down enemy heroes as Probius is always dangerous (still fun), but Null Gate makes it much safer and effective.

The level 13 talents have two popular options and a highly situational one. Aggressive Matrix is the least popular of the 3, with no top Probius player including this talent in their most-played build. It boosts allied heroes attack damage by 35%. This is a massive boost, and theoretically should be an amazing talent for attack damage-heavy teams. However, the issue is that most team fights involve some degree of mobility, and even more so for melee champions. The odds that a melee hero is aware of this talent (but do tell them), let alone is in range of a Pylon for any significant duration of a fight, is slim. If the fight somehow remains near a Pylon, it will likely be destroyed. To even place a Pylon in melee range during a fight can cause the enemy team to jump to Probius, an easier kill target than many. Power Overflowing is much more viable than Aggressive Matrix. It grants 10% increased spell power and 2 mana per second when in range of a Pylon. Not only does this talent actually benefit Probius directly, but it is more likely to be utilized by teammates due to most casters being positioned naturally in the back of a team fight where Probius would be. While 2 mana per second seems minuscule, an extra heal from a healer can save a fight sometimes. Shield Battery is the most popular level 13 Probius talent and is my go-to choice in every game. It allows you to out sustain many enemy heroes in duels, save teammates from normally lethal damage over time, and conserve healers' mana. Unlike the previous two talents, all teammates benefit from this talent. Damaged ranged heroes are likely already in Pylon range, and melee heroes, if low, will presumably retreat and be greeted by a Pylon waiting to shield them. Bonus: teammates love this talent and will make happy comments when it saves their life!

All 3 of the level 16 talents are popular, but there is a clear first and second choice for me. Quantum Entanglement is a solid, safe option, allowing Warp Rift's 25% slow reduction to persist for 3 seconds after an enemy hero's last contact with it. This slow allows you and your teammates to continue to punish enemy heroes more easily with less risk. There is no chance this ability can backfire--when in doubt, this talent is a solid choice and was my default talent choice as I learned Probius. Gravity Well is not my preferred choice, but it has good utility. Heroes closer to the center of a Warp Rift have their movement speed increasingly slowed, up to 60%. This is only 20% less movement speed reduction than Null Gate, making it a weaker but still decent version of Null Gate. I noticed that every top Probius player who uses this talent also chooses Pylon Overcharge over Null Gate. Without having Null Gate, this provides some much needed utility to help land Warp Rifts during team fights. My hesitation with this talent is that it appears to only be effective if enemies are already crowd controlled, thus a Warp Rift could be placed and armed directly on top of them. Besides this, enemies would not normally run through an entire Warp Rift, so the increased center slow would have no effect in many cases. Interference is truly a game-changing talent, arguably the best talent Probius has among all tiers. Enemy heroes hit by Warp Rift have their spell power reduced by 35% for 5 seconds! And this debuff even applies to healers. It shuts down enemy mages and healers for 5 seconds, assuming they do not die from the Warp Rift detonation itself. The reason this talent is not universally taken is due to the knockback effect--enemy heroes hit by Warp Rift are knocked away from its center. If not careful, this can help enemies escape additional damage from your team, or move a high threat target closer to your healer for them to kill. Therefore, extra care is needed on deciding where to place Rift Warps and when to detonate them. I love Null Gate because when a hero is slowed by 80%, it is easy to place them on the edge between 2 Warp Rifts. When they detonate, the knockback gets neutralized and they just bounce up and when they land they are probably dead. If not, they are in the same spot for my team to predictably land skill shots. Using interference requires you to consider your teammates and see if the pros outweigh the cons. For instance, if playing with a Kel'Thuzad, ideally wait for them to initiate their combo before detonating a Warp Rift. And you can help them land their combo by catching an enemy hero first with Null Gate. Additionally, interference is terrific for dueling as Probius. It can be used to interrupt Gul'dan's Drain Life, Nova's Triple Tap, E.T.C.'s Mosh Pit, Stukov's Lurking Arm, Nazeebo's Ravenous Spirit, etc. Unfortunately, Interference has a negative effect on PVE, because less things will be clumped for a second Warp Rift following the first that disperses them. If the enemy team lacks spell power-based heroes, and/or you are concerned with the knockback effect messing up teammates, take Quantum Entanglement instead.

I like 3/4 of the level 20 talents, but there is still one winner. Construct Additional Pylons is a safe choice that ensures increased value from Pylon Overcharge, even if unable to place or keep 3 Pylons alive near a fight. With 3 Pylons down, it practically doubles your original Pylon Overcharge damage. This will shred any heroes that get too close. Ideally, try to hide your 3 Pylons and wait for the enemy team to fully engage before ulting, in hopes they foolishly continue fighting, are already crowd controlled, or die while trying to run away. An advantage is that 3 pylons means greater vision throughout the map to catch unsuspecting enemies. The biggest challenge with this talent is Pylon placement and ulting at the right time. Often, teams will try to bait you to ult, then will promptly disengage and return to fight once it ends. The long 80 second cooldown is punishing as well. Gate Keeper is a fun talent that requires even more strategy than the Construct Additional Pylons talent. It truly allows you to lock down a region of the map. This talent shines when enemy heroes actually have incentive to get to that region, like locking down objectives in Blackheart's Bay, Dragon Shire, and Braxis Holdout. Any map with a distinct objective makes this talent viable. It can even be used to bait team fights, luring enemy heroes to charge into a bush only to find a permanent Null Gate slowing them all down for your team to follow up. It can also be used normally during a team fight to cause permanent chaos. The disadvantage of this talent is that heroes with long range casts like Azmodan's Globe of Annihilation can one-shot a Pylon, causing all the placed Null Gates around that particular Pylon to get destroyed. Therefore, placing a backup Pylon within range of a critical Null Gate is advised to ensure it remains up. Strategic, sneaky Pylon placement is essential for this talent to shine. Shoot 'Em Up is the worst talent option of this tier and is not recommended. A slightly empowered Disruption Pulse will still probably not be your main source of damage, even if the enemy team has a lot of tanks. This build synergizes with the level 7 talent Particle Accelerator, making Disruption Pulse's cooldown 2 seconds instead of 3. Probius Loop is the best talent available at level 20, assuming you can reliably hit enemy heroes with Warp Rifts. It causes an additional Warp Rift to be placed automatically after hitting a hero with Warp Rift. Like the level 16 Interference talent, it is game-changing. It maximizes your control and can result in exponential damage output if the enemy team is reckless or is crowd controlled. This talent has tremendous synergy with the level 1 talent Echo Pulse, allowing a double Warp Rift Detonation with a single Disruption Pulse while a safe distance away. To do this, fire a Disruption Pulse only once a Warp Rift is armed, and on its return, it will detonate the second Warp Rift and leave another one ready to be detonated again without using any additional Warp Rift charges. This cycle can cause catastrophic team fight damage that enemy teams do not tend to suspect. With Disruption Pulse, the second Warp Rift does not have to be detonated. If the enemy team moves away from it, move to the side so that your Pulse does not cross the center of the new Warp Rift on the return that would normally detonate it. This lets you maintain control of your Warp Rifts at all times.

Soon to come!
This guide will be updated regularly.
Thank you for reading and please let me know anything else you would like me to add.