This is my first guide, however, with this build I have 48 total games as Zeratul, with 28 wins, 806 takedowns and 97 deaths thus far, playing mostly QM Solo.

First and foremost, as Zeratul you are a stealth assassin, not a melee warrior. Just like the title says, you will stalk your prey from the shadows and strike when you smell blood. It is important that you don't spend too long going toe-to-toe. With this build you should be able to burst most squishies dead from 50% and anything else from 30%. If I have support, sometimes I teleport as they run away and just AA FTW.

Now, Zeratul is exceptional at dealing damage and getting away. So, I wait until I see weak prey, either injured, fleeing a battle, or outmatched and then I open up with Cleave [Q] and let an Auto-attack (AA) or 2 go, now I change the timing of my Singularity Spike [W] after I open and damage, sometimes I do it fast because I see them start to run, sometimes I wait just a second or so because they stand and fight ... now once it explodes on them they are basically lambs to the slaughter (ha!) or if safe I can blink over and finish them off.

Now, I sometimes use blink to chase a quick kill I know I can get, but it's a judgment call and you must have an out ... which is why I choose Void Prison . Void Prison, for me, is an escape/save tool. So, I only use it when I need to escape, or to freeze enemies chasing/ganking teammates. You've got to be good with this so you're not trapping your teammates all the time. I choose the damage of Nexus Blades because I'm rather accurate with who I want frozen.

So, you've got tons of damage to deal out, and two ways to get to safety.

I choose Seasoned Marksman because I prefer the extra AA damage toward endgame, and it starts to add up. As I'm roaming around the map, and after you get the 30% stealth damage boost, you can easily one-shot groups of minions for extra power. I don't spend loads of time AA minions because you can get power increase from all the Hero Kills you will be helping with too.



I take Gathering Power because this helps us with the burst damage we are going to be doing in order to scare people into not wanting to be around us. This gives your Cleave a 5% damage increase up to a max 15% (as you shouldn't be dying, and you should be in on most kills because you're bursting people down you should get, and sustain max easily). You will also see that increase to your Singularity Spike



This is where the burst shows up because you take Void Slash which grants 30% damage to Cleave if used coming out of stealth. This is the bread and butter to this build here.



As discussed in the Playstyle section, you take Void Prison for your ult. This gives you that extra utility that keeps you, and your teammates alive if you get caught in some sticky situations. Practice with this, so you can not panic-trap your teammates ... and try to keep yourself from panic situations period ... just like Chess, stay a few moves ahead of your opponents.



I take Assassin's Blade because this gives us a bit more sustained DPS, and as your Seasoned Marksman begins to add up, you will notice the difference. This helps as you AA slowed running targets trying to get away, or if you blink to a lamb in flight mode.



Generally is a toss-up, however most often I take Rending Cleave because with Cleave being the main damage dealer I like that extra DPS as they try to run. I don't think you can go wrong picking any other talent at this level based on how the board is playing out, though.



Take Nexus Blades and I take this, again, for the extra AA DPS and it's nice to not let them freely run away. I don't take the Void Prison final because I'm good at not trapping my teammates, and I don't take the Rewind ability because it feels insignificant with the short cooldowns of Zeratul's basic abilities to begin with ... DPS FTW!

-- NO -- I do not take Block because for this build I prefer the damage of skilled marksman or, sometimes, the regen of Regeneration Master.

-- NO -- I do not take Greater Cleave because increasing the radius of cleave is negligible compared to increasing life or damage on this build.

-- NO -- I do not take Rapid Displacement, even though it's going to add a little bit of extra utility with more frequent Blinks, it is not that necessary because later I will be getting the extra utility of Void Prison.

-- Sometimes -- Sometimes, when the mood strikes me, I take Regeneration Master, usually if I see the teams are going to equal me being in the **** a lot, the extra regen saves a trip back to base.

-- YES -- Seasoned Marksman is going to give you the little extra DPS at the end of the game that's going to let you continue to pester your enemies, and finish them off more triumphantly

-- NO -- I do not take Focused Attack because this build isn't auto attack focused.

-- NO -- I do not take Vampiric Strike because this talent only benefits the auto attacks. Our main focus is getting ability power up.

-- YES -- I take Gathering Power at level four because this is going to give us that extra burst damage that we want on our Cleave.

-- NO -- Sometimes, when the mood strikes me, I take Regeneration Master, usually if I see the teams are going to equal me being in the **** a lot, the extra regen saves a trip back to base.

-- NO -- Though it seems like it may have some uses ... Vorpal Blade is not beneficial to this build

-- NO -- I do not take Follow Through because this build isn't auto attack focused.

-- YES -- This is where you really start to get bursty. Take Void Slash and start dishing out damage.

-- NO -- This talent would be good for a Spike build, however we need the stealth burst here.

-- NO -- Though First Aid has a lot of utility, we are trading that for damage.

-- NO -- Though it seems like it may have some uses ... Searing Attacks is not beneficial to this build, however an auto attack build with Shadow Assault would greatly benefit from this.

-- NO -- Though Shadow Assault is great for DPS, this build needs more utility for survivability.

-- YES -- This is your Ace-In-The-Hole utility ability. Use this to stop chasing gankers, stop fleeing dead enemies, stop captures, turn-ins, what-have-you. Make sure you aren't using it willie-nillie though, because you're going to want it up and available should you seriously need it to save your life, or a teammates.

-- Maybe -- I only take Giant Killer if there is no problem finishing off squishies and the other team is life-heavy. This talent is only effective (at this tier) against enemies with life OVER 5000!!! (DBZ N E BODY?!)

-- NO -- Unless you're AFKing in stealth next to enemies there really is no reason I can see to take this talent.

-- MAYBE -- I like the utility of Wormhole because essential it's a real quick escape, and allows you to teleport in and out. This would make you the true assassin where you could Blink-> Cleave-> Singularity Spike->auto attack-> Wormhole ... especially behind walls to healing enemies.

-- YES -- Absolutely a good choice. Not only do you get the 10% stealthed move speed, but you get 25% damage to your auto attacks which at level 20 equates to about 75 extra damage ... which unless they have a lot of toons over 5000 health is more than worth it.

-- YES -- I most often prefer Rending Cleave because it gives more power to the main talent this build empowers: .

-- RARELY -- I get Double Bombs if the enemy team begins to constantly bug-out. If you've got them on the run this can help finish 'em off. However, take Rending Cleave as priority

-- NO -- For this build and play-style this defensive talent is unnecessary.

-- situational -- If you're completely decimating the other team, and you find yourself with years of auto attack time with this build at this point, go ahead and take this to finish people off.

-- NO -- This build is based around the utility of Void Prison

-- NO -- You should be good enough with your Void Prison that you're not snagging teammates in bad situations.

-- YES -- The extra color=green][b][i]20%[/i][/b][/color] to [[auto attack damage will help bring down any hero. And the slow keeps them from running away.

-- NO -- If Rewind reset your Permanent Cloak so you could have a second Cleave it would be worth it.

Battlefield of Eternity

On Battlefield Of Eternity you can start out by laning with teammates to gain AA power and EXP. I personally prefer to defend the Immortal when the time comes, and if you have another teammate to help you it becomes easy. It's nice to wait for the immortal to stun someone, oftentimes I see people that think no enemies are around too lazy to move out of the stun they are complacent. This makes it easy for you to finish them off, or just burst quickly on someone to scare them, then lather, rinse, repeat. You can cause serious problems for the other team doing this.

Blackheart's Bay

On Blackheart's Bay it becomes very easy for you to solo Doubloon Camps as the game progresses; eventually you one-shot 'em. You can gank the turn-in, and go around collecting coins for you team making this map easy to work on.

Cursed Hollow

On Cursed Hollow you can use Void Prison as a utility in attacking/defending the curse ... also your blink might be that in-the-nick-of-time save you need to keep them from capping. Get to the curse and pick off your prey FTW!

Dragon Shire

On Dragon Shire you can help at the shrines to assassinate foes down, or be stealth in mid to ninja-grab the Dragon if your team is strong on the shrines.

Garden of Terror

On Garden of Terror you will eventually be able to one-shot all minions for seeds, and you can help DPS the terror down easily, just stay out of that stun. Lane to begin with, get the seeds fast, and ninja assassinate FTW.

Haunted Mines

On Haunted Mines the relative smallness of the arena plays into your favor, because you don't have to move very far to find your prey. Cleave makes minions easy pickings for skulls so make sure you grab em fast, and teamfights become an assassin's playground, enjoy!

Sky Temple

On Sky Temple you really need to pay attention to the towers. The big *** dude with blade arms really hurts in early game so it helps if you have a tank present. The fighting that goes on over the temples helps you to assassinate your foes, but can make for dangerous situations if you end up in the middle of all your enemies with no escape. Void Prison comes in hand a lot on these "Hold the Objective" style maps.

Tomb of the Spider Queen

On Tomb of the Spider Queen all the minions help build attack power, and as you're building attack power you're also collecting gems. Typical assassin playstyle on this arena. Play smart, play deadly.

22.7.15 - Updated Toon Threats:

Jaina was down-graded as she's too squishy and if you get her after she casts she is done-did

Added a small amount of information Sylvannas, Kael'Thos, Falstad

Dropped Illidan down to green because he's easy to negate with Blink and Void Prison and he's
fairly squishy.

Moved Brightwing up a bit in threat

Dropped Abathur down in threat

Added Leoric to the threat graph.

Working on a reasoning section for the Talent Breakdown of this build. -finished

Added an auto attack build WIP


19.7.15 - Added Battlefield Of Eternity tips, fixed a duplicate map entry.