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Hello ladies and gentlemen and welcome to my Zeratul guide. My name is Sike and I've been playing Heroes of the Storm since the early alpha (mainly as assassin). I instantly fell in love with Zeratul and played a lot of games with this hero, therefore I'd like to share several builds that I find the most relevant in current meta, with you. This is my first experience of writing a detailed guide for Heroes of the Storm, so please leave your comments - they will help to improve the guide. I'll do my best to keep this guide up-to-date and add more information on Zeratul playstyle.

If you like this guide, please rate it on top of the page. Have a good time!

Question!: Should i put low priority talents under the spoilers?

Zeratul is one of two permanently cloaked (invisible) heroes in the game. His set of abilities allows him to be good all-around. Combination of Cleave and Singularity Spike makes him one of the most bursty heroes in the game as well as allows him to keep up with an enemy hero due to slow granted by Singularity Spike.

With the recent addidion of Rewind this ability combination allows to ensure kills even better. Mobility given by Blink allows him to engage and disengage before the enemy is able to counter him. Zeratul's ultimate Void Prison is often considered to be one of the best ultimates in the game, allowing him to save allies, divide enemy team and overall change the outcome of the fight. Furthermore, if needed, Zeratul can deal pretty fast with groups of minions via Cleave or assist effectively on mercenary camps.

Pros:

• Extremely high burst damage
• Ability to slow opponents
• Makes enemy feel unsafe anywhere on the map
• One of the best ultimates in the game
• Very mobile = hard to kill
• Decent wave-clear

Cons:

• Very squishy
• Relatively hard to play
• Might encounter mana problems at the beginning of the game
• Has no mouth
• Less useful against tanky opponents

(Q) Cleave Cooldown: 6 seconds "Deal 75 (+17 per level) damage to nearby enemies."

Cleave deals good amount of AOE damage in small radius around Zeratul. Not only it is useful while bursting an enemy, but also allows you to quickly clear minion waves. This ability is mainly used after Singularity Spike, as it has a much shorter cooldown and shorter range. Beware of the radius of Cleave! As large as it might seem, there is still a high possibility of missing with it and waste an essential part of your burst.

(W) Singularity Spike Cooldown: 12 seconds "Flings a Singularity Spike that sticks to the first enemy unit hit. Deals 100 (+20 per level) damage after 1 second and slows the target by 40% for 3 seconds."

Singularity Spike is one of the main Zeratul's play-making abilities. It deals extremely high damage and applies slow effect that allows you to stick to the target in order to Cleave and do basic attacks. Therefore you will find this ability being used first in a combo. However, beware of heroes with escapes! If you've been spotted before your attack, opponent might use their escape ability such as Vault and your Singularity Spike will hit the air insteard. In many cases you might wait till their escape ability is on cooldown and only then put Singularity Spike. It is important to mention that talents Zeratul has open a whole variety of new applications of Singularity Spike and we will talk about it later in talents section

(E) Blink Cooldown: 10 seconds "Teleport to the target location. Using this Ability does not break cloak."

Blink is one of the most amazing abilities in Zeratul toolkit and it is what differs him from Nova and creates his unique playstyle. Blink can be used to engage and disengage as well as to dodge enemy skillshots. You are able to blink to places where you don't have vision, therefore it often allows you to jump over the obstacles on the map and put you completely out of range of your enemy. In general, you don't want to engage with Blink, so you just run into a fight on a mount, do your combo and blink out. However when you get Wormhole it becomes all different. We will discuss this talent in the dedicated section.

(R1) Shadow Assault Cooldown: 100 seconds "Gain a bonus 20% increased Attack Speed, and Basic Attacks charge enemy units. Lasts for 6 seconds."

When you look at the description, Shadow Assault might seem extremely cool. It gives you power to stick to your target and deal insane damage with basic attacks. This might, indeed, be very good if you are soloing other hero, however, in current team-fight focused meta, Shadow Assault doesn't seem that great. To gain maximum benefit from this ability, you have to go for basic-attacks build, however, as you are very squishy for meelee, you don't want to stay there for long time.

(R2) Void Prison Cooldown: 100 seconds "Slows time in an area to a near standstill, freezing all units for 5 seconds. Zeratul is not affected."

Void Prison is arguably one of the best heroic abilities in the game. If used properly it can allow you to setup wombo-combos, split enemy team, secure kills, save allies, block entrances... There are many ways to use this abilitiy, however, be aware of what your allies are doing. If misused, Void Prison could potentially ruin combos, save enemy team from ally's ultimates, such as Ravenous Spirit or put your team in disadvantageous position in some other way. Therefore, use this ability with caution, and you will be able to change the game in favor of your team.

(Combat Trait) Permanent Cloak "Automatically cloak when out of combat for Trait seconds. Taking damage, attacking, or channeling reveals you."

Permanent Cloak is the ability all your playstyle as Zeratul is based around. After not taking damage for several seconds, you become invisible and untargetable for the enemy. Using abilities, Area Of Effect damage or vision abilities can make you visible again.. However, this invisibility is not complete: enemy can see disturbance in the air at the place where you are standing. Running makes it even more noticeable, therefore one should not feel completely safe while invisible and still make use of environment (bushes etc.) while preparing to attack.

First of all, let me briefly introduce you to the builds presented in this guide. These two builds are, in my opinion, the two most viable talent choices for competitive game in current meta. Of course, it does not mean that you can't build your Zeratul around basic attacks and use Shadow Assault as an ultimate or deviate from these talent choices in any other way.

The Single-target assassin build is the one you will find yourself yousing most often. It gives you the most burst damage potential which would be great to nuke squishy enemy heroes. Hello, Li Li, Tyrande, Nazeebo and others!

The Safe build is... basically what it's called. It is useful when your opponents have a lot of control and high burst damage i.e. it is possible that they will lock you down possibly kill. Furthermore, it helps you live against heroes with strong basic attacks, such as Nova or Sgt. Hammer

Block - Safe Build "Periodically reduces the damage received from Hero Basic Attacks by 50%. Stores up to 2 charges."

Blockmight seem as a very minor boost to your survivability, however, it prevents you from getting bursted down. If you see that you might be in danger of dying quickly while performing your combo, take this talent. It won't really negatively affect your single-target dps, but will save your life in dangerous situation. Staying alive is extremely important, as your presense by itself is a threat to your opponent.

Greater Cleave - Single-Target Assassin "Increases the radius of Cleave by 33%."

Greater Cleave will be your main pick in tier 1. One might see this talent as useless, as he is obviously skilled enough to stay in meelee range while using Cleave. However, think about it: this talent not only makes it harder to miss with Cleave, but it also allows you to hit multiple opponents with it, effectively multiplying ability's damage. Although you are aiming to burst one target, extra damage on the others is never bad. Furthermore it allows you to clean minion waves or objective-related mobs easilly if you need to.

Regeneration Master - Safe Build "Increases Health Regeneration by 4 per second. Every 3 Regeneration Globes gathered increases this bonus by 4."

Regeneration Master might seem as a very strange talent choice for Zeratul. However, health regeneration works quite well with this hero playstyle. You are usually roaming trying to get a kill and you have a lot of opportunities to pick up regeneration globes. Health regeneration then allows you to roam even more with no need to heal. As mentioned before, Zeratul's presense is scary by itself and it puts immense pressure on the opponent. However, it won't help you much in teamfight, if enemies are bursting you. Block will soak much more damage than this talent will manage to regenerate in 1-2 seconds.

Rapid Displacement - Not a usual pick "Reduces the cooldown on Blink by 1.5 seconds"

Rapid Displacement doesn't seem particularly strong to me. -1.5 seconds off Blink cooldown is not much. Furthermore, your Singularity Spike cooldown is 12 seconds. You don't want to engage with it on cooldown, but it will usually go off cooldown approximately at the same time as Blink. Therefore, Rapid Displacement doesn't seem to be very helpful.

Seasoned Marksman - Not a usual pick "For every 6 Minion or Mercenary kills near your Hero, gain 1 Basic Attack damage. Hero Takedowns count as 2 Minion kills."

Seasoned Marksman might seem quite good, but it doesn't really go along with hit-and-run Zeratul playstyle discussed in this guide. This talent can add a good bit of damage to your basic attacks, however, you won't be able to do many basic attacks overall. Staying in a fight often means death for Zeratul and if you are simply chasing someone, securing a kill should not be an issue even without this talent.

Gathering Power - Single-Target Assassin "Passively grants 5% Ability Power. Each Hero takedown grants a bonus 2% Ability Power, up to 10% . This bonus Ability Power is lost upon death."

Gathering Power gives you even more damage and even more reasons to stay alive. Correlates amazingly with Double Bombs and Rewind allowing you to deal CRAZY amounts of burst damage, especially later in the game. Zeratul generally doesn't die often if played properly so your chances to keep all stacks are quite good.

Sustained Anomaly - Safe Build "Singularity Spike now explodes for area damage and slows, regardless if it hits a target or not."

Sustained Anomaly is a generally good talent, although you take it at a cost of single-target damage provided by Gathering Power. If you choose Safe Build it could mean that you are not always able to get in meelee range safely. This talent allows you to still stay very impactful. If enemeys stay close to each other it will give you some very good AOE, furthermore it allows you to put bombs on top of Void Prison right before it expires and thus contribute to your team's wombo-combo. And one more nice thing: even if you miss with your Singularity Spike there is now a chance that someone will still run into it.

Focused Attack - Not a usual pick "Every 10 seconds, your next Basic Attack deals 50% additional damage. Basic Attacks reduce this cooldown by 1 second."

Well... This talent doesn't have much of an impact. Although you probably will be able to do at least one basic attack while jumping on your enemy, you still deal the vast majority of your damage with your abilities. Furthermore, if you can't safely come in meelee range at some point, this talent will be useless, while Singularity Spike buffed by Gathering Power can be used pretty much in any situation. Overall, not a horrible talent but the opportunity cost is too high.

Vampiric Assault - Not a usual pick "Basic Attacks heal for 15% of damage dealt."

To benefit from this talent you need to keep hitting the target. In teamfight you will probably be killed by the time this talent helps you. Potentially can benefit well from Shadow Assault but as I said, in current meta Zeratul is more of a hit-and-run hero. If you wish to be more sticky, I advise to try Illidan.

Vorpal Blade - Not a usual pick "Activate to teleport to the last non-structure target you attacked within 3 seconds. 15 second cooldown."

Zeratul doesn't have problems chasing the target if he needs to. To be honest, I don't really see any use of this talent.

First Aid - Any Build "Activate to heal 35% of your max Health over 6 seconds."

First Aid allows you to stay in combat longer, do your combo more times, therefore apply more pressure and secure more kills. Furthermore it makes you less reliant on your support, which might allow them to save other teammate who is close to death and therefore makes your team much stronger and survivable overall. There is no point in not taking this talent, even if you are going for pure assassin build.

Follow through - Not a usual pick "After using a basic ability, your next Basic Attack deals 25% additional damage."

This talent will help you deal some damage, however I don't see any point taking it over the First Aid. Dead Zeratul doesn't deal damage. Therefore this talent can be seen as not the most dps-y in this tier.

Void Slash - Not a usual pick "Cleave deals 30% more damage if used while cloaked."

Similar to Follow Through, it will in theory boost your burst. However, it probably won't. The problem is that in your combo you first want to use Singularity Spike, put it on cooldown, narrow the distance and then Cleave. With this talent you have to get close to your opponent first, then open up with cleave, which gives them a better chance to escape before you put Singularity Spike on them or deal some extra damage with basic attacks. Despite how good the description of this talent sounds, I currently find it rather bad, especially if you can take First Aid insteard.

Shadow Spike - Not a usual pick "No longer decloak when using Singularity Spike. Range increased by 20%."

Shadow Spike also seems to be quite a useless talent. Think about it. If you are using Shadow Spike you are probably aiming to get closer to your enemy and at least Cleave+ basic attack him. Furthemore, even if you don't decloak, enemy still can see where your Shadow Spike came from and they expect you to attack. If you are just poking with Shadow Spike you will probably still be in range to escape or enemy will AoE decloak you anyway. Therefore this talent doesn't really do much at all and it gets even less valuable with people learing how to spot Zeratul

Searing Attacks - Not a usual pick "Activate to increase Basic Attack damage by 50% for 5 seconds. Each attack costs 15 Mana."

Searing Attacks is seemingly a very strong talent, especially when used with Shadow Assault. However, as I've already mentioned, Zeratul is too squishy to go for Illidan-like build in the current meta. If you end up sticking to the target, you are likely to be able to kill it even without Searing Attacks and First Aid will compensate for the extra health lost.

Void Prison - Any Build "Slows time in an area to a near standstill, freezing all units for 5 seconds. Zeratul is not affected."

Void Prison is one of the best ultimates in the game, which however, requires a lot of practice to use. So many Zeratuls got blamed for the bad use of this ability... I mentioned a lot of possible uses of Void Prison in abilities description and a lot more can be found. Every Void Prison should be used thoughfully and strategically and it could provide your team with enormous advantage over the enemy. Just to mention, currently if placed on the capture area of the merc camp this ultimate blocks capturing it completely. However, camp steals are still possible if Void Prison can be placed on badly postitioned opponents, staying away from capture area itself. Although I would not recommend you to completely rely on it.

Shadow Assault - Not a usual pick "Gain a bonus 20% increased Attack Speed, and Basic Attacks charge enemy units. Lasts for 6 seconds."

This talent's description sounds quite good, especially paired with talents such as Focused Attack and Searing Attacks, however again, you are too squishy to play so openly in current meta. Singularity Spike gives you enough stickyness if needed and you already have enough damage from your other abilities. Void Prison is much more game-changing and impactful and it allows you to do your job of bursting squishy opponents much better than Shadow Assault

Wormhole - Any Build "For 3 seconds, you can activate Blink again to return to the point where it was cast from."

Amazing talent for Zeratul playstyle in current meta. It allows you to Blink on your opponent, get even closer to them, do your damage and return back to where you started from. This talent not only allows you to engage with blink, it also technically allows you to blink further. After your initial blink you can still make a couple of steps towards your opponent and even chase him a bit. Therefore by using Wormhole you blink back to a much higher distance you could have blinked otherwise. Hint: After you get Wormhole it is a good idea to dismount before blinking. After you dismount you can't mount again for several seconds, so you can't blink back and mount straight-away

Giant Killer - Not a usual pick "Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes deal bonus damage equal to 1.5% of the Hero's max Health."

Giant Killer provides you with a very small damage boost insteard of insane mobility of Wormhole. Especially considering that you will usually end up focusing squishy targets this talent is useless.

Burning Rage - Not a usual pick "Deals 10 (+2 per level) damage per second to nearby enemies."

You don't stay close to your opponents for long, therefore I don't see any point in this talent. In fact, I don't see any point in its existence at all. Other talents in this tier will give you more damage even if you go for basic attacks build.

Assassin's Blade - Not a usual pick "Gain 25% Attack Damage for 5 seconds when breaking cloak. 10% increased Movement Speed while cloaked."

Very attractive talent. Can potentially add a lot of damage to a couple of your basic attacks after you engage. However, surviavability and mobility boost you get from Wormhole gives you so much risk-free presense that it is too good to give up.

Spell Shield - Not a usual pick "Upon taking Ability Damage, reduce all Ability Damage taken by 50% for 2 seconds. Can only trigger once every 30 seconds."

With hit-and-run style you won't be taking too much damage. Although this talent can help against such heroes as Nova, you will probably still be much better off by just dodging the incoming damage via Wormhole.

Double Bombs - Any Build "After you cast Singularity Spike, you can cast a second one for free within 3 seconds."

Double Bombs is probably one of the best talents in your toolkit. After Sylvanas patch, the second bomb deals only 50% of damage, however, it is still the highest single-target damage talent in this tier and it works extremely well with Rewind

Rending Cleave - Any Build "Cleave deals an additional 50% damage over 5 seconds."

Rending Cleave became more of a viable talent choice after Sylvanas patch. It still won't give you as much damage on single target as Double Bombs, however the difference is very minor. Furthermore, second bomb can miss, while Rending Cleave will always deal its damage as long as you hit an enemy. It is important to mention that your overall hero damage is likely to be higher with Rending Cleave than with Double Bombs as your cleave deals damage to several targets by default and has a lower cooldown.

Stoneskin - Not a usual pick "Activate to gain 30% of your Max Health as Shields for 5 seconds."

Stoneskin is not a bad talent by itself and it could even be considered for some ultra-safe build. However, Double Bombs give you so much damage that it is just an essential part of any build. Furthermore, you already have enough survivability from your Wormhole, First Aid and possibly Regeneration Master/ Block

Berserk - Not a usual pick "Activate to increase your Attack Speed by 40% and Movement Speed by 10% for 4 seconds."

Berserk could be seen as a viable choice if you decide to go for basic-attacks build. However, even then Double Bombs are more reliable, more safe and extremely dpsy.

Rewind - Any Build "Activate to refresh the cooldown of your Basic Abilities."

Rewind effectively doubles your damage. It gives you twice as many Singularity Spike, twice as many Cleave, twice as many bink. Try using Rewind when all your abilities are on cooldown, however, if you need that extra Blink to save your live, you should Rewind it as dead zeratul doesn't deal any damage. With this talent you can burst any squishy hero pretty much instantly and your presense will have even higher impact. It is just too good. Take it.

Nerazim Fury - Not a usual pick "Shadow Assault grants 30% Life Steal, and the duration is increased by 50% ."

Very stron buff to Shadow Assault but even with it you can't be survivalbe enough to make basic-attack build viable. Void Prison is still stronger, so if we don't take Shadow Assault this talent won't be even available for us.

Protective Prison - Not a usual pick "Allies are no longer affected by Void Prison."

Protective Prison can sometimes do more bad than good. Sometimes Void Prison can be used to save your allies life and this talent makes such use of your ultimate no longer viable. Furthermore, if you don't want your allies to get stuck in Void Prison you will probably put it carefully enough. Extra damage from Rewind is much better.

Nexus Blades - Not a usual pick "Basic attacks deal 20% more damage and slow the target for 1 second."

Nexus Blades gives you some extra basic attacks boost and allows you to stick to your target even better. But again, you are not always able to stay in meelee range at all and you are not going for basic-attack build. Rewind helps you deal much more burst and potentially destroy a target, therefore it is going to be your choice on level 20 almost always.

Generally you will start the game on a middle lane, except the cases when your team is specifically planning a first kill elsewhere. Your aim for the early game is to roam between the lanes and try to secure kills for your team. Your presence prevents enemy team from overextending, as if caught out of position they can be easily killed. It is specifically important to help your teammates with CC as it greatly increases your chances to kill an enemy.
While preparing for gank, don't forget that Permanent Cloak doesn't make you completely invisible, therefore you might want to use the bushes for your advantage in order to make your attack even more unexpected.
You generally don't want to stay on any particular lane for long and kill minions, except those cases when your teammate is teleporting back or can't unpush the lane quickly by himself.
Regeneration Master talent benefits a lot from your roaming as you often might be able to get healing globes from different lanes.



Check what ultimates enemy heroes have taken - it is very important for your survivability to know what to expect from your opponent.
Objective becomes more important and impactful mid-game, therefore you might want to use your abilities to get maximum benefit from it. Permanent Cloak, Void Prison and Blink allow you to steal collectible objectives from your enemy and stay unpunished. This can be a useful trick on Garden of Terror and Haunted Mines and can give your team an advantage.
Furthermore, as you know you are not that great at taking mercenary camps solo. Therefore, you might often prioritize scouting to assisting your allies on mercs. Knowing where your enemys are and what they are doing can give your team a good strategic advantage. With your help, your team can predict weather your enemy is taking camps/bosses, preparing to push or to ambush you. This scouting also puts pressure on your enemy making them play less aggressively as they know that you have more information than they do. Furthermore, opponent heroes will be less likely to split-push and walk around alone in general as you might be there to kill them.



Late Game nowadays is all about big decisive team-fights, therefore you want to contribute to them as much as you possibly can. At this stage it is unlikely that you will be able to catch an opponent hero solo and unprotected - teams mainly walk together and big fights happen around the objectives.
In a big teamfight your main goal is to stay away from the massive brawl and try and attack squishy heroes, like Tyrande, Gazlowe, Valla etc. Your presence will not let them do their job properly and make them focus on surviving. At this moment of the game you already have all your talents, therefore Double Bombs + Rewind will allow you to blow up squishy opponent heroes rather quickly.
Don't forget about your hit-and-run playstyle. You don't generally want to stay in melee for long attacking one opponent as it can potentially lead to your death. It is almost always better to Blink back and survive, although maybe dealing less damage. Every death at this point can change the game, and you definitely don't want to be the one dying.
Make a good use of your Void Prison in a fight weather to split up your opponent team, prepare a wombo-combo or escape. It is much easier to do in teams with voice coordination, however, with practice, good uses of Void Prison are always possible.

I've recently received some feedback on matchmkrs

• 26.04.2015 - Regeneration Master is back.
  
  
• 31.03.2015 - guide updated according to Sylvanas patch changes.
  
  Double Bombs (Talent)
  The second bomb now deals 50% damage.
  
  Void Prison (R)
  Now dims out affected Heroes status bars
  
  
• 23.03.2015 - tested Regeneration Master more properly, now find it inferior to Block in most cases.