(TRAIT) Locust Strain

Cooldown: 15 secondsSpawns a Locust to attack down the nearest lane every 25 seconds. Locust last for 2 seconds.

This is where your little baby locusts come from. Every 20 seconds, Abathur will spawn a locust from his body which will help push a lane. You will not receive experience from minions that die in a lane with just your locust, unless they get the killing blow. It is important to have your symbiote on them or a nearby minion if no one else is in that lane to soak the experience.

(Z) Deep Tunnel

Cooldown: 30 secondsQuickly tunnel to a visible location.

Unlike most heroes, Abathur does not get access to a mount. Instead, you’re given a 30 second cooldown teleport that you can use to instantly move accross the map, as long as you have vision of your destination. This can be used aggresively to soak or push a lane, or defensively to avoid getting ganked.

(Q) Symbiote

Cooldown: 4 secondsAssists the target allied Unit or Structure, allowing Abathur to shield them and use Stab, Spike Burst and Carapace.Cannot be used on self, Grave Golems, or Summoned Units.

This ability allows Abathur to help a teammate out anywhere on the map. You become a “hat” on top of a teammate which allows you to use a set of new abilities. While symbioting (Q), Abathur is locked in place so be sure to cast it from a safe location. This ability can also be used on your structures and any friendly minion. Your Symbiote (Q) abilities’ cooldowns reset everytime you recast Symbiote (Q).

(Symbiote Q) Stab

Cooldown: 3 secondsShoots a spike towards target area that deals 44 (+9 per level) damage to the first enemy it contacts. Must be in Symbiote to cast Stab.

This is a skill-shot that deals pretty good damage. It has a 3 second cooldown and is your prime source of damage in team fights and sieges pushing. Stab has 2 charges and can be reset faster by taking symbiote off someone and recasting it again. If all stab charges are down and your current Symbiote (Q) target does not need you there, it is best to pick a new target to maximize your damage.

(Symbiote W) Spike Burst

Cooldown: 6 secondsDeals 32 (+10 per level) damage to nearby enemies. Must be in Symbiote to cast Stab.

Spike burst is great for wave clear as hits all minions in a radius around the Symbiote’d (Q) target. It also deals a decent amount of damage. It has a longer cooldown than Symbiote (Q), so it’s a pretty good idea to choose a new Symbiote (Q) target right after casting it to have its cooldown reset, especially if you’re looking to push a wave.

(Symbiote E) Carapace

Cooldown: 12 secondsThe assisted ally gains a 140 (+16 per level) point shield that lasts up to 8 seconds. Must be in Symbiote to cast Stab.

This is your shield and only support ability to help keep you team alive during fights. This ability also has a longer cooldown than Symbiote (Q), so it’s best to choose a new Symbiote (Q) target right after casting it to have its cooldown reset, especially during fights.

(W) Toxic Nest

Cooldown: 12 secondsSpawn a toxic mine that becomes active after a short delay. Enemy units that encounter the mine take 35 (+15 per level) damage and are revealed for 4 seconds. The mine will last up to 90 seconds.

This skill has close to a global range. You can place them at chokepoints or frequently travelled paths to reveal and damage enemies, acting as wards and giving your team vision of the enemy team’s movements. You can also stack them in one spot, like at the entrace of the mines, for a massive burst of damage. Keep in mind that these nests will expire after 90 seconds, so it’s best to keep constantly placing them around the map.

(R1) Ultimate Evolution

Heroic AbilityCooldown: 70 secondsClone target allied Hero and control it for 20 seconds. Abathur has perfected the clone, granting it 20% Ability Power, 20% bonus Attack Damage, and 10% bonus Movement Speed. Cannot use the allied Hero’s Heroic Abilities.

You can cast this ability on any ally and become a mirror image of them. Unfortunately, after recent nerfs, you no longer gain their heroic ability or talents. It is best to use on heroes that do not rely on their heroic ability as much in order to deal damage. It now also grants the enemy team experience if it is killed, so be careful with it. Because it only has a 20 second life-cycle, be absolutely sure a team fight is about to break out before using it.

(R2) Evolve Monstrosity

Heroic AbilityCooldown: 90 secondsTurn an allied Minion or Locust into a Monstrosity. When enemy Minions near the Monstrosity die, it gains 5% Health and 5% Basic Attack damage, stacking up to 30 times. The Monstrosity takes 50% less damage from Minions and Structures. Using Symbiote on the Monstrosity allows you to control it, in addition to Symbiote’s normal benefits.

At last but not least, we have Abathur’s second heroic ability, Evolve Monstrosity. This ability creates a monster that gets stronger after every minion it kills. It can be spawned from any friendly minion or locust. On a small note, if you use it on a mage creep, it will prevent the enemy team from getting a regen globe. You can move the monstrosity to whereever you like if you Symbiote (Q) it. When released, it will push forward just like the locust. This monster last indefinitely or until it is killed. It gains health and attack damage the more minions it kills, so try to keep it alive for as long as possible. Keep it behind your minions to avoid taking unnecesary tower shots when pushing.

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(1) Survival Instincts

REQUIRED

Increases Locust’s Health by 30% and duration by 40%.

This skill is key as you will be combining it with your level 16 talent, Locust Brood, and your level 13 talent, Assault Strain, in order to split push effectively. The health bonus goes a long way when the only damage they’re taking is from minions and structures.

(4) Adrenal Overload

REQUIRED

Symbiote host gains 25% increased Attack Speed.

This talents gets an amazing amount of value if you have Illidan or Valla on your team. Illidan will get his cooldowns faster thanks to his trait, and Valla will gain Hatred stacks quicker. It also works very well on heroes that have high auto attack damage like Sgt. Hammer.

(7) Needlespine

REQUIRED

Increases the damage and range of Symbiote’s Stab by 20%.

The 20% range upgrade from this talent allows you to snipe people trying to get away with low health and the extra damage makes your Symbiotes (Q) much stronger in teamfights. You’ll see a pretty noticeable damage spike this level.

(10) Evolve Monstrosity

REQUIRED

Turn an allied Minion or Locust into a Monstrosity. When enemy Minions near the Monstrosity die, it gains 5% Health and 5% Basic Attack damage, stacking up to 30 times. The Monstrosity takes 50% less damage from Minions and Structures. Has a 90 second cooldown. Using Symbiote on the Monstrosity allows you to control it, in addition to Symbiote’s normal benefits.

In the new patch, Monstrosity no longer has a duration. This skill is all about creating pressure. The more minions it kills, the stronger it gets and the more pressure it generates. Keep it healthy and away from map objectives. This way, you’ll force the enemy team to make a hard decision of grouping for the objective or splitting to defend against the Monstrosity (R).

(13) Assault Strain

REQUIRED

Locust Basic Attacks cleave for 50% damage, and explode on death for 50 (+5 per level) damage.

This is when you really start putting pressure on the lanes your locusts are pushing. The cleave will allow them to clear waves much faster and the explosion deals a really high amount of damage. It also becomes less important to Symbiote (Q) them to soak experience now, since they’ll be getting the killing blow on minions much more often.

(16) Locust Brood

REQUIRED

Activate to spawn 3 Locusts at a nearby location.

This is when your locusts reach their final form. Each time you drop these three locusts, you are pretty much guaranteed some structure damage. Make sure it use it every time it comes off cooldown to keep the pressure up.

(20) Hivemind

REQUIRED

Casting Symbiote creates an additional Symbiote on a nearby allied Hero. This Symbiote mimics the commands of the first. If the second host moves too far away, it is destroyed.

This is what makes Abathur strong in teamfights. With this talent, you’ll be giving two teammates 25% attack speed thanks to Adrenal Overload, shields to each one with Carapace (Symbiote E), and doubling your poke damage with Stabs (Symbiote Q).

Tip: You can Symbiote (Q) a Dragonknight by targeting a teammate nearby thanks to this talent.

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EARLY GAME

GAME START

When the game begins, use your Deep Tunnel (Z) to tunnel to the front of a lane and spawn the first locust by your towers. As the locust moves foward, it’ll waste some tower shots or get some free hero damage. Immediately start laying down your Locust Nests (W) all around the map. Thanks to queue commands, you can do all of that at the same time.

LANING

Laning depends on the map you are playing on and your team comp. You generally want to be in the lane that is getting pushed the hardest by the enemy team to stop their early game aggression. You can really hinder the power of a pushing tri-lane with your locusts. Whenever you see all 5 enemies on the map, try to position yourself near the minions at a lane far from them in order to soak experience. This will happen often when an objective, such as a tribute on Cursed Hollow, spawns. Keep laying down your Locust Nests (W) strategically around the map.

OBJECTIVES

Like I mentioned, it’s best for you to Deep Tunnel (Z) away from objectives in order to soak a lane far away from them. Make sure your teammates know not to commit to a fight before level 10, since you put them at a disadvantage. In fact, your Symbiote (Q) won’t really have the same value of a full hero until level 20. If they can delay a tribute by poking from far away, you can get a pretty big experience advantage by body-soaking one lane, and Symbiote (Q) soaking another.

MID/LATE GAME

SPLIT-PUSHING

This is what this builds excels at. You always want to be on the other side of the map, across from all the action, in order to have your locusts pushing uncontested. With this said, you should always Symbiote (Q) teammates when they start fighting. It may not look like much, but Abathur’s Symbiote (Q) abilities a quickly turn a fight around in your team’s favor. Whenever the fight ends, resume placing Nests (W) around for vision and keep pushing with your Monstrosity (R).

MONSTROSITY

Try using this ability in lanes where there are no enemy heroes. When objectives spawn is generally a good time to pop this bad boy out since they’ll be distracted. If possible, put it in the lane that is pushed the furthest into your base so that it has time to gain stacks. This way, you also won’t have to micro it as much since there won’t be any enemy towers nearby. It will pretty much soak all of the lane experience on its own, especially as it gets stronger. Keep moving it behind your minions if it ever starts getting too far ahead or taking tower shots. You should be more focused on helping your teammates and body-soaking, but check on him once in a while to make sure hes not dying stupidly.

MAPS & LOCUST NESTS

Because every battleground is so unique in Heroes of the Storm, I’ll be going over some key spots where you’ll want to place your Locust Nests (W) on each one. In every map, you generally want to place nests near the lane that you think is most susceptible to being ganked. This will reveal any incoming attacks, giving them plenty of time to retreat safely. Here are some more specific locations.

Whenever the enemy team controls both shrines, you need to place a few nests near the middle statue to delay them from capping. You can also stack a a ton of mines in one of the brushes by either shrine to burst enemies down.

You can really delay a team by placing down mines when they’re trying to cap a tribute. If no one destroys the mine while it’s forming, the damage will actually go off before the channel finishes, preventing them from capping. It’s also a good idea to keep a nest or two near both Grave Golems, especially in the late game.

In Blackheart’s Bay, you can do something similar by delaying your opponent from turning coins in. Just like before, if no one is there to help their teammate kill the nests as they’re forming, they will always be interrupted by the explosion.

You should always keep a few mines near the center to mantain vision of the Hard Camp. You can also stack a ton of nests at one of the two entraces to the mine to instantly burst someone coming up or going down. After escaping the mines, players with very little health tend to walk inside of the brushes near the exits, so place a few in those as well.

Keep mines near the two giant plants to give your team a chance to immediately react in case they begin fighting one.

If you know which shrines are spawning next, try to place mines near them to give your team the health advantage when they activate. Also keep a few ones near the boss to make sure they don’t sneak it by you.

Since this is such a small map, you can actually place mines across all three lanes to prevent early ganks. As the mid and late game approaches, start laying nests near the boss at the top.

TEAM FIGHTS

INITIATING

This is a tricky concept when playing with Abathur because your team should be trying to gain a level advantage by avoiding fights, not forcing them. If you can convince your team to simply delay fights by poking, you’ll be ahead most of the game thanks to the superior experience soaking and pushing power that Abathur brings to the table. If you can stay in the game and beat them to 20, the game is yours to lose with Hivemind. This playstyle makes Abathur a very risky pick in solo-queue, since players aren’t willing to adapt on a game by game basis.

POSITIONING

As mentioned before, whenever a fight breaks lose, be sure to be on the other side of the map soaking experience near your minions. Try to be inside of a brush so that the enemy can’t snipe you with global abilities or quickly hunt you down as the fight ends.

SPELLS & COOLDOWNS

During fights, you want to use your abilities as they become available since they have such short cooldowns. You should be looking to constantly damage enemies with Stab (Symbiote Q) and Spike Burst (W), while shielding your target with Carapace (Symbiote E) when they’re about to take damage. If you get a small break during a fight, cancel your Symbiote (Q), place a few Locust Nests (W), and Symbiote (Q) again. Remember that this will refresh the cooldown of all your Symbiote (Q) abilities.

TARGETS

Your targets are limited by the position of the person you’re Symbioting (Q). You generally want to be hitting whatever your team is focusing down at the time. You can only really aim your Stab (Symbiote Q), so there’s not much room for choosing wrong targets in fights.

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TEAMMATES

Illidan

Adrenal Overload synergizes very well with his trait, allowing him to get his cooldowns back up even faster. You pair this with Metamorphosis, and Illidan will go nuts.

Valla

Similar to Illidan, Valla benefits a ton from Adrenal Overload. She’ll be reaching max hatred stacks insanely fast with it.

E.T.C.

It’s hard to pinpoint a single tank that Abathur works well with since they all fill similar roles. Symbiote (Q) on tanky melees is effective because they tend to last longer than most heroes and they dive the back-line, letting you attack priority targets.

ENEMIES

Zeratul

This hero is capable of instantly killing you without any danger once he picks up double singularity spike thanks to his permanent stealth. A good Zeratul will always force you to play more passively, hindering your split push.

Nova

Similar to Zeratul, she can easily kill you thanks to permament stealth. She is more susceptible to being punished for it since she has no mobility, but that all depends on your teammates. Once she picks up Precision Strike, she can start killing you globally.

Sgt. Hammer

B.F.G. OP. RIP Abathur.

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CURRENT STATE

This Abathur build really only excels on two maps – Sky Temple and Cursed Hollow. The build is meant to split push until level 20 and out level your opponents thanks to your superior soaking. You reach your peak at level 20 thanks to how insanely strong Hivemind is. These two maps provide distractions that allow your team not to hard-engage while you soak away. Remember – Symbiote (Q) in one lane, body-soaking in another, and Monstrosity (R) in the last. I do not recommend Abathur on Dragon Shire or Tomb of the Spider Queen.