MALTHAEL Build assistance

General Discussion
1

So I’m learning Malthael, having fun but not huge success, I’m hovering 50% win rate now I think.

I’m not quite sure when to draft him. Do I draft him against melee heavy comps to try and get value from his AoE?

Not having huge success with build…this is what I’ve been doing… Any feedback welcome… (trying for a team fight build… I can see there must be a single target build too, but haven’t tried it yet)

1 - fear the reaper
3 - black harvest
7 - touch of death
10 - Last Rites (I feel like TS should be my pick here, but at the same time it seems trash with how easy it is to apply mark with basic attacks)
13 - soul siphon
16 - Memento Mori (maybe I should be taking soul collector?)
20 - Angel of Death

Thoughts?

2

Hmm… Acceptable :alien: :tophat:

3

Malthael is a solo laner and a tank “killer”, not the best in Team fights but can still do quite a bit against a heavy frontline

Level 1

On big maps go On a Pale Horse and smaller one usually go Fear the Reaper

Level 4

Due to him being a solo lane hero People go for Die alone for the 1 on 1 advantage.

I personally like to go Black Harvest when the enemy is REALLY tanky, but that’s probably just me

Level 7

Touch of Death is good for when the enemy has a lot of self sustain

Most people take Cold Hand though due to it being easier to chase down fleeing targets or just to stop them from chasing you.

Level 10

Take Last Rites, just wait for the enemy to pop all shields if they have any though (Tassdar, Zarya, Medivh) to use it so it wont be wasted.

Level 13

This tier is Dependent mostly on the enemy comp.

Usually you want the unstoppable from Inevitable End, however if they enemy doesn’t have that much CC i just go for more healing with Soul Siphon.

Shroud of Wisdom can be good against High Burst Mages Like Kaelthas, Kelthuzad, Jaina, Li-Ming, and Nova.

Level 16

People just go with Soul Collector For the More healing and due to the fact for all the previous talents that just enhance your q

Level 20

I feel all of these are somewhat viable but most of the time you go for Angel of Death. A big burst heal on a short cooldown makes it very Amazing

This is Coming from a level 9 Malthael so take this with a grain of salt, But this is the build i go with along with most players i see.

Good luck in your future game with him and reap Death upon those who dare challenge you.

5 Likes
4

Okay this explains why I’ve been struggling, I kinda wanted to play him in the 4 man dealing AoE damage. I always could see there was a single target build but doesn’t look as much fun. Might try it though, see how I go.

5

Where do you want to play him? QM? Draft?
I’m lvl 27 Malthael with 60% wr with him and I use him in high league as well.

6

I start in QM to learn abilities, move to Unranked to practice builds, then Team League when I feel confident.

7

I have a friend with a Malthael level 200+, he got from silver to masters in 2 seasons. What he played was:

Level 1 - Fear the reaper almost always unless you want to double soak and macro a lot, then take On a pale horse.

Level 4 - Always die alone. Always. This is what makes you win any 1 v 1in the offlane and it is also a really good damage in teamfights.

Level 7 - Cold Hand unless you want to deny heals with touch of death, like palm, ancestral, Alex dragon, then go touch of death.

Level 10 - Usually Last Rites. Tourmented Souls only if you want to combo it with touch of death to deny heals against Alex dragon (seriously it is really good against her) or when the enemy team has too many ways to shutdown your last rites. Nanoboost Tourmented Souls is also really strong because of the CDR, especially with the heals on level 20 from nano. This is also really really strong with Soul Collector at 16.

Level 13 - Here you want Inevitable End almost all the time, it’s a really good talent. 2 seconds of unstoppable on a 20 sec cooldown? Really strong. If you take Tourmented Souls, this is a really good talent to combo with it, because you lose your marks and instantly get them back. Shroud of Wisdom if they have something like pyroblast or other huge spell damage ability. Don’t take it just because the enemy has a Kaelthas or a Ktz, it’s much better to just use your unstoppable against their combos.

Level 16 - Always Soul Collector. This give you nice range on your Q, so you are a little bit safer and the cdr is also really strong.

Level 20 - You want No one can stop death almost all the time. This talent is SO strong. If you die but you get a kill post level 20, you can come back and force a 5 v 4. This is really strong, seriously.

Tips: Malthael is a solo laner and you want him in the solo lane. He is really good when it comes to double soaking or winning the point as well after level 4.

In the solo lane, try not to spam E too much or you will run out of mana really fast. Use your AAs instead.

He can take camps alone really early in the game, so use that in your favour. Just make sure you aren’t losing exp.

In fights, poke with your E + Q and only really engage when your tank engages. Watch enemy cooldowns and be ready to use your last rites. Keep in mind that you get a stack even if the enemy is killed before the last rites kills him, so just use it whenever you can.

Don’t focus too much on “I only draft malthael when they have huge hp frontline”. Malthael is a strong solo laner and has really strong wave clear + merc clear. He only really suffers when the enemy team has too much ranged, but if you have a good healer and a good main tank, you are good to go. Last rites is a really good tool to secure a kill, making you win the fight.

Try to always use your W to dodge skillshots, bodyblock someone or to escape.

If I remember more things I’ll share.

9 Likes
8

To draft maltheal successfully you need a time machine to pre-rework.

4 Likes
9

This should be your base build.
Why?

  • Fear the Reaper negates bodyblocking, helps you escape, helps you chase, helps you engage. Surprise speed.
  • Die Alone helps you bully more on lane and to kill off isolated targets.
  • Cold Hand helps with chase and escape
  • LR so you have “burst”, a good finisher which can do the job on pesky Heroes, like Tracer/Genji as well.
  • Inevitable End, so you have something against CC
  • Soul Collector because range and cd decrease on Q and you already picked Q talents
  • Angel of Death so you can complete quest quicker, so you can use LR more often, and it gives you a lot of heal.

Pick on the Pale Horse if you want quick rotation for double soaking, good on the biggest maps.
Death’s Reach if it’s hard to get them and you’ll pick E or W build.

Throwing Shade if you picked D’sR on lvl 1 and they’re ranged heavy.
Black Harvest if you’re comfident enough on sololane without Die Alone. It helps keeping up trait on multiple targets, helps you to poke safer and lowers a bit your death penalty because you keep dealing dmg for an extra 2 sec (also longer dot is better against escaping enemies).

Massacre only if you’ll pick Mortality.
Touch the Death in QM mostly only against Heroes like Butcher or Winblades who are harder to duel especially in QM-tfs. Use ToD on Butch everytime he charges someone and uses brands. It’s also good against telegraphed burst heals, like Ancestral’s Healing, Dark Conversion, Phaseshift.

Tourmented souls if they have an annoying amount of counters to LR or if you’re the frontline of your QM comb. If you are the only “tough guy” in your QM comp, you don’t need that burst more than the easier and quicker mark applying. I saw so many Malthael’s picking LR as our only frontline just to die leaving us 4v5.
TS is also the better Heroic for Inevitable End and helps you against Valeera. I’d also pick it if you fight near extra buddies (like the enemy has Samuro/Rexxar/TLV or the map-obj has a lot of minions, like Infernal Shrines).

Soul Siphon if they have high HP targets, you use Q build most the times anyway. Also good with TS if you don’t need to fear CC.
Ethereal Existence against AA heavy team.
Shroud of Wisdom against spell heavy team (mostly KT and Chromie).

Mortality if you picked Massacre and they have a lot of armor or melee heavy.
Memento Mori if you picked Black Harvest (and maybe even TS) or if the obj is single monster/vehicle, like Immortals on BoE.

Final Curtain if you picked Throwing Shade or if the map-obj is token based, so you can poke it. You can also use it for zoning a bit.
Reaper of Souls if you went TS, Q build (don’t recommend it without Ana).
No one can stop Death if you don’t need the extra heal from Angel of Death because you can rely on your healer. Or of you just got lvl 20 and you can deny death with it.

Malthael’s best maps imo are Infernal Shrines, Battlefield of Eternity, Dragon Shire, Warhead Junction and Blackheart’s Bay. (Cursed Hollow is also pretty good.)

And yes, play him as a sololaner, get camps, and without TS, don’t dive the enemy first.

3 Likes
10

Hi, HolyMonkey!

I’m by no means a veteran at this game because I solely play Quick Match (occasional Unranked or Team League if friends invite me) but I am level 66 with Malthael!

My recommendations for Malthael are as follows:

  1. Fear the Reaper || On a Pale Horse
    Fear the Reaper: I list this first because it is the most versatile of all of his level 1 Talents. It provides Malthael with both a way to move around a teamfight unhindered to stick to his target(s) as well as providing a way for him to escape or chases as needed.
    On a Pale Horse: On a Pale Horse is the more niche Talent of the two because it gives Malthael great utility for transitioning between lanes and since he is a great solo laner it is not impossible for him to double soak. Along with this, he will often be alone on an island like all solo laners so it allows him to rotate as needed for objectives.
  2. Die Alone || Black Harvest || Throwing Shade
    Die Alone: This is what has vastly improved Malthael’s solo laning capabilities. It allows him to out-trade most solo laners because of the extra oomph this gives on an isolated target. If you wish to really dominate the early phases of laning, take this.
    Black Harvest: I will admit if you ask me about this Talent behind closed doors, I will probably say not to take it; however, this Talent can still be used in niche situations as described by GuardWizard. Not only does it assist in keeping your Reaper’s Mark on tankier Heroes to really punish them, it allows you to always use Wraith Strike because the cooldown will become shorter than the duration of the Mark. The catch is it now requires 180 seconds total to complete it which can be difficult since Malthael is predominantly a solo laner.
    Throwing Shade: I rarely take this Talent, but in Quick Match is can actually have use since you have no drafting opportunities. It can take a little to complete the Quest but when you’re accidentally paired against an almost full ranged team.
  3. Massacre || Cold Hand || Touch of Death
    I believe each of these Talents have their place, it’s the second best tier in my opinion. Massacre is amazing for spreading your Mark, Cold Hand makes you unable to be kited, Touch of Death murders sustain.
  4. Don’t even ask.
  5. Soul Siphon || Ethereal Existence || Inevitable End || Shroud of Wisdom
    Most of these are situational so you pick off that. Ethereal Existence is for Physical Damage dealers, Shroud of Wisdom for Spell Damage, Inevitable End is for major CC when Armor won’t cut it, and Soul Siphon is a general Talent that shines against high Health opponents.
  6. Soul Collector || Memento Mori
    Soul Collector: This is amazing for teamfight sustain. You have increased range so most people will still be affected by Soul Rip as long as they are Marked.
    Memento Mori: ONLY against a good amount of high Health targets, and if you picked Black Harvest. It will shred high Health and allow other Assassins to finish the job.
  7. Angel of Death || No One Can Stop Death
    Angel of Death: I would say most times you will not get 10 stacks on Last Rites pre-Level 20, so this will most likely complete it for you. On top of that, executing someone will grant you at least half your Health pool so it’s amazing.
    No One Can Stop Death: If the game is extremely even, this will turn the tide. Very niche, however.

Malthael excels in 1v1 situations with minions available for additional sustain. His teamfight capabilities have been extremely punished so you really have to pick your engagements carefully. If he isn’t focused hard, he can out sustain in most teamfights, provided he has Marked enough.

4 Likes
11

You there(!) are so wrong!
(from a Diamond+ TL game)

1 Like
12

Thank you for your thoughtful reply.

1 Like
13

These are great info and tips for playing Mathael. It was a good read.

Appreciated it so much. Have been playing Mathael so much in the recently, and I still unable to grasp its playstyle.

3 Likes
14

Wasn’t that our game Karabars ? :joy:

15

It was :smiley:

1 Like
16

Mark build was my favorite before the destruction rework, won a couple of games with it yesterday. It realy could use some buffs, I took tormented souls (for nostalgia sake) in the first game, it realy became a worthless heroic, with massacre you realy dont feel the need to use that heroic ever. Last rites lets you play way safer, with a higher mark damage you can really hover near the target waiting for the Mark to deal enough damage to you just finish the target.

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darak’s friend built is the right build