Azmodan Abilities and Strategy

• Cast Demon Lieutenant whenever it is off-Cooldown; prioritise empty lanes with plenty of Minions, as the Ability has global range.
• Communicate to your allies that you intend on stacking up Globe of Annihilation on a given Minion wave through Pings so that they may help you out or hold back on waveclearing.
• The area of effect damage effect provided by Summon Demon Warrior can be helpful for stacking up Globe of Annihilation as well.
• Keep track of enemy crowd control so that Globe of Annihilation and All Shall Burn are not interrupted.

Globe of Annihilation (Q) Azmodan

• Mana: 70
• Cooldown: 10 seconds

Shoot a globe of destruction, dealing 176 (+4% per level) damage on impact.

Quest: Hitting a Hero or killing a Minion within 1.5 seconds of being hit by Globe of Annihilation grants 2 Annihilation.

Reward: Each stack of Annihilation increases the damage of Globe of Annihilation by 1, up to 400.

Globe of Annihilation is Azmodan's defining Ability. It deals a moderate amount of damage from a remarkable range and over a large area. Its most notable feature, however, lies in its ever-increasing damage: as Globe of Annihilation hits Heroes or Minions within 1.5 seconds of their death (or outright kills them), its damage is permanently increased by 2, up to 400. This damage stacking effect is known as Annihilation, with each point of Annihilation representing one additional point of damage.

Azmodan's Level 1 Talents— Greed, Gluttony, and Wrath—all complement Globe of Annihilation by improving your ability to gather Annihilation, provided a certain condition is met. As such, Globe of Annihilation's general usage is dictated by your first Talent choice, although the Ability's main purpose always remains to inflict heavy amounts of area of effect damage and, by extension, waveclear distant lanes. Much of Azmodan's playstyle is based on these Talents, and thus, Globe of Annihilation. Mastering it is therefore quintessential to mastering Azmodan himself.

Besides dealing damage, Globe of Annihilation has quite a few uses, thanks to its long range. Many Objectives, such as Cursed Hollow's Tribute mechanic, are interrupted by damage, making this Ability a safe way of delaying capture. Furthermore, the fact that the Ability briefly grants vision in its flight path can be used to scout points of interest, such as bushes or even Mercenary Camps. It can even be used to assist in waveclearing a distant lane.

It is worth noting that Globe of Annihilation has a traveling time that becomes longer the further away the Ability is aimed, which translates into a longer impact delay. This means that in order to hit an intended target, you must first learn to estimate how long it takes for the Ability's projectile to hit at different distances, on top of having to take into consideration the Ability's oddly specific 0.5625 seconds casting time. This task is made more difficult by the fact that Globe of Annihilation is prone to be interrupted. Then, you need to account for the potential movement of your target. Although crowd control can help with successful hits, grasping how to properly use Globe of Annihilation takes hours of practice, and yet, the Ability's raw power justifies this steep requirement absolutely.

Summon Demon Warrior (W) Azmodan

• Mana: 25
• Cooldown: 10 seconds

Spawn a Demon Warrior that marches forward. Warriors deal 35 (+4% per level) damage per Attack and 18 (+4% per level) damage to nearby enemies every second. Lasts for 10 seconds.

Usable while Channeling All Shall Burn.

Summon Demon Warrior is a straightforward Ability that should be used whenever a general need for more bodies arises, such as during team fights, when pushing, or when claiming Mercenary Camps. Demon Warriors are useful for absorbing damage from Structures, Objectives, Mercenary Camps, and the occasional skillshot (such as Hook) that may be coming your way. It is worth mentioning that the Demon Warriors are tuned in such a way that they deal a significant amount of damage in the early stages of the game, and help define Azmodan as an excellent duelist. Be wary of using Demon Warrior without purpose however, as it competes with Globe of Annihilation for valuable Mana while being significantly less powerful.

Beyond these facts, Demon Warriors can be used as targets for your Demon Lieutenant when no Minions are nearby. They are also useful for scouting potentially dangerous areas, such as bushes, and make waveclearing faster as needed. The Brutish Vanguard Talent available at Level 13 makes Demon Warriors disruptive by causing them to reduce the movement speed of nearby enemies.

All Shall Burn (E) Azmodan

• Mana: 25
• Cooldown: 6 seconds

Channel a beam of death on an enemy, dealing 128 (+4% per level) damage per second for 2.5 seconds. If the Channel lasts its full duration, deal an extra 340 (+4% per level) damage to the target.

Azmodan's Movement Speed is reduced by 30% while Channeling.

All Shall Burn is one of the highest sources of single-target DPS in the game. This power comes at the cost of greatly reducing Azmodan's Movement Speed for as long as the Ability is being channeled. This is not usually a problem when trying to claim Mercenary Camps, sieging, or dueling opponents without the necessary interrupts to break your channel. However, one must be more careful during team fights or other situations where you may become a target.

A key to successfully using All Shall Burn is to get to know which Heroes can reliably interrupt you so that the Ability is not countered. This is because most of the Ability's damage comes from its final burst. Tanks can typically provide such interrupts, although the list of Heroes that possess interrupting Abilities is far more extensive, and should be thoroughly studied. It is also a good idea to try and keep track of the cooldowns of said interrupting Abilities so that you may exploit their downtime for full hits. You may also want to try and capitalise on your own teammates' crowd control to fully channel All Shall Burn.

While laning, All Shall Burn can effectively be used to bully your opponents. The mere sight of the beam the Ability produces is often enough to trigger players into running away from you—and rightly so, as there are few Heroes who can effectively trade with Azmodan. All Shall Burn's excellent Mana cost-to-damage ratio makes it worth using on-Cooldown against anything more resilient than your typical Lane Minion.

In this section we discuss how this Heroic Ability works and give some tips on how to use it. If you are looking for a detailed explanation on when and why you should pick it, check out the dedicated section in the Talent Build page.

Demonic Invasion (R) Azmodan

• Heroic
• Mana: 60
• Cooldown: 100 seconds

Rain a small army of Demonic Grunts down on enemies, dealing 85 (+4% per level) damage per impact. Grunts deal 39 (+4% per level) damage, have 750 (+4% per level) Health and last up to 10 seconds. When Grunts die they explode, dealing 40 (+4% per level) damage to nearby enemies, doubled against enemy Heroes.

Usable while Channeling All Shall Burn.

Demonic Invasion is a simple "fire-and-forget" Ability that is typically used right on top of one's intended target. Because the Demonic Grunts summoned by Demonic Invasion move very slowly and deal most of their damage through Basic Attacks, ideal targets include those without gap closers or under the effect of crowd control. In most games, this means your target will be Ranged Assassins, who will also have to deal with the Demonic Grunts hindering their movement.

For PvE purposes, and particularly for sieging, Demonic Invasion deals enough damage to be worth casting against Forts and Keeps. Its main advantage there is that of summoning expendable bodies to absorb the attacks of Structures, allowing your team to force kills where you would otherwise need Minions or Mercenaries. Such decisions should never be taken lightly however, as Heroic Abilities are important to have for team fights. If you think you might be about to fight, consider how long Demonic Invasion's cooldown is before using it.

In this section we discuss how this Heroic Ability works and give some tips on how to use it. If you are looking for a detailed explanation on when and why you should pick it, check out the dedicated section in the Talent Build page.

Tide of Sin (R) Azmodan

• Heroic
• Mana: 100
• Cooldown: 20 seconds

Activate to make the next Globe of Annihilation cost no Mana and deal 50% more damage.

Usable while Channeling All Shall Burn.

Tide of Sin is key to turning Globe of Annihilation into a truly devastating area of effect damage-dealing tool. In this regard, its purpose is twofold: to increase the damage of Globe of Annihilation, and to ease the process of gathering Annihilation stacks by allowing the Ability to instantly kill Minion waves, which then translates into more damage for future casts. Tide of Sin is otherwise used very sparingly, so as to try and conserve its cooldown for impending team fights.

Demon Lieutenant (D) Azmodan

• Cooldown: 60 seconds

Summon a Demon Lieutenant at any allied Mercenary, Minion, or Azmodan Demon. The Lieutenant will cast Demonic Smite every 7 seconds, instantly killing an enemy Minion. Lasts 20 seconds.

Usable while Channeling All Shall Burn.

Demon Lieutenant allows Azmodan players to improve their immediate lane presence, or apply pressure to distant lanes, thanks to the Ability's global cast range. One essential aspect of playing Azmodan is to develop a certain level of discipline with Demon Lieutenant, so that it is used whenever it comes off-Cooldown. This becomes even more important as Talents that improve the Demon Lieutenant are acquired.

The Demon Lieutenant's real strength lies in its Demonic Smite, which instantly kills an enemy Minion every 7 seconds. Otherwise, it is rather weak by itself. You should avoid using it for skirmishes and team fights, where it is liable to die off without having much of an impact.