Imperius Talents

Level	Choices
1	? ✓ ?
4	✓ ? ?
7	? ✘︎ ✓
10	✓ ?
13	? ✓ ?
16	? ✓ ?
20	? ? ? ✓

Molten Armor Build

Recommended

Level 1 ?

Level 4 ? ?

Level 7

Level 10 ?

Level 13

Level 16

Level 20 ? ?

Copy build to clipboard Build copied! Talent calculator »

Imperius's Molten Armor Build improves your waveclear in the early game, survivability against burst damage, and damage contribution during team fights in the late game by reducing the Armor of enemy Heroes.

Melting Touch at Level 16 allows you to reduce the Armor of enemy Heroes, so that you and your teammates can burst them down. Divine Rage at Level 13 lets you use it more often.

The additional waveclear comes from Consuming Flame at Level 1 and particularly Holy Fervor at Level 7. Due to its limited amount, however, you will not be able to double soak.

When playing Imperius as Offlaner, you should pick Consuming Flame at Level 1. When playing Imperius in the 4-man, you should pick Burn the Impure at Level 1 instead.

Celestial Charge Build

Situational

Level 1 ?

Level 4 ? ?

Level 7

Level 10 ?

Level 13

Level 16

Level 20 ? ?

Copy build to clipboard Build copied! Talent calculator »

Imperius's Celestial Charge Build increases your self-sustain by a fair amount and features a damage reduction effect that can be used to increase your own survivability and the survivability of allied Heroes in the late game.

Pathetic Mortals at Level 13 allows you to reduce the damage done by enemy Heroes. Impaling Light at Level 1 lets you use it more often, unless you decided to pick Burn the Impure at Level 1 in order to deal more percent-based damage.

Due to its lack of waveclear, you should not choose this Build when playing Imperius as Offlaner but only consider using it when playing Imperius in the 4-man.

ARAM Build

ARAM

Level 1

Level 4 ? ?

Level 7

Level 10 ?

Level 13

Level 16

Level 20 ? ?

Copy build to clipboard Build copied! Talent calculator »

Imperius's ARAM Build improves your damage against Heroes based on their maximum Health, survivability against burst damage, and damage contribution during team fights in the late game by reducing the Armor of enemy Heroes.

Melting Touch at Level 16 allows you to reduce the Armor of enemy Heroes, so that you and your teammates can burst them down. Divine Rage at Level 13 lets you use it more often.

?

Impaling Light (Level 1) Imperius

Celestial Charge's final damage is increased by 75% and its cooldown is reduced by 1.25 seconds for each Valorous Brand on the target when the Stun completes.

Impaling Light is a good Talent that, based on how many Valorous Brands are up when its Stun ends, increases the damage dealt by and reduces the cooldown of Celestial Charge, indirectly empowering any related Talent.

If you want to maximize the benefits of this Talent, you should hit your target with Solarion's Fire before using Celestial Charge on them—something that is generally good to do as the Slow makes dodging harder—and then use Molten Armor a moment before the animation of the previous Ability ends.

✔

Consuming Flame (Level 1) Imperius

Increase the center damage of Solarion's Fire by an additional 125% and its Slow amount by 15%. The first enemy Hero hit with Solarion's Fire restores 30 Mana.

Consuming Flame is a strong Talent that increases the damage done and Slow applied by Solarion's Fire, while also giving some Mana back when hitting any number of enemy Heroes.

Pick this Talent to improve Imperius's waveclear when playing him as Offlaner, else you will struggle at clearing Minions.

?

Burn the Impure (Level 1) Imperius

Consuming a Valorous Brand mark deals bonus damage equal to 2.5% of the Hero's maximum Health.

Burn the Impure amplifies Imperius's early game damage output tremendously. The additional percent-based damage works particularly well with Molten Armor if Imperius maintains a consistent Basic Attack sequence after each tick.

We find this Talent particularly good when playing against Heroes who have high maximum Health (like Azmodan) and/or Armor (such as Deathwing).

✔

Sovereign Armor (Level 4) Imperius

Molten Armor grants 20 Armor for 1.5 seconds. Damaging an enemy Hero with Molten Armor increases the duration of the Armor by 0.5 seconds.

Sovereign Armor is a strong Talent that boosts Imperius's survivability for almost 2 seconds, right after using Molten Armor. It has great synergy with Divine Rage at Level 13, allowing Imperius to be have the Armor almost constantly.

?

Battle Hunger (Level 4) Imperius

Increase the healing of Valorous Brand by 80%.

Battle Hunger is a good Talent when paired with Holy Fervor, greatly increasing Imperius's self-sustain in fights.

?

Press Forward (Level 4) Imperius

Gain 10 Armor while being healed by a Regeneration Globe. Damaging an enemy Hero sets the duration of an active Regeneration Globe on Imperius to 8 seconds (unless it is already higher).

Press Forward is a very useful Talent during duels in the laning phase, but with almost zero value during team fights, where Regeneration Globes are rarely found. It can be an optimal choice if you are losing the lane in Braxis Holdout or Dragon Shire.

?

Flash of Anger (Level 7) Imperius

Consuming a mark from Celestial Charge deals 150 (+4% per level) damage to the target and nearby enemies and grants Imperius a 250 (+4% per level) point Shield for 4 seconds.

Flash of Anger is a good Talent that provides a Shield and boosts your damage when hitting enemy Heroes with Celestial Charge and then consuming the corresponding Valorous Brand's mark with a Basic Attack.

After picking Brand of Solarion at Level 20, Flash of Anger will go off for multiple Basic Attacks, for up to 5 seconds after using Celestial Charge.

Given how much damage and healing you can get from Holy Fervor through the course of a game, we find this Talent lackluster when not combined with Brand of Solarion at Level 20.

✘

Blaze of Glory (Level 7) Imperius

Solarion's Fire leaves a line of scorched earth along its center that explodes after 2 seconds for 205 (+4% per level) damage, dealing bonus damage with Valorous Brand marks.

Blaze of Glory is a weak Talent that increases the damage done by Solarion's Fire with a short delay, by leaving a fire trail on the ground that explodes shortly after. The damage dealt by this Talent can be increased by hitting its target with other Basic Abilities first, to mark them with Valorous Brand.

We do not recommend this Talent because it does not provide enough value compared to the other options in the same Tier.

✔

Holy Fervor (Level 7) Imperius

• Cooldown: 25 seconds

Activate to cause the next 4 Basic Attacks within 10 seconds to cleave for 30% additional damage.

Passive: Casting Molten Armor grants Holy Fervor for 2 Basic Attacks.

Holy Fervor is a strong Talent that empowers your Basic Attacks, causing them to deal 130% damage on the main target and cleave for 30% damage. You can manually activate this Talent to buff your next 4 Basic Attacks or cast Molten Armor to empower your next 2 Basic Attacks.

The 25-second cooldown of the active component—which starts after the first empowered Basic Attack gets used—allows you to easily take care of Minions as they spawn once every 30 seconds. We recommend not using Molten Armor too much for clearing Minions because it costs a lot of Mana, however, do not hesitate to use it while clearing neutral or enemy Mercenaries.

If you have spare Mana, you can cast Molten Armor outside of combat to prepare 2 charges of Holy Fervor for later use. Just keep in mind that the Holy Fervor counter in the bottom-left corner will not show until you use a charge because that is when their expiration time starts.

In this section we discuss when and why to pick a given Heroic Ability. If you want to read how they work in detail and/or you are looking for some tips on how to use them, check them out on the Abilities and Strategy page.

✔

Angelic Armaments (Level 10) Imperius

• Mana: 70
• Cooldown: 70 seconds

Summon a ring of blazing swords that grants 850 (+4% per level) Shield for 3 seconds.

If the Shield lasts the full duration, this ability can be reactivated within 5 seconds to launch 6 swords toward an area, each dealing 140 (+4% per level) damage to the first enemy hit.

Angelic Armaments is a good Heroic Ability which comes with everything an aggressive Bruiser like Imperius needs: its massive Shield prevents enemies from bursting him down while the damage from reactivation can help you securing kills, making him an even scarier foe to face.

?

Wrath of the Angiris (Level 10) Imperius

• Mana: 80
• Cooldown: 80 seconds

After 0.75 seconds, charge in the target direction, lifting the first enemy Hero hit into the Heavens. While in the air, Imperius can steer the landing location by moving.

After 2 seconds, slam the target into the ground, dealing 375 (+4% per level) damage and Stunning them for 1 second.

Wrath of the Angiris is a strong Heroic Ability which can be used to crowd control enemy Heroes who are relatively easy to hit with skillshots.

If you are still learning how to play Imperius, keep in mind that Wrath of the Angiris is easy to dodge due to its brief cast time, making it a high-risk high-reward Heroic Ability if not used as a follow-up to allied crowd control.

You may need it for counter specific enemy Abilities (such as Phase Shift by Brightwing) and/or to provide additional crowd control effects to your team.

?

Pathetic Mortals (Level 13) Imperius

Stunning enemy Heroes with Celestial Charge reduces their Movement Speed by 25% and their damage by 50% for 4 seconds.

Pathetic Mortals is a situational Talent that drastically reduces the damage done by enemy Heroes hit with Celestial Charge for multiple seconds while also Slowing them for a moderate amount.

The damage reduction effect is great to shut down enemy Heroes who deal a lot of damage, regardless of their Role. The small Slow provided is nice to have because it can help you land a few more Basic Attacks on retreating enemy Heroes.

✔

Divine Rage (Level 13) Imperius

Consuming a Valorous Brand mark reduces the cooldown of Molten Armor by 1 second.

Divine Rage significantly lowers Molten Armor's cooldown, which greatly increases Imperius's survivability. Furthermore, it possesses great synergy with both Sovereign Armor at Level 4 and Melting Touch at Level 16.

?

Heat of Battle (Level 13) Imperius

Increase Molten Armor's healing against Heroes by 2% for every 1% Health Imperius is missing.

Heat of Battle is a situational Talent that comes with stronger healing the lower Imperius's Health is. You may need this Talent when playing against Heroes who can inflict a good amount of percent-based damage (for example Tychus with Minigun).

?

Celestial Swiftness (Level 16) Imperius

Gain 20% Movement Speed for 5 seconds after casting Celestial Charge. Gain 40% Attack Speed for 5 seconds for each Hero stunned with Celestial Charge.

Celestial Swiftness increases Imperius's Attack and Movement Speed after Stunning foes using Celestial Charge. This Talent can be good when paired with Brand of Solarion and Flash of Anger. However, it is very dependent on hitting your Celestial Charge, so go for this if you are very confident in doing that.

✔

Melting Touch (Level 16) Imperius

Consuming a Molten Armor mark reduces the target's Armor by 25 for 4 seconds.

Melting Touch is the default Talent for this Tier, it has strong synergy with Divine Rage, which allows Imperius to consistently lower nearby enemies' Armor. You can weave Basic Attacks across different targets or rely on Holy Fervor at Level 7 to reduce the Armor of multiple enemy Heroes at the same time. This Talent will greatly increase your and your teammates' damage.

?

Valorous Pursuit (Level 16) Imperius

• Cooldown: 20 seconds

Activate to teleport to an enemy that has been marked by Valorous Brand and gain 25 Armor for 3 seconds.

Valorous Pursuit is a decent Talent that gives you access to mobility on a moderate cooldown. You may occasionally want this Talent as a counter to kite.

?

Heavenly Host (Level 20) Imperius

Nearby allied Heroes gain 600 (+4% per level) Shield for 3 seconds.

If the Shield lasts the full duration, fire a sword at the nearest enemy Hero, dealing 140 (+4% per level) damage.

Heavenly Host is a situational Talent which puts a powerful Shield on nearby Heroes. After 6 seconds, each Shield that is still up will expire and deal damage to the nearest enemy Hero.

Compared to Storm Shield, this Talent generally gives a 30% stronger Shield on Heroes with high maximum Health and even more on Heroes with low maximum Health.

Given how powerful the other Talents in this Tier are, you should rarely need this Talent. That said, we find this Talent useful for keeping your most vulnerable allied Heroes (for example Valla) alive.

?

Unrelenting Descent (Level 20) Imperius

Descending from the Heavens restores 30% of Imperius' maximum Health and Mana. Consuming a Valorous Brand reduces the cooldown of Wrath of the Angiris by 10 seconds.

Unrelenting Descent is a strong Talent which restores a good chunk of Health and Mana when hitting enemy Heroes with Wrath of the Angiris. In addition to that, consuming a Valorous Brand will reduce its cooldown by 10 seconds.

Assuming you do not get bursted down by the enemy team, the cooldown reduction provided will usually allow you to halve the cooldown of Wrath of the Angiris.

If you picked Wrath of the Angiris over Angelic Armaments at Level 10, then you should heavily prefer upgrading your Heroic Ability.

?

Brand of Solarion (Level 20) Imperius

Reduce the duration of Valorous Brand to 5 seconds, but it is no longer consumed when triggered.

Brand of Solarion is a good Talent that heavily increases Imperius's damage and self-healing by making Valorous Brand's marks last only 5 seconds but empower Basic Attacks without being consumed.

This kind of effect has synergy with Burn the Impure at Level 1, to deal more percent-based damage, and with Flash of Anger at Level 7, to constantly refresh your Shield over 5 seconds and deal more damage.

✔

Impervious (Level 20) Imperius

• Cooldown: 75 seconds

Activate to become Unstoppable and gain 75 Spell Armor for 3 seconds. Hitting Heroes with the center of Solarion's Fire reduces this cooldown by 5 seconds.

Impervious is a strong Talent which can be activated to give Imperius a huge amount of Spell Armor and to make him Unstoppable for a few seconds.

We find this Talent particularly useful when playing against Heroes who have the potential to burst you down with their Abilities, especially when they are paired with Heroes who have access to crowd control effects.