Malthael Build Guide “Death is beyond your reach.”

Malthael is a Bruiser who naturally counters high-Health Heroes. Calm players who are able to apply Reaper's Mark onto multiple targets will be rewarded with overwhelming sustain damage and great survivability.

Strengths

• Excellent self-sustain
• Powerful duelist
• Solid non-Structural PvE damage
• Very difficult to escape from once marked by Reaper's Mark
• Last Rites is excellent to execute Heroes
• Multiple sources of percent-based damage that cannot be reduced by Armor

Weaknesses

• Highly prone to being kited
• Offers limited utility beyond raw damage
• Limited upfront burst damage
• Weak siege damage
• Low maximum Health, being vulnerable to crowd control and bursts during the early game

Standard Build

Recommended

Level 1 ?

Level 4

Level 7 ? ?

Level 10

Level 13 ?

Level 16

Level 20

Copy build to clipboard Build copied! Talent calculator »

Malthael's Standard Build provides superior survivability and sustain damage. It provides you with powerful self-sustain and continuous area of effect damage that force your opponents to spread out, reducing their effectiveness.

Massacre Build

Situational

Level 1 ? ?

Level 4

Level 7

Level 10 ?

Level 13 ?

Level 16

Level 20

Copy build to clipboard Build copied! Talent calculator »

Malthael's Massacre Build is focused on dealing the maximum possible damage through Massacre and Mortality. Tormented Souls adds extra damage and mobility to Malthael through multiples uses of Wraith Strike.

See our Talents page for further information »

Create your own build and share it with friends!

Malthael synergizes with

Heroes that displace enemies, like Garrosh and E.T.C. are excellent with Malthael, as they will ease the focus on a target, allowing Last Rites to execute it. One of Malthael's problems is that he takes too long to reduce an enemy's health to Last Rites's threshold, so he is great with Greymane's Cursed Bullet or with Tychus's The Bigger They Are....

Due to how Malthael's damage and self sustain is completely tied to Soul Rip, he has excellent synergy with Heroes that can reduce his Cooldowns. While Ana with Nano Boost turns Malthael into an immortal killing machine, Malfurion can enhance his effectiveness very often through Innervate.

Malthael is countered by

As a Melee Assassin with a rather telegraphed play style, Malthael is very vulnerable to any form of targeted crowd control. Furthermore, since his main gap closer, Wraith Strike, requires him to either attack or hit a slow skillshot, he is naturally bound to be kited by nimble ranged Heroes.

Against experienced players, Blaze will be an excellent counter to Malthael. Bunker Drop cleanses Reaper's Mark from anyone that enters it. It also denies Last Rites's damage. Considering enemies will be inside bunker, Malthael's self-sustain will be very limited, as Malthael will not be able to use Soul Rip to sustain himself.

Malthael's stronger maps

Malthael's average maps

Malthael's weaker maps

Malthael is a very versatile Hero that is excellent in many different maps. On a Pale Horse enhances Malthael's effectiveness in large maps, while his outstanding double soak makes him a good pick on Infernal Shrines, Sky Temple, and Towers of Doom. His good dueling capabilities can be abused on Dragon Shire and Tomb of the Spider Queen. Additionally, since Malthael can easily capture Mercenary Camps, due to his good self-sustain, he is good on macro-heavy maps, like Garden of Terror and Blackheart's Bay.

Malthael cannot abuse his fast rotation and waveclear in 2-lane maps. Therefore, we do not recommend him on Hanamura Temple and Battlefield of Eternity.

• Malthael's Basic Attacks hit enemies in a 180 degree arc; use this to maintain Reaper's Mark on as many targets as possible.
• Reaper's Mark's damage also works against most non-Structure units, making it effective against Bosses and Map Objectives.
• You can hold the default Q hotkey to repeatedly cast Soul Rip without effort.
• Wraith Strike is useful for quickly avoiding impending skillshots and areas of effect.
• Tormented Souls resets Wraith Strike's Cooldown on-use AND when Tormented Souls ends.
• A skull marker appears above Heroes that would die to Last Rites's damage.
• Do not be conservative with Last Rites, as it is better to guarantee a kill and get the Cooldown reduction than to hold it.
• Inevitable End can be used to bait important Abilities from the enemy team, as the Cooldown is relatively low.
• Due to Shroud of Wisdom's delay, it should be activated around 1.5 seconds before going in, as most Abilities will be used on you in the first seconds. Using it too quickly might result in having reduced uptime, while taking too long might cost your life.

As a strong duelist with outstanding self-sustain and good waveclear, Malthael makes for a strong Offlaner, though he can also dispatch Mercenary Camps with ease.

Reaper's Mark defines Malthael as a premiere counterpick to team compositions that are melee-heavy or otherwise feature Heroes with large Health pools. This Trait also allows Malthael to deal a significant amount of damage to Bosses and Monsters from Objectives. In general however, he tends to do poorly against ranged Heroes, and should not be picked if enemies can easily kite you.

Malthael's macro playstyle consists on constantly clearing waves while damaging the opposing Offlaner through Reaper's Mark and Soul Rip. At fights, we recommend to poke the enemy frontline with Death Shroud and Soul Rip until the opposing team wastes important Abilities. If you try to engage by yourself, enemies will easily burst you down, because of Malthael's low maximum Health. For this reason, it is better to be patient until a good opportunity shows up.