Mephisto Talents

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

Unyielding Power is a quest that enhances Skull Missile upon completion of its components. It significantly increases Skull Missile's damage and lowers its cooldown. This Talent is a key piece for a Skull Missile Build.

Furious Spark is a great way to increase the damage of Lightning Nova. It is very easy to trigger the bonus damage against most Heroes. This is especially true against lumbering frontline Warriors. Furious Spark is recommended Talent to go at level 1 as it gives the most damage increase.

Malicious Intent is an interesting option here. The instantly gained Spell power is decent, however, it lasts for a very short duration. Adding in the condition to hit enemy Heroes 18 times to extend the duration makes it a tough choice compared to the other two Talents. The damage increase provided by Furious Spark and Unyielding Power makes it so Malicious Intent is never worth picking.

Hateful Mending is a healing option that is tied to Skull Missile. The healing provided by this Talent is very low when compared to Spite and lacks the utility. Hateful mending should not be picked at all.

Static Barrier is very strong, as it will give you a Shield when you need it most. You will often be trading damage with enemy Heroes when Lightning Nova is used. With this Talent you will be able to stay on the offensive, when you would otherwise need to relent. Static Barrier provides Mephisto with self-sustain during combat, and is recommended for this reason.

While Spite itself reads as healing duration, it also increases the Mana Regeneration duration. This allows you to poke more often during the laning phase and you will find yourself very rarely having to hearthstone back to regenerate Mana. Regeneration Globes will also activate Lord Of Hatred.

All Talents at Level 7 are great for Mephisto and tie down to certain situations or enemy compositions.

Ghastly Armor should be picked if the enemy composition has Heroes that either counter you or are able to dish out alot of damage because you teleported into them. Abilities like Living Bomb that do damage after shade has ended makes Ghastly Armor a great Talent.

Frost Storm will allow you to greatly reduce the Movement Speed of enemy Heroes hit by Skull Missile. It also Slows enemies near Lightning Nova. This Talent is great if the enemy composition is stacked up or if they have Heroes with semi-decent mobility.

Trickery is the most offensive option here, because the increased Movement Speed makes it much easier to apply Lightning Nova to enemy Heroes. This Talent is great if the enemy composition consists of Heroes with great mobility that you would need to chase down with your Abilities.

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.

Consume Souls will damage, Slow, and reveal all enemy Heroes. This can only be avoided by Heroes that can prevent damage with Shields, enter Stasis, or temporarily exit the Map. It is an extremely reliable effect, and works well with most Heroic Ability chains. This Talent is also great for when enemy Heroes manage to slither out with a tiny amount of Health, allowing you to safely get a kill.

Durance of Hate is a great Talent and allows your team to follow-up on a target you hit with Durance of Hate. Durance of Hate will also spread out from the initial target, allowing Mephisto to Root several targets if used correctly. This Talent alone can be the difference of a lost or won teamfight.

Abhorred Skull grants Spell Power whenever an enemy Hero is hit by Skull Missile, and the extra damage to an enemy Hero below 50% Health adds a little bit of extra damage to Skull Missile. Most Skull Missile Talents only work well as part of a Skull Missile Build, but this Talent can be very strong in other Builds as well.

Hysteria allows you to reduce your Heroic cooldown with Lord of Hatred. Hysteria has great synergy with Mephisto's level 4 Talent Spite, meaning every healing tick from Regneration Globes also reduces the cooldown of your Heroic Ability. This pairs greatly with both Consume Souls and Durance of Hate, allowing you to cast them more often throughout a game.

Shard of Hate causes your Basic Attacks to trigger Lord of Hatred and splash to enemy Heroes nearby the initial target. This is a great Talent for both waveclearing and teamfighting. In teamfights Shard of Hate will allowing you to further reduce the cooldown of your Basic Abilities and will greatly increase the damage you can dish out during a Shade.

Lightning Reaction is quite strong when it works. The issue with it is the difficulty of getting it to work when (and where) you need it to. Skull Missile is a slow moving projectile that is launched from the casting location after a relatively long delay. A lot can change from the time you cast it, to the time it arrives were you wanted it to go. It may be helpful to practice with this Talent in Try Mode, where you can disable cooldowns and get a feel for it more quickly.

Static Field can generate huge bursts of damage, especially when multiple enemy Heroes are hit by its effect. Static Field will damage all enemy Heroes within Lightning Nova's radius, not just the enemies hit by Lightning Nova. When picking Static Field, it is important to focus on hitting multiple targets with your Nova to trigger Static Field.

Animosity is an interesting way to increase Lightning Nova's damage. Animosity falls just short of Static Field, primarily because it does not damage enemies inside of Lightning Nova.

Consumed by Hatred turns Consume Souls into a global execute that repeats if a Hero is killed by the initial blast. When picking this Talent, it is very important to time your Consume Soul so that you kill an enemy Hero with it, allowing you to get a free Consume Souls in.

Unspeakable Horror is an extremely powerful upgrade for Durance of Hate, but this value can be lost if Durance of Hate does not hit an enemy Hero.

Mimic makes it possible to cast two Lightning Novas at the same time. Thanks to Lord Of Hatred, this will often reset all of your Basic Abilities. Mimic is very powerful when combined with Static Barrier and Static Field. This would be the most recommended Talent due to the damage increase Mimic will give you.

Shade Lord is a great survivability Talent for Mephisto, as it turns Shade of Mephisto into a proper escape. In addition, it opens up many plays that are not otherwise possible, however, due to not being a pure damage upgrade unlike the other Talents, it does not see much play.