Heroes of the Storm: Zeratul Talent Build Guide

Zeratul is a Mobile Melee Assassin Hero. Teleporting in and out of combat, he can deal massive amounts of explosive damage to high-priority backline Heroes without penalty, or temporarily remove them from fights, or set them up. Huge combo with the Void Prison. He is permanently Stolen, allowing him to track his target while undetected.

Table of Contents

Strengths and Weaknesses of Zeratul

Strengths:

High burst damage
Stealthed when out of combat
Excellent ganker
Multiple builds to adapt to each situation
Unlimited skill ceiling
Very mobile with Blink and Vorpal Blade
The Void Prison can temporarily bring many Heroes out of the fight; It can allow your ally to combine the affected enemy’s Heroes

Weaknesses:

Low base Health for a Melee Assassin
High skill floor
Weak early game
Easily susceptible to targeted crowd control, like polymorphism

Talent Build

Void Prison Build

This build provides outstanding crowd control at a cost of damage. Since it focuses on Cleave, Zeratul can only safely deal damage and blink. Therefore, the Void Prison Build is a good choice against works that favor crowd control.

Void Prison has many different applications, but it does require good decision-making and microbiology to be used properly. The Void Prison gives Zeratul control over everything that happens on the map and during battles. Considering its macro properties, it can be used in 2 ways:

As a form of starting a good fight, it is one that has either an advantage in either Fortune or number advantage.

To get out of a bad fight, so the opposing team doesn’t take advantage of it by killing.

When it comes to a running fight, Void Prison can also be used effectively in a number of ways:

It can be used as early as possible to set up a combo, like with Diablo’s Apocalypse or Jaina’s Ring of Frost. It’s important to hit multiple Heroes with it, prioritizing weak targets.
If for any reason one enemy is isolated from the others, the Void Prison can be used against the rest of their team, to ensure that the isolated target will be killed.

After Level 16, you can use it immediately after hitting 2 enemies with a Cleave. It will make a good setup for yourself, allowing a second or third use of that Basic Abilities.

Synergies and Counters

Synergizes with:

His maneuverability and Burst damage make him like allies who can follow his dives. On the other hand, he works well with Heroes with strong Hero Abilities, which require some form of setup, thanks to the Void Prison.

Countered by:

He tends to fight Heroes with crowd control effects targeted, as they prevent him from exploiting Blink and are generally still safe due to his limited Health.

Maps of Zeratul

Zeratul is at his best when there are lots of opportunities to roam and gank. A split map of the opposing team’s attention with multiple goals or reasons to turn around gives him such opportunities. In contrast, Map focuses on team, laning, and waveclearing that suits him poorly.

He relies heavily on his Level 16 Talent, and as such, doesn’t work well on snowball maps, like the Tomb of the Spider Queen or Braxis Holdout.