🧬 Who is Malthael?
The former Archangel of Wisdom turned Aspect of Death, Malthael is one of the most feared entities from the Diablo universe. After disappearing from the High Heavens, he returned with a terrifying purpose: to end the eternal conflict by eradicating demonkind and humanity alike. In the Nexus, Malthael manifests as a deadly melee Assassin who excels at shredding through high-health enemies with his percentage-based damage, sustaining himself through self-healing, and unleashing devastating area effects that can turn teamfights into your opponents’ funeral processions!
Main Roles:
🗡️ Melee Assassin | 🩸 Sustained Damage | 🔄 Camp Clearer
🛠️ Abilities (Quick Look)
- Reaper’s Mark (Trait – D): Marks enemies, dealing % damage over time. Basic attacks refresh duration.
- Soul Rip (Q): Extracts essence from nearby marked targets, dealing damage and healing Malthael.
- Wraith Strike (W): Instantly teleport through your marked target, dealing damage.
- Death Shroud (E): Throw a cloud of mist that applies your trait to all enemies it passes through.
- Tormented Souls (R1): Gain Armor and continuously apply Reaper’s Mark to nearby enemies.
- Last Rites (R2): Mark an enemy hero for death. If they die within 4 seconds, cooldown is massively reduced.
🎮 Gameplay Guide
Malthael is the nightmare of high-health teams and a master of sustained combat. Your bread and butter is applying your trait to as many enemies as possible, then sustaining through teamfights with Soul Rip healing. You excel at 1v1 situations against tanky opponents but can struggle against highly mobile heroes who can escape your mark. Proper positioning is key to success – too deep and you’ll get focused down instantly, too far and you can’t apply your deadly mark!
✅ Early Game
- Focus on clearing waves with Death Shroud + Soul Rip combo for quick rotations.
- Secure merc camps efficiently – you’re one of the best solo camp clearers in the game! 🏆
- Avoid early skirmishes unless you can isolate a tank or bruiser – you feast on high-health targets!
✅ Teamfights
- Apply your trait to as many enemies as possible with Death Shroud before diving in.
- Target tank and frontline heroes first – your percentage damage melts them faster than squishies.
- Use Wraith Strike for repositioning and escaping, not just to engage. It’s your only mobility tool!
- Soul Rip whenever multiple enemies are marked to maximize healing and damage output.
✅ Objective Control
- Excel at sustained objective battles where you can maintain your marks and healing.
- Pressure tanks away from objectives – they’ll be forced to retreat or die to your percentage damage.
- Secure camps before objectives spawn to create map pressure while you fight.
- Use Last Rites to secure key objective-controlling kills at critical moments.
🛡️ Builds & Gameplay Focus
⚔️ Soul Collector Build
Level 1: Fear the Reaper
Level 4: Die
Alone
Level 7: Massacre
Level 10: Last
Rites
Level 13: Ethereal Existence
Level 16:
Soul Collector
Level 20: Angel of Death
Focus: Single-target damage, Dueling, Execution
The Lowdown: This build transforms Malthael into the quintessential single-target assassin and duelist extraordinaire. By focusing on maximizing your Soul Rip potential against isolated targets, you become the grim reaper that tanks dread facing in the solo lane. Die Alone provides massive damage amplification when isolating targets, turning Malthael into a fearsome 1v1 specialist who can bully lanes and hunt down separated enemies. Last Rites gives you game-changing execution potential, allowing you to effectively remove a key target from fights with perfect timing. The build reaches its deadly peak at level 16 with Soul Collector, massively increasing your Soul Rip damage output against marked targets while providing additional sustain. The mobility from Fear the Reaper combined with the defensive capabilities of Ethereal Existence creates a perfectly balanced killing machine that can dive in, secure kills, and escape death itself. This build excels against double tank compositions or teams with multiple beefy bruisers who can’t escape your percentage damage fast enough!
The Core Loop & Synergy:
- Fear the Reaper gives you crucial additional movement speed to chase down targets and apply your mark more effectively.
- Die Alone amplifies your damage by 50% against isolated targets, making you a terrifying duelist in the solo lane.
- Massacre increases Death Shroud’s width, making it easier to mark multiple enemies and fuel your Soul Rip healing.
- Last Rites provides devastating execution potential against wounded targets, with a reset on successful kills for multiple pick-offs.
- Ethereal Existence gives you critical physical armor based on nearby enemies, improving survivability as you dive deeper into fights.
- Soul Collector is your power spike, increasing Soul Rip damage by 100% against heroes and providing extra healing.
- Angel of Death transforms Last Rites into an unstoppable killing tool with increased range, damage, and healing on successful kills.
Key Tactics & Pro Tips:
- Isolate a target in the solo lane to maximize the value of Die Alone – position yourself to cut them off from their wave.
- Use Last Rites as an execute when enemies drop below 33% health for guaranteed kills.
- When engaging multiple heroes, apply your mark with Death Shroud first, then teleport to the most vulnerable target with Wraith Strike.
- In tight corridors, position to hit multiple enemies with Soul Rip for maximum healing while focusing damage on a single target.
In short: You’re the Grim Executioner. You stalk isolated prey, sustain through their desperate counterattacks, and deliver the final judgment with Last Rites when their time has come.
⚔️ Tormented Reaper Build
Level 1: Fear the Reaper
Level 4: Throwing
Shade
Level 7: Cold Hand
Level 10: Tormented
Souls
Level 13: Inevitable End
Level 16:
Mortality
Level 20: Reaper of Souls
Focus: AoE damage, Teamfight control, Sustained presence
The Lowdown: This build transforms Malthael into the quintessential teamfight terror, spreading death and decay across entire enemy formations. Instead of focusing on single targets, you become an unstoppable area-of-effect nightmare that thrives in chaotic teamfights where enemies cluster together. Tormented Souls is the cornerstone of this build, allowing you to instantly apply your trait to entire teams and maintain consistent mark application throughout extended fights. With Throwing Shade reducing Death Shroud’s cooldown and Cold Hand adding a slow effect, you can keep enemies within your deadly grasp while your team capitalizes on their reduced mobility. Inevitable End provides an invaluable escape mechanism, making you briefly untargetable to reposition or survive burst damage. At 16, Mortality amplifies your percentage damage against wounded targets, creating a devastating snowball effect in teamfights as enemies get progressively weaker. This build truly shines when fighting in tight spaces like shrines, tribute points, or narrow pathways where enemies cannot spread out to avoid your area damage.
The Core Loop & Synergy:
- Fear the Reaper gives you the mobility needed to stay within range of multiple enemies during Tormented Souls.
- Throwing Shade reduces Death Shroud’s cooldown when hitting Heroes, allowing for more frequent application at range.
- Cold Hand applies a 25% slow to marked enemies, keeping them in range of your Tormented Souls and team follow-up.
- Tormented Souls instantly applies your trait to all nearby enemies and provides 20 Armor, turning you into a teamfight menace.
- Inevitable End gives you a critical escape with 2 seconds of untargetability when you need to reposition or avoid burst damage.
- Mortality increases your trait damage against heroes below 75% health, creating devastating snowball potential in extended fights.
- Reaper of Souls extends Tormented Souls duration and adds 10 more Armor, allowing you to control teamfights even longer.
Key Tactics & Pro Tips:
- Wait for enemies to group before activating Tormented Souls – patience maximizes value!
- Use Cold Hand’s slow effect to set up skill shots for your teammates or prevent enemy escapes.
- Inevitable End can be used to dodge powerful heroics like Pyroblast or Temporal Loop – time it perfectly!
- Weave in and out of fights using Wraith Strike – apply marks with Death Shroud, teleport in with Wraith Strike, Soul Rip for healing, then retreat when needed.
In short: You’re the Angel of Death incarnate. You don’t target individuals – you bring the apocalypse to entire teams, slowly but inevitably draining their life force while your allies capitalize on your deadly presence.
📊 Final Thoughts
Malthael rewards patience, positioning, and persistence. While lacking flashy burst damage, his consistent percentage-based damage makes him a nightmare for high-health compositions and a master of sustained teamfights. His relatively simple kit hides a high skill ceiling – knowing when to engage, how to survive, and whom to target makes all the difference between a feeding Malthael and a game-dominating Angel of Death. With practice, you’ll learn to feel the rhythm of applying marks, healing through Soul Rip, and knowing exactly when a target is ripe for Last Rites execution.
Grab your scythes and reap some souls – the Nexus awaits your judgment! 💀👻