Diablo

Diablo, the Lord of Terror

This is about the Prime Evil and Lord of Terror. For the game, see Diablo (game).

"Take one last look at your shining Heaven, Imperius. For soon, nothing of it shall remain, but my laughter..."

- Diablo to Archangel Imperius

Al'Diabalos, the Lord of Terror, known more commonly as Diablo is the youngest of the three Prime Evils as well as the main antagonist of the Diablo game series, being its namesake. Amongst all demons known to humankind, he is considered the most powerful due to his ability to instill fear into the hearts of people with his name alone.

Etymology

Early Concept Art of Diablo.

Diablo is the Spanish word for Devil, which is in turn taken from the Latin word "Diabolus", which also means devil. The original root may be related to the Ancient Greek word, διάβολος (diabolos), which meant "slanderous" (in modern Greek, it now means the Devil).

Background

Diablo, his brothers and their immediate underlings are said by some to have been born from the heads of the dragon Tathamet. Diablo's evil, actions and methodology are best understood in the context of creating and fostering terror and fear, for its own sake and not specifically for conquest or power. The Realm of Terror within the Burning Hells is sparsely populated, for even demonkind cannot stand against its unrelenting torment. Deckard Cain states that while Mephisto is the most intelligent of the Three, Diablo is the most creative, to the extent that he names Diablo an "artist of terror."

The Dark Exile

Diablo and his brothers were banished to Sanctuary by the Lesser Evils, who rose up and cast them out in frustration for seemingly abandoning the Eternal Conflict (although Izual states that the Three in fact engineered the Exile to further their own plans). The Horadrim were formed with the assistance of Tyrael to combat the threat and seal the Prime Evils within the Soulstones. Diablo was the last of the three to be caught, by a group of Horadrim led by Jered Cain, in what would eventually become the kingdom of Khanduras. The Horadrim sealed the Soulstone deep within a cave system, then built a monastery to stand guard over the location, though their order would eventually fall to ruin.

Freedom

Diablo's Insignia

Diablo spent two centuries slowly corrupting the Soulstone that imprisoned him. In time, he was able to extend his influence into the surrounding area and possess both King Leoric and his archbishop, Lazarus. The King proved too strong to fully possess, so the Demon took his son, Prince Albrecht. Diablo then began to shape an outpost of Hell within the catacombs that ran beneath the town of Tristram. By spreading terror into the surrounding countryside, the Demon was able to attract many heroes who came to cleanse the land of evil. By the time the strongest of these heroes, Aidan, reached this goal, though, he had become fully influenced by the power of Diablo. In his twisted state, Aidan believed that the only way to fully control the Demon was to plunge Diablo's Soulstone into his own head. This, of course, was exactly what Diablo had planned, as the Demon now had an even stronger body to use to find his brothers and complete his ultimate plan...

Diablo eventually possessed Aidan and went to free his two brothers, Mephisto and Baal. Diablo (as Aidan) met Adria the Witch, who knew immediately that Aidan was possessed by Diablo, and swore eternal servitude to Him. Eventually, a second party of adventurers confronted Diablo and killed him. This time however, his Soulstone was destroyed in the Hellforge, apparently putting an end to his evil permanently.

Apparently the destruction of his Soulstone was not enough to put an end to his evil. Upon the completion of the Black Soulstone by Zoltun Kulle, the souls of all the slain Evils are drawn to the Stone including Diablo (the location of souls after the slaying of the Evils is still unknown). Adria betrayed humanity by helping Diablo possess Leah, the vessel Adria bore 20 years before, the result of conception of Adria and Diablo. Now that all evils are in one body, Diablo is reincarnated as the Prime Evil and has begun his assault in the High Heavens.

While his brothers Baal and Mephisto prefer to play power-mongering games from the shadows through scores of minions, Diablo seems content to be the pure destructive power behind their machinations. This is not to say that Diablo lacks the intelligence of his brothers (as he rarely speaks), but being the youngest, he somewhat defers to their direction and suggestions in the course of their scheming.

Physical Appearance

Diablo as he appears in Diablo III

In Diablo I, he appears as a giant humanoid demon with red skin, claws on both hands and feet and a multitude of spikes protruding from his back and head.

In Diablo II his appearance changed a bit. When the player encounters him in Hell he has grown a tail (coupled with more spikes) and his features are more animalistic. His movement has also become more beast-like: in the first Diablo he only walks upright, whereas in Diablo II he can also charge on all fours.

His appearance in Diablo III is much different. He's much skinnier than his earlier forms, more skeletal than his earlier, beefier manifestations. He features four arms, of which the top two have some kind of blade-like extensions. The shoulders are big and they have a mouth on each of them, which has become a recognizable feature among the fans. His tail and his legs are very similar to those of the Diablo II version, with spikes covering them. The end result is, due to being all the Evils in one body, he's taken on some aspects of Tathamet.

As the Sin War and Kingdom of Shadow stories show, Diablo was (and likely still is) capable of shapeshifting, taking on forms that appeal to the fears of his opponents. The Wrath animation depicts him in Pandemonium initially as a shapeless entity before coalescing into his familiar Diablo II form. This would seem to suggest that this form is one Diablo favours and thus the one he assumes in his first two appearances.

It seems having a host limits his shapeshifting abilities in some way, as their physiques play a part in shaping his form on the mortal plane. When using the young Albrecht his form is close to his favoured one, though lacking a tail, perhaps as a result of his host's smaller size. When using the older and stronger Aidan he was able to assume his favoured form exactly, being a bit larger and more muscular, as well as having his tail present. His use of Leah, in conjunction with the absorption of the Black Soulstone, lead to a slim and rather feminine physique, with broad hips and thin waist and even some hints of a bust. The absorption of all the Great Evils also leads to his form taking aspects of Tathamet, the original Prime Evil.

Powers and Abilities

Diablo by Glowei

As the Lord of Terror, Diablo's greatest power lies within utilizing his enemies' fears, and due to his aspect he's also incapable of feeling fear himself. He rules over his demon servants through his sheer ability of terror, and to many he is the most terrifying being of all. Diablo is capable of taking on almost any shape, whatever suits him best at the time. It is unclear whether the forms of him we see in the games are his true appearance, or if he lacks a true appearance altogether, though he seems to favour his most known one. In terms of physical strength, Diablo is the strongest of the Three and as such the strongest known demon, although he prefers to avoid direct contact if it is possible and rather likes to work from behind the scenes. However he controls the powers of fire with ease, and can cast a powerful wave of red lightning that destroys almost everything in it's path. Not to mention literally rain hell down on his enemies if the situation calls for it. In Diablo 3, Diablo has the Black Soulstone within him which transformed him into the Prime Evil with the power of all the Seven Evils of Hell or to be more precise he became Tathamet reborn. With this power Diablo was able to defeat the Archangel of Valor, Imperius, in combat with relative ease and shattered the Diamond Gate with a roar. He subsequently corrupted the Crystal Arch, rendering all the angels of Heaven without power.

Further Information and Tips

Diablo I

Diablo, as seen in Diablo I

Diablo's lair can be entered by passing through the opening in the pentagram on level 15. A special loading screen will appear and you'll find yourself on the lowest level of Hell, Level 16. This final level is filled with Blood Knights and Advocates, the most vicious hellspawn in the game, so be prepared to cut your way through many monsters. In each corner of the room is an area with a special "Skull Lever" which you have to activate. At first only one room is accessible, but as you activate the lever the next room opens up. The third room contains two levers; after activating both the fourth and last room opens... and Diablo, whose title in the game is simply "The Dark Lord," awaits.

There is a relative easy way to defeat Diablo. Although it works best for the Sorcerer, other classes can try it too. You only need a fairly large manapool, loads of Mana Potions and the Mana Shield and Fire Wall spells (higher levels work better). After Diablo has been released, lure him to a relative safe area where you can fight him alone without additional monsters. Make sure you have Mana Shield up, allow Diablo to walk towards you and cast Firewall on him. Diablo will frantically cast Apocalypse on you, but due to mana shield you will only lose mana instead of life (Sorcerers are most likely to have a huge mana pool. Warriors can try to soak up the damage with regular health potions; in that case they don't need mana shield. A Chance of Hit of 120% and minimum damage points of 30 and max of 50 or over will assure that Warrior can give multiple successive blows on Diablo, making him rather helpless). Make sure a Fire Wall is up at all times, refill your manapool with potions in order to prevent losing health. After some time Diablo will start casting Apocalypse even faster in a desperate attempt to save himself, just keep drinking mana pots. After some more seconds of roasting over the fire, Diablo will fall.

An alternative, possibly even faster method would be using holy bolt spells. Even though the spell's description does not mention demons as being affected, it is possible to kill Diablo rather quickly with a sustained barrage of Holy Bolts.

Terror's Statistics

When a character defeats Diablo, they gain 37,999 experience points. Diablo is resistant to Fire and Lightning, and immune to Magic (though some spells can still hurt him). He has 1,666 hit points on the Normal difficulty.

Diablo II

Diablo, as seen in Diablo II

Diablo appears in his Chaos Sanctuary after all five seals have been opened. Note that three of those seals contain a Unique boss with a pack of minions; those have to be defeated as well. In one of the left-hand seals the Unique boss Grand Vizier of Chaos (Finger Mage) is hidden, in the upper seal lurks Lord De Seis (Oblivion Knight) and on the right-hand side awaits the Infector of Souls (Megademon). When all seals have been opened and all bosses and minions defeated (note that if the last seal you open is a seal containing a miniboss, killing the 'leader of the pack' will also destroy his minions) the Chaos Sanctuary should suddenly start 'brightening up'. After that, a violent tremor quakes through the Sanctuary, killing any monsters left in the Sanctuary, and a demonic voice can be heard saying: "Not even Death can save you from me!". Diablo awaits near the inner seal...

Diablo has a range of powerful spells and abilities; of which, many are Fire based, such as Flame Circle, Fire Wall and Firestorm, so having full Fire Resistance and some Fire Absorb will help greatly. Diablo also has a nasty Cold Touch ability (as can be seen in the animation above) that slows players down, which can be ignored by having an item with the "Cannot be Frozen" ability. His most feared attack in normal difficulty is his Red Lightning Hose attack, which does massive damage. The damage done by this attack is partly Lightning based; the other part is Physical Damage. Maximum Lightning Resistance and Damage Reduction (for players using shields: a high Block rate helps) might allow you to survive this attack, still it's wise just to run away when you see Diablo preparing to cast it. In later difficulty levels, however, the damage from this attack originates from a distance where melee characters will not take damage from the attack unless they choose to move out of melee range.  Diablo also charges at players who are out of his melee range. His melee damage is also considerable; yet another reason to bring some Damage reduction with you. 

It is recommended to at least max out Fire Resistance, if possible Lightning Resistance as well. That is, achieve 75% resistance in either field (or up to 95% in each, with the appropriate gear). Ranged attackers have less problems evading the Fire and Lightning Hose spells, but have to make sure they don't get charged by Diablo. Melee attackers will just have to endure Diablo's melee hits: this is a Healing Potion-intensive fight. Keep hitting the Lord of Terror as much as possible; with full Fire Resistance and possibly Fire Absorption, the player should be able to survive the Firestorm and Fire Nova spells with relative ease. Only run away from the Red Lightning Hose spell; it deals horrible damage and will kill if the player does not move away in time. It is also important to fight Diablo at a place where there is enough space to run away. When dodging the Lightning Hose attack, run around Diablo rather than away from him. Diablo turns slowly while casting the spell and it is actually quite easy to outrun it. Diablo uses the spell in rapid succession however (most often three times in a row), so be prepared to run in the opposite direction as soon as the previous Lightning Hose spell ends. This also calls for high stamina or stamina potions, as the player's stamina may run out after doing this a few times, and it is almost impossible to evade the Red Lightning Hose spell while walking. Just before Diablo starts casting his Lightning Hose attack, he raises both his hands into the air, which is different from any of his other skills or attacks: this gives some time, though less than one second, to react before it hits. A combination of his Cold Touch followed up with the Lightning Hose is very deadly and extremely difficult to evade.

You most likely have to retreat to the Pandemonium Fortress a few times in order to refill the supply of Healing Potions. Opening a Town Portal should be done out of sight where Diablo cannot reach you, as he tends to cast Bone Prison around Town Portals. Diablo has several seconds to kill the player defenceless in the Prison. Interestingly, Diablo's AI does not allow him to leave the large central area of the Chaos Sanctuary, and thus he

Diablo, as seen in the Diablo III trailer

will not follow you if you go down any of its four halls. This makes the seal areas and the entrance fully safe for town portals and also for refilling potions to the belt during the fight.

Keep battering the Lord of Terror until he finally falls. Watch a spectacular death animation, grab the loot and head back to the Pandemonium Fortress before you either continue to Harrogath or sit back to enjoy the Epilogue.

Über Diablo

In the Lord of Destruction expansion and the classic Version, there exists a more powerful version of Diablo called Über Diablo. He is most likely added to the game since, despite his name being the title, he isn't the final boss of the expansion or classic. There is no plot explanation for his existence. He serves as a super boss enemy, in the sense that fighting him is optional, and he is stronger than Baal.

Über Diablo can only be fought on Hell difficulty, and only on the Battle.Net Realms (not the Open Realms). You get to choose the place to battle him, as when he is able to spawn, he replaces the first super-unique monster you face. For example: When you summon him (although that is a bad way to describe how he spawns), you can go to The Den of Evil to fight Corpsefire, but instead you will battle Über Diablo. Upon death he drops a unique small charm called Annihilus, this charm only drops in the expansion. If the Über Diablo dies in non-expansion he will drop nothing.

The Experience you gain killing the Über Diablo is less than from "normal" Diablo.

As stated before, Über Diablo is a much stronger version of Diablo. He possesses all of Diablo's attacks, and can also cast Armageddon as well. Although he's the strongest enemy in the game, because he has all of the same attacks, the preparations for fighting him are overall the same as Diablo, requiring a high amount of fire and lighting protection.

Diablo III

Diablo can be found atop the Crystal Arch of the High Heavens after fighting your way through the Silver Spire to reach the Pinnacle of Heaven. With all seven Evils embodied in him, he will not be an easy fight.

The final battle with Diablo consists of three major phases:

• The starting phase: Diablo has four major special attacks during this phase. The first is a ground-based fireball that explodes into a pool of fire that does damage over time if you're caught in it. The second is an attack similar to his Flame Circle attack from Diablo II, involving a circle of ground-based fireballs. The third is a fireball spread-attack similar to a Fire Wall attack. Last but not least is his Bone Prison, which you need to move to avoid getting caught in. If you get caught in it, Diablo will teleport to you, grab you by the throat and drain your health before slamming you into the floor. In addition, Diablo is fond of teleporting, especially when fighting ranged characters, and his melee attacks can hurt if you are not properly geared. Once you get Diablo down to less than two thirds of his health, the next phase begins.
• The Realm of Terror: After suffering enough damage, Diablo stuns you and shunts you off to his Realm of Terror, essentially a dark and shadowy counterpart of the Crystal Arch you've been fighting him in. Here, you will need to fight two major enemies. The first is the Shadow of Diablo, which uses all the same tactics of Diablo during the first phase and should be fought the same way. The second are the Shadow Clones that appear from time to time, which take the form of your primary class and use many of your abilities, but which shouldn't be too tough to defeat. Once you take down the Shadow of Diablo, the final phase begins.
• The final phase: Once you defeat the Shadow of Diablo and escape the Realm of Terror, Diablo starts getting seriously angry. He becomes more aggressive with his teleports and attacks, and one of his most infamous attacks from Diablo II makes its return -- the Red Lightning Hose, which does high damage if you get caught in it. Avoid the attack by either taking cover behind one of the two heavenly crystals in the Arch, or by outrunning it. Continue whittling away at his health and avoiding his attacks until his lifebar is down to nearly nothing, at which point the "Destroy Diablo" objective appears. This is your cue to throw everything you've got at him and destroy him once and for all.

Appearance in Diablo III

Imperius vs Diablo

After all of the seven Great Evils are sealed in the Black Soulstone, it is revealed that Adria had actually been corrupted by Diablo, having born him a child when he possessed the Dark Wanderer. She uses Leah, Diablo's daughter, as the vessel for the Black Soulstone. Diablo is reborn as the Prime Evil, essentially Tathamet reborn. He lays siege to the High Heavens and begins to corrupt the Crystal Arch, but is foiled by the efforts of the very group of heroes he had manipulated into reuniting the demons in the black soul stone. His plans had been undone by mere mortals. As he plummeted from the Crystal Arch, Diablo's body disintegrated, leaving the Black Soulstone to fall into the clouds of the High Heavens; Tathamet's essence was hopefully lost forever.

His appearance in the third game has brought about minor controversy, with some players wondering why Diablo possesses a feminine form. The answer could lay in the fact that his his current host happens to be female. Another possible suggestion could be that as the culmination of all Seven Great Evils, his appearance would naturally take on a slightly different form.

Quotes

Diablo I

• "Eat your vegetables, and brush after every meal!" (Said in reverse)

Diablo II

• "Not even death can save you from me!"
• "Ugh...the smell of life surrounds me!" (removed)

Diablo III

• "Even in the heart of Heaven, angels can still feel fear." (spoken through Leah his daughter)
• "Our long war ends today, Imperius!"
• "Take one last look at your shining Heaven Imperius. For soon, nothing of it shall remain but my laughter." (before destroying the Diamond Gate with a roar)
• "Gaze upon the destruction I have wrought. It'll be the last thing you see. Iskatu, destroy the nephalem!"
• "Every moment I delay you, I draw closer to my ultimate victory!"
• "Rakanoth, do not fail me, or your fate will be the same as Iskatu's and my brothers'!"
• "My armies flow through the hell rifts. Heaven will be destroyed long before you set one foot into the Silver Spire!"
• "Look upon these gardens, now they seethe with the corruption of Hell!" (upon revealing the first hell rift)
• "Where is Tyrael? Fallen. Broken. He knows the truth now; I will be victorious."
• "So, you approach the Oculus with the aim to destroy it? You will not succeed!"
• "If you destroy the Oculus, my hell rift will consume you!"
• "You think to destroy the rift Oculus? My fiends will tear you apart!"
• "That is not the only hell rift. The flow of my legions will not stop."
• "I draw closer to victory, Nephalem. You are too late, just as you always have been!" (upon revealing the second hell rift)
• "The hell rifts are closed, but it is of no matter. Soon there will be nothing left of these High Heavens. All creation will be the Realm of Terror!"
• "Look, Tyrael - your old lieutenant."
• "Look beneath you and see the ruin of Heaven."
• "The seven Evils are one within me! I am Legion!" (as the final battle begins)
• "Enough! Let us see how you fare in my Realm of Terror."
• "Only by defeating us can you return to your own realm, but none have ever crawled from the depths of their own terror!"
• "You shall never wake from this nightmare." (in combat in the Realm of Terror)
• "How tastes your fear, Nephalem?" (in combat in the Realm of Terror)
• "You cannot defeat your own terror!" (in combat in the Realm of Terror)
• "Can you feel your death approaching?!" (in combat in the Realm of Terror)
• "Your Nephalem power will not help you in this realm, mortal!" (in combat in the Realm of Terror)
• "How does it feel, knowing you have failed those who depended on you?" (in combat in the Realm of Terror)
• "NO! This wretched light must be eradicated!"
• "All that you have known - all that you have ever loved - shall die along with you, Nephalem!"

In other games

Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne

Diablo pet in World of Warcraft

A reference to the Lord of Terror is made in the final annoy-speech of Illidan Stormrage, the Night Elven Demon Hunter who compares his transformation into an almost demon-like form with the visage of Diablo.

"Wings, horns, hooves ... What are we saying, is this Diablo?"" - Illidan Stormrage

This speech fragment is slightly inaccurate considering that Diablo has neither wings or hoofs, but it could be a reference to the World of Diablo and not the Prime Evil himself. This could also possibly be in reference to the Balrog demon which is similar in appearance to the form Illidan takes.

Diablo also appears as a playable character in the Azeroth Grand Prix optional scenario which is included in the patch, v1.22a. He represents the realm of the Diablo universe in this map.

Moderate Acceleration, Good Top Speed, Moderate HP

Diablo, Lord of Terror was excited upon hearing about the Azeroth Grand Prix and wanted something fast and durable. Void dragons were too annoying to deal with, so he turned his attention to the sentinel infernal contraptions

As mentioned in the description, Diablo rides on an Infernal Contraption, a type of demonic siege weapon from the Warcraft universe. He possesses 600 HP and his honk sounds like a tractor trailer's.

During his transformation in the Diablo II Act IV cinematic Diablo lets loose a roar that is heard from the Frost Wyrm (undead dragon unit in Warcraft III).

World of Warcraft

Diablo makes a small appearance in World of Warcraft as a pet. Mini Diablo is chosen among three small pets as the reward for a special level 1 quest: Welcome!. This quest is only available with the World of Warcraft Collector's Edition. This edition is no longer sold in stores, making this an ultra-rare pet. Other choices include the Panda Cub and Zergling. Diablo is not the only character from the Diablo Universe to be made a pet in WoW, Tyrael appearing also in WoW, again as a special prize, can be collected by entering a code to an NPC in either Orgrimmar or Stormwind.

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

Diablo in "The Devil's Playground"

A Diablo unit exists in the game and can be placed in player made maps with the game's map editor. Diablo also has a cameo in one of the campaign missions, where he appears to control the rising and lowering of a deadly sea of lava.

Video

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Gallery

Diablo III concept artwork showing Diablo's head

Version of the previous image that has been edited to better show the details

Artwork for the cover of the Diablo Archive

DIablo

Diablo's death animation in Diablo I

Diablo head

Statue of Diablo

Diablo appearance in Wrath

Diablo 3D render from Diablo II

Diablo ingame apearance from Diablo III

Diablo Wrath screenshot

Diablo from Diablo 1

Diablo death animation in Diablo II

Trivia

In PC World, Diablo was voted as #14 of the top 47 "most diabolical videogame villains of all time."[1]

References

Great Evils

Prime Evil — Tathamet
Prime Evils — Baal • Diablo • Mephisto
Lesser Evils — Andariel • Azmodan • Belial • Duriel