Izual

Biography

Izual was once an angel in service to the High Heavens, and served as the most trusted^[1] lieutenant of Tyrael during the Great Conflict.^[2] The two were close friends, and would walk together in Heaven.^[3] Bearing the runeblade Azurewrath, Izual came to be venerated for his deeds.^[2] He was present at the Fifth Battle of the Diamond Gates, where he was able to keep the forces of Hell at bay.^[4]

Fallen Angel

The beginning of Izual's fall from grace came when he led an assault on the Hellforge—an assault against Tyrael's wishes, but was carried out nonetheless.^[1] A new demonblade, Shadowfang, was nearing completion, and Izual was intent on destroying both the wielder and weapon. Izual, however, was overcome by the demonic legions^[2] and was captured by the Prime Evils. Twisted by their perverse power, he betrayed his own kind and give up Heaven's most guarded secrets. He became a corrupt shadow of his former self—a fallen angel trusted neither by Heaven nor Hell.^[1] To add insult to injury, Izual's spirit was bound within the form of a terrible creature which was summoned from the Black Abyss.^[5]

One secret Izual gave up to the Prime Evils was that of the soulstones, and how to corrupt them. He helped the Three Brothers mastermind the Dark Exile^[1]—the soulstones would be corrupted, the Worldstone would be corrupted through them, and through the Worldstone, humanity would fall under the dominion of Hell.^[6]

The demon, Rakanoth, served as Izual's jailer during his time of imprisonment, but eventually abandoned the angel to roam the Plains of Despair.^[5] Izual's maddened spirit remained bound to the tortured husk it had been forced into.^[7]

The Harrowing

Centuries passed between the Dark Exile and the re-emergence of the Prime Evils, but eventually, the time came where the plan Izual had set in motion came to pass. Diablo, now fully in control of his mortal host, returned to Hell...albeit with a group of heroes led by Tyrael in pursuit. From the Pandemonium Fortress, Tyrael requested that the heroes put the soul of his old comrade to rest, believing that Izual had suffered enough. The heroes obliged, but found that Izual was past redemption. Though long bereft of Azurewrath, Izual was a formidable foe, but the heroes were still able to strike him down.^[1]

Upon his defeat, Izual's spirit rose from his body,^[8] and told them of the role he had played in the Dark Exile, stating that humanity was doomed.^[1]

The Return

21 years after being struck down in Hell, Izual, now reborn, was called to serve Diablo^[3] during his hellish invasion of the High Heavens following his resurrection as the Prime Evil. Diablo hoped that by resurrecting Izual, he would be able to break Tyrael's spirit.

The Nephalem and a now-mortal Tyrael encountered him while pursuing Diablo through the Great Span. Izual showed great amusement about how Tyrael had become a fallen angel like himself. However, history repeated itself and Izual was once again struck down.^[9]

In-game

Diablo II

Izual
Property	Normal	Nightmare	Hell
Type	Animal	Animal	Animal
Act(s) found in	4	4	4
Monster Level	29	60	86
Experience	22,761	237,724	1,044,247
Health points	11,946	41,811	57,365
Damage 1	24-45	58-78	117-156
Attack Rating 1	747	2,340	6,892
Damage 2	16-21	50-68	37-46
Attack Rating 2	Frost Nova	-	Frost Nova
Defense	146	918	2,002
% to Block	50	50	50
Damage Resist	30	30	30
Magic Resist	30	30	30
Fire Resist	30	30	30
Cold Resist	75	75	75
Lightning Resist	30	30	30
Poison Resist	30	30	30
Drain Effectiveness	100	75	50
Immunities	-	-	-
Chill Effectiveness	50	33	25

In Diablo II, players encounter Izual wandering on the Plains of Despair in the game's fourth act. His exact location is randomized, but upon approaching him, the quest log notification should appear and Izual can be heard grunting, "Save yourself!"

Izual mainly uses melee and cold attacks, so it's useful to have some cold resistance. His Frost Nova can be a nuisance to deal with and Izual has a lot of health. However, he has no other special abilities, making the encounter a pretty straightforward fight. In Normal, Frost Nova has a fifteen-second Chill duration, which increases to eighteen and twenty-two in Nightmare and Hell, respectively. As stated previously, there is Cold damage added to his attacks. In Normal, the addition is 7-15 damage with a two-second Chill and increases to 24-39 with a three-second Chill, and 49-78 with a four-second Chill in Nightmare and Hell difficulties. He is just as fast as all Megademons.

Quotes

• "Save yourself!"
• "Leave me!" (removed)
• "You cannot help me!" (removed)

Images

Izual's demon form (Diablo II: Resurrected)

Izual's spirit form (Diablo II: Resurrected)

Diablo III

In Diablo III, Izual appears as a boss during the quest Prime Evil, shortly before the nephalem reaches the Crystal Arch in Act IV. His model is almost identical to his previous model. As before, he fights with his Frost Nova, but instead of a sword, he now utilizes a giant mace. He can also summon Oppressors, Corrupted Angels and Tongue Lashers to his side.

Defeating him will unlock his lore entry.

The battle begins only after the player enters the blue crystal-framed circular arena with the hole in the middle. In combat, Izual moves and attacks quickly, using four attacks:

• Basic attack: single-target blow of the flanged mace.
• Slam: slower, but more powerful attack of the mace.
• Frozen Storm: creates a series of 5-10 mini-crystals (one by one, with a 0.3 seconds interval) that are identical to the Frozen affix crystals of elite monsters, except for they do less damage, cause a minor freeze duration, and have lesser radius. The crystals generally spawn close to the player, but can be avoided if moving quickly enough. On Torment difficulty, crystals are spawned beneath the player's feet, and 10-15 of them are spawned. The number of exploding crystals does scale depending on the number of players in the game.
• Frozen Nova: freezes all enemies across the entire arena, avoidable only through use of certain skills. The duration of freezing for a hero with no control impairing effect reductions is 4-5 seconds, but ends immediately if Izual hits them with a melee attack.

Every 25% life (at 75%, 50% and 25%), Izual also summons two Oppressors or two Corrupted Angels. There is no Enrage timer.

A player who makes use of a set of Ice Climbers and a Talisman of Aranoch may have a somewhat easy time against Izual; his cold attacks are useless against them. This, however, still leaves them vulnerable to the Opressors and Corrupted Angels that are summoned.

Related Achievements

• Tyrael's Sorrow - Kill Izual.
• Fallen from Grace - Kill Izual in a cooperative game.
• Fallen Angel - Kill Izual within 120 seconds of the start of the fight.
• Touched by an Angel - Kill Izual at max level without crowd controlling enemies on Torment difficulty or higher.
• The Cold Hand of Death - Kill Izual at max level in under 30 seconds on Torment difficulty or higher.
• The Chill of Hell - Kill Izual in Hardcore mode.
• Angel on my Shoulder - Kill Izual at max level without crowd controlling enemies on Torment difficulty or higher in Hardcore mode.
• Angels Can Still Feel Fear - Kill Izual at max level in under 30 seconds on Torment difficulty or higher in Hardcore mode.
• I Just Blue Myself

Upon defeat, Izual can drop a Staff of Herding plan, if you don't have one yet.

Cold Snap is the Rift Guardian variant of Izual.

Quotes

• "It seems we've both fallen from grace, Tyrael. Come, embrace your former lieutenant!" (introduction)
• "You've failed again Tyrael. The corruption cannot be stopped!" (in combat)
• "The chill of hell will sap the life from your bones!" (While using his Frost Nova skill)
• "The cold hand of death reaches out for you, hero!" (While using his Frost Nova skill)

Personality and Traits

As an angel, Izual possessed great valor and strength. However, his capture by Hell left him a shattered individual, his spirit maddened. By the time he was struck down, anything that remained of his once noble self appeared to be long gone.^[1] He has taken on demonic traits, such as the ability to be reborn within Hell.^[3] Even without Azurewrath, Izual still possessed great strength, and was a threat to any who opposed him.^[7]

Trivia

This section contains facts and trivia relevant to this article.

• In The Sanctuary Tarot Deck and Guidebook Izual represents Knight of Swords card.

Videos

References