"We are a race of joy and nurturing that is tainted and tempted by sin, but rare is the human who sets out to commit sin: sin is a web we are drawn into."
Deckard Cain^[1]

Azmodan
Title	Lord of Sin
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Burning Hells
Relatives
Status	Deceased
Appearances	Diablo III Book of Cain The Art of Diablo III

Azmodan, the Lord of Sin was a Lesser Evil of the Burning Hells and was the last of the Great Evils to be trapped in the Black Soulstone.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Seeds of Rebellion 1.2 The Dark Exile 1.3 Invasion of Sanctuary 2 In-game 2.1 Stats 3 Personality and Traits 3.1 Physical Appearance 4 Trivia 5 Quotes 6 References 7 Video

BiographyEdit

As with all the Evils, Azmodan originated from one of the seven heads of Tathamet. He lorded over the Realm of Sin.^[1] It appears that for much of his existance, he held the desire to be the sole ruler of Hell.^[2]

During the Great Conflict, Azmodan once faced the archangel Tyrael on the field of battle. Tyrael bested him and stood ready to deal the final blow. However, one of Tyrael's comrades called for aid and Tyrael rushed to lend aid. Azmodan thus escaped the angel's wrath.^[3]

Seeds of RebellionEdit

The Sin War was waged by the Prime Evils secretly, the existance of Sanctuary and the nephalem kept from the Lesser Evils. This lack of trust soured relations between the Lords of Hell. What enraged Azmodan and his allies even further was that the Primes seemed intent on converting Man to their side of the Great Conflict rather than fighting the war directly.^[1]

Azmodan's first attempt to wrest power involved his close followers—demons that performed acts that he could not or would not be involved in. However, the attempt failed and in his wrath, Diablo turned Azmodan's followers into the Fallen Ones. The infuriated Azmodan held them responsible for the Prime Evils' continued reign, and so he left the fallen in their new bodies, where their degradation would serve to amuse him for all eternity. However, the fallen demons had nonetheless provided him with valuable information.^[4]

The Dark ExileEdit

Believing that they were innately superior to mortal kind, and that their war against the High Heavens was theirs alone to fight, the Lesser Evils enacted a stratagem to overthrow the Primes. Led by Azmodan and Belial, Lord of Lies, the rebel demons claimed dominion over much of the Burning Hells. Although the Primes exacted a heavy toll on the rebels, they were, in the end, banished to the mortal realm, weakened and bodiless. Azmodan believed that with the Three set loose upon humanity, Heaven would be forced to turn their focus to the mortal plane, thus leaving Heaven potentially vulnerable to attack.

Most accounts state that Azmodan and Belial soon turned on eachother, relations souring as they began arguing over who should ascend to the highest rank of the Burning Hells. When the bickering turned to violance, their pact was forgotten, and Hell's denziens found themselves having to choose their allegiance once again. The result was another civil war. Yet others say that there was no falling out between Azmodan and Belial in the first place, and that they began conspiring to subjugate all life to their will.^[1] Whatever the truth of the matter, the two demons nonetheless came to share the same goal of subjugating humanity.^[5]

Invasion of SanctuaryEdit

"You thought you were so clever, that you had outwitted us all. One by one, our brethren fell into your trap, but not me. I defy you! I now know the Black Soulstone is the key, and it shall be mine. Soon, my armies shall pour forth from the Shattered Mountain, ravaging this world and all hope of resistance. My minions will find the stone, wherever you choose to hide it. Then, at long last, Azmodan shall reign as the Prime Evil."^[2]

After Belial's defeat at the hands of the nephalem heroes, Leah had a vision of Azmodan where he revealed that he intended to lead a full invasion of Sanctuary to find and claim the Black Soulstone with which he could become a fusion of all the Great Evils, the Prime Evil. The vision held true and Azmodan's armies poured forth from the Arreat Crater and laid siege to one of the last barbarian strongholds; Bastion's Keep.^[2]

His lieutenants, the Sin Lords, were introduced, with Ghom, the Lord of Gluttony, storming the depths of Bastion's Keep while the nephalem heroes rallied the stronghold's defenders and raised its catapaults. These same heroes destroyed Ghom and began to push Azmodan's forces back into the Mount Arreat crater and through the portal. Azmodan's consort, Cydaea the Mistress of Lust, tried to slow the nephalem as they fought through the portion of Hell just inside the crater and destroy the Sin Hearts, relics from the depths of Hell that empower the demons. Eventually Cydaea was slain as well and the Sin Hearts were destroyed.

At last the nephalem confronted Azmodan himself, who reiterated his desire to become the Prime Evil. His plan was ultimately left unfulfilled when Azmodan was defeated and his spirit was sealed within the Black Soulstone, making him the final of the Great Evils to be locked in the stone. Shortly afterwards one of Diablo's secret operatives revealed the Lord of Terror's own plan to become the Prime Evil had reached fruition and the Black Soulstone was bound to Leah Cain's body, through which Diablo manifested himself and proceeded to assault the High Heavens.^[3]

In-gameEdit

Azmodan is the final boss of Act III of Diablo III. He has six abilities in combat:

• Melee Attack: The least used of his abilities, Azmodan will slightly lunge forward to swipe at the hero.

• Bellyflop: Azmodan will jump into the air a small bit, and then land nearly face-first on the player. This attack is imbued with knockback and will slow the player.
• Laser Attack: The laser attack is cast only when the hero is in melee range. It is very low damage, but it is channeled and continuous. Azmodan will use the laser in conjunction with other abilities.

• Falling Corpses: Azmodan will rear up and a red circle will appear around the player in a wide radius. The circle denotes where the corpses will fall, and if the player is hit by a body, they will take a small amount of damage.

• Demon Gate: Azmodan summons demon gates which, in turn, summon his minions. The demon gates have a very small amount of health, but sometimes it may help to allow them to summon a minion to be killed for a health globe.

• Pool of Destruction: Azmodan casts expanding pools of bloody, shadowy substance which spread exceedingly fast over most of the arena. They do not last very long after they've expanded fully, and they do small amounts of damage, but the damage can stack if standing in multiple pools and ticks very quickly. Azmodan will preface this attack by shouting "Enough! The dark power of Hell will consume you!"
• Globe of Annihilation: Azmodan throws a homing meteor at the player which, if hit, explodes for a very high amount of damage. The meteor is slow-moving but can be rather hard to dodge if he casts it in melee range.

StatsEdit

Azmodan statistics per difficulty:

Azmodan's Stats Per Difficulty

Difficulty	Max. Health	Min. Damage	Damage Delta	Run Speed	Level
Normal	22,711	262	131	0.180	28
Nightmare	220,676	2106	1053	0.189	48
Hell	987,627	8410	4205	0.200	59
Inferno	6,116,136	113,486	56,743	0.209	63

Personality and TraitsEdit

Azmodan was a clever manipulator who trades in vice and corruption. Passionate and plotting, he was by far the most charismatic and seductive of the Great Evils. He loved vice in all its forms, but the truest gratification he derived was that from the failure of others. He was a master of temptation, of causing those who held steadfastly to principles and beliefs to ultimately betray them. He existed only to shred morality, to bring and and all within his sphere of pleasure to the point of breaking, believing that all beings find their truest identity by embracing the far limits of perversion and depravity.^[1]

Azmodan was regarded as an "uncanny tactician," cunning, and attacked when his foes would least expect it.^[6] However, he appeared to have a degree of overconfidence—in his siege of Bastion's Keep, he constantly taunted his foes always showing his pride off, no matter what they achieve and displaying a high degree of arrogance and overconfidence. While his tactic was intended to strike fear into the hearts of the nephalem, it in fact led to many of his plans being prematurely revealed, and ultimately, to his downfall.^[3]

Physical AppearanceEdit

Azmodan's appearance reflected his station as the Lord of Sin. He was extremely corpulent, personifying the sins of Gluttony and Greed. He appeared to walk on six insect-like legs which, along with his torso, were opulently decorated with treasures and trophies, mirroring the sins of Pride and Vanity. His face featured a large, glowing mouth full of dagger-like teeth and four glowing eyes. From his back, two large horn-shaped appendages extended.

Trivia Edit

This section contains facts and trivia relevant to this article.

• Azmodan is possibly named after Asmodai or Asmodeus, a demon found in Hebrew lore.

• Jason Babler has created a two-foot wide, 17-inch-tall version of Azmodan, also featuring LED lighting.^[7]

QuotesEdit

• "I am Azmodan, Lord of the Burning Hells!"
• "So you're the wretch that's giving me such trouble. Thrash as you might, you will not keep me from the soulstone."
• "You think you know pain, nephalem? You think you know anguish? Soon, my concubine will show you their true meaning."
• "Nephalem, your misbigotten kind is creation's greatest sin. But your time is done. You'll find only death in my realm."
• "Destroying my siege weapons makes little difference. Every hour, more of my forces pour forth from the mount of Hell. Soon, they will wipe your pathetic keep from existence!"
• "I do not need my siege weapons to slay you. You stand before in the middle of the army of Hell! It wil crush you!"
• "While you tinkered with your paultry catapults, my demons have breached the depths of your keep. Once thye claim the Black Soulstone for me, your entire world will burn."
• "An empty victory over a useless tool. You have only delayed your inevitable destruction. Your walls have grown no stronger. Our assault continues unabaited. The stone will still be mine."
• "ENOUGH! The dark power of Hell will consume you!"
• "INSIGNIFIGENT WHELP!"
• "You are no match for the Lord of Sin!"
• "Arrogant nephalem! My servants will feast on your pride as they devour your flesh!"
• "You're too late! My servant is already inside your walls, and his hunger is ravonous. He will devour your corpse and those of your friends."
• "Nephalem fool! When the soulstone is embedded in my flesh, the Seven shall be as one within me! I will be the sum of all hells - the Prime Evil!"
• "Minions, Bastion's Keep has nearly fallen. Many of you have gorged yourselves on blood and manflesh, but don't let your feasting delay you. I will have the keep and its commander before the next dawn. The rest of this world will fall soon after."
• "Minions, The imbicile who slew my brother Belial now means to aid the keep's belegerant soldiers. He/She brings a girl with him/her who could undo us all. But I'm not Belial - he was weak and cowered behind his disguises. Of course they failed him!! We'll sieze our victory through bloodshed."
• "Maiden of Lust, I have need of your... ample services. Drag yourself out of whatever carnal corner of the Burning Hells you lounge in, and bring your daughters with you. Be wary - the enemy is proven to be both cunning and strong. But the mortals have always been easy prey for you, have they not?" 

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} Book of Cain
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Diablo III, Act III Intro Cinematic
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Diablo III, Act III
4. ↑ Demonicus de Zoltun Kulle
5. ↑ Diablo III Behind the Scenes DVD
6. ↑ Diablo III, Act II
7. ↑ 2012-06-08, Ugly As Sin: Azmodan Brought to Life. Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2012-08-08

VideoEdit

Great Evils
Prime Evil — Tathamet Prime Evils — Diablo • Mephisto • Baal Lesser Evils — Duriel • Andariel • Azmodan • Belial Other Evils — Lilith • Lucion • Kabraxis • Xazax • Astrogha • Assur • Gulag • Zagraal • Cydaea • Ghom • Izual • Rakanoth • Iskatu