Thamuz MLBB Guide: The Demon Who Heals by Hitting You (Season 42)

Why he's feared (and loved)

EXP lane, minute two: their fighter makes the classic mistake — he trades with me, watches my health drop, and decides the demon is losing. Then the scythes come home. I threw them past him half a minute ago and left them spinning in the wave like scenery — now they drag him back through the fire, my next basic dashes me onto his back with a guaranteed lava eruption under his feet, and every swing puts a piece of my health bar back. He wasn't winning the trade. He was feeding it.

That is Thamuz, the Lord Lava, mightiest of the Fire Demons (Fandom's story). His kit is a contract: stand near him and bleed true damage while he heals; run, and the scythes, the slows and the jump all argue otherwise. He is feared for exactly that — and loved because no EXP laner makes "just keep hitting him" feel quite so stupid a plan. The catch is printed in his Control Effects rating of 2: nothing here stops a hero who simply refuses to stand there. Thamuz doesn't win fights. He wins the argument about whether the fight is over.

Season 42 viability: the honest read

Patch paperwork first. Patch 2.2.16 (16 Sep 2026) did not change Thamuz — absent from the verified adjustment list, and blooing's complete 2.2.16 roundup, read end to end, mentions him once: in the targeting-system note, where he keeps the old "Lowest HP" logic alongside Karina, Karrie and Lesley "since their damage mostly ignores defense". A settings footnote, not a hero adjustment. The documented 2.2.16a list (14 Oct 2026: Kalea buff; Aulus/Hirara/Eudora/Rafaela nerfs) has no Thamuz either; any contrary claim is [UNCONFIRMED]. Fandom's patch-history page tops out at Patch 2.1.30, a BUFF: Cauterant Inferno's extra Max HP went 600 → 800–1200, its scaling flattened to 50% of Extra HP — Moonton said he "takes too long to scale" and buffed his early game.

The trackers, dated (community snapshots, not Moonton data): - MLBBHub (daily refresh, checked 21 Oct 2026): 48.8% win rate, 0.8% pick, 1.6% ban; Medium difficulty. - MLBB.io (data updated 20 Oct 2026): B tier, climbed C→B — 48.87% win rate, 0.83% pick, 1.62% ban. - MLCounter.com (page updated 29 Sep 2026): 50.03% win rate with an S badge — a hotter, older snapshot; its matchup table is used below, not the average. - Pocket Gamer (Oct 2026): B among Fighters — agreeing with MLBB.io.

Chorus: 48.8–48.9% win rate on the current desks. Sentiment: no fresh r/MobileLegendsGame Thamuz threads surfaced — tracker/creator only: MLBBHub's thesis is "time on target" as a second-wave diver; 1v9's EXP guide sells him as the aggressive pick who "wins most 1v1 fights".

My tier verdict: B-. B-tier paperwork on both desks that print a letter, and the hero underneath genuinely answers sustain frontlines. The minus is MLBBHub's two-problem rule: kiting alone is playable, anti-heal alone is playable — both together is miserable — Season 42 drafts deal both from one hand.

The full kit: what every button does

All mechanics from the MLBB Fandom hero page, checked 21 October 2026. Base HP 2758→5740, Physical Attack 107→222, Movement Speed 250, basic attack range 1.8, no mana pool. Moonton's ratings (via MLBB.io): Offense 4, Durability 7, Control Effects 2, Difficulty 6. Released 18 September 2018. - Passive — Grand Lord Lava: his basic attacks have a 10%–60% chance (scaling with his Lava's Rage) to conjure Lava Energy beneath the target, erupting shortly after for 55 (+8 × Hero Level) (+60% Total Physical Attack) True Damage; basics that don't proc raise the Rage, so the chance climbs the longer he swings. While his scythes are away he gains +25% Movement Speed, and after retrieving them his next basic slows the target 30% and guarantees the eruption — Fandom's note adds that this enhanced basic dashes him to the target (range 3.0) and the lava counts as skill damage. - Skill 1 — Molten Scythes: tosses his scythes in a direction; at max distance or on the first enemy hero they deal 120–270 (+60% Total Physical Attack), then sit spinning: a 30% slow nearby and 45–80 (+20% Extra Physical Attack) every 0.5s. After ~5 seconds away they fly home, dragging enemies in the path to him — the pull carries a ~0.1s stun, enough to interrupt channels like Feathered Air Strike (Fandom's notes). Retrieve early by walking to them or recasting. Flat 3.0s cooldown, starting only after retrieval — where they sleep is a real decision. Fine print: no stopping on minions (Patch 1.6.84); castable while crowd-controlled, even suppressed. - Skill 2 — Chasm Trample: a jump to a target area: 230–355 (+60% Total Physical Attack) and a 25% slow for 2s; cooldown 8.0→6.0s. The hidden clause: if the scythes are still travelling, they snap back and Molten Scythes' cooldown resets instantly — the jump is a retrieval button wearing a gap-closer's coat. - Ultimate — Cauterant Inferno: erupts for 300–480 (+80% Total Physical Attack) and burns the ground for 9 seconds: 30–60 (+10% Extra Physical Attack) every 0.5s to enemies inside. He gains 800–1200 (+50% Extra HP) Max HP and heals for the same amount, attack speed jumps 60%–100% (multiplied against his total), and every damaging hit from his basics and scythes restores 1.5%–2.5% of his Max HP. Cooldown 38/34/30s. Fine print (Fandom): the heal does not feed on the scythe zone's or inferno's own sustained ticks — only on hits — and casting quietly tops his Lava Rage to full. - Skill priority, my way: Molten Scythes maxed first — the damage and the whole cycle live there. Chasm Trample second, Cauterant Inferno at 4/8/12. First point: Molten Scythes, thrown to clip wave and laner at once.

Combos

• The standard trade (blooing's cycle): Molten Scythes → retrieve → enhanced basic (guaranteed lava) → Chasm Trample → basic → Molten Scythes again → basic. Every throw-and-retrieve buys a guaranteed true-damage proc — never waste that window.
• The all-in (blooing): scythes out → Chasm Trample to reset and close → retrieve → Cauterant Inferno once you're already swinging → spam basics while cycling Skill 1. The ult pays per hit landed inside it; it belongs mid-brawl, not at the door.
• The drag-back ambush: leave the scythes spinning in the wave or bush, walk off at +25% speed like you're leaving; let the return path do the engage — the pull drags them to you with a channel-breaking micro-stun (Fandom).

Rotation and map control

EXP lane: the first minutes are a freeze, not a shove (MLBBHub's laning school): start Molten Scythes, make the first throw clip the front minions and the enemy laner, and keep the wave on your side of the river. Shoving feels powerful; it mostly donates a short safe lane to the enemy and a long punishable one to you. The map turn comes with the spike: Corrosion Scythe + War Axe, around minutes 8–11 (MLBBHub). Before it, you threaten lane control and small skirmishes; after it, stop asking "can I win lane?" and start asking which river fight you can reach first — if the second Turtle starts while those items sit finished and you're parked in a dead side lane, you're skipping the part of the game you were drafted for (MLBBHub). In fights, be the second wave: your roam or jungler starts it, you walk in already swinging, pick one target who cannot kite backward, and stay glued until they burn movement or die.

Best build, emblem, and battle spell (Season 42)

The core: Corrosion Scythe → War Axe → Oracle. MLBBHub calls the first two "non-negotiable" and its FAQ locks exactly these three; Zathong's sustained set runs the same spine. Corrosion Scythe is the contact item — slow plus attack-speed ramp, turning every touch into a chase and every chase into more lava procs; War Axe is the stay item, its health making later sustain purchases better. Spike: the pair together, ~minutes 8–11 (MLBBHub). Boots: Tough Boots are MLBBHub's default (slows and control break his contact window); Warrior Boots vs physical basic-attack lanes (Zathong/blooing); Swift Boots are greed only. After the core, the slot is a matchup answer (MLBBHub): Dominance Ice vs sustain and grouped fights (its Lifebane aura also answers Alice and Esmeralda — the heroes he's picked into); Athena's Shield vs burst magic; Radiant Armor vs tick magic; Antique Cuirass vs skill-chain physical; Blade Armor vs a basic-attack gold laner; Immortality when you must dive first. Demon Hunter Sword only vs two HP-stackers. The named trap: Feather of Heaven — its Impulse overlaps Corrosion Scythe instead of stacking (MLBBHub). Emblem: Fighter — and only tier 2 is unanimous. Festival of Blood shows up in MLBBHub's FAQ row, blooing's setup, and 11 of MLBB.io's 19 tracked builds. The splits: tier 1 Firmness (MLBBHub FAQ) vs Swift (MLBB.io's tracked plurality, 6 of 19 — and blooing's pick, for more lava procs); tier 3 Brave Smite (MLBBHub FAQ) vs War Cry (MLBB.io, 8 of 19) vs Quantum Charge (blooing). My call: Swift / Festival of Blood / War Cry — procs and sticking power are the economy. Battle spell: Vengeance, near-locked — MLBBHub's FAQ pick, blooing's, Zathong's EXP default, and 72% of MLBB.io's 18 tracked builds. Flicker is the alternative for one job: reaching a backliner or escaping layered peel (MLBBHub). Execute survives only as a Zathong-listed alt.

How to counter him

Start with the measured edges. MLBBHub's counter data names Cici, Wanwan and Benedetta — mobility that never lets the contact window open. MLBB.io's FAQ independently leads with Cici and Wanwan, adding Valir. MLCounter's matchup table prices the same story: Thamuz wins just 42% into Valir (541 games) — his worst row — then 45% into Cici (214) and 46% into Baxia (235). - Anti-heal is the headline, and Baxia is its face. His second health bar is healing-per-hit; cut it and he's a melee fighter with Control 2. Baxia carries reduction in his kit; everyone else buys it — Sea Halberd and Glowing Wand (MLCounter's items), Dominance Ice for the aura plus an attack-speed cut, Necklace of Durance where it applies. MLCounter's page leads with exactly this prescription. - Kite, don't brawl. Everything he owns is short-range and directional — "most mobile heroes can dodge Thamuz's skills" (MLCounter). Corrosion Scythe and Ice Queen Wand slow him back; Wind of Nature blanks the physical window; Winter Crown dodges the cycle. - Chain the CC, gank him early. No cleanse, no hard CC of his own: MLCounter's anti-play is stuns held for his approach, early ganks before items land, and freezing the EXP wave near your tower so the bully game starves. - Refuse the second wave. Disengage while it's lit; re-engage in the 30+ seconds after. An ult spent on nobody deletes his fight. Who he eats is the mirror: heroes who must stand on the wave and out-sustain people. MLBBHub files him as "a real answer into Alice, Esmeralda, and other sustain frontliners"; MLCounter's rows add the immobile — Moskov 57% (213 games), Johnson 56% (342), Natalia 55% (753), Odette 52% (680). If your plan requires standing still next to him, bring anti-heal or a different plan.

Mistakes everyone makes

• "The Cardio Draft": blind-picking him into a kite comp with anti-heal on top. One problem is playable; both together is miserable (MLBBHub's #1 Thamuz mistake).
• "The Jump Opener": starting every trade with Chasm Trample. The jump is strongest following movement, not replacing it — open with it and you give one clean retreat angle while you walk (MLBBHub).
• "The Early Inferno": pressing Cauterant Inferno at full HP, before contact, because the fight "is starting". The heal pays on hits *you* land inside the 9 seconds (Fandom) — an ult burned crossing the river heals nothing and expires first. Pop it mid-fight, already swinging (blooing).
• "The Feather Trap": buying attack-only extras — Feather of Heaven's Impulse overlaps Corrosion Scythe instead of stacking, so the slot buys less than it looks (MLBBHub).
• "The Side-Lane Siesta": finishing Corrosion Scythe and War Axe, then staying parked in a side lane while the second Turtle starts — skipping the exact window the pick exists for (MLBBHub).

FAQ

• Did Patch 2.2.16 change Thamuz? No hero change — blooing's complete roundup mentions him once, in a targeting-system note (he keeps the old "Lowest HP" logic; his damage mostly ignores defense). The 2.2.16a list has no Thamuz either; contrary claims are [UNCONFIRMED]. Last documented change: Patch 2.1.30's ultimate buff (Fandom patch history).
• Why do old guides call his passive Grand Trample and his Skill 1 Slaughterous Scythes? Those names are retired. Fandom's current page prints Grand Lord Lava and Molten Scythes; stale mirrors like GamerHub still carry them. Fandom governs.
• Vengeance or Flicker? Vengeance, for almost everyone: the tracked default (72% of MLBB.io's builds) and MLBBHub's core spell. Flicker only when the problem is reaching a backliner or escaping layered peel (MLBBHub).
• When do I press Cauterant Inferno? After contact, while being hit and hitting back: the Max HP grant heals on cast; the per-hit regen pays only while you land basics and scythe hits inside the 9 seconds (Fandom).
• What actually counters him? Measured: Cici and Wanwan on two desks, Valir and Baxia on MLCounter's table, Benedetta on MLBBHub. Mechanically: anti-heal, kiting, and CC chains held for his approach.

Final verdict

Thamuz in Season 42 is a B- with an A-tier temper. The desks land at 48.8–48.9% because the average Thamuz game includes drafts he should never have been locked into — the Cici-Valir-Wanwan cardio sessions where his scythes spin in empty air. Strip those away and what's left is the EXP lane's oldest standing argument: a demon who converts standing still into true damage, heals for the privilege of being hit back, and answers the sustain frontliners nobody else in his role enjoys fighting. Not meta — a toll booth on one specific road, and Season 42 keeps routing Alice and Esmeralda drafts down it.

Play him if: the enemy shows a sustain frontliner who must stand on the wave, your team already owns the first engage, and you'll respect the two-problem rule — one of kite or anti-heal, never both. Also play him if you enjoy watching a health bar refill out of spite.

Skip him if: the enemy draft stacks mobility (Cici, Wanwan, Benedetta) or pairs kiting with anti-heal, your team needs its EXP laner to engage first or peel, or you'll press the ultimate the moment a fight looks likely. Thamuz doesn't chase games; he outlasts the ones that come to him.

Keep reading

• Mobile Legends: Bang Bang on CoolGameShelf — the game page: player rating and official store links
• MLBB Emblem Guide — the emblem setup behind this guide's build
• More fighter guides: Lukas MLBB Guide, Aulus MLBB Guide, Alpha MLBB Guide