Belial

Belial, Lord of Lies.

Belial, one of the Lesser Evils, is confirmed to appear in Diablo III, in Act II.[1]

Belial in Diablo 3

The Belial had once been a protege of Mephisto, honing his powers of deception under the Lord of Hatred's guidance. Eventually, he would turn on his mentor and manipulated Azmodan into leading a revolt against the Prime Evils, though this may have likely been indirectly encouraged by Mephisto himself. With the armies of Azmodan and Belial unified, the Prime Evils were cast out of Hell, though at the expense of a full third of Hell's demons. Azmodan and Belial were left to vie for power over the Burning Hells, a conflict Belial ultimately lost. Years later, much like the Prime Evils, Belial would turn his attention to Sanctuary and corrupting its populace. His influence over the mortal realm mirrors Mephisto's own of twenty years prior, as his power over Caldeum, capital of Kehjistan, becomes absolute.

Act II will be "a little bit more of an intrigue and deception-focused story, because Belial is in there."

The Lord of Lies

All greater and lesser evils of the Burning Hells have their own specific title or aspect, and Belial's is the Lord of Lies. Along with Azmodan, Belial helped in a rebellion against the Prime Evils to seize control of Hell. From the Diablo I Manual:

In their ignorance, the Lesser Evils began to believe that the Three were afraid to continue the war with Heaven. Frustrated by the cessation of the war, Azmodan and Belial saw the situation as their chance to overthrow the Prime Evils and take control of Hell for themselves. The two demon lords made a pact with their minor brethren, assuring them that the wretched plague of humanity would not deter the ultimate victory of the sons of Hell. Azmodan and Belial devised a plan to end the stalemate, achieve victory in the Sin War and ultimately ride the bloody crest of the Great Conflict straight into the very arms of Armageddon. Thus, a great revolution was set into motion as all of Hell went to war against the Three Brothers...

The Brothers fought with all of the savagery of the Underworld, and to their credit, annihilated a third of Hell’s treacherous legions. In the end, however, they were overcome by the Horned Death led by the traitors Azmodan and Belial. The Prime Evils, weakened and bodiless, were banished to the mortal realm where Azmodan hoped that they would remain trapped forever. Azmodan believed that with the Three set loose upon humanity, the Angels would be forced to turn their focus upon on the mortal plane - thus leaving the Gates of Heaven abandoned and defenseless. Those few demons who still pledged allegiance to the Three Brothers fled the wrath of Azmodan and Belial, escaping to the realm of Man to seek out their lost Masters.

As the warfires died out upon the battlefields of Hell, Azmodan and Belial began to argue over which of them held the higher authority. The pact that they had made quickly fell to ashes as the two demon lords took up arms against each other. The legions of Hell that remained were polarized behind either warlord, launching themselves into a bloody civil war that has lasted to this day...

While it's important to note that the information in the Diablo I manual is "open to interpretation" (or retcon as it is often referred to), it is also relevant to the plot of Diablo III. Jay Wilson made this comment in a fansite interview[2]:

If the player thinks they outsmarted the forces of Hell and evil and they basically won, well, they are in for a big shock. Because what they are going to discover in Diablo 3 is that things have gone pretty exactly the way Hell wanted them to go all along.

This could refer to plots laid out by Azmodan and Belial, or to the Worldstone, or to both and more. It remains to be seen precisely what role the lesser evils will play in Diablo III.

Boss Abilities

The Belial boss encounter is in three phases. Each phase is broken down below.

Phase 1

Belial does not take part in phase 1, opting instead to call in the troops. He'll summon a large amount of Veiled Sentinels and Velied Evokers to challenge the player. The sentinels just have a melee attack, the evokers have the magus ability to wiggle around a lot and summon a ring of electricity that damages anything inside of it. They both retain the snakeman ability to vanish and then re-appear.

Phase 2

After the snakemen prove to be fairly ineffectual, Belial himself drops down into the throne room to battle the player. Snakemen are still spawned during this phase, and drop a good amount of health globes. Belial himself has a few abilities in phase 2.

• Fireball - Belial launches three fast-moving fireballs along the ground at medium range. They are green and black, and probably not made of fire, showing that Belial really is a liar.

• Melee Attack - He has a basic melee attack in this phase that hits for low damage.

• Reinforcements - Belial will call in more snakemen to challenge the hero. They drop health globes.

When Belial is at half health, the final phase begins.

Phase 3

Phase 3 is when the real fight begins, and Belial gains a lot of new abilities.

• Ground Pound - A ring of green appears on the ground where Belial is about to strike. He'll strike three times, with the last being him pounding the ground with both arms.

• Lightning Strike - Belial will put his claws into the ground of the throne room, and green rings will show up all over the arena. After a few seconds, the rings explode for lightning damage.

• Lightning Breath - Not to be confused with the same ability from Diablo in D2, Belial will breathe lightning from one end of the arena to the other.

• Inferno Difficulty - Belial has an enrage timer in Inferno difficulty as of Patch 1.0.3 where, after three minutes, green pools he summons onto the platform will cover the entire platform.

Associated Achievements

Belial is in some way involved in the following achievement(s).

Name	Points	Description	Banner

<achievement type="single">Death From Afar</achievement><achievement type="single">A Cut Above</achievement>

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  Belial in-game.

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  Phase 1.

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  Fireballs.

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  Lightning strike.

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  Ground Pound.

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  Lightning breath.

Belial's Stats Per Difficulty (Phase 3)

Difficulty	Max. Health	Min. Damage	Damage Delta	Run Speed	Level
Normal	6,427	117	117	0.305	22
Nightmare	76,839	1,198	1,198	0.322	42
Hell	410,971	6,149	6,149	0.339	56
Inferno	2,104,526	52,807	52,807	0.356	62

Media

• View Belial video guides and walkthroughs.

Reference

• IGN interviews Jay Wilson
• Diablo3.cc Interview with Jay Wilson
• Diablo 3 Belial Walkthrough | Monk Solo Hell Difficulty | The Healthy Gamer

Belial, Lord of Lies. Concept art shown at Blizzcon 2011

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  Concept art.

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  Concept art.

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  Concept art.