Balmond is one of Mobile Legends’ original fighters — a tribal warrior who fights with a massive axe and a straightforward, no-frills approach to combat. He’s built around sustained damage and lifesteal rather than combos or mobility tricks, making him one of the more beginner-friendly fighters to pick up despite still being a viable pick at higher levels of play.
Role and playstyle
Balmond is most commonly played in the jungle, where his sustain and area damage let him clear camps efficiently and transition into ganks once he’s built up some early strength. His kit is built around consistent physical damage that hits multiple nearby enemies, paired with lifesteal that lets him trade favorably and stay healthy through extended skirmishes. His ultimate rewards aggression against low-health enemies, dealing far more damage to targets who are already wounded, which turns him into a strong finisher in fights that have already been softened up by his team.
Strengths
Balmond’s simplicity is a genuine strength — his kit doesn’t require precise skillshots or tight combos to be effective, which makes him easy to pick up while still being able to punish overextended enemies hard, especially with his execute-style ultimate against low-health targets. His self-sustain also lets him stay in fights and jungle camps longer than fighters without built-in lifesteal, reducing how often he needs to recall and giving him more uptime on the map.
Weaknesses
Balmond’s straightforward kit means he lacks the mobility and crowd control tools that more modern fighters have, so he has limited ways to force an engagement against a hero who wants to keep distance, and equally limited ways to escape if a fight turns against him. He’s also fairly one-dimensional in a team fight — most of his value comes from sustained damage and finishing weakened targets rather than initiating with control or peeling for teammates, so a team built entirely around him can find itself lacking crowd control elsewhere.
Build direction
Balmond’s itemization leans into physical damage combined with lifesteal, reinforcing his identity as a hero who wins fights by outlasting opponents rather than out-maneuvering them. Early items typically prioritize sustain and clear speed to support efficient jungling, shifting toward a mix of physical damage and lifesteal as the game progresses to maximize both his damage output and his ability to stay topped up in fights. Defensive items are worth working in reactively depending on which enemy heroes pose the biggest threat to him in a given match.