Heroes of the Storm Stukov

[lChronosl 182]

Hey, can you warn us here when you guys update his guide?
Thanks.

[positiv2 953]

11 hours ago, lChronosl said:

Hey, can you warn us here when you guys update his guide?
Thanks.

Hey, the update to this guide should go shortly up.

[Valhalen 1,484]

As a Stukov main (he is one of my Support mains alongside Auriel and Deckard), I have this personal build I like to use ever since his soft-rework, which I consider very versatile. Here is the breakdown of each talent:

• Level 1 - Low Blow: a very underrated talent that can deal surprisingly high amount of damage and score some unexpected takedowns as opponents will be caught by surprise. The main reason for picking this talent is its synergy with Virulent Reaction.
  • Alternatively, Fetid Touch can also be picked as it also works in this build due its synergy with Targeted Excision.
• Level 4 - Vigorous Reuptake: a good Stukov will always spread Healing Pathogen to as many allies as possible before using Bio-Kill Switch, and talent grants a very high burst heal.
• Level 7 - Targeted Excision: the general idea of this talent is to grant Stukov a mean to deal with high burst damage as he essentially can use Bio-Kill Switch in succession to heal his allies as fast as possible.
• Level 10 - Either: in the link I've picked Massive Shove, but Flailing Swipe works pretty good depending on the map and enemy team composition.
  • Massive Shove is more useful if you need to isolate a key opponent that the team is built around it (i.e. The Butcher, Kerrigan, ETC) or to have a quick mean to deal with dives (thanks to its low cooldown).
  • Flailing Swipe is more useful in maps with very tight spaces, or against hard-engage team compositions that rely on very specific cooldowns (i.e. The Hunt, Mosh Pit).
• Level 13 - Virulent Reaction: this talent allows Stukov to pindown specific key targets and secure takedowns easily in coordinated teams. This talent is particularly powerful when your team has Tanks with a lot of crowd-control (i.e. Arthas, ETC, Anub'arak) and you can keep the opponent pinned down for longer. This talent sinergizes greatly with Targeted Excision and Low Blow.
• Level 16 - Superstrain: self-explanatory. A very powerful talent against teams with a lot of stuns and roots.
  • Alternatively, if for some reason the enemy team doesn't have as many, Pox Populi is excellent for some extra heal over time.
• Level 20 - Top Off: great talent to squeeze some extra healing on allies without heaving to rely on Bio-Kill Switch.
  • Alternatively, if Flailing Swipe was picked, Controlled Chaos is fantastic.

 

The general strategy of this build is simple to grasp, but a bit hard to master. But once you develop muscle memory it becomes easy.

• By using Healing Pathogen, then throwing a Weighted Pustule on a single target and then detonating it with Bio-Kill Switch, you can secure another Bio-Kill Switch for a needed burst heal. This is particularly useful in long team fights.
  • With the bonus healing from Vigorous Reuptake combined with the cooldown reduction from Targeted Excision, Stukov can heal for larges amounts every few seconds.
• Throwing some icing on the cake: by doing the above steps plus using Lurking Arm on the target before detonating the Pustule, you can secure a kill for your team (thanks to the root from Virulent Reaction plus the silence from Lurking Arm), heal your entire team for a huge amount, and then have Bio-Kill Switch ready to do it all over a few seconds later.
  • The cherry on the top is Low Blow, which will deal some extra damage to the rooted victim.
• Always try to keep your cooldowns avaliable. Since Stukov has very high cooldowns on all his abilities, micro-management of them is key.

Edited February 25, 2019 by Valhalen

[lChronosl 182]

I play a very similar style to yours, @Valhalen, but with a different talent build. One main difference is that I have difficulty getting value of Targeted Excision because more often than not I will hit multiple enemy heroes. That is why I prefer The Long Pitch, with a higher uptime. Also, I fell in love with Bio-Explosion Switch, because if I detonate at the right time in a hectic team fight, even if I only root one hero, I can usually silence at least 2+.

• Level 1 - Fetid Touch has great value, and it's easy to finish after lvl 7. I don't like Low Blow because it has anti synergy with my 20 pick, Bio-Explosion Switch.
• Level 4 - Vigorous Reuptake: perfectly explained.
• Level 7 - The Long Pitch: the idea is drastically increase the range you can hit with your slows, potentially 3+ enemy heroes at the same time. That also brings to light the most recent buff to the talent, the CD reduction if you detonate on 2+ targets. Which is quite easy on most team fights and skirmishes.
• Level 10 - Either: follow the amazing explanations on the above post. Though I have to mention that Massive Shove is one of my favourites abilities in the game.
• Level 13 - Virulent Reaction: for the lockdown. Combos very well with The Long Pitch, allowing you to hit more enemies at the same time, and Bio-Explosion Switch, because the roots will persist.
  Level 16 - Universal Carrier: mostly to reduce the complication, since it's much easier to keep your team with Healing Pathogen up with this talent.
  • Superstrain is also very good, if you don't mind paying close attention to your allies buffs and/or should the enemy team have 2+ stuns/roots.
• Level 20 - Bio-Explosion Switch: here is the fun part. With this talent not only you will root your main target with Virulent Reaction, you will also damage, silence and slow every other enemy hero in the area. Since I tend to detonate my Lurking Arm as fast as I can, I get great value of thios talent. And even if you misses the root, you will still silence+damage+slow. Not to mention that the detonation ends your Lurking arm, which allows you to reposition or reapply your heal. One last thing is that the enemies who were used to just walking out of your silence will now be affected by it for the whole 2s duration, which usually gets people by surprise and can win team fights.

Edited February 28, 2019 by lChronosl

[Valhalen 1,484]

Sometimes I use a setup similar to yours, @lChronosl, specially regarding Fetid Touch (when we don't have a lot of CC to make Low Blow as useful). Bio-Explosion Switch is actually really good indeed, but I tend stick with the extra healing just in case; but I do pick this talent depending on the situation.