Garrosh Talents

Last updated on Apr 08, 2025 at 16:02 by Elitesparkle 25 comments
General Information

Welcome to our Talents page for Garrosh. Here, we give you an overview of how strong each of Garrosh's talents is. Then, we present several viable builds, before analyzing each talent row separately, so that you can make informed decisions.

1.

Garrosh's Talent Build

Level Choices
1 Warbreaker ? Unrivaled Strength Body Check ?
4 In For the Kill ? Thirst for Battle ? Indomitable
7 Intimidation ? Oppressor Lok-tar ogar! ?
10 Warlord's Challenge ? Decimate
13 Defensive Measures ? Bloodcraze Double Up ?
16 Mortal Combo ? Earthshaker ? Seasoned Soldier
20 Death Wish ? Deadly Calm Titanic Might ? Inner Rage ?
2.

Garrosh's Talent Build Cheatsheet

Bloodthirst Build

Recommended
Level 1 Unrivaled Strength Icon Body Check Icon ?
Level 4 Indomitable Icon Thirst for Battle Icon ?
Level 7 Oppressor  Icon
Level 10 Decimate Icon Warlord's Challenge Icon ?
Level 13 Bloodcraze Icon
Level 16 Seasoned Soldier Icon
Level 20 Deadly Calm Icon ? Death Wish Icon ? Titanic Might Icon ?

Garrosh's Bloodthirst Build provides various improvements which allow him to shine in most situations: additional damage, more survivability, and utility to help teammates.

The synergy between Bloodcraze Icon Bloodcraze at Level 13 and Seasoned Soldier Icon Seasoned Soldier at Level 16 makes you quite durable, especially if when you can safely wait 3 seconds between Bloodthirst Icon Bloodthirst's casts.

Groundbreaker Build

Advanced
Level 1 Warbreaker Icon
Level 4 Indomitable Icon
Level 7 Oppressor  Icon
Level 10 Warlord's Challenge Icon
Level 13 Defensive Measures Icon
Level 16 Earthshaker Icon
Level 20 Titanic Might Icon Death Wish Icon ?

Garrosh's Groundbreaker Build gives you more crowd control and some survivability at the cost of damage. As such, this Build is oriented towards a defensive playstyle, when your team needs a lot of peeling.

Thanks to Earthshaker Icon Earthshaker at Level 16, you will have an additional interrupt and an easier time grouping enemy Heroes: use Wrecking Ball Icon Wrecking Ball to throw an enemy Hero on top of another one, walk towards them as they are Stunned, and use Warlord's Challenge Icon Warlord's Challenge once in range.

Wrecking Ball Build

Advanced
Level 1 Unrivaled Strength Icon
Level 4 Indomitable Icon
Level 7 Oppressor  Icon
Level 10 Warlord's Challenge Icon
Level 13 Defensive Measures Icon
Level 16 Mortal Combo Icon
Level 20 Titanic Might Icon

Garrosh's Wrecking Ball Build gives you more crowd control and damage at the cost of survivability. As such, this Build is oriented towards an aggressive playstyle, when your team does not need a lot of peeling.

Thanks to Mortal Combo Icon Mortal Combo at Level 16 and Titanic Might Icon Titanic Might at Level 20, when catching 2 enemy Heroes with Wrecking Ball Icon Wrecking Ball and hitting them with Groundbreaker Icon Groundbreaker right after, you will be able to throw them on the spot 2 more times.

ARAM Build

ARAM
Level 1 Unrivaled Strength Icon Body Check Icon ?
Level 4 Indomitable Icon Thirst for Battle Icon ?
Level 7 Oppressor  Icon
Level 10 Decimate Icon Warlord's Challenge Icon ?
Level 13 Bloodcraze Icon
Level 16 Seasoned Soldier Icon
Level 20 Deadly Calm Icon ? Death Wish Icon ? Titanic Might Icon ?

Garrosh's ARAM Build provides various improvements which allow him to shine in most situations: additional damage, more survivability, and utility to help teammates.

The synergy between Bloodcraze Icon Bloodcraze at Level 13 and Seasoned Soldier Icon Seasoned Soldier at Level 16 makes you quite durable, especially if when you can safely wait 3 seconds between Bloodthirst Icon Bloodthirst's casts.

3.

Level 1 Talents for Garrosh

Garrosh Warbreaker ?
Warbreaker (Level 1) World of Warcraft Garrosh

Quest: Stun Heroes with Groundbreaker.

Reward: After Stunning 5 Heroes, Groundbreaker's Stun deals an additional 165 (+4% per level) damage over 3 seconds to Heroes.

Reward: After Stunning 15 Heroes, permanently reduce Groundbreaker's cooldown by 2 seconds.

Warbreaker Icon Warbreaker is a good Quest-based Talent that provides bonus damage and cooldown reduction to Groundbreaker Icon Groundbreaker, something that makes it a solid choice to empower Garrosh's survivability in combination with Defensive Measures Icon Defensive Measures at Level 13. Contrary to most Quests, the bonus damage scales with Team Level.

Garrosh Unrivaled Strength
Unrivaled Strength (Level 1) World of Warcraft Garrosh

Increase Wrecking Ball's throw range by 25% and its damage by 125%.

Unrivaled Strength Icon Unrivaled Strength is a strong Talent that slightly increases how far the target can be thrown by using Wrecking Ball Icon Wrecking Ball while also increasing the damage done to them by a solid amount (about 50 less than Warbreaker Icon Warbreaker after Quest completion and about the same as Body Check Icon Body Check).

You can combine this Talent with Mortal Combo Icon Mortal Combo at Level 16 and Titanic Might Icon Titanic Might at Level 20 to boost your damage in the late game.

Garrosh Body Check ?
Body Check (Level 1) World of Warcraft Garrosh
  • Cooldown: 15 seconds

Activate to deal 111 (+4% per level) damage to a target enemy and Slow them by 35% for 3 seconds. Enemy Heroes hit receive 30% reduced healing for 3 seconds.

Body Check Icon Body Check is a situational Active-based Talent that can be used to counter high amount of burst healing in the enemy team (for example against Whitemane). Body Check also applies a Slow and deals a decent amount of damage (about 50 less than Warbreaker Icon Warbreaker after Quest completion and about the same as Unrivaled Strength Icon Unrivaled Strength).

4.

Level 4 Talents for Garrosh

Garrosh In For the Kill ?
In For the Kill (Level 4) World of Warcraft Garrosh

Increase Bloodthirst's damage against non-Heroes by 70%. Killing enemies with Bloodthirst resets its cooldown and refunds its Mana cost.

In For the Kill Icon In For the Kill is a decent Talent that empowers Garrosh's ability to clear enemies who have low maximum Health (like Minions or Skeletal Defenders on Infernal Shrines) as you will easily get the cooldown reset when using Bloodthirst Icon Bloodthirst on them.

You should not take this Talent when playing Garrosh as Tank, as you are not supposed to be busy clearing Minions for multiple seconds, however, it may be useful while playing Garrosh as Offlaner.

Garrosh Thirst for Battle ?
Thirst for Battle (Level 4) World of Warcraft Garrosh

Basic Attacks against Heroes reduce the cooldown of Bloodthirst by 2 seconds.

Thirst for Battle Icon Thirst for Battle is a good Talent that reduces the cooldown of Bloodthirst Icon Bloodthirst when hitting enemy Heroes with Basic Attacks.

The reduced cooldown of Bloodthirst will slightly increase your damage output and survivability, especially if combined with Bloodcraze Icon Bloodcraze at Level 13 and Seasoned Soldier Icon Seasoned Soldier at Level 16.

Garrosh Indomitable
Indomitable (Level 4) World of Warcraft Garrosh
  • Cooldown: 40 seconds

Activate to become Unstoppable for 1.5 seconds.

Indomitable Icon Indomitable is a strong Talent that gives yourself Unstoppable for 1.5 seconds on a relatively short cooldown, something that is extremely good for playing around kite when you want to engage.

Active it when you expect a Stun or Silence to hit you because you cannot self-remove them with it or use it when you are already affected by a Root or Slow because they do not stop you from casting Abilities.

5.

Level 7 Talents for Garrosh

Garrosh Intimidation ?
Intimidation (Level 7) World of Warcraft Garrosh

Groundbreaker reduces the Attack Speed of Heroes hit by 30% for 4 seconds.

Intimidation Icon Intimidation is a situational Talent that allows you to reduce the Attack Speed of enemy Heroes hit with either the inner or outer area of Groundbreaker Icon Groundbreaker, so it does not matter if you do not Stun them in the process.

Garrosh Oppressor
Oppressor (Level 7) World of Warcraft Garrosh

Basic Attacks and Bloodthirst against Heroes reduce the target's Spell Power by 30% for 2.5 seconds.

Oppressor  Icon Oppressor is a strong Talent that makes your Basic Attacks and Bloodthirst Icon Bloodthirst apply a debuff to enemy Heroes which reduces their damage and healing done with Abilities.

Garrosh Lok-tar ogar! ?
Lok-tar ogar! (Level 7) World of Warcraft Garrosh

Increase Into the Fray's Armor by 20. Hitting enemy Heroes with Into the Fray reduces its cooldown by 12 seconds.

Lok-tar ogar! Icon Lok-tar ogar! is an extremely situational Talent that increases the Armor provided by Into the Fray Icon Into the Fray and reduces its cooldown by a dozen of seconds for each enemy Hero hit with the displaced ally.

The problem with using Into the Fray Icon Into the Fray aggressively is that you will not have it for defensive usage for many seconds, unless you hit 3 enemy Heroes with it and reduce its cooldown down to 10 seconds as a consequence.

You can use the extra Armor provided by this Talent to save allied Heroes from burst damage (such as Pyroblast Icon Pyroblast by Kael'thas) or dive (for example Zeratul).

6.

Level 10 Talents for Garrosh

In this section we discuss when and why to pick a given Heroic Ability. If you want to read how they work in detail and/or you are looking for some tips on how to use them, check them out on the Abilities and Strategy page.

Garrosh Warlord's Challenge ?
Warlord's Challenge (Level 10) World of Warcraft Garrosh
  • Mana: 40
  • Cooldown: 50 seconds

Silence nearby Heroes and force them to attack Garrosh for 2 seconds.

Warlord's Challenge Icon Warlord's Challenge is a good Heroic Ability which provides a powerful area of effect crowd control. Once cast, all enemy Heroes caught within a small radius around Garrosh will be Taunted for a short while.

Pick this Heroic Ability when your team needs crowd control to lock enemy Heroes down for securing kills, to peel from dive, or to have an interrupt for powerful channeled Abilities. Ideally, you should have a secondary engage in team.

Garrosh Decimate
Decimate (Level 10) World of Warcraft Garrosh
  • Mana: 25
  • Charges: 3
  • Recharge Time: 8 seconds

Deal 50 (+4% per level) damage to nearby enemies and Slow them by 40% for 1.5 seconds. Deals 100% more damage to Heroes, and each Hero hit reduces the cooldown by 1 second.

Stores up to 3 charges.

Decimate Icon Decimate is a strong Heroic Ability which provides area of effect sustain damage. Thanks to its relatively low cooldown, it can also be used for waveclear when needed.

Pick this Heroic Ability to increase your threat range, so that you can engage from a higher distance than usual. This way you can punish enemy Heroes who step too close and/or make up for the lack of a secondary engage in team.

7.

Level 13 Talents for Garrosh

Garrosh Defensive Measures ?
Defensive Measures (Level 13) World of Warcraft Garrosh

If Groundbreaker Stuns a Hero, Garrosh gains a 350 (+4% per level) Shield for 6 seconds.

Defensive Measures Icon Defensive Measures is a strong Talent that protects Garrosh with a Shield when hitting enemy Heroes with the outer area of Groundbreaker Icon Groundbreaker, so you need to Stun them to make it work.

The bonus Shield provided allows Garrosh to become an even stronger frontline Hero and makes him even harder to burst down.

Defensive Measures Icon Defensive Measures synergizes with Warbreaker Icon Warbreaker at Level 1 because the small cooldown reduction it provides to Groundbreaker Icon Groundbreaker increases the uptime potential of the bonus Shield.

Shields are amplified by the damage mitigation provided by Armor Up Icon Armor Up, meaning that Defensive Measures Icon Defensive Measures will be more effective while Garrosh has low Health.

Garrosh Bloodcraze
Bloodcraze (Level 13) World of Warcraft Garrosh

When hitting a Hero, Bloodthirst heals for an additional 15% of Garrosh's maximum Health over 3 seconds.

Bloodcraze Icon Bloodcraze is a good Talent that tends to be outclassed by Defensive Measures Icon Defensive Measures as a defensive Level 13 Talent. However, Bloodcraze is still considered situational as it may be advantageous to Garrosh against highly mobile melee targets who are difficult to hit with casts of Groundbreaker Icon Groundbreaker (such as Illidan). Rather than losing out completely on the benefits of Defensive Measures by not being able to Stun an enemy Hero with Groundbreaker, Garrosh may still receive the additional passive Healing granted by his targeted Basic Ability Bloodthirst Icon Bloodthirst.

Garrosh Double Up ?
Double Up (Level 13) World of Warcraft Garrosh
  • Cooldown: 30 seconds

Armor Up can be activated to increase its Armor bonus by 100% for 3 seconds.

Double Up Icon Double Up is a situational Talent that increases the damage mitigation provided by Armor Up Icon Armor Up.

The 100% bonus Armor can come in clutch, preventing Garrosh from being taken down especially if he finds himself under heavy fire without the immediate assistance of his team. Remember that Armor cannot go above or below 75. As a consequence, this Talent will give its maximum value when Garrosh has about 30% maximum Health or less.

8.

Level 16 Talents for Garrosh

Garrosh Mortal Combo ?
Mortal Combo (Level 16) World of Warcraft Garrosh

Hitting a Hero with Groundbreaker's Stun and throwing them with Wrecking Ball within 3 seconds reduces Wrecking Ball's cooldown by 10 seconds, regardless of order.

Mortal Combo Icon Mortal Combo is a good Talent that can set up some ridiculously crippling crowd-control combos.

Throwing an enemy Hero with Wrecking Ball Icon Wrecking Ball after Stunning them with Groundbreaker Icon Groundbreaker will result in the two Abilities being ready to use again at around the same time, allowing you to reposition enemy Heroes every 8 seconds—6 seconds with Warbreaker Icon Warbreaker at Level 1—while fighting.

When you have Mortal Combo Icon Mortal Combo at Level 16 and Titanic Might Icon Titanic Might at Level 20, when catching 2 enemy Heroes with Wrecking Ball Icon Wrecking Ball and hitting them with Groundbreaker Icon Groundbreaker right after, you will be able to throw them on the spot 2 more times. Unrivaled Strength Icon Unrivaled Strength at Level 1 increases the damage done this way.

Garrosh Earthshaker ?
Earthshaker (Level 16) World of Warcraft Garrosh

Wrecking Ball Stuns enemies near the impact area for 0.5 seconds.

Earthshaker Icon Earthshaker is a good Talent that will cause whatever enemy Hero you throw with Wrecking Ball Icon Wrecking Ball to be Stunned upon their landing and Stun all enemies who are in that area.

You can also throw an enemy towards an enemy Hero to use this Talent as a ranged Stun. This move can be useful to interrupt enemies attempting to channel a powerful Ability (for example Holy Word: Salvation Icon Holy Word: Salvation by Anduin) and/or to group two or more enemy Heroes for Warlord's Challenge Icon Warlord's Challenge.

Garrosh Seasoned Soldier
Seasoned Soldier (Level 16) World of Warcraft Garrosh

Gain 5% maximum Health, increase Groundbreaker's Slow duration by 1 second, and Bloodthirst gains an additional charge.

Seasoned Soldier Icon Seasoned Soldier is a strong Talent that passively increases Garrosh's maximum Health by 103 (+4% per level), boosts the Slow duration of Groundbreaker Icon Groundbreaker from 2 to 3 seconds, and provides an additional charge of Bloodthirst Icon Bloodthirst.

While the first and second effects are not that impactful, the third effect is a huge boost to Garrosh's survivability. You can empower this Talent by combining it with Thirst for Battle Icon Thirst for Battle at Level 4 and/or Bloodcraze Icon Bloodcraze at Level 13.

9.

Level 20 Talents for Garrosh

Garrosh Death Wish ?
Death Wish (Level 20) World of Warcraft Garrosh

Increase the duration of Warlord's Challenge by 0.5 seconds. If an enemy Hero is killed while Taunted by Warlord's Challenge, its cooldown is reduced by 45 seconds.

Death Wish Icon Death Wish is a situational Talent that allows Garrosh to reset the cooldown of Warlord's Challenge Icon Warlord's Challenge after taking down an enemy Hero while also increasing the Taunt duration from 2 to 2.5 seconds.

You should consider picking this Talent when your team's strategy involves killing an isolated enemy Hero using Abilities that split their damage evenly on all Heroes hit (for example Seven-Sided Strike Icon Seven-Sided Strike by Kharazim).

Garrosh Deadly Calm
Deadly Calm (Level 20) World of Warcraft Garrosh

Heroes hit by Decimate deal 40% less damage for 3 seconds.

Deadly Calm Icon Deadly Calm is a strong Talent that almost halves the damage done by enemy Heroes hit by Decimate Icon Decimate for a few seconds.

The fact that Decimate has multiple charges and a cooldown reduction component allows you to potentially keep the debuff active for a dozen of seconds on multiple enemy Heroes within range.

Avoid using multiple charges on the same enemy Heroes in quick succession because the second damage reduction effect will not stack with the first one, but only refresh its duration.

Garrosh Titanic Might ?
Titanic Might (Level 20) World of Warcraft Garrosh

Wrecking Ball now throws the 2 closest enemies.

Titanic Might Icon Titanic Might is a strong Talent that doubles the power of Wrecking Ball Icon Wrecking Ball, especially if your team has access to burst damage to follow up on your engage. Throwing 2 enemy Heroes means you will easily be able to hit both of them with Warlord's Challenge Icon Warlord's Challenge.

When you have Mortal Combo Icon Mortal Combo at Level 16 and Titanic Might Icon Titanic Might at Level 20, when catching 2 enemy Heroes with Wrecking Ball Icon Wrecking Ball and hitting them with Groundbreaker Icon Groundbreaker right after, you will be able to throw them on the spot 2 more times. Unrivaled Strength Icon Unrivaled Strength at Level 1 increases the damage done this way.

You should avoid picking this Talent when your team's strategy involves killing an isolated enemy Hero using Abilities that split their damage evenly on all Heroes hit (for example Seven-Sided Strike Icon Seven-Sided Strike by Kharazim).

Garrosh Inner Rage ?
Inner Rage (Level 20) World of Warcraft Garrosh

Body Check gains an additional charge and its healing reduction is increased by an additional 45%.

Inner Rage Icon Inner Rage is a situational Talent that increases the value of Body Check Icon Body Check by adding a second charge and empowering the healing reduction component. For obvious reasons, this Talent can only be picked if Body Check Icon Body Check was chosen at Level 1.

Avoid using both charges on the same enemy Hero in quick succession because, even though healing reduction effects can stack up to 100% healing reduction, in this case the second application will not stack with the first one but only refresh its duration.

Pick this Talent when you need healing reduction effects to get kills, so when the enemy team has enough burst healing (for example Phase Shift Icon Phase Shift by Brightwing) to save whoever is being focused by your team.

10.

Changelog

  • 08 Apr. 2025: Guide reviewed.
  • 08 Dec. 2024: Guide reviewed.
  • 16 Dec. 2023: Guide reviewed.
  • 20 Sep. 2023: ARAM Build added.
  • 16 Sep. 2023: Guide reviewed.
  • 07 Jul. 2022: Builds updated.
  • 06 May 2022: Builds updated.
  • 16 Jun. 2021: Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 05 May 2021: Bloodthirst Build's Description improved.
  • 24 Apr. 2021: Builds updated.
  • 27 Feb. 2021: Build Tags updated.
  • 25 Feb. 2021: New layout.
  • 16 Feb. 2021: Builds updated.
  • 24 Oct. 2020: Builds updated.
  • 16 Jul. 2020: Builds and Descriptions changed according to the latest Balance Update.
  • 11 Apr. 2020: Talent Build partially revised to match new standards.
    • Talent Build and Talent Build Cheatsheet modified to reflect the current metagame.
    • Talent Descriptions modified to better describe when to pick them.
  • 10 Jun. 2019: Revised the Garrosh guide and fixed minor issues. The guide is, overall, up-to-date.
  • 25 May 2019: Updated Garrosh's talents and builds due to a major overhaul of the guide.
  • 24 Dec. 2017: Talents page updated to reflect the Dec. 20 balance patch notes, particularly the Groundbreaker Ability changes.
  • 17 Oct. 2017: The increased duration of Warlord's Challenge by the Level 20 Talent Death Wish has been removed.
  • 01 Sep. 2017: Full Descriptions have been added to Talent page.
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