Heroes of the Storm is Blizzard’s word in the MOBA genre, and today we’re taking a look at the tank character Garrosh. Garrosh is taken from the World of Warcraft franchise and was added to the game on the 8th of August 2017. He’s currently sitting at 750 gems or 10,000 gold to unlock and has seen plenty of changes since his initial release into the game.
The most recent and perhaps most influential change is the update to his ability “Into the Fray”, where Garrosh can throw an ally either to preserve them from danger or onto unsuspecting enemies, from being unlocked only through a level 7 Talent to adding it to Garrosh’s base-line kit.
Today we’re going to look over Garosh’s abilities, his talents, what he excels at, and when he isn’t so great.
Using Garrosh
Garrosh excels at his role in tanking. He’s durable, he has Sustain, and he’s annoying as hell to try and take down. Not only does he make a formidable tank, but he’s also excellent in punishing poor placement. What does this mean? He can lock down opponents, stun them, and keep them in place whilst he or the team deletes their health-bars.
Now that we know what Garrosh excels at, let’s take a look at what he sucks with. Simply put, your siege damage is never going to be anything to write home about. Sure, he has some talents that can aid with this, but siege isn’t going to be your focus. He’s an assisting character. Great at peeling, great at lockdown, awful at siege. His sustain also requires some finesse and time to recoup, and as such, Garrosh can be susceptible to sudden burst damage.
Abilities
- Groundbreaker
Garrosh’s Q ability is Groundbreaker, wherein he slams the ground and releases a cone of damage in front of him. The ability does 81 damage at base, and the very outer edge of the ability stuns foes caught in it for 0.5 seconds, then slows them by 40% for 2 seconds.
This ability is a great follow-up to your Throw, and makes the distance between Garrosh and the stun radius really easy to land. The damage provides you an option for dealing AoE wave clear also. It’s not terrific wave clear, but if you want to finish some minions off quickly, this is going to help somewhat.
Use it to prevent foes from making an escape, or time it well to cancel their ability, channels, and diving. The damage and effects can be augmented with quest talents, which we’ll discuss further in the Talents section.
- Bloodthirst
Garrosh’s second ability on W is Bloodthirst, where he attacks an enemy dealing 156 at base. Garrosh heals for 10% of his missing health upon landing the attack, and the healing is increased by 100% when Bloodthirst hits an enemy hero.
This is where Garrosh gains his sustain, and his ability to be such an effective tank. Wherein your trait will make you harder to kill the less health you have, this ability also heals more points the less health you have. They can work in tandem to give enemies a headache; they think Garrosh is finally going down, only to have him become more and more tanky.
Surprisingly, this ability can also be augmented with Talents to become Garrosh’s best form of siege and wave clear and further increase its mad level of sustain:
Talent:
In For the Kill – Increase Bloodthirst’s damage against non-Heroes by 70%.
Talent:
Seasoned Solider – Bloodthirst gains an additional charge.
These two together means that Garrosh can spam away with his Bloodthirst ability on a wave to clear it, keep his mana high, and restore an enormous amount of health, all the while pumping up those siege and experience stats!
- Wrecking Ball
Garrosh throws the nearby enemy marked with his Horde symbol to the targeted destination. Enemies around the impact take 91 damage at base, and are slowed by 30% for 2.5 seconds.
This ability is where Garrosh is able to punish enemy placement so well. If someone is foolish enough to get close to you, throw them back into your team and let the assassins explode their healthbar. Someone gets close to you whilst you are close to a wall and towers – throw them over and let the towers take care of the rest.
Someone diving your backline and you need to put them in their place? Throw them away from your squishes and save the day like an action hero. While the ability can take some finesse to use effectively, it can be some of the most satisfying gameplay in Heroes.
There are so many uses for Wrecking Ball, it’s best to just get in the game and use the ability as much as you can to learn the effects and outcomes. Learning by doing is the best way to perfect Wrecking Ball!
Into the Fray works similarly to Wrecking Ball, allowing an ally to be thrown in place of an enemy. Save your allies from near-death, or throw a deadly character upon an unsuspecting enemy to explode the foes backline! The ability keeps the damage and slowing effect from Wrecking Ball, but also provides the ally thrown with 20 armor for 3 seconds.
- Armor Up
Another method of sustain is Garrosh’s trait, wherein he gains 1 armor for every 2% of max health missing. That’s right, Garrosh becomes even harder to kill the more the enemy tries. As his trait is a passive, you do not need to activate its effect and the ability is always working for you. While I wouldn’t recommend being careless with your position and trying to face-tank enemy cooldowns, it does provide some forgiving play to Garrosh if you’re worried about picking up a new character or a new role.
Heroic Abilities
- Warlord’s Challenge
Garrosh’s first option for a heroic ability is the challenge, wherein enemies surrounding Garrosh are Silenced and are forced to auto-attack Garrosh for 2 seconds.
Pretty much every AoE silence is powerful, and this is no exception. Interrupt abilities, save allies, and lockdown enemies for your allies to explode. Taking this option just takes Garrosh’s ability to provide assists and turns it up to eleven.
- Decimate
Garrosh’s second option for heroic abilities is Decimate, and this opens up his ability to do area damage a fair amount more. It will give him a decent option for wave-clear and will punish enemies for grouping up on him. While grouping up on Garrosh is going to be necessary to bring him down, this is a way of him getting back at those who try.
Garrosh deals 50 damage at base in an area around him, and slows enemies hit by 40% for 1.5 seconds. The damage dealt is increased by 100% when hitting an enemy hero, and hitting a hero will also reduce the cooldown on Decimate charges by 1 second for each hit. The ability can store a max of three charges.
Talents
Level 1:
Warbreaker
- Quest: Stun Heroes with Groundbreaker.
- Reward: After Stunning 5 Heroes, Groundbreaker deals an additional 165 damage over 3 seconds to Heroes.
- Reward: After Stunning 15 Heroes, permanently reduce Groundbreaker’s cooldown by 2 seconds.
Unrivaled Strength
Increase Wrecking Ball’s throw range by 25% and its damage by 125%.
Body Check – Cooldown: 15 seconds
Activate to deal 111 damage to a target enemy and Slow them by 35% for 3 seconds. Enemy Heroes hit receive 30% reduced healing for 3 seconds.
Level 4:
In For the Kill
Increase Bloodthirst’s damage against non-Heroes by 70%. Killing enemies with Bloodthirst resets its cooldown and refunds its Mana cost.
Thirst for Battle
Basic Attacks against Heroes reduce the cooldown of Bloodthirst by 2 seconds.
Indomitable
Activate to become Unstoppable for 1.5 seconds.
Level 7:
Intimidation
Groundbreaker reduces the Attack Speed of Heroes hit by 30% for 4 seconds.
Oppressor
Basic Attacks and Bloodthirst against Heroes reduce the target’s Spell Power by 30% for 2.5 seconds.
Lok-tar ogar!
Increase Into the Fray’s Armor by 20. Hitting enemy Heroes with Into the Fray reduces its cooldown by 12 seconds.
Level 13:
Defensive Measures
If Groundbreaker Stuns a Hero, Garrosh gains a 350 point Shield for 6 seconds.
Bloodcraze
When hitting a Hero, Bloodthirst heals for an additional 15% of Garrosh’s maximum Health over 3 seconds.
Double Up
Armor Up can be activated to increase its Armor bonus by 100% for 3 seconds.
Level 16:
Mortal Combo
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.
Earthshaker
Wrecking Ball Stuns enemies near the impact area for 0.5 seconds.
Seasoned Soldier
Gain 5% maximum Health, increase Groundbreaker’s Slow duration by 1 second, and Bloodthirst gains an additional charge.
Level 20:
Death Wish
Increase the duration of Warlord’s Challenge by 0.5 seconds. If an enemy Hero is killed while affected by Warlord’s Challenge, its cooldown is reduced by 45 seconds.
Deadly Calm
Heroes hit by Decimate deal 40% less damage for 3 seconds.
Titanic Might
Wrecking Ball now throws the two closest enemies. (As good as it sounds.)
Inner Rage
Body Check gains an additional charge and its healing reduction is increased by an additional 45%.
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Credits
| Program | Founding Writers |
| Author | Luke Cowling |
| Publisher | MGN |
| Game | Heroes of the Storm |