heroes Alexei Stukov Hero Preview

[Stan 5,244]

Infested Admiral Stukov is coming to the Nexus! Learn more about the latest StarCraft Support!

Alexei Stukov's spotlight was just released with overview of his talents and abilities. On top of that, we added skins and ability screenshots to our preview.

Infested Admiral Stukov (Base Skin)

• Alexei Stukov had a hard life, and an even harder death. He has been betrayed, shot into space, resurrected and infested, almost cured, and then experimented upon as the infestation returned. Now, his infestation spreads within the Nexus...

Admiral Krakenov (Skin Variation)

• Decades ago, a mutiny forced the Admiral of the Three Anchors to walk the plank. On moonless nights, his form haunts Blackheart's Bay, calling itself "Krakenov" and demanding a lot of fish.

Strengths

• Support
• Sustained damage
• CC

Weaknesses

• Mobility
• Escape

TRAIT

Bio-Kill Switch (D)

• Activate to detonate all of Stukov’s Viruses. Each Healing Pathogen heals its target for 500 health, and each Weighted Pustule does 100 damage and Slows its target by 70% for 2 seconds. Can be cast while channeling Lurking Arm.

BASIC ABILITIES

Healing Pathogen (Q)

• Infest an allied Hero with a Healing Pathogen that heals the target for 240 Health over 4.5 seconds. Healing Pathogens can spread to a nearby allied Hero every 0.75 seconds, and a single Healing Pathogen can spread to each allied Hero 1 time.

Weighted Pustule (W)

• Hurl a pustule that impacts all enemy Heroes in its path, dealing 20 damage and Slowing by 5%, increasing to 50% over 3 seconds. Deals an additional 80 damage upon expiring or being removed.

Lurking Arm (E)

• Channel at a target location, creating an area that Silences enemies inside and deals 144 damage per second to them. Deals 50% reduced damage to non-Heroes. Does not cost Mana while Channeling, and lasts until canceled or interrupted.

HEROIC ABILITIES

Flailing Swipe (R)

• Swipe 3 times in front of Stukov over 1.75 seconds, dealing 50 damage to enemies hit and knocking them away. Each swipe is larger than the previous.

Massive Shove (R)

• Extend Stukov's arm. If it hits an enemy Hero, they are rapidly shoved until they collide with terrain, taking 200 damage. Stukov gains 50 Armor while shoving an enemy.

TALENTS

Comment from discussion Stukov talent/ability list and screens.

HERO SPOTLIGHT

[Plergoth 277]

Started to get hyped when I saw the word Support pop up, and then decided to buy him the moment I saw the ults. Motherfucking pimp hand slap! 

[Aglommon 21]

Glad to see another support. 

Looks interesting, can't wait to try him out.

[Laragon 269]

They call him a solo support... but he seems to SCREAM double. Especially when his heroics are not really a panic button but a zoning/isolation move. Have to see how the numbers come out and the talents shape up. Cooldown timers will be key. Kit seems a lot like Malf as far as how you have to play him. (1 HoT, 1 Damage, 1 CC, Heroic for counter engage)

Apprehensively hyped. Clearly can be countered by certain damage, like KT that loves hitting death balls and breaking them. But should work nicely against maltheal and other assassins that want to dive and pressure over time.

Either way, he looks SUPER unique, which makes me happy. I was totally expecting a specialist from his kit, but they went off base and made something full of flavor that fits more what the game uses.

[Migol 433]

Quote

Extend Stukov's arm. If it hits an enemy Hero, they are rapidly shoved until they collide with terrain, taking 200 damage. Stukov gains 50 Armor while shoving an enemy.

 

Until they collide with terrain?    I assume there's a hidden limit there, and you can't shove someone across the map if you line up straight down the middle lane?   Though that would be hilarious.

[Valhalen 1,484]

SWEET SEMEN OF BABY JESUS!!!

I've never been a fan of Starcraft, but this Hero's kit got me excited as hell! I simply cannot wait to get him on launch. Thank God I've saved over 30 loot chests. I'll burn them down to get Stukov's sweet Admiral Krakenov skin.

As a Support main I'm very excited to see Blizzard give Supports their desired attention.

Edited June 30, 2017 by Valhalen

[KingMe 289]

15 minutes ago, Valhalen said:

SWEET SEMEN OF BABY JESUS!!!

I've never been a fan of Starcraft, but this Hero's kit got me excited as hell! I simply cannot wait to get him on launch. Thank God I've saved over 30 loot chests. I'll burn them down to get Stukov's sweet Admiral Krakenov skin.

As a Support main I'm very excited to see Blizzard give Supports their desired attention.

He definitely looks fun and it's nice to see them bring in unique healers. I'm a Flex player but Support is towards the top of my list (Looking at you Brightwing). I will be trying him out when he is released and I think I know which Heroic I will be taking first; "Get Over There!!".

[Alkasar991 12]

38 minutes ago, Valhalen said:

SWEET SEMEN OF BABY JESUS!!!

I've never been a fan of Starcraft, but this Hero's kit got me excited as hell! I simply cannot wait to get him on launch. Thank God I've saved over 30 loot chests. I'll burn them down to get Stukov's sweet Admiral Krakenov skin.

As a Support main I'm very excited to see Blizzard give Supports their desired attention.

Might be worth to check out the SC2 campaigns ;) Not such a hard game as many think

[Laragon 269]

1 hour ago, Migol said:

 

Until they collide with terrain?    I assume there's a hidden limit there, and you can't shove someone across the map if you line up straight down the middle lane?   Though that would be hilarious.

Hidden limit is the edge of the map... Watch the video and it shows them shoving them over half the map away on Sky Temple. Which is CRAZY far because that's a large map.

[Kurosu 58]

3 hours ago, Migol said:

 

Until they collide with terrain?    I assume there's a hidden limit there, and you can't shove someone across the map if you line up straight down the middle lane?   Though that would be hilarious.

At least watch the spotlight you are commenting on, it shows exactly this happening, a genji being pushed from middle all the way near the core.But  you cant do that as easily as you present it to be , since it requires every single building being destroyed, and in the late game if people dont already interupt him before he pushed the hero far away,they deserve it.

[Migol 433]

Sorry, at work and watching videos is a giant red flag :P    All I could do was read the article portion

[Skyewalker 20]

I think the skill ceiling will be very high for Stukov. REALLY cool kit. I suck at playing supports, but I sure am excited to get carried by my support friend!

[PixieKnight 10]

I'm just delighted to have another Support. For me, the worst thing about Support is that there just aren't enough new Heroes to keep things fresh.

[Voltorocks 40]

21 hours ago, Kurosu said:

...a genji being pushed from middle all the way near the core.But  you cant do that as easily as you present it to be , since it requires every single building being destroyed, and in the late game if people dont already interupt him before he pushed the hero far away,they deserve it.

only walls and gates matter for this - forts and keeps will still provide collision and need to be aimed around.

 

I think though that the push will be more of a niche pick only against very specific comps; otherwise the single-target nature of it just pales so badly in comparison to the disengage or flanking potential of the swipe.

[SteveFrost 97]

Shoving someone into a different solo q game lul. And not an assassin! :o

[Kurosu 58]

1 hour ago, Voltorocks said:

only walls and gates matter for this - forts and keeps will still provide collision and need to be aimed around.

 

I think though that the push will be more of a niche pick only against very specific comps; otherwise the single-target nature of it just pales so badly in comparison to the disengage or flanking potential of the swipe.

The ability to remove the support or biggest damage dealer from the teamfight is huge asset,and you can also use it to rescue a teammate who is being chased ( with better result than the swipe)

[PixieKnight 10]

14 hours ago, Kurosu said:

The ability to remove the support or biggest damage dealer from the teamfight is huge asset,and you can also use it to rescue a teammate who is being chased ( with better result than the swipe)

 

At high level,  Shove will probably be used like Zeratul's Void Prison: Remove a single Support or Assassin from the fight while you go to town on their buddies.

[TheMightyLevon 0]

Without seeing it in action, it's hard to say if the healing will be enough to make him a solo support. I see him running alongside another bruising / utility-type support, most likely.

[BrightwingMain 26]

Really excited for Stukov, he is kinda weird tho, really OP base kit with AoE silence and AoE sustained healing convertable into AoE burst healing and good damage ability considering the fact that he is a support after all. His both ults seem really crap, Flailing Swipe seems ok-ish tho if you position well with it. His non-heroic talents (1-7, 13-20) seem really strong tho and he in that aspect should scale really well. Considering how conceptually op the base kit and talents are and how bad Blizzard is at balancing heroes' stat numbers when they are released i assume he is going to be OP on release, although after initial tweaking I have no idea where the hero will land when it comes to viability. Probably he will be another Samuro, OP on release but unplayable after nerfs, kinda sad we have come to this tho.

[positiv2 953]

He looks interesting, so let's see how strong he will actually be.

[Valhalen 1,484]

6 hours ago, positiv2 said:

He looks interesting, so let's see how strong he will actually be.

I think he will be great when paired with/against Samuro and TLV, since it will be easier to spread his viruses.

[gamerk2 20]

12 hours ago, TheMightyLevon said:

Without seeing it in action, it's hard to say if the healing will be enough to make him a solo support. I see him running alongside another bruising / utility-type support, most likely.

I'm fine with that, especially if he's seen as good.  Would help put the Tyrande's and BW's of the world back into the meta a bit.

[gerbercage 15]

When release, I hope someone can test it with these situation to see how is the result.

Dunno what happen if stitch hook 1 enemy hero in the same time stukov Massive Shove that enemy hero. Pull to them or push away?

same as cassia Valkyrie.

Also when butcher/illidian charge to him the same time stukov push him, dunno butcher will keep chasing until the end of terrain or what.

What happen when varian taunt that enemy then stukov push him? will he continue run back to varian after push?

Anubarak and stukov together quite good as they can cocoon 1 and push1 away in teamfight make it 5vs3 in most of the time.

Chromie timeloop enemy and stukov push him away. Will that enemy return back or keep pushed after the timeloop period end? How about tracer recall?

When butcher ulti chain 1 enemy and stukov push that enemy. Will he keep chained or pushed away?

How about those artanis swap, furion entangle on the path that opponent been psuhed by stukov?

[Valhalen 1,484]

3 hours ago, gerbercage said:

When release, I hope someone can test it with these situation to see how is the result.

Dunno what happen if stitch hook 1 enemy hero in the same time stukov Massive Shove that enemy hero. Pull to them or push away?

same as cassia Valkyrie.

Also when butcher/illidian charge to him the same time stukov push him, dunno butcher will keep chasing until the end of terrain or what.

What happen when varian taunt that enemy then stukov push him? will he continue run back to varian after push?

Anubarak and stukov together quite good as they can cocoon 1 and push1 away in teamfight make it 5vs3 in most of the time.

Chromie timeloop enemy and stukov push him away. Will that enemy return back or keep pushed after the timeloop period end? How about tracer recall?

When butcher ulti chain 1 enemy and stukov push that enemy. Will he keep chained or pushed away?

How about those artanis swap, furion entangle on the path that opponent been psuhed by stukov?

Those are very interesting points. I wonder how everything will work, because it is the first time a move like this is featured in HotS.

[50m8r4 11]

Well I reallllllllllllllllllllllllly thought it was infestius the infested marine or larvey (a larva that can build bldgs but die on use )

But looks like this is the 2nd hero I buy with gems ( 1st was dva SO WORTH )