E.T.C. Build Guide “You can't kill the metal!”

Last updated on Sep 20, 2023 at 13:12 by Elitesparkle 35 comments
General Information

Welcome to our guide for E.T.C., a Tank in Heroes of the Storm. Within these pages, you will find everything required to understand how best to play this hero, in both different map styles and team compositions.

1.

E.T.C.'s Overview

E.T.C. is a disruptive but moderately durable Tank. Teammates will find his outstanding ability to engage and peel valuable, however, his limited damage output means that E.T.C. players must work well with allied Heroes in order to secure kills.

2.

E.T.C.'s Strengths and Weaknesses

V Strengths
X Weaknesses
  • -Relatively low damage output
  • -Not as durable as most Tanks
  • -Low waveclear
3.

E.T.C.'s Talent Build Cheatsheet

Guitar Solo Build

Recommended
Level 1 Guitar Hero Icon
Level 4 Loud Speakers Icon
Level 7 Hammer-on Icon
Level 10 Mosh Pit Icon Stage Dive Icon ?
Level 13 Mic Check Icon Encore Icon ?
Level 16 Aggressive Shredding Icon
Level 20 Bolt of the Storm Icon Crowd Pleaser Icon ? Storm Shield Icon ?

E.T.C.'s Guitar Solo Build increases your damage output and self-sustain when hitting enemies with Basic Attacks, which is particularly effective in prolonged team fights.

Face Melt Build

Advanced
Level 1 Block Party Icon Prog Rock Icon ?
Level 4 Loud Speakers Icon
Level 7 Pinball Wizard Icon
Level 10 Mosh Pit Icon Stage Dive Icon ?
Level 13 Mic Check Icon Encore Icon ?
Level 16 Show Stopper Icon Aggressive Shredding Icon ? Imposing Presence Icon ?
Level 20 Bolt of the Storm Icon Crowd Pleaser Icon ? Storm Shield Icon ?

E.T.C.'s Face Melt Build is designed to give you the highest amount of crowd control when playing as main Tank. Thanks to that, you will be able to disrupt enemy moves and peel for your team.

Loud Speakers Icon Loud Speakers at Level 4 enables defensive plays that would be otherwise impossible to execute. The extra range makes you able to interrupt enemy Abilities from afar (for example Discord Strike Icon Discord Strike by Alarak) or to knock away dangerous enemy Heroes (such as Garrosh).

Hybrid Build

Situational
Level 1 Block Party Icon Guitar Hero Icon ? Prog Rock Icon ?
Level 4 Speed Metal Icon Crowd Surfer Icon ?
Level 7 Echo Pedal Icon
Level 10 Stage Dive Icon
Level 13 Encore Icon
Level 16 Aggressive Shredding Icon Show Stopper Icon ? Imposing Presence Icon ?
Level 20 Crowd Pleaser Icon Bolt of the Storm Icon ? Storm Shield Icon ?

E.T.C.'s Hybrid Build boosts your waveclear and turns you into a global Hero, a combination that allows you to play as an Offlaner with great success, especially on big Maps because you can get more value from Stage Dive Icon Stage Dive there.

ARAM Build

ARAM
Level 1 Block Party Icon Prog Rock Icon ?
Level 4 Loud Speakers Icon
Level 7 Pinball Wizard Icon
Level 10 Mosh Pit Icon Stage Dive Icon ?
Level 13 Encore Icon
Level 16 Show Stopper Icon Aggressive Shredding Icon ? Imposing Presence Icon ?
Level 20 Tour Bus Icon Crowd Pleaser Icon ?

E.T.C.'s ARAM Build is designed to give you the highest amount of crowd control when playing as main Tank. Thanks to that, you will be able to disrupt enemy moves and peel for your team.

Loud Speakers Icon Loud Speakers at Level 4 enables defensive plays that would be otherwise impossible to execute. The extra range makes you able to interrupt enemy Abilities from afar (for example Discord Strike Icon Discord Strike by Alarak) or to knock away dangerous enemy Heroes (such as Garrosh).

4.

E.T.C.'s Synergies and Counters

V E.T.C. synergizes with

E.T.C.'s aggressive crowd control-oriented Ability set makes him particularly useful to any Hero who is able to follow up on said crowd control with powerful damaging and/or crowd controlling Abilities.

If you pair E.T.C. with a Hero who, like him, is capable of playing as either Tank and Offlaner, you can keep E.T.C. in the 4-man until Stage Dive Icon Stage Dive gets unlocked and then swap.

Healers who can provide Unstoppable during Mosh Pit Icon Mosh Pit (such as Kharazim with Cleansing Touch Icon Cleansing Touch) are great to deny enemy interrupts which will otherwise shut it down.

X E.T.C. is countered by

E.T.C. struggles against Heroes who can easily dodge, quickly interrupt, or completely ignore his crowd control Abilities.

5.

E.T.C.'s Maps

E.T.C.'s stronger maps
Battlefield of Eternity
E.T.C.'s average maps
Alterac Pass Blackheart's Bay Cursed Hollow Garden of Terror Hanamura Temple Infernal Shrines Sky Temple Towers of Doom Warhead Junction
E.T.C.'s weaker maps
Braxis Holdout Dragon Shire Tomb of the Spider Queen Volskaya Foundry

Having a well-rounded Ability set, E.T.C. works well on most Maps but performs better where he can flank—to Face Melt Icon Face Melt and then Powerslide Icon Powerslide as a safe engage—or fight near choke points—where he can easily hit enemy Heroes with Powerslide Icon Powerslide and his Heroic Abilities.

Battlefield of Eternity is particularly interesting for E.T.C. because he can knockback and Stun enemy Heroes right below the allied Immortal to make it impossible for them to dodge his Abilities.

While it is not necessarily a huge problem depending on the rest of your draft, E.T.C. is not that good for Maps where the Objective takes extremely long to be secured because, even if he has some self-sustain, he will struggle to be alive for long due to his below-average durability.

6.

E.T.C.'s Tips and Tricks

7.

E.T.C.'s Role in the Current Meta

E.T.C. is a disruptive Tank as he provides a huge amount of crowd control which can be used to peel or engage. Thanks to his versatile kit, E.T.C. can be used as either an aggressive or defensive Tank, depending on the draft and based on the situation.

Not being extremely durable, E.T.C. has to be careful when going for aggressive plays, making sure that his team is ready to follow-up and being confident that the chosen move will translate to an advantage, otherwise he may end up dying for no reason and thus leaving his team without a key component for multiple seconds.

If your team drafted accordingly, E.T.C. can be played as an Offlaner. Even better, if the main Tank is capable of solo laning, you may put E.T.C. in the 4-man until Level 10 and then switch them once Stage Dive Icon Stage Dive gets unlocked.

8.

Changelog

  • 20 Sep. 2023 (talents page): Guide reviewed.
  • 20 Sep. 2023 (talents page): ARAM Build added.
  • 20 Sep. 2023 (this page): Guide reviewed.
  • 20 Sep. 2023 (this page): ARAM Build added.
  • 07 Jul. 2022 (talents page): Builds updated.
  • 07 Jul. 2022 (this page): Builds updated.
  • 03 Feb. 2022 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 03 Feb. 2022 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 03 Feb. 2022 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 28 Jan. 2022 (talents page): Builds updated.
  • 28 Jan. 2022 (this page): Builds updated.
  • 28 Sep. 2021 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 28 Sep. 2021 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 28 Sep. 2021 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 18 Aug. 2021 (talents page): Talent Build page updated.
    • Build added.
    • Descriptions improved.
    • New layout.
  • 18 Aug. 2021 (abilities page): Abilities and Strategy page updated.
    • Descriptions improved.
    • Tips and Tricks improved.
    • New layout.
  • 18 Aug. 2021 (this page): Introduction page updated.
    • Build added.
    • Descriptions improved.
    • Synergies and Counters improved.
    • Maps improved.
    • Tips and Tricks improved.
    • New layout.
  • 27 Oct. 2020 (talents page): Talents and builds reviewed and updated.
  • 07 Sep. 2020 (talents page): Talents and builds reviewed and updated.
  • 30 Aug. 2020 (this page): Role in Current Meta section updated.
  • 19 Jul. 2020 (talents page): Talents reviewed and updated.
  • 05 Apr. 2020 (talents page): Description and recommendation updated for Pinball Wizard.
  • 13 Dec. 2019 (this page): Added a note about current Anomaly.
  • 11 Oct. 2019 (talents page): Talents section updated.
  • 11 Oct. 2019 (abilities page): Abilities section reviewed.
  • 11 Oct. 2019 (this page): Guide updated.
  • 21 Jan. 2018 (this page): Guide fully updated.
  • 26 Apr. 2017 (this page): Guide updated for Genji's patch and moved to the new format.
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