E.T.C. Talents

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Quick Reference
  • 2. Introduction
  • 3. Strengths
  • 4. Weaknesses
  • 5. Role in the Current Meta
  • 6. Reading Further
  • 7. ChangeLog
• +Abilities and Strategy
  • 1. Tips on Ability Usage
  • 2. Powerslide
  • 3. Face Melt
  • 4. Guitar Solo
  • 5. Mosh Pit
  • 6. Stage Dive
  • 7. Rockstar (Trait)
• ×Talent Build
  • 1. Talent Build
  • 2. Common Talent Paths
  • 3. Level 1 Talents
    • 3.1. Discussion
  • 4. Level 4 Talents
    • 4.1. Discussion
  • 5. Level 7 Talents
    • 5.1. Discussion
  • 6. Level 10 Talents
    • 6.1. Discussion
  • 7. Level 13 Talents
    • 7.1. Discussion
  • 8. Level 16 Talents
    • 8.1. Discussion
  • 9. Level 20 Talents
    • 9.1. Discussion

General Information

On this page, we present the viable talent choices for playing E.T.C. in a competitive environment in Heroes of the Storm. For each talent, we explain what they do and why they should or should not be taken.

The other pages of our E.T.C. guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About the Author

Oxygen is a veteran of the MOBA genre, which he has been playing for nearly 15 years. He has coached some of Heroes of the Storm's most prominent North American players and teams alike, including Team Liquid. As a Master player, he enjoys playing all Heroes and roles.

1. Talent Build

Level	Choices
1	✘ ? ✔
4	? ✔ ?
7	✘ ✔ ✘
10	✔ ✔
13	? ✘ ✔
16	? ? ✔
20	? ? ? ? ✔

Create your own build and share it with friends!

2. Common Talent Paths

3. Level 1 Talents

3.1. Discussion

Due to its attack requirement, Guitar Hero is much less reliable than its Prog Rock counterpart, even if its overall potential healing output is a bit higher.

Prog Rock provides a reasonable and reliable amount of self sustain. In the late-game, this effect is also extended to allies, making it an effective counter to some amount of poke damage and just generally good for recuperating Health.

Certain team compositions feature several Heroes that heavily rely on Basic Attacks to deal damage. Block Party, then, offers a modest increase to your raw survivability and to that of your teammates. This Talent is particularly useful against Greymane and The Butcher.

4. Level 4 Talents

4.1. Discussion

Crowd Surfer has interesting implications in terms of mobility, but is so situational when compared to the other existing choices that it can rarely if ever be justified. Still, the Talent has room on tight Maps such as Cursed Hollow and Tomb of the Spider Queen.

Loud Speakers is a significant and reliable increase to Face Melt's peeling and disruptive power. This becomes particularly obvious when paired with the Mic Check and Face Smelt Talents. Loud Speaker also increases E.T.C.'s effective range for interrupting and generally reaching opponents without having to use Powerslide.

Speed Metal's movement speed increase is invaluable for you and the rest of your team. In general, movement speed provides both offensive and defensive utility; it helps with uptime, positioning, escaping, and avoiding skillshots. Particularly effective against melee-heavy team compositions.

5. Level 7 Talents

5.1. Discussion

Pinball Wizard directly competes with Echo Pedal in terms of utility. While it does provide a bit more burst damage, Pinball Wizard cannot compete with the latter choice in terms of sustained DPS and usefulness. The Talent's utility is also limited to targets hit by Powerslide, which can be difficult to ensure at all times.

Echo Pedal is an incredible boon to E.T.C., who generally heavily lacks any decent waveclearing or Mercenary Camp claiming capacity. Echo Pedal greatly helps with this, on top of adding a very respectable amount of damage to his general kit.

Hammer-on provides more single-target damage than the two other Talent choices on this tier, but falls much shorter in terms of utility and area of effect damage.

6. Level 10 Talents

6.1. Discussion

At this level, Heroic Abilities become available. Both Heroic Abilities have already been described in the Abilities section.

Mosh Pit is notable for single handedly altering the way that your opponents play due to its team fight-winning potential. This Heroic Ability's power is as considerable as is its difficulty to use; many factors must be considered when using Mosh Pit, such as the availability of interrupts or movement Abilities on the opposing team, the map that is being played, or your own team composition.

Stage Dive can essentially act as a mapwide mobility ability, opening up the possibility of split-pushing for E.T.C. due to its global cast range. This allows you to generate an Experience lead and simultaneously threaten Structures without the downsides of leaving your team at a man disadvantage, should a fight erupt.

Omitting this aspect, Stage Dive is an excellent initiation tool that may force an enemy team to split up or use movement Ability Cooldowns in order to avoid its effect.

7. Level 13 Talents

7.1. Discussion

Mic Check's condition is so easy to meet that it essentially cuts the Cooldown of Face Melt by half. This makes E.T.C. excessively disruptive, especially against melee Heroes.

Encore's delay makes it very unreliable when compared to the alternatives. Mic Check essentially yields the same amount of Face Melt over the same period of time, but at a controllable pace, from a controllable location.

Face Smelt provides a reliable and potent movement speed reduction effect. This talent is particularly good when you have a specific high-priority target to isolate and take out, such a specific caster or healer. Whether you go for Face Smelt or Mic Check comes down to personal preference.

8. Level 16 Talents

8.1. Discussion

If you find yourself getting inexplicably bursted down too often after initiating fights, Show Stopper is there to provide you with all necessary added survivability. Consider, however, that Imposing Presence does better against Basic Attacks.

Aggressive Shredding provides you with a large amount of survivability by significantly improving Guitar Solo's uptime. Another added benefit of this Talent is the ability to cheaply and rapidly trigger Echo Pedal through the added Guitar Solo casts.

Imposing Presence offers an unparalleled amount of survivability against Basic Attacks. The Talent's effects are multiplicative when used with Block Party and Rockstar. As with the former choice, it is of limited use against team compositions that rely on Ability-based damage. Imposing Presence should be picked if your opponent's team features two or more Basic Attack-reliant Assassins.

9. Level 20 Talents

9.1. Discussion

Tour Bus makes Mosh Pit extremely punishing against teams that lack the interruption to deal with the channel. It also helps you catch more players than you typically would by only using the regular Mosh Pit, as the Powerslide reset feature gives you a second chance to hit enemy Heroes should you initially miss.

Crowd Pleaser turns Stage Dive into an absolutely fearsome initiation tool. With such a wide area of effect, it becomes difficult for everyone to avoid the Ability. The caveat is that Crowd Pleaser is hardly useful against teams that tend to split-push, or hard-engage against your own teammates for quick kills. Against such teams, you should look into either Bolt of the Storm or Storm Shield.

There are situations where no amount of peel that E.T.C. provides can seem to help your teammates stay alive. Storm Shield then shines, as the instant shielding can effectively be used to prevent a good amount of burst damage. It should be noted that E.T.C.'s large Health pool makes Storm Shield a good Ability to use when it is difficult for him to stay alive. Just be sure to coordinate with your teammates as to not use two Storm Shields at once, as the effects do not stack.

Death Metal requires you to die specifically near enemy Heroes to be of any use, and also requires your allies to be able to follow up on the impending Mosh Pit cast. The upside is that a dead E.T.C. cannot be interrupted. If you find yourself dying often, this Talent may have significant payoff, especially if you manage to position yourself right next to your opponents.

Bolt of the Storm is the ultimate form of defensive and offensive utility. It works especially well when paired with Mosh Pit, as you can teleport onto unsuspecting enemies, chaining into Powerslide, followed by your Heroic Ability for hits that are difficult to prevent. Bolt of the Storm is also useful ability in general, be it for catching up to escaping heroes, escaping yourself, or avoiding very dangerous skillshots.