Free Hero Rotation
Garrosh Build Guide “This will prove useful.”
Welcome to our guide for Garrosh, 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.
Garrosh's Overview
Garrosh is a Tank who becomes more difficult to kill
the closer he is to death because of how his Trait, 
Armor Up, works.
Arguably, one of Garrosh's strongest mechanics is his ability to displace
enemy Heroes over relatively large distances via 
Wrecking Ball,
something that will immensely impact the outcome of a team fight
and put a lot of pressure on the enemy team while laning.
Garrosh's Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
Incredibly durable via 
Armor Up, becomes harder to kill the closer he is to death- Can reposition enemies or allies with
Wrecking Ball and 
Into the Fray - Very strong playmaker
- Provides a reliable frontline, with excellent damage mitigation
- Very high skill ceiling
Weaknesses
Rather poor damage output, especially during the late game- Can be easily kited, particularly by ranged assassins
- Absolutely no method of increasing mobility; relies entirely on abilities and crowd-control to reach his desired target
- Very complex Hero, requires mastery of many subtle nuances to be most effective
Garrosh's Talent Build Cheatsheet
Groundbreaker Build
Recommended
Garrosh's Groundbreaker Build gives him more survivability in the form of Shields
when hitting enemy Heroes with 
Groundbreaker.
In particular, Garrosh becomes more durable thanks to the synergy
between the cooldown reduction on Groundbreaker
by Warbreaker at Level 1 and the Shield generation
by Defensive Measures at Level 13.
Earthshaker further increases
Garrosh's already good crowd control
by giving him another tool to interrupt enemy Heroes.
Wrecking Ball Build
Situational
Garrosh's Wrecking Ball Build gives him more damage in the late game
when catching multiple Heroes with Wrecking Ball.
The bonus damage comes from the combination of Unrivaled Strength
at Level 1 and Mortal Combo at Level 16, however,
you also need Titanic Might at Level 20 to have access to this combo:
throw at least 2 enemy Heroes with Wrecking Ball,
use Groundbreaker on them, and then throw them on the spot two more times.
Bloodthirst Build
Beginner
Garrosh's Bloodthirst Build gives him more survivability while also reducing the damage and healing done by enemy Heroes, allowing him to easily out-trade the enemy team.
The survivability comes in the form of healing when hitting enemy Heroes
with 
Bloodthirst empowered with multiple Talents,
including Seasoned Soldier at Level 16
that increases your maximum Health as well.
The damage reduction, which will help your whole team to survive for longer,
comes from Oppressor at Level 7
and 
Deadly Calm at Level 20.
The healing reduction comes from 
Body Check at Level 1
and from Oppressor at Level 7.
Garrosh's Synergies and Counters
Garrosh synergizes with
If you want to get more value from Garrosh, pair him with Heroes who can follow up his engage with crowd control (such as Deckard Cain) and/or burst damage (for example Kael'thas).
Garrosh does not have a strong engage from the distance,
so he likes to play in team with Heroes who have access to powerful Abiliities to help him engage
(like Hanzo with 
Dragon's Arrow).
Compensate his lack of mobility (for example with 
Speed Barrier
by Zarya) and Garrosh will become even more scary to play against
as he will be able to just walk towards enemy Heroes for catching them with Wrecking Ball.
Garrosh is countered by
Garrosh does not like to face Heroes who have access to long-lasting Unstoppable effects
(such as Johanna) because he cannot throw them using Wrecking Ball.
If they get thrown instead of an ally to peel for them,
then they can use the same effect to walk out uncontested.
Heroes who can kite him away from their team (for example Lunara)
are great Garrosh's counters, however, keep in mind that he can occasionally mitigate this
by activating 
Indomitable at Level 4.
Considering that Garrosh relies on Armor to mitigate incoming damage,
he is weak to Percent Damage (like Leoric) and
effects that reduce Armor (for example Sylvanas with 
Overwhelming Affliction at Level 1).
Another way to counter Garrosh is using tools to help allied Heroes
survive burst damage (such as 
Force of Will by Medivh)
and/or move them out of danger (like 
Leap of Faith by Anduin).
Garrosh's Maps
Garrosh thrives in situations where his enemies are forced to
clump together in groups. This is because most of his abilities,
notably Groundbreaker and 
Warlord's Challenge,
gain value when they are able to strike
more than one target. Maps with many narrow chokepoints
provide Garrosh a playground of opportunities to catch out his enemies.
Wrecking Ball is a lot of fun on maps with lots of
terrain as Garrosh can use it to completely isolate an enemy Hero away from their allies
by flipping them over a wall or structure into his team.
Garrosh's Tips and Tricks
- Armor Up gives Garrosh an impressive amount of damage mitigation while at low Health, allowing him to stay in combat longer than most other Heroes.
Groundbreaker can be used to knock an enemy Hero into the air before throwing them into his allies with Wrecking Ball.
Bloodthirst's self-sustain is most effective after Garrosh has suffered damage as it heals for a percentage of his missing Health.- Remember that Wrecking Ball is not a targeted Ability and will always throw the closest non-Unstoppable Hero (including Misha), Clone, Minion, or Mercenary within range. Summons and Monsters are invalid targets.
- Due to the small radius of
Warlord's Challenge, it will sometimes be difficult to strike multiple Heroes with it. It will often times be worth using Warlord's Challenge on a single Hero should it help secure a kill and ensure a numbers advantage for Garrosh's team. - To play around Abilities that give mobility or Unstoppable, you can use Wrecking Ball and immediately cast Warlord's Challenge before the target enemy Hero lands.
Garrosh's Role in the Current Meta
Garrosh is a great Hero choice for teams that are in need of a strong frontline and happen to lack a reliable source of crowd control. As a consequence, he works best with Heroes who are able to follow up on his engage with additional crowd control and especially large amounts of burst damage.
Changelog
- 16 Jun. 2021 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 16 Jun. 2021 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 16 Jun. 2021 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 18 May 2021 (this page): Updated Overview and Role in the Current Meta.
- 05 May 2021 (talents page): Bloodthirst Build's Description improved.
- 05 May 2021 (this page): Bloodthirst Build's Description updated.
- 24 Apr. 2021 (talents page): Builds updated.
- 24 Apr. 2021 (this page): Builds updated.
- 14 Apr. 2021 (abilities page): Tips and Tricks updated.
- 14 Apr. 2021 (this page): Tips and Tricks updated.
- 14 Mar. 2021 (this page): Synergies and Counters fixed.
- 27 Feb. 2021 (talents page): Build Tags updated.
- 27 Feb. 2021 (this page): Build Tags updated.
- 25 Feb. 2021 (talents page): New layout.
- 16 Feb. 2021 (talents page): Builds updated.
- 16 Feb. 2021 (this page): Builds updated.
- 24 Oct. 2020 (talents page): Builds updated.
- 24 Oct. 2020 (this page): Builds updated.
- 16 Jul. 2020 (talents page): Builds and Descriptions changed according to the latest Balance Update.
- 16 Jul. 2020 (this page): Builds and Descriptions changed according to the latest Balance Update.
- 11 Apr. 2020 (talents page): 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.
- 11 Apr. 2020 (abilities page): Ability and Strategy partially revised to match new standards.
- 11 Apr. 2020 (this page): Introduction partially revised to match new standards.
- Talent Build Cheatsheet updated to reflect the current metagame.
- Role in the Current Meta modified to remove the unnecessary part about the now fixed Experience Globes.
- 12 Dec. 2019 (this page): Added an entry about the current Anomaly to the guide.
- 10 Jun. 2019 (talents page): Revised the Garrosh guide and fixed minor issues. The guide is, overall, up-to-date.
- 25 May 2019 (talents page): Updated Garrosh's talents and builds due to a major overhaul of the guide.
- 24 Dec. 2017 (talents page): Talents page updated to reflect the Dec. 20 balance patch notes, particularly the Groundbreaker Ability changes.
- 24 Dec. 2017 (abilities page): Ability page updated to reflect the Dec. 20 balance patch notes, particularly the Groundbreaker Ability changes.
- 24 Dec. 2017 (this page): Guide updated to reflect the Dec. 20 balance patch notes, particularly the Groundbreaker Ability changes.
- 17 Oct. 2017 (talents page): The increased duration of Warlord's Challenge by the Level 20 Talent Death Wish has been removed.
- 17 Oct. 2017 (abilities page): The increased duration of Warlord's Challenge by the Level 20 Talent Death Wish has been removed.
- 01 Sep. 2017 (talents page): Full Descriptions have been added to Talent page.
- 01 Sep. 2017 (abilities page): Duration of Warlord's Challenge has been increased from 1.5 to 2 seconds.
- 08 Aug. 2017 (this page): Added Garrosh guide.
More Tank Guides
Elitesparkle is a multiple times Master player in Europe who plays Heroes of the Storm since its release. He is an active member of the community who likes to teach new and veteran players all he knows about his favorite game. He also produces more teaching content on his Buy me a coffee page.
- Mike Morhaime, Former Blizzard CEO, Responds to the Lawsuit Allegations
- A Different Kind of Letter from Activision Blizzard Executive Fran Townsend
- Heroes of the Storm Balance Patch Notes (July 20th)
- Masters Clash Tournament Winners Are 30K
- Final Day of Masters Clash LAN Finals
- Masters Clash Finale: July 10-11
- Masters Clash Data Available on HeroesProfile
- Stukov Disabled for the Weekend
- Heroes of the Storm Debug Mode
- Heroes of the Storm Gazlowe
- Heroes of the Storm Lt. Morales
- Heroes of the Storm Uther
- Heroes of the Storm Warhead Junction
- Heroes of the Storm Hanamura Temple
- Heroes of the Storm Nazeebo
- Heroes of the Storm General Tier List