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Table of Contents
General Information
Welcome to our Garrosh guide for Heroes of the Storm. Here you will learn everything you need to know in order to play Garrosh in a competitive environment, whether you play on your own or with a team.
About the Author
Micekrispies is a Grand Master Hero League player who has a passion for the MOBA scene and its community. Having over 6 years of experience in the upper divisions of League of Legends, Micekrispies saw Heroes of the Storm as an exciting new endeavor. His priority is to share his knowledge of the MOBA genre with any and all who desire to learn more. Feel free to drop off a comment in the comments section or check out him out on Twitch where he will gladly answer any of your questions.
1. Quick Reference for Garrosh
Decimate Build (talent calculator link)
The Decimate Build and its optimal playstyle revolve around the incredible
strength that lies within 
Decimate, particularly
when empowered at Level 20 with Deadly Calm. The
primary goal of The Decimate Build is for Garrosh to try to stick to the
most threatening enemy Heroes in order to relentlessly apply the Decimate
debuff to them. This debuff will not only slow all enemies struck by 30% for 1.5
seconds, but will also reduce their damage by 20% for 3 seconds. This single ability has
the potential to significantly reduce the entire enemy teams damage output, should Garrosh
be able to consistently strike them with charges of Decimate. Because the cooldown of Decimate
is reduced by 1 second for each enemy Hero struck, and Deadly Calm will effect a target for
3 seconds, theoretically the damage mitigation of Deadly Calm can be applied indefinitely as
long as Garrosh continually strikes the entire enemy team with Decimate.
Although it might be tempting to dive the enemy backline
in order to prevent them from dealing significant damage, Garrosh should keep an eye
out for his backline in case Decimate is required to peel and assist his own allies.
Main Tank Build (talent calculator link)
The Main Tank Build focuses on Garrosh's need to provide his team with a
strong frontline that can effectively soak
enemy damage and lock-down Heroes with reliable crowd-control.
Unrivaled Strength allows Wrecking Ball
to become an even more powerful tool of displacement while 
Indomitable
will ease the difficulties that come with being kited around or
held back from assisting vulnerable allies. 
Into the Fray
can be used to create distance between an ally and an enemy pursuing them or to
help secure kills from out-of-reach targets in the enemy backline.
Warlord's Challenge empowered by Death Wish
will give Garrosh's team great lock-down which can be easily followed up by additional
crowd-control or massive amounts of damage. Should Garrosh need to use Warlord's Challenge
to secure a kill on an isolated target, the cooldown reduction provided by Death Wish
will ensure the ability will be available for the next, potentially imminent fight.
Body Check Build (talent calculator link)
The Body Check Build is designed to get the most damage and utility out of
Garrosh's Level 1 Talented Ability, 
Body Check.
On a competitive level, this particular build is realively weak when compared
to Garrosh's alternatives and should taken with caution by players who
are attempting a specific play-style in less serious Matches. Body Check is essentially
a fifth ability Garrosh can activate to deal damage and heavily slow an enemy
on a 20-second cooldown. The damage of Body Check is increased by 200% of
Armor Up's current bonus meaning the less Health Garrosh
has (or the more Bonus Armor), the more damage Body Check will do. Also important to note is
that if Garrosh has over 25 Bonus Armor, the Slow provided by Body Check will be
increased from 30% to 60% for 3 seconds. Double Up is a
crucial Talent in the Body Check Build as the additional Bonus Armor it
provides will not only further increase the damage Body Check will deal, but
it will allow Garrosh to apply the bonus slow when he is only missing just over 25%
of his Health instead of 50%. Inner Rage is also essential
as it effectively doubles the value of Body Check, granting Garrosh an additional
charge of the Ability as well as a much faster rate of recharge when at or
above 25 Bonus Armor. The two charges of Body Check can either be used in quick
succession to deal burst damage, or can be spread out to more effectively manage applications
of the Slow.
Synergies and Counters
Garrosh works well with most Heroes, as they will likely be able to provide him
with a much needed source of healing, shields, burst damage, waveclear,
or follow-up crowd-control; ideally a mix of several of these things.
Some noteable mentions are Stitches and
E.T.C. who both
will assist Garrosh in locking down targets, while
Malfurion and
Uther
can keep Garrosh nice and healthy while stunning an isolated target tossed into the team by
Wrecking Ball with 
Entangling Roots
or 
Hammer of Justice.
Garrosh struggles against ranged Heroes who are able to easily kite
him and dodge his 
Groundbreaker with some form of
gap-closer such as Valla's
Vault or Tychus' 
Run and Gun.
Often times if Groundbreaker is missed against one of these types of Heroes, Garrosh
may consider backing off instead of chasing into them while taking massive amounts of
Basic Attack damage.
Maps
Garrosh thrives in situations where his enemies are forced to
clump together in groups. This is because most of his abilities
( Groundbreaker, Warlord's Challenge,
Decimate) all 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.
TL;DR Tips
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 enemy closest to Garrosh when cast (including Minions and Mercenaries).
- Due to the small radius of
Warlord's Challenge, it will sometimes be difficult to strike multiple Heroes with the ability. 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. - The low cooldown of
Decimate allows Garrosh to use the ability quite often, especially when needing to waveclear a pushed in Minion wave.
2. Overview
Garrosh is a melee Warrior able to fill the role of either
a main tank or a frontline
bruiser (although his damage output is not
particularly the greatest). His Trait ability, Armor Up,
causes Garrosh to become more difficult to kill the closer he is to death.
For every 2% of Health Garrosh is missing, he is granted 1 Bonus Armor.
This Armor, aside from providing Garrosh impressive amounts of damage
mitigation, also interacts directly with specific Talents such as
Body Check and Inner Rage.
A shield icon displayed directly next to Garrosh's Health Bar allows players to
easily track his current amount of Bonus Armor.
Arguably, one of Garrosh's strongest mechanics is his ability to displace
both enemy and allied Heroes over relatively large distances via
Wrecking Ball and Into the Fray.
His kit also contains yet another method of crowd-control in the form
of a Stun known as Groundbreaker. This ability will knock-up all enemies caught within
a specific region of its area of effect into the air. Constant
repositioning of players will immensely impact the outcome of a team fight,
sometimes for better or for worse. This is why it is heavily encouraged that players
wishing to master Garrosh to spend time practicing the way both
Groundbreaker and Wrecking Ball work in try mode before attempting to
take him to the Nexus in pursuit of Honor and glory on the battlefield.
3. 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 - Great ganking potential and can easily setup takedowns, very strong playmaker
- Provides a reliable frontline, with excellent damage mitigation
- Impressive versatility, can talent around the needs of each team composition and match-up
- Very high skill ceiling
4. Weaknesses
- Rather poor damage output, especially during the early game
- Can be easily kited, particularly by ranged assassins
- Absolutely no method of increased mobility, relies entirely on abilities and crowd-control to reach a desired target
- Very complex Hero, requires mastery of many subtle nuances to be most effective
5. 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. He works best with Heroes who are able to follow up on his initiations, either with additional crowd-control or large amounts of burst damage. One of Garrosh's greatest strengths is the ability to focus his Talent choices around the specific needs of his team, whether they be peel, damage mitigation, or crowd-control in the form of stuns, slows, and repositioning.
Due to Garrosh's lack of threatening damage, many times an enemy team will
try to ignore Garrosh and prioritize more valuable targets such as a
support or ranged assassin.
Because of this Garrosh will need to keep an eye on his backline
while attempting to zone away potential threats. Similar to
Stitches, Garrosh specializes in isolating an enemy Heroes from
their team. Most often this will be done with a quick combo of the stun from Groundbreaker
followed by Wrecking Ball, sending an enemy right into the
jaws of his waiting allies. Keep in mind that a poorly executed Wrecking Ball or
Into the Fray can have detrimental effects, so think
ahead before sending players flying around the battlefield!
6. Reading Further
To take things further, we have 2 more pages that you can read:
- Abilities and Strategy: an overview of your hero's abilities and how to use them;
- Talent Build: a detailed rundown of your talents and how to choose them.
7. ChangeLog
- 24 Dec. 2017 (abilities page): Ability page updated to reflect the Dec. 20 balance patch notes, particularly the Groundbreaker Ability changes.
- 24 Dec. 2017 (talents page): Talents 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 (abilities page): Duration of Warlord's Challenge has been increased from 1.5 to 2 seconds.
- 01 Sep. 2017 (talents page): Full Descriptions have been added to Talent page.
- 08 Aug. 2017 (this page): Added Garrosh guide.
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