Garrosh Build Guide “This will prove useful.”

Garrosh is a melee Tank who becomes 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.

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

Groundbreaker Build

Recommended

Level 1

Level 4

Level 7

Level 10

Level 13

Level 16

Level 20 ?

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Garrosh's Groundbreaker Build gives him more survivability in the form of Shields when hitting enemy Heroes with Groundbreaker, something that will not work against high-mobility Heroes.

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 16.

Earthshaker further increases Garrosh's already good crowd control by giving him another tool to interrupt enemy Heroes.

Bloodthirst Build

Situational

Level 1

Level 4

Level 7

Level 10

Level 13

Level 16

Level 20 ?

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Garrosh's Bloodthirst Build gives him more survivability in the form of healing when hitting enemy Heroes with Bloodthirst, something that is weak to healing reduction effects.

In particular, Garrosh can heal himself more than usual thanks to the synergy between Seasoned Soldier at Level 16 and Bloodcraze at Level 13.

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Garrosh synergizes with

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 notable mentions are Malfurion and Tyrande who can keep Garrosh nice and healthy while stunning or rooting an isolated target tossed into the team by Wrecking Ball with Entangling Roots or Lunar Flare.

Garrosh is countered by

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. Oftentimes 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. Furthermore, any form of percentage based True Damage becomes particularly lethal against Garrosh, as it completely disregards his Trait. Thus, Heroes like Tychus or Malthael become a severe threat.

Garrosh's stronger maps

Garrosh's average maps

Garrosh's weaker maps

None

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.

• 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.

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 Healer 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!