Garrosh Talents

1. Garrosh's Talent Build

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

2. Garrosh's Talent Build Cheatsheet

3. Level 1 Talents for Garrosh

3.1. Discussion

Warbreaker is a two-part quest that provides bonus damage and  cooldown reduction to Groundbreaker. The quest is surprisingly easy to  complete, and its rewards will be often awarded to Garrosh early on in a match (assuming Garrosh  is able to connect his casts of Groundbreaker). Warbreaker is a solid Talent option that  fairs well against its Level 1 contenders.

Unrivaled Strength vastly increases the damage of  Wrecking Ball and gives the ability a nice boost in range.  The 25% increase in throw range feels significant, especially when needing to reposition an  enemy Hero for initiation or peel.  When deciding between Warbreaker or Unrivaled Strength as  a Level 1 Talent pick, much of that decision will ultimately come down to player  preference.

Body Check is an activateable ability that can be used to  deal damage to an enemy and slow them. The effectiveness of Body Check is directly  correlated to the amount of bonus Armor Garrosh has from Armor Up.  This means that Garrosh will get the most out of Body Check if he waits until he has low Health  (high bonus Armor) to use the ability. This should not always be the case however, since Garrosh  may need to use Body Check early on in a fight to protect a teammate or ensure a kill. Body  Check is the first Talent of its kind which can be further altered by higher level Talents. This  is why talenting into Body Check at Level 1 is mandatory for the Body Check Build, otherwise  later Talents revolving around Body Check will become unavailable as options.

4. Level 4 Talents for Garrosh

4.1. Discussion

In For the Kill is a situational choice that provides some  much welcomed waveclear and self-sustain  while in lane. In For the Kill is most effective on smaller maps where Garrosh will spend  most of the Match in a lane surrounded by minions where he can utilize the healing to stay longer without having to back. Also, should Garrosh be forced away from a fight or objective and happens to be nearby an enemy Minion wave, he can use the wave to quickly heal up in order to hop back into the mix.

Thirst for Battle is probably the easiest Talent to most effectively use at Level 4 since it provides Garrosh passive cooldown reduction to Bloodthirst while he is attacking enemy Heroes. The reduced cooldown of Bloodthirst will not only give Garrosh a little bonus sustained damage during longer teamfights, but the more consistent 10% Heal to his missing Health will also grant him more staying power in the frontline.

Indomitable's strength as a Talent option relies heavily on each individual player's mechanical skill and game knowledge in order to use the Unstoppable duration most effectively. Unstoppable is arguably one of the strongest mechanics in Heroes of the Storm, where being able to avoid devastating crowd-control combos is one best ways to ensure mechanical success. This Talent is especially effective against enemy teams with multiple sources of lock-down that will allow enemies to quickly isolate and pick off Garrosh or kite him while he attempts to engage or flee.

5. Level 7 Talents for Garrosh

5.1. Discussion

Each Talent available to Garrosh at Level 7 will provide him with some addition source of utility. Which Talent to choose will most often depend on the compositions of each team and what Garrosh's overall strategy or goal is for each Match.

Intimidation causes all enemies struck by Groundbreaker to suffer a devastating 40% reduction to their attack speed for 4 seconds. Both the percentage of attack speed reduced, and the duration of the effect are quite impressive and will many times significantly reduce the damage output of enemy Heroes, especially those who rely on Basic Attacks to deal a majority of their damage. It is important to note that the attack speed debuff is applied to ALL enemies struck by Groundbreakers AoE, not just those who are knocked-up by the ability. This makes Groundbreaker a phenomenal tool for peeling when more vulnerable allies are being confronted by heavy hitting Basic Attack focused Heroes.

Brute Force is only available to Garrosh should he have already selected Body Check at Level 1. Brute Force can be a very strong Talent, especially against enemy teams that include a powerful solo Healer or that are running a double support composition. Garrosh should be sure to save Body Check for the target he and his allies are going to focus-fire, as to not waste the healing reduction while an enemy target is not in immediate danger or being taken down.

Similar to Intimidation, Oppressor is a great source of damage reduction. Assuming Garrosh is able to stick to a target, Oppressor is capable of 100% uptime, as he will be able to reapply the Spell Power debuff indefinitely with Basic Attacks. This Talent will serve best against teams with particularly threatening assassins (such as Kael'thas or Gul'dan) who rely on their Basic Abilities to deal large amounts of damage to Garrosh and his allies.

Into the Fray is a strong repositioning tool that works exactly like Wrecking Ball but with an allied target. The Talent can be used both offensively to help a strong frontline allied Hero engage, or defensively to peel a vulnerable teammate away from a threatening enemy. This Talent works best when Garrosh is teamed up with an ally who can lock-down multiple targets with reliable crowd-control and will be able to survive the immediate focus they will endure after being thrown in. Great candidates for this are tank Heroes such as E.T.C., Diablo, or Arthas. Into the Fray also causes the targeted ally to become Unstoppable, potentially preventing them from falling victim to an otherwise lethal situation.

6. Level 10 Talents for Garrosh

6.1. Discussion

The first of Garrosh's Heroic Ability options, Warlord's Challenge is a very strong source of AoE crowd-control. Once cast, all enemies caught within a small radius around Garrosh will become silenced and forced to attack Garrosh for a 2-second duration. Due to his lack of mobility or gap-closer, Garrosh will likely have to rely on a well placed Groundbreaker in order move in close enough to successfully cast Warlord's Challenge. The cooldown reset component of Death Wish can be incredibly devastating should enemies be picked off in quick succession when grouped too closely.

Warlord's Challenge can be used to set up cataclysmic ability combos, especially when Garrosh is teamed up with ranged assassins who can deal large amounts of AoE burst damage. Some notable abilities that synergize well with Warlord's Challenge are the following:

• Ring of Frost + Blizzard (Jaina)
• Phoenix + Flamestrike (Kaelthas)
• Howling Blast (Arthas)
• Apocalypse (Diablo)
• Mosh Pit (E.T.C.)
• Grav-O-Bomb 3000 (Gazlowe)
• Blessed Shield (Johanna)
• Primal Grasp + Impaling Blades (Kerrigan)
• Entomb (Leoric)
• Entangling Roots (Malfurion)
• Zombie Wall (Nazeebo)
• Leap (Sonya)
• Sundering (Thrall)
• Divine Storm (Uther)
• Devouring Maw (Zagara)
• Void Prison (Zeratul)

Although Warlord's Challenge can Taunt all enemy Heroes found within its radius, Garrosh should not be afraid to cast the ability on a single target should it help secure a kill for his team. In Heroes of the Storm, being able to gain a numbers advantage (especially in the late game) will often times lead directly to strong map and objective control. This advantage will almost always be worth placing Warlord's Challenge on cooldown, especially since at only 50 seconds it is much shorter than that of similarly powerful Heroic Abilities.

Decimate, Garrosh's second Heroic Ability option, focuses more on sustained AoE damage and crowd-control in the form of a slow than the immediate lockdown that Warlord's Challenge offers. The ability holds up to 3 charges and each charge will take 8 seconds to regenerate. Decimate deals double damage to enemy Heroes and each Hero struck will reduce the cooldown of Decimate by 1 second. Assuming Garrosh is able to strike the entire enemy team with a single cast of Decimate, the remaining cooldown of the next charge of Decimate will be brought down to 3 seconds.

Assuming Garrosh's primary concern during a fight is to maintain the slow effect of Decimate on enemy Heroes, Garrosh should wait 0.5 seconds longer than the cast cooldown of 1-second between each cast of Decimate. This is because the slow effect of Decimate will last 1.5 seconds per strike, therefore can be applied for a total of 4.5 seconds assuming Garrosh waits the full duration of each slow before casting the next charge of Decimate. This mechanic is relatively easy to track as an enemy under the effect of Decimate will have a subtle purple bar under their Health that will gradually diminish as the time of the effect wears down. The utility provided by Decimate can be further bolstered by the Level 20 Talent Deadly Calm. Deadly Calm provides a significant reduction to the damage an enemy team will be able to dish out assuming Garrosh is able to consistently maintain applications of Decimate to them. Choosing Decimate as Garrosh's Heroic Ability also does provide a nice bonus to his relatively low damage output. This damage will also prove beneficial when Garrosh finds himself needing to more quickly waveclear, although the concern of waveclear is best left to non-tank Heroes.

7. Level 13 Talents for Garrosh

7.1. Discussion

Defensive Measures allows Garrosh to become an even stronger frontliner and makes him even harder to burst down after stunning an enemy Hero. Defensive Measures synergizes wonderfully with Warbreaker, as the reduced cooldown of Groundbreaker will increase the uptime potential of his bonus shield. It is important to note that the shield granted by Defensive Measures (as well as any Shield Garrosh receives from any source) is also affected by the damage mitigation provided by Armor Up, meaning that the shield will take even more damage to be removed should Garrosh receive it at lower Health.

Bloodcraze tends to be outclassed by Defensive Measures as a defensive Level 13 Talent option. However Bloodcraze is still considered situational as it may be advantageous to Garrosh against highly mobile melee targets who are difficult to knock-up with casts of Groundbreaker such as Sonya or Illidan. Rather than losing out completely on the benefits of Defensive Measures by not being able to Stun an enemy Hero with Groundbreaker, Garrosh may still receive the additional passive Healing granted by his targeted Basic Ability Bloodthirst.

Double Up is a nice immediate source of bonus damage mitigation provided by Armor Up. The 100% bonus to Armor Up can come in clutch, preventing Garrosh from being taken down especially if he finds himself under heavy fire without the immediate assistance of his ally team. Double Up can also be quite useful should Garrosh have taken Body Check at Level 1. Activating Double Up while only at 13+ Bonus Armor will allow Garrosh to benefit from the additional damage and slow effect of Body Check without actually having to be damaged below 50% Health.

8. Level 16 Talents for Garrosh

8.1. Discussion

Rough Landing is a strong source of crowd-control in the form of an impressive 50% slow for 3 seconds. This Talent works well with the other Groundbreaker focused Talents, Warbreaker in particular. The slow granted by Rough Landing will also make it easier to set-up multi-target casts of Warlord's Challenge.

Mortal Combo is a fun Talent that can set up some ridiculously crippling crowd-control combos. Throwing an enemy Hero with Wrecking Ball after stunning them with Groundbreaker will result in the two abilities coming off of cooldown around the same time, meaning that should Garrosh be able to consistently land his Q + E combo, he can keep repositioning enemies all around a teamfight. This Talent does rely on Garrosh being able to regularly stun enemy Heroes with Ground Breaker so avoid this Talent should this prove difficult during a Match.

Earthshaker is a phenomenal Talent that is incredibly easy to use with a relatively high skill ceiling. At worst, Earthshaker will cause whatever enemy Hero Garrosh throws with Wrecking Ball to be stunned upon their landing (most often within the midst of his allied team). This Talent also provides Garrosh with a ranged stun that can be used to interrupt enemies attempting to channel a potentially devastating ability or who are trying to flee. Remember that Garrosh can throw any enemy target including Minions and Mercenaries. This interaction can be used to stun somewhat distant enemies and catch them completely off-guard when Garrosh is nearby any enemy target.

9. Level 20 Talents for Garrosh

9.1. Discussion

Death Wish is a fantastic Talent that should be considered mandatory when Warlord's Challenge had been selected at Level 10. The near-reset mechanic can create a sensational chain of take-downs. Death Wish should make it even easier to justify using Warlord's Challenge on a single target as the cooldown of the ability will effectively be reset should that enemy Hero die under its effect.

Deadly Calm provides an insane amount of team-wide damage reduction that can completely shut-down the oppositions take-down potential. Assuming Garrosh's main goal with Decimate at Level 20 becomes applying the damage reduction debuff of Deadly Calm to his enemies team, Garrosh should refrain from casting Decimate on cooldown as debuff will last for 3 seconds compared to the 1.5 second duration of the slow effect.

 

Titanic Might has phenomenal potential and can often make for incredible plays, however it can be quite risky. The Talent is very situational, as HAVING to throw two targets can completely backfire on Garrosh and ultimately end up saving an enemy Hero or getting an allied one killed. Each scenario is different, and Garrosh will have to adapt his Level 20 playstyle slightly to actively decide whether the two targets in range would be worth throwing together. For example, although Garrosh may be able to isolate and throw an enemy Valla, if an enemy E.T.C. were to end up within range right before Wrecking Ball were cast, Garrosh would be sending an incredibly strong frontliner right into his allies. This could ultimately result in Garrosh's entire team being locked-down and killed, or Valla being saved by E.T.C.'s peel. Titanic Might is especially strong if Garrosh had previously Talented into Unrivaled Strength at Level 1, as the increased damage will be applied to both targets twice who end up striking each other every time.

Inner Rage is an important component to the Body Check build, and will allow Garrosh to more regularly strike opponents with Body Check. Although Inner Rage allows Body Check to be used twice in quick succession, Garrosh may consider waiting until the debuff of his Brute Force has fallen off of his target before striking them with the second charge. This pause in the second cast would also make the slowing effect of Body Check to last longer on Garrosh's target of focus.

10. Changelog