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Hogger Build Guide “More bones to gnaw on...”
Welcome to our guide for Hogger, a Bruiser 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.
Hogger's Overview
Hogger is a Bruiser with the unique Ability to create
and get advantage of impassable terrain with terrain outlines,
something that works great in narrow spaces and has low value in wide areas.
This characteristic can be used to easily capture Mercenary Camps
by strategically aiming 
Hogg Wild.
Thanks to having Rage instead of Mana, Hogger inherently prefers drawn-out battles that tend to exhaust enemy resources, especially when paired with a sustain Healer that can keep him healthy for long periods of time. That said, Hogger has access to a respectable amount of burst damage.
Hogger's Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
Good waveclear- Decent crowd control
- Solid damage output, especially when full Rage
- Decent mobility
- Great at capturing Mercenary Camps
Weaknesses
Weak to poke damage- Countered by percent-based damage
- Cannot deal with high-mobility Heroes
- Slightly vulnerable to healing reduction effects
Hogger's Talent Build Cheatsheet
Ez-Thro Dynamite Build
Recommended
Hogger's Ez-Thro Dynamite Build makes you not only a threat for enemy Heroes who step too close but also allows you to deal poke damage from the distance, without fully committing to the team fight.
Dense Blasting Powder at Level 7 makes this Build particularly interesting
when you can poke the enemy team, however, this Talent is also good
in burst scenarios as you can hit the same Hero multiple times with it.
Staggering Blow Build
Advanced
Hogger's Staggering Blow Build allows you to deal a high amount of damage
to enemy Heroes when fighting them in melee range, which makes it the best choices
for when you need to dive with 
Hoardapult.
The extra damage comes from 
Headbanger at Level 16,
if you manage to land Staggering Blow, and from either
Seeing Red or 
Garbage Fire at Level 7.
Hogger's Synergies and Counters
Hogger synergizes with
Heroes who benefit from impassable terrain with (for example Hanzo
with 
Scatter Arrow) or without (such as Auriel
with 
Detainment Strike) terrain outlines can get value
from Loot Hoard.
When enemy Heroes are stuck between Hogger and impassable terrain, allied Heroes can easily follow up with Abilities that require their target to stay still for a moment (like Chromie) or inside one area for a few seconds (for example Stukov).
Having access to a high amount of damage, Hogger can be paired with another similar Bruiser to have a more solid frontline than usual. One of them (usually not Hogger because he will take care of Mercenary Camps) will be played as Solo Laner whereas the other will stay in the 4-man.
Hogger is countered by
Try to lock Hogger in place with quick and unpredictable crowd control Abilities
and then burst him down before he can get out with either Hogg Wild
or Hoardapult (if selected and not on cooldown after an aggressive play).
Since he has access to Armor, percent-based damage helps with that.
Being a melee Hero, Hogger does not like to play against poke damage and kite (for example Lunara), unless he can dive them with the help other Heroes.
There are some Heroes who can easily deny any value which Hogger could get
with impassable terrain thanks to their mobility tools
(such as Zeratul with 
Blink
or even Medivh with 
Portal).
Even worse, some of them can use impassable terrain against Hogger thanks to dedicated Abilities
(for example Diablo with 
Shadow Charge).
Be careful when playing against Heroes who can reduce healing (such as Ana
with 
Biotic Grenade) because they reduce your survivability
by partially or completely denying the healing provided by your chunks of Meat.
The same is true for Heroes who can reduce your Spell Power,
as it will decrease your self-healing too.
Hogger's Maps
Hogger is great on medium-sized Battlegrounds where he can double soak (such as Infernal Shrines) and on Maps with narrow spaces where he can get value from impassable terrain by Knocking back enemy Heroes towards it or by blocking enemy Heroes in small corridors (notably Cursed Hollow).
Battlegrounds where most of the action happens in wide areas (for example Hanamura Temple) do not favor Hogger because he will not be able to get enough value from impassable terrain and 2-lane Maps will not allow him to dominate the early game by double soaking.
Hogger's Tips and Tricks
Staggering Blow can be used to Knockback enemy Heroes into 
Ez-Thro Dynamite.- Ez-Thro Dynamite explodes immediately if thrown directly on enemy Heroes.
Hogg Wild can be used to quickly clear Mercenary Camps between two parallel segments of impassable terrain or, when that is not possible, with the use of 
Loot Hoard on one side.
Hoardapult has Vector Targeting that allows you to choose on which side of the Loot Hoard you want to land.
Shockwave is easier to use on enemy Heroes previously Slowed with Ez-Thro Dynamite and is a great setup for using Loot Hoard right behind them for getting full value from Staggering Blow immediately after.- Loot Hoard can be canceled before it expires to immediately collect its Meat and/or to open up a path that would be otherwise inaccessible for a few more seconds.
- Both Hoardapult and Loot Hoard can be used to interrupt stationary-channeled Abilities.
Hogger's Role in the Current Meta
Thanks to his self-sustain and waveclear, Hogger is a solid Solo Laner who can easily take care of side lanes. When needed, he is also able to double soak or quickly capture Mercenary Camps. That said, he can also be paired with another Bruiser (such as Sonya) and be played in the 4-man, similarly to a Melee Assassin.
During team fights, Hogger will act as a powerful Bruiser capable of providing additional peeling for allied Heroes and dealing a respectable amount of damage to enemy Heroes. Depending on the Build being played, Hogger can either focus the enemy frontline or dive the enemy backline.
Changelog
- 27 Nov. 2022 (talents page): Guide reviewed.
- 27 Nov. 2022 (abilities page): Guide reviewed.
- 27 Nov. 2022 (this page): Guide reviewed.
- 14 Jan. 2022 (talents page): Builds updated.
- 14 Jan. 2022 (this page): Builds updated.
- 17 May 2021 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Patch.
- 17 May 2021 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Patch.
- 17 May 2021 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Patch.
- 22 Apr. 2021 (abilities page): Abilities page improved.
- 21 Apr. 2021 (talents page): Builds updated.
- 21 Apr. 2021 (this page): Builds updated.
- 16 Mar. 2021 (talents page): Builds updated.
- 16 Mar. 2021 (this page): Builds updated.
- 03 Mar. 2021 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 03 Mar. 2021 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 03 Mar. 2021 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 18 Feb. 2021 (this page): Synergies and Counters updated.
- 15 Feb. 2021 (talents page): Builds updated.
- 15 Feb. 2021 (this page): Builds updated.
- 20 Jan. 2021 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 20 Jan. 2021 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 20 Jan. 2021 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 21 Dec. 2020 (talents page): Builds and Talents updated.
- 21 Dec. 2020 (this page): Builds updated.
- 04 Dec. 2020 (talents page): Builds updated.
- 04 Dec. 2020 (abilities page): Abilities page improved.
- 04 Dec. 2020 (this page): Builds updated.
- 01 Dec. 2020 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Patch.
- 01 Dec. 2020 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Patch.
- 01 Dec. 2020 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Patch.
- 30 Nov. 2020 (talents page): Guide created.
- 30 Nov. 2020 (abilities page): Guide created.
- 30 Nov. 2020 (this page): Guide created.
More Bruiser 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 Tips of the Storm page on Ko-fi.
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