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Stitches Build Guide “ROAAAARR!”
Welcome to our guide for Stitches, 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.
Stitches's Overview
Stitches is a low-mobility Tank, capable of pulling
distant Heroes to him with 
Hook. Stitches has a lot
of Health, and a powerful self-sustain with 
Devour. He
works best with Heroes who can follow up Hook with strong
crowd control, which will help to secure picks
throughout the game.
Stitches's Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
Hook can pull enemy Heroes completely out of position, allowing your team to kill them easily.- Hook can pull allied Heroes out of danger, or into otherwise advantageous positions.
- Good sustained AoE damage
- Strong self-sustain with
Devour - Good disengage with
Putrid Bile 
Gorge can isolate enemy Heroes or temporarily remove threats from team fights
Weaknesses
Poor waveclear without several Talents into 
Slam- Lacks hard crowd control besides Gorge
- Lacks gap closers
- Using Hook efficiently requires practice
Stitches's Talent Build Cheatsheet
Sustain Build
Talent calculator »
The Hook Build sacrifices some of the strong Hero damage and PvE from
the Slam build, and replaces it with much more pick potential. Since this Build aims to collect
enemy Heroes using Hook, 
Gorge can be a
rewarding follow up. However, against team compositions that rely on killing Stitches' backline,
we still recommend 
Putrid Bile. Make sure to use Hook whenever possible and
trust your game sense to predict enemy movement. Sometimes, a "blind" Hook into brushes or over terrain
without vision can make for spectacular and game deciding plays, especially after acquiring
Fishing Hook at Level 13. While Fishing Hook is the safe go-to pick, there
are situations, in which we recommend 
Meat Hook, especially against team
compositions that feature several melee Tanks and Bruisers. Under these circumstances, use a point-blank hook during
fights to trigger both 
Gas Flare and Meat Hook
during fights to amplify Stitches' damage and healing output.
Slam Build
Talent calculator »
The Slam Build focuses on Talents that transform Slam into a powerful and
versatile Ability. 
Blight and 
Lacerate
allow you to infect multiple enemies. At Level 10, both Heroic Abilities can be viable, it
all depends on the enemy team composition. Against several aggressive melee Heroes, for instance,
Putrid Bile can be a potent tool to slow their advance. Against several hard-to-reach
ranged Heroes, on the other hand, a follow up with Gorge after landing
Hook can secure easy kills.
Stitches's Synergies and Counters
Stitches synergizes with
Stitches works well with Heroes who can quickly respond to successful Hooks by locking the targets down with unavoidable Stuns, Roots, and Slows. He is also good with Heroes who are simply good at punishing enemies who are out of position.
Stitches is countered by
Because so much of Stitches' ability to impact a match is baked into Hook, he can be challenged by frontline Heroes who are bad Hook targets. This typically means that these Heroes can easily escape once pulled by Hook, that killing them is of little consequence, or both. These Heroes can stand in front of their team, making it much harder to land Hook on more meaningful backline enemies. Due to his high health pool, he is also susceptible to percentage-based damage.
Stitches's Maps
Stitches is good on maps where Hook can be used advantageously with terrain
features, and that have confined objectives that ensure value from Vile Cleaver.
These objectives will typically be those where teams fight in close proximity
for control of an area for prolonged periods of time. Stitches may struggle on
maps that contain map objectives that encourage teams to split across the map.
This is primarily because Hook is more effective when there are more allies to
respond to it.
Stitches's Tips and Tricks
Vile Cleaver damages enemies after receiving Basic Attacks; consistently attacking the same target re-applies its damage.- Hook can be used to pull enemy Heroes away from safety, or to pull your allies out of danger.
- Slam is a great tool for dismounting enemy Heroes at range, and is also suitable for use on Minion waves.
- Devour should be used to recover health as needed, or to deal bonus damage to non-Heroic units.
- Putrid Bile can be used to slow escaping enemies, or to disengage.
- Gorge can be used to bring enemy Heroes behind your gate and walls, resulting in easy kills.
Role in the Current Meta
Stitches usually does not perform particularly well in the current Anomaly.
His Hook ability feels quite unimpactful before
he gains access to Fishing Hook at Level 16 and, unlike
other Tanks, fails to add an early threat to enemy Heroes.
Team compositions that Stitches excels in usually
play off of Hook, where Heroes with Stuns, Roots, and
burst damage can instantly kill or crowd control a
pulled enemy Hero. Malfurion,
Jaina, and
Tyrande are fantastic Heroes to pair
with Stitches for this reason.
Stitches is most effective when you use Hook to
pull a vulnerable enemy backline Hero into the midst of
your team, winning a team fight before a counter engagement occurs. Once a team
fight breaks out, Putrid Bile can be used to Slow the enemy Heroes'
advance or retreat. Vile Cleaver inflicts damage over time in an
AoE around Stitches, which can add up to a significant
amount over the course of a team fight. However, Stitches' lack of
crowd control and gap closers can make him more vulnerable to focused attacks
than other Tanks, as he cannot quickly reposition himself. One of
the reasons Slam build has been prevalent in the meta for so long is that it
allows the user to apply Vile Gas from much safer positioning.
Changelog
- 14 Feb. 2020 (talents page): Updated Stitches' talents and builds in accordance to the latest Balance Update.
- 16 Dec. 2019 (this page): Added the current Anomaly (Experience Globes) to the guide.
- 29 Jul. 2019 (talents page): Updated Stitches' talents and builds.
- 29 Jul. 2019 (abilities page): Reviewed the Abilities section.
- 12 Dec. 2018 (talents page): Completely overhauled Stitches' Talents and Builds in accordance with his latest re-work.
- 02 Oct. 2017 (this page): Moved Stitches' guide to the new format and updated it for Ana's patch.
More Tank Guides
KendricSwissh has achieved Grandmaster rank in multiple seasons while playing Heroes of the Storm since the early stages of the Alpha version. He is also creating game related content on Twitch where he will gladly answer all of your questions about the game or guides here on Icy Veins.
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