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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
High waveclear- Powerful displacement
- Good self-sustain
- Decent damage
Weaknesses
Lack of crowd control- No mobility
Stitches's Talent Build Cheatsheet
Slam Build
Recommended
Stitches's Slam Build is designed to get as much value as possible
from the Hero by increasing his survivability, utility, and damage.
While it is possible to vary some Talents here and there, the general idea
behind it remains the same: use Hook empowered by
Fishing Hook for additional range and then
follow up with 
Slam empowered by
Lacerate for additional damage.
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
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
- 16 Jul. 2020 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 16 Jul. 2020 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 16 Jul. 2020 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 05 Jun. 2020 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 05 Jun. 2020 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 05 Jun. 2020 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 15 Apr. 2020 (talents page): Talent Build partially revised to match new standards.
- Talent Build and Talent Build Cheatsheet modified to reflect the current metagame.
- Talent Descriptions modified to better describe when to pick them.
- 15 Apr. 2020 (this page): Introduction partially revised to match new standards.
- Talent Build Cheatsheet updated to reflect the current metagame.
- Role in the Current Meta modified to remove the unnecessary part about the now fixed Experience Globes.
- 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.
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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 — especially on Reddit — who likes to teach new and veteran players all he knows about his favorite game.
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