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Table of Contents
General Information
Welcome to our Stukov guide for Heroes of the Storm. Here you will learn everything you need to know in order to play Stukov in a competitive environment, whether you play on your own or with a team.
About the Author
Straften is a Grand Master ranked player in both Hero League and Team League. He has a passion for theorycrafting, and regularly tests new features early on the PTR. He explains his strategy, reasoning, and implementation in these guides.
1. Quick Reference for Stukov
Poppin' Pustules Build (talent calculator link)
The Poppin' Pustules Build allows you to deal tremendous amounts of damage
to enemy Heroes who are close together. This makes it very effective against
enemy teams who have many melee Heroes, or who group closely during team fights
for other reasons. Your typical Ability chain should be to cast Healing
Pathogen on an ally, and then try to land Weighted Pustule on as many enemies
as possible. Once the pustules are applied, wait for enemies to stack together,
detonating them when you see the highest damage potential. Casting Healing
Pathogen first gives it time to spread to allies before
Bio-Kill Switch is activated.
The Long Pitch allows you to apply pustules from greater
range, which opens up opportunities to apply them to many Heroes with each
cast. 
One Good Spread... works in tandem with
Pox Populi to provide great healing output.
Reactive Ballistospores gives you a way to reset
Bio-Kill Switch; further increasing your healing and
damage output.
Lurking Arm Build (talent calculator link)
The Lurking Arm Build focuses on Talents that improve Lurking Arm.
One Good Spread... works very well with Pox Populi
to provide exceptional healing output. Alternatively, 
Biotic Armor and
Universal Carrier can provide your team with Physical Armor if needed.
Low Blow and It Hungers greatly increase Lurking Arm capabilities.
Growing Infestation can be very strong with these, as long as you can
reliably trigger It Hungers. If you do not think you will be able to reset
Lurking Arm reliably in a certain match-up, take The Long Pitch instead of
Growing Infestation.
Synergies and Counters
Stukov is strong with Heroes who teamfight near their allies, as opposed to those that will dive out of range of Healing Pathogen. He is also strong with Heroes who have access to some form of Executioner, because he is capable of liberally applying slows.
Stukov is countered by high mobility Heroes who can circumvent his zone control. Lacking any form of Cleanse, Heroes with access to multiple crowd control Abilities are also effective against him.
Maps
Stukov is great on maps that feature many choke points, and on maps with two lanes. Lurking Arm provides a lot of zone control in tight areas, while Healing Pathogen excells at healing large groups of allies. Stukov does not perform poorly on many maps.
TL;DR Tips
- Use
Bio-Kill Switch primarily to heal allies affected by 
Healing Pathogen. - Cast Healing Pathogen onto Heroes who will spread it to as many allies as possible.
Weighted Pustule is useful for harassment and light disengage. It can also secure kills on fleeing enemies.- Channel
Lurking Arm onto choke points, or use it to cancel channeled enemy Heroics. 
Massive Shove can be used to push enemies far away from team fights, or simply to Stun them against nearby terrain.- Use
Flailing Swipe to peel and disengage if a fight is not looking favourable for your team.
2. Stukov's Overview
Stukov is a high utility solo Healer, who provides excellent zone control.
His exceptional healing is reliant on well timed use of Bio-Kill Switch.
While his Abilities are very powerful, their use needs to be carefully planned
to achieve maximum effect. Stukov has limited mobility, and should not roam by
himself. He is designed to assist his allies, and will not perform well without
them nearby.
3. Stukov's Strengths
- Can Silence enemies with Lurking Arm
- Capable of exceptional multitarget healing via Bio-Kill Switch and Healing Pathogen
- Very strong Basic Attack
- Can remove an enemy from team fight range with Massive Shove
- Very high skill ceiling, but easy to start learning
4. Stukov's Weaknesses
- Difficult to master
- Slow attack speed can lead to poor single-target dps
- Bio-Kill Switch has a long cooldown; misuse is unforgiving
- Lack of mobility
5. Stukov's Role in the Current Meta
Stukov is great on teams that want to zone enemies away from essential
allies and objectives. He performs very well with teams that strive to protect
their backline damage dealers, because such team compositions usually stay
grouped within Healing Pathogen's spread range.
Stukov has the ability to apply slows almost constantly, can channel an area of effect Silence indefinitely, and can single handedly remove an enemy Hero from a team fight. Despite being heavily armed with monsterous amounts of utility, he is still a viable solo healer for most team compositions.
6. Reading Further
To take things further, we have 2 more pages that you can read:
- Abilities and Strategy: an overview of your hero's abilities and how to use them;
- Talent Build: a detailed rundown of your talents and how to choose them.
7. ChangeLog
- 08 Aug. 2018 (talents page): Talent discussion and recommended Talents have been updated for Stukov's rework in the Whitemane release patch.
- 08 Aug. 2018 (this page): Guide updated for Stukov's rework in the Whitemane release patch.
- Recommended Builds and Talents updated.
- 12 Oct. 2017 (talents page): Balance patch update.
- Eye Infection Removed.
- Updated text for Fetid Touch, Poppin' Pustules, and Superstrain.
- 09 Oct. 2017 (talents page): Updated Eye Infection text and moved from Not Recommended to Situational.
- 09 Jul. 2017 (this page): Guide added.
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