Stukov Build Guide “Our victory is assured!”

1. 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.

2. Stukov's Strengths and Weaknesses

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

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

3. Stukov's Talent Build Cheatsheet

Poppin' Pustules Build

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Level 1

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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. Fetid Touch can greatly reduce the cooldown of Weighted Pustule, and completely remove the Mana cost. 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.

Lurking Arm Build

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Level 1

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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.

See our Talents page for further information »

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4. Stukov's Synergies and Counters

Stukov synergizes with

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

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.

5. Stukov's Maps

Stukov's stronger maps

Stukov's average maps

Stukov's weaker 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.

6. Stukov's Tips and Tricks

• 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.

7. 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.

8. Changelog