Still new to playing Stukov and something I want to ask but when do you guys build Stukov for Weighted Pustule?
It seems some of the best talents for this skill are in very important levels for Lurking arm and I cant see myself taking anything else that makes Lurking Arm better.
What real difference is there between level 7’s “The Long pitch” and “targeted excision”?
What is the Safest heroic to pick from the two?
I play mostly on Quick Match so dont expect any “draft” strategies here to work
Its less about having a plan to go in and do damage are more about being opportunistic. Things like, enemies are grouped up? Lurking arm is gonna do a lot of damage. You landed a slow while somewhat near an enemy? You could probably get in an AA or 2.
You’ve also got some fairly good killing power against squishies if you can get near. You’ve got one of the best AAs in the game and can occasionally just race people. Especially against auto attackers if you’ve taken the physical armor talent at 4.
W build gets mad value in ARAM and can work decently well if you have good aim, but if you’re the sole healer and one of the only utility sources then I think a more balanced build does him good.
Lurking Arm only needs root at 13 and silence at 20, everything else is QoL. With just those two talents you get all the kill confirm you need.
Other talents make it a very good area denial ability but given the randomness of QM that’s not always (or even usually) your best choice.
Long Pitch is about catching multiple heroes or pressuring ranged heroes or just throwing it out from safety. Targeted Excision is best used for just proccing it off a tank or something off cooldown, kind of hard to land W on tricky melee assassins when you really need it.
Heroics usually vary.
Shove can be tricky to use. Sometimes you use it to remove someone from the fight and your team gets work done with them gone. Other times you use it and nothing happens until that guy gets back and now you’re down an R. It’s good for single target harassment and can be used aggressively or to punish people who got too aggressive.
Swipe is akin to Emerald Wind and maybe even things like Sound Barrier. It’s very good for helping your teammates disengage from teamfights or to counter dives and situationally can be some heavy CC in tightly packed areas.
Lurking arm is the easiest build to play. I usually go weighted pustule build, overall it has more impact.
Take the green W at 1 against pesky divers. Those Illidans, Tracers, and Genjis who will dive through your Lurking Arm and skirt around you. Against these types of enemies, E build will seldom shoo them fast enough (especially in a QM setting where you’re not guaranteed a Tank to help peel for you). With Reactive at 1 you can really hurt them especially once you get Virulent at 13 (W them with Reactive, E under you, then press D to root them).
The other W talent at 1 I’ve got no clue. Seems pretty lackluster compared to the other 2. But I guess if you’re going full on damage W build, the quest can help with that. I hate Targeted Excision tbh, because IMO it’s counter intuitive to the notion of W build, in that you want to hit as many person with your W as possible so the Long Pitch seems better. At 13, you go for Virulent if you wanna help your team kill someone (way easier to proc with Reactive at 1 or completed Fetid). But if you’re looking for more freedom while disrupting and dealing more damage, take Poppin Pustules, should have synergy with Long Pitch.
Safer heroic is always Shove IMO. Not only do you get 50 Armor, your ability takes effect immediately and you can effectively isolate someone to either Stun them or remove them from the fight. Plus it’s CD is so short that you can use it pretty liberally.