Roadhog by Murraythehuman

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Roadhog

By: Murraythehuman
Last Updated: Aug 22, 2023
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Roadhog

Hired Muscle

A hardy Tank that can break enemy positioning.

Attack Type: Ranged
Attack Speed: 1.00
Attack Range: 4.5
Attack Damage: 50
Health: 2700
Health Regen: 5.512
Resource: Mana

Roadhog is a frontline tank that specialises in both breaking enemy positioning, and protecting squishies from a distance. His primary gameplan consists of trying to gain ground for his team, all without overlooking the safety of his backline.

The big question for anyone attempting to build a Roadhog moveset for Heroes is, of course, "how do you make his hook distinct from Stitches?" While I went through a few permutations on an answer that question, such as turning it into a heroic, I ultimately settled on making the design goals of his hook similar to Maiev, wherein the move would specifically be used to counter mobile heroes, in particular backline-busters. While Roadhog still needs to get close to his enemies to apply a hook, the enemy afflicted by it will gradually be slowed more and more the further they get from Roadhog's position, as well as set themselves up for high damage should he choose to re-activate it.

This mechanic has been designed to pair well with both of his other abilities, though not at the same time. His Q deals knockback, letting him create distance, setting up for nasty re-activations of Ripsnare as the enemy is forced into a higher-damage radius. Alternatively, the slow helps Roadhog catch up with his foes, something he'll need to do to activate Bodyguard, a channelled Stun that gives Roadhog's allies a chance to flee, or to get the kill.

The design of Roadhog's talents harkens back to earlier talent tree designs, wherein he tends to build around one ability specifically. Though to avoid him settling into only having three distinct builds, his level 7 talents force these builds to cross into one-another, enabling him to hybridize his talent choices.

Strengths:
  • Poke
  • Peel
  • Picks
Weaknesses:
  • Low Mobility
  • Low Range
  • Low Engage

Combat Trait

1
Breather
Cooldown: 5 seconds.

Every 50 damage dealt to enemy heroes grants Roadhog a charge of Breather. Upon Activation, Roadhog consumes all charges of Breather, gaining 1 armor and restoring 1% of his maximum health per stack consumed over 5 seconds.

Roadhog can store up to 30 charges of Breather.

This one is fairly straightforward, but would need a lot of in-the-field testing to get the numbers right.
This trait is comparable to Dehaka's, but the armor and hero-damage requirements give it distinct use cases that reward sticking to teamfights rather than lanes, and using the armor to tank damage, rather than using stasis to avoid it.
Your progress towards your next stack would be indicated in the lower left corner, using a similar circle tracker as Gazlowe's Scrap.

Primary Abilities

1
Scrapnel Blast
25 Mana.
2 Charges.
Cooldown: 13 seconds.

Fire a cone-shaped blast from target position. All enemies hit take 50 damage, while enemies close to the eruption point are pushed back and take an additional 50% damage.

Both charges are returned simultaneously.

This move is a coneshot wherein the cone can be fired at a position other than right next to the hero. It has no initial projectile ala Greymane (or the Overwatch basis of the move), though there may be a very short travel time before the cone appears.
Roadhog has a short (roughly .75 second) delay between firing his shots, just enough that he can't guarantee back-to-back shots against the same target.
2
Bodyguard
40 Mana.
Cooldown: 12 seconds.

Slam an adjacent enemy into the ground after 1 second, stunning them for the duration and dealing 101 damage.

Roadhog cannot move while channelling Bodyguard. Both Roadhog and his target are effectively stunned for the duration, similar to Imperius's lunge.
The damage is dealt at the end of the channel.
Doesn't work on structures.
3
Ripsnare Hook
50 Mana.
Cooldown: 16 seconds (cooldown starts when ability is first activated, not when its effects end/gets reactivated).

Roadhog tosses his Hook onto a nearby enemy, dealing 13 damage. The target is slowed based on their proximity to Roadhog, increasing the further away they are, up to a maximum of 70%. Enemies remain hooked for up to 4 seconds.

After 1 second, Ripnsare Hook can be re-activated to tear the hook from the enemy's body, dealing damage relative to Ripsnare Hook's current slow amount, up to 387 damage at maximum slow.

Some interesting visuals would need to be applied on the victim's side to properly convey the idea that 'getting further away from Roadhog = more damage'.
The initial range of this move is fairly low, comparable to the range Hogger can throw his dynamite. Meanwhile, the distance needed to deal the maximum damage is somewhat more than the range of Stitches' Hook.
Moves like Abathur's Burrow or Gul'dan's warp runes instantly break Ripsnare, as is common for abilities such as these. Unstoppable does not remove the hook, so after Unstoppable ends, the target will be re-slowed.
Does not work on structures.

This move is designed to directly combo with both Scrapnel Blast and Body Guard, but in different ways. The damage pairs well with Scrapnel's pushback effects, where you can boop someone twice, then yank for a lot of damage, or you can use the slow to close in on a target and stun them with bodyguard. Both of these options are reflected in Level 7 talents.

Heroic Abilities

1
Whole Hog
60 Mana.
Cooldown: 60 seconds.

After .5 seconds, Roadhog fires his augmented scrap gun, rapidly pushing himself back as he fires a stream of bullets in a long stream area, dealing 32 damage and pushing away enemies in the area every .25 seconds. Lasts 2 seconds and cannot be cancelled.

There's some unwieldliness implied here, as you will be pushing Roadhog away from the direction you aim the attack. Roadhog will move at roughly 80% movement speed while shooting, while the pushback effect would reduce enemies moving right towards him to roughly 40% move speed.
A clever Roadhog may attempt to put their back to a wall before firing to avoid losing the move's range as they fire, though the move is primarily meant as a way to escape a bad situation.
Roadhog cannot activate abilities until the move completes.
2
Sidecar Rampage
75 Mana.
Cooldown: 90 seconds.

Target an ally hero to pull them into Roadhog's motorbike after .5 seconds, protecting both from damage. Roadhog's Motorbike has 2100 health and 130% move speed, and lasts for 10 seconds. While driving, Roadhog is Unstoppable, and his ally may fire up to four untalented shots of Roadhog's Scrapnel Blast. Roadhog cannot channel objectives while Sidecar Rampage is active.

Roadhog may cancel Sidecar Rampage at any time, and his ally may exit at any time.

The Sidecar is a summon, so it can't be healed.
Roadhog cannot activate any abilities while driving Sidecar Rampage.
Cancel/Eject using D.

Level 1 Talents

Trait upgrade tier, relatively minor effects that may prove very useful, but aren't a part of any particular build. All work well with Roadhog's level 20 trait talent.

Trait (D): Junkyard Brawler - Nearby enemy minion deaths grant Roadhog a charge of Breather and restore 1% of his maximum mana.

Trait (D): Deeper Breaths - Quest: Consume 600 charges of Breather. Reward: For every 60 charges consumed, increase Breather's maximum charges by 1, to a maximum of 40 charges.

Trait (D): Raw Nerve - Breather grants Roadhog Unstoppable for 2 seconds when activated at maximum charges.

Level 4 Talents

Playstyle Defining Talents. Talents that let Roadhog select an ability to play around.

Q: Scrapper - Quest: Hit heroes with Scrapnel Blast's inner area. Reward: Hitting heroes with Scrapnel Blast's inner area increases its damage bonus by .1%. Hero takedowns increase the bonus by 1%.

W: Boarish Charge - Bodyguard causes Roadhog to lunge towards his target, increasing its range by 100%.

E: Lingering Wounds - Ripsnare Hook's slow is no longer removed upon reactivation, and instead decays over 3 seconds. Passive: Ripsnare Hook slows by an additional 10% at all ranges. This does not affect its reactivation damage.

Level 7 Talents

Playstyle Flex Talents. Talents that allow Roadhog to modify how he expresses his chosen playstyle.

Q/W: Shakedown - Using Bodyguard on a Hero refreshes Scrapnel Blast's cooldown.

Q/E: Scrap Magnet - Hitting a hero hooked with Ripsnare Hook with Scrapnel Blast causes them to deal an additional 25% of Scrapnel Blast's damage over 3 seconds and increases the knockback received by 25%.

W/E: Rip and Tear - Using Bodyguard on a hooked enemy instantly reactivates the hook and reduces the target's armor by 15 for 3 seconds, causing them to take 15% increased damage. Additionally, this refunds Ripsnare Hook's cooldown and mana cost.

Heroic Talents

<Outlined Above>

Level 13 Talents

Additional Talents to help Roadhog protect his allies.

Active: Lead-lined Shots - Activate to make Roadhog's remaining charges of Scrapnel Blast stun enemies it knocks back for .5 seconds. 45 second cooldown. Cooldown is reduced by 5 seconds every time Scrapnel Blast deals knockback to a hero.

W: I'll Bury You! - After dealing damage, Bodyguard roots its target for .75 seconds.

E: Just You and Me - Enemies hooked by Ripsnare Hook deal 1% reduced damage for every 2% slow applied by Ripsnare Hook. Damage Reduction lingers for 3 seconds after Ripsnare Hook is reactivated, at its last active value.

Level 16 Talents

Powerful Talents that synergize with at least one build and let Roadhog set his team up during fights.

Q: Recycled Scrap - Increase the maximum range of Scrapnel Blast by 20% and reduce its mana cost by 10. Additionally, hitting enemy heroes with Scrapnel Blast reduces its cooldown by 1 second, to a maximum of 6 seconds.

W: Piledriver - Bodyguard can be re-activated mid-channel to increase the channel and stun duration by .5 seconds. If re-activated, Bodyguard deals an additional 100% damage. If not, its cooldown is reduced by 3 seconds.

E: Hook 'em, Cook 'em - Reactivating Ripsnare Hook pulls the target a short distance closer to Roadhog. Pull distance is increased the further the target is from Roadhog. While the target is hooked and for three seconds after, they and all nearby enemies take 35 damage per second.

Storm Talents

Powerful talents that all expand Roadhog's survivability and fit into most builds.

R1: Whole 'nother - Gain a second charge of Whole Hog, and reduce its cooldown by 20 seconds.

R2: Second Saddle - While in Sidecar Rampage, Roadhog may re-cast the ability to add one additional hero to his sidecar. The motorbike's duration and health are doubled and each of its sidecar riders can now fire up to 8 shots of Scrapnel Blast.

Trait (D): Hyperventilator - Breather also grants 1% movement and attack speed for every charge consumed. Passive: Increase the damage of Roadhog's basic attacks by 100%.

Q: Quad Barrel - Scrapnel Blast gains two additional charges, but its cooldown is increased by 2 seconds.

Change History

17/12/2020:
  • Lowered the damage on several moves as I grossly underestimated how much damage Roadhog was dealing. Roadhog is still meant to be a high-damage Tank (albeit situationally), but being able to deal 1000 ability damage using only basic abilities would be too much on an assassin, let alone a tank. Roadhog's maximum damage to a single target using all abilities at full power is now 601. This is closer to the 'damage tank' design I was aiming for. Note that 601 damage is under very ideal and also conflicting situations that would be highly unrealistic to find in an actual game.
  • Due to the lowered damage, the threshold needed to gain charges of Breather is down to 70. May later lower to 60.
  • Bodyguard now stuns for a full second. This decision was made because even with the "Boarish Charge" talent, it still requires him to get very close to his target, and Roadhog is effectively stunned for just as long as his target is. This does turn "I'll Bury You!" into a very dangerous talent, as it's effectively 1.75 seconds of Hard CC. This change also means "Piledriver" will be easier to activate at high ping.
  • "Raw Nerve" Adjusted functionality: Instead of granting 2 seconds of Unstoppable when used at maximum charges, it grants .5 seconds of Unstoppable for every 10 charges consumed. This lets Roadhog be more flexible with his use of Breather, while still rewarding players who activate the move at high stacks.
  • Specified that Roadhog's second and third abilities don't work on structures.

12/01/2021
  • Increased cooldown of Scrapnel Blast by 2 seconds as displacement CC can be frustrating. To compensate, the sweet spot damage has been changed into a 50% damage bonus (mostly this just increases the damage by 5, but it also improves the value of Scrapper's stacks, which was otherwise the worst level 4 talent).
  • Threshold for Breather charges lowered to 50 and auto attack damage set to the same amount.
  • Because this makes Breather much easier to charge, Raw Nerve has been adjusted back to its old functionality.
  • Reworded Ripsnare Hook to be more clear. Also removed its minimum reactivation damage and lowered its maximum damage by 34. Adjusted the description of Lingering Wounds to clear up potential ambiguities created by the rewording.
  • Adjusted Heroics to be more streamlined.
  • Sidecar rampage requires Roadhog to channel on an ally to activate the ability, similar to Anduin's Leap of Faith, but with shorter range. As a result, the Storm upgrade has been adjusted to account for this change.
  • Whole Hog now has more self-knockback, covers a smaller area, completes faster and has a lower cooldown. However, it no longer grants Unstoppable.
  • Powergrind replaced with Whole 'nother. Which instead grants a second charge of Whole Hog and reduces its cooldown.

24/01/2021
  • Typo fixes.
  • Added further clarification to the mechanics of Ripsnare Hook.
  • Added Mana costs (he was always supposed to have them, but I was unsure what they should be).
  • Several talents now provide mana relief (Junkyard Brawler, Rip & Tear, and Recycled Scrap).
  • Hook 'em Cook 'em now pulls based on distance from Roadhog. It now can't be used to instantly pull enemies into Bodyguard range.

26/01/2021
  • Received some feedback in the HotS Reddit Discord, below adjustments follow from that.
  • Maximum Health reduced from 2900 to 2700. Regen reduced accordingly.
  • Scrapper has been reworked to increase damage % rather than being a flat amount, and now only procs when hitting the inner area. This helps to ensure Roadhog's long distance damage is kept in check, and keeps his damage from getting out of hand. It also keeps Shotgun Kiss from becoming a Must Pick when picking Scrapper, as the bonuses would be additive, not multiplicative. Another benefit is that it will now scale with Breather, as opposed to scaling in spite of it. To compensate for the relative power reduction, takedowns also grant 1% bonus power. All things combined, the fantasy of Roadhog being a tank with a killer shotgun becomes more feasible at later levels, while also being more reasonable to play around.
  • Shakedown now straight-up refunds both charges of Scrapnel Blast, as sometimes being able to store greater than maximum charges is a bit weird.
  • Increased the damage per tick of Whole Hog by 4, and its pushback effect by 10%.

22/8/2023
Talent rework.
  • Level 7
    • Scrap Magnet no longer increases the damage by 20%, but instead causes an additional 25% of the damage taken to be dealt over 3 seconds. This effect will pair very nicely with Scrapper, while the knockback increase will have the opposite effect, making it harder to hit the same hero twice, reducing how much the talents become 'must pair' talents.
    • Rip and Tear now reduces the target's armor by 15 instead of applying damage over time, making it a tool for enabling your team to deal damage. This also now counts as a 'reactivation' allowing it to benefit from other talents such as Lingering Wounds, albeit at minimal value.
  • Level 13
    • Just You and Me now has its lingering effect last for 3 seconds, putting it in line with the other lingering hook talents.
  • Level 16
    • Recycled Scrap now reduces the cooldown of Scrapnel blast by 1 seconds, up from .5 seconds, but it is now capped at 6 seconds of cooldown reduction. Secondly, instead of being able to refund mana, the talent now just reduces the baseline mana cost from 25 to 15, which is situationally a buff, but in most cases a nerf.
    • Hook 'em Cook 'em no longer reduces the target's armor, but instead it applies a burning rage effect, damaging them and all nearby enemies. This effect is slightly weaker, but does allow Roadhog to charge up Breather rather quickly.
  • Storm Talents
    • Hyperventilator was somewhat weak, as Roadhog doesn't actually have an Auto-attack talent anywhere in his kit. With this change, Hyperventilator is that talent, allowing him to pepper a foe with shots that will, in turn, recharge his trait ready for the next volley. We're still talking about one of the lowest damage basic attacks in the game, but this talent change will let Roadhog become a frighteningly capable duelist, even without the Scrapnel Blast quest.
    • Shotgun Kiss - Casts of Scrapnel Blast fired close to Roadhog deal an additional 100% damage and heal Roadhog for the damage dealt. Removed and replaced with Quad Barrel.
I will note that I am now wary of how disruptive Scrapnel Blast is when fully talented up, so I've increased the ability's cooldown from 12 to 13.

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Zayin | December 9, 2020 12:26pm
Woah, it looks great, sure it may need some testing with the numbers but from what you presented it seems like a good concept to add him to the game, hope that someone from the heroes team checks this out.
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Murraythehuman (2) | December 9, 2020 5:23pm
Hey, much thanks! Having a HotS developer see some of my concepts would be the dream scenario. I'm fairly sure they'd have a thing or two to say about the numbers too, since the ones I've given Roadhog are quite high, especially for a tank (in fact, I've been lowering them since I published this). I do want his damage to be on the higher side for a tank, but it's hard to find a clean balance.
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