I'll let you in on a little secret: E.T.C. is one of the best tanks in the game. He's loud, goofy looking, and pulls off insane rockstar stunts in every match. His strengths are many and they all help to support your team.
Before we get into the meat of things lets talk about some philosophy. The way I play him lends to supporting your team and making them all rock stars. If he wasn't so hard to kill and his guitar solo was a group heal right off the bat he'd actually qualify as a support. Embracing his ability to hybridize between a tank and a support is key to getting the most out of him. He's also very mobile. You can play him like a jungler early game and severely punish people who push the lane too hard. Later on his mobility is going to allow him and his allies to chase after winning a team fight and run away when needed. E.T.C. can lock down the other team while simultaneously buffing your allies. This allows him to play up to one of his greatest strengths: securing kills.
Both Powerslide and Face Melt give E.T.C. great potential to secure kills for your team. This cannot be understated. The ability to stun an enemy and then push them back into your allies is what makes E.T.C. so deadly. The buffs he hands out while doing this is icing on the cake.
Here is a list of things I build for to help you understand how he works.
-Stuns for 1 second (1.5 talented) with Powerslide
-Positions self favorably with Powerslide, helping to escape danger or cut off enemies (who are likely now stunned)
-Stuns and knocks back enemies with Facemelt
-Can push enemies into allies thus ensuring their death or push enemies away allowing for escape
-Heals self (and allies with talent) using Guitar Solo
-Gives self and nearby allies 20% attack speed buff every time an ability is used
-Talent for 20% movement every time an ability is used
-Can maintain attack and movement speed buff until out of mana
-Leaps to any location allowing for surprise attacks and daring escapes
The only real con I've found with him is that his damage is pretty lacking. But that's okay, you can't have it all and you'll be giving your allies more than enough time to destroy anyone who is unfortunate enough to cross your path.
Let's talk abilities. We'll go over what they do and then extrapolate a little on how to use them.
Powerslide:
This ability is your bread and butter. It does so many things. It stuns enemies, it damages them, it moves you in the direction you fire it off at, it activates a 20% attack speed buff, and, if you talent for it, activates a 20% movement speed buff. Wow! So the obvious use for it is to take out key targets in a fight. I usually hit anyone who looks like then could use a good stunning. But if I was to list priority I would suggest: Heroes that will die as a result of being stunned, healers, a hero using an ult that can be stunned, dps, tanks. The more targets you can hit with a power slide the better.
Powerslide also has great defensive potential. First off it moves you which means it can help you run away. But it also allows you to dive in and save an ally who would otherwise be killed. E.T.C. can take a beating and escape. Your other party members may not have that blessing. Powersliding in to break up a chase and then using Face Melt to push the enemy away can give your allies the chance they need to escape.
One more note, if Nova Triple Taps an ally you can use Powerslide to help intercept the shots.
Face Melt:
This ability pushes your enemies away from you and stuns them. Be careful when using this ability. It can doom an enemy just as easily as allow them to escape. The more you get used to E.T.C. the more you'll learn how to prevent accidents and secure even more kills for your team.
Defensively Face Melt will keep melee DPS off of you and your allies. If you are running away from a ranged hero I would not advise going out of your way to Face Melt them unless it will save an ally. This build does not increase knockback and thus the ranged hero will still be able to attack you after the knockback.
At this point let's talk about the stunning potential of these two abilities. More specifically what ultimates you can stun. Players should be severely punished for picking ults that can be stunned. It will save your team and make the enemy look silly.
I'm not entirely sure what can and cannot be stunned. So I'll give you the ones I know for sure, the maybe's, and the cannot's.
-Falstad, Maybe, they are usually fired out of my range.
-Kerrigan's Maelstrom, Maybe, but probably not. I'm pretty sure it's not.
-Nova's Triple Tap, Maybe, but she usually fires it out of my range.
-Valla's Strafe, Yes, if you see her pop it and you can stop her without dying then do it. Otherwise you should probably run.
-Diablo's Lightning Breath, No, you must run out but fortunately he cannot chase with it.
-E.T.C. Both Mosh Pit and Stage Dive can be stunned.
-Tyrael's Sanctification, Maybe, I haven't seen one take it.
-Li Li's Jug of 1,000 Cups, Maybe, pretty sure it's a yes but it's hard to tell because the thing heals so freaking much.
-Tyrande's Shadowstalk, Yes, and you can knock invisible people out of stealth if you Powerslide or Face Melt them.
-Malfurion's Tranquility, Maybe, but I don't think so.
-Abathur, I believe stunning him will take him out of all of his abilities. He's kinda hard to catch and experiment on
-Murky's March of the Murlocs, Yes but I don't believe the cast time really does anything once he starts the ability.
-Nazeebo's Ravenous Spirit, Yes. If you see that green demon follow the trail and stop Nazeebo.
That's it for now. Anything unlisted cannot be stunned.
Guitar Solo:
This does not heal you for that much but you also have a pretty big health pool. When talented so extend the heal to allies you can help keep your team alive during some heavy fighting. If you are forced out of the fight you can stay behind your allies and use this on cooldown to heal yourself, your allies, and provide your rockstar buffs to them. If anyone comes after you then you can stun them long enough for your allies to kill them. You might not always be able to fight but you can still support your team in big ways.
Mosh Pit:
I do not like this ability. It's too situational. On maps like Cured Hollow it can wreck a team fight at the tribute but aside from that positioning requirements make it way too situational. Plus you can be stunned out of it. So you'd also need to lock down heroes that can lock you down. You already have two stuns. You do not need a third. I won't deny that it can be a play maker but you can do better.
Stage Dive:
Now here's an ultimate. First off it comes with global range. You can jump from your core to the enemies. You do not need vision of the place you are jumping to either. This ability makes some great plays. You can join in on a team fight within seconds. You can jump on people who are running away. You can come position yourself to deny an escape or reinforcements. You can jump to safety when you otherwise dead. You can maintain a push at the enemies core as long as you have enough time to hearth back for some mana and HP. This ability takes you from being a rock star to being a rock god. Oh, and I mention that you can stage dive into the haunted mines? Keep an eye on your minimap and you will make plays and secure so many kills for your team.
So let's talk about talents. I almost always go with this build because it's so versatile and powerful.
Tier 1:
I go with Damage Slide over Block because you already have enough HP to tank the hits. Scouting Drone is really kinda meh as is Dance Your Pants Off! You'll want to save your mana for heroes and not spend it on taking a lane.
Tier 2:
Groupies allows you to start healing your team which will keep them up in fights longer. It really comes into play when you need to siege an enemy base for an extended period of time or if a golem hits a few people. You can go with Echo Pedal if your team is mostly supports and tanks but it doesn't seem to put out much damage. Pwn Shop Guitar just doesn't have the utility that Groupies and Echo Pedal does. Superiority is trash.
Tier 3:
Battle Momentum lets you use your abilities more often which means more stuns and and potentially assist you in run-down situations. It also allows you to chain all three of your abilities for a near permanent Rockstar Aura. E.T.C. is already pretty big so Monster Slide seems a little silly. Loudspeakers is okay but I like the range of Face Melt already. I could see Guitar Hero having use keeping you alive but all your other abilities can too.
Tier 4:
I already explained this in the abilities. Stage Dive is the way to go.
Tier 5:
Uber Rockstar has a lot of chase and escape utility. Plus it extends to your team. E.T.C. needs to stay on top of people and if you are faster than they are it's easier to pull it off. Rockin' Out would be a contender if Battle Momentum didn't do it's job as a side effect. Face Smelt gets out classed by Uber Rockstar because you can have the movement speed for 9 seconds and it's usefulness in a chase situation is potentially counter intuitive. Relentless is good if the enemy is loaded up with stuns. E.T.C. can be stunned during a power slide and it's the most aggravating thing. Not the Relentless will save you from that.
Tier 6:
I choose head crack because the longer an enemy is stunned the more screwed he can become. Imposing Presence is decent but it doesn't help in chase situations. Plus you have can slow the enemies attack speed by 100% if they are stunned. Guitar Instrumental will only increase healing done which is nice if your team doesn't have a healer. But you don't have to heal if the enemy is stunned and you won't have much incoming damage if the enemy dies. E.T.C. doesn't really need Stoneskin as he's already pretty tanky and mobile enough to avoid getting killed. Sometimes the best way to avoid damage is by not being attacked.
Tier 7:
In this final tier I go with Rock God! Stage Dive will get you out of deadly situations and put you in favorable positions. Being able to smash into a fleeing enemy from anywhere on the map is an incredible power. The reduced cast time means that you get where you need to be sooner. You don't need Bolt of the Storm because you are already incredibly mobile. You don't do enough damage to justify Fury of the Storm. You shouldn't be dying enough to need Resurgence of the Storm. Deaths do happen but if you learn to expect a 5 second rez timer then you might learn some sloppy habits. You can still be at a level disadvantage after level 20. Besides, you can be a Rock God!
E.T.C. is a powerful initiator, chaser, pseudo-healer, and buffer. For a hero that is so big he moves like a leaf in the wind. His allies will be deadlier when he's around and the enemy won't have an easy time getting away. You might not do the most damage or healing but if you do your job right at the end of game score screen you'll easily have the most takedowns.
I'll probably edit this later. I wrote this all in one go and I'd like to play a few games of Heroes now :P So I'll just put this up for your benefit. Good luck!
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