Who am I?

A player with not enough experience but just enough ego to think others might like to read about builds he found and enjoys. These aren't guaranteed to fit in the meta, or be super competitive, or anything really, but they're builds I enjoy, and that's what matters to me.

Who is E.T.C.?

In Heroes of the Storm, the Elite Tauren Chieftain (E.T.C. for short) is a melee warrior, equipped with some of the heaviest CC in the game and good survivability but suffering for damage. He used to have great split push capabilities and surprising damage potential, but his recent changes took that away...

What's this build?

... and frankly I enjoy him more now. I found a build I enjoy, at least, and I'll present it to you. It's a build, mind you, that I primarily use to support two of my friends, one playing an auto-attacker who benefits from my attack speed buff, the other a healer who keeps the team topped up in the time I buy with my CC. It works. This is a build with a fair amount of survivability and cc but not much in the way of damage. In other words, playing to ETC's strengths.

D: Rockstar: E.T.C.'s trait is a passive buff that triggers whenever he uses one of his abilities, buffing the attack speed of himself and nearby allies by 20% for 4s. This doesn't stack, but it's still a wonderful increase to the damage output of yourself and especially your auto-attack focused teammates. And it's free. Sure, I miss the days when it'd also give a 10% buff to minions, but it's still really nice to use.

Q: Powerslide: E.T.C.'s Q is a wonderful Eddie Briggs impression by way of dashing a medium distance, damaging and stunning all enemies in his path. It's the stun that's important here, at a healthy 1s, it's great for interrupting, keeping still, peeling off your enemies, repositioning yourself... this is your bread and butter, really. Don't really use it for damage, mind. The basic attack it'll put you in range of will almost deal more damage. If possible, don't use this to initiate - save it for disruption during the fight instead.

W: Face Melt: E.T.C.'s W is another Eddie Briggs classic, through instead of dealing massive damage, this power chord deals some (low) damage and scatters all nearby enemies. This has a number of uses - it can push enemies off allies, interrupt stationary channels, push enemies into tower range or closer to friendly DPS, push enemy squishies from their tanks and healers... Obviously positioning is everything when it comes to using this power, positioning and timing. And Powerslide helps with the former, though keep in mind that's burning both of your CC abilities, and not always advisable. Also, try not to push enemies away from your allies' skillshots and AoE abilities. But absolutely do push your enemies into them.

E: Guitar Solo: E.T.C.'s E is a self-buff that heals him over the next four seconds. The heal comes out to about 10% of your maximum HP throughout, which isn't terribly much but it's affordable and comes up often. It also has the lowest mana cost and cooldown of all of E.T.C.'s abilities, making it an obvious way of keeping Rockstar up. Use this often to keep yourself topped off on HP, as well as offensively to boost your team's damage.

R: Mosh Pit: E.T.C.'s first heroic is a stationary channel that, after a short delay, rapidly and repeatedly stuns all nearby enemies for its entire 4s duration. This is a powerful ability with massive wombo combo potential, as it gives your team a lot of time to put a lot of hurt on whatever poor souls you have caught in the dance... while their teammates are free to put the hurt on you and your team. It's a powerful tool, but it has so many weaknesses. You have to position yourself, your enemies can escape before it fires off, you can be interrupted by any stun or knockback... a powerful tool but with great drawbacks.

R: Stage Dive: E.T.C.'s other heroic is another short channel, after which he leaps into the air and crashes back down wherever he damn well pleases and has vision. Enemies in the are take some damage and are slowed. The main wonder of this ability is the, er, ability to rapidly redeploy across the map on a reasonably short cooldown. Many times I retreat from a fight, hearthstone, then Stage Dive right back in with full health and mana, all under 15s. And the damage doesn't hurt.

Lvl 1: Prog Rock: Regen orb gathering talents are a common enough feature on various heroes, and ETC's is most similar to Regeneration Master. Rather than increase his base regen however, it boosts the healing provided by every cast of Guitar Solo by a total of 8. Eight might not sound like much, but that's eight for every orb. Properly maintained, this'll increase Guitar Solo's healing by some 50%. Not to say the alternatives aren't nice - Pwn Shop Guitar makes it considerably cheaper to self-heal and team buff, though I find late game I hurt for health more than mana. Block is always nice for survivability, and a matter of personal choice. Rolling Like a Stone, similar, as the extra range helps chase, escape, or just catch more enemies in your stun. Personally, I don't really like it, as too often I find myself overshooting and having to double back.

Lvl 4: Double-Necked Guitar: Making Powerslide wider makes it easier to catch enemies in it. Making it that faster makes it even more so. Hammer-on is also an interesting choice, though I never find myself starved for mana to the point where the 10 mana return would much help, or where I coulnd't afford to use my abilities more to maintain Rock Star when I need it. Mic Check is nice, as the cooldown reduction is easy enough to hit in a teamfight or a lane, but not as useful as the faster slide I find. By comparison, Pinball Wizard I find personally useless, as it situationally and weakly buffs the damage of an ability you shouldn't be using for damage anyway.

Lvl 7: Loud Speakers: Boom. I am a big fan of this talent, as it helps you scatter your enemies better. This means better peel, better repositioning, and later on, better synergy. Plus I'm a sucker for pushing enemies into tower range. Incidentally, in a E.T.C. mirror, you can use the added radius to safely interrupt your opponent's Mosh Pit, always a good idea. Just Keep Rockin' is an interesting choice, a much earlier but situational version of Relentless but I rarely find myself taking it - CCs usually go for my squishier teammates, I have the health, self-heal and escape to survive some, and it's not even always up. Guitar Hero is a sad ghost of its former self, no longer making you suddenly smack your foe for a double damage attack and heal yourself on top of that. Not really recommended, and neither is Follow Through, as damage should not be your goal, and it's not that great anyway.

Lvl 10: Stage Dive: While Mosh Pit is powerful, I find it too situational and too unreliable. Stage Dive, meanwhile, offers me so much. Damage, positioning, global mobility, sustain through nipping off to base for a bit, escape from tricky situations in a pinch... I don't leave home without it.

Lvl 13: Face Smelt: One of my favorite talents adds a mighty slow to Face Melter. Once you scatter your enemies, this keeps them scattered. The slow's even so strong it's a net gain for your team when you hit somebody you're chasing with it. And the added range from Loud Speakers makes this even stronger. An don't get me started on how brilliant it is for covering an escape. Now, the alternatives here are strong, but I don't enjoy them nearly as much. Spell Shield is a big increase to your survivability, Show Stopper is a smaller one that is much, much more available (1/3 uptime on demand, basically), but in both of their cases, I would rather have the added CC than the added survivability. Groupies is an interesting choice, making you something of a ghetto aoe healer, but the value isn't terribly big, and it's not affected by Prog Rock. Guitar Solo is more of a "keep yourself topped off and regenerating in a fight" power than a burst heal, and it's just not really your teammates hugging you to receive it.

Lvl 16: Imposing Presence: Oh this is a tough one, and the primary place where my build changes. All four of the choices here are valid, depending on your needs. Imposing Presence is my go-to choice in most cases, but especially if the enemy team involves strong auto-attackers - Illidian, The Butcher, Sgt. Hammer... This is a major increase to survivability against these heavy DPS enemies. Should my team be lacking in damage, I gravitate towards Echo Pedal, which hits all enemies in a hefty range twice, adding up to more than a basic attack, for every ability cast. It adds up, believe me. If I want some extra CC, I pick up Encore, adding some more disruption after every Face Melter, often catching enemies who try to regroup. Remember, though, that the amp does not deal damage, and does not benefit from any other Face Melter traits. Most notably, it won't reapply Face Smelt's slow. Finally, Speed Metal used to be a must-have, but it's now in a much more competitive slot, and the extra movement speed only applies for 2s, not even benefiting from Hammer-on. Still, that's extra speed that's great for chasing or escaping.

Lvl 20: Death Metal: Remember how my two main complaints about Mosh Pit was the need for positioning and vulnerability to being interrupted? This is a Mosh Pit that you can Stage Dive to position and that cannot be interrupted. Sure, you have to be dead for that to happen, but you usually die in the middle of the enemy team anyway, and it gives your allies a great chance for some well-deserved avenging. Now, it's not to say Crowd Pleaser isn't a worthy choice, but, frankly, it's not for me. I don't use Stage Dive trying to hit, I use it trying to reposition myself. The damage and slow are bonuses, and if I miss, I get no benefit, so, not for me. Tour Bus is interesting though, with a longer duration and the ability to catch that straggler or put yourself in a better position or dodge that Lunar Flare... overall it's a worthy upgrade, but I don't really like Mosh Pit much. Besides, it'd compete with Bolt of the Storm, letting you get in the perfect spot for a Mosh Pit in the first place, or get out of danger if something goes wrong. Storm Shield is, as always, a good choice, letting your team live through a significant amount of incoming harm. But I like my choice.