Stitches Build Guide : Yanking and Ganking, A stitches guide. :: Heroes of the Storm (HotS) Strategy Builds

Stitches

Build: Hooker of the storm

Level 1

Level 4

Level 7

Level 10

Level 13

Level 16

Level 20

Threats to Stitches with this build

Threat

Low

High

Show all

Threat		Notes
1	Abathur	Abathur's symbiote won't do much damage against you, he's a great hook target if you can get him since it's a guaranteed kill. just watch out when you're low health for those abathur snipes!
1	Murky	Murky isn't a threat to you at all. He won't kill you and you will kill him, hooking him is a bad idea as it's a waste of your hook and mana.
2	Nova	Literally no threat to you unless you're at 10% health, great hook target and easily taken out if you focus her. If she's laning, you should have no trouble pushing her out, and even killing her.
3	Azmodan	With this build it's still easy to wave clear out azmodan, however it's slightly harder to kill him, watch out for his laser and you should be fine, Azmodan is a decent hook target but you still want to go for the squishier targets.
3	Gazlowe	Gazlowe is a great hook & gorge target as he's squishy and doesn't have an escape unless he takes sprint, but even then if you have your teammates with you, it's an zasy kill, for laning against gazlowe it's very simple, just don't stand in his turrets constantly and use your slam on cooldown to clear minions/ turrets.
3	Li Li	Great hook & gorge target, she's very slippery though, so make sure your team jumps on her as soon as you hook or she comes out of gorge. laning against her should not be any problem for you.
3	Rehgar	Good hook/gorge target IF you have lockdown/stuns on your team, if you don't he'll just ghost wolf/ ancestral healing out of there. If laning against him you should be able to push the lane out.
3	Sgt. Hammer	Easiest hook target NA. Always aim to hook sgt. Hammer when sieged up, if coordinated with your team she's a free kill and will give you the advantage in the teamfight. as for laning, aim to hook her in turrets as much as possible to make her back/have to well, however if it's a good hammer, you won't be pushing a lane against her solo.
4	Falstad	Falstad is one of the better hook/gorge targets as you can burst him down quickly. Laning against him shouldn't be too hard anyways. just keep your distance and dodge the hammer.
4	Jaina	Great hook/gorge target before 20, has no escapes and is very squishy. in lane you should be fine against her with this build.
4	Raynor	Slightly more annoying, but still a good hook/gorge target, just watch out for his Q ability, as for laning, you should be able to trade evenly with him.
4	Thrall	Pre-10 thrall will be a bit difficult to deal with, but just keep your distance and devour for HP when needed, as for post 10, thrall's a great gorge target, easy to kill when focused, as for laning, you shouldn't have a problem, but be sure to keep your distance and spam dat W
5	Diablo	Diablo is weird. in a pick situation you definitely don't want to hook him as he can flip you over and charge you into the enemy team, generally leading to your death, it's very situational when you can hook him and be safe so I'd suggest looking for another target to hook.
5	E.T.C.	You won't kill him 1v1, but he won't kill you either. in a teamfight scenario DO NOT HOOK HIM if you do not have stuns to follow it up because he WILL mosh pit leading to your team's demise.
5	Sonya	Generally good hook target, bad gorge, she can just leap out, or if you all stack to kill her, leap on you and turn the tides, laning wise you should be able to trade with her.
5	Stitches	The battle of the hooks! generally a bad hook target as he can either gorge you or bile his way out, as for laning you should be able to trade with him.
5	Tassadar	Generally a bad hook target as he'll just E his way out, if you have a good follow up to hook though, it might be viable, generally i wouldn't recommend it though, in lane you should be able to trade evenly, with slight favor going to the tassadar. but it shouldn't be that hard.
5	Tyrael	Tyrael is one of the worst hook/gorge targets because he can just use his Q to get away, would not recommend at all. as for laning, 1v1 you should be able to trade with him easily.
5	Zagara	Zagara is one of the better hook/gorge targets, she's one of the more squishier heroes so you should be able to burst her with your team as soon as she comes out/gets hooked. Beware of maw! as for laning, you're going to have a bit of a difficult time, but if it's 1v1 you should be able to prevent most of her pushing power.
6	Arthas	You cannot 1v1 an arthas, he will out sustain you easily and eventually kill you. However if you hook him and your team is up you can try bursting him down before he can pop his ghouls. generally advised to hook somebody else in a pick situation.
6	Malfurion	Very good gorge/hook target, easy to burst down, just watch for roots and you should have him dead, laning against him will yield no problems
7	Anub'arak	You can 1v1 Anub'Arak pretty easily, however watch out for his engage, if it's done correctly he can stunlock you and your team while his team kills you, relentless should help against this post 16. Generally he isn't a big threat to you though. Also, try to avoid hooking him as he can just disengage with his E.
7	Brightwing	Brightwing is an iffy target to hook, in most situations it's a bad thing as she can either just blink heal out or worse, emerald wind your team into a bad position, although if your team is coordinated enough and she emerald wind, you can hook/gorge and quickly kill her. Make sure you stun her out of using emerald wind though!
7	Chen	Chen is very difficult to lane against, he'll heal most of the damage you do to him, or keep chugging beer and never take damage. Overall if you play it safely he won't kill you, but still, watch out. Wouldn't recommend hooking/gorging him unless you have a lot of stuns & damage
7	Nazeebo	One of the best targets to hook & gorge, taking out a nazeebo in a teamfight can be a winning factor by itself, just watch out for the defensive zombie wall. if he uses ravenous spirit and you can't/don't have hook, use gorge on him to cancel it. in lane you trade pretty evenly, just don't get trapped in zombie walls!
7	Tychus	Tychus is a great hook/gorge target, with your team you can burst him down, even if he pops Odin you should be able to nuke him down, as for laning you're going to have a hard time but you should be able to trade with him evenly, just avoid standing in his overkill and use your devour when needed.
7	Tyrande	Tyrande is a great hook/gorge target because she's squishy, Watch out for her stun/hunter's mark because it will turn your stitches into a jaina, in the tankiness department. Laning shouldn't be hard against Tyrande, just be sure to avoid those stuns!
7	Valla	If you're laning against valla, you should be able to trade out evenly, as for hooks/gorge, she can be a good target if you've got somebody to lock her down as soon as she comes out otherwise she's just going to vault away happily!
8	Illidan	Unless you have great lockdown on your team, I wouldn't suggest hooking/gorging illidan as he can easily get out of it with metamorphosis/dash/hunt. 1v1 you won't kill him, and he WILL kill you if he uses his abilities correctly & has the right talents.
8	Kerrigan	Kerrigan is a good hook & gorge target as she doesn't have any escapes unless she takes sprint/bolt, just look out for the counter combo! in lane you definitely need to watch out for her pull/stun combo as if used correctly w/ coordination from her team it will kill you
8	Uther	Uther.. is a meh hook/gorge target, you can do it in certain situations, but even if you burst him down he's still going to be in the teamfight, also beware of stacking onto stitches to kill him as he comes out only for him to pop divine storm. which can be devastating to your team. as for laning you should be able to push the lane out.
9	Zeratul	Zeratul is not that good of a hook/gorge target, in certain situations you can do it, but most of the time he'll just blink away/use Void prison on your enemy team as soon as he comes out. Lane wise you should have no problem at all pushing out a lane VS zeratul.
10	Muradin	Worst hook/gorge target you can get, he'll just leap away and stun you potentially giving the enemy team the chance to kill you, laning against him is easy ish, watch out for him in teamfights as he will lock you down with all his stuns.

Stitches

Build: Damage/CC

Level 1

Level 4

Level 7

Level 10

Level 13

Level 16

Level 20

Introduction Top

Hello! I'm Korlane and I'm currently a warrior player in Heroes of the storm. Stitches is my main and I love him so much I decided to write a guide about him.

I have been in the beta of heroes since week 1 Alpha and have played countless games with stitches. I hope to share my experience with you and will be giving you 2 talent builds to work with. I will also be explaining the Power spikes of stitches and all that good stuff.

If you have a question, feel free to ask!

find me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/KorlaneBP

Power spikes, Strengths & Weaknesses. (Hook Build) Top

Strengths

Hooks.
Has sustain and a large HP pool
Can body block for kills quite easily.
Hooks.

Weaknesses

Low mobility.
Weak against CC
After using devour no sustain anymore.

Power Spikes

Big Spikes

Level 10

As with all other heroes, Stitches gets a huge power spike upon hitting his ultimate.

Level 16
Fishing hook gives you a huge power spike on your hook, which makes it longer by 50% allowing you to hook from crazy far away and makes getting picks easier.

Level 20

Gives stitches a good power spike in the form of Bolt of the storm, allowing you to either get out, or gorge into bolt to your team and away from the enemy!

Medium Spikes

Level 1

Heavy Slam combined with putrid ground is one of the best wave clears in the game, so why wouldn't you take it? (Unless you're going for a much more tankier build)

Level 4

Putrid ground makes your wave clear that much stronger (read: Too good) and gives you that extra boost of damage you need to kill that one hero that would have gotten away with 1 HP

Level 13

Relentless is a medium power spike, allowing you to survive longer/be in control of your character most of the time. Just as a note, it's highly dependant if you take relentless or not, if the enemy team has a lot of CC/stuns, pick it, if not, I would go with Mega smash.

Small Spikes

Level 7

Tenderizer is a small power spike allowing you slow targets by auto attacking them, obviously this has great synergy with hook, allowing you to hook and then slow them, allowing you and your teammates to catch up easily and kill the enemy you hooked.

Early, Mid & Late game with Stitches. (Hook build) Top

Early Game

In the early game, stitches can be used to solo a lane as he's got great wave clear and is tanky so can survive most heroes, and even ganks if you position correctly. So you're riding on your wonder billie into the lane and you ask yourself, what should I do now? Well, let me tell you!

Spam W.
Spam W.
Spam W.

No seriously, Spam W. That's all there is to it with stitches his laning. You use your Slam on cooldown on the minions, hang back (but not too far so you lose experience!) use devour when necessary and keep an eye on the minimap to call out ganks/missing heroes/see ganks coming your way.

Mid Game

This is the point in the game where team fights are more abundant and mercenary control is very important whether you're ahead, even, or behind will dictate how you play out the midgame.

You should stick with your team and focus on the map objectives/Mercenaries. in the Midgame with Stitches you're going to be looking for hooks to make a 5v5 5v4, in the favor of your team mind you! Keep an eye on the minimap and pick a target you're going for, let your team know you're going to try hooking that person, or even just saying "Looking for a hook!" is grzat, it let's your teammates prepare for that moment when you land that sweet hook into a kill. If you don't get your hook the 1st time don't be dissapointed! There's always next time.

When the teamfight does happen, you want to be upfront and in your enemies face, bodyblocking them from reaching your back line, dealing damage to them and generally being annoying, also if yoiu haven't used gorge yet, now is the opportune time to use it! either offensively (for example gorge'ing the healer) or defensively (gorge'ing an assassin on your back line)

And if they're running away, be sure to hook them back to your team!

Late Game

Here is where picking somebody off with your hook or gorge will really shine, if you get a pick they're down for 30+ seconds allowing your team to either engage on the enemy 5v4 or get objectives for free if the enemy doesn't want to fight. (and if they don't want to fight, a hook easily solves that)

Power Spikes (Slam/CC build) Top

Power Spikes

Big Spikes

Level 10

As with all other heroes, Stitches gets a huge power spike upon hitting his ultimate.

Level 16

Pulverize is a huge power spike as you now have an on demand stun, great for interrupting ultimate's like strafe, ravenous spirit and more.

Level 20

Gives stitches a good power spike in the form of Bolt of the storm, allowing you to either get out, or bolt in and bile into the enemy team!

Medium Spikes

Level 1

Heavy Slam combined with putrid ground is one of the best wave clears in the game, so why wouldn't you take it? (Unless you're going for a much more tankier build)

Level 4

Putrid ground makes your wave clear that much stronger (read: Too good) and gives you that extra boost of damage you need to kill that one hero that would have gotten away with 1 HP

Level 13

Relentless is a medium power spike, allowing you to survive longer/be in control of your character most of the time. Just as a note, it's highly dependant if you take relentless or not, if the enemy team has a lot of CC/stuns, pick it, if not, I would go with Mega smash.

Small Spikes

Level 7

Tenderizer is a small power spike allowing you slow targets by auto attacking them, obviously this has great synergy with hook, allowing you to hook and then slow them, allowing you and your teammates to catch up easily and kill the enemy you hooked.

Mid & Late game with Stitches. (Slam/CC Build) Top

Early game is pretty much the same as with the hook build so I won't write it down here.

Mid Game

This is the point in the game where team fights are more abundant and mercenary control is very important whether you're ahead, even, or behind will dictate how you play out the midgame.

With Stitches in the midgame you're going to want to stick with your team, do map objectives & get mercenaries, as with the other build, you're going to be looking for hooks, if you don't get one, it's fine, but it doesn't hurt to try!

When teamfighting you want to be up in front in the enemies face, if they have an ultimate you can interrupt (For example, Nazeebo, Falstad, Valla and more) You'll want to save your stun until they cast it, if they don't, slam away! be sure to have your bile active and run into their backline and make it easier for your assassin's to reach them, or you can use it defensively to allow your team to disengage.

Late Game

As with the other build, getting picks here with your hook is going to be a huge if you get somebody. However you now have the combo of bolt -> Putrid bile, if the enemy team wants to disengage, you can bolt in and bile, slowing them and they're taking damage, making it easier for your team to catch up and kill them.

Last words

Well this was my first written guide, if you have any questions/things you want me to include, let me know!

Thanks for reading and I hope it made you a better hooker, err, Stitches!

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