The power of the Horde incarnate by brutal rhythms and blistering guitar riffs into the form of the most elite Tauren chieftain to ever headbang across the surface of Azeroth. Don’t bother putting on socks. He’s just going to rock them off anyways.
The power of the Horde has manifested itself in the body of a young Tauren chieftain who has made it his life goal to melt the faces of the forces of evil through the power of his music. The E.T.C. is actually the representation of a band formed by several Blizzard employees named The Elite Tauren Chieftains who often preform live at Blizzard fan events. Their music and likeness has also been featured during the end credits of Warcraft 3 and it’s expansion, Frozen Throne, with the full band being hidden throughout several locations in World of Warcraft.
In Heroes of the Storm, the E.T.C. is highly mobile warrior who is able to engage in quick combat abilities while soaking up quite a bit of damage. He also has the most utility of any of the warriors we’ve covered thus far, with most of his abilities having stuns, slows, healing effects, and lots of metal. His passive ability – Rockstar – will increase the attack and movement speed of your allies every time you use abilities. Depending on how you chose to spec he can be a decent support healer, an annoying stunner and engager, or a punishing damage-dealer.
The first ability at your disposal is the Powerslide, which quickly launches the E.T.C. through enemies damaging and stunning them in place. Powerslide’s range isn’t all that amazing but it provides quick movement to create engagements, or help catch a fleeing opponent. With the right buffs its range, stun, and width can be increased to your liking as this ability is his primary source of initiating combat.
Up next is Face Melt, a reasonably powerful area of attack ability that emanates out from E.T.C.’s body to pushing enemies away. This ability can be used to either save yourself from a melee enemy by giving you some breathing room, or give you the ability to move an opponent out of position. When used with Powerslide you can easily stun-lock an enemy and then kick the, back towards your team to finish off. Slowing effects can be added to give you more control of enemy movement and makes this ability an even greater boon to your team.
As a bonus the E.T.C.’s third ability is Guitar Solo, a self-heal that regenerates health over time to keep the big guy going for quite some time with its cheap mana cost. One of the starting talents can also give this ability the power to heal your allies and grant them additional buffs for a period of time. In a pinch it might seem wise to pick this ability up if your team doesn’t have a dedicated healer, but most heroes have some sort of self-healing ability, and Guitar Solo is not enough to mitigate incoming focus damage.
Finally, the E.T.C. has his two ultimate abilities that both provide differing levels of support depending on your play style. The first is Stage Dive that lets you leap forward a great distance, damaging and slowing enemies in the area around where you landed. While it is good for finishing off the few last hits on a health bar we preferred Mosh Pit, with its ability to stun everyone around you for four seconds. This is very much like the Siren’s song from Dota 2 - although not as over powered – and can devastate an enemy team caught out of position.
You may have noticed a trend towards support with our opinions on the E.T.C.’s abilities, and we feel that he is much more useful as a support character. In a team of your friends it will be better to have a different character doing the primary initiations and there are better healers as w. Pair him up with an assassin that has a few stuns and together you’ll be able to devastate other players who are not in position.
Know your team’s needs when choosing how to spec E.T.C., but it is always a safe bet to go heavy on control - there is no such thing as too many stuns.
Brian Kale
@brianwkale
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