Ever since early Alpha, Stitches has consistently been one of the most picked, highest win-rates, and most banned out of all warrior/tank Heroes. Most would probably agree that the hook-and-gorge combo is one of the major reasons why Stitches is so powerful. Having the opportunity to pick someone off before an objective or team fight is very condusive to victory.
However, since the latest patch that nerfed the Hook-and-Gorge combo, a new tank has been showing up more and more in high level play. That tank is none other than the tauren chieftain himself, ETC.
While the changes to Hook-and-Gorge lowered the frequency of Stitches play, most would still consider him a top tier tank. However, the next patch threatens at reducing Stitches' overall damage and tankiness, which might be the final nail in the coffin in knocking Stitches out of top tier material.
Let's take a closer look at each and what makes them shine.
Stitches
Stengths
- Provides an excellent mechanism for engaging/initiating a team fight (Hook).
- Decent AoE dmg (Slam) & AoE stun (with Pulverize talent)
- Self heal and burst dmg (with Devour)
- Can interrupt ranged targets (via Hook or Slam stun)
Weaknesses
- Poor means of disengaging or running away from a losing fight
- Contributes very little to a team fight after Hook and Slam are on CD.
- Has no reliable way to interrupt if no Pulverize talent (Slam stun)
E.T.C
Stengths
- Has 2 mechanisms to interrupt Heroes (Powerslide stun, Face Melt knockback)
- Self heal (Guitar Solo)
- Displaces enemies to weaken their position (Face Melt)
- Decent means of engaging or disengaging a fight (Powerslide)
- AoE attack speed buff (Rockstar passive)
- AoE heal for team (with Groupies talent)
Weaknesses
- Both Heroic Abilities could potentially miss the target(s), which would provide 0 benefit
- Mana-hungry (can easily go out of mana if team fight lasts a long time)
- Knockback via Face Melt has potential to knock enemies into a better or wrong position
- Cannot interrupt ranged targets
Conclusion
Stitches' main contribution is the Hook. He is more-or-less a one trick pony. If Hook misses, or if the other team decides to ambush or rush/hard engage a team fight, the usefulness of Stitches once a fight has begun is minimal.
ETC on the other hand, is a much more versatile Hero. Stage Dive is an excellent team fight engage, while Mosh Pit is arguably one of the most game changing Heroic Abilities in every fight if used properly. ETC's Powerslide is an effective means of both engaging or disengaging from fights (as well as stunning if necessary), while Face Melt can serve as an interrupt or a means to worsen an enemy's position. Lastly, I believe the most powerful benefit ETC brings, while also the most undervalued and overlooked, is the group attack speed buff.
Considering the damage from most top tier DPS Heroes largely comes from auto-attacks, such as Valla, Illidan, and Sgt Hammer, the attack speed buff from ETC is a huge DPS increase.
When trying to rush down a boss mob before the enemy team gets to you, killing the boss a few seconds faster, due to the group attack speed buff ETC brings, might mean the difference between life and death.
While Stitches still remains a popular tank pick today, I predict that once they nerf his damage and tankiness in the upcoming patch, ETC will be the #1 tank pick by far --- and other tanks such as Diablo, Arthas, and maybe even Chen [with some optimism and a re-work] will see more playtime as well.
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