Our guide to getting the most out of this month’s preferred ETC talent build.
Our complete ETC guide has everything you need to know about playing this Hero, with the latest builds, tips, map advice and counters.
ETC’s a real blast to play if you like to be the team member who initaites a fight and then dictates the terms the rest of the battle is fought on. His Mosh Pit Ability is fantastic for locking the enemy team down while your buddies do their best to kill them, and he’s not bad at sustaining himself in battle either. He also pairs up well with other, arguably tankier characters who can afford to soak up a little more of the other team’s attention.
With all of these positive aspects, there are nevertheless a few drawbacks to the character. His damage output isn’t much to write home about, he has low health for a Melee Warrior, and it can be very easy for the enemy team to read ETC’s moves if he’s played by someone relatively inexperienced. It’s worth taking a little to master this Hero’s slicker moves in a handful of bot matches before you dive into competitive play.
ETC strategy guide and overview – January 2016
Given ETC’s relatively low damage in the early game, not to mention his somewhat low health pool, he works best when teamed up with another player. In this way you can maintain a flexible approach to gameplay based on what’s required at any given time. Perhaps you need to Facemelt a target back towards your more powerful allies, for example, or use the same move to peel an enemy Hero off of your friend.
In an all-out brawl with your team, you can use Powerslide to initiate a fight and then follow-up right away with Mosh Pit to lock the enemy team down. This provides a great window of opportunity for your team to ensure the fight goes favourably overall. Just make sure you remember your health limits, use your E to heal up when it’s off cooldown and avoid being greedy when it comes to chasing down fleeing Heroes.
The best ETC talent build – January 2016
Our preferred general purpose ETC build for this month focuses on making the Hero into the best possible tank for his team. You’ve got a great initiator in the form of Powerslide, so the talent choices here really play into this Ability’s strengths, while also enhancing your self-sustain powers.
ETC standard build
Level 1 – Block – Every 5 seconds, you can block a Basic Attack from an enemy Hero reducing its damage by 50%. Stores up to 2 charges.
Level 4 – Double-Necked Guitar – Increases Powerslide’s width by 100% and you slide 30% faster.
Level 7 – Just Keep Rockin’ – While Guitar Solo is active, the duration of silences, stuns, slows, roots, and polymorphs are reduced by 50%.
Level 10 – Mosh Pit – After 0.75 seconds, channel to stun nearby enemies for 4 seconds. Mana: 100, Cooldown: 120 seconds.
Level 13 – Show Stopper – Reduces all damage taken by 25% for 4 seconds after using Powerslide.
Level 16 – Imposing Presence – Enemies that attack you have their Attack Speed slowed by 50%.
Level 20 – Tour Bus – Mosh Pit refreshes the cooldown of Powerslide. You can Powerslide during Mosh Pit, which also increases its duration by 2 seconds.
ETC Abilities, Heroic Abilities and Traits – January 2016
ETC’s Abilities make him an amazing team fight initiator, with Powerslide getting him into the action, and Face Melt ensuring that the combat positioning gets decided on your own team’s terms. Here’s the lowdown on this character’s critical core Abilities.
Abilities
Powerslide (Q)– Slide to a location dealing 200 (67 + 7 per level) damage and stunning enemies hit for 1 second. Mana: 60, Cooldown: 12 seconds.
Face Melt (W)– Deals 150 (55 + 5 per level) damage to nearby enemies, knocking them back. Mana: 60, Cooldown: 12 seconds.
Guitar Solo (E)– Regenerate 145 (31 + 6 per level) Health per second for 4 seconds. Mana: 40, Cooldown: 8 seconds.
Heroic Abilities
Mosh Pit (R)– After 0.75 seconds, channel to stun nearby enemies for 4 seconds. Mana: 100, Cooldown: 120 seconds.
Stage Dive (R)– Leap to any location. Deals 340 (112 + 12 per level) damage to enemies in the area, slowing them for 3 seconds. Mana: 100, Cooldown: 75 seconds.
Trait
Rockstar– When you use a Basic or Heroic ability, give 20% Attack Speed for 4 seconds to all nearby allied Heroes.
ETC counters and match-ups – January 2016
Which Heroes are particular strong or weak against others is a question with varying answers depending on who you talk to. To keep up to date with the crowd-sourced opinion of the playerbase at large, we like to reference a site like HeroesCounters – here’s the breakdown of the current top five match-ups in all categories for the mighty ETC.
- Strong against- Chen, Nova, Illidan, Nazeebo, Li Li
- Weak against- Brightwing, Tyrande, Raynor, Anub’arak, Johanna
- Teams well with- Kael’thas, Valla, Jaina, Rehgar, Nova, Nazeebo
ETC tips – January 2016
For a Hero that shines when he’s right up in the enemy’s face, we actually think that ETC is one of the easier melee monsters to master in the game. Having said that, it pays to go into battle with just a little bit of preparation under your belt, so we’ve compiled some essential tips for playing this Hero. All of this advice has stood the test of time – let us know your own sneaky tactics in the comments section and we’ll add them to this article.
- If you’re in a lane with someone, clearing down minions, try to avoid using Face Melt. Not only will it put the skill on cooldown when you might really need it, you also risk messing up a team member’s AOE minion clear.
- You’ll quite often hear that Powersliding into an enemy or two, then punting them back towards your team with Face Melt is a great offensive combo – and it is – but you can also use this move defensively to protect your allies as well.
- You still need to maintain situational awareness though, as your teammate who’s close to death is not exactly going to thank you for dropping an enemy Hero on top of their head!
- Make sure you save up Mosh Pit for just the right moment. It’s best used when you can drop the stun on a cluster of enemy Heroes that your friends can then start whittling down. Get a Powerslide in first too, so it’s not painfully obvious what you’re about to do – the bonus stun should help you wind the move up as well.
- Block! ETC has great self-sustain in battle, and you should absolutely use his impressive bulk to stop enemies from getting away, or just to close off a gap that might otherwise provide a path for an enemy. Make your physical presence work for your team, and don’t be afraid to take a little damage in the process.
- Many of the positioning and harassment techniques you learn while playing ETC can be used to improve your Diablo play and vice-versa. Switch to the other when you feel like mixing things up, while still retaining your hard-earned combat experience!
Fightin’ Cowboy’s videos helped us out a huge amount while we were learning the game. The builds have changed with balance patches and shifting metagames, but the broad principles remain the same.
