Stunningly Effective
by JR Cook - 8 years ago show comments
While the days of the Stun Meta may be behind us, stuns are still an important and effective part of the game. So much so that Blizzard recently introduced a series of balance changes on the PTR aimed to further reduce the power of stuns. Don’t be deceived however, stuns will continue to be a valuable addition to any team comp. This is especially true for solo queue players in Hero League.
In competitive play stuns are valued in large part because of their ability to help secure kills. Teams are so coordinated that being able to stun an opponent, even if it is only for a second, allows them to focus fire and quickly eliminate the enemy Hero, or follow up with an additional stun if necessary. When you only have the briefest of windows to capitalize on an opponent’s mistakes, stuns can make all the difference.
As a solo queue player it is much more difficult to have this level of coordination. For every time you land a clutch Devouring Maw into Hinterland Blast into Grav-O-Bomb combo, there are also times where you rock a five man Mosh Pit just as your entire team decides to disengage. Stuns still have play making potential, but it usually requires follow up from your team that you may or may not receive. This doesn’t mean that stuns aren’t valuable in solo queue, it just means that they sometimes have to be used in different ways. One of the best ways for a group of random HL players to use stuns is to interrupt key abilities on the enemy team. Before the game starts you should make a plan for which Heroes and abilities you should to save your stuns for. Communicate with your team as well so that they also know what your plan is. If the enemy team has an E.T.C. and your Devouring Maw is your team’s only interrupt then let your team know at the beginning of the game that you will be saving your Maw until E.T.C. uses his Mosh Pit. If the enemy team has a Li Li and you are playing Thrall, you might want to save your Sundering to interrupt her Cups rather than to initiate a fight. If that is your plan, let your team know. Simple communication such as this can go a long way towards helping a group of five strangers better operate as a team. Much of this is situational, but thinking about it in advance as opposed to trying to figure it out the heat of battle will help you make better decisions. This applies just as much to Heroics like Judgement as it does for basic abilities like Storm Bolt. It doesn’t matter if it is a big stun or a little stun, you should still game plan for how to use it most effectively.
Whether you are deciding on which Heroes to include in your Hero League roster or who you should take with the last pick in the draft, you should always takes stuns into consideration. You want to have multiple Heroes with the ability to provide stuns in your roster, and whether or not your team has the necessary stuns should be a major factor when deciding which Hero to draft. Players often overlook the importance of stuns when drafting and then struggle as a result. Given the importance that stuns have in the game, you should also consider the ability to remove or interrupt stuns when selecting your Heroes. If you play a Hero that has access to Cleanse, take the time to master that ability. Much like stuns, give some thought before the game starts to what you need to prioritize your Cleanse for.
Good Luck and Good Stuns!
