Alexi Stukov has now entered the Nexus and with only 9 other healers in the game, his impact will be felt almost immediately. So, what can you expect from the latest support and how does he stack up against the competition? Let’s dive in and find out.

Stukov is a melee support that has both single target and area of effect healing along with impressive zone control and soft crowd control abilities. He is very squishy, highly immobile, and most of his abilities have lengthy cooldowns, so proper positioning, and ability timings will be key to his success.

Healing Pathogen (Q) is a targeted ability that heals an ally for 250 health over 4.5 seconds. Within those 4.5 seconds, the Pathogen can spread to nearby allies every .75 seconds. Healing Pathogen has a 10-second cooldown.

The 250 points of healing break down into 40 hit point chunks that happen every .75 seconds. Every time a hero receives one of these little chunks the Pathogen has a chance to spread to a nearby teammate within a range of 6. The spread of the virus does have a travel time bouncing from one teammate to the next, and the virus will not affect the same character twice per cast. The mana cost for Healing Pathogen is 30, but with Stukov's mana regeneration at 3 per second combined with the 10-second cooldown means it's essentially a zero cost ability.

To get value out of Healing Pathogen it must be spread. Healing a single target for only 250 every 10 seconds puts his healing output at the worst in the game, but the more it spreads the greater his healing becomes. If Healing Pathogen spreads to your entire team, that’s 1250 points of healing for essentially zero mana. This gives Stukov roughly Brightwing levels of AoE healing and mana efficiency.

Weighted Pustule (W) is a straight line skill shot that pierces, dealing only 100 damage, but slowing the enemy by 5% that increases over 3 seconds to 50%. Weighted Pustule has a 10-second cooldown.

The slow of Weighted Pustule can either be lackluster or devastating depending on its use. As a gap closer on a highly mobile assassin, the ramp up effect will give the fleeing hero plenty of time to escape, but if weighted pustule is used defensively, the weak start to the slow can be quite deceptive catching a diving assassin off guard once the full effect of the slow kicks in.

Lurking Arm (E) causes Stukov to channel at the target location, creating an area that silences enemies inside and deals 144 damage per second. This ability lasts as long as you channel and has an 8-second cooldown.

The most obvious use for Lurking Arm is fighting over any control point, like those in Braxis Holdout, Dragon Shire, or any mercenary camp. This will cause the enemy team's melee to either abandon the point or fight while silenced.

The fun doesn’t end there though, as you can use Lurking Arm to silence individual Heroes with telegraphed abilities, like Ragnaros channeling Molten Core, or a low health D.Va about to self-destruct. It can completely cut off the escape of diving assassins like Genji or Tracer. It can even be used to debilitate a front line. Muradin, for example, becomes significantly less tanky when he can’t cast Avatar, Stoneform, or Healing Static.

Flailing Swipe (R1): Swipes 3 times in front of Stukov over 1.75 seconds, dealing 50 damage to enemies hit and knocking them away. Each swipe is larger than the previous. This heroic ability is on an 80-second cooldown.

Flailing swipe is a good area denial, similar in effect to Brightwing's Emerald Wind, tho slightly harder to use. It can be used defensively to peel for yourself or your team, or offensively to separate a hero for a takedown. It is a solid heroic with a fairly long cooldown.

Massive Shove (R2): Extends Stukov’s arm. If it hits an enemy hero, they are rapidly shoved until they collide with terrain, taking 200 damage. Stukov gains 50 armor while shoving an enemy. This is a straight line skill shot that can’t be used on vehicles like the Garden Terror. This heroic is on a 20-second cooldown.

As much as Massive Shove seems to be made for the memes, the odds of pushing someone all the way across the map are quite slim, but it still can happen. So, worst case it acts like an improved version of Auriel’s Detainment Strike, with the added bonus of occasionally removing an enemy hero from a fight completely.

Bio-Kill switch (D): Activate to detonate all of Stukov’s viruses. Each Healing Pathogen heals its target for 520 health, and each Weighted Pustule does 100 damage and slows its target by 70% for 2 seconds. Can be cast while channeling Lurking Arm. Stukov's trait is on a 16-second cooldown.

A 70% slow is quite punishing, and can be used both defensively to peel, and offensively for picks. This also combo’s well with Lurking Arm, keeping enemy heroes trapped in the silence for even longer. The use of Stukov's trait for slowing should be used sparingly considering how much healing it adds to a team fight.

Bio-Kill Switch creates a large amount of flexibility in Stukov’s healing kit as you are not locked into strictly healing over time or burst healing. If a teammate gets caught out, you can target them with Healing Pathogen and instantly activate your trait for a quick 520 point heal. If you have the time though, you can let the Pathogen drift through your entire party, and then activate it for massive 2,500 hit point team-wide heal. So, Stukov’s healing toolkit includes a heal that can either give your team a HoT that has Brightwing levels of mana efficiency, or an Uther level single target heal, or an Uther level team-wide heal, all dependant on when you use your trait. This has a massive amount of healing output and flexibility.

All this utility and healing comes with its share of disadvantages. Stukov has both low mobility and low health. In fact, he is sitting on the lowest health pool of all melee supports in the game at 1,749 hit points. That’s almost 500 less than Uther, with no movement abilities, talents, armor, or hard CC. If you miss position, you will die.

But wait, there’s more! Stukov’s also has…

• Poor wave clear
• Can’t merc
• No Cleanse
• No healing Ultimate
• No damage mitigation Ultimate
• Long Ability cooldowns

If any of these abilities are important to your team’s composition, then you will need to draft another support or a different support.

Stukov will fit into almost all team compositions, especially on point control maps, but will truly shine in a strong 4 man group. This makes him particularly powerful on all 2 lane maps, as well as the tighter 3 lane maps that usually run a rotation, like Tomb of the Spider Queen. Stukov also rarely runs into mana issues, so he is definitely your go to support for maps that require high amounts of sustain, like Braxis Holdout.

Stukov needs a strong front line to protect him. A main tank with hard cc for peel, and a solid bruiser to protect from flanks are key. If you have ever run a protect the Morales composition then you know who to draft. Also, don’t forget the wave clear, he is no Rehgar or Auriel.

Working with Stukov in-game is all about the spread. Spread the virus, and spread the damage. Stucov’s mana and cooldowns are the same no matter if he's healing one person or the entire team. Don’t let the tank take all the punishment. When Bio-Kill switch is off of cooldown get aggressive and feel free to take a bit of damage. This will help maximize his healing, and keep the pressure off so he can apply slows and silences.

When drafting against Stukov know he is particularly susceptible to Dive compositions. A judgment Tyrael and a follow-up Sulfuras Smash should be enough to delete him. Heroes that abuse his lack of mobility will also help, Stitches and Artanis instantly come to mind. For assassins, stay away from slow damage like Lunara, she is a great counter to Uther's single target heals, but spreading out the damage plays right into Stukov’s strengths. Also, stay away from immobile assassins like Zul’jin - Weighed pustule will lock you down, and lurking arm prevent Taz’dingo.

Fighting Stukov can be disheartening when that big Bio-Kill switch heal hits the entire team, but that is actually the moment that you need to pressure him the most. He's more cooldown dependent than Uther, but unlike Uther who mitigates abusing his cooldowns with the lingering armor of Devotion, Stukov has no such option. Kill switch has a 16-second cooldown, poke his team until you bait out that big heal then hard engage.

The second thing your team can do when fighting Stukov is focus fire. Pick on one person until they are dead. It doesn’t even matter if this target is the tank, as long as it's only one person. I know asking a team in a public game to focus fire can seem like a tall order but it will absolutely shut him down. Turn Stukov’s team-wide Uther heal to a single target Uther heal, on a longer cooldown, with no armor.

Some specific heroes to think about in the draft are:

Zeratul - Zeratul’s high ability based mobility will be unaffected by Stukov’s slow, and he will just Vorpal Blade back after a Massive Shove. With Rewind, he also has the burst to take Stukov down even without baiting out Bio-Kill switch.

Kael’thas - Stukov’s heals encourage teams to clump up, and no hero is better at punishing clumping than Kael’Thas. You will either get living bomb value or shut down the Pathogen spread. Stukov also has no damage mitigation ultimate or iceblock talent, so Pyroblast might actually have a legitimate use.

Chromie - Chromie’s long range abilities will destroy Stukov the second he stops to place a Lurking Arm, and her burst is strong enough to pressure out Stukov’s trait on single targets. Finally, Stukov’s lack of Cleanse means Temporal Loop will always have value.

Stitches - Stitches just loves low mobility heroes, especially those who have to stand still and channel abilities. Just like Chromie, the presence of Stitches will shut down 33% of Stukov’s base kit. Even if Stukov happens to position safe enough to get off a silence, Stitches is just a big sack of meat and doesn’t really lose much of his tanking effectiveness without abilities.

Even with a week of testing on the public test realm, it can be difficult to judge how strong a hero will be on release, but Stukov looks like he will be quite the force to be reckoned with. The ease of use of his abilities, his high healing output, and the coordination required to counter him all point to a very strong release. Especially in your average uncoordinated Hero League match. I will be quite surprised if he doesn't quickly rise up to first pick or first ban material.

I hope you found this guide helpful, and if you would like to discuss anything about Stukov just hit the comments below, or drop me a line on Twitter @bighatcowboy.