Beowulf

Beowulf is a classic of western literature. Dating back to 975-1000 AD, it was written by an anonymous writer. The translation I read had the Old English on the left pages and a modern English translation on the right side of the pages. The work is some 3,000 lines of verse. 

Beowulf is also a Scandinavian epic about a great warrior, who stands up to save people from this monster, Grendel. Grendel rips apart humans and eats them raw and bloody. Beowulf, the brave hero, takes him down, then kills his mother, Grendel's mother seeking revenge. In old age, Beowulf is a King. But a dragon has attacked, so he goes to arms. He kills the dragon with his most trusted soldier but likewise the dragon lands a killing blow on him. The tale ends with Beowulf's grand funeral, cremated with hero's rites. 

The action flows along with the poetic style. When Grendel attacks it's menacing. When Grendel's mother vows revenge, things get psychological. When Beowulf fights the dragon it's the first time he's ever scared. 

The narrative tropes appear in other literature throughout time. The translation is a little bare at times, but there are also lots of archaic sayings at work. Meaning you might have to look up certain words or just read slowly for better comprehension. You have to read this one slow in order to fully understand. Thankfully Beowulf is pretty short. I was able to finish reading it in two sessions. 

I was holding off on reading Beowulf for a long time because I wasn't sure if I would truly be into epics, poetry, mythology. But it turns out that I'm really into it. So far I've read Paradise Lost, Dante's Inferno, the Odyssey, the Iliad, Beowulf, and now I'm currently reading Virgil's Aeneid. This is a big departure from my usual science fiction reading sprees. At first, it took a while to get into all these epics. You get a taste then you're hooked. 

Skyrim anyone? 

Heroes of the Storm's Stukov is the coolest support in the game

Tonight I'd like to talk about Heroes of the Storm's latest new hero, Stukov.

Here's his backstory: 

"In the 25th century of Earth's history, the United Earth Directorate Expeditionary Fleet was dispatched to reign in the Terran Colonies of the Koprulu Sector. Over time, these expatriate colonists that were once loyal had wavered in their allegiance, threatening the fabric of government which had been sewn across the galaxy. Of the formidable commanders tasked with this imperative endeavor, Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov was second in command.

During the violent campaign in that system, developments ensued that would eventually cast Stukov in a traitorous light to his superiors. Having been found to be in violation of a direct order to destroy the powerful Psi Disrupter, Stukov was subsequently executed for his disobedience. Unbeknownst to the UED at the time, their ranks had been infiltrated by a powerful shape-shifting alien entity that sought to sow confusion about the importance of Stukov's mission. After his death, Stukov's corpse was later recovered by the Zerg, who sought to infest human leaders and mutate them into leaders of their own colonies. As the first of their attempts to blend their genetics with that of humanity's, the once lifeless husk of Stukov was reanimated into something at once both more and less than human.
The infested Admiral known as Stukov has now entered the Nexus as a formidable melee support, ready to spread his healing pathogens and deadly disease across the battleground." (heroesofthestormgamepedia.com)

And also you should also know his abilities.

Bio-Kill Switch

Cooldown: 16 seconds

Activate to detonate all of Stukov's Viruses. Each Healing Pathogen heals its target for 500 health, and each Weighted Pustule does 100 damage and Slows its target by 70% for 2 seconds.
Can be cast while channeling Lurking Arm.

Q

Healing Pathogen

30 Mana Cooldown: 10 seconds

Infest an allied Hero with a Healing Pathogen that heals the target for 240 Health over 4.5 seconds. Healing Pathogens can spread to a nearby allied Hero every 0.75 seconds, and a single Healing Pathogen can spread to each allied Hero 1 time.
Can cast it on self, and spread to self.
Cannot spread to targets to whom it has already spread.

W

Weighted Pustule

50 Mana Cooldown: 10 seconds

Hurl a pustule that impacts all enemy Heroes in its path, dealing 20 damage and Slowing by 5%, increasing to 50% over 3 seconds. Deals an additional 80 damage upon expiring or being removed.

E

Lurking Arm

60 Mana Cooldown: 8 seconds

Channel at a target location, creating an area that Silences enemies inside and deals 144 damage per second to them. Deals 50% reduced damage to non-Heroes. Does not cost Mana while Channeling, and lasts until canceled or interrupted.

R

Massive Shove

50 Mana Cooldown: 20 seconds

Extend 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.

R

Flailing Swipe

100 Mana Cooldown: 80 seconds

Swipe 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.

Alright now lets talk about his kit. He's technically a healer but his melee damage is pretty strong and attacks moderately fast so you can defend yourself for a while before retreating to fellow teammates. His q key (Healing Pathogen) is a super strong heal once activated with d (Bio-Kill Switch) which will increase the healing by a ton. Its a super strong heal. The kill switch has a long cooldown but if your teammates are smart and don't get hit all the time your heals will always be enough.

One of the strongest tools for Stukov is his e key (Lurking Arm). It silences enemies. This is probably his greatest asset as a support in the game. The fact that he can silence enemies and do it often and its not an ultimate ability is astounding. You have to channel the spell so once you move the silence is automatically turned off. However, if you can cast lurking arm when your enemies are out of position or trying to run away you easily pick them off. Its become one of the coolest and strongest abilities in the game right now. It's super effective!

Weighted Pustule (w key) is a great way to slow enemies to give your dps allies the chance to finish them when they have low health. Its not very strong and the slow is better overtime. Still not bad though.

My favorite ultimate for Stukov is Massive Shove. It has a super short cooldown of just 20 seconds and it pushed an enemy as far as an enemy will go until they hit something like a wall, tower, or other part of the map. He extends his zerg arm super far, sometimes going almost across the map. Not only does it look super cool but it helps get your team in a better position for team fights. If this ultimate is used effectively the enemy team will be one less player during team fights, giving your team the advantage until that enemy hero runs back.

I would say that Stukov is a good healer that can also dish out good dps while also dishing out great utility and crowd control (the silence, slow). Because of this he's become one of my favorite heroes. His play-style can be a bit tricky at first but once you play a few games with him you start to learn that he's most effective when you're always in good positions. Positioning is key with this hero so you can't just run out in the middle of a random fight and hope to come out killing everybody. He's kind of like a healer specialist in a way. He's very unique, and super fun!

Not to mention he's from one of my favorite Blizzard games, Starcraft II. When I found out he was coming to hots (heroes of the storm) I knew he would be some kind of interesting character but I didn't think he was going to be a healer with such a cool kit. Its about time they added a new support hero and I'm glad they did a great job with it. Not to mention his squid skin is just awesome!

For the Queen!