Hogger

Hogger is a Bruiser from the Blizzard Entertainment Warcraft franchise. The infamous Chieftain of the Riverpaw pack and the scourge of Elwynn Forest is now playable! Strap on your [Studded Leather Belt of the Wolf], sharpen your shiniest common dagger, and abandon all hope, ye Elwynn adventurers who dare enter here. Hogger has abandoned his hill and is headed straight for the Nexus!

Background
Hogger is the leader of the s, a gang of vicious hyena-men that ambushed merchants and other prey along the roads of. Although many considered Hogger nothing but a pest, the put out a bounty of his head, which hundreds of would-be adventurers set out to collect. Finally, he was apprehended and taken to the, where he led a revolution and made his daring escape.

Now, outleveled Elwynn forest, Hogger has come to the Nexus in search of more easy prey.

Gameplay
Hogger is a chaotic melee Bruiser focused on area control. He uses Rage instead of mana, which he gains by taking and dealing damage. Every point of Rage increases his cooldown speed, but it quickly falls off if he leaves combat.

His trait is Loot Hoard. Hogger throws a stash of loot that becomes a small patch of terrain. Once the hoard runs out, it drops a haunch of meat that Hogger can pick up to restore his health over time. His first ability, Staggering Blow, swings his flail in an arch, knocking back enemies it hits. Enemies who collide with terrain are stunned, giving Hogger extra Rage. His second ability, EZ-Thro Dynamite, chucks a boot full of dynamite which explodes after a few seconds to slow enemies. If an enemy is hit directly, it explodes instantly and Hogger gains Rage. Finally, Hogg Wild has him become an Unstoppable whirlwind that moves in the targeted direction, damaging nearby enemies based on his current amount of Rage. It also bounces off of terrain, which refreshes the ability's duration.

His first heroic ability is Hoardapult, which launches an empowered Loot Hoard with Hogger attached, damaging and slowing enemies. As Hogger remains near this Loot Hoard, it occasionally feeds him meat for its lengthy duration. His other heroic, Shockwave, slams the ground, creating an explosion near Hogger and a long shockwave in its tail. Enemies hit by the explosion are stunned, and enemies hit by the shockwave take less damage and suffer a shorter stun.

Strength

 * Crowd control
 * Burst damage
 * Chaos!

Weaknesses

 * Poke damage
 * Mobility

Abilities

 * See Data Page for a table of scaled values at key levels.

Sprays
Currently, there are no Sprays available for Hogger.

Development
Here’s what Game Designer David Warner had to say about bringing one of Warcraft’s most notorious figures to life in the Nexus:


 * Why Hogger? Why Now?
 * "If Heroes of the Storm is a celebration of all the great heroes and villains in the Blizzard universe, then Hogger should obviously be on the list! He rose from a humble elite mob in Elwynn Forest to one of the most feared “raid-bosses-in-disguise” in the entire WoW universe. Everyone loves an underdog story!


 * '''Were there any Hogger ideas (when he was still a hoglet) that didn’t make it to the final design?
 * "Hogg Wild (E) and Loot Hoard (Trait D) were the foundation of the character and they were immediately fun, so the rest of the kit formed around them. Other than fiddling with numbers, they’ve remained mostly the same through Hogger’s development. Staggering Blow (Q) went through many different iterations before it settled on the arc that it is now. At first, it was channeled to unleash three strikes forward in quick succession, with the 3rd hit stunning and dealing bonus damage. We also tried having the stun only occur on the outer edge of the AoE, but ultimately, we enjoyed the ability more when it meshed well with his Loot Hoard. EZ-Thro Dynamite was also mostly unchanged since its first implementation, but for a long time it was usable during Hogg Wild (E). There was an early talent that drastically reduced its cooldown when used this way which made for some insane chaotic moments. Early on, Hogger used an energy resource system to fuel his abilities, but that didn’t quite capture his brutal chaotic vibe, so we switched to the Rage resource. It felt appropriate that the longer Hogger is able to beat on his enemies, the more beatings he can administer.


 * '''Was Hogger always imagined as a Bruiser?
 * "Early on we did discuss whether to push him into an Assassin role since he was burst-y and didn’t have the survivability tools that most Bruisers had, but once talents solidified a bit we knew Bruiser was going to be right for him. Hogger is a big burly bully, it didn’t make sense for him to be a fragile “all-in” character.


 * '''How are you hoping Hogger fits into the Heroes meta? Do you think they will shake things up?
 * "I think the Bruiser meta is the healthiest it has ever been and Hogger can go toe-to-toe with the best of them! He’s going to teach players to stay away from walls and to avoid tight chokepoints.


 * '''Did you ever have any run-ins with Hogger in World of Warcraft? Did that shape your design at all?
 * "I think everyone who rolled a Human character back in the day has that fateful moment when they realize this unassuming elite mob is way too strong for them to handle alone. By the time you realize you’re no match, Hogger is thinking how best to eat you. We want Hogger players to isolate and prey on exposed heroes and he’s got plenty of tools to do exactly that. Staggering Blow (Q) is fast and punishes enemies near terrain, but can also be used to constantly keep beefy frontliners at an arm’s length. Ez-Thro Dynamite’s low cooldown helps Hogger stick to a target and batter them with his chains. Hogg Wild (E) helps him quickly navigate the battlefield and easily flank enemy teams. Loot Hoard can be used to block escape routes or pin a hero to a wall for easy Q’ing. All of these combined make Hogger feel like an oppressive bully, just like his WoW counterpart.


 * '''Hogger is a contentious figure for Blizzard fans, arguably more so than Deathwing; are you worried about unleashing pure evil like this in the Nexus?
 * "Hogger think it time Nexus learn why Hogger is king! *manic cackling*

Trivia

 * Hogger made his debut in  (November 2004).
 * Hogger is the 90th hero in the game.
 * Hogger was first teased in-game: Gnolls laughing could be heard at the start of a match. On November 21st, a picture was posted on twitter showing the bones of a Murloc and discarded human armor. The second tweet, posted a day later, makes the connection much clearer as we see Hogger's axe lodged in his own "WANTED: Hogger" poster.
 * In World of Warcraft, Hogger's defeat is the objective of a quest for low-level Alliance players. While Hogger's significance in-game was originally minimal, his relative difficulty at such a low level has caused him to become one of the most well-known and popular minor characters in the game. In almost every respect, the cultural icon of Hogger far exceeds that of the actual in-game character. Hogger is often aggrandised in jokes traditionally featuring Chuck Norris.
 * Instead of the stone axe he carries in WoW, Hogger has a huge flail like the gnoll creeps did in Warcraft III.
 * Samwise Didier already hoped in 2014 to include Hogger in Heroes of the Storm.
 * A "Wanted: Hogger" poster appears in the  film (June 2016).