Move AM to Undead, replace with... Gnoll Hunter

[randomd00d]

Lets face it. Arcane Mistress should be an undead hero. She was great when there were no Undead side, but now its time for her to defect to her race. Even her description sounds like an undead hero. Plus, her reanimate skeletons thing is clearly more in flavor with the moldy guys n gals.

She fits a much needed niche over there, as an offensive caster-based AGI hero. The other one is the Oracle who has a very different gameplay style... more like a tactician.


So, if AM heads over to bolster the UD ranks, who takes her place??

Well, clearly we want a similar playstyle... that of a hero hunter AGI type.




So I would suggest a Sniper character. The model would be a different color and bigger version of the Gnoll Poacher, which is a crossbow wielding dude. The Kobold would work too, using more of an assassin type flavor.

Heres the rough outline of skill ideas:
(Numbers would need testing and balancing of course. Im sure some skills could be added/deleted or moved around as was seen fit. Wouln't bother me!)

So-and-so, the Gnoll Hunter
AGI based hero.
Decent INT gain.
So-so STR gain.

Range: 700(!)
Damage: good
Base attack Speed: pretty slow.

Innate Skill - Camoflague. Becomes invisible over 4 seconds. Works like flank, except no bonus skirmishers. Considering speed penalty or have to stay close to trees, but its already much weaker than Infiltrator's stealth.


Skill 1:
Poison Arrow - Costs like 5/5/6/6/7/7 mana per shot, like black arrow. Poison duration is a fixed 2 seconds. Does 8/10/12/15/18/22 nonlethal poison dmg per second. Slows attack speed and movement by 5/10/15/20/25/30 percent. Cooldown 5 seconds. Autocastable.


Skill 2:
Frenzy - Goes berserk, pumping attack rate by 20/30/40/50/60/70% and move rate by 10/15/20/25/30/35% for 10 seconds. Cooldown 30 seconds.

Skill 3: Net. Tosses net at 700/750/800/850/900/950 range, ensnaring hero for 2/2.5/3/3.5/4/4.5 seconds, or creep for double duration. Cooldown 45 seconds. Works like Spider Web except longer duration, but you cant generate an object to stockpile or pass out to friends. Based on Orc Raider net ability.


Skill 4: Bear Trap. Creates an invisible ward with small sight range (if any). Any enemy hero that gets very close to it gets immobilized(can still fight/cast) for X seconds. Unlimted duration, but only Y can be active at once. (X and Y are skill level dependent)

or...

Skill 4 Bungee Pit - Creates a large invisible ward. Any enemy that hits it will cause it to appear, dealing moderate AoE damage and stunning for a very short time.

Both of these are a bit too similar to the Dryad gal's Entangling root thing.


Skill 4: First Aid - Mixes up a herbal concoction bandaid inventory object that heals for X damage over Y seconds as a non combat consumable. An insta-healing salve basically. (or nix the create-object and have it work as an out of combat heal)


Ultimate:
Aimed Shot - X mana, Y cooldown. Targets enemy hero at 700-ish range and channels for up to 3 seconds. Upon 3 seconds or when cancelled, fires a shot that does damage based on how long it was channeled. Would ideally do Weapon Damage plus some value. Or more likely, does 100/200/300/400 plus 0.5/.7/.9/1.1 *INT plus 0.5/.7/.9/1.1 * AGI maximum.
(At lvl15, would hit for 100 + (int and agi /2 basically or an extra 45 damage) = 145 dmg shot.)
Once it starts channeling the projectile will always hit (maybe up to a 2000 range say).

[skill based on Assassinate in DoTA for dwarven sniper, except added variable channel and variable damage]

[AnAngryBearDoctor]

I remember asking Yak this a while ago, I don't remember the specifics of his answer but I'm pretty sure it was no. The hero concept is great, maybe he could be another mercenary hero if Yak so chooses to keep AM on the Creep side.

[Reaper]

Seems to me like having net, poison arrow, and frenzy would make this hero impossible to get away from. The minus ms from poison arrow, plus self ms from frenzy, and net... I get that the idea is to have a sniper hero killer but maybe replace frenzy or poison arrows with something else to balance the huge move speed advantage.

Anyways, throwing out some other possible skill ideas:

*Focus Senses (or cooler name) - The hero sharpens his senses and is able to detect enemies' weaknesses, enabling him to target their weak points and disrupt channeling spells for a time:

12/16/20/24/28% chance to critical strike for (1 + .01/.02/.03/.04/.05agi)x dmg, and 5/10/15/20/25% chance to break enemy's concentration (channeling spells) with each shot fired for 30/27/24/21/18 seconds.
cooldown decreases slightly with level, mana cost increases 100/140/180/220/260


*Spread shot - The hunter shoots arrows radially outward in front of the hero, each dealing damage in a thin line.

The hero fires 3/3/4/4/5/ arrows, each traveling a range of 200/250/300/350/400. Arrows deal (35/75/115/155/195 + str) dmg.

Fairly long cooldown, mana increases with level

--This skill could be modified so that each arrow could only strike x units before getting stopped, or less damage, etc. Meant to be a pretty small aoe.


Anyways, just some thoughts. I do agree that AM feels like an ud hero though.

[Soulbourne]

If it's a guy with a crossbow, rapid fire is hard...unless you use an auto-crossbow, or one that has auto reload mechanism for rapid fire and multi shots...just stores some away for that ability, and manually reloads at other times...But ya, if he was strong then all those anti-escape abilities would end poorly...maybe make him with some kinda disadvantage either in abilities or strength so he cam just be assassin? Or make him where he can spec as anti-hero or anti-unit maybe....

[Seig_2]

Hmm, don't know if AM needs to be moved to undead, kinda use to her by now, still not out of the question. As far as Gnoll goes, sounds good, I had always hoped yak would add some more heroes. Reap does have a point though about the ms minus, could get op. here are some suggestions...

poisen shot sounds good, but maybe too large, ill add stuff to it...

poisen shot
slows 5/7/11/15/17/21/25% for...10sec and deals x damage based on agi.
say... 50/80/100/140/190/250 damage without AGi bonus.

he definitely needs bash or something...

bash/stun
stomps ground stunning for 1/1.5/2.0/2.5/3.0/3.5 sec and dealing 70/110/170/210/250/300 damage. not upgraded by agi,int, str or evo. just a simple 300damage.

frenzy also a good idea...

say... 5/10/15/20/25/30% AS increase and 5/7/9/11/13/15/% MS increase for say...20sec but drains 2mana per sec. auto cast option.

hunter's bow..or something...

passive. adds 5/7/9/12/15/20 AS, 15% of agi to AD, and adds 5/9/13/17/23/30 str (also passive).

Ult
fortitude?

passive. calls upon ansesters to grant additional power. adds...10/20/30/40 armor, 3/5/7/9 hit regen, 100/200/300/400 mana and hp. also does small, slowing AoE damage. say... 80/120/170/200 upgraded by str. short cooldown. meant for spaming (like incin)

anyway just my thoughts...

[AnAngryBearDoctor]

If it's a guy with a crossbow, rapid fire is hard...unless you use an auto-crossbow, or one that has auto reload mechanism for rapid fire and multi shots...just stores some away for that ability, and manually reloads at other times.

This is a game with a spider that can control ice in all it's forms.
Now what is wrong with a guy being able to shoot crossbow bolts fast?


It's a video game, suspend your belief.

[Soulbourne]

The Antman, is a frost-wizard...yes, he's an antman, not spider...

[AnAngryBearDoctor]

He's a nerubian, as far as I can tell nerubian != spider

[Seig_2]

nice to see we are all staying on topic (cough)...

[AnAngryBearDoctor]

Making a post like that doesn't help us stay on topic at all sieg

[DarnYak]

AM isn't leaving creep. She has her own personal objective (revenge) and basicly only works with those who help her acheive that end. The UD require nearly complete obedience, something she'd never be willing to accept. Hell, they'd probably be able to completley take over her mind once the had her for a while (its one of the things they specialize in). I believe all the current UD heroes show this extremely well, except neph who's basicly too valuable for them to try fucking with and he obeys well enough.

Further, she is an elf, one that was directly involved in the counter undead activities. Basicly she was one of the few who were allowed to learn/experiment with necromancy in order to better fight against it, and that's a task they basicly only allow people with deep hatreds of the grim brigade to dabble in. So even being undead, she couldn't get along with them.

DarnYak

[A_New_Dawn]

Have to agree with Yak, we are all too use to her on creep side to change...just wouldn't be right...new heroes would be nice though...

[Soulbourne]

Hmm, maybe an ant-man crossed with a spider...








Pictures I don't have to do a search for...antmen....

[A_New_Dawn]

Kinda looks like the offspring of Scarab and Nerubian....

[Storamin]

ultima online model?

[Soulbourne]

Aye.