Some buff ideas for underperforming and unpopular Murky talents for the sake of talent diversity. The hero himself, albeit unpopular, is quite strong.
I think 1-2 of these added to the base talents would be fine, and just one for Never-Ending Murlocs.
Egg Shell
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Shield also applies to the Egg – This in particular synergizes with Big Tuna Hakuna, which otherwise works against the talent. Should go well with either of the next two.
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Placing new (non-fake) Eggs reapplies the shield – Can also reapply shield with takedowns, or if Pufferfish hits a hero.
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Shield increased to 200% and drops to 100% over 15 seconds – You get the idea.
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Also grants 50% Armor to Murky and his egg for 15 seconds – Similar to the above idea.
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Shield increases to 150% and also applies to the Egg, but only lasts 15 seconds – A mashup of other ideas that demands aggressive use to get value.
Wrath of Cod
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Pufferfish gains 10% to 25% radius, increasing the lower its health is - This buff doesn’t quite benefit Octo-Grab 1v1, but makes the Tufferfish better in teamfights, especially with hard CC or a good March of the Murlocs on, and punishes improper focus.
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Pufferfish gains 50% Physical Armor while Murky is within its radius – You get the idea.
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Dying (maybe also main egg getting destroyed) resets Pufferfish’s cooldown – That’s a buff for Murkies with aggressive egg placement and should be rather small, best stacked with any of the others if applied.
Never-Ending Murlocs
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Can slowly steer the direction – You get the idea.
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Cooldown is reduced by 1 second per enemy hero hit – This buffs the heroic in PvP, mostly. Not too strictly though… A defender might eat some fish.
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Reworked functionality: March of the Murloc’s duration is reduced by 50% and its cooldown to 15 seconds – A bit wild this one. This is a good time to note my numbers are likely not balanced. As important as placement is, this heroic does benefit from Murky just staying in his place. This works well thematically in many ways, you try to get to him like you do with his egg… But still. Just a thought.
Why Buff?
Well, outside statistics…
Egg Shell gets the most value the more Murky dies, and that, um, ‘plan’ works best post 20. The other choices cover a variety of scenarios and are synergistic with other talents. This talent is possibly the most fun and interesting in its tier, so I’d love for it to see more play.
Wrath of Cod gives insane damage if you Octo a tank or somehow hit enemies in teamfights, but it just lacks the flexibility of Fish Oil. Fish Oil, in addition to adding a ranged Slime, giving a use to Pufferfish 100% of the time, ensures Tufferfish works which is especially crucial for the squishier targets. Plus, if you want big damage to fatties, Toxic Buildup probably works best.
Never-Ending Murlocs has its uses. Most straightforward is just using it to push Keeps or even the Core when enemies are away, demanding one to intervene. But then you use an incredibly potent heroic for pushing. ‘Use’, not ‘waste’, but still.