Xal'atath of the Void - Hero Suggestion

Hero and Skin Suggestions
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For the longest time, I’ve enjoyed playing a Shadow Priest in WoW, and I’ve enjoyed the fantasy it gives. I’ve also been playing Heroes since the Alpha and have always wanted that fantasy come to life in HoTs. I’m not too keen on lore for WoW but a shadow/void priest, I think would be a great addition. Damage numbers are obviously up to developers to balance, but the goal is to have the Ranged Mage Assassin build up with small damage numbers and unleash burst or stronger DoT damage the more talents you get. Obviously it’s a fan made hero kit, but I’d love to get response from what the devs think. I followed the philosophy of it being fun to play and fun to play against. With the premise based on old school Voidform. Which meant maintaining Voidform on as much as possible which rewarded players that knew when to commit to using such a big cooldown, and rewarding those that knew how to maintain it. So I wrote out the strengths and weaknesses this hero might have.

Strengths:

  • High Single Target DOT damage.
  • Decent cleave hero damage.
  • Passive survivability with talents.

Weaknesses:

  • No hard CC.
  • Weak or non-existent wave clear/camp clear

Xal’atath

  • Health - Tassadar or KT range

  • Resource - Insanity instead of Mana (up to 100 Insanity, drains while not in combat)

  • Trait - Shadowy Apparitions

  • Every 3rd tick of SW:Pain sends out a shadowy figure of the hero to those afflicted by SW:Pain, dealing a small amount of damage, and increasing Insanity by 3.

Trait (Active) - Voidform

  • Activate Voidform (D) to cause a Void Eruption applying SW:Pain to players within its range and increasing your damage by 30%.

  • *Voidform changes your Mind Blast and Mind Flay abilities. (Similar to Valeera Stealth trait)

  • Voidform increases your Insanity regeneration by 100% but rapidly decays your sanity. Upon reaching 0 sanity, Voidform ends.

Q Ability (Area Targeting) similar to Tychus Grenade area

SHADOW WORD: PAIN (5 sec CD)

  • Apply a damage over time spell that deals damage every 1 second for 8 seconds.

  • SW:Pain increases your insanity by 2 each time it deals damage to enemy heroes.

  • Reapplying SW:Pain only refreshes the duration, and does not stack damage.

W Ability (Skill Shot)

MIND BLAST (8 sec CD) similar targeting to KT Gravity Lapse

  • Blast the first enemy hit with shadow damage. If Mind Blast hits a hero, it increases your Insanity by 5

  • If Mind Blast hits a hero, it refreshes the duration of SW:Pain

W Voidform Ability (Skill Shot) similar targeting to KT Gravity Lapse

VOID BOLT (4 sec CD)

  • Send a shadowy blast that deals damage and pierces through enemies. If Void Bolt hits a hero with SW:Pain it refreshes the duration of SW:Pain on all targets afflicted with SW:Pain. Each hero hit with Void Bolt increases your Insanity by 6

E Ability (Point Click Targeting)

MIND FLAY (13 sec CD)

  • Channel on an enemy hero for up to 4 seconds dealing shadow damage, and slowing them for 25%.

  • If the target is afflicted with SW:Pain, the slow is increased to 50% and instantly applies the damage of Shadowy Apparitions each second while channeling.

  • Mind Flay increases your Insanity by 3 while you remain channeling.

E Void Ability (Point Click Targeting)

VOID SEAR (8 sec CD)

  • Channel for up to 4 seconds dealing shadow damage to an enemy hero and enemies around the target.

  • Void Sear applies Shadowy Apparitions each second to enemies afflicted by SW: Pain while channeling.

  • Void Sear increases your Insanity by 4 for each enemy Hero hit.

TALENTS

LEVEL 1 TALENTS

1.1 - MISERY

  • Increases SW:Pain damage by 10%.

  • Quest: Cast Mind Flay for 100 seconds on enemies afflicted by SW:Pain.

  • Reward: Reduces the CD of SW:Pain by 2 seconds.

1.2 - SHADOW WORD: VOID

  • Reduces Mind Blast CD by 1 second.

  • Quest: Cast Mind Blast on 50 enemy heroes, increasing its damage up to a cap.

  • Reward: Mind Blast gains a charge.

1.3 - FORTRESS OF THE MIND

  • Mind Blast and Mind Flay deal 20% more damage to slowed targets and generate 20% more Insanity. This does not apply to Void Form Abilities.

LEVEL 4 TALENTS

4.1 Talent - AUSPICIOUS SPIRITS

  • Increase the rate of SW:Pain applying Shadowy Apparitions damage from every 3rd tick to every 2nd.

  • Shadowy Apparitions now slow the target by 15% for 1.5 seconds.

4.2 Talent - SHADOW CRASH

  • Mind Blast now deals damage to enemies in an area near the first target it. Mind Blast’s area damage generates 2 Insanity for each hero hit. Area damage does not reapply SW:Pain.

  • Void Bolt does not benefit from Shadow Crash.

4.3 Talent - SHADOWFORM (Active Ability)

  • Assume a Shadow Form, increasing your damage by 10%, and granting you 10 Armor, lasts until cancelled.

  • Casting Voidform cancels Shadow Form.

LEVEL 7 TALENTS

7.1 Talent - SHADOWY INSIGHT

  • SW: Pain periodic damage has a chance to reset the cooldown of Mind Blast

7.2 Talent - PSYCHIC LINK

  • If Mind Blast hits a hero it deals 30% of its damage to targets afflicted with SW: Pain.

  • Damage from Psychic Link does not increase Insanity.

7.3 Talent - EDGE OF SANITY

  • While at 60 or above Insanity and not in Void Form, you deal 10% increased damage and receive 10 armor for 10 seconds.

HEROIC ABILITIES

R1 - (Point Click Targeting)

SHADOW WORD: DEATH (110 sec CD)

  • Instantly inflict a large amount of shadow damage in an attempt to execute an enemy hero. May only be used on targets with 20% Health or less.

  • If SW: Death kills, or the hero dies within 1.5 seconds of it dealing damage, you instantly generate 50 Insanity.

R2 - (Target Area)

PSYFIEND (90 sec CD) Area similar to Graviton Surge from Zarya

  • Summons a Psyfiend from the void in a targeted area for 10 seconds to attack enemy heroes for 1% of their maximum health every 0.5 seconds. Heroes in range are slowed by 30% and receive 15% less healing.

  • Each time Psyfiend deals damage to enemy heroes you generate 2 Insanity.

LEVEL 13 TALENTS

13.1 Talent - FADE (Active Ability 60 sec CD)

  • Fade out increasing movement speed by 15% and causing enemy attacks and abilities to miss you for 4 seconds. Attacking or using an ability will cancel this effect.

13.2 Talent - VAMPIRIC EMBRACE (Active Ability 45 sec CD)

  • Vampiric Embrace heals you for 25% of the damage you deal to Enemy Heroes for 5 seconds.

13.3 Talent - DISPERSION (Active Ability 120 sec CD)

  • Disperse into pure Shadow Energy, reducing damage you take by 75%, but unable to attack or cast abilities.

  • While dispersed, you may move through heroes and Voidform’s Insanity Drain is reduced by 100%.

LEVEL 16 TALENTS

16.1 Talent - MIND TRAUMA

  • Fully channeling Mind Flay will increase its damage by 10% and reduce it’s cooldown by 3 seconds.

  • Stacks up to 3 times, lasts for 15 seconds.

16.2 Talent - LINGERING INSANITY

  • For 10 seconds after Voidform ends your cooldowns are reduced by 15%, and all Insanity generation is increased by 2.

16.3 Talent - DEVOURING PLAUGE

  • While not in Voidform, your SW:Pain deals an additional 150% damage and heals you for 50% of the damage it deals.

  • SW:Pain reduces healing Enemy Heroes receive by 15%.

  • However, it can no longer be refreshed by Mind Blast.

LEVEL 20 TALENTS

20.1 Talent - MIND BOMB (Area size similar to Horrify from Gul’dan)

  • Reduces the cooldown of Shadow Word: Death by 20 seconds.

  • If the target is killed by Shadow Word: Death or dies within 1.5 seconds of dealing its damage, the Enemy Hero will cause a psychic explosion stunning other enemy heroes around in an area for 4 seconds.

20.2 Talent - PSYFLAY

  • Increases Psyfiends area by 30%. Psyfiend now deals 2% of the enemy’s max health in damage every 0.5 seconds.

  • Its slow and healing reduction is increased by an additional 30%.

20.3 Talent - PSYCHIC HORROR (Active Ability, 45 sec CD)

  • Your next Mind Blast that hits an enemy Hero will stun for 2 seconds.

20.4 Talent - SURRENDER TO MADNESS

Hero instantly gains 100 Insanity, and activates Voidform. You gain 50% movement speed, your damage is increased by 50% and Insanity generation is increased by 100% for 8 seconds. If an enemy hero is not killed while afflicted with SW: Pain during Surrender to Madness, your HP is reduced to 1.

In conclusion, I feel this captures the old school Voidform play, and with talents allow the hero to be played without entering Voidform for beginners to the new hero. Upon mastering, they can change the way they talent for a more bursty and optimal playstyle.

Ultimately, I’m not the best at balancing abilities or things like that, but I think this would be a great place to start the fantasy of such a hero entering the Nexus. Thanks for making it all way to the end!

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