I have an idea for a Sludge hero suggestion in mind. I'm just gonna periodically dump stuff here until I'm set to make a thread. Everything in here is just working ideas, nothing final. Feel free to comment on what's been thought up so far.

hero main idea:

1. "slime". a substance that the hero uses and manipulates. skills create it in numerous ways, it covers the ground, he gets some sort of buff while on it and enemies are debuffed. he should try to cover as much ground in slime as possible. if caught alone without an area of slime built up, he should be pretty weak. that said it should be pretty quick/easy for him to make a decent area of slime.

2. i want him to have super duper facerolling omgwtf godmode in some way but of course it should be difficult/situational to pull off. to tie into the first point, i guess he should turn into some kind of uber slime monster if there's a lot of slime around him or something. i want the player to feel really badass and powerful. i want this hero to have the most potential power (temporarily) out of any hero in the game.

ideas for skills. no specifics, just mock ups.

1. gunk shot (pokemon skill names ftw)
after a short delay, slime explodes at target location. deals damage and creates a puddle of slime. ~2 seconds delay, long cast range, probably 100/125 damage

---> no cooldown. instead, has "charges", a maximum of 4, and you get a charge every 5 seconds. requires a charge to use, and a charge is deducted when you use it. allows for a quick burst of shots.

---> some kind of debuff, or maybe a "steal" of atk spd from units hit. maybe the steal, whatever it is, should be delayed by about 5 seconds, and then kick in. that would work nicely with the current set-up for the ultimate.

---> keep in mid: slime itself will have some kind of effect on the units and yourself

---> charges allows for barrages of this. strategic choices: all in one place = bunch of damage in one place, while spread out = more area covered in slime.

2. Absorb (ultimate)
absorbs slime back into the sludge monster, making him bigger and stronger depending on how much slime is sucked up. after the duration, the bonuses are lost and the slime is ejected in a circle around you, dealing damage (+knockback/slow or something, not sure). this should be kinda like shiva, but a quicker blast. the slime disappears after.

---> if you make a whole lot of slime, this skill will make you godly (and also really huge). conversely, without much slime this skill won't do much.

---> for specific bonuses: maybe damage and life, and it would heal you when initially absorbed.

---> not instant. all the slime is sucked toward you quickly and the bonuses are given "per slime", in real time as they hit you.

---> the blast of slime afterwards could be unleashed early with a subskill. oh and it should probably just do damage. or maybe slow too.

About slime

it could either be a passive skill, or just an innate part of the hero. if it was a skill you'd kind of have to level it though, since it makes your other skills work and stuff (forced skillbuild). maybe the skills could make/use slime even if you don't have the passive, but the bonuses given by the slime are increased when you level the passive. i kinda like that.

ways to create slime
1. first skill (gunk shots)
2. when stunned (or maybe just whenever immobile for a few seconds?) it could pool out from you in a circle.
3. i haven't thought of a skill yet, but something that causes either you or another unit to leave a trail of slime.
4. whenever a unit steps into a pool of slime, then leave a trail for ~300 units when they step out.
5. maybe the passive slime skill could be used actively, making the sludge monster leave a trail of slime for a bit.
6. need moar ideas!!!!

possible buffs/debuffs for standing in slime

Buffs:
movement speed (should be significant)
regeneration
should you still receive these buffs when you use the ultimate? probably not, i mean gunk shot can be used quickly anyway.

Debuffs
slow
?????

slime gives vision?

duration of slime.... 20 seconds? 30? 40? i like 40

mockup skillset
1. gunkshot
2. +slime bonusespassive (trail when activated)
3. ???
4. absorb (ulti)

i'll update this whenever i get new ideas. feel free to comment, this is a work in progress obviously


UPDATE SEPT 12th

New idea for a skill.

Contaminate (passive, can be turned off)
Whenever the Sludge Monster kills a unit, it comes back to life for a few seconds under his control. 2 second delay before the unit arises. The unit leaves a trail of Slime behind it when it moves. The duration of the unit increases per level. (lasts longer on creeps)

It works on heroes!!!!! And you can use the hero's skills!!!! But the skills would be on cooldown based on when the original hero used them. But still, that means if you kill Tide before he gets his ultimate off, you can use it!

This skill would have to be his ultimate because it would be too good before level 6 at pushing. Anyway, this would turn him into a pretty insane pusher, making him a very very versatile hero. Carry, pusher, decent ganking. Kind of like Kunkka with less teamfight and more push.

This encourages Sludge Monster to actually get the last hits on heroes, which ties into his carry role. It also provides another way for him to create Slime. Gunk Shot gives him a really good nuke to kill creeps quickly and thus spawn copies.

It might be imba for this to work on heroes (and possibly uncodable concerning the cooldown things). If it was just creeps I guess that would work fine too.

Another thing: units reborn this way would be tinted or something, and they would also benefit from the bonuses of being in Slime, according to the level of the Slime passive.

So the new mock-up of the skillset is this:

1. Gunkshot
2. Slime passive
3. Absorb
4. Contaminate

So absorb is no longer the ult, but its potential will still be sky-high. This hero's starting to come together.