[INT-SENT] Arden Heavenwind the Airmeister

[R.B.Economy]

Arden Heavenwind the Airmeister

Kindly vote on concepts, not numbers.

Change Log

5 August
• Holy Gale is now a projectile based spell.
• Increased duration, mana cost and cooldown of Zephyr of Light to make the duration actually useful enough.
3 August
• Rework Holy Gale.
• Rework Shift. Lasts slightly shorter and has maximum range a unit can be shifted.
• Shift has longer cooldown at lower levels.
• Zephyr of Truth is renamed to Zephyr of Light
• Removed True Sight from Zephyr of Truth. It now has extended sight range, but not immunity from melee attacks.
• Mana cost of Zephyr of Truth now scales according to level.
• Fixed some descriptions.
30 July
• Reworked Air Wall.
• Improved knock back of Holy Gale, but removed healing ability. Holy Gale now knocks back friendly unit, but doesn't damage.
• Remade Shift. Shift is now a pure disabling ability and doesn't deal damage.
• Remade Zephyr of Truth.
24 July
• Removed channeling time from Air Wall.
• Scales Air Wall's duration according to level.
22 July
• Removed knock back effect from Air Wall.
• Scales Air Wall's casting range and wall length according to level.
• Increased Air Wall's cooldown by 5 seconds.
• Changed ally unit's damage amplification bonus in Shift from percentage-based to fixed amount.
• Increased Zephyr of Truth's cooldown to 60 seconds.
• Reduced Zephyr of Truth's sight range bonus.
• Zephyr of Truth now only reveals invisible units in mini-map.
21 July
• Posted hero suggestion.
• Changed hero's first name from Agolas to Arden due to similarity to Legolas.
• Lowered stat gain a bit.
• Slightly increased mana cost of Holy Gust.
• Added a point to the mechanics of Shift.
• Modified Background Story a bit.

Hero Introduction

The Airmeister is a support hero which specializes in providing tactical advantage to his team over his enemies. Having 4 active abilities with low cooldowns makes him a very interesting hero to be played. With 3 abilities that affect positioning and an ultimate that grants greater sight over his allies, an Airmeister team is considerably difficult to be ganked. His playstyle is very engaging, and at times demanding for a newbie. However, in the right hands, the Airmeister is a mage to be feared, not for killing ability, but his tactical abilities, messing up enemies' positions and formations, effectively taking command of the battle field.



Background Story

Born with the gifted ability in air manipulation and as a former apprentice of the Kirin Tor, Arden has gained much since his faithful departure from Dalaran to seek knowledge throughout the world. His insightful journey over years and years has unlocked even more powerful abilities at his disposal. Arden is able to utilize air with the assistance of holy magic as means of construction, destruction, transport and even granting himself and his allies levitation. His unique abilities of air and holy magic are sought after by the Sentinel, summoning him in their fierce battle against all odds, with hope to restore the once serene breeze of air around him.

Can learn Air Wall, Holy Gale, Shift, Zephyr of Light.

Pros
• Fun and interesting hero due to 4 active abilities.
• Ultimate makes everyone FLY, HURRAY!
• Heavy support and disabler.

Cons
• Very active and demanding playstyle.
• Very mana dependent due to 4 active abilities.
• Not for players aiming for 'Godlike', but good for Assists whoring.

Attributes

STR 17 + 2.1
AGI 10 + 0.9
INT 23 + 2.6

Advanced Statistics

Affiliation : Sentinel
Damage : 55-63
Armor : 1
Movespeed : 290
Attack Range : 600
Attack Animation : 0.4/0.7
Casting Animation : 0.5
Base Attack Time : 1.7
Missile Speed : 900
Sight Range : 1800/800

Ability 1

Air Wall (Active) [R]

Conjures a wall of extremely intense air current on a targeted location, horizontally facing the Airmeister. The wall is impassable by normal means, and enemies attempting to do so will take damage once.

Level 1 - 100 damage. Wall lasts 2 seconds.
Level 2 - 160 damage. Wall lasts 4 seconds.
Level 3 - 220 damage. Wall lasts 6 seconds.
Level 4 - 280 damage. Wall lasts 8 seconds.

Cooldown : 20
Mana Cost : 110/130/150/170
Wall Width : 1200
AOE : 250
Casting Range : 600/800/1000/1200

• Damage type: Magical
• Heroes with Blink or blink-like abilities can pass Air Wall by using them.
• Each enemy can only take damage from Air Wall once per cast, after which they are still unable to pass the wall but not taking anymore damage from the wall until the it expires.

The wall will be formed horizontally, contrary to Fissure (vertically), and can be formed at distance within 600/800/1000/1200 units away from Airmeister. The wall itself is 1200 units long.

This is how it should look like:

Ability 2

Holy Gale (Active) [E]
Sends a current of magical air that forces an enemy to move opposite the direction it's facing for 2 seconds, dealing damage, disabling attacks and spells.

Level 1 - 100 damage.
Level 2 - 150 damage.
Level 3 - 200 damage.
Level 4 - 250 damage.

Cooldown : 8
Mana Cost : 145
Cast Range : 525

• Damage type: Magical
• Cancels channeling spells.
• Disables attacks, abilities and item usage.
• Target takes damage as normal under Holy Gale.
• The 'current' is in the form of a projectile. Projectile speed is same as Hellfire Blast.
• Target is forced to move opposite the direction it's facing for 2 seconds with its normal movespeed. Example: If the target is facing North, it will move South. If target is chasing you, casting on him will knock him away. If target is running away from you, casting on him will knock him towards you.
• Normal collision rules apply.

Ability 3

Shift (Channeling) [F]
Using compact air infused with magic to envelop a unit, Airmeister shifts it as he wishes. Target cannot move, attack, use abilities or items for the duration of Shift.

Level 1 - Shifts up to 1.75 seconds or 550 units.
Level 2 - Shifts up to 2.5 seconds or 700 units.
Level 3 - Shifts up to 3.25 seconds or 850 units.
Level 4 - Shifts up to 4 seconds or 1000 units.

Cooldown : 20/18/16/14
Mana Cost : 110/130/150/170
Cast Range : 400
Shifting Range : 550/700/850/1000 away from point of cast.

• Shift is a channeling ability.
• Can be casted on ally/enemy.
• Traveling speed is based on target's movement speed.
• Traveling unit is vulnerable during the travel.
• Traveling unit destroys trees, but is blocked by impassable terrain and units.
• Once casted Shift on a unit, Airmeister controls the movement of the unit until duration ends or spell is interrupted.

Ultimate

Zephyr of Light (Active) [T]
Manipulates the air surrounding all allied heroes in the map, levitating them. Levitated heroes gains flying ability, unobstructed and extended vision.

Level 1 - 200 bonus sight range. Lasts 5 seconds.
Level 2 - 400 bonus sight range. Lasts 7 seconds.
Level 3 - 600 bonus sight range. Lasts 9 seconds.

Cooldown : 70
Mana Cost : 250/325/400

• Allied heroes can still move with their usual movespeed while levitating.
• Unobstructed sight reveals unexplored fog of war, over trees and higher terrains.
• All allied heroes become flying units under Zephyr of Light's effect. All mechanics relating to how flying units react will apply the same.
• All heroes movement destroy trees under Zephyr of Light, but if the spell ends and the hero is on an impassable terrain, the hero will instead drop to the nearest valid terrain.

Synergy


Air Wall to lock a path, followed by Holy Gale to knock enemy against the Air Wall, dealing combined damage.


Air Wall to block escape/reinforcement, Shift unit to your team's advantage.


Shift a unit to advantageous position, then Holy Gale the intended enemy, dealing damage and disabling for 2 seconds.


Study allies' territory, if enemies are present, cast Air Wall accordingly to gain first advantage.


Study allies' territory, if enemies are present, use Shift for initiation if needed. Flight can be used to escape or chase.


The all in combo, for team fight or team push. Ultimate to study surrounding area and provide flying advantage, eliminating ambushes, Air Wall and Shift provides positioning advantage and Holy Gale to disable casters / channelers.

Natural Enemies
• Any hero that can Silence/disabling spellcasting for a long duration effectively disables all abilities of Airmeister in combat.

Best Friends
• Melee damagers that usually gets a Blink Dagger. Ursa Warrior, Axe. Airmeister supports them with Shift.
• Earthshaker, double path block.
• Initiators. Supports them with ultimate, enabling them to study the surrounding to initiate fights better.

[AmplifyDamage]

wow first off, good job on concept.
I like how you've taken a lighter tone/theme with this model, giving him the element of Air in unison with his holy magic from being a priest.
Although, i have to say i hate the name it reminds me of XxLegolasxX.
air wall is very unique combining the principles of + "fissure" "wall of replica" + "force staff.

overall thumbs up as long as you change his name to something i take more seriously.

[bimjowen]

Fascinating hero. Initially I was going to hold my vote due to Agolas's insane stat gain per level, but with these odd and fairly subtle abilities (read -- no hardcore nukes), I think they may be warranted.

Air elemental-themed hero is very refreshing; no pun intended. I'm so tired of blood-themed heroes.

600 attack range on a hero with that much stat gain gives me pause, though.

Overall, t-up -- on concept, at least.

[R.B.Economy]

Originally Posted by AmplifyDamage

wow first off, good job on concept.
I like how you've taken a lighter tone/theme with this model, giving him the element of Air in unison with his holy magic from being a priest.
Although, i have to say i hate the name it reminds me of XxLegolasxX.
air wall is very unique combining the principles of + "fissure" "wall of replica" + "force staff.

overall thumbs up as long as you change his name to something i take more seriously.

Thanks! I was afraid Air Wall will be condemned because it features the 'path block', which is a trademark of Earthshaker, and now I'm trying to get a share of the cake. I actually put in the casting time because of how Earthshaker places Fissure is different from Airmeister with the Air Wall.

I've also changed his name to Arden, hope it sounds more serious now, and not a parody of Legolas eh?

Originally Posted by bimjowen

Fascinating hero. Initially I was going to hold my vote due to Agolas's insane stat gain per level, but with these odd and fairly subtle abilities (read -- no hardcore nukes), I think they may be warranted.

Air elemental-themed hero is very refreshing; no pun intended. I'm so tired of blood-themed heroes.

600 attack range on a hero with that much stat gain gives me pause, though.

Overall, t-up -- on concept, at least.

I've reduced his base and gain for str and int. Hope it's more acceptable. Thanks!

[TheDamneD]

Whoa...i'm amazed, dude...really gr8 hero...i love the concept...nothing else to say but...T-UP!


EDIT: Make the name Stiffler, The Stiffmeister

[Maw2]

Review as requested.

Skill 1: From what I read does it affect allied heroes at all? Does it block/knock them back? Also, there's no point in leveling this skill past level 1. The damage isn't really a factor, nor is the knockback distance. Seems a little imbalanced though, ES can't spam his fissure, but he can spam this. Makes it too easy to retreat/block paths.

Skill 2: Not a bad skill, but nothing great either. The knockback effect has its uses in teamfights.

Skill 3: Don't like this skill much. Does the bonus damage stack with damage from items/stats? Also, an extra 30% damage on a hero is a bit much, especially in the later game where carries become powerful.

Ultimate: This skill is too powerful. A very low cooldown combined with huge vision makes it too easy to initiate/dodge ganks. The true sight is meh and should be removed, even without True Sight, the skill is too strong.

Summary:
Skill 1: Fail
Skill 2: Pass
Skill 3: Fail
Ultimate: Fail

Overall: T-DOWN. The concept of having many knockbacks is reminiscent of SB. With his ultimate it seems that your team would have too much of an advantage for initiating. Then the wall would disrupt the enemey team far too much for them to do anything. Still needs some work done on him.

[fragilous]

Review as requested.

Since I have the same comments as Maw 2, I won't repeat most of his points anymore. I'll just keep the review fast and simple. A T-Down and needs a lot of work.

explanation:
Pushbacks are being abused too much. One pushback skill is already enough for 1 hero. You also added that he is a heavy support, but due to the pushbacks, he can be a very imba killer.

The only thing I like about this hero is 2nd and 3rd skill, though you forgot to add to tell us how shift will work or how it can be targeted. Cast range is imba and remove the damage amplifier effect. Its either Holy Gale or Shift, but together, both skills are still imba.

[R.B.Economy]

Thanks Maw2 and fragilous, I've done some changes based on your feedback. Please take a look at the changelog. In case anyone hasn't noticed, 1800 sight range is the default sight range that all heroes have. Also @fragilous: Shift works similar to Toss, just that it affects a single unit rather than AOE damage, the animation is also different. It's stated in the tooltip.

[Zirath]

Despite what most people are saying, I feel this is a pretty balanced hero. This is mostly a turtle hero, using his ulti to plan and his first and second skill to buy lots of time.

1. We need more path blocking effects (we only have 3 and two of them are hard to block well with) and this is one perfectly fine. You can prevent gankers from chasing and also block off escape paths while ganking. A pretty strong skill overall.

2. This is his main nuke as I see. You haven't told us the distance the wind travels. If its only 525, that's pretty short range. Its pretty spammable and combos well with Air Wall but I'm not sure how it can be used otherwise.

3. This is a lot like Toss. I feel that this skill breaks the synergy of the hero. Sure you can toss enemy heroes into your allies or throw an ally into the enemies to initiate but it doesn't have the position control theme that the first two skills have.

4. This gives Balanar with Aghamin's vision for a few seconds. Good for planning and it is good with the heroes role but in general I don't see this being more useful than wards 90% of the time. The enhanced vision is nice but if you are getting ganked, then this won't warn you well enough.

[JJE92]

General Hero Idea: Air or Wind is not really an original idea or something new, but its still acceptable, its not yet that overused.
Airmeister, this sounds a bit like a mix of English and German ^^
10/15

Skill 1: Path blocking skills are needed and the concept of this one isnt bad, but not that original as well.
Some other things:
- the skill isnt worth leveling beyond level 1, damage isnt really worth it
- make the duration changing through the levels, this would make the skill worth leveling
- remove the Channel-time and reduce the damage imo.
Currently in need of some changes.
6/10

Skill 2: So this kcnocks the enemy behind you, right?
I like this part of the skill, the rest is boring and unoriginal, it isnt really worth casting this skill on allies, especially if youre healing only half of the amount and knocking them behind you could as well be used for helping them escape, so think about letting this stay on allies.
Needs more originality.
6/10

Skill 3: A modified toss with a buff/debuff afterwards. The buff/debuff is imba late-game, overall this skill needs changes.
5/10

Ult: Either totally overpowered or a bit useless. I dont really like such skills like this. Aghanim's Scepter improvement isnt worth the cost.
5/10

Synergies: Skill 1 synergizes very good with skill 2, average-good with skill 3.
Skill 2 has minor synergies with skill 3.
The Ult has only average synergies with other skills due to its nature as a completely outstanding support skill. Its combos can be countered easily by using wards.
17/25

Gameplay: Its an ok gameplay, its more a tactician than a hero killer, but i dont think the Knockback and push aspect of skill 2 and 3 is that much needed, dota has enough initiaters to do without it.
6/10

Stats: balanced.
5/5

Model/Icons: good.
5/5


Overall: 65/100 = 65%
Needs changes, gonna think about ideas later on

[NoThlnG]

Another priest model... LOL....

Skill 1 : Hmm... nice skill with orginality. T-Up
Skill 2 : Well, it's only knockback or heal. Don't think it is quite original. Have nice synergies but I hope something more than simple knockback. Null
Skill 3 : Hmm... Quite original I think. But amplification and bonus is imba I think... Null vote
Ulti : Original but I don't like this skill. But still T-Up

OVerall : Needs some improvement...

[Wyvernoid]

I'm not a great reviewer but I hope to be of help.

This hero has a consistent theme, which I like; also his skills aren't damage-based without reducing any of his usefulness, which is great and sets him out of the league of hero suggestions whose 4 skills all do damage.

Skill 1: I really love the concept, which bears some similarity to the SC2 Force Field. What I agree with some reviewers above is that there's minimal need to level this ability past Level 1. IMO this ability would mainly be used to chase/trap/sever enemies, or save someone (including self) being chased. 5 seconds is actually a very long time; there's not much difference between a 5-second block and one that's 1 or 2 seconds longer. That's why I think duration is a much more important factor here than cast range and wall width; IMO 2/4/6/8 or 2.5/4/5.5/7 would work much better. 2 seconds might sound too little, but let's consider this ability at Level 1 - for the said purposes, 2 seconds of movement block, if well placed, can compare to a 1.5-second stun. This enables you to catch up to enemies in an early-game gank attempt, without being too powerful. Also, 2-second delay is a serious handicap for chasers alike. So going 2/4/6/8 has its own viability; of course this way it can become a little too situational, in which case a minor buff to ~3 seconds might be good too.

Skill 2: This ability fits the theme, but I really doubt whether knockback is a good effect for this hero. If in some way you can 'blink' past the enemy and knock him back into your allies, it would be really great. Otherwise, I don't see a very good use (other than the Skill 1+2 combo, which is OK). This skill, IMO, is good, just not great.

Skill 3: A tad difficult to use properly, but that's OK. This skill could prove really awesome if it could toss the enemy team's carry into your allies in an easier way - I was thinking, what if the target hero is tossed at the nearest hero (that is, the other way around)? But that's just a possibility.

Skill 4: Contrary to some reviewers above, I feel that this ability is not overpowered at all. Just compare it to Thundergod's Wrath, which also gives sight and reveals invisible units, but accompanied with a decent nuke. Sure it has longer cooldown, but the damage justifies it. I don't think the minimap twist is needed, but that's just me.

Overall: The concept is very nice, and that's why I bothered to write this wall of text (which BTW I'm sorry for). I'd vote T-Up for this suggestion, but not without some tweaks. Anyway, those are just personal opinions. I hope to be helpful, but if not, feel free to ignore.

[R.B.Economy]

Thanks for all the comments guys! Check out the new changelog! Remade skills!

[orangenod18]

Looks O.K. for me, great concept

[JJE92]

Rereview:

General Hero Idea: Air or Wind is not really an original idea or something new, but its still acceptable, its not yet that overused.
Airmeister, this sounds a bit like a mix of English and German ^^
10/15

Skill 1: You did a lot of good changes for this skill, I like it as it is now.
One question: Does this skill affect allies as well?
8/10

Skill 2: Some changes. The ally part got remade, as it seems. It still is pretty useless for allies, I suggest healing allies instead of damaging them, this would make the skill atleast a bit useful if it already can be used on allies, which is pretty easy to abuse.
Overall, still in need of more originality.
6/10

Skill 3: This is a really good change, a lot more original than the old skill.
Some issues:
The MS is too high, it would move 3000 units at lvl 4 in 5 seconds, which makes this skill pretty much overpowered, especially when cast on enemies. Imo you should let the MS stay the same as it is (the current MS of the targeted unit)
9/10

Ult: Hmm, Im unsure about this skill. I dont like the part of making melle heroes weak and ranged heroes strong. Also, you already have too much skills which destroy trees. The duration is rather short and the skill seems pretty weak to me. Furthermore, it isnt really worth leveling. Evne the true-sight is rather weak, because melles cant attack these heroes, so that this skill can become useless in some situations.
5/10

Synergies: Skill 1 synergizes very good with skill 2, pretty good with skill 3 and average with the Ult.
Skill 2 has minor synergies with skill 3 and as well with the Ult
Skill 3 and the Ult synergize a bit.
Improvable.
15/25

Gameplay: Its a better gameplay, some improvements made here.
7/10

Stats: balanced.
5/5

Model/Icons: Icons are not warcraftish, they are too squishy and have no clear borders.
3/5


Overall: 68/100 = 68%
Some improvements, but still needs changes.

[NoThlnG]

Well, another review from me...

1st skill :I don't see any significant changes here. Still a T-Up.

2nd skill : Still a simple knockback. Null vote.

3rd skill : Now I think this is good enough. Nice skill. T-Up

Ulti : No, I don't like the one you suggest now. Also I don't think making only melee can't attack is codeable since melee hero can also attack flying units... T-Down.

Synergies : I see some synergies but not that clear. Null vote

OVerall : Null. Still needs improvement

[Whitefang]

1) Air Wall:

#No offense but the ability is so..common. It can be fixed to make it greater. If you think logically(or magically),how can air create a wall? In my opinion two heavy current of air from opposite direction(right and left) will bump each other and the compacted air will create a wall of air. I just give your this concept and it is up to you how to present the mechanics of how it will effect enemy units.

#Or you can just fix it so that it will deal damage everytime enemy unit touch it.

2)Holy Gale: Good ability but it has some similarity with force staff even though different mechanic. Force staff pushes any unit 500 units in the direction it is facing.

3)Shift:

• The whole animation of the unit going to the destination is shown

Sorry my english is weak. I don't understand this, you mean its like the enemy or allies will be on windrunner's windrunner like animation but the unit is not moving but rather being blow by air current? This is some kind of manipulating ability right? If that is correct then this ability is pretty nice.

4)Zephyr of Truth: Nice ultimate but how can you see invisible unit when you are in the air? This is kind of odd for me. I understand if you want to make this ultimate reveals invisible units, but this is just not the kind of ultimate I imagine.

[Wyvernoid]

Skill 1: Very good now IMO. BTW there's an inconsistency about the wall width in the ability description.

Skill 2:

The unit will be knocked in the opposite direction Airmeister is facing during the cast.

Shouldn't the word 'opposite' be removed, as you said that this skill moves the target away from Airmeister? Otherwise, not much is changed about this skill and I still think it's only mediocre.

Skill 3: Too overpowered. Compare it with Batrider's Drag, which 1. is an ultimate 2. lasts only 4 seconds at max level 3. can only drag enemies (which means no ally save) 4. melee cast range 5. speed is equal to Batrider's speed 6. cannot move through units (unless Batrider's flying, that is). All these mean that Shift right now is way too overpowered, or I just misunderstood it.

Skill 4: It's no longer that useful since it doesn't do very well in terms of ally-saving and cannot spy on the enemy team as easily. I'm not sure what to do with this skill though.

[R.B.Economy]

Thanks again for the comments. I've fixed some descriptions that have been highlighted by some of you.

There are 2 updated changes, mainly on Shift and Zephyr of Truth.

Shift now has lowered duration, and has a maximum range applied on how far a unit can be shifted from the point of cast. This is mainly to limit its abuse compared to Batrider's Flaming Lasso. Take note that Shift is a channeling ability, which means it can be interrupted, and Airmeister cannot attack during Shift, unlike Batrider's Flaming Lasso which allows him to attack his target and even cast spells. Flaming Lasso also does not limit how far the target can be dragged. Batrider also has Napalm and Firefly which makes Flaming Lasso so much more powerful, while Shift is mainly a position modifier on its own. Shift might have short cooldown, but the mana cost counts. Therefore Shift is actually weaker than Flaming Lasso.

As for Zephyr of Truth, it doesn't reveal invisible units anymore. It grants all allies in the map the flying ability, extended and unobstructed vision for the few seconds. I guess this will be my final stand on the effects of the ultimate. I like the effects now, and it also serves perfectly for the theme and concept. Further changes will only be the numbers, on how they can be improved, more spammable, but at the same time not overpowering.

Meanwhile, more comments and inputs are welcomed!

[NoThlnG]

You should give something more to holy gale. If just a knockback, I won't give T-Up since many heroes have similar ability like morphling, barathrum, item like force staff, etc.

BTW, nice changes