[INT-Sent]Alric the Avatara

[Ali Radicali]

Introduction
This hero is based on a character from the 1997 game Myth: The Fallen Lords. Most of his skills are derived from or inspired by that game, albeit altered altered to fit DotA. If you don't know Myth, go find yourself a copy, it's really awesome.

Name: Alric
Title: Avatara
Model:
The Medivh model most closely resembles the Avatara unit from Myth . It also has the right look and feel; that of a powerful human mage.

Iconset:




Hero Description:

Alric is the wisest and most powerful of the avatara; the nine warrior mages that lead the human resistance against the scourge. Under his leadership, the humans have been able to hold the undead at bay for countless years, but now Alric has pledged his support to the Sentinel, hoping to end the stalemate and destroy the Scourge once and for all. Alric can create portals which allow entire armies to traverse miles in mere seconds. His magic protects his allies from harm while allowing him to blast his way through scores of undead. The scourge had better beware this powerful and cunning Magician...

Stats:

18 + 2
14 + 1.5
20 + 2.7

Damage: 46 - 52
Armor: 2
Base Attack Time: 1.7
Movespeed: 290
Attack Range: 550

Skills:

World Knot
Alric creates a gateway between two locations, allowing instant transportation between the two. Travelers are dazed after using the World Knot, which impairs their movements and ability to cast spells. The World Knot lasts 10 seconds. The location of both Knot locations is indicated on the minimap with a tavern symbol.

In-depth Explanation:

This spell creates two neutral buildings, one at the targeted location and one 200 units in front of Alric.

Any hero or summoned unit walking to one of these buildings will be transported from one the other and vice-versa (just like the Waygate building from regular Warcraft).
Any unit using a World Knot will be affected by the Daze debuff, which slows movement and attack speed by 30% and silences. The duration of the debuff decreases per level.

Cannot be cast to or from either base or Roshan's Lair.
For clarity's sake:
Allies and enemies can both use World Knots.
Allies and enemies alike are affected by "Daze" if they use a 'Knot
Enemies and Allies both get little yellow "neutral building" symbols on their minimaps, indicating the location of the World Knots.

Eblis Stone
Type of spell: Channeling single-target disable

Alric wields one of the five Eblis Stones; an incredibly powerful artifact that allows him to briefly cripple an enemy, leaving him paralysed and defenseless. The target is disabled and loses 7.5% magic resistance and 1.5 armor every second.
Channeling.


*The debuff lasts 4 seconds. The disable lasts up to 2.5/3/3.5/4 seconds

In-depth Explanation:

This works very much like Shackle, except the unit doesn't take damage per second. Rather, every 0.5 seconds, a buff is applied, reducing armor by 0.75 and magic resistance by 3.75%. After the disable ends (whether it was channeled for the full duration or canceled by a stun or whatnot) the debuff lasts for 4 more seconds. The maximum debuff amount is -30% magic resistance and -7.5 armor at level 4.

The skill is based on the Myth campaign, in which Alric uses the Eblis Stone to defeat Balor:

Resilience
Type of Spell: Ally Buff

Alric blesses target unit, negating the effects of the next incoming enemy spell.

In-depth Explanation:

This works like Linken's Sphere; when a buffed unit is targeted by a single-target spell, that spell's effects are canceled and the buff is removed.

Ultimate:

Dispersal Dream
Type of Spell: AoE Nuke
Alric causes a chain of magical explosions, bouncing off enemies until none are left. Each unit may be only targeted by one explosion.

In-depth Explanation:

This spell is in many ways like Chain Lightning, except that each bounce doesn't just deal damage to the target, it deals damage in AoE. This means that a group of heroes clumped together will get hit for massive damage, but if they're standing apart, they only get hit for 250/325/400 damage. The same unit cannot be targeted by a bounce more than once, so the spell works best when many units are present.

In the Myth game, this spell looked/worked like this:

Hero Role
Alric is a very team-oriented hero that is best suited for ganking and babysitting:
Babysitting: Alric is item- and level-independent, so he can afford to focus on harassing and denying and leave last-hits to his lanemate. With good range and base damage, Alric should be able to harass moderately well, although he does lack a nuke until level 6. He makes up for this lack of offense with Resilience, which is an incredibly disruptive spell against many aggressive lanes. With Eblis Stone he can protect his ally or try to gain lanecontrol.

Ganking: What Alric lacks in raw damage (before level 6), he makes up for in flexibility. World Knot makes him AND his allies global threats, allowing them to pop up out of nowhere. Eblis Stone not only disables but it also greatly reduces resistances, allowing Alric's allies to decimate the gank target. Resilience allows you to safely channel Eblis Stone.


Comboes/Synergy
I'm not a big fan of the type of "synergy" that people seem to think is good here in these fora. IMO, the best heroes are heroes like Puck or Lich, which don't have really obvious synergy but still somehow work amazingly well. So don't expect three pages of intricate comboes. That being said:


Global teleportation coupled with a nuke and a long disable make you a global ganking threat.

+
With Resilience on yourself chances are your channeling won't be interrupted.

+
If you see a hero standing too close to his own creeps, cast Dispersal Dream and immediately Eblis Stone him. This way, he'll get blasted by the explosions targeting the creeps and the debuff will cause him to take extra damage from the blasts.

[Desu_Is_A_Lie]

I'd like to play this hero, nothing should be changed, so T-Up.

[Propapanda]

Originally Posted by Desu_Is_A_Lie

I'd like to play this hero, nothing should be changed, so T-Up.

I like you Garena Auto-Joiner tool.

On Topic: Yes, best hero I've ever seen since 1956's Galileo's suggestion.

[Val]

I like it a lot, tbh. Sounds difficult to balance for multiple skill levels (especially the global tp), but very worthwhile.

[lvndr]

1st skill sounded so science-fiction-travel-through-gate-thingy.
Overall it's cool.
But I still don't prefer the 3rd to be a "Linken Sphere" ability, maybe you could give him a better skill. If he needs to channel Eblis Stone more efficiently, buy a Linken Sphere for him.

And I think he should have better STR gain and points compared to AGI. (Merely my point of view)

[Ali Radicali]

Originally Posted by lvndr

1st skill sounded so science-fiction-travel-through-gate-thingy.

I believe the skill has a place in DotA, although I guess I'll have to tweak the description a bit to make it sound less high-tech.

Originally Posted by lvndr

But I still don't prefer the 3rd to be a "Linken Sphere" ability, maybe you could give him a better skill. If he needs to channel Eblis Stone more efficiently, buy a Linken Sphere for him.

As far as I'm concerned, Linken's Sphere doesn't have to have a monopoly on spell block. It's relatively "unexplored" design space and it would be a shame to constrict our options just to keep it "unique". Plenty of other items share abilities with heroes, take guinsoo (Rhasta, Lion), Diffusal Blade (Magina) and Battlefury (Sven, Magnus, Kunkka) for example.

Originally Posted by lvndr

And I think he should have better STR gain and points compared to AGI. (Merely my point of view)

What do you mean? His STR is already above average for a ranged INT hero, and 18 + 2 > 14 + 1.5.

[toscomovil.]

HUGE T-UP...awesome hero...

[Val]

The issue with World Knot is that it's insanely powerful with just 1 level. It's con (that it dazes you) is easily countered by porting your team into the woods or similar. That said, there are definitely ways to balance it. For example, it could grant both teams vision at the structure to prevent using it for surprise ganks while still allowing it for reinforcements and faster pushes. I thought it would be pretty awesome if the gate could be destroyed as well (like a tombstone-styled thing). That would add more strat to it. Like I said, the general idea is great - balancing can happen much later.

[Ali Radicali]

Originally Posted by Val

The issue with World Knot is that it's insanely powerful with just 1 level. It's con (that it dazes you) is easily countered by porting your team into the woods or similar. That said, there are definitely ways to balance it. For example, it could grant both teams vision at the structure to prevent using it for surprise ganks while still allowing it for reinforcements and faster pushes. I thought it would be pretty awesome if the gate could be destroyed as well (like a tombstone-styled thing). That would add more strat to it. Like I said, the general idea is great - balancing can happen much later.

Actually, I intended for the building to be attackable, but somehow forgot to put that in the final version. And yeah, World Knot is by far the most difficult to balance spell this hero has, since group teleportation is a very strong ability. On the other hand, even though Pit of Malice is supposedly also very powerful, I've hardly ever seen a team make extensive use of it, so it might not be as imba as it seems.

[MonkeyEx]

cool concept...
but I dun really see the use of levelling up Resilience...
reduce the mana cost per level would be a good reason to level up this skill...
since levelling it only reduces cooldown(which is already short anyway) and increases the duration by 2 sec

[Ali Radicali]

Originally Posted by d4rk_T4nkR

cool concept...
but I dun really see the use of levelling up Resilience...
reduce the mana cost per level would be a good reason to level up this skill...
since levelling it only reduces cooldown(which is already short anyway) and increases the duration by 2 sec

It should be blatantly obvious: being able to keep multiple units Resilienced. Why do you level up Aphotic shield on Abaddon?

If you don't level it chances are you won't be able to use it more than once in a battle.

[Propapanda]

I like the idea of a cunning caster hero. Reminds me of myself in the glory dynasty days.

[Flamingfurball]

I like this hero

my only probelm with it is the third skill, it reminds me of storms old spell shield
personaly i think it should so somthing else when it blocks, or even returning the effect of the spell it blocks? (as in when it hits them it gets returned although he had casted it could possibly do less damage (like 10/25/40/65% of all effects from that spell (including stuns/silences and so on)) but in that case it would probably need a boosted cooldown, or it would just return and still effect him)
nice hero idea though :3

also would a unit have to click on the portal? or just move into base constant with it, because that could like outdo a pudge hook if they just have to come into base contact...

[Ali Radicali]

Originally Posted by Flamingfurball

I like this hero

my only probelm with it is the third skill, it reminds me of storms old spell shield

It's quite different from barrier, it's like Linken's Sphere. Barrier was pretty weak 'cos it only blocked magic damage, not secondary effects like stuns and slows. The fact that it had a long-ass cooldown and that pure dmaage and phys. damage bypassed it made it even shittier.

Imagine having a Linken's Sphere with a 7 second cooldown, that's pretty sick right? That's why I think the skill is fine as-is.

Originally Posted by Flamingfurball

personaly i think it should so somthing else when it blocks, or even returning the effect of the spell it blocks? (as in when it hits them it gets returned although he had casted it could possibly do less damage (like 10/25/40/65% of all effects from that spell (including stuns/silences and so on)) but in that case it would probably need a boosted cooldown, or it would just return and still effect him)

This is uncodeable.

Originally Posted by Flamingfurball

also would a unit have to click on the portal? or just move into base constant with it, because that could like outdo a pudge hook if they just have to come into base contact...

Just like ladder warcraft, you'd have to click on the building to warp through. Furthermore, the casting time prevents abuse.

[Flamingfurball]

It's quite different from barrier, it's like Linken's Sphere. Barrier was pretty weak 'cos it only blocked magic damage, not secondary effects like stuns and slows. The fact that it had a long-ass cooldown and that pure dmaage and phys. damage bypassed it made it even shittier.

Imagine having a Linken's Sphere with a 7 second cooldown, that's pretty sick right? That's why I think the skill is fine as-is.

eh, you still have to cast it every 7 seconds

This is uncodeable.

i know spell reflection isnt uncodeable (ive seen it done in footmen unleashed, the old hydra hero had spell reflection, needless to say, it sucks when a hero has 100 hp and you stormbolt yourself with MK...)
ill take your word for it though, a spell reflection-type skills would just be better IMO

Just like ladder warcraft, you'd have to click on the building to warp through. Furthermore, the casting time prevents abuse.

now that i think about it... that spell could be so lol... if you casted it in a fountain , then the enemy team thinks they are going to epicly gank you, AoE stun as soon as they are in, kill the portal instant multikill XD

im assuming that allied units can target it from full hp?

[Ali Radicali]

Originally Posted by Flamingfurball

eh, you still have to cast it every 7 seconds

So? You have to cast Aphotic Shield every 9 seconds too, but that doesn't stop it from being incredibly powerful.
Resilience is like a preemptive Aphotic Shield, without the damage block/return but with the potential to negate a lot more (if it cancels a big ulti for example)

Originally Posted by Flamingfurball

i know spell reflection isnt uncodeable (ive seen it done in footmen unleashed, the old hydra hero had spell reflection, needless to say, it sucks when a hero has 100 hp and you stormbolt yourself with MK...)
ill take your word for it though, a spell reflection-type skills would just be better IMO

It's probably possible to code spell reflection for a simple map with basic spells, but DotA has so many complex triggered skills that it's practically impossible to code such a skill. It's on the "uncodeable skills" list.

Originally Posted by Flamingfurball

now that i think about it... that spell could be so lol... if you casted it in a fountain , then the enemy team thinks they are going to epicly gank you, AoE stun as soon as they are in, kill the portal instant multikill XD

im assuming that allied units can target it from full hp?

World Knot cannot be cast to or from Bases and Roshan, so you can't use it to trick people into running into your fountain.

[Flamingfurball]

So? You have to cast Aphotic Shield every 9 seconds too, but that doesn't stop it from being incredibly powerful.
Resilience is like a preemptive Aphotic Shield, without the damage block/return but with the potential to negate a lot more (if it cancels a big ulti for example)

alright ill grant you the ulti thing, but what about things that activate link's cooldown but dont in anyway block the spell? would these still kill its effect?

It's probably possible to code spell reflection for a simple map with basic spells, but DotA has so many complex triggered skills that it's practically impossible to code such a skill. It's on the "uncodeable skills" list.

sorry X3 i am quite a noob to these forums, only really started posting tonight (as you can probably tell by my post count and horrible grammar) i wasnt aware that it was on some list o.o, what about adding some kind of like heal of hp/mp when it blocks a spell (somthing small like 50/25 or somthing) making it better as a supporting skill for intiators (i know i typoed that...)

World Knot cannot be cast to or from Bases and Roshan, so you can't use it to trick people into running into your fountain.

so then i can assume it would have all players vision of the 2 portals? (much like the vision on spider webs, they would be able to see it but not see anything around it?) or somthing else?
i didnt see any notes about base casting and so on o.o? or is that part of a game mechanic because of furion?

[Ali Radicali]

Originally Posted by Flamingfurball

alright ill grant you the ulti thing, but what about things that activate link's cooldown but dont in anyway block the spell? would these still kill its effect?

After the Linken's Sphere recode, IIRC the only spell that procs Linkens without doing anything is Freezing Field, and even that technically blocks something. Pretty much every spell now interacts with Linken's as intended, so the same should be true for this skill.

Originally Posted by Flamingfurball

what about adding some kind of like heal of hp/mp when it blocks a spell (somthing small like 50/25 or somthing) making it better as a supporting skill for intiators (i know i typoed that...)

I considered adding some regeneration for the duration of the buff, but decided it wasn't necessary. I might reconsider.

Originally Posted by Flamingfurball

so then i can assume it would have all players vision of the 2 portals? (much like the vision on spider webs, they would be able to see it but not see anything around it?) or somthing else?

The skill doesn't grant vision, both buildings are considered neutral. As such, stepping through a World Knot is a bit of a gamble.

Originally Posted by Flamingfurball

i didnt see any notes about base casting and so on o.o? or is that part of a game mechanic because of furion?

It's under "In-depth Explanation", hidden in a spoiler box. Press the "Show" button to reveal.

[Flamingfurball]

I considered adding some regeneration for the duration of the buff, but decided it wasn't necessary. I might reconsider.

not regen for the buff, i mean it heals a set amount once the buff dissappears (reguardless of how it dissappears?)

The skill doesn't grant vision, both buildings are considered neutral. As such, stepping through a World Knot is a bit of a gamble.

if you hero gets made and i ever vs him, my allys are going to hate me is all i have to say

It's under "In-depth Explanation", hidden in a spoiler box. Press the "Show" button to reveal.

oh... right... i need to start reading big red text... i normaly ignore it because it hurts my eyes >.<
you know, a little known fact, Red is the hardest colour for human eyes to recognize, green is the easyest

anyway, as i said before, this hero sounds INSANLY fun to play :3
an ownage ganker, defs get a blink dagger for the ganks on him (portal could work as well, but it will silence you)

[Shatterman]

ok decent hero overall. but there are some balance issues.

first skill is overpowered. compare it with pit's ulti. i know that knot can also transport enemies and dazes users but for a gank this doesnt really matter.
as a fast fix i'd suggest a limit of uses per unit (1) to prevent abusing and juking.

second skill is like shackle or dismember. yes - it does no damage but amplfies. imo that is even stronger btw. maybe the hero would benefit in terms of being original from a mechanics change. maybe make it arrow target or aoe target - anything that differentiates it more from shackles.

third skill is totally overpowered numberwise. blocking a spell every 7 seconds? serious? either increase the cooldown to something like 25 or (if you want to keep the spell being spammable) change block to reduce effect.

ultimate is like chainfrost, only that it has infinite bounces and hits each unit only once. but actually it results in the same: target a group of heroes for most effect.
something to make the spell more interesting is appreciated.

IMO, the best heroes are heroes like Puck or Lich, which don't have really obvious synergy but still somehow work amazingly well.

no obvious synergy?
puck:
blink orb + phase shift for safe teleport
blink orb + dust for safe hit nuke
blink orb + ulti for blink/stun

lich:
sacrifice + nova for spell spam
nova + ulti for slow -> massive hits
frost armor + ulti for antigank + slow (same as above)