[REMAKE] Blind --> Whirling Axes

[Heelz]

Joo wan' axe?

Changelog:

11/22/2010
Reduced slow: 12/24/36/48% -> 10/20/30/40%
Increased range on ranged form: 600 -> 700
Improved animations

We all know Troll is generally considered a low tier hero. He's the epitome of the right click hero, except he's not really good at that.

Even with the addition of a global IAS boost, Troll still has little to offer his team before he's farmed. And even when he's farmed, it's not a guarantee that he'll be able to outcarry the other team's carry.

All Troll can really do in a team fight is use his ultimate, then autoattack. Now some heroes can get away with that, but Troll is not one. His ultimate is not enough of a gamebreaker. The best example of a hero who can use their ultimate then attack move toward the enemy base is Luna. Her ultimate has a high damage potential as do her autoattacks, due to the bouncing. Since Troll can't compete with that, he needs to be able to cast something other than his ultimate in a battle.

Battle Trance and Fervor are great skills that fit Troll's playstyle perfectly. They are perfect how they are. I believe Troll's problems are as follows:

• Nothing to offer in a team fight apart from ultimate and autoattacks
• General lack of utility
• No reason to switch between range and melee forms, making Berserker Rage a non-skill
• Ranged form is essentially a stronger ranged creep or an inferior Drow
• Melee form lacks survivability

These problems can all be potentially fixed by replacing what is essentially a filler skill: Blind. There is really no excuse for this skill to still be in the game after many, many heroes have had their filler skills replaced or upgraded into something much better. (e.g. Viper's Frenzy, Magnus' Empower, Sven's Toughness Aura, NA's Carapace, Medusa's Chain Lightning, etc.)

I propose Blind be remade into the following skill:

Whirling Axes - Active, Instant

Jah'rakal utilizes his axes depending on his battle stance. In ranged form, he throws a flurry of axes in front of him, crippling the movement speed of enemies for 4 seconds. In melee form, he spins his axes around himself, disarming nearby enemies for a short time.

Level 1 - 12 10% slow, 1 second disarm, (50 damage)
Level 2 - 24 20% slow, 2 second disarm, (100 damage)
Level 3 - 36 30% slow, 3 second disarm, (150 damage)
Level 4 - 48 40% slow, 4 second disarm, (200 damage)

Mana cost: 75
Cooldown: 12

• Ranged form cripples in a 700 range, 50 degree cone in front of Jah'rakal
• AoE in melee form is 250
• Damage: physical (Damage is an optional effect to my suggestion. I'm a little iffy about giving Troll AoE damage, but it's kind of weird to hit your enemies with a bunch of axes and not do any damage)

So basically, this spell solves all of the problems I identified about Troll.

• Nothing to offer in a team fight apart from ultimate and autoattacks
  Now Troll has the choice of contributing an AoE snare or an AoE attack disable, but not both
• General lack of utility
  Same as above
• No reason to switch between range and melee forms, making Berserker Rage a non-skill
  Introduces more decision making to playing Troll. Which effect is preferable? Switching to ranged form for a snare or engaging in melee and disabling their attacks?
• Ranged form is essentially a stronger ranged creep or an inferior Drow
  Now ranged form has a powerful AoE slow
• Melee form lacks survivability
  Melee form now has a semi-disable that will help mid to late game, when attack damage is more of a threat

Ranged form:


Strong AoE snare, comparable to Thunder Clap but in a cone. Somewhat hard to aim because it is not a point and click spell. Geared more toward offensive play (i.e. chasing) because of this.

Melee form:


AoE attack disable, with an AoE similar to Mogul Khan's Berserker Call, but completely opposite in effect. This allows Troll survivability in melee, when he is a stronger fighter but more likely to be targeted. It also allows him to save allies who are being chased. Thus, it is a more defensive skill.

Old animations:

Thoughts and comments?

[Teare]

T-up. But disarming them would make them automatically walk away wouldn't it? Sorta weird cause they'd auto run from you, though slowed. It's better than Blind so I'm giving it a T-up. C:

[sonson619]

T-up =)

[uo111]

This is fairly fantastic.

I wasn't sure what they would do when I saw the animations at the beginning. And even when you were describing the problem I still had no idea how it could be better, especially since blind on a carry is pretty powerful(until mkb of course.)

But giving early ganking power in the form of a carrion swarm + slow, and providing late game disable of no attacks is just fantastic.

This would quite literally give troll everything he needs.

The only thing that concerns me a little is that while each form is meant to have a different axe, nothing at all would stop troll from just switching stances after casting the skill. It's not really a big deal, it just seems weird.

Also, I'd keep the damage. Troll could use with a little bit of real ganking power.

[Yokkyun]

T-up. exactly what troll needs

[L..]

Slow is too high and disarm is too strong.
Last level should be 25% slow for 2 seconds and 1 second disarm.
Troll can right click any hero in mid or lategame in less than 4 seconds meaning this would be a sure kill against any hero.
In my experience once you hit ONE BASH with troll, your opponent is dead because in those 2 seconds stun you will most likely kill him.

[matrice]

Even if i would really prefer troll get his ms bonus back on ult, this is really nice suggestion, ofc it needs some balance, cause the skill is mb too OP for the moment, anyway, it offer a new life to berserker rage, which is damn useless unless you have lothar, remove the worst skill of the game "aka blind"

the only dark point to this suggestion, is you have to find a new name for troll
indeed

Only a hotheaded young Warlord called Jah'rakal joined the Sentinel. Known as "Blinding Axe" in troll tongue

and without blind, Jah'rakal is no more fiting to troll warlord ^^

[Sven2k]

this seems interesting t-up

[Dagguh]

This is simply awesome.

[SwedishChef]

Great! You can use the ladder spell Silence to make the disarm btw, just change to attacks instead of spells.

[Cackata@]

Finally a remake of the boring blind skill.This remaker could give him more chances to be effective early-midgame and 4 seconds disarm isn't that op invoker got the same disarm but coupled with pseudo stun and high damage.

[Monsterlord]

I like the ranged form, alot. It makes a good replacement for Blind.

However, I think it should stay in that form regardless of mode.Troll's a hero who doesn't rely on spells or magic, and as such having his axes whirl around him as he fights simply doesn't seem to fit. Tossing them certainly does though.

So yeah, I like the ranged version.

[Teare]

I like the ranged form, alot. It makes a good replacement for Blind.

However, I think it should stay in that form regardless of mode.Troll's a hero who doesn't rely on spells or magic, and as such having his axes whirl around him as he fights simply doesn't seem to fit. Tossing them certainly does though.

So yeah, I like the ranged version.

True, he doesn't seem like he's able to control air, levitate objects or have mind control over matter. So swirling is weird, but it does seem good nonetheless. T-up for both still, but even better if it's only ranged? IDK.

[Fire525]

This is a pretty good remake, gives him a lot more utility and fixes one of his main problems, which is the inability to hold a target in place if he gets unlucky. As others have said the slow is a little strong, but I do think it should be slightly higher than other slows. Perhaps around 35% when maxed? Melee is still going to be used more late game with this remake (After all, 4 seconds of AoE attack disable far outweighs movement disable), but this remake gives his ranged form a use past the laning phase. Overall, I like it.

[Palvikinkku]

Fuckin' T-UP.

Perfect for Troller.

[xak12]

t-up that skill is awesome, blind is crap -_-

[Roger Black]

48%slow on troll?? sry too imba
t-d on slow t-up on disarm
also, blind is not a bad skill at all...try solo mid and max blind 1st...

OT:the 2nd skill animation reminds me of Wanted lol~

[Heelz]

Thanks for the feedback!

I know 48% is kind of strong, but it's nonspammable and ranged on a hero who fights best in melee. I thought it was a fair number, compared to other slows by DPS heroes:

(I know these are single target, but Troll is usually only concerned with one target anyway)
Viper's Poison Attack - 40% slow, decent DoT, spammable
PA's Stifling Dagger - 50% slow, 4 second duration, spammable
PL's Phantom Lance - 40% slow, nuke+illusion, spammable
Broodmother's Incapacitating Bite - 40% slow, miss chance, passive

Maybe 40% is a fair number for level 4.

As far as the graphics for the melee version, I know it's kind of weird to see Troll summon levitating axes, but I can't really make Troll himself spin around with his axes. Use your imagination. The main part is the AoE attack disable.

[NoA.Slash0r-]

Great Idea, t-up on buffing him, so we may see him in competive matches...

[Pingus!]

Fuck yes.