[INT/SCRG] Geophrey, the Mindflayer Ancient, A whole new take on mental suffering Options

[LoreKeeper]

Summary: A fearsome hero adept at disabling and capitalizing on it. Able to synergize strongly with team.

Small icon:

Name: Geophrey
Title: Mindflayer Ancient
Model: Sludge Beast



Affiliation: Scourge

• Move Speed: 300
• Attack Speed: 1.7
• Attack Range: 128 (melee)

Attributes
STR: 20 + 2.0 per level
AGI: 12 + 1.5 per level
INT: 26 + 2.7 per level


Background
Named after the child he first devoured, the Mindflayer Ancient is an abomination to the living. His very presence is indistinct, changing and twisting as his crippled soul attempts to fit into a vessel that can manifest in this realm. Geophrey is driven by a blinding need to consume and little tastes sweeter than the minds of innocent.


Abilities

Ability 1: Mind Sanctum
Ability Type: Passive
Explanation: The powerful intellect that shapes the Mindflayer Ancient aids him in a myriad of ways. His very life is enhanced by his mind and his probing thoughts can locate enemies.
Mana Cost = n/a
Cooldown = n/a
Duration = n/a
AOE = n/a

Level 1 - knows in what direction closest enemy hero is; max HP is increased by 2 per point of Int
Level 2 - knows in what direction closest enemy hero is; max HP is increased by 3 per point of Int
Level 3 - knows in what direction closest enemy hero is; max HP is increased by 4 per point of Int
Level 4 - knows in what direction closest enemy hero is, color tinted to the color of that player; max HP is increased by 5 per point of Int

Framework:
This passive has two parts: firstly the hero's max life is increased based on his Int; for example, at 100 Int the hero receives +500hp. This is balanced by the fact that the hero is a Int-based melee hero who needs that extra buffer of life. Secondly the hero is always aware in what direction the closest enemy hero is (irrespective of sight or invisibility) - this is done by having a small floating globe hovering around the Mindflayer Ancient in the relative direction of the nearest enemy hero. This is a relatively minor effect, but does help in avoiding ambushes and can hint at the presence of invisible heroes. At level 4 the globe is tinted to the color of the closest enemy hero - that provides a small additional level of information.

Ability 2: Psionic Barrage
Ability Type: Active, 3 spells
Explanation: The Mindflayer Ancient unleashes his mind - concussing and dealing damage to enemies near or far. He gains 3 abilities that act similar to Fan of Knives - but the bigger the potential area of effect the fewer units are affected. At the furthest range only 2 units are affected, at medium range 4 units are affected, and at near range upto 8 units are affected.
Mana Cost = 120/130/140/150
Cooldown = 20 seconds (each of the three spells has own cooldown)
Duration = n/a
AOE = 250 / 500 / 750 unit radius (depending on the spell used)
Targets = 8 / 4 / 2 units (depending on the spell used)


Level 1 - deals 40 damage and stuns for 0.25 seconds
Level 2 - deals 60 damage and stuns for 0.50 seconds
Level 3 - deals 80 damage and stuns for 0.75 seconds
Level 4 - deals 100 damage and stuns for 1.0 seconds

Framework:
Similar to Nevermore's Shadowraze this skill gives 3 abilities to the hero that act on seperate cooldowns. The 3 abilities act on short (250), medium (500) and long (750) range, and affect 8, 4 and 2 units respectively. The abilities can be likened to Fan of Knives, but they additionally also stun, and can only affect a certain number of units depending on the range. If more units are elligible to the ability than the ability can hit, then a suitably sized subset is selected randomly.

It is possible to cast the long-range Psionic Barrage and only hit nearby units - but the units that can be potentially hit are within the max-range of the ability.

Ability 3: Unimpeded Feast
Ability Type: Passive
Explanation: The Mindflayer Ancient feasts on minds that cannot oppose him - he deals damage to stunned enemies within range of him.
Mana Cost n/a
Cooldown n/a
Duration while target is stunned
AOE = 1000 unit radius around Mindflayer Ancient

Level 1 - deals 40 damage per second to stunned enemies within 1000 unit radius
Level 2 - deals 80 damage per second to stunned enemies within 1000 unit radius
Level 3 - deals 120 damage per second to stunned enemies within 1000 unit radius
Level 4 - deals 160 damage per second to stunned enemies within 1000 unit radius

Framework:
Every 0.2 seconds a trigger searches for all stunned enemies within 1000 units of hero. They are dealt 8/16/24/32 damage per instant (averaging 40/80/120/160 damage per second). This ability naturally combos well with any teammates that have stunning abilities and any items that convey a stun.

Ultimate

- - Rapture - -



Ability Type: Active
Explanation: The Mindflayer Ancient gorges himself on the minds of all enemy heroes - they suffer from his mental intrusion and become incapacitated after 5 seconds based on how much pain was dealt to them during the 5 seconds. Stun duration equal to 0.5 seconds per 100 life lost.
Mana Cost = 250/350/450
Cooldown = 180/140/100 seconds
Duration = 5 seconds, plus stun time
AOE = global


Level 1 - 20 damage per second, cap of 3 second stun
Level 2 - 40 damage per second, cap of 4 second stun
Level 3 - 60 damage per second, cap of 5 second stun

Framework:
The spell acts globally on all enemy heroes; they are dealt a small amount of damage over 5 seconds - and additionally the game tracks the total life lost over the 5 second duration and applies a stun to that hero of 0.5 second duration per 100 life lost.

By itself the ability is useful in that it can aid and affect combat anywhere on the map - whilst not innately having much effect by itself; the key effect of the ultimate relies on damage dealt to the heroes to create a longer stun.



Skill Synergy


These three abilities strongly tie together, allowing the hero to deal large damage and propagate long stuns. Additionally any damage or stuns caused by allies helps make the Mindflayer Ancient's skillset even stronger.


Mind Sanctum is a skill that synergizes with the hero - an Int-based melee hero needs all the help he can get to stay alive. Why not have the hero ranged then? Simple: to maximise item effects - as a melee hero the Mindflayer Ancient has access to a better Cranium Basher, which naturally synergizes well with the hero's Unimpeded Feast skill.

Item Synergy


No single item more naturally synergizes with a hero ability than the Cranium Basher and the Unimpeded Feast


The Cranium Basher is only as good as the number of times it procs - these items can ensure a decent rate of bashes


Perfect to hunt down the last remaining heroes after a bloodbath


Few items can set up a perfect combo as well as this

This post has been edited by LoreKeeper: Dec 15 2008, 07:12 AM

[Endraca]

This hero will be insane with a basher as well

I like the Mind Sanctum,a melee intel hero needs all the help he can get (as if the stuns don't help enough though )

oh and at "Unimpeded Feast" you said "AOE = 1000 unit radius around Bludhorn" Guess that should be Geophrey ?

T-up, pretty icons

This post has been edited by Endraca: Aug 26 2008, 07:33 AM

[juanbato]

Good to see an old friend again... I am a bit lazy to do a full review now since I know, and I feel that, your works do not tolerate a brief review, IMHO . As I see it now, everything is good but I will visit sometime soon for a full review.

[enojy*-*]

I played a little wtih the idea to post a hero based on this model and although mine would be pretty different in abilities I really like this one as well (at least it's spells look more considered and finished)
Mind Sanctum: First I thought what the... 5 hp for every point of inteligence...that is way too much. Than I realized that for strenght you gain 19 ...this somehow settled it a great skill. (+ the direction thing pretty useful too)
Psionic Barrage: mechanics remind me of nevermore, and furthermore you could have done a much better job...I know that it stuns and thats why it synergizes so well but does not seem to fit the theme.
Unimpeded Feast: well this is something new and it is good. no more to say.
Rapture: a great skill but not a core one.
For me the core skill for this hero is Unimpeded Feast. but as I stated it is great in synergy. Maybe what I'm missing is attack/movement speed gain or something but this can be done with some items.
THUMBS-UP

This post has been edited by enojy*-*: Aug 26 2008, 07:45 AM

[Lill]

Short review:

Story concept:
It's nice to see a sludge beast not use a poison/swamp theme. The story is very evil, maybe even horrible. It fits the scourge perfectly.

Skills:

1st:
I love the concept of knowing the direction of enemies. The entire mechanics of it is very original. The health/intelligence is a nice bonus, I've seen similar mechanics on other suggestions, and I liked them there too. Concept of the whole skill is good, but why doesn't the find enemies get better with each level? I find it to be the better part of the skill, and it should get better with each level.

A small bonus should be given to it. Maybe make it have the color of the closest enemy aswell at level 4?

2nd skill:
I like shadowraze. I like this even more. It has a lot of potential, and can easily be used for mind-games. Easily my favorite in the whole skillset.

3rd skill:
I've thought of using something similar to this, but I mostly thought of it as forced synergy so I haven't used it as a skill for a hero yet.. Still, this is very nice, I like it.

The skill may be hard or even impossible to balance though. A storm bolt stuns for 2 seconds, and deals 250 damage or 125 damage for each second of stun. A bash deals 70 damage and stuns for 1 second, 70 damage for each second of stun. The difference in damage here is quite huge, a bash is almost twice as effective as a storm bolt.

However, I think it can be disregarded.

As for the mechanics, wouldn't it be better if it checked each .1 seconds instead? That way, it might actually be useful for skills like Headshot. There's also killsteal written all over it. With no effort at all, Geophrey can steal kills. Never good for pubbies, and will make lotsa players ragequit. Maybe make it impossible for it to kill enemies?

Ultimate:
We need more global skills. This skil reminds me of Maledict quite a lot, maybe too much.

Synergy:
It exists. Too troublesome to mention every one of them.

Summary:
I have some small issues with the hero, but his good parts outweigh them. T-up.

[LoreKeeper]

Endraca

ah thanks! Copy-paste error that, fixed


juanbato

Looking forward to hearing the whole deal - and damn right! Short reviews are for inferior heroes - mine are all awesome! XD


enojy*-*

You're spot-on with Unimpeded Feast being a core skill. That was my initial idea for a skill, and I wanted to support it with a full hero set. The two passives came relatively quick, and the Ulti too - that left a hero with a lot of mana and not much use for it. That is why I wanted a 3-for-1 type skill like ShadowRaze, and something that combos well with the Unimpeded Feast


Lill

LoL@story concept review

The idea of color changing on skill 1 is great! I think I'll add that in. Glad you like Psionic Barrage.

The 3rd Skill is not that hard to balance: consider how rare stuns really are, compared to other forms of contact. The balance here is in the rarity of the effect - that is why I have a relatively stiff amount of damage dealt.

0.1 second of trigger updates are fine too - I just kept it at 0.2 to make the trigger not be too much of a computational crux.

Regarding Killsteals... - it is relatively rare for a hero to die from actual stuns. They are usually used early as initiators, rather than starters. Besides which, Razor seems to not draw that much aggro.

Glad you like the global Ultimate - I'm also very happy with the idea.

Thanks for the vote! (Remember to place it )

[Fog Raider]

I remember reviewing a hero called Mind Flayer a long time ago and HiP. This doesn't look like the same one though, his name was Bysshe.

Stats: Your blob has from pretty fast MS for...a blob. It's fine for balance thoguh, just looks weird on paper.

Skill 1: Useful enough, if not very interesting. Fits the hero though. Too bad he can't jungle to make full use of the detection.

Skill 2: Ahahah. I was wondering when I first saw the numbers, but it's pretty nice. Super mana-intensive but potentially very powerful too.

Skill 3: It's interesting, but I could see it as hard to balance. No stunners on your team? Skill does very little. Techies/Magnataur/Alchy on your team? HOLY SHIKES. Let's say alch is your lane partner. 5 sec stun x 160 dps x .75 hero resistance = 600 damage for just his ability. Add in 225 damage for the spell itself, and the fact that you can still do other junk during this whole process...Let's even say it's just a storm bolt, you deal 427 damage after hero resist, plus hits and other skills. Grr...it's just too GG sometimes, and too worthless other times...I really wish I could love this skill, but it needs to be "smoothed out" somehow, like perhaps take other kinds of disables into account as well but nerf damage.

Skill 4: Like a global stun version of maledict...sort of. Very cool.

Gah. I really wanted to T-up this hero, but the more I think about it, the more I think that skill 3 needs a change before I can do it with a clear conscience. If I'm wrong, please correct me, because I'm really rooting for you. Holding vote. GL.

This post has been edited by Fog Raider: Aug 26 2008, 02:13 PM

[LoreKeeper]

Fog Raider

Skill 3: It's interesting, but I could see it as hard to balance. No stunners on your team? Skill does very little. Techies/Magnataur/Alchy on your team? HOLY SHIKES. Let's say alch is your lane partner. 5 sec stun x 160 dps x .75 hero resistance = 600 damage for just his ability. Add in 225 damage for the spell itself, and the fact that you can still do other junk during this whole process...Let's even say it's just a storm bolt, you deal 427 damage after hero resist, plus hits and other skills. Grr...it's just too GG sometimes, and too worthless other times...I really wish I could love this skill, but it needs to be "smoothed out" somehow, like perhaps take other kinds of disables into account as well but nerf damage.

hehee - I can imagine this creating trouble. But consider the following:

The passive is dependent on stuns - these may happen on occasion, but as a rule you'd like to have a direct nuke to cast rather then hope for a stun around you. Sure - that is 320 * 0.75 = 240 damage from the passive. If instead it was some other nuke/disable that I had available, then I'd deal the same order of magnitude in damage and maybe even deal additional damage.

The advantage of the passive is that it can (with longer stuns) deal more damage than an imaginary nuke - but the disadvantage is that it is heavily dependent on what happens around you. For example, Magnataur's Level 3 Ulti is GREAT for the Mindflayer - but the cooldown is 100 seconds or so, and requires the Mindflayer to be with Magnus whenever he ulties.

Sure, some matchups are great, and some are sucky - but that is what gives a hero character.

Compare, for example, the Harbinger: his Arcane Orb can on a well-played late-game hero quite easily deal +200 damage per attack at an attack rate of around 3 attacks per 2 seconds. That is a bonus +300 damage per second. Now *if* enemies were permenantly stunned, then the Mindflayer would receive +160 damage per second (albeit in an area).

I think it is clear that the balance is maintained well enough - especially considering that as a Int melee hero the Mindflayer has his own bag of troubles to contend with.

[Len=Chan]

Is this by any chance from Forgotten Realms?
Love the 4 skills, they fit the theme perfectly.

T-UP!

[LoreKeeper]

Thanks - in fact my other Mindflayer suggestion (you can search for it - it's pretty great ) was quite close to the DnD version of Mindflayers (though very different from this suggestion).

This version of the Mindflayer is remotely related, but in many ways it is a re-interpretation of classic Mindflayer attributes.

[vvjacobo]

I t-up for concept, not balance, Psionic Barrage need nerf, we should remember that mass aeo stuns is already the way to win a game, no need to buff that.

[LoreKeeper]

That is precisely why I created Psionic Barrage *not* to be an AOE (in the true meaning) - it is a multi-target spell. Only the shortest range one is properly AOE in the sense that 8 units are affected, the medium range one only covers 4 targets (2 at longest range).

And note that you don't control who gets hit, the units are selected randomly from the ones potentially available.

...but, you're quite right that Geophrey is likely to be a bomb in high-level competitive play. I think he's balanced more-or-less fine for an initial starting point, considering that DotA in general is trying to be more powered-up to make games a bit shorter on average.

The counter-balance here is that the hero is an Int-Melee hero that has to rely on his abilities rather than raw attacking dps. Even with the help of skill 1 this is not a hero designed as a dps machine and hero hunter.

[juanbato]

I will leave the rest for the stats and story to the others, because I feel the skill-set concept is much more important than that. Anyway...

Mind Sanctum: This is a neat skill, like a personal clairvoyant globe. Although you failed to mention the duration of the buff, or does it have any? Its just plain neat, simple to understand, and downright useful on any kind of game in DotA (1v1, 3v3, 5,v5). My only concern would be, if their are two heroes who attacks you at melee range, what would to the hovering globe then? Does it point to one hero then the other and vice versa?

Psionic Barrage: Its a pretty interesting skill, though it almost utilizes the same concept of Nevermore's Shadowraze but different otherwise. The variance in affected targets per spell makes gives it a certain distinction. Nothing much to say here.

Unimpeded Feast: This skill is pretty strong given the right conditions or pair him with other heroes' whose abilities gets to stun targets for either quite more often or just plain stun them. Though I am not sure about its AoE, it could need a nerf-stick like say 800? Anyway, the concept is great I am just talking numbers here.

(Ultimate)Rapture: I believe that this is better called as Rupture, although Strygwyr might scratch you off to death if you rename it to that. Anyway, the name rapture itself denotes ecstatic delight or a Christian theology. Although the name Rapture, could speak for the Mindflayer's ecstatic delight to gorge his targets to death. Might I suggest of changing it to Mind Break, perhaps? Anyway onto the ultimate, the concept is good and the global thing is for flavor... although would this work somehow like Maledict? I mean when the target gets healed completely before it is stunned from this ultimate, does that mean that the stun wears off?

Overall the concept is good but I will wait for some clarifications before I decide my vote which is leaning towards a thumbs up.


EDIT: Typo

This post has been edited by juanbato: Aug 28 2008, 01:28 AM

[LoreKeeper]

Juanbato

Mind Sanctum: This is a neat skill, like a personal clairvoyant globe. Although you failed to mention the duration of the buff, or does it have any? Its just plain neat, simple to understand, and downright useful on any kind of game in DotA (1v1, 3v3, 5,v5). My only concern would be, if their are two heroes who attacks you at melee range, what would to the hovering globe then? Does it point to one hero then the other and vice versa?

It's a passive - so it is there constantly, no need for duration - in the case of 2 melee heroes attacking you, the globe always picks the closest (so if there is a slight distinction due to rounding or something, then the globe would settle) - otherwise it is a matter of the order in which the heroes are considered; if the engine provides them in the same order, then it should resolve to the same result, otherwise it would hop around a bit

Psionic Barrage: Its a pretty interesting skill, though it almost utilizes the same concept of Nevermore's Shadowraze but different otherwise. The variance in affected targets per spell makes gives it a certain distinction. Nothing much to say here.

It purposefully uses the same concept as Nevermore's Shadowraze - the reason was that the two passives and the ultimate do not give much room for using abilities (on a hero that has lots of mana that is a problem) - so I thought the best solution is a "many for one" type of activated ability such as Shadowraze. The details are naturally different, but the overlying concept is one of giving the player more fun things to do with his/her mana resources.

Unimpeded Feast: This skill is pretty strong given the right conditions or pair him with other heroes' whose abilities gets to stun targets for either quite more often or just plain stun them. Though I am not sure about its AoE, it could need a nerf-stick like say 800? Anyway, the concept is great I am just talking numbers here.

No argument, the passive is powerful - but also very circumstantial. The exact numbers should be reasonable as they are (the range is chosen to be within limit of experience gain for kills) and actual play testing can nerf the hero somewhat.

I think what is an important consideration here is the *type* of hero. This ability on a ranged DPS machine would be broken - but instead it is on an Int-Melee hero with no direct combat ability enhancers. The hero plays strongly to his skills, rather than his ability to attack - making the hero very interactive and requiring a surprising amount of skill to optimally play.

(Ultimate)Rapture: I believe that this is better called as Rupture, although Strygwyr might scratch you off to death if you rename it to that. smile.gif Anyway, the name rapture itself denotes ecstatic delight or a Christian theology. Although the name Rapture, could speak for the Mindflayer's ecstatic delight to gorge his targets to death. Might I suggest of changing it to Mind Break, perhaps? Anyway onto the ultimate, the concept is good and the global thing is for flavor... although would this work somehow like Maledict? I mean when the target gets healed completely before it is stunned from this ultimate, does that mean that the stun wears off?

I'm going with the slant of Rapture (joy) for the Mindflayer - I like the ambivalent nature of such a "peaceful" sounding name and the disparity of fear and suffering it instills in enemies (exactly the kind of thing a mindflayer would consider rapturous )

You're right of course that the ability pays homage to some extent to Maledict, though acting in a very different direction.

Yes, if the target doesn't have a net loss of life after 5 seconds, then it escapes the stun effect (though even a single hitpoint lost equates to (rounded up) a 0.5 second stun). That is why I added a small innate life-loss per second that should add up to a 1.5 second (global) stun after the 5 second warm-up duration. The 5 seconds give sufficient time for enemies to adapt to the casting - but also sufficient time for allies to try and maximize the stun time on enemy heroes.

The point of making the ability global is because this allows the ability to be of great strategic significance. By itself the ability is not sufficient to kill in mostly all cases (unlike Zeus or Spectre who are quite lethal) so it isn't useful as a finisher in general - but it can make a very sizeable difference to allies in need of help as well as aiding allied pushes and mitigating enemy pushes; in other words it is a great initiator and aider.

[juanbato]

I see now... The concept is powerful but not that powerful in some cases. The concept alone warrants the hero a force to be reckoned with while at the same time, can be countered easily with the right strategies. You got my vote and this may be late but the old Mindflayer model (acolyte) was really not that good for a Mindflayer as this one represented much much better for a WC3 unused model.

[mauntogka_hehehe]

w0w, you must have some devilish mind with that story
hehehe

anyway

skill1 - atlast someone with passive eyes i was really waiting for that
(well not really eyes since its minds"

skill2 - nice! a random hit spell, i like it in a way that this spell is made for 3 purposes!!
(really nice, learning to make use of range)

skill3 - 1000 range in all 4 levels, hmm how bout 700/800/900/1000 AoE
rather than that everything is good! really good
(only in my opinion!)

ulti - why not make it Mind Rapture??? since Rapture is already being used by Strygwyr
Q: will stun work after the damage is applied or is it while the damage is being applied?
rather than that everything is great!

overall this hero is magnificent in its own unique skills and makes sense of the skill synergies

from me!!
me being honest

[Wakka02]

Now this is rare, a hero I like from the start. Normally I start off with a pretty negative mindset when I read hero suggestions (Forgive me, I saw too many lame and weird suggestions about a year back) and find all sorts of flaws in heroes, but what I see here I like. Some few flaws, granted, but I think it definitely deserves a T-up. Before I vote though, here's my take on this hero.

Mind Sanctum is a fairly good spell, original too. The skill of letting you know where the nearest enemy hero is could be very useful, especially in early game because you can't really RUN anywhere with this hero once an attack on you triggers. It's its surviveability spell and definitely a one of a kind. Although, it's HP will be a little too high once you actually start reaching the high levels without any HP boosters at all.. Maybe lower it's strength gain or something, to something around Pugna's standard (1.75 instead of 2.0).

Psionic Barrage can't be said as original, since it builds off the Shadow Fiend's Shadowraze ability, but it's a good skill nonetheless, considered that it's a good framework for your other skill, Unimpeded Feast. I'm a little confused though. Is it still an AOE, or only at the ranges of 250/500/750? Does it affect two targets at 750 AOE range, or any target within 750 AOE range? That's what I wanna know. Because if it's the former, the numbers need a little crunching, while if it's the latter that might not be necessary. More on this when you answer that question yeah.

Unimpeded Feast is a good skill, one that would have been imbalanced on any other hero but perfect on this one. Although, I must admit that Fog Raider is right, that it's a little sad for this hero if he has no stuns on his team, he thrives off those stuns. Lower the extra damage a little, because like Fog Raider says, it might just hurt a little too much to have a long stun from his ally. Other than the numbers though, I'm loving this skill.

Is Rapture channeling? Because it sure looks that way to me, and I recommend it to be channeling if it isn't. It's a lot like the Faceless Void's (very) old Ultimate, which slowed the entire enemy map for a set period of time, except this is damage AND stun. Even Zeus, the first hero to have a Global skill can't both damage and stun at the same time. My opinion is make it channeling, because if you're casting this spell then likely you're a pretty far distance away from the enemy anyway. This skill is best used in team fights, and an Intel hero is not the hero I'd have in mind to go charging into the fray first.

A little suggestion on the numbers for Rapture though. Make it a little less harsh on the amount of damage to proc a stun, because at level 1.. I don't really see this skill worth getting. On its own it's a 0.5s, 100 damage global skill. I'd be better off pumping another skill, but then again that's just my opinion. It's totally up to you.

The skill set is one that deserves merit for its theme and originality, and I like the way it synergizes a lot. I'd say I'm holding a Null Vote and will be T-upping it very soon after certain tweaks and changes here and there, but I'm a little short on time since I'll be out of town for three weeks effective tomorrow. So unless you make the changes in the next 24 hours or so, I won't be around to give you the T-up you deserve, so I'm gonna give it to you now.

Cheers, and good luck!

[Lill]

since Rapture is already being used by Strygwyr

No it isn't. Strywyr uses Rupture, not Rapture.

This post has been edited by Lill: Aug 28 2008, 05:48 AM

[LoreKeeper]

juanbato

the old Mindflayer model (acolyte) was really not that good for a Mindflayer as this one

hehehehe - I think that is a question of artistic interpretation. The Acolyte model is pretty close to a DnD interpretation of a mindflayer - but in this case I thought that something a little fresh and different would be nice. The Sludgy is usually suggested as a swamp/putrid hero - this is a bit of a fresh interpretation for that model as well.


mauntogka_hehehe

w0w, you must have some devilish mind with that story

ulti - why not make it Mind Rapture??? since Rapture is already being used by Strygwyr
Q: will stun work after the damage is applied or is it while the damage is being applied?
rather than that everything is great!

Strygwyr uses "Rupture" not "Rapture", but that is minor.
The stun is applied after the 5 second duration based on the total life lost in that time.

Thanks for the thumbs!
Expect me to have a honest look at one of your heroes some time.


Wakka02

Glad you like Geophrey

Mind Sanctum is a fairly good spell, original too. The skill of letting you know where the nearest enemy hero is could be very useful, especially in early game because you can't really RUN anywhere with this hero once an attack on you triggers. It's its surviveability spell and definitely a one of a kind. Although, it's HP will be a little too high once you actually start reaching the high levels without any HP boosters at all.. Maybe lower it's strength gain or something, to something around Pugna's standard (1.75 instead of 2.0).

I don't think it is wise to lower the HP gain - unlike Pugna, for example, this hero is a melee Int hero without the advantage of instilling direct fear into players; enemies that avoid the Psionic Barrage won't have trouble hunting the Mindflayer down. Furthermore the HP gain is staggered very evenly over the course of the game. Consider this scenario: Max Mind Sanctum and have Int-Treads by Level 7 gains you: (26 + 6 * 2.7 + 10) * 5 = +260hp. This is obviously significant early game survivability (equal to buying a Vitality Booster), but the hero also needs it - as he's vulnerable with low attack-based DPS. Over the course of a whole game the hero can probably amass 150 Int which equates to +750hp. Even if you assume 200 Int the bonus is merely 1000hp. For a hero naturally vulnerable to attacks and without innate high armor 1000hp is a nice buffer - but it isn't overly much either.

Remember:
1 Int = 5hp
1 Str = 19hp

Now ask yourself: do you want to spend 1000gp on gaining a bonus +50hp (Staff of Wizardry) - or would you rather get some utility/dps item? Players that want to amass heavy hitpoints would rather go with Heart of Tarrasque and gain with one item the same total bonus to HP as can be expected with a well-equipped Int-build.

Psionic Barrage can't be said as original, since it builds off the Shadow Fiend's Shadowraze ability, but it's a good skill nonetheless, considered that it's a good framework for your other skill, Unimpeded Feast. I'm a little confused though. Is it still an AOE, or only at the ranges of 250/500/750? Does it affect two targets at 750 AOE range, or any target within 750 AOE range? That's what I wanna know. Because if it's the former, the numbers need a little crunching, while if it's the latter that might not be necessary. More on this when you answer that question yeah.

Originiality issues aside (I wouldn't count a mechanical detail such as 3-for-1 an originality issue) the ability is very useful on the hero and is intended to give him options to *do* stuff with his mana (as the Ultimate and 2 passives somewhat limit the options on a hero known for a lot of Intelligence and Mana).

The skill is AOE in the sense that it can affect units in an area - however - any unit in the radius of effect can be (randomly) selected to suffer from the skill's effect. In other words there is no control whether the long-range Barrage actually affects units at long range (other than there not being close targets that could be affected). So, as you point out, the numbers probably do not need crunching.

Note, though, that Psionic Barrage can be quite effective in a 1v1 scenario, as each Psionic Barrage would be guaranteed to hit the enemy - this can potentially deal a lot of damage (100 * 3 + 160 * 3 = 780) and stun for upto 3 seconds in total - the total damage and stun time would still be less than a two-spell Earthshaker combo (275 + 115 + 115 + 3 * attack_damage = roughly 750 to 850) and a 3.25 second stun. With Ultimates both can ofcourse deal even more damage and stun.

Unimpeded Feast is a good skill, one that would have been imbalanced on any other hero but perfect on this one. Although, I must admit that Fog Raider is right, that it's a little sad for this hero if he has no stuns on his team, he thrives off those stuns. Lower the extra damage a little, because like Fog Raider says, it might just hurt a little too much to have a long stun from his ally. Other than the numbers though, I'm loving this skill.

Long stuns in DotA are almost all predicated by late level heroes - and in that respect the ability is perfectly balanced. The most notable exception is the Alchemist ofcourse - and that is a normal phenomenon in DotA: some heroes simply work amazingly well together (Pudge + Tekkies, Venge + Rhasta, etc). It is important to note that the ability is quite powerful when a stun happens - but meaningless the rest of the time. The Mindflayer fortunately is equipped with the ability to generate stuns - though to be fair the abilities aren't perfectly controllable, which should keep things balanced quite well.

Is Rapture channeling? Because it sure looks that way to me, and I recommend it to be channeling if it isn't. It's a lot like the Faceless Void's (very) old Ultimate, which slowed the entire enemy map for a set period of time, except this is damage AND stun. Even Zeus, the first hero to have a Global skill can't both damage and stun at the same time. My opinion is make it channeling, because if you're casting this spell then likely you're a pretty far distance away from the enemy anyway. This skill is best used in team fights, and an Intel hero is not the hero I'd have in mind to go charging into the fray first.

No it isn't channeling. And there is a simple reason: the Ultimate stuns after 5 seconds based on total life lost, the 20/40/60 damage per second is almost meaningless in terms of a damage source - (Zeus' level 1 Ultimate deals 210 in an instant, vs 100 damage spread over 5 seconds from Mindflayer). The key of Rapture is the stun-effect based on total life lost by enemies - it should be clear that the Mindflayer must be given a chance to actually deal damage to the enemies to create a meaningful stun. Even at max level Rapture only gives a 1.5 second stun by itself.

You say that Zeus cannot damage and stun at the same time - which is true, but neither does the Mindflayer (the stun happens *after* the damage that is dealt in the first 5 seconds): this means that enemies have plenty of time to prepare their defences and escape to minimise the impact of the Rapture. There is no escape from Zeus - but Rapture, by itself, will rarely kill (and if it does, then the stun is meaningless).

A little suggestion on the numbers for Rapture though. Make it a little less harsh on the amount of damage to proc a stun, because at level 1.. I don't really see this skill worth getting. On its own it's a 0.5s, 100 damage global skill. I'd be better off pumping another skill, but then again that's just my opinion. It's totally up to you.

hehehe - this is *exactly* why Rapture cannot be a channeling spell. The Mindflayer needs opportunity to deal additional damage using other means. ALL damage (including from allies) is significant, as the total life lost from start to end of the 5 second duration is used to determine stun time. If the enemy uses Mekansm or something to heal and have no net life lost, then they're not stunned from Rapture.

The skill set is one that deserves merit for its theme and originality, and I like the way it synergizes a lot. I'd say I'm holding a Null Vote and will be T-upping it very soon after certain tweaks and changes here and there, but I'm a little short on time since I'll be out of town for three weeks effective tomorrow. So unless you make the changes in the next 24 hours or so, I won't be around to give you the T-up you deserve, so I'm gonna give it to you now.

Cheers, and good luck!

Thanks

Lill

Thanks for being so sharp

[Wakka02]

Wow you sure did reply fast. LoL.

Yes, I agree that a 1000 HP booster might not be that high a boost for him due to a lack of armour, but at level 25, assuming he's managed to amass his 200 intel, he's got 2292 HP from that alone. Besides if you managed to get 200 intel, like as not your items will include SOME item that allows other stat increase (egs. Guinsoo), which puts his HP easily in the 2.5k zone, not something you deplete easy even at max level. There might be people who complain about that.

Question though.. I'm not really sure your tinted ball can be coded that easily. LoL. Oh well, when there's a will there's a way I suppose.

As for the question of Psionic Barrage, that's exactly the answer I wanted to hear. Love the skill.

The bit I said about Unimpeded Feast doesn't really make sense, forgive that. LoL.

As for channeling Rapture... Hm. Well, if you don't make it channel, then the Mindflayer can operate more as a solo hero, but that would be kind of gay if enemies just started taking damage over time and get stunned for no good reason. At least if they see the Mindflayer doing some kind of animation they know what's gonna come to them so they can at least react. If not a channeling spell, I suggest giving the enemies afflicted by the spell a status icon while they're in the damage taking phase, to let them know that they will be stunned very soon and so they can do something about it. Question: Does it affect invis units?

Not much else to say. Hahas. Hope to hear again soon.