Hero: Serestia, the real "Crystal Maiden"

[Inconmon]

I'd call this hero Crystal Maiden, but the name is already kinda taken~~

Primary attribute: Intelligence
Attack type: Ranged
Attack range: 600
The stats go along with other casters such as Glacius, Torturer and Nymphora.


Abilities:
The goal was to create an "int nuker" with abilities that are less straight forward and would let it take a more supportive role. Less straight forward as in making the abilities stronger under certain conditions and weaker if the enemies watch their positioning. More supportive by making the abilities more useful with allies around.


1) Shard Burst
All enemies around target friend or foe take 100/180/260/340 magic damage, but not the target itself. Cannot be cast on self.
Cooldown: 5
Manacost: 95/130/165/200
AoE: 275/300/325/350
Range: 850

The core spell of this hero is tricky: It deals no damage to the target and you cannot cast it on yourself. So it forces you to cast it on allied heroes, enemy heroes that ball up and creeps; which means your opponents can avoid damage / harass by good positioning.
As tradeoff the damage is good and the cooldown rather short.


2) Crystalline Sanctuary
Target friend or foe is encased by a crystal for 2/3/4/5 seconds. In this state the target is immune to any form of damage and to any debuffs, but cannot move, attack or use abilities.
Cooldown: 60/50/40/30
Manacost: 110/135/160/185
Range: 700

Sanctuary has two uses, it can either disable foes so you can get away or they cannot get away -- or you can use it to save allies who are about to die. Its good for ganks obviously, as you can open up with it and everybody can go into position before killing the target, but not as good as a stun or powerful slow. The disadvantage when using it on allies is that the enemies just need to wait for some seconds if you cannot gain control of the area to finish the job.


3) Crystalize (Passive)
Targets killed by this hero turn to crystal for 2 seconds instead of dying. After this time they explode dealing 75/100/125/150 damage to enemies within 275 range. Crystalized heroes deal triple damage. Crystalized units have 50/100/175/250 hitpoints and 0 armor; they can be destroyed before exploding.

Any unit (creep, hero, summon) killed by this hero in any way (spell, ultimate, autoattack, item effects) is turned into crystal, which could be completely white texture and 50% transparency. In this state the unit counts already as killed and exp/gold is rewarded. After 2 seconds it will explode and deal area damage, which can be avoided by attacking the crystalized unit and killing it.


4) Hurl Shards
Throws 3/5/7 crystal shards towards target location, each one dealing 75 true damage to any unit it passes through. Units hit by this spell is slowed down by 15/20/25% for 3/3/4 seconds.
Cooldown: 60/45/30
Manacost: 200/250/300
Range: 800

Works like a mix of PotM's arrow and Soulstealer/Shadowfiends Ultimate. One shard flies towards your target, the next is send into the same direction +/- 12°, at level 2 two more fly out at +/- 24° and at level 3 another two fly out at +/- 36°.
This way it deals heavy damage at close range, okay damage at medium range and hardly any damage at long range.
True damage means that it ignores magic armor.




Synergies:

Shard Burst + Crystalline Sanctuary:
Using the combination of Crystalline Sanctuary and Shard Burst is a powerful combination to save allied heroes in trouble. You turn your ally into crystal and deal heavy area damage around him the next moment. The duration of Sanctuary is long enough that you can fire a second Burst shortly after Sanctuary runs out, scaring any melee heroes away.
Works especially well with Legionnaire or Torturer -- and/or in combination with Jereziah's heal.

Shard Burst + Crystalize:
Kill a creep so it is crystalized and cast Shard Burst on it before it explodes. This way you can stack area damage and burst an impressive 490 damage!

Shard Burst + Hurl Shards:
Hurl Shards will slow down the movement speed of a group of enemies making it far easier to land a good Shard Burst that hits multiple foes.
It is also great to kill a creepwave for a quick gold boost.

Hurl Shards + Crystalline Sanctuary:
Disable the target with Sanctuary to get into point blank range for Hurl Shards!

Shard Burst + Crystalize + Hurl Shards:
Standing in a creep wave against Serestia means being a masochist. The combination of Hurl Shards and Shard Burst will crystalize all creeps, deal heavy damage and slow the target down -- before the crystalized creeps explode and finish the target off.
Works great in combination with any stunner.
Kinda the opposite of Swiftblade/Moonqueen which punish being without creeps.

Shard Burst + Crystalline Sanctuary + Crystalize + Hurl Shards:
The ultimate combo to bomb a player and a creepwave. Hit the creepwave with a Shard Burst and put the target into Sanctuary so you can get your timing right and draw all creeps close. When Sanctuary ends hit the target with Hurl Shards point blank, which also crystalizes the creep wave. Another Shard Burst before the creeps explode to get the job done against tough heroes.

Geometer's Bane (Manta Style) / Puzzle Box / Whispering Helmet + Shard Burst:
Use Shard Burst on the Illusion/Minions/Creep to damage enemies who thought you are an easy kill without any creeps or allies nearby!
Using Whispering Helmet to get a Minotaur with AE stun works especially well!

Stormspirit/Totem of Kuldra + Crystalline Sanctuary:
Disable an overfed hero long enough so you can finish his team and then take care of him.

Codex + Crystalize + Shard Burst:
Use Codex to get last hits on heroes and cast Shard Burst on the crystalized victim to deal impressive 790 damage to anyone stupid enough to stay close.
Extremely powerful in combination with Tempest's Ultimate as nobody can get away.


Strengths and Weaknesses
Obviously the hero can be very situational. If you control the field, pick your fights well and work as team, Seretia becomes extremely powerful. On the other hand if you watch your positioning against Seretia and play smart, you can avoid her most powerful abilities.
She is a good laner early on as Shard Burst is great to harass heroes which try to last hit while getting last hits yourself by the spell. As with most nukers her strength late into the game depends alot on the success early on, but her supportive power still give her uses once its a fight between the carries.


Hm?

[Elaeli]

So you get 4 Shard Burst asap, with the leftover into Crystalize, and obliterate every creep wave in one cast, not to mention any heroes standing inside them? Uuh .. Yeah, sounds "balanced" when you have heroes like elec or polly in the game ..

[Inconmon]

Shard Burst + Crystalize is in line with the combinations of many other heroes that can easily get every hit in a creepwave early on. Even Nymphora can do it on level 7 with a single spell as long as there is mana. Heroes like Puppet Master dont even need to spend mana in order to do it.

But by pushing the lane like that early you leave yourself wide open to ganks (no points in sanctuary = no defense at all) and keep the melee on your lane down because he cant get gold, while the other team can farm right infront of their tower which grants safety.
And you cannot go gank yourself because of no sanctuary to stop runners and shard burst by itself does only work with blink heroes like night hound, predator, magebane and so on.

I dont see a problem.

[summ1else]

Please tweak these numbers. I won't consider commenting on the hero further until you make the skills more realistic. Your dmg amounts are ... well, they're insane.
Let me point it out. Passive to max lvl and shards to lvl 2 and ult to lvl 1 = lvl 7

So at lvl 7 ->
105 mana + 200 mana = 305 mana (nothing at lvl 7 especially for int)
Dmg total is 180 dmg in 300 aoe + 225 damage(pure) (so what would equal a 300 dmg nuke) that can also pass through multipile targets i assume. And any heroes in the area that gets killed by these releases another 450 dmg into a 300 range after 1 second? And they're 250 hp each? 250 hp in 1 second? No?

See where I'm going with this? It's 180 + 300(effective magic dmg) + 450 dmg in approximately 300 aoe at lvl 7 by just killing one hero. Anyone else in the area is doomed and it's a domino effect with your passive. I didn't even mention creeps or the slows.

Scale back the numbers please and I'll have another look. Shards is ridiculous. 950 range 105 mana and a 5 second cd for 340 damage? What?! Forget everything I said up there. Just nuke heroes near other heroes 3 times in 15 seconds and you only spend 315 mana = 1020 dmg. Not cool man.

[Inconmon]

Numbers adjusted. Funny part is that I consider the passive skill to be the weakest one as it is highly situational and can easily be avoided.


Dmg total is 180 dmg in 300 aoe + 225 damage(pure) (so what would equal a 300 dmg nuke) that can also pass through multipile targets i assume.

So thats 405 damage if you stand in melee range against an enemy hero and have another hero or creep next to him that you can cast your nuke on.
Pyromancer, Torturer, Thunderbringer and even Blacksmith can deal the same or even more damage without the need to stand right infront of the target or have creeps / other heroes nearby AND they all can stun, too.


And any heroes in the area that gets killed by these releases another 450 dmg into a 300 range after 1 second? And they're 250 hp each? 250 hp in 1 second? No?

Not sure how many heroes will stand right next to each other on level 7 but usually its not many. In order to get that 450 damage you need to last hit the enemy hero AND another one needs to be close by.
Level 7 Pyromancer can deal equal damage with Stun+Wave and then use his ultimate on another hero or even the same hero which simply outperforms Serestia.

You wont be getting many last hits anyway without skilling your nuke.

When going Level 4 passive, Level 2 burst and ultimate your only decent damage is 225 at melee range and a bad nuke (180 reduced by magic armor) which cannot even target enemies directly.
You will suck at ganking big time and cannot avoid ganks yourself; and your skills arent that great to harass someone on the lane because even melees can avoid crystalize (the passive) when last hitting.


Scale back the numbers please and I'll have another look. Shards is ridiculous. 950 range 105 mana and a 5 second cd for 340 damage? What?! Forget everything I said up there. Just nuke heroes near other heroes 3 times in 15 seconds and you only spend 315 mana = 1020 dmg. Not cool man.

I did scale it back; but keep in mind that it was 105 mana for 180 damage, not 340 damage. And you cannot target enemy heroes directly, which is the reason it deals that high damage. Would Jereziah's Heal be awesome as nuke without the healing?

[summ1else]

Mana cost on shards looks better. I must have missed that is was 105 mc @ lvl 1. I'm going to take another peak at this tomorrow for more notes.

[Illyrian]

I think if the other heroes in the team have multiple stuns this hero could be thoroughly ridiculous.

In 3v3 it would seem her effectiveness would be reduced.

I guess you have to wonder if this game needs another ranged nuker or not.

[Inconmon]

Does it need another tank? Another stealther? Another invis hero? Obviously it needs all of it and in nearly unlimited number. More heroes equal more fun, as long as they are well designed.

[summ1else]

1) Shard Burst
All enemies around target friend or foe take 100/180/260/340 magic damage, but not the target itself. Cannot be cast on self.
Cooldown: 5
Manacost: 95/130/165/200
AoE: 275/300/325/350
Range: 850

Static AoE will make this skill easier to use/more likeable. I still think the high end damage is a little high, regardless of whether you can directly target a hero or not. It's much easier to hit a hero with aoe from a nova than you think. If you decide to lower the dmg, lower the mc as well, because it's about right.



2) Crystalline Sanctuary
Target friend or foe is encased by a crystal for 2/3/4/5 seconds. In this state the target is immune to any form of damage and to any debuffs, but cannot move, attack or use abilities.
Cooldown: 60/50/40/30
Manacost: 110/135/160/185
Range: 700

Put plainly I don't like this skill. If used on allies at the very least they should be able to "break free" by clicking on something. It does very little to help allies as far as I can see. Definitely needs "-disablehelp" functionality. For enemies at that mc it should do dmg. Then it's a bit like Glacius's Ice Prison. I would like it better if it only worked on allies, and worked for 1/2/3/4 seconds and healed 100 hp per second at a constant 150-165 mana. If none of that sounds good I'd suggest remaking this skill.




3) Crystalize (Passive)
Targets killed by this hero turn to crystal for 2 seconds instead of dying. After this time they explode dealing 75/100/125/150 damage to enemies within 275 range. Crystalized heroes deal triple damage. Crystalized units have 50/100/175/250 hitpoints and 0 armor; they can be destroyed before exploding.

Lower HP scaling. to 25/50/75/100
Make damage 75/125/175/225 for hero deaths and 1/3 for creeps. It really is way too strong as you have it up there. If she's intended as a supporting role this skill lends itself to kill stealing more than anything.



4) Hurl Shards
Throws 3/5/7 crystal shards towards target location, each one dealing 75 true damage to any unit it passes through. Units hit by this spell is slowed down by 15/20/25% for 3/3/4 seconds.
Cooldown: 60/45/30
Manacost: 200/250/300
Range: 800

Works like a mix of PotM's arrow and Soulstealer/Shadowfiends Ultimate. One shard flies towards your target, the next is send into the same direction +/- 12°, at level 2 two more fly out at +/- 24° and at level 3 another two fly out at +/- 36°.
This way it deals heavy damage at close range, okay damage at medium range and hardly any damage at long range.
True damage means that it ignores magic armor.

This is an ult. Dmg -> 100 true damage per shard. CD -> 80 seconds. Mana cost 250/400/600
I'd pay 600 mana for 700 pure damage and a slow. I know for a fact that 30 second cd and 525 pure damage and slow every 30 seconds for 300 mana is too cheap.
[/QUotE]

[Inconmon]

Thx for the feedback:

Static AoE will make this skill easier to use/more likeable.

Its not supposed to be easy to use. If it would turn out too strong / too easy to hit stuff, my first idea would be reducing the area. After years as wc3 mapper and player I still have difficulties judging area-effects.


Put plainly I don't like this skill. [...] It does very little to help allies as far as I can see.

There are many situations in which it is a total lifesaver, but by randomly casting it at someone it wont be helpful. Together with Shard Burst it becomes extremely powerful defense against melee heroes attacking allies early/midgame.
You can cast it on people stuck in chronosphere or Tempest's black hole or standing next to moon queen's noob cannon. 5 seconds of invulnerability does not only delay the death by 5 seconds but also allows cooldowns like blink (strike) to run out -- or even portal key.
Or you can interrupt soulstealers ultimate, legionnaires execute or glacius ultimate, ... not to mention that it is a 5 second disable by itself.

While everybody thinks Crystalize (passiv) is too strong, I am afraid that this one is. :)


Lower HP scaling. to 25/50/75/100
Make damage 75/125/175/225 for hero deaths and 1/3 for creeps. It really is way too strong as you have it up there. If she's intended as a supporting role this skill lends itself to kill stealing more than anything.

You know that this would make the skill pretty much useless? 100 hp means a single battle fury (runed axe?) makes this skill 100% useless in most situations.
Only 225 damage on hero death .. every nuke is far better because you can use it when you need it. How many heroes will you kill in a game and have another hero standing next to it? 3-4? 5-6 if you are extremely lucky?

But yea, I agree that creeps might deal too much damage, as a chain reaction might easily kill a hero after one good shard burst. But on the other side it is far easier not to stand next to creeps than always standing next to creeps --swiftblade, moonqueen require you to have creeps nearby or you die quickly. Why would anyone be stupid enough to stand between several creeps against this hero? If someone does that he kinda deserves dying.

An easy fix would be a) make it 2 seconds delay on all levels and maybe even b) reduce the damage on creeps but make hero deaths 4x more damage.
In the end i'd be careful, as this skill is easily overnerfed.


This is an ult. Dmg -> 100 true damage per shard. CD -> 80 seconds. Mana cost 250/400/600
I'd pay 600 mana for 700 pure damage and a slow. I know for a fact that 30 second cd and 525 pure damage and slow every 30 seconds for 300 mana is too cheap.

Its only 525 damage and slow if you are in melee; if they stand not right next to you its already 375 damage. If they stand further away its between 75 and 150 damage. I'd rather reduce the damage to 60 (max 420) or even 55 (max 330) and have a shorter cooldown instead giving the hero a "big bomb every 2 minutes" which is exactly what dota doesnt need as its very wc'ish and rather gay.
Anyway, its level 16 to get that damage. Not sure if being in melee range is a good ideas against many other heroes on that level.