Eej
06-29-2009, 05:25 PM
Hardly complete, but the general gist of the hero design is there. Of course, numbers could be tweaked around. Also a warning, I use HoN and DotA terms (especially items) interchangeably.
Fluff
Originally, Larsith was one of the finest Elven warriors alive. Over the time, however, he became disillusioned with the seemingly dainty nature of Elven combat. Why bother with elaborate deflections, footwork and counterattacks when an accurate and well-timed haymaker would do the same thing with less effort?
Voluntarily leaving Elven society, he wandered into the wilderness to learn more about the more primal side of life that Elven society rejects at every possibility. There, he met with many nomadic humans and learned that though their methods may be barbaric, they were by all means cunning and powerful fighters. He learned from them the ways of the land and incorporated their more brutal techniques into his fighting style.
When the Hellbourne began their rampage through the wild lands with blatant disregard for all life, Larsith joined up with the Legion to utilize his newfound skills against this menace. Although he remembers his centuries of training, his techniques have become significantly more savage. Wielding a "poleaxe" that is nothing more than a jagged hunk of obsidian attached to a pole, he sows a path of destruction in enemy ranks.
Stats and Abilities
Strength: 20 + 2.5
Agility: 22 + 2.1
Intelligence: 13 + 1.6
Movement Speed: 305
Attack Range: Melee
Other stats are normal.
Swooping Hawk
Larsith leaps at an enemy within 300/400/500/600 range, holding his blade high over his head. On landing, he deals his normal attack damage to all targets in a 100/150/200/250 radius.
Cost: 120/130/140/150 Mana
Cooldown: 10 Seconds
Basically, a blink-cleave with a sweet animation. Useful as an opener but can also be used to chase people down. Also his only scaling attack.
Raging Bear
Switching his grip on his blade, Larsith braces his weapon against his arm and performs a whirlwind attack, dealing 100/150/200/250 damage to opponents within 200 range and sending them flying away 100/150/200/250.
Cost: 140 Mana
Cooldown: 12 Seconds
Essentially the opposite of Magnataur's ult without the stun component. Used to break up clumped up enemies (for example, any team pushing with Nymphora). Also works as a channeling breaker.
Hot Blood
Larsith relishes the fight and he the more he is beaten, the more energetic he seems to become. For every point of damage, Larsith recovers 0.5/1.0/1.5/2.0 points of mana.
Passive
This skill is the primary way he can fuel his ability usage in a protracted battle. May or may not cause Foreigner to start playing in your head.
Backhand
A technique that that Larsith perfected in his exile, it is the perfection of the exquisite art of hitting someone with the back of your fist. The backhanded target flies 600/800/1000 yards away from Larsith, causing 200/300/400 damage to the target and all enemies in its path.
Cost: 150/250/350 Mana
Cooldown 120/90/60 Seconds
The knockback is essentially a crowd control effect where the duration is based on how long it takes for the target to return to the fight. Targets can fly over cliffs but will stop at the base of one. They will also go through trees.
The direction they fly is directly away from his current position, which can make targeting tricky.
General Thoughts and Strategies
Larsith is a fairly straightforward melee hero that can played a number of ways. The original design of the hero calls for stacking health/regen items to make up for his mediocre natural health. The leap attack allows him to forgo getting a Portal Key since he is fairly fragile and needs item assistance to stay alive, whereas Legionnare (a similar hero) is already fairly durable and can get kills without it.
A typical way of engaging groups would be to leap onto the back hero, Backhand a more fragile hero back towards your own team and then whirlwind the remaining heroes to disrupt them. Proper usage of his knockbacks can isolate enemy heroes from his team and can also make using skills like Nymphora's heal a little more difficult to use (although jumping directly onto the pod wouldn't do much since they would still be hit by the heal). The Black King Bar equivalent would be useful for this kind of disruption, since leaping directly into the enemy would be an invitation for being CC'd and focused down.
A typical tank build would be to get 1 point in Swooping Hawk for potential early ganks and a mobility increase, then maxing Raging Bear/Hot Blood before finishing Swooping Hawk. A Bracer or two combined with a Vanguard would give him good early game tanking ability but he will most likely need teammate assistance on full health ganks because of his lack of snares and stuns. From here, he can go straight to a Behemoth's Heart or instead get a Vitality Booster and go for a Blade Mail as a rude surprise when he jumps into a group. A BKB would also be helpful in not being CC'd while in the midst of the enemy.
Another way of building him would be to stack Battle Furies and a crit item to increase the strength of his leap attack. This would allow him to do massive damage to enemies who are clumped up, more so than a tanky build. The main downside of this build would be a lack of tanking items that prevent him from fighting for longer periods in order to have a massive early burst. Since he is an agility hero, he would get quite a significant amount of damage and survivability from a Wingblade. However, his mana regeneration would have to be supplemented somehow since his health pool wouldn't be as large as in a tanking build so mana regeneration from Hot Blood wouldn't be as high.
There is also the option of going with int-based items. For example, getting an Arcane Ring and skipping Hot Blood entirely. This kind of build enables reliable front loading of all his nukes (similar to Pebbles or Behemoth) at the cost of survivability. A Shiva's will give him another AoE nuke to his repertoire while a cyclone/sheep stick would increase his disruption ability.
Fluff
Originally, Larsith was one of the finest Elven warriors alive. Over the time, however, he became disillusioned with the seemingly dainty nature of Elven combat. Why bother with elaborate deflections, footwork and counterattacks when an accurate and well-timed haymaker would do the same thing with less effort?
Voluntarily leaving Elven society, he wandered into the wilderness to learn more about the more primal side of life that Elven society rejects at every possibility. There, he met with many nomadic humans and learned that though their methods may be barbaric, they were by all means cunning and powerful fighters. He learned from them the ways of the land and incorporated their more brutal techniques into his fighting style.
When the Hellbourne began their rampage through the wild lands with blatant disregard for all life, Larsith joined up with the Legion to utilize his newfound skills against this menace. Although he remembers his centuries of training, his techniques have become significantly more savage. Wielding a "poleaxe" that is nothing more than a jagged hunk of obsidian attached to a pole, he sows a path of destruction in enemy ranks.
Stats and Abilities
Strength: 20 + 2.5
Agility: 22 + 2.1
Intelligence: 13 + 1.6
Movement Speed: 305
Attack Range: Melee
Other stats are normal.
Swooping Hawk
Larsith leaps at an enemy within 300/400/500/600 range, holding his blade high over his head. On landing, he deals his normal attack damage to all targets in a 100/150/200/250 radius.
Cost: 120/130/140/150 Mana
Cooldown: 10 Seconds
Basically, a blink-cleave with a sweet animation. Useful as an opener but can also be used to chase people down. Also his only scaling attack.
Raging Bear
Switching his grip on his blade, Larsith braces his weapon against his arm and performs a whirlwind attack, dealing 100/150/200/250 damage to opponents within 200 range and sending them flying away 100/150/200/250.
Cost: 140 Mana
Cooldown: 12 Seconds
Essentially the opposite of Magnataur's ult without the stun component. Used to break up clumped up enemies (for example, any team pushing with Nymphora). Also works as a channeling breaker.
Hot Blood
Larsith relishes the fight and he the more he is beaten, the more energetic he seems to become. For every point of damage, Larsith recovers 0.5/1.0/1.5/2.0 points of mana.
Passive
This skill is the primary way he can fuel his ability usage in a protracted battle. May or may not cause Foreigner to start playing in your head.
Backhand
A technique that that Larsith perfected in his exile, it is the perfection of the exquisite art of hitting someone with the back of your fist. The backhanded target flies 600/800/1000 yards away from Larsith, causing 200/300/400 damage to the target and all enemies in its path.
Cost: 150/250/350 Mana
Cooldown 120/90/60 Seconds
The knockback is essentially a crowd control effect where the duration is based on how long it takes for the target to return to the fight. Targets can fly over cliffs but will stop at the base of one. They will also go through trees.
The direction they fly is directly away from his current position, which can make targeting tricky.
General Thoughts and Strategies
Larsith is a fairly straightforward melee hero that can played a number of ways. The original design of the hero calls for stacking health/regen items to make up for his mediocre natural health. The leap attack allows him to forgo getting a Portal Key since he is fairly fragile and needs item assistance to stay alive, whereas Legionnare (a similar hero) is already fairly durable and can get kills without it.
A typical way of engaging groups would be to leap onto the back hero, Backhand a more fragile hero back towards your own team and then whirlwind the remaining heroes to disrupt them. Proper usage of his knockbacks can isolate enemy heroes from his team and can also make using skills like Nymphora's heal a little more difficult to use (although jumping directly onto the pod wouldn't do much since they would still be hit by the heal). The Black King Bar equivalent would be useful for this kind of disruption, since leaping directly into the enemy would be an invitation for being CC'd and focused down.
A typical tank build would be to get 1 point in Swooping Hawk for potential early ganks and a mobility increase, then maxing Raging Bear/Hot Blood before finishing Swooping Hawk. A Bracer or two combined with a Vanguard would give him good early game tanking ability but he will most likely need teammate assistance on full health ganks because of his lack of snares and stuns. From here, he can go straight to a Behemoth's Heart or instead get a Vitality Booster and go for a Blade Mail as a rude surprise when he jumps into a group. A BKB would also be helpful in not being CC'd while in the midst of the enemy.
Another way of building him would be to stack Battle Furies and a crit item to increase the strength of his leap attack. This would allow him to do massive damage to enemies who are clumped up, more so than a tanky build. The main downside of this build would be a lack of tanking items that prevent him from fighting for longer periods in order to have a massive early burst. Since he is an agility hero, he would get quite a significant amount of damage and survivability from a Wingblade. However, his mana regeneration would have to be supplemented somehow since his health pool wouldn't be as large as in a tanking build so mana regeneration from Hot Blood wouldn't be as high.
There is also the option of going with int-based items. For example, getting an Arcane Ring and skipping Hot Blood entirely. This kind of build enables reliable front loading of all his nukes (similar to Pebbles or Behemoth) at the cost of survivability. A Shiva's will give him another AoE nuke to his repertoire while a cyclone/sheep stick would increase his disruption ability.