Mittsies
08-30-2009, 12:25 PM
http://www5.picturepush.com/photo/a/2193623/img/Heroes-of-Newerth/Zaff.png
Drawn in MS Paint
ZAFF, THE FROST PALADIN
STR - 19 + 2.4 (Primary)
AGI - 19 + 1.9
INT - 14 + 1.4
Attack Type - Melee
Movement Speed - 290
Roles: Tank, Carry, Initiatior
Exiled from a desert kingdom that became corrupted with power, Zaff seeks a new place of holy righteousness within the Legion. His Zealous efforts are blessed by the powerful goddess Shiva -- and he aims to destroy Hellbourne, a recently affiliate with the kingdom that he believes is the cause of the corruption.
Process of Designing Zaff
Skip ahead if you'd like -- just a lot of discussion about this hero and why I chose the ability set that I did. The concept I was going for with Zaff is an Ursa Warrior with a twist. Ursa is a fun hero, no doubt, but often he has nothing to offer for his team. He specializes in tanking and rapidly getting hits off on a single target -- but the only way for him to be really efficient is to farm quite a lot. Until he gets some vladmir's, some basic life items, a dagger/lothar's, etc. he is virtually useless to his team. My goal was to try and remake Ursa, still following the same concept, but to allow him to be a great asset to his team.
The first thing I wanted to do was turn his Slow into something easier to get into a teamfight. Ursa's Earthshock is damn difficult to use and not worth it since it only slows, not stuns. Slardar and Centaur can make much better use of their stomps due to the higher reward of stunning. Omniknight's Degen Aura came into mind and I really wanted to stick with it. I later on decided to integrate Fury Swipes into this ability as well -- it feels fitting to add a "Freezing Attack".
Zeal is more or less a clone of Overpower -- I couldn't change the base ability too much or else I might lose the same Ursa-like feel. I decided to add a situational effect -- if you focus all 6 hits on a single target you can also steal some armor; instead you can choose to constantly change targets while using Zeal and get a bonus from it. I figured this was a nifty little trick that gives Zaff a little bit of a skill curve. If you have 2 enemy heroes and you alternate in-between them you'll overall deal 30% more damage per swing, which can add up to about 150% bonus damage if done correctly. Takes a bit of skill and timing but it's well worth it in the hands of an experienced player.
Ursa's ultimate felt a little... awkward. I never really liked it -- it just didn't feel nice to use. So instead I made Zaff have an ability similar to Ursa's ultimate as a regular ability. Instead of HP I based it off of armor which I think opens a whole new book of strategies. Imagine Jereziah+Zaff for the instant +75 bonus damage during Sol's Blessing, or Demented Shaman's ultimate? The numbers are something to play with to avoid people from getting 4 platemails every game -- but I'm fairly satisfied with this addition.
Lastly is the ultimate. I had a very difficult time finding something that would work well with this hero as a whole, and I've thought of having an initiative ability many times, but finally I decided on a charge+AoE. The numbers will be tweaked as seen appropiately by the developers but for the most part I just wanted Zaff to be a huge part of the team. Charge in, slow down the whole enemy team by an instant 35% and proceed to taking down his first target. My only fear is that the ability would be too similar to Pharaoh's hook, but I think the range differences are a huge separation factor. Also Zaff has no form of stunning, where Pharaoh has two stuns and his wall of mummies -- so I wasn't too worried about the Charge being stronger than his hook.
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ABILITIES
[Arctic Strike] (Inspired by Ursa's Fury Swipes)
http://www2.picturepush.com/photo/a/2193625/1024/Heroes-of-Newerth/Zaff-freezeaura.png
(Passive) Adds a freezing attack that slows movement and adds physical damage to each strike. 50% of bonus damage from this ability will be splashed onto enemy units within 325 Radius.
Bonus damage lasts for 5 seconds.
Level 1 - Slows movement by 10% (doesn't stack); Adds 4 Damage per hit (stacks).
Level 2 - Slows movement by 13% (doesn't stack); Adds 8 Damage per hit (stacks).
Level 3 - Slows movement by 16% (doesn't stack); Adds 12 Damage per hit (stacks).
Level 4 - Slows movement by 20% (doesn't stack); Adds 16 Damage per hit (stacks).
[Zeal]
http://www2.picturepush.com/photo/a/2193630/480/Heroes-of-Newerth/Zaff-zeal.png?v0
Fiercely attacks nearby opponents within range with bonus damage and attack speed. Each target cannot be hit more than 1/2/3/3 Times.
Level 1 - 3 hits. Grants 400% attack speed and 25% bonus damage.
Level 2 - 4 hits. Grants 400% attack speed and 50% bonus damage.
Level 3 - 5 hits. Grants 400% attack speed and 75% bonus damage.
Level 4 - 6 hits. Grants 400% attack speed and 100% bonus damage. Mana Cost: 75
Cooldown: 12 seconds
[Icewing Shield] (Inspired by Ursa's Enrage)
http://www4.picturepush.com/photo/a/2193627/1024/Heroes-of-Newerth/Zaff-icewing.png
When activated, Zaff will unlock the power within his legendary shield, increasing his armor and increasing his base damage based on his current armor. In addition, stunning and slowing effects will only last half as long while the shield is activated. Bonus damage from armor-increasing abilities can only grant a maximum of 1 armor per second the buff has been applied to you.
Lasts 7 seconds.
Level 1 - Grants 4 Armor and adds damage equal to 50% of armor. (10 Damage per 20 Armor)
Level 2 - Grants 6 Armor and adds damage equal to 100% of armor. (20 Damage per 20 Armor)
Level 3 - Grants 8 Armor and adds damage equal to 150% of armor. (30 Damage per 20 Armor)
Level 4 - Grants 10 Armor and adds damage equal to 200% of armor. (40 Damage per 20 Armor)
Mana Cost: --
Cooldown: 30 seconds
(NOTE: Stunning and Slowing effects do not include: Grappling effects like Pollywog and Electrician, DoT-effects like Wretched Hag and Slither, etc. but do include things such as Glacius's Slows/Disables, Hammerstorms Stun, Madman's Barrel Roll, etc.)
[Shiva's Charge]
http://www1.picturepush.com/photo/a/2193629/1024/Heroes-of-Newerth/Zaff-shivacharge.png
(Ultimate)
Fearlessly charges towards a point, slamming his shield into the first enemy hit and unleashing a devastating Frost Nova around him that damages and slows enemies' movement by 15%. If no target is hit the Frost Nova will not be unleashed, the cooldown will be refreshed by 25, and 50/100/150 mana will be refunded.
1000 Charge Range
600 Nova Radius
Level 1 - Deals 125 Nova Damage + 100% of current armor in bonus damage to initial target.
Level 2 - Deals 225 Nova Damage + 200% of current armor in bonus damage to initial target.
Level 3 - Deals 325 Nova Damage + 300% of current armor in bonus damage to initial target. Mana Cost: 125/175/225
Cooldown: 65/55/45 seconds
(Note: The bonus damage from armor applies only to the INITIAL TARGET and isn't added to the nova around him.
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Scrapped abilities:
[Freeze Aura] (Inspired by Omniknight's Degen Aura + Ursa's Fury Swipes)
http://www2.picturepush.com/photo/a/2193625/1024/Heroes-of-Newerth/Zaff-freezeaura.png
(Passive) A chilling aura that slows down nearby enemies' movement and attack speed and adds a frost-attack to your weapon. Enemies hit by the frost attack will take extra damage and be slowed by an additional 5% for 1.5 seconds.
325 Radius.
Bonus damage lasts for 5 seconds.
Slows attack speed by 10% at all levels.
Level 1 - Slows movement by 10%; Adds 4 Damage per hit.
Level 2 - Slows movement by 13%; Adds 8 Damage per hit.
Level 3 - Slows movement by 16%; Adds 12 Damage per hit.
Level 4 - Slows movement by 20%; Adds 16 Damage per hit.
[Zeal] (Inspired by Ursa's Overpower)
http://www2.picturepush.com/photo/a/2193630/480/Heroes-of-Newerth/Zaff-zeal.png?v0
Zaff's zealous rage increases his attack speed by 400% for several attacks. Increases your armor by 1 and decreases the targets armor by 1 per swing. If Zaff attacks a different target it deals 130% damage for that one swing.
Lasts 15 seconds or until maximum hits have been reached.
Level 1 - 3 hits.
Level 2 - 4 hits.
Level 3 - 5 hits.
Level 4 - 6 hits.
Mana Cost: 75
Cooldown: 12 seconds-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
CHANGELOG
August 30th, 2009: Posted the Suggestion.
August 31st, 2009: Lowered damage cap on Icewing Shield from 75 to 60 and made it scale up per level.
September 2nd, 2009: Improved Icewing Shield slightly.
September 2nd, 2009: Zeal steals armor on each hit instead of all at once on the last swing.
September 8th, 2009: Made several changes as follows
Icewing Shield's maximum changed from 20/35/50/60 to 25/50/75/100
Icewing Shield's bonus from armor changed from 75/100/125/150% to 50/100/150/200%.
Icewing Shield's duration reduced from 15 to 7.
Freeze Aura no longer adds slow per hit, and is instead a flat rate of 10%.
Freeze Aura's damage per hit increased from 2/4/6/8 to 4/8/12/16.
Freeze Aura's radius decreased from 700 to 325.
Shiva's Charge now adds an armor-based damage effect to the initial target. This will not effect units hit by the "nova" afterwards.
September 21st, 2009: Made several changes as follows
Icewing Shield's bonus to armor changed from 2/4/6/8 to 4/6/8/10.
Removed the bonus damage capacity from Icewing Shield and added a special mechanic.
Replaced Freeze Aura and Zeal with new abilities (Due to Kraken and Scout taking the abilities that I had used).
October 27th, 2009: Reworded Zeal to remove confusion.
November 10th, 2009: Made it more clear that the slow on Freeze Aura does not stack per hit.
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Thanks for reading up. Remember that all numbers will be changed and balanced if the developers decide to include this hero, as a lot of people seem to forget this.
Drawn in MS Paint
ZAFF, THE FROST PALADIN
STR - 19 + 2.4 (Primary)
AGI - 19 + 1.9
INT - 14 + 1.4
Attack Type - Melee
Movement Speed - 290
Roles: Tank, Carry, Initiatior
Exiled from a desert kingdom that became corrupted with power, Zaff seeks a new place of holy righteousness within the Legion. His Zealous efforts are blessed by the powerful goddess Shiva -- and he aims to destroy Hellbourne, a recently affiliate with the kingdom that he believes is the cause of the corruption.
Process of Designing Zaff
Skip ahead if you'd like -- just a lot of discussion about this hero and why I chose the ability set that I did. The concept I was going for with Zaff is an Ursa Warrior with a twist. Ursa is a fun hero, no doubt, but often he has nothing to offer for his team. He specializes in tanking and rapidly getting hits off on a single target -- but the only way for him to be really efficient is to farm quite a lot. Until he gets some vladmir's, some basic life items, a dagger/lothar's, etc. he is virtually useless to his team. My goal was to try and remake Ursa, still following the same concept, but to allow him to be a great asset to his team.
The first thing I wanted to do was turn his Slow into something easier to get into a teamfight. Ursa's Earthshock is damn difficult to use and not worth it since it only slows, not stuns. Slardar and Centaur can make much better use of their stomps due to the higher reward of stunning. Omniknight's Degen Aura came into mind and I really wanted to stick with it. I later on decided to integrate Fury Swipes into this ability as well -- it feels fitting to add a "Freezing Attack".
Zeal is more or less a clone of Overpower -- I couldn't change the base ability too much or else I might lose the same Ursa-like feel. I decided to add a situational effect -- if you focus all 6 hits on a single target you can also steal some armor; instead you can choose to constantly change targets while using Zeal and get a bonus from it. I figured this was a nifty little trick that gives Zaff a little bit of a skill curve. If you have 2 enemy heroes and you alternate in-between them you'll overall deal 30% more damage per swing, which can add up to about 150% bonus damage if done correctly. Takes a bit of skill and timing but it's well worth it in the hands of an experienced player.
Ursa's ultimate felt a little... awkward. I never really liked it -- it just didn't feel nice to use. So instead I made Zaff have an ability similar to Ursa's ultimate as a regular ability. Instead of HP I based it off of armor which I think opens a whole new book of strategies. Imagine Jereziah+Zaff for the instant +75 bonus damage during Sol's Blessing, or Demented Shaman's ultimate? The numbers are something to play with to avoid people from getting 4 platemails every game -- but I'm fairly satisfied with this addition.
Lastly is the ultimate. I had a very difficult time finding something that would work well with this hero as a whole, and I've thought of having an initiative ability many times, but finally I decided on a charge+AoE. The numbers will be tweaked as seen appropiately by the developers but for the most part I just wanted Zaff to be a huge part of the team. Charge in, slow down the whole enemy team by an instant 35% and proceed to taking down his first target. My only fear is that the ability would be too similar to Pharaoh's hook, but I think the range differences are a huge separation factor. Also Zaff has no form of stunning, where Pharaoh has two stuns and his wall of mummies -- so I wasn't too worried about the Charge being stronger than his hook.
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
ABILITIES
[Arctic Strike] (Inspired by Ursa's Fury Swipes)
http://www2.picturepush.com/photo/a/2193625/1024/Heroes-of-Newerth/Zaff-freezeaura.png
(Passive) Adds a freezing attack that slows movement and adds physical damage to each strike. 50% of bonus damage from this ability will be splashed onto enemy units within 325 Radius.
Bonus damage lasts for 5 seconds.
Level 1 - Slows movement by 10% (doesn't stack); Adds 4 Damage per hit (stacks).
Level 2 - Slows movement by 13% (doesn't stack); Adds 8 Damage per hit (stacks).
Level 3 - Slows movement by 16% (doesn't stack); Adds 12 Damage per hit (stacks).
Level 4 - Slows movement by 20% (doesn't stack); Adds 16 Damage per hit (stacks).
[Zeal]
http://www2.picturepush.com/photo/a/2193630/480/Heroes-of-Newerth/Zaff-zeal.png?v0
Fiercely attacks nearby opponents within range with bonus damage and attack speed. Each target cannot be hit more than 1/2/3/3 Times.
Level 1 - 3 hits. Grants 400% attack speed and 25% bonus damage.
Level 2 - 4 hits. Grants 400% attack speed and 50% bonus damage.
Level 3 - 5 hits. Grants 400% attack speed and 75% bonus damage.
Level 4 - 6 hits. Grants 400% attack speed and 100% bonus damage. Mana Cost: 75
Cooldown: 12 seconds
[Icewing Shield] (Inspired by Ursa's Enrage)
http://www4.picturepush.com/photo/a/2193627/1024/Heroes-of-Newerth/Zaff-icewing.png
When activated, Zaff will unlock the power within his legendary shield, increasing his armor and increasing his base damage based on his current armor. In addition, stunning and slowing effects will only last half as long while the shield is activated. Bonus damage from armor-increasing abilities can only grant a maximum of 1 armor per second the buff has been applied to you.
Lasts 7 seconds.
Level 1 - Grants 4 Armor and adds damage equal to 50% of armor. (10 Damage per 20 Armor)
Level 2 - Grants 6 Armor and adds damage equal to 100% of armor. (20 Damage per 20 Armor)
Level 3 - Grants 8 Armor and adds damage equal to 150% of armor. (30 Damage per 20 Armor)
Level 4 - Grants 10 Armor and adds damage equal to 200% of armor. (40 Damage per 20 Armor)
Mana Cost: --
Cooldown: 30 seconds
(NOTE: Stunning and Slowing effects do not include: Grappling effects like Pollywog and Electrician, DoT-effects like Wretched Hag and Slither, etc. but do include things such as Glacius's Slows/Disables, Hammerstorms Stun, Madman's Barrel Roll, etc.)
[Shiva's Charge]
http://www1.picturepush.com/photo/a/2193629/1024/Heroes-of-Newerth/Zaff-shivacharge.png
(Ultimate)
Fearlessly charges towards a point, slamming his shield into the first enemy hit and unleashing a devastating Frost Nova around him that damages and slows enemies' movement by 15%. If no target is hit the Frost Nova will not be unleashed, the cooldown will be refreshed by 25, and 50/100/150 mana will be refunded.
1000 Charge Range
600 Nova Radius
Level 1 - Deals 125 Nova Damage + 100% of current armor in bonus damage to initial target.
Level 2 - Deals 225 Nova Damage + 200% of current armor in bonus damage to initial target.
Level 3 - Deals 325 Nova Damage + 300% of current armor in bonus damage to initial target. Mana Cost: 125/175/225
Cooldown: 65/55/45 seconds
(Note: The bonus damage from armor applies only to the INITIAL TARGET and isn't added to the nova around him.
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Scrapped abilities:
[Freeze Aura] (Inspired by Omniknight's Degen Aura + Ursa's Fury Swipes)
http://www2.picturepush.com/photo/a/2193625/1024/Heroes-of-Newerth/Zaff-freezeaura.png
(Passive) A chilling aura that slows down nearby enemies' movement and attack speed and adds a frost-attack to your weapon. Enemies hit by the frost attack will take extra damage and be slowed by an additional 5% for 1.5 seconds.
325 Radius.
Bonus damage lasts for 5 seconds.
Slows attack speed by 10% at all levels.
Level 1 - Slows movement by 10%; Adds 4 Damage per hit.
Level 2 - Slows movement by 13%; Adds 8 Damage per hit.
Level 3 - Slows movement by 16%; Adds 12 Damage per hit.
Level 4 - Slows movement by 20%; Adds 16 Damage per hit.
[Zeal] (Inspired by Ursa's Overpower)
http://www2.picturepush.com/photo/a/2193630/480/Heroes-of-Newerth/Zaff-zeal.png?v0
Zaff's zealous rage increases his attack speed by 400% for several attacks. Increases your armor by 1 and decreases the targets armor by 1 per swing. If Zaff attacks a different target it deals 130% damage for that one swing.
Lasts 15 seconds or until maximum hits have been reached.
Level 1 - 3 hits.
Level 2 - 4 hits.
Level 3 - 5 hits.
Level 4 - 6 hits.
Mana Cost: 75
Cooldown: 12 seconds-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
CHANGELOG
August 30th, 2009: Posted the Suggestion.
August 31st, 2009: Lowered damage cap on Icewing Shield from 75 to 60 and made it scale up per level.
September 2nd, 2009: Improved Icewing Shield slightly.
September 2nd, 2009: Zeal steals armor on each hit instead of all at once on the last swing.
September 8th, 2009: Made several changes as follows
Icewing Shield's maximum changed from 20/35/50/60 to 25/50/75/100
Icewing Shield's bonus from armor changed from 75/100/125/150% to 50/100/150/200%.
Icewing Shield's duration reduced from 15 to 7.
Freeze Aura no longer adds slow per hit, and is instead a flat rate of 10%.
Freeze Aura's damage per hit increased from 2/4/6/8 to 4/8/12/16.
Freeze Aura's radius decreased from 700 to 325.
Shiva's Charge now adds an armor-based damage effect to the initial target. This will not effect units hit by the "nova" afterwards.
September 21st, 2009: Made several changes as follows
Icewing Shield's bonus to armor changed from 2/4/6/8 to 4/6/8/10.
Removed the bonus damage capacity from Icewing Shield and added a special mechanic.
Replaced Freeze Aura and Zeal with new abilities (Due to Kraken and Scout taking the abilities that I had used).
October 27th, 2009: Reworded Zeal to remove confusion.
November 10th, 2009: Made it more clear that the slow on Freeze Aura does not stack per hit.
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Thanks for reading up. Remember that all numbers will be changed and balanced if the developers decide to include this hero, as a lot of people seem to forget this.