[Hero Suggestion] Acme Kill-O-Bot

[Wrault]

Note: All numbers for damage, mana, cooldowns, etc. are estimates only. Edit: If a robot doesn't fit with the HoN theme, he could be changed to a goblin inventor riding the back of an ogre, or whatever else would work.


ACME KILL-O-BOT 5000

The idea is to have a hero with a) a little randomness, b) a little self-destruction, inspired by the Acme products from Wile E. Coyote cartoons, that c) scales well for a caster strength hero.

ABILITY 1: ACME ROCKET BOOTS
25 second cooldown
90/100/110/120 mana

The Kill-O-Bot activates its rocket boots and soars gracefully into the air--before crashing down a short but unpredictable time later. The Kill-O-Bot can also cancel the flight early, although that doesn't make the landing any smoother. Kill-O-Bot is able to attack and perform other actions while flying.

Flight: +15% move speed, unitwalking, random duration within a set minimum & maximum, or can be canceled earlier by player.
(Crash) Landing: Damage and stun to enemy heroes and units in a 300 radius, damage and stun to Kill-O-Bot

Level 1: 6-8 seconds of flight. Landing causes 50 damage and a 1.3 second stun to enemy units, 25 damage and .2 second stun to Kill-O-Bot.

Level 2: 7-10 seconds of flight. Landing causes 100 damage and 1.7 second stun to enemies, 50 damage and .3 second stun to Kill-O-Bot.

Level 3: 9-12 seconds of flight. Landing causes 150 damage and 2.1 second stun to enemies, 75 damage and .4 second stun to Kill-O-Bot.

Level 4: 11-15 seconds flight. Landing causes 200 damage and 2.5 second stun to enemies, 100 damage and .5 second stun to Kill-O-Bot.


ABILITY 2: FAKE FLOCK
15 second cooldown
75/90/105/120 mana
800 range

There's nothing like a sheep disguise to fool the enemy. The Kill-O-Bot launches an Ovis Aries rocket that drops a cluster of robotic sheep at a target location. The sheep mill about, impeding movement through the area. And if anyone is foolish enough to pet the sheep? They explode!

Sheep have one hit point. Creeps and towers ignore sheep, aside from creeps having to path around the sheep. Player characters will not automatically attack sheep, but will attack if ordered to. Sheep take damage from all player spells and abilities, including Kill-O-Bot's passive ability and explosions from other sheep. Sheep explode when killed or after 10 seconds, damaging all enemies within a 200 radius. The explosion from one sheep dying should cause a chain reaction, killing most or all of the other sheep.

Level 1: 6 sheep in a 300 radius. 40 damage/sheep. (Average 106 damage for someone in the center, less toward the edges.)

Level 2: 7 sheep in a 310 radius. 55 damage/sheep. (Average 160 damage for someone in the center)

Level 3: 8 sheep in a 330 radius. 75 damage/sheep. (Average 219 damage in the center)

Level 4: 10 sheep in a 350 radius. 90 damage/sheep. (Average 295 damage in the center)


ABILITY 3: PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE DEFENSE (passive ability)
6/5/4/3 second cooldown
Occurs when Kill-O-Bot takes damage from any source (including his own abilities) and affects enemy creeps and heroes within a 300 radius of Kill-O-Bot

Deadly as an electric eel, on land! The Kill-O-Bot harnesses the power of electrons to transform itself into a walking, fighting Van de Graaff generator. The Kill-O-Bot charges its metal frame, releasing a shock when it takes damage. The shock damages creeps and selectively interferes with the physiology of heroes. Causes muscle spasms in strength heroes, clumsiness in agility heroes, and memory loss in intelligence heroes.

Muscle spasms (shock effect on enemy strength heroes): .2 second stun, 2.5x strength of enemy hero in damage.

Clumsiness (shock effect on enemy agility heroes): gives enemy hero a 25% chance to stun themselves for 1 second each time they attack. Lasts 2 seconds, cannot stun more than once per application.

Memory loss (shock effect on enemy intelligence heroes): locks out a random non-passive spell/ability for 2.5 seconds. Can lock out abilities already on cooldown (in which case the enemy hero is unaffected) or abilities currently channeling (stopping the channeled spell). For toggled abilities, like Torturer's ultimate, it would stop the ability for 2.5 seconds, then restore the previous on/off state.

Level 1/2/3/4: 6/5/4/3 second cooldown. Shock deals 60/100/120/120 damage to creeps.


ULTIMATE ABILITY: ACME RUBBER BAND
90/75/60 second cooldown
100/150/200 mana
Melee (150) range ability

The Kill-O-Bot ties himself to the enemy hero with a gigantic rubber band. If the enemy hero tries to run from the Kill-O-Bot, the rubber band causes the heroes to come crashing back together, damaging both heroes. The heavier a hero is (the more hp he has) the more damage done to the other hero. The farther the rubber band has stretched before it snaps the heroes back together, the more damage done to both heroes.

The Kill-O-Bot must be next to the enemy hero to attach the rubber band. A few seconds after the rubber band is attached, it draws the two heroes back together, pulling both to the point halfway between them, and damaging both Kill-O-Bot and the enemy hero. Deals (.0003 * hero distance apart * Kill-O-Bot's maximum hp) damage to enemy hero, and (.00015 * hero distance apart * enemy hero's maximum hp) damage to Kill-O-Bot. Both Kill-O-Bot and the enemy hero remain visible while the rubber band is attached. The contraction of the rubber band does not stun, but will interrupt channeled abilities.

Level 1/2/3: Rubber band contracts after 3/3.5/4 seconds.


Gameplay discussion
Rocket Boots is a pretty straightforward ability. Useful both as an attack/aoe stun, and also as an escape move. It is designed to be a fairly powerful ability, with its usefulness mitigated by a long-ish cooldown and the damage and stun to Kill-O-Bot on landing. (But because the damage to Kill-O-Bot will cause his passive ability to go off, it may be more useful than harmful.)

Fake Flock should have a couple uses. When cast on an enemy hero, it should affect the enemy's movement in much the same way as being caught in the middle of creeps. So casting the flock on top of an enemy hero presents the enemy with a choice: A) try to run out of the flock and deal with the pathing problems caused by the sheep, or B) attack a sheep, taking damage from the explosions but removing the wooly obstacles. Fake Flock could also be cast ahead of an enemy hero, especially on a ramp or other choke point, to hinder escape. Fake Flock would be much less effective against heroes with blink abilities. Fake Flock would also be a reasonable farming spell if the Kill-O-Bot itemises for mana regeneration.

Passive-Aggressive Defense is designed to make life tricky for enemy heroes around Kill-O-Bot, in a way that scales well as heroes become more powerful. The more strength an enemy strength hero has, the more damage he takes. The faster an enemy agility hero attacks, the more likely he is to stun himself. Since intelligence heroes tend not to scale as well and are reliant on their spells throughout the game, the effect on them is constant. Passive-Aggressive Defense deals about 10/20/30/40 damage per second to creeps around the Kill-O-Bot, making it reasonable for farming. Since it only activates when Kill-O-Bot takes damage, however, it probably won't be as useful in the early game.

Acme Rubber Band can be very powerful. It can also be easily countered, at least by some heroes. The usual use for Kill-O-Bot would be to attach the rubber band to an enemy hero, then run away, preferably toward teammates or a friendly tower. The enemy hero must then decide whether to A) run away from Kill-O-Bot, causing more damage when the rubber band contracts but avoiding being pulled in an undesirable direction, or B) run with Kill-O-Bot, taking very little damage from the rubber band, but moving in an undesirable direction. Because Kill-O-Bot takes damage based on the enemy hero's hit points, the ability is more likely to be used against agility and intelligence heroes. Because stuns and slows prevent Kill-O-Bot from moving, they are a strong counter to the Rubber Band ability. A Rubber Band/Portal Key combination might be too powerful, in which case the use of a Portal Key by Kill-O-Bot could remove the rubber band.

A typical 1v1 use of abilities for Kill-O-Bot would probably be to activate his Rocket Boots, then quickly attach the Rubber Band and run away. The increased movement speed and unitwalking from the Rocket Boots would make running away more effective. As soon as the the Rubber Band contracted, Kill-O-Bot would land, stunning the enemy hero (and Kill-O-Bot for a much shorter time). Kill-O-Bot would then cast Fake Flock around himself and the enemy hero and auto-attack the enemy.

In team battles, Kill-O-Bot contributes his AoE stun and the AoE disable of his passive ability. Good use of Rubber Band could also be strong (e.g. if used against Tempest, Tempest won't want to start casting his ultimate until the Rubber Band contracts, otherwise the Rubber band will interrupt channeling.)

Itemisation for Kill-O-Bot players will probably be primarily toward strength/hp and health and mana regeneration. Strength/hp because Kill-O-Bot is a strength hero, because damage done by Kill-O-Bot's ultimate scales linearly with his maximum hit points, because two of Kill-O-Bot's abilities damage him, and because Kill-O-Bot's passive ability is at its strongest when he's in the thick of things and taking damage. Health regeneration is useful for the above reasons as well. Mana regeneration is useful because Kill-O-Bot has three relatively costly abilities. Secondary itemisation would probably be for an increased mana pool, to allow him to cast more often, and for movement speed, to increase the effectiveness of his ultimate.

[Adam]

I really like the hero idea. It's nothing short of creative. :D

Two problems I see off the bat - the first being functionality with HoN. Clockwerk was always one of those weird characters and DotA, probably a reason why it was changed to something completely unrelated (Pharaoh) in HoN. I doubt that a robot would fit in well with the other heroes we already have. Maybe suggest an alternate character model?

Also, I like the Kill-O-Bot's passive, but I worry it might be too complex in a game like this. The fights are already crazy enough - adding an aoe that does different things to different heroes might be too much for two reasons: 1) New players still have to be able to use this hero. 2) It would cause too much confusion in a group fight. Flying in and following the heroes, then group stunning, followed by an affect that makes the agilities stun when attacked, the intel heroes silenced and adding even more damage to the strength heroes, you've got a pretty conquered teambattle, with one hero. If you can put the sheep down first, it's practically GG.

All that being said, it'd be nice to see him with a passive that actually helps him - maybe a random amount. A repair passive, that heals him a random HP per second? It'd be kinda cool if it targetted only outside of combat. It'd just be nice to see him with some survivability if he can manage to escape after he sets down all his attacks.

Nice hero idea though. The synergy in the hero is very interesting. :)

[Jotaro]

THumb Up , i like the Idea , Skills are great

BUT, i hate the Idea of a Robot in HoN
Science Fiction robot in an Heroic Fantasy World is a really big anachronism.
To include the Hero , you/S2 will have to work on a better Graphic
Something more like a Steam Machine , (Savage2 Siege weapons)

PS : Int heroes are 500units Range Heroes , so the Passive won t be really effective on them ( 300 radius aura)

[Wrault]

Hey, thanks for the feedback! I have no problem the hero being steampunk/a goblin riding a big fat ogre/whatever fits in with the world. I never played Savage 1/2, so I'm just not that familiar with the world.

As to the range on the passive--I think the effect is fairly powerful, despite the fact that it only occurs when he's damaged, so I didn't want the range to be too huge. I tend to prefer things powerful but able to be countered, because it adds more strategy. The downside, as Adam mentioned, is that it makes things harder for new people.

Giving the game a good learning curve is worth a few threads on it's own, but my fast take on it is that simple, homogenized heroes isn't the way to do it. Ranked play will help. Another thing that might be done is to create learning modes, where only some heroes are available. Start people off with straightforward heroes, like Thunderbringer, Hammerstorm, etc. (I'm not saying they're not good, powerful heroes, just that they're easier than some others to pick up & play.) Complexity and strategy is what keeps things interesting long-term, so I think some amount of complexity needs to stay in.

Adam implied that the hero would be too powerful in group battles. The numbers are just estimates at this point; of course he'll have to be balanced! So saying "it's practically GG" just isn't helpful. I would add that the passive doesn't "silence" intellect heroes--it locks out one ability for 2.5 seconds. That ability might be on cooldown already, in which case there's no effect. And since there's a three second cooldown on the passive, there's always a small window to cast any spell. If a .5 second window (which only happens if A. Kill-O-Bot is still within 300 range three seconds later, B. is attacked the instant the passive comes off cooldown, and C. the random lock-out affects the same ability twice in a row) turns out to be too short, that's another balancing change that can be made.

Regarding escape moves/survivability--rocket boots is a pretty decent escape move if you choose to use it that way. If you'd rather sacrifice your escape option to use it offensively, that's your call. He's designed to stack hp/strength/regen anyway, so escape isn't quite as vital.

Thanks again for the feedback, I really appreciate it!

[laserburn]

It needs to be able to drop anvils on people's heads. I'd pay to see that.

[Pinata]

Personally, I think the hero sounds great. He's got a fun theme, looks very useful, is quite unique, and has the potential for some unexpected and ridiculous action.

As for not fitting into the world of Heroes of Newerth: what about the Electrician? That hero already has a tractor beam, an electric bolt that intelligently dispels and slows/speeds, and a force field. If anything, the Electrician is much more technologically advanced than the Kill-O-Bot. So far, HoN hasn't been afraid to indulge in a bit of good humor. Many of the characters act cartoonish anyway, and the attitude of the Kill-O-Bot would blend right in.

His playstyle doesn't seem all that complex to me, really. I'm still relatively new to MOBAs compared to experienced dota players. I still remember very clearly being ovewhelmed by all the heroes and abilities just a few months ago. Hearing or reading about hero abilities seems very complex. Once you actually try the heroes, though, they become easy to comprehend. That's my experience, anyway.