Exercise 7 Skill Shots

[[CHlP]Passthechips]

Exercise 7: Skill Shots

This is an exercise that is focused on adding creativity to ones skill set. It's easy to make a point and click skill and be done with it, and sometimes a skill is faceted enough that it is warranted. However those skills are never as fun and chat worthy as a well landed Valk arrow or Devo hook.

The Challenge

Create a skill shot mechanic that is either a variation of a current skill shot or create a entire skill shot mechanically! Try to base your hero around landing the skill shot for maximum effectiveness. Skill shots range from Soulstealer's hands to Valk's arrows, be creative!

The Theme

The Theme for this exercise is Halloween.

Passthechips' Rant

There are many heroes in the pool (namely Emerald Warden) that are balanced but play to monotonously for my tastes. I have personally been struggling with thinking of a healing skill shot and am at a mental block haha.

Drasha's Rant

Skill shots allow for more powerful abilities with the trade off being the difficulty of landing it. A 5 second stun on a normal ability would be far to strong if it was point and click or easy to land but the general difficulty of landing the arrow balanced it out. Using a skill shot you are able to play with numbers you wouldn't other wise get to touch and can make for interesting design space.

DrPeckers's Rant

So then what is a skill shot? It is not simply a skill that requires skill because that would include skill's like Bubble's Take Cover; however, it is not only limited to projectile's with small collision radius like Valk's arrow or Devo's hook because that would exclude skill's such as Gladiator's Pitfall. We need a more all inclusive definition than just "a projectile that can miss" because of this.

To get this definition we should look at the common characteristics of skillshots.

The first is Timing. Every skill shot in the game, either has a delay like Glad's Pitfall or a velocity like Valk's arrow. Much of the skill in landing skillshots is timing the skill to either activate while an enemy is standing on it or hit an enemy passing its travel path.

The second is Accuracy. Similar to an archer hitting a target, skill shots require their user to accurately place the skill at a target destination. This distinction is imposed so that skills with a high requirement of timing, like Bubble's take Cover, but no requirement of actually hitting a target are excluded from being skillshots.

Finally, a skillshot requires Risk. Risk can be anything from either wasting mana and a cooldown to having a penalty imposed on the hero if the skillshot misses. Many skillshot's can be inherently low risk either because of a fast travel time, short activation time, or large aoe's, but the reward of these skills is typically lower than the reward for hitting riskier skillshots. Thus, the reward of the skillshot should scale with its risk, but not at the cost of making the skill shot improbable to hit even with high levels of skill.

Therefore, a skillshot is a skill that requires a significant amount of Timing and Accuracy to hit an enemy, while requiring a degree of Risk if it misses.

I hope this clears up any confusion about what qualifies as a skill-shot and I look forward to seeing some interesting new takes on what could be a skillshot.

Have fun!

[Drasha]

Added my rant and a Theme to the contest

[[Cir]Tensler]

Literally just finished this hero. Hope its interesting.
http://dream.heroesofnewerth.com/hero/Tensler/Rancid

[MaTz0r]

Cthulhu, Death and now Halloween?:P

Btw, skills like Bubbles Take cover, are considered skill shots?

[Drasha]

Getting into the halloween spirit. Next couple wont be dark i promise.

I wouldn't consider take cover to be a skill shot. Sure it takes a lot of skill but your not really shooting any thing. The broadest definition for a skill shot would have to be any skill you can miss with. (excluding most effects centered around the hero and skills that require the enemy to use a spell/item to dodge)

[[H]the_tes]

Avenger
He's a STR healer and protector, but he can deal some damage too.
Uses a "holly power" mechanic.

Not Halloween themed, but has a healing skillshot.

[Memphis_Doom]

Figured I participate in chippies event and unfortunately it's not Halloween themed

Re-word
Flash Grenade with Blight Bomb
Tactical Equipment with Death Armour
Aiming Point with Mark of Death
Orbital Strike with Souls Blast

Here goes [EXE7] Blitzkrieg

Cheers,
Memphis_Doom

[DeathGod]

Here I'm - Crucifix! Ultimate in second variation - it's skill shot, i think!) Plz t-up =)
And Crucifix (Forum) ... (new version)

[[KNO]DrPeckers]

After carefully considering what a skill shot is, I have decided to add my own rant and withdraw my current entry in this exercise. Psynd will be back after a I recalibrate him a little.

Edit: added the rant.

[Memphis_Doom]

Here I'm - Crucifix! Ultimate in second variation - it's skill shot, i think!) Plz t-up =)

Hey Death,

Do you have this in the forum as well? I'm straying away from dream since it rolled back and purely because it's divided attention from forums which works perfectly fine. Is it possible to create him in forums > hero drafts so i can comment/feedback.

Cheers,
Memphis_Doom

[TheDarkLady]

In the warlock map from wc3, there is an ability called gravity, which is basically a kraken ulti that moves forward.
Could that be a skillshot?
A thing that moves forward and pulls targets towards it?

[Drasha]

Yes it could.

[DeathGod]

Already there)

[Angstfisher]

By Definition, moraxus Axes should be a skillshot right? same with Chipper rockets, even tho Moraxus axes cost only 25 mana, have 4 charges (lvl 4) and the consequence for missing an axe is only real between level 1-4.

Would this also be true for Nomad's ultimate? as it is an ability you must use with timing , but at the same time its an ultimate, and missing with it can be deadly.

[[SBT]Rkey]

By Definition, moraxus Axes should be a skillshot right? same with Chipper rockets, even tho Moraxus axes cost only 25 mana, have 4 charges (lvl 4) and the consequence for missing an axe is only real between level 1-4.

Would this also be true for Nomad's ultimate? as it is an ability you must use with timing , but at the same time its an ultimate, and missing with it can be deadly.

I find it very obvios what a SkillShot refers to. Distance attacks related to skill, like Warden's wolves.

[[KNO]DrPeckers]

By Definition, moraxus Axes should be a skillshot right? same with Chipper rockets, even tho Moraxus axes cost only 25 mana, have 4 charges (lvl 4) and the consequence for missing an axe is only real between level 1-4.

Would this also be true for Nomad's ultimate? as it is an ability you must use with timing , but at the same time its an ultimate, and missing with it can be deadly.

Yes, both Chipper's rockets and Moraxus's axes would be skill shots. However, both are low-risk skill shots.

Nomad's ultimate fulfills the timing and risk aspects of skill shots, but not the accuracy. As long as you time the skill correctly you will hit a single enemy, so their is no reliance on the player for any accuracy.

I find it very obvios what a SkillShot refers to. Distance attacks related to skill, like Warden's wolves.

Trolling a little bit?

[[S2]ElementUser]

Tundra's Piercing Shards, except maximum damage dealt is at the apex of the shards path and not the endpoint.



Also applies some kind of secondary effect that gets stronger at the endpoints and weaker towards the apex (ie, magnitude of a slow).

That's mine. Oh and make the models mini-fountain ghosts.

[[0PG]Tuinkabouter]

Tadaa

[[LcSp]FootFace]

hey, while reading OP i thought of a skillshot that isnt impemented yet, maybe not even thought off.

immagine having a skillshot very simmular to javeline, but slower speed/ms, and with max HP% true dmg, ure thinking "wtf, that would be unbalanced and crazy", and heres why its not: remember its slower than valk arrow so it will be hard to hit with, it has infinite range(stops when it goes off the map), it will do scaling dmg with distance, can do max 80% of targets max HP around the same range as 3/4 5sec arrows. remember its slower than valks arrow wich means it will be extremely hard to hit someone for 80% of their max HP, but lets say that the dmg starts at 15% of max hp so that the spell wont be extremely un usefull, when ever there is a team fight or something you can instantly deal 15% of targets HP.

ok so here is the 2nd thing to balance the skill abit, you already know that its an extreme skillshot because its slower than valks javeline(dont know how much slower but significantly). The skill will not be able to hit creeps, and the reason for that is: if you do not hit anyone with this ability and it goes off the map, you will lose 60% of you max health. no if that does balance out the 80% max hp dmg skillshot i dont know what will.

the ability numbers can be tweaked or what not, this is just a rough draft comming off the top of my head, if anyone like it you can use it for any "dream" hero design you want and just play with it. If you dont like it, well, then you can start ure QQ and flame now

[[AOWL]SmurfinBird]

hey, while reading OP i thought of a skillshot that isnt impemented yet, maybe not even thought off.

immagine having a skillshot very simmular to javeline, but slower speed/ms, and with max HP% true dmg, ure thinking "wtf, that would be unbalanced and crazy", and heres why its not: remember its slower than valk arrow so it will be hard to hit with, it has infinite range(stops when it goes off the map), it will do scaling dmg with distance, can do max 80% of targets max HP around the same range as 3/4 5sec arrows. remember its slower than valks arrow wich means it will be extremely hard to hit someone for 80% of their max HP, but lets say that the dmg starts at 15% of max hp so that the spell wont be extremely un usefull, when ever there is a team fight or something you can instantly deal 15% of targets HP.

ok so here is the 2nd thing to balance the skill abit, you already know that its an extreme skillshot because its slower than valks javeline(dont know how much slower but significantly). The skill will not be able to hit creeps, and the reason for that is: if you do not hit anyone with this ability and it goes off the map, you will lose 60% of you max health. no if that does balance out the 80% max hp dmg skillshot i dont know what will.

the ability numbers can be tweaked or what not, this is just a rough draft comming off the top of my head, if anyone like it you can use it for any "dream" hero design you want and just play with it. If you dont like it, well, then you can start ure QQ and flame now

No offence, just being blunt. That's ****. Awful idea.


Imagine how many things that would counter?


EDIT: Since I'm being so harsh, I should help with my own idea instead of being non-constructive; An ability that grants the user %evasion IF they are moving at a speed above 325ms (requires at least boots/speed boost this way, and is cancelled by slows/immobilizes/stuns). I would guess this would have to be above 25% since there are a huge number of these effects in HoN, but simple damage should not affect it.

If it needs some extra help, have it tick up and down to 50% based on how long the unit has been moving and add a +attack speed to it. Every-time the hero stops to attack with cancelling the animation, it would lose a significant amount of the bonuses and so rewards better control of the hero whilst chasing. This would help a unit that is ranged more than melee, so would be better suited for melee heroes. 3rd slot skill, numbers as always can be tweaked.

Fellfree2use as always... Although this is not a skillshot, it requires skill and may help on a hero that uses skill-based rewards as a move to accompany a skillshot of your design.