Equalizer

[[SmZ]SomaZ]

Equalizer

You want equal rights?
I'll take your "equality" and beat you into the ground with it.

I made that picture in paint btw, sorry that I suck at drawing.
So I had this idea hovering in my mind for quite a while, if it doesn't make it into the game (99.99% chance) I hope that others can learn from it. I will describe my design process in detail so that you can see how I thought when designing this hero.


I have mentioned this in one of my recent videos. These days most people, including most of the S2 devs, think in terms of "what would be cool" and perhaps "unique" when designing a hero. You first think of a concept that you like, like a cool looking hero or a hero based on a certain mechanic (like illusions or energy), picture how the hero would look like and start adding skills. You try to make the skills fit with the concept and have synergy, at the same time being unique and eventually the hero is done.


I went from a different angle, something I encourage more people and more S2 devs to do, I didn't have a "concept" as in I had no idea what my hero would look like, what would be his name or what his skills would be. I had an idea of what my hero would do, a few design goals if you will:
- It would be a hero that deals with problematic or otherwise annoying heroes or strategies.
- The hero should use as many unique ideas as possible or otherwise use mechanics not yet used by other heroes to add more depth to the game.
There are a few things I don't really like in HoN atm: Heroes that are incredibly tanky and hard carries that farm for the entire game and then come out with 500 gpm and rape everything in sight.
My hero would be neither a "Tanky" hero nor a "Carry" (because those are the problematic heroes I'm trying to address), he would not need a lot of farm and would specialize in taking down those problematic farmed heroes.


I spent hours thinking of skills that would be both incredibly unique and work the way I want them to, without being overpowered against other heroes (that are not tanky carries). Eventually I narrowed it down to the fact that usually there's 1 or at most 2 "problematic" heroes that could potentially be very farmed in a single game.

Skills:
Lockdown (Q)
Gathering Darkness + Feedback (W+E)
Equal Presence (Passive)
Judgment (R)

Skill 1: Lockdown (Q) - Single Target

Type: Superior Magic
Single Target Enemy Hero
Channeling
Cast Range: Global

Holds (stuns) target enemy hero for up to 1/1.5/2/2.5 seconds, dealing 30 + 8% of target's max health in magic damage per second. While channeling Equalizer loses 4% of his max health per second (health removal, does not dispel health/mana potions or trigger portal key on cooldown). Will not drop Equalizer below 1 health.
When Equalizer is below half health allows second activation: Teleports self to target, breaks channeling, no mana cost, instant.

Mana cost: 100/120/140/160
Cooldown: 20 seconds
Visual Effect: 2 gauntlets will appear and "grab" target enemy hero.
Sound: Heavy metal doors locking.
Possible voice line from Equalizer: Not so fast...
Additional mechanics: The skill will have a "charge" in the bottom right corner that is 0 when Equalizer is above half health and 1 when below (to give the player an idea when he can use second activation).

Explanation: A global single target disable. It's superior magic so it's usable on Magic Immune targets but the damage is still "just" magic (blocked by magic immunity).
Why? I have decided really quickly that I would have a skill that deals damage based on "max health", something very useful against tanky heroes with lots of hp, something very few heroes have. I then wanted to make it more unique and more useful against carries. Thus, the first ever global "stun" was born! This would allow Equalizer to assist in a kill from anywhere on the map. If you have warded the enemy forest it could also potentially be used to snipe heroes (although damage is pretty low). To teleport to the target you would have to be below 50% hp though.
Superior Magic because carries and tanky heroes often like to get a Shrunken Head and I want my hero to be able to deal with that, more or less.
OP much? Just because it's global and unique does not automatically make it OP. This skill has a high cooldown, high mana cost, both of which can be increased if need be and, most importantly, it's a channeling skill. If your hero is disabled or mini-stunned while the effect is going on it will be stopped. You are also losing health yourself so you need to be very careful. Another thing to note is that this would be the shortest "channeling hold" style skill in the game.

Skill 2: Gathering Darkness (W) - Instant, Self-Buff + Feedback (E) - Single Target

Type: Self Buff, Instant Cast Time

When activated absorbs 50% of all incoming post-mitigation damage for up to 3/4/5/6 seconds or a total of 100/200/300/400 absorbed damage. Absorbed damage is collected as charges (100/200/300/400) and is transferred to the secondary skill Feedback.

Mana cost: 50
Cooldown: 12 seconds
Visual Effect: Equalizer becomes much darker, darkness starts gathering from outside.
Sound: Some dark sound, black hole?
Additional mechanics: Not dispellable.

Secondary skill: Feedback (E)

Type: Superior Magic
Single Target Enemy Hero
Cast Range: 600

When used deals True Damage equal to the number of charges collected. Max of 100/200/300/400 charges. Charges are reset upon use or death.

Mana cost: 100
Cooldown: 3 seconds
Visual Effect: Some kind of blast.
Sound: Sound of a blast.

Explanation: Absorbed damage is collected as charges and upon end of the effect (W) is transferred (added) over to E. E requires at least 1 charge to be used.
Why? Again, a skill that deals with tanks and carries. Most likely carries will be dishing out tons of damage so this is an effective measure against them. The skill deals true damage to ignore shrunken head (for carries) and deal with tanky heroes (ignoring any kind of magic armor). Also, since Equalizer will be a melee int hero (revealed later) that can be played as a support, this will be his main counter-harassing tool in lane. I tried to make it unique and I think I have succeeded.
OP much? You'd think that's a lot of potential true damage but you have to save up for it quite a bit (or eat an 800 damage nuke). If the enemy acts smart and doesn't attack you while the skill is active you won't be able to do much. Also, should you get focused down and absorb more than 100/200/300/400 damage the effect will end immediately. If you then die you lose all your charges.

Skill 3: Equal Presence - Passive, Aura

Type: Passive + Aura
Range: 900 (standard aura range)
Works on all heroes (Self, Ally, Enemy)

Increases the movement speed of self and nearby allies by 4/6/8/10% and decreases the movement speed of nearby enemies by 4/6/8/10%. The effects of this aura only work when you are seen by the enemy team.

Passively makes Equalizer's attacks deal 20/30/40/50 bonus damage if the target has more damage and heal for 20/30/40/50 if the target has more current hp (enemy heroes only).

Explanation: A +movement speed to self and allies and -movement speed to enemies aura that only works when the enemy has sigh of you (creeps, wards, other heroes see you). If you are invisible and the enemy has no revelation this aura will not work.
Why? Originally I intended this skill to be activatable to turn the aura on and off but that conflicted quite a bit with Feedback (also used on E). After a bit of thinking I came up with an incredibly unique mechanic of only making this skill work when enemies see you. This even allows you to tell if the enemy has wards by looking at the effect. I believe Equalizer would be the first hero to have something like this.
The original purpose of the skill is, as always, deal with tanks and carries and also help your team out a bit since you can be a support. The movement speed bonus/reduction will be your only "escape" and "chasing" mechanism. The damage bonus is pretty self-explanatory. Deal more damage against carries who are stacking damage. At the same time you get healed with each attack if the target has more hp than you (against tanks). This skill allows you to focus less on damage and survivability and more on other items that would otherwise help you deal with the enemy heroes.
OP much? The mechanic of automatic activation is indeed questionable but at the same time incredibly unique against invisible enemy units or objects. Then again, the same is achieved by simply getting a bound eye. If this proves too strong it could be changed to only work when the enemy has vision of you and you also have vision of the unit or object that sees you. As for the damage and health bonus, remember that Equalizer is a melee int hero. It's also useless against creeps.

Skill 4: Judgment - Active, AoE

Type: Magic
Self Buff + Targets Enemy Heroes
AoE: 400

Equalizer slams the ground with his gauntlets, affecting himself and nearby enemies. With at least 1 nearby enemy hero grants Equalizer +20/35/50% attack damage, +20/40/60 attack speed and +5/10/15 armor. Judgment searches for nearby enemy heroes and evenly distributes the following effects between them:
- Deals 200/350/500 initial damage
- Reduces attack damage by 20/35/50%, attack speed by 20/40/60 and armor by 5/10/15
- Reduces attack range by 400 (ranged heroes only)
All effects (positive and negative) last for 10 seconds.

Mana cost: 150/200/250
Cooldown: 60 seconds
Visual Effect: Slams the ground, sending a rapid shockwave that instantly affects surrounding heroes.
Sound: Heavy Smash + Shockwave
Possible voice line from Equalizer: Balance!
Staff of the Master effect: Increases AoE by 200 (400->600) and always deals full (200/350/500) damage regardless of the number of enemy heroes.

Explanation: On level 3 if you only hit 1 enemy hero he will take the full 500 damage, lose 50% damage, 60 attack speed, 15 armor and if it's a ranged hero he will also lose 400 attack range. On the other hand if you hit 5 enemies it will deal 100 damage per enemy and reduce their damage by 10%, attack speed by 12 and armor by 3. If there are, say, 3 ranged heroes amongst them they will lose 133 attack range each.
Why? This would be the ultimate skill that would bring down any opponent below your level. No matter how farmed or beefy he is, 1 on 1 he would lose in a fight against Equalizer unless he ran. A carry will lose 50% damage and 60 attack speed, a tank will lose 15 armor. Another unique purpose of this skill is that it would probably be the only skill in the game that forces the enemy to stick together instead of spreading out. Should the carry walk too far away from his teammates he will be heavily punished.
As for the staff of the master effect, I want it to give a new use to the hero (that's what I want SotM to do for every hero). So if you ever get it you would now have a choice: Initiate and try hit all 5 of them for some good damage and a minor debuff (with the higher AoE) or try hit 1 target as usual.
OP much? This skill would probably make Equalizer one of the best 1v1 heroes in the game, especially against farmed carries and tanks. But this is not a 1v1 game, it's a team game. Against a well coordinated team this skill would not work. Furthermore, this skill is very easily countered. With a Nullfire Blade or Electrician you can dispel the buff from Equalizer or the debuff from your carry. Since it is not Superior Magic a Shrunken Head or any kind of Magic Immunity (something carries often have) would also counter it. The best item counter though would probably be Geometer's Bane as it would dispel the negative effects of this skill. Also, Parasite ^^

Attack Range: Melee
Primary attribute: Intelligence
Stats:
Str: 22 + 2
Agi: 22 + 2
Int: 22 + 2
Role: Support/Semi-Carry

So now you know the skills and how they work. Again, initially I didn't really have a concept for how the skills would work exactly. I just had things I wanted my skills to do and address. After the initial iteration I thought that the hero would have to do with a "balance" theme so I started working on that, adding some more effects and depths to the skills. Skills had good, non-forced synergy because they were all designed with the same set of goals in mind.

Afterwards, I went through a process I call "Overcomplication". I started adding more and more effects onto the existing skills on purpose to see how much I could come up with and how much would be "enough". After some experimentation and the removal of some questionable/overcomplicated mechanics I ended up with the skills that you saw above. I didn't want my hero to be a tank or a carry so I made him a melee int hero. The fact that I wanted the hero not to be "too strong" made me give him a balanced stat gain so that he would not have too much hp, attack speed or damage. His starting stats are one of the best (if not the best) in the game but at the same time his stat gain is one of the worst (something I want Equalizer to have primarily as a support hero that is good early and does not scale well into late game).

Finally, it was time to come up with a concept. What would my hero look like. Of course, I wanted my concept not to be bland and at the same time make sense. A hero to do with balance, the name came pretty quickly: Equalizer. How would the hero look like? Well you can see yourselves now :P


Balance is subjective since I can't tell you much about how "balanced" something is when it's not even in the game and hasn't been tested in any way (my hands are tied here). Numbers can always be tweaked. Don't underestimate that. No matter how strong the first skill might be a cooldown increase to 60 seconds will make it useless.



So in the end I got a hero that did what I wanted. He has strengths (global disable, anti-carry) and he has weaknesses (no real escape or chase mechanism, no farming abilities). The skill ceiling for the hero is also pretty high. You have to watch the minimap for optimal Q use and control your hp for a possible teleport. You need to time your W and be careful not to get jumped to maximize its efficiency and harass ranged heroes back. You need to choose an optimal item build to make your E worthwhile and your ultimate requires incredibly good positioning, generally useless if more than 2 heroes are hit. The hero also lacks an escape mechanism.


Hope you understand the idea behind the hero. I leave you with a small list of good builds and enemies.
Good items for Equalizer: Portal Key, Tablet of Command, Hellflower, Charged Hammer, Daemonic Breastplate, Nullstone
Items to counter Equalizer: Shrunken Head, Nullstone, Nullfire Blade, Geometer's Bane
Hero counters: Electrician, Parasite

[genoskill]

I can't believe nobody has commented on this hero.

Its interesting how he can be a support and at the same time somebody who kills carries. But probably he will be able to kill anybody so he can be op.

his first skill being global its just insane. and a passive with 4 bonuses I think it is too. But hope i'm wrong because the hero seems very interesting.

[[MvD]wrecktim]

haha

[[SmZ]SomaZ]

Thanks for the comments!

As I take a second look at the hero I can think of situations where he could be really good but I can also think of situations where he can be really bad.
Like, for example, when the enemy team is pushing into your base. Your first skill becomes nothing more than a 2.5 second channeled disable on a high cooldown, third skill becomes questionable since you have to be low on hp and survive for it to be effective (very hard for a melee int hero). Your ultimate also becomes quite useless unless you manage to hit that key carry hero with it and he has no magic immunity.

On the other hand when you're on the offensive, ganking and picking off heroes would be really easy with the help of this hero.


But, again. That's all balance. I'd say there's a 99.9% chance that my hero is not balanced but since he's not in the game I can't say much more.

[[dSqd]xDlolboizxD]

Wow, I can't believe nobody has posted on this thread.

First of all i just wanted to say thank you. Your concept art for your hero was pretty funny.. made me laugh =) but my english teacher didn't really appreciate my friend and I's loud outburst of laughter during a lecture. mspaint win!

Look, your hero has many great qualities and I enjoyed reading this, hopefully S2 will get of their arse and take some of your idea's into consideration because

1. They're balanced
2. Unique
3. Unusual

When i say unusual i don't mean it in a bad way, If Equalizer were to be added (or a hero similar) it would added for a newer type of gameplay which is what HoN needs.

Looking forward to seeing new hero idea's from you

(Try not to make me look like an idiot again :P)

[[SBT]Rkey]

I can see Q working if there is a startup that reveals Equalizer and places a visible debuff THAT CAN BE PURGED on the hero targeted for maybe 3 seconds. This also synergises with the passive as it will take effect the second they see you start channeling.

I would also say it shouldn't be <50% but rather <20/30/40/50%.

I really like the -attack range on the ult, makes him cool.

[[RCT]IsmaelVera]

Q simply cannot be global range. That's even more OP than tanky heroes imo. I think this hero's too powerful for now.