Possible Tornne ideas

[Oxygen]

This is the thread to discuss (my(though everyone is welcomed to participate)) ideas concerning Tornne.

Characterization:

1-Taint is rather weak during the first levels
2-Taint is rather strong during the last levels (this lead to the very tacky damage cap)
3-Tornne has an overly hefty mana pool

Observation:

1-Taint's cooldown is very long
2-Taint's cooldown becomes too low, and the spell scales exponentially well with two abilities from which to benefit
2.1-Taint scales oddly (see above)
3-Since Epidemic is highly situational, and WoP very easy on mana, Taint becomes the only spell which can decay Tornne's mana pool

Suggestion:

1-Reduce Taint's cooldown at lower levels
2-Increase Taint's cooldown at higher levels
2.1-Change the rate at which Taint scales
3-Change Epidemic in a certain way to make it less situational

Prediction:

1-Taint would become more useful at lower levels
2-Taint would become less overwhelming at later levels (cap could be removed)
3-Tornne would not have so much mana if he possessed two spells which he would not only have to spend mana on, but also be highly sensitivized to make use of Epidemic in a non or less situational situation in order to maximize his effectiveness (Note: Epidemic does NOT have to be used for Tornne to feel powerful; I'd like to see this change)

Experiment:

1-Decrease Taint's cooldown to 9 seconds at level 1 (down from 14)
2-Increase Taint's cooldown to 5 seconds at level 5 (up from 2)
2.1-Change Taint's scaling to 9/8/7/6/5, from 14/11/8/5/2
3-Change Epidemic in a manner that it deals magic(k) damage to foes within its area of effect, depending on how many conditions are being spread to how many units (Note: Epidemic would further synergize with the passive)

Conclusion:

Tornne players would feel more powerful at lower levels
Tornne players would not feel so pigeon holed into leveling and maxing Taint first, for it would be less powerful to level, and for Epidemic would also be more of a valuable spell to skill up
Tornne's gameplay would become more interesting, as Epidemic would be less situational and thus offer the player with more possibilities to use it
Tornne would have less mana to play with, and thus, will be forced to make choices instead of mindlessly spamming Taint

Notes:

The newly developed non-situational viability of Epidemic would make up (balance) Tornne's loss of a very powerful taint
Anyone is more than welcome to quote and argue against any of the points above, in fact, I WANT people to

[Rising_Dusk]

Damage on Epidemic is kind of strange, especially since your argument against it is that it is conditional. Giving it damage doesn't fix that, nor does it make it any less likely to not be forgotten by the player. The only way it'd see serious use is if I agreed with your verdict on Taint and owned the cooldown to 5s at max level. (Since then the Tornne player has nothing to do except cast Epidemic) I just don't think Tornne will feel quite right as a hero without the capacity to fire off a Taint every 2 seconds. The Taint hailstorm is one of the most epic things to dodge against, one of the most rewarding things as an Order player to survive, and one of the most empowering things as a Bane player to have at your disposal. You'd be killing all of that just with that 3s increase. (I mean, the cripple wouldn't even last the cooldown of the ability without WoP...)

Reduce Taint's cooldown at lower levels

This is something I unconditionally agree with and have already fixed at PP's earlier suggestion.

[Oxygen]

I agree with your answer concerning a high level taint spam. I'd still like to see Epidemic changed in some way, the damage was just a placeholder...

How about creating a "tainted cloud" which would extend 1 second of the targeted unit's conditions, afflicting units that walk into the cloud?

Not only would you have to dodge taints, but you'd also have to avoid walking into clouds! WHAT!

Oh yeah, and they'd be spammy.

[Rising_Dusk]

Not only would you have to dodge taints, but you'd also have to avoid walking into clouds! WHAT!

It'd feel way too close to Miasma with an initial AOE damage spike hooked to it. I don't think the answer here is to change the functionality of the abilities, because they are all quite awesome, quite useful, and quite fun to have. I've always felt that Epidemic was the one ability whose conditional nature I could live with just because it is an effect that practically defines the "Oh, wow" interaction level of DoE's conditions.

Furthermore, Epidemic already deals quite respectable damage with WoP active. This explodes further with his passive and once you get HoR. (150 penetrating AOE damage after a successful Taint hit!) Honestly, I think Tornne's pretty happy in his current stage, and with the early-level Taint cooldown issue addressed should be amiable at all points in the metagame.

There must certainly be other heroes that need attention far more than he, in any case.

[Oxygen]

There must certainly be other heroes that need attention far more than he, in any case.

Mm, yeah, I'm beating the wrong horse (get it?)