Aethum, the Lost Hope of Humanity

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TheDeathstalker
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Aethum, the Lost Hope of Humanity

Post by TheDeathstalker » Wed Jan 14, 2009 3:23 am

Aethum
Lost Hope of Humanity
Strength; Order.

Story: Pending...

Level 1 Skill:
Strength of Many
  • Passive Aura
    Every attack made by an allied unit under this aura applies a debuff to the unit struck. The debuff reduces armor by X and increases incoming physical damage by Y per stack.
Level 1 Skill:
"Prepare to Die"
  • Active Buff
    Nearby allied units attack target unit. The nearest ally to the unit is buffed, gaining a static +X% move speed and a Y% chance to attack the unit Z more times. Every time another allied unit attacks the target of this skill, the stack of the buff increases.
Level 1 Skill:
Weight of the World
  • Active Debuff
    Target enemy unit takes X damage and has their movespeed reduced by Y% per buff or debuff on nearby units.
Elite:
Hero's Resolve
  • Passive
    Increases the max number of stacks of buffs by X. Whenever there are Y stacks of a buff on a unit, it's duration is refreshed and the buff is applied to all allied units in Z AoE.
Ultimate:
Rebirth of Hope
  • Active Channel Self Buff
    Aethum gains a buff that reduces incoming damage from any source by X and deals X damage to the source of the damage. Stacks once every second while draining mana. While under the effects of this buff, the radius of the Hero's Resolve is increased by Y%.
Comments:
Alright, he's completely overhauled, now the biggest problems I have with him are that I'm terrible at skill names and at succinctly writing skills.
Last edited by TheDeathstalker on Tue Feb 03, 2009 6:43 pm, edited 5 times in total.
And though you come out of each gruelling bout,
All broken and beaten and scarred,
Just have one more try—it’s dead easy to die,
It’s the keeping-on-living that’s hard.

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Kurogamon
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Re: Aethum, the Lost Hope of Humanity

Post by Kurogamon » Wed Jan 14, 2009 10:11 pm

Mm, looks a bit boring. Interesting storyline idea, the despairing hero and all that. But the hero's gameplay itself seems to be a bit lacking, mainly because he's a bit limited in application. The skills aren't fun to use. Activate, deactivate. Weight of the World seems to be out of place. Never Again actually is a great simple thing for support, lots of strategies can be set up with it. Redemption is also well worded and would be a good ultimate.

Overall though, this hero is a tad boring. He just heals the nearby allies without much need for microing the process unless one is willing to take all that trouble to save mana, and his offense abilities are out of place.
Can you hear them?

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Rising_Dusk
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Re: Aethum, the Lost Hope of Humanity

Post by Rising_Dusk » Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:13 pm

What exactly is he supposed to be other than a cool name?
"I'll come to Florida one day and make you look like a damn princess." ~Hep

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TheDeathstalker
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Re: Aethum, the Lost Hope of Humanity

Post by TheDeathstalker » Fri Jan 16, 2009 8:51 am

Kurogamon wrote:Mm, looks a bit boring.
Rising_Dusk wrote:What exactly is he supposed to be other than a cool name?
And that's exactly the 'ugh' I was talking about, heh. I broke from my recent process here and focused on creating the character first, then the abilities around that, instead of deciding a role I wanted to fill, then building it step by step through that. The loose role I came up with was a pusher/General type hero, but I built skills around names, instead of otherwise. I know Too Little, Too Late suffered most from this, and I'd almost say there's got to be some way to make it work, but I'm not sure how... Ooh!

Too Little, Too Late
  • Activate Buff
    If buffed unit falls below X% health, allies within some AoE are healed for Y health and have a secondary buff placed on them. If any of these units dies under the secondary buff, all other units under that buff are healed Y health and have it's duration reset.
You know, it may actually be fun to make a buff heavy general type hero... that actually makes sense too... :D I think I randomly just came up with a hero role, Buffer. Ok, here's some rough new skill versions, let me know what you think.

Weight of the World
  • Passive
    Every buff on an allied unit reduces the movement speed by X% and armor by Y of nearby enemy units.
Forlorn Hope
  • Active Buff
    Buffed unit have their movement speeds increased by X% until they attack, at which point gain Y armor and Z attack damage.
Ultimate:
Light of Redemption
  • Channeled Buff
    Buffs all allied units in some AoE, Reducing damage taken by X and dealing X damage to any attacking unit. Drains mana while being cast, but every second of casting increases X and increases the duration of the buff by Y.
I think there's a bit of tweaking to be done with this, particularly in the exact spreading of the buffs... something like Forlorn Hope spreading to nearby units if the enemy first struck dies. Eeeh, I don't know, that doesn't quite work, but somehow I'm hoping to make the buffs approximately equivalent in numbers so that Weight of the World stays fairly balanced, but I'm not sure how to do that... Unless Weight of the World changes to a debuff aura type deal, that reduces movespeed and armor based on the number of unique buffs nearby. Ok, I think I need to mull this over for a bit, so lemme know what you guys think, hopefully he's a bit better than he used to be.
And though you come out of each gruelling bout,
All broken and beaten and scarred,
Just have one more try—it’s dead easy to die,
It’s the keeping-on-living that’s hard.

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Rising_Dusk
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Re: Aethum, the Lost Hope of Humanity

Post by Rising_Dusk » Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:24 pm

He just needs a more defined role. I can't even fathom a model other than the crapaladin that could even make remote sense for him. He has no feeling, no real drive, nothing special. That's absolutely critical for an AotZ hero.
"I'll come to Florida one day and make you look like a damn princess." ~Hep

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TheDeathstalker
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Re: Aethum, the Lost Hope of Humanity

Post by TheDeathstalker » Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:46 pm

You're right, I think I'm gonna just let the hero concept mull for a bit, let the role and everything come naturally instead of forcing it. And yeah, the "crapaladin" was more or less the model I had in mind, we'll see what comes out of it. If anyone's got any ideas, feel free to let them fly, but until then, I'll be thinking...
And though you come out of each gruelling bout,
All broken and beaten and scarred,
Just have one more try—it’s dead easy to die,
It’s the keeping-on-living that’s hard.

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Kurogamon
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Re: Aethum, the Lost Hope of Humanity

Post by Kurogamon » Fri Jan 16, 2009 3:59 pm

TheDeathstalker wrote:Ultimate:
Light of Redemption

Channeled Buff
Buffs all allied units in some AoE, Reducing damage taken by X and dealing X damage to any attacking unit. Drains mana while being cast, but every second of casting increases X and increases the duration of the buff by Y.
What were you saying about Icon of Dominance? :P

I like the idea of a buffer though, good concept, and the new abilities are quite an improvement. A couple days, a bit of inspiration, then a buffer hero would be great.
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TheDeathstalker
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Re: Aethum, the Lost Hope of Humanity

Post by TheDeathstalker » Fri Jan 16, 2009 6:38 pm

Preliminary mulling is telling me that a buffer hero wouldn't actually be as fun to play as you'd think. It'd be a lot of micromanaging the buffs, making sure who gets who, etc. He needs a different direction (and a concept that breaks him from the paladin feel). I'll have something more over the weekend. but I doubt he'll be a buffer Kuro.
And though you come out of each gruelling bout,
All broken and beaten and scarred,
Just have one more try—it’s dead easy to die,
It’s the keeping-on-living that’s hard.

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Rising_Dusk
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Re: Aethum, the Lost Hope of Humanity

Post by Rising_Dusk » Fri Jan 16, 2009 6:44 pm

Take a clever look at buffs and all that you can do with them. There's more there than you give them credit for.
"I'll come to Florida one day and make you look like a damn princess." ~Hep

LightburneR
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Re: Aethum, the Lost Hope of Humanity

Post by LightburneR » Mon Jan 19, 2009 12:01 pm

TheDeathstalker wrote:Too Little, Too Late
  • Activate Buff
    If buffed unit falls below X% health, allies within some AoE are healed for Y health and have a secondary buff placed on them. If any of these units dies under the secondary buff, all other units under that buff are healed Y health and have it's duration reset.
Weight of the World
  • Passive
    Every buff on an allied unit reduces the movement speed by X% and armor by Y of nearby enemy units.
Forlorn Hope
  • Active Buff
    Buffed unit have their movement speeds increased by X% until they attack, at which point gain Y armor and Z attack damage.
Ultimate:
Light of Redemption
  • Channeled Buff
    Buffs all allied units in some AoE, Reducing damage taken by X and dealing X damage to any attacking unit. Drains mana while being cast, but every second of casting increases X and increases the duration of the buff by Y.
Let's take Violet and reverse engineer her! (Obviously just kidding)

Too Little, Too Late appears weird to me.

I'd really like Forlorn Hope to stack =d.

LoR seems against the feel of the hero.

Also, speaking on the feel, this hero appears to have a minimal amount of emotion within him.
Its... its... a NEW SIG!! OMG!!

O_O"

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Re: Aethum, the Lost Hope of Humanity

Post by TheDeathstalker » Mon Jan 19, 2009 1:26 pm

LightburneR wrote:Too Little, Too Late appears weird to me.
I'd really like Forlorn Hope to stack =d.
LoR seems against the feel of the hero.
Also, speaking on the feel, this hero appears to have a minimal amount of emotion within him.
First keep in mind that the hero is under a near complete revision right now, as I try to figure out just how to make a hero that is designed around buffs (Read: I'm hitting my head against the wall a lot, I see the potential, it'll just take a bit to harness). That being said...

Too Little, Too Late is weird, the intent was that you could keep a push alive against all odds even though some of your men are dying. It is currently not in my build for the hero. Forlorn Hope is designed around the concept of the Forlorn Hope. Wiki it if you need to, but it's not a stackable thing, and neither is the skill itself to be honest, unless you want to create needlessly overpowered heroes. Light of Redemption is meant to be a break from the feel of the hero, it's very name is meant to show this, although it too is undergoing revisions.

On the topic of feel, I figure I should actually write my "concept" for Aethum down, so here goes:

Envision a young general, fresh, promising, the type of thing people tend to gravitate towards in times of war. Well, needs be what they must, he heads the army, leading it out into battle to fight the Bane. He's nervous, yeah, but at the same time, this is what he's spent his life working towards, the battlefield is his domain, and for the first few seconds of the battle, that might have been true. Suddenly, his army is cut into with unexpected viciousness, he's losing troops left and right, and within the space of an hour, each and every man under his lead is either dead or dying. He tried to fight too, but the Bane had something far more cruel in mind. They saved him for last, surrounded him, and overwhelmed him, but didn't hurt him, at least not yet. The Bane soldiers took their turns for the better part of a week beating him brutally, breaking, setting, and rebreaking every bone in his body, until the young, promising general was little more than an empty shell of his old self. At this point, they send him on horseback ahead of them as a message to whatever city they would come across, as a mockery of how they had hailed him as the "Last Hope of Humanity".

Years pass, wounds heal, if only by raw determination. The moment he had the strength to hold a weapon, he was training with it, and as soon as his legs would take him, he returned to the battlefield. Although despised by the other soldiers, as he was a constant reminder of how the Bane had shamed them all, he fought on, leading those who would listen, and protecting those who wouldn't. Others question why he still fights, as there is no gain in it for him, and even the people he fights to protect despise him. But he doesn't. He fights not for honor, not for pride, but because he knows it's what's right, and for him, that's more than enough. He is Aethum, the Lost Hope of Humanity, and even if he is the last man standing against the darkness, he'll be standing in the gap to save those who couldn't care less about him.

Or, at least, that's the gist of it...
And though you come out of each gruelling bout,
All broken and beaten and scarred,
Just have one more try—it’s dead easy to die,
It’s the keeping-on-living that’s hard.

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Posts: 169
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Re: Aethum, the Lost Hope of Humanity

Post by LightburneR » Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:05 am

LightburneR wrote:Also, speaking on the feel, this hero appears to have a minimal amount of emotion within him.
The hero has a feel, but the skills do not express it enough/at all. That is what I can say.
Its... its... a NEW SIG!! OMG!!

O_O"

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TheDeathstalker
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Re: Aethum, the Lost Hope of Humanity

Post by TheDeathstalker » Fri Jan 30, 2009 8:00 pm

Aethum v2 is up and done, mostly. I'm not entirely happy with the new skill names, but I'm sure you guys are creative enough to help with that. A couple quick notes on the skills:

Drive of the Unforgiven: I know, I know, I'm as iffy about innates as the rest of you, but I was building this hero, and it just feels right, that, and this used to be a skill, but it just felt lame to have 1 aura, 1 passive, and 1 active skill for the first few levels, I felt he needed more of an active role in things.

Strength of Many: First skill I came up with for this guy, not much to say, I'm fairly happy with all but the name.

"Prepare to Die": Again, mostly happy with it, although I fail at explaining. In essence, there's 3 uses you could come up with for this skill. 1) Use it on a creep next to an allied hero, he gains a slight multi-hit chance and a decent movespeed buff, allowing him to run off and hero-kill as he so chooses. 2) Micro and kill off weaker/more important creeps, 3) Target the heavier creeps, use along with the first skill to both take them down and to get a serious buff floating around one or many of your units. The "buffs the closest allied unit" is a bit funny to me, but I think it's probably the best approach, and then have teamwork required to make the buff stronger.

Valorous Stand: Again, I hate naming skills, but this works somewhat independently of the first two skills, although relying upon them to keep it flowing. I'd say this is the weakest skill on him, although it's incredibly useful both for strengthening squishier allies like Ronin or giving yourself a much heavier pushing creep force.

Weight of the World: I'm actually very happy with this one, it's fairly simple, but potentially devastating. As you'll be throwing around alot of buffs and debuffs, the setup for this skill is natural, and it serves as a serious kicker to punish an overly zealous enemy hero, and a hilariously good set up for "Prepare to Die". To clarify, the % slow would be a debuff itself, with a stack equal to the number of debuffs that it multiplies X by for the damage, so you've also got yourself a decent area slow if this is used right.

Rebirth of Hope: The only skill he kept, really, although it's in a new form. It essentially becomes a "Oh shit, he's using his ult, kill him quick!" type deal, as once he hits the point it spills over, you've got an army of hardy, deadly creeps that are going to be shredding anything that tries to stop them. For added fun, try hitting the group with an AoE spell. (Also, I considered it being a X% reduction/return, but then you disallow for the potential threat of spike damage, which seems to me like a much more interesting way to run things.)

Anyways, yeah, it took a while, but let me know what you think!
And though you come out of each gruelling bout,
All broken and beaten and scarred,
Just have one more try—it’s dead easy to die,
It’s the keeping-on-living that’s hard.

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Rising_Dusk
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Re: Aethum, the Lost Hope of Humanity

Post by Rising_Dusk » Fri Jan 30, 2009 8:55 pm

Reading this hero kind of makes me want to make Creation. Haha, as if..

And yeah, the innate is extraneous still. It doesn't force his hand, it doesn't drive the way he plays. Whether or not you like it means nothing for its use as an innate; it needs to bleed the hero and drive the hero, and here it just doesn't.
"I'll come to Florida one day and make you look like a damn princess." ~Hep

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Re: Aethum, the Lost Hope of Humanity

Post by TheDeathstalker » Sat Jan 31, 2009 2:17 am

You know... as much as I wanted to say otherwise, thinking about it for a bit, you're right. Skills shuffled, Innate -> Elite, Elite -> Basic Skill, Valorous Stand removed, as it was more or less a filler skill anyways.
And though you come out of each gruelling bout,
All broken and beaten and scarred,
Just have one more try—it’s dead easy to die,
It’s the keeping-on-living that’s hard.

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