[N/A] Evairnophet, Sands of Time

[Rising_Dusk]

Evairnophet
Sands of Time
Intelligence, Melee; Hallowed Order.
Dreadlord Model.

My story is sufficient to explain the "of Time" part of my title, despite my spells having nothing to do with time.

Level 1 Skill:
Twister

• Target Point, Summon.
  Creates a sandy cyclone at the Hero's location that slowly moves towards target point (you can control it and tell it to go elsewhere, though!), dealing X (low) physical damage per second (to enemies) around it and extending blind and cripple on struck units by 3 seconds.
  Lasts 12 seconds. (Very fast cooldown)

Level 1 Skill:
Crosswind

• Target Point.
  A semicircle of wind lashes across the target point from the Hero's right side, dealing X (medium) magickal damage (to enemies) and speeding up any cyclones it strikes in the direction of the wind. Struck crippled units are knocked down for 1 second.
  (Medium cooldown)

Level 1 Skill:
Sandslash

• Passive.
  Evairnophet's attacks extend blind for 2 seconds. Physical damage he deals inflicts a bonus X (low) damage against blinded foes and maims them for each second they are blinded. (Yes, the damage increases with blind duration)

Level 6 Ultimate:
The Desert of Exile

• No Target, Instant Cast, Buff.
  Evairnophet creates a maelstrom of sand about himself, dealing X (medium) magickal damage per second and slowly pulling all moving enemy units in range towards himself at X movement speed. Causes any cyclones in the area of effect to swirl about the Hero at the radius when they encountered the maelstrom.
  Lasts 18 seconds. (Longish cooldown)

If I had some special note, I added it in parenthesis for your better understanding. This makes some of the abilities a lot longer in text than they really are, but I included it so people wouldn't ask (as many) questions. One last note, anywhere I use extend for conditions, it also "applies" the condition. I still like the word extend more than "adds." *Shakes a fist at the general community*

I wanted to submit a hero to the contest because I wanted to "raise the bar" so to say. (Since I've heard lots of negative things from people about the general quality of entries) I'd like to see heroes that can rival this one be submitted.

Anyways, good luck in the contest and stuff.

[Rectifier]

I dig the synergy of this hero, my only complaint is: does it have to be a dreadlord model?

[Oxygen]

[quote="Rising_Dusk"]
Level 1 Skill:
Twister

• Target Point, Summon.
  Creates a sandy cyclone at the Hero's location that slowly moves towards target point (you can control it and tell it to go elsewhere, though!), dealing X (low) physical damage per second (to enemies) around it and extending blind and cripple on struck units by 3 seconds.
  Lasts 12 seconds. (Very fast cooldown)

Level 1 Skill:
Crosswind

• Target Point.
  A semicircle of wind lashes across the target point from the Hero's right side, dealing X (medium) magickal damage (to enemies) and speeding up any cyclones it strikes in the direction of the wind. Struck crippled units are knocked down for 1 second.
  ) I

[/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote]
Ouch. You almost exactly nailed one of carnage's hero conceptone of the hero's spells (though there are more twists to it, get it, twist!) with the whole tornado-wind-speeding-up-stuff thing. I mean, they're different enough such that two people playing the maps wouldn't really notice unless they really gave a f*ck, but my eyes still went Ô_ô at a first glance anyway. COOL

[Intoxicated Crayon]

Well, I think the passive makes the physical damage of the tornado do extra blind and damage. Unless it's only just his own physical damage :p.

[Greenspawn]

Cool stuff dude. I have a question though, does crosswind's speed increase last forever for a cyclone, or does it eventually slow down?

[Rising_Dusk]

It would eventually slow down unless hit by another Crosswind. (Which is possible considering cooldowns) Oh and Rect, it would only make sense animation-wise, style-wise, and aesthetic-wise on the Dreadlord model. Furthermore, there's even a second dreadlord model in WC3 that I can use so I do not have to reimport it. This is clutch. (I hope the other entries in the contest are contemplating models as well, since that's pretty important)

[Rectifier]

Alright, just curious.

[Oxygen]

Yeah, he can spin on himself, and swipe stuff, and throw sleeping powder and all.

[vesuvan]

Lateral asymmetry in a wc3 spell? Next you'll be making passive abilities with cooldowns and spending resources other than HP or mana, you damn dirty deviant.

[Oxygen]

Lateral asymmetry in a wc3 spell? Next you'll be making passive abilities with cooldowns and spending resources other than HP or mana, you damn dirty deviant.

Tornne already has that. Glyphe could if he only threw one axe. It's nothing superoshit!

[Rising_Dusk]

Note

I originally wasn't going to judge the hero, but I think people should know what about it works, why it works, why it's a great hero, and why I would score it so highly.

Review:

• General Pros:
  - The cyclone summons are a core component of the hero and removing them would totally break the hero's concept, theme, and style.
  - There is a huge amount of secondary skill interaction with the summons via their mobility. The skills that interact with them are fully useful of their own right, but can find use in interaction with the summons.
  - The hero sees a fair bit of condition interaction, and despite some of it being shallow (ie. knockdown to crippled foes) it feels right and not forced. The hero simply wouldn't work quite right in any map but DoE. (That's really important..)
  - Crosswind offers a new type of skill aiming for it, which would be fun, challenging, and unique to use.
  - Lots of spammy skills for lots of activity, but each requires thought to use in its own right, so you don't just "spam cast spells."
  - Has a clear and awesome aesthetic associated with it.
  - Has an ult with a new feel to it and a drag that would actually work without being lame.
• General Cons:
  - Probably way too much condition extending. Those cyclone cripples could get very nasty. Probably would reduce cripple extension to 2s from 3s.
  - Maim on the passive might be a bit excessive in both duration and in principle.
• Final Thoughts:
  - The hero really flows. Try to imagine him in play and you'll see what I mean. Toss a few fast-cooldown twisters out there, then move a bit into position and crosswind them into your targets, aiming such that you'll hit enemies with the crosswind as well. Then your passive fires off of the damage on the cyclones, and you need to get melee to hit them a few time to extend that blind some more. Really work off of not getting hit and keeping stuff blinded! If you get covered in multiple heroes or just need a last punch for the kill, drop the ult after a few twisters. Suddenly, the sand flies and people will run in fear as you chase at melee range, punching to increase blind and thus twister damage. You'll run quasi-circles around them, and once crippled will crosswind them to knockdown.
  
  Can you see now what I mean by how the hero flows and plays?
  - The hero offers enough new stuff that doesn't feel like other heroes in the map and brings his own tricks to the table. That's important.
• End Grade:
  N/A