{CDC 13} Ulrezaj, Vengeful Dark Archon [Cult]

His 100% lifesteal is pretty spooky with 120 damage base, but it’d require some solid team support to get him auto attacking at any reasonable rate, so I’m a little less concerned with that.

I’m less concerned with higher damage numbers on a character with very limited sustain as well, especially when that character’s on a slow decay. I’m also a little worried lowering his damage too much; He’s trading his health for it, and his sustain tools are either: Slow(Basic Attacks); Hard to land([W]); Require minions(Trait active); Or heroic(Confusion). So. I’ll hold off from a change before judging.

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15/20

Creativity: 5/5
Some interesting ideas all around. Constantly taking damage at all times is something that, to my knowledge, hasn’t really been done in a moba before, which is neat. You’re pretty good at this category : p

Cohesiveness: 3/5
My issues with cohesion and interaction more or less go hand and hand so ill explain more below.

Thematic: 5/5
No problems here! Excelsior!
I will say tho, that it would be neat to see some light anti-mage or anti-tank elements in the talent tree sense thats what they were commonly used for in high level sc1 games (and trolling zerg to death :P).

Interaction: 2/5
My biggest problem with Ulrezaj is his constantly decaying health. I think the idea has plenty of potential so i wouldn’t completely write out the constant damage but theres a few things I don’t think you accounted for. You’d be surprised at how often you do absolutely nothing in your average game. Even more so on some maps like battle field of eternity, Hanamura, and any time you gotta hop on your horse and ride to the other side of the map as well as any time you gotta wait for something. Higher level games tend to have less fighting as well sense its an unnecessary risk or the enemy team has a quest you don’t want to stack .Id like to see a new ability that can be channeled to drastically lessen the effects of his trait but your unable to do anything else (moving as a reduced speed would be ok tho).

My other problem is with the confusion debuff (not the ultimate). Im a little torn on this one. On one hand, in just about every other game where your controls get reversed it can be jarring and occasionally frustrating. I don’t imagine that a pvp setting would help things any. On the other, It does have some real counter play and you would be able to see the confuse coming if you thought Ulrezaj was coming foe you.
I do think that ability should have some amount of CC to make Q a more realistic option but confusion is a dangerous way to do it if your going for a high interaction score.

Maelstrom is kinda insane. The CC this provides is effectively a better taunt except it lasts 5 seconds. Sleep effects don’t even last that long with the exception of stay a while and listen which has so much counter play it can be borderline useless in an uncoordinated game. A range of 8 might also be to high as its twice the size of Malfurion’s twilight dream and approaching hammers AA range.

Some other things. I don’t like the delay on W sense with out it, Ulrezaj is super dead in a teamfight. I’d have it do relatively little damage and “heal” Ulrezaj for a fair amount. Q should probably have a short wind up time, maybe .5 seconds or something.

Some other other things that I didn’t doc points for you may want to consider moving on. Ulrezaj’s over all damage is really high. I understand that it is the up side to counteract his trait but I think you went a bit to far. The damage on Q however could go a bit higher in my opinion.
He also has the tools to be a godlike split pusher. Probably outclassing even the mighty Xul with Q and W to nuke waves and E to change lanes faster.
Also I’m actually totally ok with the 100% life steal considering everything else. If you plan on making it an aoe auto attack at some point tho it better come pretty late or have some other downside because that would get pretty hardcore.

Uh, I just wanted to confirm there wasn’t any Confusion between the heroics here! You’re description mostly seems to describe Confusion, but your comment about the severity of the effect and calling it Maelstrom is throwing me off a bit. (^_^')

I can see why you might consider either a little strong, but Maelstrom requires a constant channel and upkeep with a much smaller range, while Confusion doesn’t really apply CC or do much else. So, just wanted to make sure this was all clear!

I’ll definitely consider some options for Ulrezaj’s decay mitigation, though I think you might be overplaying it a little. It’d take 320 seconds to die from just idle damage(plenty of time to get any healing in), and his sustain is a bit heftier than that. (<_<)

Yeah, making the [W] require CC to survive was not the best idea… I’ll rectify that… (v_v)7

I’ll probably alter the damage numbers around a bit with some of the other changes, and scale it back a wee bit in the process. I know his split push is kind of up there, but that’s kind of a traditional Bruiser thing where they tend to have good split pushing capabilities.
(also thank you on the lifesteal part glad to hear it’s not that insane (<_<) )

Total Score - 18/20

Creativity - 5/5
Starting with the base kit, this is easily high for Creativity. Heroes who spend Health to cast abilities are already on the interesting side, but the constantly draining Health of Ulrezaj takes the interest to the next level. On to abilities, they’re on the basic side for their usage (channeled cone damage, delayed AoE damage, Dimensional Shift but more interesting), but their interactions with Ulrezaj’s Unstable Energy helps them out and none of them are barebones in specifics. Both heroics are very original CC tools, with unique effects/punishments for enemy heroes.

On to talents, they also manage a high Creativity score. Many talents play into elements of Ulrazaj’s unique Unstable Energy resource well for interesting conditions (Wrath of Ulrezaj, Memories of the Alys’aril, Overcharged Form), and plenty others add new effects/usages to Ulrezaj’s abilities (Malevolent Feedback, Dark Vortex, Relentless Torrent). Even the more generic talents get an extra layer of interest specific to Ulrezaj’s mechanics (Consuming Rage).

Cohesiveness - 5/5
Base kit cohesion is pretty solid. Ulrezaj has a good balance of free Unstable Energy sources, abilities that cost Unstable Energy but can generate more if used well, and abilities that just cost Unstable Energy for damage. Oblivion Rush sets up for Chaotic Torrent nicely, and though Dark Feast is a bit isolated from his basic attack and other abilities it works well in the kit overall. The heroics do run together a little bit, both representing a large CC bombshell with a big Unstable Energy cost for Ulrezaj to seal teamfights. That being said, they are distinguished somewhat, with Maelstrom being higher risk with more upkeep for Ulrezaj and Hysteria being more fire-and-forget.

On to talents, I do see some decent build paths. Ulrezaj has options for sustained damage through either basic attacks or Chaotic Torrent, a disjoint build for burst damage, and a variety of sustain/survivability talents. There are also a few options for disruption, which generally fall under sustain/basic attacks too. Dark Feast also has some talent support, but all of the Dark Feast talents together don’t really fit one build type. As for concerns with the talent tree: Chaotic Torrent build feels fairly railroaded; basic attack Ulrezaj is also quite railroaded; Seven as One is probably too powerful overall, as it is just incredibly strong for any build that Ulrezaj uses it in, hurting Tier 1’s talent diversity; and I think there are too many disjoint sustain talents, without enough to make a build from and without any other synergies in the tree (Khalis Focus, Feast of Energy, Focused Instability, Font of Ehlna).

To conclude, Cohesiveness in the base kit is great, and the abilities all serve a place in Ulrezaj’s role and playstyle. The talent tree has some solid builds, but a couple are far too railroaded, and there are quite a few stranded talent choices that don’t feel that meaningful (Seven as One on Tier 1 is great for every build, Tier 2 has general sustain talents only one of which really fits in a build). I think my talent complaints step into the realm of nit-picks, so I think full points are justified here.

Thematic - 5/5
Everything here feels thematic for a Dark Archon, and especially Ulrezaj in particular. Destructive void energy, instability, life draining, and disorientation are all in place. As for the contest theme, Ulrezaj definitely qualifies as a cult member, so full points there.

Interaction - 3/5
Ulrezaj’s kit definitely suffers from being far too polarizing in how it works. First off, Ulrezaj’s Unstable Energy total, large lifesteal numbers, and high ability costs would likely make him very frustrating to contend with. On one hand, he has solid potential to soak a lot of the enemy team’s burst then slingshot back to high health; on the other hand, he could flounder and fail to manage to land his heals, causing him to off himself quickly with costs and decay while being beaten up. I see it as a similar problem to The Butcher, but on a fight-by-fight basis instead of over the course of a whole game (which is why I’m penalizing it far less than I would if it was a whole game thing). Second, both of his heroics are massively polarizing in their effects. Maelstrom comes at great expense to Ulrezaj and it does have counterplay, but when it goes off well you can cripple the entire enemy team and punish them for attempting playing the game without a perfect counter to your ability. Hysteria introduces a new level of frustration, similar to “my idiot teammate walked Kael’thas’s Living Bomb into me”, but now it can be “the enemy walked our KT’s Living Bomb into my entire team”, and so many other horrendous unfun scenarios for the receiving end of Hysteria.

To summarize, Ulrezaj’s general polarity would be maybe a point in penalty, but combined with how crushingly unfun and frustrating each of his heroics can be, I think it definitely builds up to a 2 point penalty.

I just realized I forgot to ever respond to the feedback here! We’ve already chatted about my ideas to hopefully lessen the overall power of Ulrezaj’s heroics to more reasonable standards, but I wanted to cover a couple of other concerns really quick.

I know Chaotic Torrent’s build is a little railroaded, and I’m not sure what I might do to try and diversify it, or if I’m concerned enough with one railroaded build(Which a couple of heroes are far more guilty of) to make any major changes.

I will say that I do believe Ulrezaj’s basic attack build should be much more diverse with me weakening Seven as One and removing their interaction; While there are a couple of talents that need to be taken for the build(Pure Void and Overcharged Form), Ulrezaj’s options on other tiers should allow for diverse options otherwise; at level 1 Wrath of Ulrezaj and Memories of the Alys’aril both have synergy, offering a choice between utility and damage; Level 4 can either have you take Call to Oblivion for direct synergy or whichever other option gives you the most benefit in the present match; Level 16 has Void-Touched Energy for quick and easy ways to duel traditional basic attackers and Veil of Shadows for more general surviveability; and Level 20 has direct synergy(Font of Ehlna) or multiple non-synergistic but still helpful options. Hopefully with this explanation you’re feeling less like it’s railroaded! (^_^')

Otherwise, I think I’m fine not making Sustain build have this clear, full build path available, to prevent Ulrezaj from becoming a little too capable of keeping himself alive. Though a “full” Dark Feast build is theoretically possible; With each of its talents, Seven as One or Memories of the Alys’aril at 1, Call to Oblivion(Probably) at 4, and probably Overwhelming Maelstrom at 20(If you took Maelstrom) or Font of Ehlna, Dark Feast has a semi-jank but workable build. If you want, you can even take Overcharged Form instead of Dark Vortex to enable Devour the Frail (edit: better*), so it should even have some build variety as well.

So yeah, I’m not fully sure either of us realized just how much build synergy might actually exist in the tree! Which is good that there’s more than I had anticipated… (<_<')

Make some fancy combination talents

Just curious, but how do you do that tab thing so it’s concelable?

<details> & </details>
Putting this on either side hides the text inside behind a spoiler; with the <summary> (& /summary) just after the first details you can also set it to say something next to the arrow.

Like this

If you want an overview of all the different things you can do, this thread does a great job of showing them all off.

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Thanks for sharing, lemme make it much clearer.

<details><summary>Click Me</summary>

Hidden Text
</details>

It should be like this specifically.

result:

Click Me

Hidden Text

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I’m trying to use it, but it’s clumping up all of the stuff I’m trying to have expand. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong.

The extra empty line is required to avoid some issues; If that isn’t the cause, uh, maybe you could share an example of what you’re doing? Might help pinpoint the issue.

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Fixed it,but are you able to keep the tab by itself so you can still see stuff after?

That’s what the <./details> is for; It keeps everything after it from being hidden under the same spoiler.

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I used what you put and it shows the stuff below my Talents in the same spoiler. This stuff’s confusing.

The stuff below the talents is showing and hiding with the same spoiler when you’re using Sami’s example? Hm. I don’t recall running into anything like that, even when messing around. About all I can really suggest is make sure you haven’t accidentally removed any of the <'s or >‘s or otherwise mess around with it. At least, that’s all I can really offer without getting a look behind the curtain. (o_o’)7

I’m looking into your post formatting (don’t ask how, I have my ways) and I’ve seen the issue you are having.

You are missing an enter between the next line and </summary>, you are mixing HTML and Markdown which is why its causing this, just add an enter between them.

This one is empty, not sure what’s being done here but just letting you know.

You can follow the block quote I made which should not break as far as I know.

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I’ll probably just leave it like it is so my post isn’t so long, though I’ll certainly try to make a tab for the trailer stuff soon.

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Overall Score
Creativity - 5/5
Cohesiveness - 5/5
Thematic - 5/5
Interaction - 3/5

Total - 18/20 (5 points dedicated to the Week 2 penalty)

Creativity - 5/5 (2/2 for Week 2 penalty).
The gimmick of the character really carries the entire Creativity portion, from the natural degeneration to the unique trait. The basic abilities are all sufficiently unique because they play into the gimmick. Otherwise, they are neutral at best. This is pretty in line with several HotS characters already, so I’ll accept it. The introduction of a new CC type and the interesting heroics secure this score. From what I can see, all of the talents look very interesting (special shout out to Pure Void and Touch of the Void). There are some less interesting pieces, such as Consuming Rage and Numbing Energy, but not enough to justify a point penalty. The skins seem pretty basic and somewhat derivative altogether (SC1 DA seems pretty obvious, and the special skin doesn’t feel that creative overall). That being said, the storyboards blow the challenge out of the water. Effective visuals, music, and dialogue rocket these additions to new heights. Good job.

Cohesiveness - 5/5
Each ability is drawn together explicitly by the trait gimmick, which is fine. The character also works together externally through a playstyle of staying close and obliterating the competition. Each heroic has their place, but I do fear that they feel a little close to one another, considering they both just serve to disrupt the entire enemy team with a massive effect. Talents have very effective build paths throughout, while still keeping from falling into a purely rigid structure. Tier 6 hurts a little bit from some talent bleeding, and I think more can be done to make Numbing Energy feels more unique than what it is now, especially in comparison to Void-Touched Energy. Altogether, though, I don’t think these concerns are nearly major enough to justify a point off.

Thematic - 5/5 (3/3 for Week 2 penalty)
The character takes a dangerous risk to represent Ulrezaj, and it succeeds in many ways. The abilities and gimmick all represent a Dark Archon in an excellent and unconventional way. In addition, each element of the Week 2 penalty is represented, and effectively at that. Good job.

Interaction - 3/5
My first main issue with the character is that, in lane, his trait will never not be active for the next minion wave. Dealing 50% of every minion’s health can be incredibly powerful as a solo laner, and I think it gives him a bit of an undeserved advantage. While he is much harder to manage in the early game, I think this instant deletion of minion waves while healing Ulrezaj can become problematic, and should be nerfed. Healing off minion deaths, less damage but more drain, either of these would absolve the issue. I almost wonder if his trait active and Feast of Energy should be switched. Secondarily, while I understand the gimmick of the character, I think you hit a bust by digging your heels in too far. The incredible damage output of the character is technically balanced by the high cost to his own life, but I fear that this will just create a “Let’s see who dies first” feel to the character that could cause frustration amongst players. In addition, I think his natural loss of life over time can and will create situations where Ulrezaj won’t have adequate opportunities to survive his natural loss of life, whether he is distanced from minion waves from them all being pushed up, or from barely escaping a fight just to die to natural deterioration. I think his deterioration should stop at a hard minimum, such as 10%, and perhaps more opportunities should be given to Ulrezaj to sustain himself outside of laning phase, when minions, wells, and regen globes become far more scarce. My final concern is in line with my second concern: I am concerned his heroics will create frustrating and oppressive situations, where the Ulrezaj’s life costs are not worth the insane teamfight winning potential of his heroics. I think Maelstrom needs a hard cap.

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Alright, now I feel obliged to provide at least a bit of feedback :rofl:

Thematicaly this feels great,not much more to say there.

Creativity is certainly present especialy with the trait.

Interaction is probably the only “problematic” part.
First, maybe I’m missing it but does Unstable Energy act as health when interacting with enemy dmg (and as an extension other effects)?

Second, I think Ulrezaj would have hard time moving around the map which would make him considerably weaker on larger maps.

Third, I find the idea of Confusion to be quite terrifying to play against but at the same time for being something associated with Dark Archons it isn’t used much in his kit (it may be for the best though :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:).

Something similar applies for Hysteria because right now it would IMO be relatively weak (thanks to short duration) but any buff could easily make it very difficult to play against.

Last but not least, I’m not sure about Khalis focus as it would IMO encourage solo play from Ulrezaj.

Overall this kit it full of great strenght and weakness making it somewhat polarizing to play both as and against, nontheless I would like Ulrezaj as an addition to HotS.

WhoYouExpect - 88/100

Creativity: 10/10
Cohesiveness: 10/10
Thematic: 10/10
Interaction: 5/10
(+2 Thoughtfulness, +0 Game Fluidity)