{CDC #14} Bwonsamdi, the Loa of Graves

Hero and Skin Suggestions
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Bwonsamdi, highest of the Zandalari pantheon, is a highly aggressive support, capable at negating spell damage and providing solid kill assistance. His true strength, however, comes as he gathers souls to empower himself. To this end, he offers deals to those heroes who wish for a portion of his strength, using them as additional hands as he gathers souls to bring himself to his true power in the Nexus.

Statistic Value(Level ‘0’)
Health 1750(+4%/level)
Health Regeneration 3.646/s(+4%/level)
Attack Damage 70(+4%/level)
Attack Speed 1.15
Attack Range 5.5
Resource Maximum 490(+10/level)
Resource Regeneration 3/s(+0.0975/level)

D Rite of Binding

Passive: As the Loa of Graves, Bwonsamdi is constantly gathering the souls of the dead to himself to bolster his power. For each hero takedown Bwonsamdi or a Bound hero participates in, Bwonsamdi gains 2 Mojo, and each time a Bound hero is slain, Bwonsamdi gains the normal Mojo as if he had participated in their takedown and an additional 1 Mojo for every 30 seconds since the Pact was made, up to 3 extra stacks of Mojo. Bwonsamdi gains 1% increased Spell Power for each stack of Mojo, and at 30 Mojo, the veil between the Nexus and the Other Side thins, granting Bwonsamdi and heroes who die while Bound to Bwonsamdi a 20% reduction to their death timers. Mojo stacks indefinitely.

Active: Bwonsamdi enacts a Rite of Binding with the targeted Allied Hero, granting them a portion of his strength in return for their gathering souls for him. The targeted hero becomes Bound and is empowered, receiving 10% increased spell power and basic attack damage, and an additional 0.25% increased spell power and basic attack damage for each stack of Mojo Bwonsamdi has. Bwonsamdi can only have 1 Rite active at once, which remembers its target through death. Additional Mojo from lengthy pacts resets on allied hero death, and does not progress while that hero is dead.

Range - 2 units.
Cooldown - 30 seconds.

Q Soul Rend

Bwonsamdi invokes his domain in the targeted area, pulling the souls of enemies towards the Other Side and inflicting ‘Gravebound’ for 5 seconds. Gravebound enemies take 30(+4%/level) damage every second they are afflicted. While an enemy is Gravebound, Bwonsamdi can recast Soul Rend extend a spectral hand in the targeted direction, grasping the soul of the first Gravebound enemy it hits. That enemy takes 120(+4%/level) damage and Bwonsamdi heals for 200% of the damage they took from the Gravebound effect.

Cast Range(Initial) - 7.0 units.
Radius(Initial) - 1.15 units.
Range(Recast) - 7.0 units.
Width(Recast) - 1.0 units.
Travel Speed(Recast) - 28.0 units/s.
Cooldown - 8 seconds.
Cost - 35 Mana.

W Spiritual Grasp

Bwonsamdi calls forth a spirit, throwing it halfway between his point and the targeted area and evoking the grasp of death through it, dealing 260(+4%/level) damage and tethering enemies’ souls to the spirit for 3 seconds. Tethered enemies are slowed by 15% while moving towards the spirit, increased to double otherwise. If tethered enemies move beyond a certain range, the tether ends immediately.

Cast Range - 6.0 units.
Width - 3.50 units.
Length - 1.25 units.
Tether Range - 6.0 units.
Cooldown - 10 seconds.
Cost - 50 Mana.

E Grave Barrier

Bwonsamdi enshrouds a targeted allied hero in spiritual energy, granting them 400(+4%/level) spell shields for 4 seconds, functioning as normal shields but only for spell damage. 33% of the damage the shield takes is infused into the ally’s next basic attack as spell damage, as the energy diverts to their weapon after taking damage. Grave Barrier’s shield is affected by Bwonsamdi’s Spell Power from Mojo.

Cast Range - 7.0 units.
Cooldown - 8 seconds.
Cost - 40 Mana.

R1 Bridge to De Other Side

Bwonsamdi gathers his strength for 1 second, before becoming a beacon for his allies’ souls for up to 10 seconds. While Bwonsamdi is channeling Bridge to De Other Side, all allies that die nearby him have their souls stored, laying in wait. When Bwonsamdi reactivates Bridge to De Other Side, if it runs out of duration, or if he dies or is interrupted, all stored allied souls are immediately called forth as spirits. Heroic spirits deal 50% reduced damage and healing, and decay at a rate of 0.1% health per 0.1 seconds. On death effects will not trigger for spirits, and allies with on death effects will not be stored for Bridge to De Other Side until their on death effect has resolved. Bwonsamdi may act normally while Bridge to De Other Side is active.

Radius - 10.0 units.
Cooldown - 120 seconds.
Cost - 100 Mana.

R2 Death’s Due

Bwonsamdi gathers his power, before unleashing a beam of deathly mojo that locks to the first enemy hit, dealing 300(+4%/level) damage over 2 seconds(applied as 75(+4%/level) per 0.5 seconds) and reducing their healing received by 60% for 4 seconds. As he unleashes his mojo from himself, he also invokes some of his due from his Bound heroes, forming a Mask of Bwonsamdi at their position to fire another blast of the same mojo at the same targeted point, causing ~67% damage and healing reduction, which stacks in effect with Bwonsamdi’s own and other Bound heroes’ instances. While Bwonsamdi is channeling Death’s Due, he may move at 80% speed.

Range - 10.0 units.
Width - 1.8 units.
Projectile Speed - 30.0 units/s.
Cooldown - 100 seconds.
Cost - 80 Mana.

Changelog (Base Kit)

03/11/2021
Upload Date.

03/20/2021
Spritual Grasp now produces a spirit at half cast distance to hold the tether(was Bwonsamdi with tether).
Bridge to De Other Side entirely reworked, previous ability here:

Old Bridge

R1 Bridge to De Other Side

Bwonsamdi channels his power into the targeted area for 1.5 seconds, before conjuring a large Death Gate, bringing all enemy heroes inside the area into De Other Side for 8 seconds. De Other Side mimics the battlefield in the targeted area and a bit further. When Bwonsamdi finishes his channel, all dead allied heroes are additionally revived as spirits with 40% reduced health and damage, spawning by Bwonsamdi’s position on De Other Side. While a dead hero is a Spirit, their death timer continues as normal, but is paused just before they would respawn until their Spirit is slain or the ability ends. Spirits do not grant experience on being slain. If Bwonsamdi is slain while heroes are on the Other Side, the ability ends early, bringing affected enemies back. If Bwonsamdi’s last Bound allied hero was slain and is dead at the time of casting the ability, their Spirit gains the benefits of being Bound.

Cast Range - 8.0 units.
Radius(Cast) - 5.0 units.
Radius(The Other Side - 10.0 units.
Cooldown - 120 seconds.
Cost - 100 Mana.


Death’s Due base damage increased to 300(from 260), base healing reduction increased to 60%(from 40%). Secondary damage and effect % reduced to ~67%(from 75%).

1 Like
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Level 1:

  • (Trait) Might of the Masses: Every 20th enemy minion that dies near Bwonsamdi or a bound ally gives Bwonsamdi 1 stack of Mojo.

  • (Active) Soul Snare (30 seconds CD): Mark an enemy hero for 180. Marked enemies give 1 extra Mojo when killed and an additional 1 Mojo for every 45 seconds the mark was on them. Only one mark may be active at a time. Killing an enemy with a mark sets this on cooldown.

  • (Active) Loa’s Strength (60 seconds CD): Upon activation, Bwonsamdi calls in some favors, temporarily gaining 20 Mojo. If Bwonsamdi deals and protects a combined total of at least 750(+4%/level) damage while this Mojo is active, he retains 1 Mojo. Loa’s Strength lasts for 6 seconds.

Level 4

  • (Q) Path to the Grave: Hitting a Gravebound enemy with reactivation resets Gravebound’s duration. Reactivating Soul Rend has a 4 second cooldown.

  • (W) Soul Bound: If an enemy breaks the tether by moving too far away, they take 75(+4%/level) damage and is silenced for 1 second.

  • (E) Heightened Spirit: While the target is shielded, it receives 0,2% increased spell power for every 1% of the shield remaining.

Level 7

  • (D - Q) Leeching Offer: Bound allies heal for 10% of their damage done. Hitting a Gravebound enemy with Soul Rend’s reactivation also heals nearby bound allies for half of the amount restored to Bwonsamdi.

  • (D - W) Insightful Offer: Bound allies’ basic abilities recharge 10% faster. Bound allies deal 10% increased spell damage to tethered enemies.

  • (D - E) Vigorous Offer: Bound allies receive 10% increased attack speed. Shielding a bound ally with Grave Barrier increases this to 30% for 4 seconds.

Level 13

  • (W) Incorporeal Reach: Spiritual Grasp can be reactivated after 1 second to pull tethered enemies 2 units towards its center.

  • (E) Ghost Walk: While an ally has shields from Grave Barrier, reduce the duration of Roots, Slows and Stuns by 50%. Grave Barrier’s duration is increased by 1 second when used on Bwonsamdi or a bound ally.

  • (Active) Grave’s Call (45 seconds CD): Whenever a non-structure ally or enemy dies, they leave behind a shadow for 15 seconds. Activate to remove all nearby shadows after 1 second, summoning an invisible, stationary Spectre in their place for 10 seconds. If an enemy moves close to a Spectre, the Spectre attacks them and disappears, dealing 40 damage to the target and silencing them for 0,5 seconds.

Level 16

  • (D) Tool for Harvest: Whenever Bwonsamdi casts an ability, if a Bound Ally is nearby, their next basic attack deals an additional 75(+4%/level) spell damage. The damage of this attack scales with Bwonsamdi’s Mojo bonus, rather than the Bound Allies’ bonus.

  • (Q) Within Death’s Grasp: Soul Rend’s reactivation deals additional damage equal to 3% of the target’s maximum health. Additionally, if an enemy is Rooted, Slowed or Stunned while Gravebound, they take additional damage per second equal to 1% of their maximum health.

  • (E) Ghostly Strikes: Attacks modified by Grave Barrier ignore armor and shields, and they heal the shielded ally for 100% of the shield’s extra damage.

Level 20

  • (R1) Incorporeal Will: Summoned spirits gain an additional 0,2% of their normal damage and healing per Mojo collected. Additionally, the first time Spirits summoned by Bridge to De Other Side would die, they instead become unkillable for 3 seconds, reduced by 0,5 seconds for every 2 seconds they were a Spirit, to a minimum of 1 second.

  • (R2) Deal Maker: Hitting an enemy hero with a tether reduces Death’s Due’s cooldown by 10 seconds. If a bound allies’ tether hits the same enemy hero as Bwonsamdi’s tether, the cooldown is reduced by an additional 10 seconds.
    (Passive): Bwonsamdi can have up to two bound allies at a time.

  • (!Trait) Loa of Death: Bwonsamdi gains an additional 0,5% spell power per mojo collected.
    (Quest): Collect 50 mojo.
    (Reward): Bwonsamdi’s ability cooldowns recharge 20% faster.

  • (Active) Final Call (60 seconds CD): Bwonsamdi calls upon half his overall Mojo, expending it to immediately reduce the death timer of himself and his bound allies by 50% of its maximum. The Mojo used for Final Call is temporarily expended, and is restored when the appropriate charge of Final Call comes off cooldown. Final Call’s Mojo expenditure can stack twice, it can be cast while dead, it has 2 charges, and its charges refresh concurrently.

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Fluff

Basic Bwonsamdi Skin

Starting Game:

“You know ya be wanting to make a deal with ol Bwonsamdi”

(Replying to Antagonistic Hero)- “It don’t matta what you be sayin… I’ll be gettin that soul of yours anyway.”

“Ah, ya come ta spend some quality time with Bwonsamdi?”

(To Leoric) - “Why wont ya just give in and serve the Loa of Death oh “Skelton King”?”

(Leoric to Bwonsamdi) - “My reign has yet to end”

(To Xul) - “Ya got some real nerve commanding da dead…. I like dat hehehe”

(To Malthael) - “You be having da stench of death about ya… hehehe we gon be getting along fine”

(To Nazeebo) - “Da Spirits… be telling you to do my bidding”

(To Sylvanas) - “Well now… if it isn’t da Jailer’s new toy.”

“I always be willin to help out… for a price dat is.”

“What you be asking of ol death?”

Moving:

“Dis be da way?”

“If ya be sayin so mon.”

“Riiight hehehe…”

Attacking:

“I still be having a few tricks.”

“Bring me dem souls!”

“Ya shouldn’t a upset dis old Loa”

“I be making a fresh grave for ya!”

“Usually I have people for dis…”

Getting Healed

“Me knew you was going to help your old pal Bwonsamdi!”

“Hehehe… you keep dis up, and Old Bownsamdi may have ta play favorites.”

Binding to hero

“We have a deal den…”

“Ya be sure ta uphold your end of de bargain now.”

(Bound to Probius) - “Wait, will dis even work?”

On Kill

(Shutting down spree) “Now DAT, was an impressive death.”

“Now don’t ya be worrying, old Bwonsamdi will take care of ya, hehehe.”

(Partaking in a takedown) - “Hello from de Other Side”

“Well look at you, the “mighty hero!” hahaha!”

(Acing enemy team) “Tanks for de mojo! See you in a bit for some more.”

(Acing enemy team) "Let me guess… you got in over your head? HAHAHA!’

On Death

“Dis… don’t feel right.”

“Takin a trip… to Da Other Side…”

“I shoulda… made more deals…”

(Ally team aced) “Come on…y’all wanted to spend some quality time with old Bwonsamdi?”

(Ally team aced) “Wha… what you be doin here mon? It’s not your time to pass on…yet.”

Ally Low Health

“No no no no no, ya no good ta me dead! Best ya be drinkin from a fountain.”

Casting R1

“I have friends on De Other Side hahahah”

Casting R2

“Time to be collectin on dem debts.”

Joke:

“I see dead people…it…kinda be ma ting.”

Voiceline:

“Ya soul be making a fine addition to my collection.”

“Ya be needing some help from old Bwonsamdi? Hmm?”

“Come now… (menacing tone shift) shake my hand.”

“Deal… or no deal?”

“Sharing mah power wid mah people, dat is what it means to be a Loa.”

Dance

Bwonsamdi dances to Michael Jackson’s thriller.

Cool Guy Bwonsamdi

This common Bwonsamdi skin really shows off his muscles with a unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt. He completes the ensemble with a pair of sick shades and flip flops. All voice lines are the same."

Father of Sleep Bwonsamdi

This epic Bwonsamdi skin shows off his increased power since he defeated Mueh’Zalah. He sports some new armor adorned with skulls, carries a staff which he channels his mojo into, with new animations to add into this. This skin also has a specific mount where he levitates on a translucent cloud of souls.

Poker Dealer Bwonsamdi

This Legendary Bwonsamdi skin shows Bwonsamdi in a poker dealer’s outfit, gives him alternate voice lines and unique animations. His abilities are poker card themed.

New Voicelines

Starting Game

“Time to Ante up!”

“Would ya like to Buy in?”

“There be no shady hands at my table.”

Moving

“Let’s get dem players at da table”

“Moving tables?”

“Dis be a high stakes maneuver”

“I be drawing two”

Attacking

“Time ta double down!”

“Do ya hit or stay?”

“Call!”

“Time to deal a loaded hand”

Getting Healed

“Looks like you got an ace in ya hand!”

“If I were a hand right now… I would be a flush!”

Binding to a Hero

Righty then, here’s ya hand.

Place ya bet… hehehe

On Kill

“Da House Always win”

(Enemy Team Aced) “Fulllll House!”

“Looks like ya bust”

(Shutting down spree) “Look at me… I’m da dealer now.”

On Death

“All I had… was a high card…”

“Time to cash… out.”

Ally Low Health

“Ya nearly used all ya Bankroll, head to da healing fountain.”

Casting R1

“And de house has…” Reactivation “Royal Flush!”

Casting R2

“I’m going All In!”

Joke

“I be summoning dis card from my… oh wait… dats the wrong game”

SKIN SPECIFIC MOUNT
Bwonsamdi gets behind a poker table, and starts dealing cards as the table glides around where the player moves. A player can link to the table to sit down and start playing similar to the train mount.

Hero Teaser Image
https://gyazo.com/c343ed0ba39472d8976f2622f6112353
4

Overall Score

Creativity - 5/5
Cohesiveness - 4/5
Thematic - 5/5
Interaction - 3/5

Total - 17/20

Creativity - 5/5

This concept is nothing if not unique. While there are some mechanics here and there that might be a bit simple, your team was able to weave in other tools or gameplay loops to make it overall a nice, enjoyable experience for the Bwonsamdi’s player. All of the base abilities look fun enough to be fine. Good job overall here.

Cohesiveness - 4/5

Overall, the abilities all feed into making the gameplay ideal of the character in a satisfying way, though I do have two small issues with the cohesiveness specifically. The character feels like it wants to be a backline support character, which is in theme for Bwonsamdi. However, the nature of tether spells is a bit problematic overall. Tether spells are specifically built into making characters encouraged to play closer to the enemy team, whether that is because they are supposed to be more aggressive (Whitemane), whether it is to create risk windows in the characters playstyle (Gul’dan), or it is because they are supposed to be close range combatants (Leoric). Bwonsamdi’s W does none of these roles, and shows a lack of understanding why tethers exist. I think a much better way to incorporate basically the same ability is to send a phantom out to a location which tethers to enemies hit, making them need to flee the area rather than Bwonsamdi trying to play aggressively or push into the enemies. This would also make it fit more as a defensive tool, so enemies can’t run past the phantom towards Bwonsamdi as easily (due to the increased slow). Overall, I think this ability can be improved quite a bit with a small adjustment. The other issue is in the Bound interaction with his first heroic, Bridge to De Other Side. The fact it grants Bound (a huge upside) to all allies if his Bound ally is dead extremely punishes enemies for correct targeting (the Bound ally). This loss in focus with the heroic seems like a major oversight.

Thematic - 5/5

Making deals, pulling people’s souls to the Other Side, partying it up and living a life of trickery while still being a supportive dude, everything here seems on theme for Bwonsamdi. I don’t have many issues with his ability kit.

Interaction - 3/5

While I love the Interaction in all of Bwonsamdi’s basic abilities, and commend your team on carefully making each have depth and skillful usages, I think the trait by itself is a huge problem in the kit. The two main issues I see is the binding system with enemies and the fact that the escalation of power is built on kills. Binding to an enemy has two major problems; A) even if them killing your team empowers you and your bound ally overall, your allies are not gonna be happy you gave Kael’thas or Butcher 10% increased damage. B) Your enemy is going to love the stim and take it, especially if they get lower death timers, but their team is not gonna like how they are just pumping power into your team because their carry is going on a killing spree. This falls back to the age old issue of why empowering off your team dying is a bad idea. While it could be balanced, it will create many situations where the character is frustrating for everyone involved. Tying the stacks to kills is super thematic, yes, but as we’ve seen with Butcher and Gathering Power, core effects that stack off of kills can be problematic and create unhealthy snowball situations. While at least partially mitigated by not being able to lose stacks, this still presents a major issue that the character will always have an upside to snowballing without having a downside, which will make balancing problematic. Overall, it might be advisable to finding an alternate way to generate stacks than killing enemies, though what that might be I am not certain. The other main issue I have with the kit is that the first heroic, Bridge to De Other Side seems crazy OP. Even at 60% health and damage, if two enemies and allies die in a skirmish and then you pop this, you are essentially in a 5v3 situation, winning instantly. There are other questions that arise from this as well. Can enemies leave the “Other Side”, or is it more like Mordekaiser ultimate? I think this is just way too powerful to be in the game.

5

Overall Score

Creativity - 5/5
Cohesiveness - 5/5
Thematic - 5/5
Interaction - 4/5

Total - 19/20

Creativity - 5/5

I agree with Bliztron the fact this concept is very unique specially with how Mojo is expanded in talents namely Final Call, quite a few of the talents seem neatly creative like again Final Call, the level 7 Offers set and Tool for the Harvest, very much fits his supportive theme.

Cohesiveness - 5/5
Was at first hard up about a full score here but after reading the old heroic ability and seeing the talents applied to it (as well as talents/ability fix up for Spiritual Grasp), so many of his talents work for him and his bound ally in quite a supportive way.

Thematic - 5/5
His talents are literally either A: making deals or B: invoking his power over the grave in combat and it just fits purely for him, jesus thats three 5s in a row well done.

Interaction - 4/5
While Bwonsamdi is immensely fun and creatively written there is issues in that, he would be heal to deal with for an enemy team with his power creep during combat itself specially if his bound ally never leaves his side since his talents cause a magnification of effects to the Bound target specially if said target is say Butcher or Illidan and i dont mean solely for Bound related effects, moreso in Lanes if you have taken Grave’s Call due to the suddenly silence fest going on, Bridge to De Other Side might still be immense pressure but given the changes to it and talents this is less of a problem than it was before in Week 1, this part is to the kit more than talents but is the bound target of Rite of Binding infinite range when already applied or is it similar to Auriel in which its activeness requires closeness? cause this can cause alot of pain if infinite after applications.
Other than that talents are overall pretty decent though some could use rebalancing minorly such as Grave’s Call and the level 1 row (some seem overall better than others, ya’ll can figure that one out :wink: ).

6

Total Score - 17/20

Creativity - 5/5
Starting off, I’d put Rite of Binding just above average creativity. It’s essentially Sadism that Bwonsamdi never loses and gets to share, but I think the sharing element makes it a bit better than the base effect. Soul Rend and Spiritual Grasp are both very solid abilities with interesting functionality without getting too complex. Grave Barrier is more on the simple side; even though the converting damage absorbed to damage dealt is neat, it’s a very basic Shield ability similar to Tassadar’s old or Zarya’s. That being said, I think it’s still fine as one less inspired ability next to two better ones, and it can be difficult to find unique ways to implement supportive effects like this. Bridge to De Other Side is a good half-measure between having “heroes never die” exist but not be broken, and I appreciate the way you looked to solve the balance issue creatively. Death’s Due is a much less exciting heroic, as it feels like a basic ability with damage tuned up to make it “heroic”. In summary, Soul Rend, Spiritual Grasp, and Bridge to De Other Side are all good in terms of creativity, Rite of Binding and Grave Barrier feel more basic but I have no real complaints, and Death’s Due feels like it falls short of a heroic in terms of effect.

On to talents, I’m generally happy with the creativity displayed in their design. Starting with Tier 1, Might of the Masses is a pretty mediocre Nazeebo-esque effect, and Soul Snare is like a weird scaling Rite of Rak’shir. Loa’s Strength is easily the most creative of Mojo gain talents and I’m a big fan. On to Tier 2, Path to the Grave and Soul Bound are both decently made damage options, while Heightened Spirit is more boring effect-wise but does encourage a new usage of Grave Barrier. For Tier 3, the idea of specialized link upgrades isn’t that creative (Abathur’s attack speed talent and Auriel’s special hat talents come to mind), but I appreciate the extra effort that went into adding basic ability combos per specialization. Tier 5 talents are solid in terms of creativity, with Grave’s Call being quite unique (though I have concerns with it in other categories). Tier 6 is again solid for creativity, and I don’t have much to say about the specifics; I generally have the same thing to say about Tier 7.

Finally, for the fluff, this earns full marks for creativity easily. Lots of effort went into voice lines with attention paid to how Bwonsamdi would interact with all the other heroes. The more basic skins are neat, and the higher effort Poker Dealer skin is a very fun one that would probably make Blizzard some easy money if they put it in the game.

In conclusion, the base kit and talents both have high but not perfect creativity, and the fluff is a very solid top score. I think that full creativity points overall are justified, though I’d specifically like to see Death’s Due getting some more spice in exchange for a damage nerf so it feels more of a heroic effect (perhaps it could let Bwonsamdi have a second bound hero baseline with some more balancing around specifics).

Cohesiveness - 4/5
For the base kit, cohesion is good overall. Bwonsamdi is a hero who likes to participate in teamfights at a safe distance, with mild self peel/crowd control on Spiritual Grasp to try to keep enemies at a distance while Soul Rend (and possibly Grave Barrier) allow him to further sustain himself. The support elements coming in with buffing an ally through Rite of Binding and Grave Barrier fill out his support identity well enough. As for heroics, Bridge to De Other Side is a good capstone for Bwonsamdi’s supportive side while Death’s Due is a good capstone for the aggressive one.

With talents, cohesiveness falls a bit short. First off, two talents are lacking in terms of how they fit into Bwonsamdi’s playstyle. Might of the Masses is a very concerning talent since it hard clashes with Bwonsamdi’s teamfight-oriented base and makes him want to Rite of Binding with a lane soaker and just camp two different lanes. Grave’s Call is also very strange, as it seems best used as a kind of lane bully talent but doesn’t come in until midgame.

As for talent builds, I think they immediately start suffering with Tier 1. Having a whole tier committed to trait building can be fine if you make sure that they cater to different build styles (Alarak has Blade of the Highlord focused on basic attacks, Rite of Rak’shir that focuses on a single target at a time and rewards landing skillshots and chain kills, and Pure Malice that is bad), but I think that it’s just not there with Might of the Masses and Soul Snare having 0 ability to slot into any builds. Loa’s Strength does have a place in more aggressive builds of Bwonsamdi, and it’s the only Tier 1 I would like to see kept. Moving on, I see a decent damage build hard-focusing on Soul Rend that’s rather railroaded, and not many other builds. Spiritual Grasp talents are split between wanting the enemy to stay tethered or break the tether, so there’s no W build; Grave Barrier talents are fairly interesting but again split how you want to use it, so there’s no E build. I do generally prefer it when builds are based on playstyle instead of make one ability good, but I don’t think there are any playstyle-pushing builds here either; Bwonsamdi will generally be dealing consistent damage and supporting allies, and what you change is whether that damage is a little higher or which kind of allies you’re slightly better at supporting. I think that (ignoring Tier 1) Tier 6 is the worst for build cohesion; Within Death’s Grasp and Ghostly Strikes are both tankbuster talents with sustain potential, and Tool for Harvest and Ghostly Strikes are both based on adding spell damage to basics. When Tier 6 talents overlap this much in overall effect twice (focusing on Tier 6 since it’s generally a power spike with build capstones), it goes to show that overall build paths weren’t really looked at, only individual talents.

To conclude, base kit cohesion is high, a couple of talents are odd in terms of effect, and overall talent builds need a lot of work. Talent builds are hard to grasp and execute well, so I think that since most things are done well, it only justifies a small penalty to this section.

Thematic - 5/5
There’s very little to talk about here. Bwonsamdi doing spooky spirit things and making deals is on point for him, spread throughout the base kit and talents, and he even focuses on accruing power just like in World of Warcraft. The fluff section continues to be on point thematically, with solid voice lines and some fun skins that fit the character and his kit well. Straightforward full points.

Interaction - 3/5
Bwonsamdi raises lots of red flags for interaction to me. First off, traits focused on hero kills for stacking tend to create polarized gameplay where the hero can either snowball hard or have a hard time getting anything done (look at Alarak’s Sadism and Butcher’s Fresh Meat for examples). That being said, Bwonsamdi’s Mojo is mild enough in effect that it’s not a huge deal, and I consider it fairly less of an interaction problem than Butcher’s Fresh Meat. I can see that the Tier 1 talents were supposed to hedge this a bit, but as previously mentioned, I find two of them to be very lacking. Second, Bridge to De Other Side has a very problematic core design; having heroes come back after dying to win a fight in a MOBA is a big interaction problem. You’ve done good work to hedge this by limiting the time frame of deaths, weakening the heroes when they come back, and letting enemies kill Bwonsamdi before it goes off to stop it altogether; however, I think that there’s still just a core problem with the mechanic that hurts interaction in my eyes. Third, Bwonsamdi creeps dangerously close to an old Tassadar/current Abathur effect, where you can just stack your free buffs on a carry and watch them go wild. Giving them free damage with no effort or upkeep from Bwonsamdi, along with Tier 3 offering attack speed (which lets Abathur break heroes) or lifesteal (which used to let Tassadar break heroes), all creep into that design space that causes lots of problems. Grave Barrier and some of its talents also remind me of shieldbot Tassadar who just enabled a better hero to do broken things. That being said, Rite of Binding numbers look like they’re at a safely low number, Grave Barrier effects are mostly limited, and my concerns mostly pop up with the free 10% lifesteal. Finally, the death timer reduction on Rite of Binding and Final Call’s effect are both very concerning, as they allow Bwonsamdi to push both himself and his ally back after dying, preventing the enemy team from fully capitalizing on a victory.

Overall, Bwonsamdi repeatedly pushes the boundary on interaction problems, but he doesn’t fully break through to the other side. I’d say the concerns are enough to justify some points off.