This is my crappy take on a ‘Summoner’ architype since I haven’t truly done one before and felt like I should try to get one out of the way with the literal summoner class the Demonology Warlock from WoW, it was hard to figure out the right combination of abilities, heroics and resources so in the end I decided to pack it on then edge it out as a complex heavy hero that can be very powerful in the right hands (shame Esports is gone else he’d be epic if learnt there), he has some similarities to Rexxar with the bonus mini hero travelling with them while his heroics are fairly unstable and might require further balance if I can get feedback on those.
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Roll: Ranged Caster Assassin
Strengths:
- Sustained Summon Damage
- Lane Control
- Can Clear Camps Easily.
Weaknesses:
- Resource Complexity
- Hard to Play
- Vulnerable without Rivinzugul
Trait: Demonologist: As a warlock and demonologist Caleb has a mastery of soul usage thus having 5 Soul Shards in a circle above his portrait similar to Gul’dans Fel Flame talent and they are generated from Shadow Bolt/Demon Bolt (they last indefinitely), he also uses Demonic Energy as a Resource capping at 100 which is constantly refilling itself as Caleb and his summoned Demons basic attack enemy minions for 2.5% of his Demonic Energy while Mercenaries restore 3.5% and enemy heroes restore 5% (boss counts here too).
Q: Shadow Bolt/Demon Bolt (6 second CD): Channels for 0.5 seconds to throw a Shadow Bolt at the targeted enemy dealing XXX damage, if the target is a enemy hero, mercenary or boss it’ll restore 1 Soul Shard to use and Shadow Bolt can be cast while moving, when 10 Demons summoned by Caleb are killed Shadow Bolt will turn into Demon Bolt which deals 100% more damage, is instant cast and generates 3 Soul Shards instead of 1, Shadow Bolt costs 20 Demonic Energy and Demon Bolt costs 40-50.**
W: **Demonic Meteor (No CD): Target an area to call down a Demonic Meteor which will strike after 0.75 seconds dealing XXX amount of damage to all enemies in the area and summons 1 Wild Imp in the area for 4-5 seconds which will attack nearby enemies before going to follow Caleb, this comes with 3 active Buttons as well to choose how many Soul Shards will be used when activated, no Actives chosen will mean only 1 is used while the first one changes it to 2 used, next is 3 and then 4 (a fifth is unlocked in talents), there Actives cannot be moved for obvious reasons, the amount of demons summonable is capped at 15 to avoid clutter problems and if pushed over it’ll automatically kill an existing demon.
E: Summon Rivinzugul (10 second CD): Channels 1 second to summon Rivinzugul a strong Felguard that follows and fights alongside Caleb for 35-40 seconds and prioritizes his targets, won’t attack targets on his own when Caleb is mounted, like Misha he counts for the same level of Experience and kills she does, costs 30 Demonic Energy. (does not count towards the summon cap)
R1: Nether Portal (130 second CD): Costs 3 Soul Shards to activate to call fourth a Portal to the Nether behind Caleb for 25 seconds, each time a Soul Shard is used while it is active it’ll summon fourth a demon that travels along the closest lane attacking enemies in its path depending on how many is used at a time, 1 Soul Shard summons a Wild Imp, 2 summons a Dreadstalker or Felstalker, 3 Soul Shards will summon a Void Walker that’s effectively a Rose Knight mercenary in stats and 5 Soul Shards will summon a Fel Lord, while the Nether Portal is active the summon cap is increased from 15 to 30 for the duration (if 4 are used it’ll summon 2 Dreadstalkers or 1 Wild Imp with a Void Walker randomly choosing either), the Portal can be attacked and has XXX amount of health.
R2: Observers Observation (90 second CD): Costs 3 Soul Shards to summon, summons a Demonic Observer to circle a medium to large aoe radius area for 10 seconds, every time an enemy hero activates an ability or procs a passive ability (such as Raynors Trait) they’ll be dealt 10% of there total health in damage, passively increases the generation of Demonic Energy granted by demons attacking by 100%.
Talents:
Level 1:
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Soul Devourer: Each time a Soul Shard is used it restores 5% of Calebs Demonic Energy per Soul Shard used.
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Demonic Warrior: Effectively gives Rivinzugul Block for 3 charges.
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Grand Scheme: When enemy heroes are killed near Caleb or Rivinzugul or within 1.5 seconds after either of them have died it restores 2 Soul Shards.
Level 4:
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Death is Beginning: Every time Caleb respawns at the Altar (or by Auriel) he starts with 5 Soul Shards.
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Dark Price (QUEST): Collecting Regeneration Globes increases Rivinzuguls health regeneration by 0.5 up to 10, collecting 20 orbs also rewards Caleb with the ability to use an additional Soul Shard for Demonic Meteor.
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Vilefiend Scourger (Active, 45 second CD): Uses 1 Soul Shard to summon a Vilefiend at Calebs location for 5 seconds, the Vilefiend will attack nearby targets while staying within close range of Caleb and spits at enemies poisoning them as their movement speed is slowed by 20% for 1.5 seconds.
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Dark Harvest: When Demonic Energy is above 60-70% the cooldown of Shadow Bolt/Demon Bolt recharges 60% faster.
Level 7:
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Soul Strike: While Rivinzugul is active the Summon Rivinzugul ability can be activated again to target an enemy that makes Rivinzugul hit them with Soul Strike for a small to medium XXX amount of damage, causes them to take 10% more damage from Rivinzuguls basic attacks and generates a Soul Shard for Caleb.
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Command Demon: Reduces the cooldown of Summon Rivinzugul by 3 seconds and allows the ability to activatable while Rivinzugul is active to command him to attack targets, move to a spot or quick return to Caleb (similar to Misha with Rexxar controls).
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Soul Link: 20% of all damage taken by Caleb is received by Rivinzugul instead but acts as if it was 25% damage taken.
Level 13:
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Drain Soul (60 second CD): Drains the soul of the targeted enemy hero dealing a medium XXX damage over 5 seconds, will be interrupted if hit by 5 heroic basic attacks and if the drain finishes its cast Caleb will instantly gain 5 Soul Shards, enemy minions recently damaged by your demons that are killed reduce the cooldown by 1 second.
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Demon Within: Every 5 seconds Caleb will spawn a Wild Imp around himself that lasts for 3 seconds, also increases the impact damage of Demonic Meteor by 50%.
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Shadows Bite: Shadow Bolt and Demon Bolt also inflict the target with a plague of darkness dealing 25% of the total damage dealt as additional damage over 3 seconds.
Level 16:
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Grandmaster Demonologist (QUEST): Kill every enemy hero to Increase Calebs maximum Soul Shards by 1 up to 5 extra permanent shards.
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Sacrificed Souls: Each Demon active increases Shadow Bolts maximum damage by 5% stacking constantly.
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Soul Leech: Enemy heroes damaged by Wild Imps gives Caleb a shield for 1% of his total health and Rivinzugul a shield for 0.5% of his total health, the shield proc only applies every second basic attack made by the Wild Imps.
Level 20:
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R1T Horrors of the Universe: Increases the cost of Nether Portal to 5 Soul Shards and for 10 seconds into its duration all Soul Shards spent will be sent into the Portal itself (visually shows them happening), if 15-20 Soul Shards are used within this time a Demonic Horror will spawn that acts like a mini boss (similar to Nazeebos summon) that will travel along the lane, it also is unstable and is losing 1% of its health every 1 second and damages nearby enemies for XX amount per half second, the Portals total health is also reduced by 25%.
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R2T I See You Mortal: The area where the Observer is circle also reveals all stealthed enemies within its radius and deals an additional 15% of their total health if they enter stealth within the radius.
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Forbidden Knowledge (Passive, 45 second CD): If Rivinzugul is still alive when Caleb is killed he becomes controllable for 10 seconds at which time Caleb will sacrifice Rivinzugul to revive himself, Rivinzugul will also be able to use any of Calebs remaining Soul Shards for Demonic Meteor or Vilefiend Scourger.
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Supreme Commander: Every time Caleb damages an enemy with a basic attack it increases the damage of all nearby summoned minions (not Rivinzugul) by 2% up to 100% for their remaining duration, basic abilities grant 7.5% instead
Synergies:
Good:
- Tassadar: He can shield Rivinzugul to keep him going longer saving Caleb some Demonic Energy while also being able to wall off enemy heroes singling them out for Calebs summons to focus.
- Stitches: Can hook enemy heroes to single out a target for Calebs summons to focus while his Putrid Bile will slow all enemies in a location for his aoe and summons to focus on, can always save him in tight situations with a good saving hook.
Bad:
- Alarak: His silences completely negate his ability to summon enemies and with his Charge he can kill a lot of them quickly with a combo.
- Tychus: He shreds through Rivinzugul very quickly while Shredder Grenade demolishes his summons.
Skins:
- Normal Skin: As Caleb is a Human Male who uses the Voidheart Raiment I thought it would be interesting to have him act like a faceless enemy who you don’t know is under the mask for all we know he could be a Orc in disguise or a Forsaken hiding the bony bits or well the Human hes based on for some mystery to the character.
- Sha Skin Regalia: A Mists of Pandaria Warlock tier set that would theme his abilities to go from Demonic Energy and Fel to look more like Shadow Sha instead the rest can pretty much stay the same.
- Demonic Spectre: A Diablo Universe crossover that’s not off from his normal skin but Diablofied with some theming to his summons namely in colouration and texture like how Az’guldan works.
Voice Lines: Sort of has a deep echoed voice cause of the mask.
Line 1: Void, Legion, Fel its all something to command.
Line 2: Come fourth demon!, oh forgot your right here.
Line 3: Let me release the Horrors of the Universe on them.
Line 4: Your Soul looks nice, you don’t mind if I borrow it do you?.
Line 5: “Violent Coughing” Ugh this Mask makes it hard to breath sometimes “Coughs again”
(sorry i dont know him eh)
plus given Calebs unique appearance it masks him and gives him a perfect echo voice to try for making him feel unknown.
…
also i did do a Ner’zhul in the past on the basis of a elemental shaman back during WoD i think? not my best work tbh but i tried to combo astral shamanism into it take a look if ya want