Itherael is the last member of the Angiris Council to be included, and the only one who is mainly noncombatant. In possession of the Scroll of Fate, his main purpose for the Heavens is to foresee the future and work towards averting disaster. I took ideas from his thematic and the small amount of fighting we saw him do. I designed him mainly to bring a unique gameplay experience that would additionally work well with a full Angiris council team comp, able to provide decent damage as well as offering more support to patch the holes of any lacking defense from Auriel or Tyrael.
In HotS, Ithereal is a unique support hero who focuses on enabling melee allies to get into the fight and stay in the fight, able to foresee enemy attacks and prevent his allies from falling to them.
Universe: Diablo
Role: Support
Summon Mount
Z (Mount) – 4 Second CD
Increases your movement speed by 30% while mounted.
Explanation: There is no need for a special mount on the character.
Talus’ar, Scroll of Fate
Trait (Passive)
Itherael can see enemy ability cooldowns, represented as a small tooltip under their health/resource bar.
Explanation: This trait is quite simple, but it works with his character very effectively, as it allows him a greater ability to defend his team as the enemy gets their abilities of cooldown and his other abilities interact with it. It is also quite potent on its own.
Destined Strike
Q (8 sec Cooldown)
Itherael chooses an enemy and prepares for 1 second before flashing to them (untargetable while flashing), dealing 240 (+4% per level) damage to the enemy and silencing them for 1.25 seconds if an enemy ability came off cooldown within the last 1.5 second. If Ithereal is disabled during this time, he does not perform the attack and the ability goes on cooldown.
Explanation: Destined Strike is borrowed directly from the one instance of fighting we saw him in, within the cinematic short: Wrath. Destined Strike gives Itherael an engage on an enemy with some potential disruption if he can time it correctly. This cements his idea of an aggressive support.
Forewarn
W (10 sec Cooldown)
Itherael has foreseen the path enemies will take and forewarns all allied Heroes within a 1 unit radius within 4 units, causing them to negate the next ability that would hit them within 2 seconds. If an ability was successfully negated, the cooldown of Forewarn is reduced by 30%.
Explanation: Forewarn is a defensive team protection ability much in the same vein of Force of Will from Medivh. Itherael can use Talus’ar, Scroll of Fate to predict when enemies with use their abilities, protecting his team expertly from their attacks.
Inevitable
E (12 sec Cooldown)
Itherael channels for .75 seconds before marking an enemy within 5 units for 3 seconds. For these 3 seconds, whenever an allied Hero would basic attack the enemy within 5 units, they charge to them. This can only happen to an allied Hero once per use.
Explanation: Inevitable is the main supportive ability that Itherael brings to a team, able to work extremely well with a melee-centric team that wants to stay in a fight and close to the enemies. This also makes him a perfect final candidate for a full Archangel team, as three of their members are melee fighters.
Twist of Fate
Heroic #1 (40 sec CD)
Itherael chooses an enemy Hero and marks them for 2.5 seconds. Itherael can then press one of their basic abilities to switch the active cooldown of that ability with the enemy’s associated ability. Once the cooldown is switched, the mark ends. Itherael can swap cooldowns that are not active, instantly refreshing the new ability with no active cooldown.
Explanation: Twist of Fate is a unique disruption effect that gives Itherael direct control over an enemy’s cooldowns, allowing him to manipulate them to offer a better opportunity for his abilities to take effect…
Manifest Destiny
Heroic #2 (80 sec CD)
Itherael infuses an allied Hero for 30 seconds, allowing the ally to pick their talents again, as well as choosing other talents they do not have access to yet. None of these changes take effect, but are saved. Itherael can reactivate the ability to instantly manifest the destiny the ally has chosen for 7 seconds, granting them 40% increased stats and changing all of their talents to the selected one. The ally is also granted all talents they had chosen ahead of their current level. After the 7 seconds, the ally loses all benefits from Manifest Destiny and are reset to the talents they had before they were affected.
Explanation: As opposed to the aggressively disruptive option of Twist of Fate, Manifest Destiny gives Itherael a way to gravely increase an ally’s potency, whether it is making an attack damage character a terror on the battlefield or making a bruiser an unstoppable machine. It also introduces a new opportunity to use the talent prefer system, allowing players to gain full access to a build before they should be able to.
Tier 1 - Gameplay Establishing
• Thinker of the Ages: For one second after an enemy’s ability comes of cooldown, they are marked. Ithereal’s basic attacks and Destined Strike can consume this mark to deal 30% more damage and slow the enemy by 50% for .5 seconds.
• Manipulator of Futures: If an allied hero does not expend their Forewarn charge, they gain 20% increased movement speed and damage for 3 seconds.
• Ensurer of Fates: While Inevitable persists on an enemy Hero, they lose 5 physical armor each time an allied hero leaps to them, stacking up to 3 times for a cumulative 15 reduced armor.
Tier 2 - Utility
• Unavoidable End: When Destined Strike hits an enemy with a shield, Unstoppable, Armor, or Protected, that effect is removed from the enemy for 3 seconds (during which time it expires as normal, if applicable).
• Expanded Picture: Forewarn’s radius is increased by 50%. The next cast has this radius increased by 10% less for each allied Hero hit, but the duration increased by .2 seconds for each allied Hero hit.
• Sudden Strike: For the first 1.5 seconds of Inevitable, any allied Hero that leaps to the enemy gains 20% increased movement speed, and the enemy with Inevitable is dealt 80 (+4% per level) damage.
Tier 3 - Talus’ar Uses
• Reveal Time: Talus’ar, Scroll of Fate can now be activated to reveal all allied cooldowns and enemy cooldowns to both Itherael, as well as all allied heroes. This effect lasts 5 seconds. 60 sec Cooldown.
• Unravel Mistakes: If Itherael is below 10% health, he can activate Talus’ar, Scroll of Fate to vanish from the battlefield for up to 4 seconds. At any point during this time, he can activate it again to reappear at a location within 14 units over a 1 second channel, revealing his end location to enemies. 60 sec Cooldown.
• Malicious Intents: Talus’ar, Scroll of Fate can now be activated to reveal the two closest enemy Heroes for 15 seconds. This has unlimited range. 60 sec Cooldown.
Tier 4 - Heroics
• Twist of Fate: Itherael chooses an enemy Hero and marks them for 2.5 seconds. Itherael can then press one of their basic abilities to switch the active cooldown of that ability with the enemy’s associated ability. Once the cooldown is switched, the mark ends. Itherael can swap cooldowns that are not active, instantly refreshing the new ability with no active cooldown.
• Manipulate Destiny: Itherael infuses an allied Hero for 30 seconds, allowing the ally to pick their talents again, as well as choosing other talents they do not have access to yet. None of these changes take effect, but are saved. Itherael can reactivate the ability to instantly manifest the destiny the ally has chosen for 7 seconds, granting them 40% increased stats and changing all of their talents to the selected one. The ally is also granted all talents they had chosen ahead of their current level. After the 7 seconds, the ally loses all benefits from Manifest Destiny and are reset to the talents they had before they were affected.
Tier 5 - Alternate Identities
• Timely Negligence: When an enemy has not used an ability while it is off cooldown for 4 seconds, it turns gold. (Active) Itherael channels into an enemy Hero within 5.5 units for 1 second. If the channel completes, all of their golden abilities go on a 4 second cooldown. 60 second cooldown.
• Purify Time: Destined Strike now deals 400% increased damage against enemy minions and mercenaries, and if it kills them, the cooldown is refreshed, and the next cast is empowered. If this empowered Destined Strike hits an enemy Hero instead, they are silenced regardless of when their abilities came off cooldown, and are dealt 100% more damage.
• Erase From Observation: Inevitable can now be placed on allies, which causes them to gain 40 Armor for 3 seconds. If they cast a spell or basic attack an enemy, this effect ends. While active, any enemy with less than 2.5 range that basic attacks them will be knocked back to 5.5 units.
Tier 6 - Timing
• Blade of the Coming: Destined Strike resets Itherael’s basic attack timer, and marks the enemy for 3 seconds if it silenced the enemy, causing allied heroes that attack the enemy to gain 30% increased attack speed for 2 seconds.
• Moment of Clarity: Forewarn negates all attacks without consuming its use for the first .5 seconds it is applied to any allied Hero.
• Perfection in Form: Whenever Ithereal silences an enemy with Destined Strike or blocks at least one ability with Forewarn, Itherael gains a stack, which lasts for 12 seconds, stacking up to 4 times. While at exactly 3 stacks, Itherael’s cooldowns refresh 75% faster. If Itherael reaches 4 stacks, he is healed for 200 (+4% per level) and all stacks are reset.
Tier 7 - Storm Tier
• Broker of Time: Twist of Fate has two charges. However, each charge can only be used on its own target type: allied or enemy Heroes. Twist of Fate can now be used on an allied hero, instantly switching any ability of the ally’s that has a longer active cooldown than Itherael’s associated ability cooldown.
• Unmapped Apex: After the effects of Manifest Destiny ends, the affected ally retains 15% of the bonus stats until they die; in addition, any future use of Manifest Destiny on that ally instantly raises all of their stats by 50% for the duration instead of its usual effects. This cannot be selected with Manifest Destiny.
• End of Creation: Whenever an allied Hero dies, all other allied Heroes on the map gain 3 Armor until they respawn. Whenever an enemy Hero dies, all other enemy Heroes on the map deal 3% less damage until they respawn.
• Unwritten Possibilities: Destined Strikes strikes .25 seconds faster, and silences enemies as long as an ability has come of cooldown within the last 3 seconds. Forewarn’s range is doubled, and lasts .5 additional seconds. Your Tier 3 talent now has a 50% reduced cooldown. Talusar, Scroll of Fate’s regular effect is now disabled.