[HC] Warfield, General of the Dominion

Hero and Skin Suggestions
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Horace Warfield is a really cool character from Starcraft that represents the concept of true valor. He would not let injury stop him, fighting to his last breath to protect his men and complete his mission. When he has his arm critically injured, he had it replaced with a mechanical one, and went right back to the war effort. While technically on the enemy’s side, he helped out Raynor with his conquest on Char for the good of the dominion.

In HotS, I wanted to make a powerful terran main tank that alternates between his standard melee attack and tactical usage of his trait to keep enemies disrupted. Warfield has many disruption tools, and good area denial, but lacks solid self-sustain options. It is important to note that he will be using a bayonet-style blade from his mechanical arm.

Universe: Starcraft
Role: Tank

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.

Tactical Strike
Trait (6 sec Recharge)
(Passive) Warfield gradually generates Tactical Strikes in his arm, up to 5. Every basic attack while Tactical Strike is active consumes one shot, and when he has no shots left, he is returned to his normal basic attacks.
(Toggle) Warfield flips his mechanical arm around to reveal a cannon, causing his basic attacks to gain 4.25 range and deal 15% increased damage. In addition, these attacks slow the enemy by 35% for 1 second. This cannot stack, but can refresh. While active, Skewer is replaced with Grapeshot.

Explanation: This trait adds in a whole new depth to Warfield’s playstyle. Instead of sticking to just a melee range, Warfield can use this trait at tactical times to assist his allies at range through a variety of different effects. He can use this to initiate on an enemy or simply peel enemies off of your backline without having to walk back there.

Skewer / Grapeshot
Q (12 sec Cooldown)
Warfield strikes forward a short way and skewers the first enemy hit on his bayonet, dealing 270 (+4% per level) damage and stunning the enemy for 1 second. After the stun, the enemy is thrown 4 units in the direction of the player’s cursor. While skewering an enemy, Warfield cannot take actions.

Warfield fires a grapeshot in a target 100 degree, 5.5 range cone after a .35 second delay that deals 220 (+4% per level) damage and slows all enemies hit by 40% for 2 seconds. Enemies hit in the closest half of the range are instead stunned for 1 second and dealt 150% damage. This consumes a use of Tactical Strike.

Explanation: Skewer offers Warfield a great displacement tool and CC, which can be used to either catch an enemy and toss them to your team, or grab an enemy and throw them away from someone you are trying to protect. Grapeshot offers Warfield a stronger version of his basic attack but with the added cost of sacrificing his Skewer for it. Grapeshot gives Warfield a good AoE stun and long range AoE slow.

Pulse Beacon
W (15 sec Cooldown)
Horace Warfield calls down a beacon drop-pod upon a target location within 8 units after a 1.25 second delay, being indestructible for up to 8 seconds. While active, Warfield can activate the ability twice more to call down tactical orbital strikes upon a 1.5 unit radius area within 8 units of the beacon after a .75 second delay, dealing 135 (+4% per level) damage to enemies hit and reducing their armor by 20 for 2 seconds. After both strikes are called, the beacon is destroyed.

Explanation: Pulse Beacon is a powerful area denial tool, able to deal moderate damage as well as applying a nasty armor shred that can help his team quickly dispose of targets. This combos well with his Skewer or Grapeshot, able to keep enemies pinned down for the orbital strikes to hit them. It does, however, have a long wait time before use, forcing Warfield to use it ahead of time.

Tide of War
E (9 sec Cooldown)
Horace Warfield rolls to an enemy and stabs them, dealing 180 (+4% per level) damage and granting Warfield 25 Armor for 3 seconds. If used at melee range, Horace Warfield instead rolls away from a target enemy and gains a charge of Tactical Strike.

Explanation: Tide of War offers Horace Warfield mobility for different situations, whether for engaging an enemy or escaping combat. It is important to note that Horace is far better at sticking to targets than he is at running away, emphasizing his theme of fighting to the death.

Gorgon
Heroic #1 (90 sec CD)
Warfield calls in a gorgan that floats at a target location and fires missiles at a target location, dealing 40 (+4% per level) damage every .5 seconds and applying Entrenched every tick which lasts for 4 seconds. If they ever reach 10 stacks, they are snared for 2 seconds, then become immune to Entrenched for 6 seconds. Enemies in the area of fire are slowed by 40%. The Gorgon lasts 8 seconds, and if an enemy is hit by Tactical Strike, the gorgon change its area of fire up to 6 units to align over where the enemy was hit.

Explanation: I struggled coming up with a way to differentiate the Gorgon from the Hyperion. Some would say to just scrap the Gorgon entirely, but it was such a representative feature in Heart of the Swarm. I decided to help Warfield with his area denial, and hope that the Hyperion and Gorgon will not be confused with one another.

Hold the Line
Heroic #2 (50 sec CD)
Horace Warfield constructs a metal barrier in a 6 unit wide line in front of him for 10 seconds that blocks enemy movement through it. While taking cover, all of Warfield’s basic attacks are empowered by Tactical Strike. The metal barrier is split into 4 segments, each with 400 (+4% per level) health, and each can be destroyed to let enemy’s through.

Explanation: As opposed to the Gorgon, Hold the Line offers Warfield a powerful defensive heroics that can defend the entire team as they hold a point, fighting off attacking enemies. This heroic offers a haven area for his team and gives him the definite benefit of a constant slowing ranged basic attack.

Tier 1

• Tactician: [QUEST!] Hit 40 enemy Heroes with an ability while they are slowed by Tactical Strike. [Reward] Reduces the cooldown of Tactical Strike by 1 second every time you successfully hit an enemy with an ability.
• Dreadnought: Warfield deals 1% more damage for every Armor he has. In addition, Into the Fray now adds the armor value additively to any existing armor value.
• Fearless Leader: If Warfield damages an enemy that is slowed by Tactical Strike with Tide of War, they are stunned for 1 second.

Tier 2

• Mighty Throw: Increases the throw range of Impale by 25%.
• Suppressive Bombardment: Pulse Beacon’s orbital strikes stun enemies within the center of the blast for .35 seconds, and knock other enemies out of the area.
• Crippling Disengage: When Warfield uses Tide of War to get away from an enemy, they are slowed by 50% for 1 second and Warfield still gets the bonus to armor.

Tier 3

• Asphyxiation Round: For 1 second after a Tactical Strike is readied, Warfield’s next Tactical Strike will silence the enemy for 1 second.
• Flash Round: Every time Warfield hits an enemy with 3 Tactical Strikes consecutively within 5 seconds, the enemy is dealt an additional 80 (+4% per level) damage and is blinded for 1.25 seconds.
• High-Impact Round: When Warfield lands a melee basic attack, his next Tactical Strike within 2 seconds will slow the enemy by 60% instead of 40%.

Tier 4

• Gorgon: Warfield calls in a gorgan that floats at a target location and fires missiles at a target location, dealing medium damage every .5 seconds and applying Entrenched every tick which lasts for 4 seconds. If they ever reach 10 stacks, they are snared for 2 seconds, then become immune to Entrenched for 6 seconds. Enemies in the area of fire are slowed by 60%. The Gorgon lasts 8 seconds, and if an enemy is hit by Tactical Strike, the gorgon change its area of fire up to 6 units to align over where the enemy was hit.
• Hold the Line: Horace Warfield constructs a metal barrier in a wide line in front of him for 10 seconds that blocks enemy movement through it. While taking cover, all of Warfield’s basic attacks are empowered by Tactical Strike. The metal barrier is split into 4 segments, and each can be destroyed to let enemy’s through.

Tier 5

• Lengthened Bayonet: Warfield’s standard basic attack range and the range of Impale are increased by 25%. In addition, Tide of War deals 15% increased damage.
• Heavy Weaponry: Pulse Beacon deals 100 (+4% per level) damage on enemies the beacon lands on and stuns them for 1 second. If Warfield has at least 20 Armor, he gets an additional pulse from the beacon. All pulses deal 15% less damage.
• Spiral Release Rounds: While Tactical Strike is active, Warfield’s attack speed is increased by 25% and have 1 more basic attack range.

Tier 6

• Thinking Ahead: Warfield may use his abilities after 75% of the CD has elapsed, but doing so increases the CD of his abilities by 1.5 seconds until all of his abilities fully refresh.
• Lead the Charge!: When Warfield uses Tide of War to damage an enemy Hero, all nearby allied Heroes gain 15% increased movement speed while moving in the same direction.
• High-Power Artillery: Grapeshot now applies all effects of Tactical Strike, and when it is used instead of Impale, its cooldown is reduced by 40%…

Tier 7

• Another Gorgon!: For 5 seconds after the Gorgon ends, Warfield can use the heroic again for free, summoning another Gorgon at a new location.
• Reinforced Cover: Increases the health of the barrier by 50%, and they now block enemy line of sight as if terrain.
• Warforged: Every time Warfield lands a melee basic attack, the Recharge time of Tactical Strike is reduced by 3 seconds.
• Replated Suit: Warfield permanently gains 20 Armor. This stacks with other instances of armor.

4 Likes
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Theres some good stuff stuff in here. Forgive me for maybe going a little to in depth here but I like to overthink things. :stuck_out_tongue:

Pulse Beacon is particularly neat tho, almost wanna see an entire hero based around that kind of ability. Its area denial zoning during laneing potential could be pretty fun to build a whole hero around (might steal this idea for later use).

Tide of war is also interesting, I like the 2 similar but opposite effects and would probably play well with his trait. In just about every game I’ve played, mobility and flexibility have always been very powerful.

Hold the line is great, honestly I think terrain and structure creation has so much untapped potential in moba’s in general. The fact that the wall segments having a health bar might seem like a down side, id argue the opposite. The power to block skill shots offers something that no other tank comes close to doing and would give this hero a real reason to be pick over other tanks which I gotta commend thats not easy to do with the roster nearing 100 heroes. I think it would be a good idea to reduce the cooldown of the wall to 40 seconds and lowering the base hp to 350 and removing the damage reduction baseline (It could stay as a 20 talent to defend further from splash damage) so that the wall can be a more defining feature of the hero and Gorgon (as iconic as it is) could take a back seat as the ult you pick up when blocking skillshots isn’t really necessary the match, kinda like how Blaze’s ultimate are.

Some criticism tho: those are some pretty high numbers, your tank does more damage then jaina, the 40% slow is only 10% shy of stukov’s and an earth shattering 1.25 potential aoe second stun would be one of the longest non-sleep stuns in the game.
And while no self sustain is definitely a weakness for a tank, I would build something else in to his kit. Like turning something in to a skill shot or forcing him to rely on his 5 tactical strike shots a little more (done hate me but the ammo thing on his trait feels a little half baked, and kinda just there because warfield’s gotta have some kinda trait. I would even go as far as either a mini rework of the hero or just saving the idea for another hero as a core idea to build around).
And then, careful how much power you put in to your talents, I feel they shouldn’t be game changing until 16 (maybe 13 for good defensive talents) and some of your 1-7 talents are kinda insane.

Anyway, sorry for so many words, hope I didn’t scare you away again xp

1 Like
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Hello again waterlong, long time no see! Thanks so much for the review!

I’m not sure if keeping Warfield locked behind a specific niche is really want I want with the character. The character’s central theme was to have a more generally usable main tank that could apply consistent long range pressure with his trait. I could remove the cover mechanic and reduce the cooldown to make the projectile more important to that specific heroic. The cover was to protect heroes near it from AoEs and whatnot. I have a much more interesting level 20 upgrade for it to emphasize the idea of taking cover against projectiles.

While it is applied more frequently in the grand scheme of things, the basic attacks are shorter range and the realistic slow duration is quite a bit shorter. I’m not sure if reducing this is really warranted. As for the damage, Jaina’s damage is amplified by her Chill and has a lot more uptime than Warfields, making Jaina’s total damage quite a bit higher.

You are right, I will reduce it to a 1 second stun to keep in it check, for both Skewer and Grapeshot.

I’m not sure I follow here. I understand the idea of wanting to make something a skillshot (he was meant to be a bit more straightforward), but what makes the Tactical Strike’s feel tacked on? I was concerned the tacked on feeling would be on the Pulse Beacon more than Tactical Strike, honestly.

Could you specify which talents are looking a bit overwhelming?

A solid review never scared me :stuck_out_tongue: Look at Nortin’s reviews. Those things are monsters.

Anyways, thanks for your feedback. I hope you don’t feel like I’m being too dismissive; I’d love to get some clarity on some things. I’ll go ahead and patch a couple things here to tune up some things.