Insipiration
This Hero is inspired by a SC2 Heart of the Swarm Map where Kerrigan puts a Larva into a Protoss Host who is then warped onto a Protoss vessel. The Larva instantly bursts out of her to morph, evolve, grow, adapt and eventually takes over the whole ship. That combined with some Natural Selection 2.
Synopsis
The basic gist is that you start off as a Larva and you can morph into different zerg creatures. You can take the form of a melee stealth character with burrow, or a flying ranged CC or a ranged DPS.
In order to morph into a new form Morphling must collect Nourishment with its trait. After morphing it can still morph into any of the other forms as long as it has enough Nourishment. Some of the ultimates also require Nourishment and you have access to different ults depending on what morph you have currently taken.
When Morphling dies he only gives the enemy team half a kill. And evertime he respawns he comes back as a larva, he can then choose to evolve into whatever he wants.
Trait D - Consume
Consume is a point&click melee range ability that deals some damage to an enemy. If that enemy is killed by consume or if the enemy dies within 0.25 seconds of consume being used it will give you stacks of Nourishment.
Everytime Consume is cast on an enemy hero it gives you Nourishment.
Minions grant you 5 Nourishment. Heroes grant you 25 Nourishment.
Consume can also be cast while burrowed.
Z - Creepsplosion
Morphling cannot mount but it moves faster on creep. Creepsplosion will instantly place creep around a decent radius around it which begins to dissipate after 3 seconds. The creep allows Morphling to move faster.
Additional effects may apply such as slowing enemies.
Tunneling Claws Q - After channeling for 1.5 seconds you become burrowed. Once burrowed you you are untargetable, and you can’t take damage and you can move around but moving requires burrowing-stamina which is quickly used up while moving, if you remain stationary while burrowed you use up much less energy. While you’re moving underground you are visible as a burrow trail on the ground, but these trails disipate after 1 second behind you and if you stop moving the trails will disappear leaving you invisible. You can also tunnel underneath terrain to escape or engage enemies.
Parasite W
Ability changes a bit depending on the Morph
Variable E Ability
Depending on your current Morph this ability will change.
Variable Ultimate R Ability
Depending on your current Morph this ability will change.
Morphs
At all times your morphs appear on your number keys. 1 for Roachling, 2 for Hydraling and 3 for Viperling. If pushed the required Nourishment will be subtracted and you will enter an unstoppable cocoon for 2 seconds and emerge as your new form with full hp.
The Cocoon itself has 3000 hp while active.
Larva
As a Larva you have about 700HP, and your AA is melee range. Your movement speed fluctuates between 60% and 100%, averaging out at 80% and you can briefly burrow and move underground.Parasite W - as Larva if you are within melee range of an enemy you can latch on to them and enter their body. You are untargetable while you’re in this state and you grant vision of the enemy wherever they are. Even if they teleport back to spawn. You also continue to grab exp globes that are in range.
You can cast Consume at any time while in Parasite to deal 300 dmg to target. But it will also expose you back onto the battlefield. So you better get to saftey, Creepslosion and burrow under terrain out of there.
Morph into a Roachling - Cost 60 Nourishment
1800HP, stronger Melee AA, 100% movement speed.
Your Burrow Stamina and Burrow movement speed is doubled. So you actually move faster while burrowed than when you walk.Your E is Tunneling Decoy you can send a Tunneling Decoy to fake your movement. The Decoy will continue to burrow straight to the target destination and will pop out of the ground spawning a little melee roach. If an enemy hero was targeted then the decoy will chase the hero instead.
Ultimate R Morph into a Brutaling can be cast while burrowed.
Requires Nourishment. - Cost 100 Nourishment
Brutaling HP 2840, melee attacks cleave a little. 100% movement speed.
As a Brutaling you are perpetually unstoppable and you can’t be healed anymore like deathwing, this is the result of your passive E ability called Frenzied. Your movement speed isn’t amazing but your Consume now literally consumes an enemy hero which stays alive inside of you and they slowly lose HP inside you while your HP regen increases considerably while a hero is inside of you. If your health drops below 50% you puke the hero out again. Your lifespan as a Brutaling is limited as you morph back into a Roachling after a time. If you die as a Brutaling you actually die.
If you transformed while burrowed you will emerge out of the ground knocking up and stunning enemies that were above you.
Morph in a Hydraling - - Cost 70 Nourishment
900HP, ranged attack, Ranged attack range 5.5, Movement speed fluctuates between 70% and 110% averaging out at 90%.W Parasite, you fire a Parasite SC1 Queen style onto target which reveals them for 8 seconds. Range 7. Use the SC1 sound effect too ;D
E Corrosive Bile it’s similar to Chromie’s old Dragon Breath. Fire a delayed splash attack that deals some damage and reduces armor by 10 for all enemy targets that are hit. Enemies can see where Corrosive Bile will land.
Ultimate R Morph into a Lurkerling can be cast while burrowed.
Requires 60 Nourishment.
1800HP, attack range 14 within cone, movement speed 0%.
Once you hit R you instantly burrow and are prompted to aim a cone into a direction. In this cone a barrage of Seismic Spines will be launched in direction where the mouse is at. They are visible and dodgeable, so players can get out of the way quickly enough within the cone. After a duration you morph back into a Hydraling. As a Lurkerling you can’t move and you can only be damaged by splash damage as you are untargetable and unstoppable.
You can cancel the ult as well.
Morph into Viperling - - Cost 90 Nourishment
1100HP, Ranged AA, 100% movement speed, you can over terrain like Medivh’s Raven form, but you can attack and be attacked back.W Parasite, same as Hydraling except it’s a skillshot that travels 9 range.
E Blinding Cloud which creates an area cloud that reduces all attack range of all Enemy Heroes to melee range.
Ultimate R Abduct
It’s a skillshot that behaves a lot like Stiches’s hook, though maybe a bit faster. If an enemy is hit they are pulled halfway between you and the target. And they cannot be pulled over walls, gates or terrain, they get stuck on all of these.
Range 12, drops off target at MAX 6 range.
(The distance pulled is always half of the whole distance)
Costs no Nourishment, 14 sec CoolDown.
Talent Ideas
- more movement speed while burrowed
- greater consume range while burrowed
- more effects for Corrosive Bile and Blinding Cloud
- Instant burrow from Parasite
- extra debuff for Parasite, Armor reduction or slow after consume
- more options to gain Nourishment from abilities.
- Silence target when you cast Consume a target with Parasite
- Consuming leap. Gives Consume range which makes you Jump at target to consume them. Kinda like how Murky jumps with his tentacle ult.
- Creepsplosion slows enemies - could call it Ensnare like the SC1 Queen ability.
- Creepsplosion allows you to Burrow twice as fast
- Collect 25 Regen globes to increase HP regen considerably while burrowed.
- Increase Attack speed after unburrowing (good for Hydraling)
- Refresh Parasite CD if consume is used. Can’t be cast twice in a row on the same target though.
- Microbial Shroud - Blinding Cloud supplies 15 armor to allies.
- Plague - Blinding Cloud deals dot
- Blinding Cloud makes turrets only attack in melee range.
- Corrosive Bile onto Parasited target causes Parasite to explode and deal aoe dmg around target. Good for farming and Teamfight.
To Consider
While Morphling Parasites an enemy hero they still collect exp globes. So enemies with Parasite need to be careful to avoid their own minions when they die.
Morphling cannot activate its Ultimate abilities unless it collects enough Nourishment. So it must be careful and try to collect more Nourishment while using its ultimate abilities.
If you are about to die for whatever reason you have the option to morph into a new form. The cocoon has 3000hp and once you transform you are cleansed of all dots and effects.
Abduct drops off the target at half the distance that the target was initially grabbed from. So to get the maximum grab Viperling will have to make sure to grab from far away.
It can also be used to just CC a target into a wall for a second. If it’s used on point blank range it would literally just pick up the target and put it back down which could still give you an extra second to live. ;D
Morphling is very fragile in its Larva state but it must take risks to get its Nourishment. So kills on its Larva State are just worth half a kill. It’s possible that higher evolutions of it are worth more of a kill to the enemy for balance.
