Character I decided to get around to writing for Kethcups Mini Design Contest MDC #1: Heroes of the Nexus Cause Nexus Original so thought to myself, why the hell not? XP.
Description: Zalyar wasn’t always a madman to this degree, once he was a renowned scholar and scientist of his people in the realm of Agnita having been born a prodigy and helped bring his people to a new era with technology and culture revolving around one’s personal life energy and the worlds.
But as time went on he became more and more bored with things as his memory never waned and his age seemed to stop, each field of science and history learnt and never forgotten.
As time went on and their realm grew around this new Singularity that the culture of the land revolved around, it and the lifeforce they used helped this advancement while Zalyar himself was a nobleman among his peers.
When he obtained the means to trap a Singularity in one of his machines, he then murdered his Realms lord in cold blood. He took control of it politically through his servants while also revealing other Nexus Realms with Singularities who he claimed had ‘killed’ their lord and they should begin to prepare for them. While this kept the populace in control under his servants, he caged his realms Singularity to try and unlock its secrets and power, and used what little he could force out to attack and steal three other realms Singularities to further his work. All the while, they would in his own words ‘scream’ at his tampering. He was also hearing whispers of the dead as people fought above when the other realms and their Lords invaded as a consequence of Zalyars actions of theft and murder. While he ignored them mostly, as it was necessary for himself, it slowly ate at his mind as a distraction over time with his constant work on the Singularities causing his mind to slowly drift out of sanity from time to time.
He toiled endlessly and foolishly quick while his realm burned to harness the Singularities but not before his sanctum was broken into. He lost his arm in the fight against the Realm Lord who overpowered him greatly due to harnessing the power of the trapped Singularity leaving him unable to do anything as they destroyed the machines and freed the Singularities which caused a chain reaction destroying most of the machinery and causing the Singularity of Agnita to shatter in a violent burst of energy, not because of the destruction or the war but because of Zalyar himself but unable to destroy him personally.
Trapped there for what felt like eons in his shattered mind he felt a pulse in the emptiness that felt all too familiar as the Raven Lords forces advanced to other realms to claim in his name. It was in this time his mind aligned for the first time in hundreds of years and he managed to formulate a way to escape his prison; what he returned too was a ruined realm of his world with naught of life or energy, and with his memories scattered or gone, he fails to grasp what occurred.
Agnita: The world of Agnita was rich with lifeforce based energy that allowed the people who lived their to form their society around it allowing for easier powerflow between everything, even after being sucked into the Nexus it remained the same except for the people being able to read he Singularities energy better than the other realms and learn from it, this lead to most people being able to utilise their life energy in new ways unimaginable like creating Portals for travel.
Trait: Power of the Singularity: Zalyar has two resource bars instead of Mana: Energy, which starts at 50, and Power, which starts at 0. Energy is represented by a partisan held by his energy arm, and power is represented with energy held in his biological hand both of which cap at 50.
Q: Nexus Portals (14 second CD): Target an area with a woovy lined marker that has a distance range of up to 5, it can be be changed in direction by aiming it after holding on the ground and adjusting its range Zalyar throw two Nexus Portals to the start and ends of the line that travel towards them over 0.35 seconds before they open up for use, Nexus Portals allow for Zalyar to travel through them automatically but the travel between them can take over 1.25 second depending on distance which visually shows him jumping or swimming through It quickly and they can also be used to grab his other abilities, Nexus Portals stay open for 5 seconds and Zalyar cannot re-enter them for 0.75 seconds after leaving one.Power: >Each 5 points of Power added to Nexus Portals cause them to stay open for 0.5 seconds longer, when cast with 50 points of Power Zalyar can change direction of movement when inside the Nexus Portals which increases travel time by 0.25 seconds up to an additional 1 second, during this time he can also activate his other basic abilities with no Power costs used on them.
W: Pulse Laser (5 second CD): Target a spot for Zalyar to fire a Pulse Laser from his energy arm towards the targeted direction hitting the first enemy it comes in contact with dealing 255 (+4% per level) damage, if the shot hits one of Zalyars Nexus Portals it’ll absorb the shot, Pulse Laser can be reactivated within the next 1.5 seconds to choose another direction for the laser to fire out of from the closest of the two connected portals, while inside portals Pulse Laser will fire from the closest portal.Power: Every point of Power increases Pulse Lasers damage by 0.75%, at 25 points of Power when Pulse Laser leaves a Nexus Portal it’ll fire in every direction with 0.5 range between each laser, at 50 Power both connected Nexus Portals fire the lasers.
E: Volatile Flux (9 second CD): When activate Zalyar will throw his Partisan into his biological hand while his energy one begins charging energy for 1 second and can be charged up an additional up to 4 seconds, Volatile Flux can be reactivated to aim a 2 range AoE marker on the ground to throw it towards that location in a moderate speed, when it lands it deals 198 (+4% per level) damage to all enemies in the area and roots them for 1 second, each second its charged adds 15% more damage and increases the root by 0.25 seconds.Power: Each 5 points of Power added to Volatile Flux causes its aoe marker to increase by 0.3 range, at 30 points of Power Volatile Flux will charge 50% faster allowing full charge in 2.5 seconds.
R1: Overloaded Portal (90 second CD): Target a line aoe marker in a direction for Zalyar to behind channelling for 1.5 seconds creates a massive single portal with both of his arms clockwise before he then punches it with his energy arm after it grows in size before impact to launch it forward for 15 range at moderate to high speed, enemies caught in its path are sucked into it where they’re banished for 2 seconds before they then appear through portals in the style dropping them onto the ground dealing 299 (+4% per level) damage to them, passively increases his maximum Energy by 25, he starts to sound slightly more mentally unstable when this heroic is chosen.
R2: Portal Master (20 second CD): Only activatable when within a Portal, Zalyar can travel from the connected portals he is currently within to another connect portal set, when he does this the amount of time he can stay inside is increased by 0.5 seconds, if Nexus Portals are used from within a Nexus Portal it will still show them being thrown out, Passively reduces the cooldown of Nexus Portals by 10 seconds and increases his maximum Power by 25, he starts to sound slightly more mentally stable when this heroic is chosen.
Talents:
Level 1:
Restoring my Collection (QUEST): Whenever Zalyar kills an enemy minion he gains 0.2 basic attack damage while enemy heroes give him 1, when he reaches 30 additional basic attack damage his cleaving basic attacks now only drain 5 Energy instead of 10.
Surface Jump: Nexus Portals can now be placed over most terrain and keeps/forts/walls but its size will automatically snap onto the surface only.
Power Reserves: When out of combat Zalyars Energy will regenerate at a rate of 3 instead of 1 when out of combat.
Level 4:
Explosive Outcome: When Pulse Laser hits an enemy hero close to Zalyar or directly on a Nexus Portal exit it causes the targets soul to pulse around them firing a laser in all directions for 30% of its damage, fully powered Pulse Lasers now also fire in all diretions from a Nexus Portals exit.
Energy Harvest: When Zalyars cleaving basic attacks hit more than one enemy he will gain an additional 1 Power per target hit up to 3.
Level 7:
Corrosion Effect: Zalyars basic attacks empowered by Energy reduce enemy heroes armour by 5 up to 15 for 1.75 seconds.
Phasing Reality: Every fifth basic attack dealt to Zalyar will cause him to phase out of reality dodging it and reducing its damage by 75% to him, additional effects will not apply to Zalyar from it.
Level 13:
Intelligence within Insanity: When Zalyar leaves a Nexus Portal for the first time his next basic attack will have a range of 4 and deals 100% more basic attack damage to the target, if he has enough Energy the blast will hit nearby targets like a cleave would.
Experimental Support: Allied heroes can now use Nexus Portals once per portal automatically when approached, but when they leave their movement speed will be slowed by 30% which degrades quickly over 2 seconds.
Frenzy of Power: When Volatile Flux damages an enemy hero it now also causes Zalyars attack speed for his next 4 basic attacks to be 150% faster, fully powered Volatile Fluxs cause the next 6 basic attacks to be faster.
Level 16:
Multiplier Anomaly: When Zalyar damages an enemy with a separate damaging effect (basic attack or abilities) the target will begin to take 86 (+4% per level) damage per second for 5 seconds, it can stack up to 5 times.
Soul Theory: When Zalyar kills an enemy with one of his basic attack abilities or they die within 2.5 seconds of being hit by one they drop fragments of there soul which restore 5 Energy and Power when collected, if they’re hit by multiple abilities more fragments drop.
Level 20:
R1T Blitzkrieg: Overloaded Portal can be reactivated part way through to cause Zalyar to force the portal upwards and then teleports above it to slam it down with the people already caught inside dealing 50% more damage to them and healing Zalyar for 5% per enemy caught inside when he lands, he doesn’t get immunity during this time so he could be killed before healing.
R2T Reality Bends: When Portal Master is activated Zalyar will connect the two sets of portals to eachother creating a single larger portal and its duration is to the highest one currently active while making them look unstable at the same time, Enemies that get caught between them take 150 (+4% per level) damage every 0.5 seconds and they are gradually slowed up to 80% starting from 10% while within the middle, Passively causes normal Nexus Portals to slow enemies up to 50% but not damage them.
Secret Lab Portal (Actives, 75 second CD): First Active, when activated at the targeted location Zalyar will drop a permanent portal that lasts until reused, his second active button will then cause him to visually jump via quick portals towards his Secret Lab Portal location at which point it’ll become a dormant closed portal (CD visually), when he is standing by his Secret Lab Portal and out of combat Zalyar will heal for 100 health per second until full, the Secret Lab Portal cannot be built near structures or in the home bases and will show up on the minimap if found when it’s not dormant.
Infinite Conversion Theory (40 second CD): Zalyars abilities no longer require Energy for their bonus effects and Power of the Singularity can now be activated to heal Zalyer for 5% of his maximum health for every 10 points of Energy.
Skins:
- Normal Skin: Zalyar resembles a tall thin man with brown hair, blue energy eyes with a yellow iris and a long beard which he has tied, he wears black leathered banded armour on his right arm while his left arm is replaced with a long blue energy arm with four long sharp fingers on it, he also wears long baggy pants with sandals on the bottom with a white belt with a piece of his realms Singularity in its centre, his skin is pasty white with black tattoo markings, he also has a pair of horns on the top of his head that spear upwards similar to ears, his alternate colours mostly change his clothes and skins colour with them becoming yellow/grey, blue/black and green, yellow hued white.
Voice Lines:
Line 1: Maybe I can get some Elfennol for my ship while im here.
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1 Like
As a heads up, you have your link in this post linking to my comment on the main thread rather than the actual main post.
Fixed that, didnt notice till now.
Good stuff Damian
Creativity: 5/5
Cohesiveness: 4/5
(allow me to clarify and say I’m not saying that this character should BE a ranged basic attack character, but rather they seem to have design similar to one)
Indeed, Nexus Portals as mobility seems a little too clunky to stick to targets properly, and both pulse laser and volatile flux deal a little too much damage to be considered utility options to support the main focus of Zalyar’s damage, his AA.
I love both ults, super unique.
Thematic: 5/5
Interaction: 5/5:
Auto Attack steroids (such as Stim Drone) might be VERY scary AOE burst damage with the auto attack, something to keep in mind.
I already mentioned Pulse Laser and Volatile Flux dealing a bit too much damage for a melee asssassin with an easily generatable resource.
Overloaded Portal seems very similar to Devouring Maw, but unique in it’s own way. Just keep an eye on this one.
Good work Damian, really nice concept you got here