There are some signals that HotS MAY be getting some love in the future, so I thought I could drop a rework concept.
Morales is one of the most bland and boring heroes in the game right now. She has no build or play style diversity. So I cooked up some ideas, which would help her become more fun and proactive and useful in a wider variety of situations, wile also trying to keep her identity. This is what I came up with:
[Abilities] stay the same.
[Level 1]
Caduceus Feedback (remains the same)
Life Support (remains the same)
Clear! (removed)
Energy Extraction (new talent) - Healing globes restore 20 energy. Healing fountains restore 60 energy. They also heal you for 20% more.
[Level 4]
Cellular Reactor (removed)
Shield Sequencer (moved from 16) - Grants a second charge of Safeguard and increases its cast range by 25% (down from 60%)
Trauma Trigger (remains the same)
Blast Shield (reworked) - Increases the blast radius of Displacement Grenade by 30%. Dropping below 50% HP drops and detonates a Displacement Grenade at Morales’ location (with no casting requirement). Hitting enemies with Displacement Grenade grants Morales 6% of her max HP as shield, stacking up to 30%.
[Level 7]
Physical Therapy (reworked) - now also removes Stuns, Roots and Silences
Vanadium Plating (reworked) - Safeguard duration increased by 1 second and it grants its target 210 (+4%) shield for 4 seconds.
Medi-Drone (removed)
System Shock (moved from 13)
[Level 10]
~remains the same~
[Level 13]
EMP Grenade (removed)
Concussion (new talent) - Displacement Grenade deals double damage against Shields and stuns enemies for 1 second instead of knocking them back. But its cooldown is increased by 2 seconds.
Bedside Manner (reworked) - Concussive Grenade deals extra 6% of enemy’s max HP as damage. Morales basic attacks deal 1% of enemy’s max HP as damage.
(similar to what it is now, but without requiring Morales to follow up with a basic attack in order to get the 6%)
Offensive Treatment (new talent) - Morales can use her Healing Beam and Safeguard on enemies. Healing Beam dealing 60% of its healing amount as damage. Safeguard reducing enemy’s armor by 25% for its duration.
[Level 16]
First Responder (removed)
Extended Care (reworked) - Increases Healing Beam’s range by 30%. When the Healing Beam is canceled, the target gets a healing over time effect, 86 (+4%) HP/sec, which lasts as long as the Healing Beam was on the target, but no more than 4 seconds.
Emergency Protocol (new talent) - Activate (60 sec cooldown, must have at least 50 energy to cast it) it to cause your Healing Beam (untalented version) to automatically target ALL nearby allied heroes for the next 4 seconds. In the end, all of your Energy is drained. (Caduceus Reactor has its effect multiplied for every active beam)
Second Opinion (moved from 20 and reworked) - Reduce Displacement Grenade’s cooldown by 3 seconds. Hitting more than 1 hero with it reduces the cooldown by additional 6 seconds.
[Level 20]
Hyperactivity (remains the same)
Safe Zone (remains the same)
Hospice Care (reworked) - targets, affected by Safeguard become unkillable for 1 second if they have or drop below 30% HP. If they have less than 50% HP by the end of Safeguard’s duration, they are healed by 12% of their missing HP.
Bouncing Beam (new talent) - Healing Beam bounces from its target to a nearby allied hero, healing them with a 50% efficiency. (Prioritizes lowest HP)
Thoughts:
The goal is to expand Morales’ capabilities beyond just healing. And the healing options she does have to be a bit more diverse.
The Energy Extraction talent I suggested is something that would feel natural. Since she has no mana, globes and fountains feel lackluster for her, as she more often than not is missing energy instead of health. If technically possible, the Energy regen can happen over time instead of instantly. I just imagine it may not be the most straightforward thing to code and that’s why I didn’t mention that in the concept itself.
The old Vanadium Plating was potentially powerful, but quite niche. The proposed change is a lot more universal in its application and it also somewhat covers for one of Morales’ weaknesses, which is to save an ally, which is already low on HP. The shield may give her enough time to save someone, who would’ve died otherwise. But the amount itself isn’t overwhelming. Meanwhile the physical therapy had its effects expanded to compensate for the removed old functionality of Vanadium Plating.
The Offensive Treatment is something that I feel would be greatly appreciated. Especially when combined with some other talents. But Morales will no longer be as helpless in 1 v 1 scenarios. I think she was the ONLY hero, who couldn’t kill Arthas in the Try mode whatsoever. Every single other hero had SOME way/build to deal with him. Just Morales couldn’t. Strength wise, it will be weaker than All Shall Burn, but she would be able to be maintain it longer.
Meanwhile, the EMP Grenade was removed, as it would be offering something that’s similar to the new Bedside Manner, but more niche in application.
The Emergency Protocol would be a useful tool when everyone needs healing - a situation the current Morales can’t easily deal with. But it competes with the buffed version of Extended Care and the nerfed version of Second Opinion. Which was nerfed, because we wouldn’t want 1 sec AoE stun on a 2 second cooldown, would we?
And level 20 has a slight buff to the Hospice Care, as it now needs to compete with the Bouncing Beam, which is kind a like the removed Medi-Drone, but more reliable.
I’m not sure if the beam should be able to bounce to Morales herself tho. Would make sense if it does, but it’d be fine if it doesn’t.