Hi, I’m gishki, the level 100 Alarak player and today I want to talk about some changes to Alarak.
Since a long time I’ve seen how people claim that Alarak is perhaps in the borderline of OP and I honestly can understand why. Before the changes to Ruthless Momentum, he used to be powerful but niche since his only “viable” build required to fight against certain comps and the Alarak pick was a risky pick. However, when the changes arrived, his value was increased by a lot since he received a buff in his talents, however, those talents created a problem.
Before, when only the E build was “viable”, Applied Force wasn’t really powerful, it was the mandatory level 7 talent already but it wasn’t OP yet, but since the changes of Ruthless Momentum, Applied Force became utterly powerful. The new builds exploited the talent to the point Alarak became a safe pick, giving the illusion that he’s OP, when in reality he is just reliable, but it can’t be a hero THAT reliable, so, I thought in some changes to him to make him less reliable, but without nerf him.
The first change that I suggest is to move Applied Force to the level 1 tier. Currently only Extended Lightning and Ruthless Momentum are the only good talents at that level and both can use Applied force quite well, so, when changing Applied force to level 1 not only it will be impossible to combine those talents, but also it will be hard for all the Alarak players to choose a talent at level 1. Slows and range for Lightning Surge are good as well as 6 seconds of CD for Telekinesis or more range for it.
I already know what are you thinking and the answer is yes, the full effect of Applied Force at the beginning of the game is too strong, but I want to remind you that other heroes also have powerful talents at level 1 that become less powerful as the match advances. The range truly is magnificent at the start but that locks the CD of Telekinesis at 12 seconds and negates you the escalating power of E build, but if you are not sure about it I suggest to change Applied force to a quest talent.
Now you must be thinking about if the change of tier of Applied Force would affect the other talents at level 7, And I have to say that Dissonance and Hindered Motion never were powerful. I need to admit that I’m a little concerned about the possibility of combining Applied Force and Hindered Motion, but I think that’s something that we’ll never know unless we try it.
If you wonder for Sustaining Power, I think that the best is to get rid of it. Moving it to level 7 will catapult the power of E build so I think the better is eliminate it and instead, put a new talent that fills the spot of increase Alarak’s survivance in the battlefield. I have already thought in a talent that would heal him in small amounts every time he lands his AA, and that healing would be increased against heroes by using sadism. I also have an idea to include in some form of a talent like Alarak’s passive from StarCraft 2. If you don’t know what I’m talking about then let me explain: In SC 2 every time he kills something a small amount of healing and shields are added to him, basically he is healing every time something dies near him. Obviously, that hypothetical talent wouldn’t be that powerful and it will be limited to either, healing him or shield him in a small amount, but these are just hypothetical talents in hypothetical scenarios, the new level 7 talent could be also another talent that adds some sort of CC to fill the spot of Applied Force, something like a heal debuff or a mini stun, but I prefer the idea of something that helps Alarak to survive, however, the new talent will be a weak one since Dissonance and Hinderet Motion are kinda weak.
I also want to talk about Show of Force. A lot of people think that this talent is too good and I partially agree with how the damage comes. I like that you have a small amount of time to use it and I like the sadism that you get from it but I don’t like that the additional damage comes at the end of the third ability. I think that a better way to get that additional damage would be by giving it to Alarak’s basic attack, that way the damage will still be there but it would be no longer immediately and it would change Alarak play style. Even after having written this I think that this Idea can be scrapped if the previous ideas work in making Alarak less reliable.
Just as a final comment I think that a good way to make Last Laught more attractive is by giving it the effect that after using it, the CD of your basic abilities is reduced in 1.5 seconds. I don’t know if this would be too much, I just think it would be fun, but what do you think about my ideas. I’m wrong about everything? I have some good points? You agree or disagree with mostly? Please share your thoughts about this thread. Have a nice day!