There is too little counter play against it besides “kill him before he does”. And even then it’s not always worth it. He easily gets stack, don’t lose any when he dies. Playing melee or any slow moving heroes against it is miserable.
Even if try to counter it, it’s too easy for him to get stacks in most games. Full duration might be the strongest single target burst of the game. Not interruptible by CC. Want to trade hits with him? Add more range to it at level 13 so it’s harder to do so (longer range than a range hero’s attack range). Give him 2 source of shield and a dash if he loses the fight. Give more movement speed to 16 dash talent. Don’t get me started on his level 13 reset cooldown talent. If he steamrolls takedowns he has permanent lightning rod and paired with 4 talent gets permanent gradual shield. Give him an ult that knockbacks everyone. You might walk away from the range Falstad can dash aggressively. Why not give him shield while at it to help him survive an aggressive dive.
The power creep is funny. All shall burn: Azmo can’t auto attack while channeling it, it has lower range, MUCH lower damage, Azmo moves slower while channeling, can be canceled by CC. The quest reward for Lightning Rod? More damage twice, lower cooldown, and last hit stuns and you don’t lose stack. Compare to Kael Thas convection? 0 benefit unless you hit 20 heroes with hit without dying. And the reward is a joke. 150 damage and 50 health.
My ideas to balance it. Not saying it should be everything below necessarily.
Make him lose stack with deaths
The first lightning rod hit is not instant
Remove the extra range on level 13.
Level 13 takedown reduce cooldown instead of fully resetting it
Straight up increase the cooldown of the skill by default. Only 8 seconds downtime after using it on full duration.
Shorter cast range of the skill but the range is farther to break the tether. Especially true with level 13 range. Level 13 range also increase it’s cast range which makes it way too easy to just cast it safely on someone.
Falstad can’t auto-attack or use other skills while using it.
Make the it cancelable with CC