Next patch alliance become more and more am-centric because of even short duration of sheep on heroes - you need at least lvl 2 aura to maintain sorcs mana, this makes alliance most 1 hero centric race of all, despite of catastrophic winratio on every other first hero (except mk but only because he is literally have coil with stun and melee nova), and by other heroes the most pathetic as first hero is Blood mage. Least popular first hero in the game with 2 times less pick ratio even than POtM (who gets buffs this patch btw), doesnt have single good matchup as first hero, and the the only hero with 900 ping on nuke ability, yet the most expencive aoe in the game (135 mana ffs)…
So what i suggesting - make flame strike instant. yes, this simple. This will NOT make him even close to be meta first pick, this will not buff him as support hero (because as 2nd hero he goes 2 siphon 1 astral to be useful. So basically no one is hurt, balance not even touched (maybe a little in matchup hu-elf in very late of the game when he can in lvl 5 respec to flame strike), but some people (me included) will be able play him as first hero at least without that much frustration.
Its simple solution what just make 3.5% (blood mage first pick ratio) of player base happy and must not hurt anyone because am and mk will be still by far better choice. Thanks for vinus 0.1 sec cast to worst and most costly nuke in the game, but it LITTLE BIT not enough…
yeah, i dont think so. he’d be way too good at hero rushes vs orcs and humans if it was instant.
banish + syphon was designed to counter bm sh ensnare perfecltly. But its just dont work for some reason
This is hero without tempo, without farming possibilities, without anything basically what will make him “too good”. You talk just nonsense, with instant flame strike he still be b-tier hero, and picking him will be still making your chances to win less, yet but more fun to play with him and basically u will be able to land 135 mana nuke for few ticks into opponent. Btw if you dont loose rushes against blizzard AM - you can feel safe vs blood mage, because blizzard have better damage\manacost ratio btw, and basically full blizzard do 20% more damage than full flame strike (about 20 damage) at rank 1, yet blizzard costs 80 mana and flame strike 135.
mana drain is broken skill, and bmg have fast attackspeed.
Yea, but flame strike blood mage will max flame strike lol, what sthe problem? mana siphone is for support blood mage and it in game already and no one complains lol, so what is yours argument is?
“tempo?” I don’t know what you mean by that but BM is more than capable of farming lol, otherwise he wouldn’t get played ever and I see him regularity. I’m harassed by BMs almost as much as AMs. flame strike is fine, even if you dont get the full damage out of it it forces enemies to move and stop attacking. You clearly and severely underestimate what he is capable of and are the one speaking nonense.
As first pick, sure, but they are regularly played otherwise. There’s nothing wrong with a hero being better as secondary than as primary. Also, pick rate doesn’t perfectly correlate with how strong the hero actually is. Some heroes are situational or only work well with certain strategies and thus will be picked less than the heroes with more universal appeal. Doesn’t mean those heroes are bad.
Being insulting doesn’t make your argument stronger.
he played as nish support with siphone+astral in 1 matchup - vs elves, and you say that flame strike is ok - this ability is the most costly and the worst aoe spell in the game.
So basically this is the worst first pick hero in the game, very nish support 2nd hero WITHOUT flame strike in one particular patchup - vs demon hunter elf, and THATS why the worst aoe spell in the game of the worst first pick hero in the game must not be fixed? You need to check mental health.
being a troll who just want someone to NOT having fun in the game with no reason - this is insulting yourself more than i ever can to insult you. You are oppose to fix what doesnt change meta at all, doesnt buff even in 1 matchup blood mage as a support because he uses another spells like support. You goal is just leave the most unpopular and underpover hero as first pick be like that. Literally every single hero have better win and pick ratio as first hero than blood mage, everything in the game is more playable than this hero, yet you try to defend it for literally no reason.
And my goal is not even make him viable - just make playing him less frustrating, am, mk and even pala as first hero will be by far better after blizzard fix flame strike and make it instant like every single other ability. He still will be not popular, he still will be underpowered, he never will be meta pick even as support (except siphone-astral 2nd blood mage after 1st am vs demon hunter). Just freaking stop typing here, you ignore statistics, you ingnoring common sense, you just delusional or troll. Ty for trolling and dont come back pls.
Being a six year old doesn’t make your argument stronger. Repeating the same useless comments doesn’t make them true either. In fact the more you keep saying it the more ridiculous you look…
Like I said before, just because a hero isn’t picked first does not automatically make them bad. You’re going to have to do better than say that and fling childish insults.
You propose to make him less “frustrating” to play by essentially guaranteeing the damage on a large AoE ground attack that has myriad uses in the hands of someone who knows how to use it. Yeah, thanks but no thanks.
Yes, everyone playing am or mk because they like old daddys not because playing pala and especially blood mage is counterproductive… You are not delusional at all, yes, pick ratio doesnt showing anything, thats why blood mage first is in every human championship, not am or mk every single game yes. Just pros doesnt want money, players doesnt want wins and elo, people doesnt play him just with no reason, he is super strong yes?
You haven’t really presented any statistics other than pick rate. I think it is you who needs to not come back.
Continuing to post insults like a 5 year old only makes you look like what you’re claiming me to be.
Please keep posting in this manner, I haven’t used the flag feature enough today. 
You know, I was going to credit you for providing additional data. But since you chose to be insulting anyway, nope. You gotta do better than that. damage value comparisons, utility comparsions, you gotta do the whole nine yards AND do it without throwing in four-year-old insults. Otherwise I keep posting. You accuse me of trolling, but that’s exactly what you’re doing by calling people brain damaged.
If you want intelligent, civilized conversation, then you treat people with respect. Otherwise, expect every thread to be you mudslinging against someone who is immune to your taunting.
When you make arguments, you must back them up, otherwise people have every right to question you.
1001 reason what doesn’t have any sense just to make underpowered hero be underpowered from Captainjerk - that what i can name your arguments.
You ARE troll or delusional person, that’s the fact like just like numbers about blood mage. There is no more reasons to be opposite ablosutely deserved fix fro blood mage. Flame strike is already 135 mana cost - highest aoe spell cost in the game, damage your own units, dont hit air AND have a cast time while showing where the nuke will be. This obviously must be fixed, especially to the hero with lowest first pick ratio and win ratio in the game.
And you keep trolling and insulting - “hue hue u just bad and cant abuse this super stronK hero…” You know what? NO ONE can, because this hero is underpowered and THATS why his pick ratio is so low, thats why his win ratio is so low. Theme of conversation IS NOT me personally its about hero - and this hero needs some love as i said in the title, and only trolls like you can be oppose to this obvious fix.
If you want to know who’s a “troll or delusional person” you need only look in the mirror. Non trolls don’t post in the manner in which you do.
You only proved my point by me calling you out on it and telling you not to do it and you doing it anyway. You aren’t capable of having a civilized conversation.
It should be pointed out here that Blizzard is a fully channeled ability. The Archmage cannot move, attack, or cast anything else while channeling it.
Flame Strike has a cast-time before it starts, but after that the Blood Mage is free to do whatever it wants while Flame Strike keeps dealing damage.
Yes, but Blood Mages also have Siphon Mana, which allows you to deny mana from the opponent and use that mana to fuel Flame Strike.
And how much damage blood mage do when he siphoning mana? Why you admit that blizzard is channeling yet you “forget” to say that siphon is channeling yet am have aura mana regen for him and all heroes and units around? One more time - blood mage as first pick have 3.5% pick ratio and 40-44% win ratio vs all meta picks FOR A REASON. And THE reson of it - blood mage is bad hero, even as supp - in strongest his position in the game (with 2 siphone 1 astral at lvl3) he is still low pick ratio hero (8.1%).
So summary you guys are against fix for hero with lowest pick ratio and one of the lowest win ratio in the game becaaaause WHY? And i’m not suggesting to buff him siphone or astral what will buf him as support (where he is b-tier hero), i’m asking to buff him as first pick hero where he is in cr@p tier, and after this buff\fix he will be still totally outmeta, but people like me will be able to play this abomination with less frustration.
With how he works now, it would be really hard to make him a really good 1v1 hero without breaking him in team games (BM + SH is already the strongest combo of 2nd heroes in the game in 2v2).