Bananamancer - Venomous DoT Engineer

[driftcalculus]

Thanks for the opportunity. We need another engineer hero. Not very tanky, but with debuffs aplenty.

Lore could have him be an unexpected guest from the other realm, perhaps from deep within the jungles of Jidi Isle. Probably stumbled upon an open portal and, bored and seeking to further expand his territory, found himself in a jungle of concrete and glass. Probably unwittingly summoned by 'seasoned' cultists playing with tomes they didn't fully understand. In any case, the new environment he finds himself in brings back a few memories long forgotten. His name is Lesale.

Ability 1: Launches a fast moving ball of venom in a line, poisoning enemy units so that they take both initial damage and damage over time, as well as suffering slowed movement. Deals damage every 3 seconds over its duration.

Ability 2 (passive): Adds poison damage to Lesale's normal attacks and slowing movement speed.

Ability 3: Summons a plague ward to attack enemy units and structures. The ward is immune to magic. Wards gain the Ability 2 passive of the current level, dealing 50% of the full damage. Wards can be attached to allies and enemies alike. Parasite wards attacks nearby enemies, not the host. For upgrades, if attached to an enemy, it applies spirit vulnerability and lowers movement speed until it expires or is destroyed. If attached to an ally, it heals over time and takes over one negative effect until it expires.

Ability 4: A far reaching, spreading ring of poison erupts with Lesale at the centre. Enemies hit by the poison will take non-lethal spirit damage over time and have their spirit resistance reduced. An upgrade to this skill could have the source of the plague be a parasite projected onto an enemy hero. It infects the enemy with a deadly plague that does an initial burst of damage and additional damage over time based on the unit's maximum health. The plague slows the target and nearby enemies in close proximity to the target. When the target dies or the debuff expires, the poison erupts. If the parasite is destroyed before it matures or its host expires, there will be no poison nova.

 

[driftcalculus]

Hmm. further edits:
Ability 3: The wards prioritize attacking heroes.
Ability 4: Is targeted using the gun reticle, so can be zoomed in to apply. Headshot with parasite causes immediate blurry vision and deafness with gradual recovery over half the time it takes to mature and explode.

 

[driftcalculus]

Even further edits. Pardon, this is the last one.

Ability 1: could be like the item Decay (reduced healing) but with poison damage (are bleeds Physical dots as opposed to Spirit DoTs? What should a poison be?) and damage and slow could be just several stacks of Ability 2 applied to the hapless beneficiaries.

Ability 3: The ward can be placed on environmental surfaces (walls, floors, car roofs etc) and they'll just act normally and shoot enemies. They'll also inherit passives from Lesale's auto attack, but with the usual 50% damage.

Ability 4: The parasite can be shot onto a surface where it stays for a brief period before exploding. If an enemy gets within range before then, it will attach to its body and begin gestation as usual. This will help with those who upgrade and can't hit moving enemies. It has a medium range of application. The poison cloud ring might be as tall as the full height of an average hero, and avoidable by being at a sufficiently different elevation or much further away than its reach (i.e. not touching it) before it thins out and dissipates. the cloud can be further expanded (height and width) by Improved Reach, and persist longer by Superior Duration.

 

[driftcalculus]

I lied. It wasn't the last edit, and this may yet continue.

Ability 3: Plague wards provide map vision. Lesale normally has two wards on his person, and casting Ability 3 removes one of them; which will replenish over 5 to 7 seconds. During this period, Lesale's attack speed is halved. An upgrade to this skill could be an extra charge, and therefore the opportunity to self disarm until another ward spawns. The cast ward normally lasts 30 to 45 seconds before expiry. The 50% damage of wards is a result of the halved attack speed only.

Lesale's autoattacks are from the plague wards on his person. These personal wards both share a reload timer and ammo, for simplicity. Thus if he has a single personal ward acting at half attack speed and one shot left and another wards pops up on him, the one bullet must go before reloading, and each personal ward fires alternately at half attack speed. Wards that have been cast out will continue to fire at its own rate (half of a fully warded Lesale's attack speed).

Ability 4: An unexploded and unattached plague parasite will last 15 to 25 seconds in the open before expiry. If it attaches to an enemy it deals weapon damage per second for 7 seconds, after the initial burst damage, until maturation, at which point the plague spreads and deals spirit dot damage for 15 seconds.

 

[driftcalculus]

Pray, I need not explain why the old model is better.