Band-hero Idea / 4 in 1

[sobaka1337sobaka]

Idea summary: A hero whose each individual ability would be like a separate character with a different musical specialization. Shoutout to Invoker fans!

Initially, the game would start with Hero #3 from the drawing, who, according to the lore, is a summoner and has puppet versions of each hero attached to their belt. Each of the 4 heroes has a specialization besides music, namely:

Hero #1 from the drawing: Support - healing, shields, and rescuing allies.

• Shields: Sends a key to an ally, which completely covers them from one side, most likely from the direction of the nearest enemy.
• Healing: I think healing zones, like Dynamo's, would be sufficient.
• Possible ultimate: Targets an ally and launches them onto their synthesizer, which flies in the direction needed by the ally.

Hero #2 primarily deals damage, likely magical damage.

• Ability 1: She uses her "bow-legs" to create "musical waves" that cut enemies and apply a bleeding effect.
• Ability 2: Melee attack using her bow-legs.
• Ultimate: She turns her double bass horizontally and sits on it to launch a barrage that takes a bit of time to charge, similar to an artillery cannon.

Hero #4 focuses on stuns, silences, and control abilities. Oh yes, he's also a skeleton saxophonist. Jokes aside!

• This allows for a lot of creativity. But it's clear that the hero will use their saxophone to literally stun enemies with their playing.
• Possible ultimate: The hero uses their saxophone and places it on an enemy's head, applying a "blindness" effect. This wouldn't disable abilities but would instead make the screen go black for a few seconds.

There are two ways to implement this hero:

1. Make one hero the initial character (as suggested, Hero #3) and switch to the other heroes directly through them. For example, the Q key on all heroes would always return to the "original" hero, through whom you can switch to other heroes.
2. Create a separate button responsible for switching, but then you’d have to play the keyboard like a piano. Invoker fans would probably prefer this option.

In the first option, at least one ability, likely dealing damage, would be cut out, making it easier to balance such a hero.

Regarding basic attack damage (referring to gun damage present in all heroes), there’s a solution: simply give the instruments "magical" shooting, similar to real weapons. For example, like how Infernus shoots from their finger or Grey Talon shoots from a bow, but in reality, it's rapid-fire automatic weaponry.

 

[brunko31]

nice done bro

 

[ysinclar]

good work! I think from a balance perspective, this feels out of place. You want heros to specialize on one, or two of the four sections you explain. Putting all in one kinda defeats the purpose and invites balance difficulties.

 

[sobaka1337sobaka]

good work! I think from a balance perspective, this feels out of place. You want heros to specialize on one, or two of the four sections you explain. Putting all in one kinda defeats the purpose and invites balance difficulties.

Thank you for your feedback!
Yes, I agree that there are certain difficulties in balancing a hero of this kind, but first of all, when developing this idea, I was primarily inspired by Valve’s Invoker and Hwei from League of Legends. The main problem with both of these heroes is, logically, the more buttons, the more damage can be dealt per second. In League, they addressed this issue by imposing relatively long cooldowns on abilities and also on switching between them.

I have an idea regarding the balance of this particular hero: make some abilities with noticeably longer cooldowns that don’t passively count down while switched to another character. This would require playing a bit more strategically instead of mindlessly switching between all characters and pressing all the buttons.

Of course, some issues in Deadlock specifically arise at the item stage—it’s unclear how items like Improved Cooldown, Surge of Power, etc., will work with this hero.

 

[ysinclar]

Yes I see what you mean. I didn't play DOTA before, so I'm quite surprised at how great of a change the items can bring. It surely makes it a bit harder to design a hero around it. Hwei is a good inspiration I think and having a hero who specializes in music and instruments, sounds generally very cool Especially if they would use an instrument as a gun for basic attacks. I can see a piano or violin, or an AOE drum attack. Many possibilities