Hey all, I just wanted to share an idea I had for Boho’s kit since she’s apparently been scrapped. I think I speak for a lot of people when saying that this was disappointing (even though I didn’t like her unreleased kit) as a witch character would have been cool to see. Furthermore, I think the game is lacking in true mages/battle mages as the ones in the game currently are either support leaning (Doorman, Sinclair, Paige, etc) or are gun adjacent (Mina, Vindicta, Grey Talon, Seven, etc). As such in my redesign I decided to make her a tanky mage character focused around holding/contesting space. I chose this role over being a true mage as I feel it offers more interesting gameplay since many true mage archetypes just devolve into long range damage spam that isn’t really interactive to play against (i.e Grey Talon’s 1, Vindicta’s 4). Another aspect of the design I wanted to focus on was to give her unique and special abilities that really make her stand out among the cast (good examples of this already in game would be Doorman 2 and Sinclair 3) since she’s a witch and as such should possess spells unlike any other. Lastly, I understand that based on leaked images of her appearance she was likely intended to be a kind/quirky spell caster which contradicts the more sinister design of this rework as you’ll see. I chose to deviate from this as I feel Paige already fits this kind of personality, and I simply find villainous personalities more interesting (and more fitting for a witch). Thank you for taking the time to read all this, and I hope you'll enjoy it.
Now for the actual rework/redesign.
Lore: She's devoted her entire life to the mystic arts: any curse, spell, or hex you can think of, she knows it and has studied it at least a dozen times over. Or so, she thinks. Believing herself entitled to a higher power, self-aggrandizing Boho has searched for any spell that will aid in her ascension to becoming magic incarnate, a supposed god-like being to whom magic, mysticism, and spiritual power not only form but bear all their myriad mysteries towards. Already having taken steps towards her transformation, there is nothing she's not willing to do to fulfill her destiny. And with the arrival of the Patrons, her ascension has never been closer.
Ability 3: Living Magic - For a duration scaling with spirit power, Boho's body becomes pure magic, giving it special properties (visually this would look like her body becoming translucent with a pinkish-purple hue and glowing with energy, similar in a way to how Yamato becomes metallic red during Shadow Transformation). While in this form, Boho has no collision with any entity, gains significant spirit resist, knockback/displacement immunity, and additional spirit damage on heavy and light melees (less on light compared to heavy). Any enemy melee against her while in this form is also dealt the same additional spirit damage as rebound damage (the light melee amount). Additionally, any enemies making physical or close to physical contact with her model (essentially by being within a 1m radius around her, this can’t be increased by +%ability range) take an immense amount of spirit damage over time that continues to be applied as long as contact is sustained (the spirit damage dot ends as soon as contact is lost). If at any point an enemy is killed by the DOT or by a melee while in this form Boho gains a permanent +7 spirit power if an enemy hero, +0.25 if a minion, and 0.5/1/2 for jungle camps (numbers are arbitrary). When killing a minion through the DOT it automatically collects all of a minion's souls like a melee. Upgrades could be 1: Gain increased movement speed while active, 2: Increased contact dps and melee on hit damage, 5: Drastically reduced cooldown.
Ability 2: Under My Control - After a short wind up, Boho swipes her broom upwards and sends out a potent mind hex that when it connects with an enemy, deals a small amount of damage, bewitches them, and wills them to walk towards her. Players bewitched can declare no action or movement commands. This cannot interrupt abilities and can only afflict one target. The projectile is a flat vertical crescent shape (like Rein fire strike from OW but it would travel faster) and would be redish/pink. Upgrades could be 1: Reduced cooldown, 2: Increased Duration, 5: Can pierce through enemies to afflict multiple enemies. The duration could be made to very weakly scale with spirit as well (like 200sp for 0.5s longer) since the overall intention of this design is to have a weak character early that scales very well into late game. Also helps to convey the idea that her spells become more potent as she gathers more spirit energy.
Ability 1: Spiritual Breakdown - Boho sweeps her broom, sends out two purple horizontal distorting waves of magical energy in quick succession in a flat cone in front of her. On contact with enemy heroes, each deals a small amount of damage, steals a small amount of spirit power, heals Boho for a flat amount scaling with spirit power, and applies a slow. Against non-hero enemies it only deals the damage and slow. The debuffs last longer than the cooldown (or the ability could use charges), and the spirit steal can stack up to 4 times (so 2 uses would reach max stacks). If the enemy is bewitched or becomes bewitched while debuffed the slow becomes a speed boost for the duration of the charm. Possible upgrades could be 1: Reduced cooldown/additional charge, 2: The heal now heals for a small percentage of max health additionally, 5: Can now build up to bewitch the enemy (this would be for a much shorter duration than Ability 2 and would be achieved at 4 stacks applied)
Ability 4: Mystical Maelstrom - Boho unleashes all her spiritual energy and assumes an enhanced version of her spirit form. In addition to the effects gained from Ability 3, Boho gains the following: In a radius around her, enemies are dealt a small spirit DOT and are forcibly pulled towards Boho (similar to Rel ult from LOL, the pull is not a stun but rather a displacement continuously applied to push enemies towards Boho. Visually this would look like a pinkish/purple vortex of spiritual energy swirling around Boho). Upgrades could be 1: Increased DOT damage, 2: Enemies in the storm gradually have their spirit resist reduced, 5: Radius and pull force now scale with spirit power
Primary Fire: She fires small horizontal magic energy waves (would look like a mini version of the 1, perhaps with a distinctive color to further differentiate it) at a relatively slow rate of fire (something like Holliday's) that deal relatively low damage for their attack speed.
Weapon - Broom: Would be the stereotypical choice for a witch, but serves a more unique purpose in her case as it’s also where she casts her spells from. She would essentially use the end of the broom to “paint” her projectiles into existence and send them out. I imagine its design would be pretty gaudy and ornate since she's supposed to be full of herself. Maybe it could be covered in runes and glyphs that light up in different colors corresponding to the spell cast. The name could be just a normal name like Willow (kind of like how Heavy from TF2 is so attached to his weapon he named it and refers to it as Sasha).
Stat Spirit Scalings: This is the part I'm most unsure about balance wise, but since it seems like she would be heavily encouraged to build spirit over investing in tankiness, maybe her health should scale weakly with spirit, or her spirit scales weakly with her health (to give bonus value when she does build green items), or both. This would also tie nicely into the idea of her being living magic as it would make sense that gaining spirit would therefore increase her vitality, and vice versa. It really emphasizes how she and magic are so intertwined at this point that her being literally depends on it for life. Something like this already exists in LOL with Vladimir since he's a blood mage, literally wielding the essence of life through magic. Obviously Deadlock is a different game then league so what works there might not work here, but I think it could be done if her stats (health and spirit power scaling) are particularly low in expectation of her gaining a lot of both through this mechanic as time goes on (similar to how Thresh in LOL gains no armor from leveling up as he already gains it when he collects souls). Also matches nicely with how she’s supposed to be incredibly weak early but scale exponentially.
Now for the actual rework/redesign.
Lore: She's devoted her entire life to the mystic arts: any curse, spell, or hex you can think of, she knows it and has studied it at least a dozen times over. Or so, she thinks. Believing herself entitled to a higher power, self-aggrandizing Boho has searched for any spell that will aid in her ascension to becoming magic incarnate, a supposed god-like being to whom magic, mysticism, and spiritual power not only form but bear all their myriad mysteries towards. Already having taken steps towards her transformation, there is nothing she's not willing to do to fulfill her destiny. And with the arrival of the Patrons, her ascension has never been closer.
Ability 3: Living Magic - For a duration scaling with spirit power, Boho's body becomes pure magic, giving it special properties (visually this would look like her body becoming translucent with a pinkish-purple hue and glowing with energy, similar in a way to how Yamato becomes metallic red during Shadow Transformation). While in this form, Boho has no collision with any entity, gains significant spirit resist, knockback/displacement immunity, and additional spirit damage on heavy and light melees (less on light compared to heavy). Any enemy melee against her while in this form is also dealt the same additional spirit damage as rebound damage (the light melee amount). Additionally, any enemies making physical or close to physical contact with her model (essentially by being within a 1m radius around her, this can’t be increased by +%ability range) take an immense amount of spirit damage over time that continues to be applied as long as contact is sustained (the spirit damage dot ends as soon as contact is lost). If at any point an enemy is killed by the DOT or by a melee while in this form Boho gains a permanent +7 spirit power if an enemy hero, +0.25 if a minion, and 0.5/1/2 for jungle camps (numbers are arbitrary). When killing a minion through the DOT it automatically collects all of a minion's souls like a melee. Upgrades could be 1: Gain increased movement speed while active, 2: Increased contact dps and melee on hit damage, 5: Drastically reduced cooldown.
Ability 2: Under My Control - After a short wind up, Boho swipes her broom upwards and sends out a potent mind hex that when it connects with an enemy, deals a small amount of damage, bewitches them, and wills them to walk towards her. Players bewitched can declare no action or movement commands. This cannot interrupt abilities and can only afflict one target. The projectile is a flat vertical crescent shape (like Rein fire strike from OW but it would travel faster) and would be redish/pink. Upgrades could be 1: Reduced cooldown, 2: Increased Duration, 5: Can pierce through enemies to afflict multiple enemies. The duration could be made to very weakly scale with spirit as well (like 200sp for 0.5s longer) since the overall intention of this design is to have a weak character early that scales very well into late game. Also helps to convey the idea that her spells become more potent as she gathers more spirit energy.
Ability 1: Spiritual Breakdown - Boho sweeps her broom, sends out two purple horizontal distorting waves of magical energy in quick succession in a flat cone in front of her. On contact with enemy heroes, each deals a small amount of damage, steals a small amount of spirit power, heals Boho for a flat amount scaling with spirit power, and applies a slow. Against non-hero enemies it only deals the damage and slow. The debuffs last longer than the cooldown (or the ability could use charges), and the spirit steal can stack up to 4 times (so 2 uses would reach max stacks). If the enemy is bewitched or becomes bewitched while debuffed the slow becomes a speed boost for the duration of the charm. Possible upgrades could be 1: Reduced cooldown/additional charge, 2: The heal now heals for a small percentage of max health additionally, 5: Can now build up to bewitch the enemy (this would be for a much shorter duration than Ability 2 and would be achieved at 4 stacks applied)
Ability 4: Mystical Maelstrom - Boho unleashes all her spiritual energy and assumes an enhanced version of her spirit form. In addition to the effects gained from Ability 3, Boho gains the following: In a radius around her, enemies are dealt a small spirit DOT and are forcibly pulled towards Boho (similar to Rel ult from LOL, the pull is not a stun but rather a displacement continuously applied to push enemies towards Boho. Visually this would look like a pinkish/purple vortex of spiritual energy swirling around Boho). Upgrades could be 1: Increased DOT damage, 2: Enemies in the storm gradually have their spirit resist reduced, 5: Radius and pull force now scale with spirit power
Primary Fire: She fires small horizontal magic energy waves (would look like a mini version of the 1, perhaps with a distinctive color to further differentiate it) at a relatively slow rate of fire (something like Holliday's) that deal relatively low damage for their attack speed.
Weapon - Broom: Would be the stereotypical choice for a witch, but serves a more unique purpose in her case as it’s also where she casts her spells from. She would essentially use the end of the broom to “paint” her projectiles into existence and send them out. I imagine its design would be pretty gaudy and ornate since she's supposed to be full of herself. Maybe it could be covered in runes and glyphs that light up in different colors corresponding to the spell cast. The name could be just a normal name like Willow (kind of like how Heavy from TF2 is so attached to his weapon he named it and refers to it as Sasha).
Stat Spirit Scalings: This is the part I'm most unsure about balance wise, but since it seems like she would be heavily encouraged to build spirit over investing in tankiness, maybe her health should scale weakly with spirit, or her spirit scales weakly with her health (to give bonus value when she does build green items), or both. This would also tie nicely into the idea of her being living magic as it would make sense that gaining spirit would therefore increase her vitality, and vice versa. It really emphasizes how she and magic are so intertwined at this point that her being literally depends on it for life. Something like this already exists in LOL with Vladimir since he's a blood mage, literally wielding the essence of life through magic. Obviously Deadlock is a different game then league so what works there might not work here, but I think it could be done if her stats (health and spirit power scaling) are particularly low in expectation of her gaining a lot of both through this mechanic as time goes on (similar to how Thresh in LOL gains no armor from leveling up as he already gains it when he collects souls). Also matches nicely with how she’s supposed to be incredibly weak early but scale exponentially.
