[Hero Concept] Aegis - using the Barrier mechanic as damage

[Aush0J]

Aegis, the Last Sentinel​

Role: Tank / Fighter

Think of Razor Arcana from Dota but the hands are holding nothing. There are 3 shields rotating around tethered to the body with gaps to shoot through and the head is not covered by the shields to reward headshotting as the reference model for Aegis. Those shields which is similar to Razor are the weapon that shoots laser from the light orb.

Lore
Awoken with memories not intact. Devastation on sight in a place with no recollection yet familiar. Only to recall that it has a purpose to protect and guard. This robotic entity wanders listlessly across the plane until it felt a familiar presence through an astral gate. A godly force it cannot betray. A being it must protect and follow. Now as it stumble upon the ritual, it has a chance to get a wish: to recover its lost memories or find the source of the presence it used to serve.

Weapon: Bulwark
Aegis wields three rotating shields embedded with light orb. These shields shoots a slow-firing, high damage laser which is effective at close range.

Innate
Barrier is capped based on 50% of max Health.
Enemies deal 10% less Bullet Damage and Melee Damage when hitting Aegis' shields. (Optional)


Abilities

Ability 1: Shield Blast
Channel its rotating shield to release an energy blast in a straight line, Aegis blast the area in front of it dealing spirit damage to enemies hit and applies a debuff to heroes hit. The longer the channel time, the lesser the cast range and the greater the spirit damage and debuff duration.

Daze: A negative status effect that decelerates the target's ability and item cooldown.

Min Spirit Damage: 50 | Max Spirit Damage: 80
Start Cast Range: 18m | End Cast Range: 12m
Min Debuff Duration: 3s | Max Debuff Duration: 9s
Cooldown: 18s
Max Channel Time: 2s

Upgrades:

• Tier 1: -6s Cooldown
• Tier 2: On Hero Hit: +75 Barrier (bypasses Overguard restriction)
• Tier 3: +40 Damage and +2s debuff duration

This ability is similar to Ringmaster's Tame the Beasts ability from Dota but instead of a radius its a line.


Ability 2: Stalwart Surge
Aegis puts a shield in front of it and charges ahead. When enemies are hit by the charge or the charge ends, release a radial discharge around Aegis dealing spirit damage and applies Immobilize to enemies caught.

Spirit Damage: 25
Radius: 7m
Cooldown: 36s
Travel Distance: 12m
Travel Duration: 1s
Debuff Duration: 1.5s

Upgrades:

• Tier 1: +3m Radius
• Tier 2: On Hero Hit: +200 Barrier (bypasses Overguard restriction)
• Tier 3: applies Silence

This ability combines Abram's Shoulder Charge and Axe's Berserker's Call from Dota except the charge has shorter distance but travels faster and the AOE doesn't taunt but immobilize.


Ability 3: Overguard (Passive)
Aegis gains a permanent barrier equal to 75% of damage dealt and 25% of received healing/barrier. Ultimate Damage and Regen at the Base do not count. (can be Broken if the mechanic exists in the future.)

Upgrades:

• Tier 1: On active Overguard: +20% Fire Rate
• Tier 2: +25% Damage Dealt and Received Healing/Barrier
• Tier 3: Health Regen applies to Overguard

I don't know if there are similar MOBA abilities to this one but I took inspiration for the Tier 3 upgrade from how POE handles ES regeneration.


Ultimate: Sentinel's Wrath
Aegis becomes stationary, consumes all barrier, and amps up. After the amp delay, release a cone-shaped explosion (outlined when amping up for visual clarity) ahead of Aegis dealing spirit damage. Damage scales based on consumed barrier and is unaffected by Spirit Power.

Version 1 – Conditional (My preferred version)

Can only be casted when the barrier is at the activation threshold.

Spirit Damage: 80% of consumed Barrier
Amp Delay: 1.5s
Range: 13m
Activation Threshold: 75% Barrier

Upgrades:

• Tier 1: On Cast: +20% Bullet Resist and Spirit Resist for 5s
• Tier 2: -0.5s Amp Delay
• Tier 3: On Cast: become Unstoppable. +20% damage of consumed barrier

Version 2 – Cooldown-Based

Spirit Damage: 60% of consumed Barrier
Amp Delay: 1.5s
Range: 13m
Cooldown: 165s

Upgrades:

• Tier 1: On Cast: +20% Bullet Resist and Spirit Resist for 5s
• Tier 2: +15% damage of consumed barrier
• Tier 3: On Cast: become Unstoppable. Becomes Pure Damage

Inspiration for the Ultimate.



DESIGN PRINCIPLE
I wanted to create a tank that uses shield as the main form of damage. Since the Barrier mechanic exists, why not use it as the source of damage and so here is Aegis. My main focus is that there should be a gameplay loop where the hero builds up barrier and then consumes the barrier to do a big damage for the ultimate. So I came up with 3rd ability as the barrier generation mechanic and the ultimate rewarding players with BIG DAMAGE for having good barrier management. Now I just need 2 more abilities to synergize well on the passive and ultimate, So I came up with an ability that will be the bread and butter of gaining barrier and an ability that provides mobility/CC to pair with the ultimate.

Gameplay Loop for this hero:

1. Use 1st ability, shoot/melee, and/or received healing/barrier to gain permanent barrier
2. Once you have enough barrier you cast 2nd to charge to enemies
3. Press ult for BOOOM
4. Rinse and repeat

Daze is just a extra flavor I wanted to add in the hero ability because being blasted by a shield surely concusses or daze you so I made it as a new non-hero specific status effect but it can be replaced if the Devs deemed it unnecessary or use on another hero related to time.

Why 2 versions of Ultimate?
Because if the Devs tested that the Conditional version which I prefer to be implemented is too OP then they have the Cooldown version to test. If both versions are still OP then its up to them how the ultimate will be implemented as long as the core mechanic stays the same that it consumes all barrier and deal damage based on consumed barrier.

Why have innate?
That is to catch exceptions and prevent from abusing the hero. Originally, I put the barrier cap in the passive but then what if there are crazy players who don't skill the passive. A coordinated team can just buy 6 Guardian Ward and use it on Aegis once ult is ready to deal 720 dmg (60% of 1200) if using the cooldown version which oneshots most heroes. Conditional version wont cast since there is no barrier threshold to base upon.

The second line is also another extra flavor since Aegis has shields then it should have built-in dmg reduction to its kit. It also means that the shields are part of the hitbox if implemented.

This is my solution if ever Break mechanic is added in the future:

What happens if the passive is broken?
Overguard stops gaining permanent barrier, all barrier that was on Aegis becomes temporary and will be gone after a duration (maybe 6s) or when the barrier absorbs the incoming dmg or if you use ult, and receiving Barriers becomes normal again until the duration of the Break ends. Example, if you have 1000 barrier then it won't be deleted instantly but will be gone after 6s or when you received a 1000 damage or use your ult. If Paige uses Defend And Fight! on you during Break then you receive the full value of the barrier and duration. If you use ult and you have Diviner's Kevlar ready then you receive 1000 barrier instead of 250/500.

What happens after being broken?
Overguard resumes operating. If you received a barrier being broken and the duration is ending before the temporary duration of the barrier ends then the barrier converts to permanent and you keep whatever remained, damaged or not. Example, if Paige uses Defend And Fight! on you while the Break ends in 2s and the barrier duration is more than 2s then the full value of the barrier becomes permanent. If that barrier was originally 300 and you got damage by 75 so it became 225 in the span of 2s then 225 becomes permanent after Break ends.

Damage Calculation of the Ultimate
You might wonder why I added a restriction in the ultimate that it doesn't scale with Spirit Power and doesn't have a Spirit Coefficient. I did some maths to what is the expected damage of the ultimate. Assuming that the health stat of Aegis is similar to Mo & Krill and compare the damage from Apollo's Itani Lo Sahn which has similar style as delayed burst ult. Here are the numbers:



Yeah, the ult damage is broken if my calculations are right and comparing it to Apollo... BUT I have a counterpoint! Aegis is a frontline tank so its hard for it to gain barrier as it will be taking damage most of the teamfight. I reckon you can do the ult combo every 2-3mins which is what I'm trying to achieve with the way I design the damage for the 1st and 2nd ability and barrier gain from the passive. Also the ult is hard to land cause there are many counterplays to it.


I hope you guys like this hero concept and let me know your feedback!

 

[nathanieljbrill]

I've been thinking of making a character with the "barrier into damage" mechanic (I guess Valve already did but I think Celeste's 2 is a terrible idea) and I do not think thisi s a way to do that. The passive itself is functionally quite similar to lifesteal, it just isn't affected by healing reduction (people won't love that).