[Hero Concept] Ahriman - Pure Hatred, Vengeful, Destroyer

[AlmightyChaos]

Here's my take on if Deadlock had a major antagonist, this would be it. With a deep connection to Ixian history.

Lore:​ Deep within the heart of the dense jungles of Ixia is an ancient tomb, and inside it, lies an ancient being imprisoned within the sarcophagus that is tightly wrapped in chains at the center of the chamber. This ancient prisoner is none other than Ahriman, one of the first Ixians to ever exist, now lying dormant within his sarcophagus. For reasons known only by a very few, he rebelled against his brethren, and a great battle was fought that lasted for several days. In the end, Ahriman was defeated, and for his crimes against his kindred, was sentenced to be imprisoned inside a sarcophagus powerful enough to contain him, where he would remain for all of eternity, never to be released. His body was left broken and scarred, his face disfigured beyond recognition, and his soul burned with rage and hatred, yet he could not escape, and so Ahriman has remained dormant for thousands of years... Until recently, with the Maelstrom and the imminent arrival of the godly beings known as the Patrons, Ahriman had been awakened by a sudden surge of energy. He burst forth from his tomb, finally free from his prison. Although still greatly weakened, Ahriman is far from being powerless. Unless he is stopped soon, Ahriman will have gathered enough power to take his revenge, and in doing so, he would bring about the Armageddon...

Playstyle:​ Ahriman relishes in the destruction of his foes with powerful spells at his disposal. He can obliterate his foes with Pyres of raging hellfire or incapacitate them with his ethereal spear. The Mark of Doom spells further disaster to those who deny him his vengeance, and he will make the earth tremble with terrible meteor storms.

Weapon: "Fury Of Ages"​	Vitality Stats:​
Medium Range, Rapid Fire​ Every 5th shot releases a pulse that deals 4x damage in a 3.5m radius on impact. Bullet Damage: 13.6 Ammo: 25 Bullets Per Sec: 3.9 Damage Per Sec: 53 Falloff Range: 21m - 55m Light Melee Damage: 51 Heavy Melee Damage: 118	Max Health: 720 Health Regen: 1 Bullet Resist: 0% Spirit Resist: 0% Move Speed: 6.3m/s Sprint Speed: +1.4m/s Stamina: 2

1st Ability: Obliterate
Cast a pyre on the ground that explodes and damages all enemies in the area after a delay.

Mark of doom: The explosion applies a burning effect on hit, dealing spirit damage over time.

- T3 Upgrade of "Obliterate" increases the Spirit Scaling by x1.

2nd Ability: Ethereal Spear
Launch a spear that deals damage and applies move speed slow to enemies on impact. Enemies in the center of the impact take 2x damage and are immobilized instead.

Mark of Doom: Enemies in the center are also silenced.

Enemies caught by the spear are dragged to the impact area.




3rd Ability(Passive): Mark Of Doom
Your abilities apply a mark of doom on enemies, reducing their outgoing damage and stamina recovery.

The mark of doom grants your abilities additional effects.

Enemies that are marked for doom explode when killed, dealing damage to all nearby enemies.
If an enemy hero dies while under this effect, Ahriman temporarily gains bonus spirit power and spirit lifesteal.

Explosions from non-heroes deal 75% less damage.

- Damaging marked enemies with abilities refreshes the duration.

Ultimate Ability: Armageddon
Tear the sky asunder, causing meteors to rain down onto the targeted area, stunning enemies on impact.

Mark of Doom: Meteors deal increased damage on impact.

 

[AlmightyChaos]

Back again with more burst mages, this one took me quite a while to make(name of the hero, the lore and the art took me longer).

I won't lie, all the skills, except the ult, are inspired by abilities from 2 other MOBAs.

'Obliterate' is inspired by Pugna's 1st skill from Dota. This is gonna be Ahriman's main source of damage for most of the time(one has to be mindful of it's 0.8s delay before the explosion, however).

'Ethereal Spear' is inspired by Erlang Shen's 2nd skill from Smite. Originally, it was meant to be that you'd launch about 6 spears in rapid succession, each with stacking move speed slow on hit. But then, much later, I felt that it wasn't gonna work, so I opted for what it is now in it's current form. So now, if you want to get the full benefits, you gotta hit 'em dead center.

'Mark Of Doom' is, for most part, inspired by Hades' passive from Smite. Not only does it apply a couple debuffs(three, when you get T3 upgrade), but it also interacts with other abilities, like, for example, if the enemy is marked and they get hit by 'Obliterate', they get set on fire and end up taking damage over time. It also turns enemies into literal bombs, so if they get killed, they explode and damage all nearby enemies. It's even more rewarding if it's an enemy hero that dies while under this effect.

'Armageddon' is just that, a rain of meteors on a large area. Very powerful for teamfights. One major downside is the cooldown, however.

So yeah, a burst mage with powerful spells to be cast from safe distances, but is quite squishy and not very mobile, so all the more reason to keep out of arms reach.

 

[AlmightyChaos]

I'd like to add that the character design of Ahriman(at least on the head) was inspired by a character named "Ravage" from a 2004 arena shooter "Unreal Tournament 2004"(or UT2K4/UT2004 for short).

Here's Ravage's portrait from the game(ngl, he still looks sick as hell to this day):

Also, I initially meant to make the T3 upgrade for the passive, so that each mark of doom on heroes would give Ahriman Spirit Amp that stacks, but I realized that would make it too similar to Celeste, so I settled for Healing Reduction instead.

 

[AlmightyChaos]

Alterations made to the Passive ability "Mark of Doom", now gives a small amount of % spirit power per marked hero(and it stacks), instead of on hero kill, removed stamina recovery reduction, and changed the T3 upgrade.

Now it's a small but progressive power spike, the more heroes you got marked, the more powerful your abilities will become, even more so, when you unlock the T3 Upgrade, upping from +2% spirit power per hero to +6% spirit power per hero.

 

[AlmightyChaos]

Altered how the 2nd ability works now. When hitting an enemy with the spear, it breaks into smaller shards that fly in 8 directions(or should I say - eight-pointed star pattern), pierce through enemies and deal smaller amount of damage.

Also made some adjustments to the ultimate. I also just realized that I left in the 'spirit resist debuff duration' by mistake(which I was oblivious to, until today), so I fixed the mistake and got rid of that.