[Hero Concept] Eidolon - The Body Thief

[Cursed _by_My_Own_Thoughts]

General Concept

Eidolon is a support hero who specializes in controlling enemies and helping allies deal with them in team fights. His abilities are not focused on dealing high damage, but rather on creating situations where enemies become vulnerable or lose control over their positioning.

The core idea of the character is a ghost of a criminal who uses his spectral abilities to restrain enemies, frighten them with his presence, and even temporarily take control of their bodies.

From a gameplay perspective, Eidolon feels more like a utility-focused hero who can heavily influence the flow of a team fight, but is unlikely to be a primary source of damage on his own.

Lore

To be honest, I'm not very experienced with lore, so I think any dedicated writer would handle this better than me. Here I just want to outline a few general ideas.

As a ghost, Eidolon could have two main motivations for participating in the ritual.

The first is revenge against the one who killed him. Because of this, his soul couldn't find peace, and now he is forced to wander the world until he gets his revenge.

Another option is that Eidolon wants to obtain a real body instead of remaining just a spirit. This idea fits well with his ultimate ability Possession. You could imagine that during battle Eidolon is constantly trying to find a new body among other heroes, but cannot stay in it for long. So perhaps he participates in the ritual in order to ask for a real body after victory.

Abilities

1 – Soul Shackles

Eidolon lashes his chains forward and binds them to an enemy in front of him. The target becomes completely immobilized for a long duration and cannot use abilities.

However, this ability has a significant drawback: while Soul Shackles is active, Eidolon is also heavily restricted. He is massively slowed (around 80% or even more), cannot attack, and cannot use his other abilities.

Eidolon can cancel Soul Shackles at any moment, breaking the chains and restoring both characters' ability to act, while also dealing damage to the enemy from the chain break. Otherwise, the ability ends automatically after some time.

This ability seems especially useful in team fights. Eidolon can hold one enemy in place while allies attack them freely.

On the other hand, in a duel this ability is likely much less effective, since Eidolon heavily restricts himself as well.

2 – Ghostwalk

Eidolon temporarily phases out of reality and becomes intangible.

During Ghostwalk, he cannot use abilities or items, but he is also completely unaffected by any effects or attacks. He can still move and gains increased movement speed.

This ability fits well thematically, as it allows him to literally step out of reality for a moment.

The duration should obviously be very short — around one second. Otherwise, the combination of increased speed and full invulnerability could be too strong.

It might also be interesting if at max level Eidolon gains full invisibility with no detection radius, emphasizing that he truly leaves reality for a brief moment.

3 – Dread Presence

Eidolon emits an intense aura of fear through his spectral form.

Any enemy who looks at Eidolon begins to take damage, which increases the longer they keep looking at him.

In addition to damage, it might make sense to add a slow effect. This would make the ability more useful for controlling enemies and help Eidolon escape more easily.

It's also important to note that Dread Presence is not canceled when using other abilities. For example, Eidolon can activate Dread Presence and then use Ghostwalk. In this situation, enemies cannot attack him, and Eidolon cannot attack them directly, but he will still deal damage to those who are looking at him.

The same applies to Soul Shackles — Eidolon can immobilize an enemy and continue dealing damage through Dread Presence as long as the target is looking at him.

Even Possession, in my opinion, should not automatically cancel Dread Presence, allowing it to continue dealing passive damage during other actions.

Ultimate Ability – Possession

Eidolon inhabits an enemy's body and temporarily gains control over them.

During Possession, Eidolon can use the captured hero's abilities, but cannot use their ultimate. Instead, recasting the ultimate cancels Possession.

One thing I'm unsure about is cooldown behavior. If Eidolon uses a hero's abilities during Possession, should those abilities remain on cooldown for that hero after Eidolon leaves?

On one hand, it makes logical sense. On the other, it could create very frustrating situations for players. For example, if Eidolon possesses Wraith and uses her teleport, once Possession ends, Wraith would no longer be able to use it to escape. Or if he possesses Viscous and uses his cube, leaving the real Viscous without that ability afterward.

This could either be an additional effect if the ultimate feels too weak, or something to remove if the ultimate is already strong enough.

Another important question is how damage should work during Possession.

Clearly, Eidolon should be able to deal damage to enemies using the captured hero's abilities. But if that hero's allies attack in response, they would effectively just be killing their own teammate.

Because of this, it might be better if during Possession the captured enemy is temporarily considered an ally of Eidolon. This would mean Eidolon's allies cannot interact with them at all, while the enemy team can deal damage — but that damage is applied to Eidolon himself, not the possessed character.

If Eidolon dies before Possession ends, the enemy is simply freed from control.

To give Eidolon at least some chance of survival in this situation, it might be reasonable to grant him a shield, damage resistance, or partial healing upon activating the ultimate.

Out Loud Thoughts

The game already has Sinclair, who can copy enemy ultimates. But an ultimate is only one of four abilities, so a character who can use all the other abilities could also be interesting.

I wouldn't say Eidolon is the perfect character for this mechanic, but he fits quite well into the role of a control-focused, team-oriented hero.

His ultimate, Possession, is essentially the peak of that control. It's hard to imagine a stronger form of control than literally taking over an enemy character.

Also, I apologize profusely to all the artists for using AI, but I can't draw at all! I hope the pictures were worth the sin I committed.

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My other characters:
Pale Widow - https://forums.playdeadlock.com/threads/hero-concept-pale-widow.113865/
Kestrel - https://forums.playdeadlock.com/threads/hero-concept-kestrel-flying-melee-hero.114285/​