Here's a hero concept based heavily off of Dota 2's Bounty Hunter, one of my most played heroes of all time.
Character Information:
Abilities Explanation:
Active: Gonzalo prepares for combat, enhancing his abilities for a short period of time and gaining guaranteed Ability Crits.
epic pictures:
i have additional (wip) notes surrounding potential hero interactions which i will post tomorrow. i'd love any feedback on this concept, the only part that i'm particularly unsure about is the ultimate. cheers!
Character Information:
- Name: Gonzalo
- Derived from Gondar, the “real” name of the hero Bounty Hunter from Dota 2 - as a frequent BH player, much of this hero was (quite obviously) inspired by his kit. Gonzalo felt like the closest plausible name to Gondar. The name was also inspired in part by Speedy Gonzales, “the Fastest Mouse in all of Mexico.”
- Lore:
- Stalking. Chittering. Lurking. Squeaking. The First Maelstrom changed Gonzalo, and since that day, Gonzalo has been a founding member of the Tunnel Rats. As a bounty hunter for the gang, he moved in the shadows, trailing behind each and every target who mistakenly thought they’d escaped the enforcers guarding the tunnels. His closest match came against a rival gang leader who nearly got the better of him using a magical knife - but at the last moment, he delivered a Crucial Strike and brought him down, claiming the gang leader’s artifact as his own. Since then, his power has only grown, and the tunnels have only proven to be his domain.
- Additional Lore/Appearance Notes:
- Gonzalo is a member of the Tunnel Rats, the same gang that Mo & Krill belong to. Gonzalo is a bounty hunter, while Mo & Krill are enforcers.
- He was a “normal” rat before the First Maelstrom, but he was turned into a ratkin humanoid under mysterious (magical) circumstances.
- Gonzalo is approximately the same height as Rem. He has a rugged appearance, and his clothes are torn and patched.
- Gonzalo is dextrous with his tail - uses it to throw Spectral Disc
- As a ratfolk, Gonzalo is of small stature, only slightly larger than Rem. He is able to navigate through the vents and tunnels underneath the map.
- Split Path Ultimate: Although there’s a more detailed explanation on the abilities below, I should probably explain beforehand: Crucial Strike, Gonzalo’s Ultimate Ability, has a unique split upgrade path where the player can invest in either passive benefits or further increasing the strength of Gonzalo’s empowered abilities. This may not be balanced, but it felt like a fun idea to give the player more agency in deciding the best way to use their ult. My original idea was that upgrading the ultimate would further empower your abilities while your ult was active, but that felt a little underwhelming - but it also felt weird to only upgrade one or two abilities and not the other(s). Regardless, even if the split upgrade path idea was scrapped, I still think there are some salvageable upgrade ideas there.
- Tunnelshank - a magical, spectral throwing knife that slowly dematerializes in Gonzalo’s hand as his ammunition depletes. Tunnelshank(and its spectral projectiles) have a dark teal shimmer.
- Reload animation: Gonzalo channels glowing teal spectral energy around his hand, slowly rematerializing Tunnelshank.
- Melee: Gonzalo’s melee attacks deal spirit damage. Gonzalo’s melee damage starts low, but deals spirit damage and scales with his spirit power. Visually, he swings (or a charged stab for heavy melee) Tunnelshank for his melee attacks.
- +0.19 Base Bullet Damage
- +1.4 Base Melee Damage
- +1.15 Spirit Power
- + 24 Base Health
Abilities Explanation:
- Spectral Disc (unit target, 2 charges, 6s between charges, 17s cd, 10m range)
- Spectral Disc will bounce to any visible heroes within half of the cast range.
- Spectral Disc can proc weapon damage items.
- While Crucial Strike is active, Spectral Disc will apply the current level of Tracking Flare to any enemy it hits.
- Spectral Disc can be cast on enemy troopers and jungle monsters, but will not bounce towards other troopers/monsters.
- Appearance Notes:
- Spectral Disc resembles a chakram made out of the same spectral energy oozing from Gonzalo’s weapon. It has the same ghastly teal glow as Tunnelshank’s projectiles.
- Icon has a counter above it (similar to how Bebop bomb stacks display) that marks the current hit (1-2-3) in the sequence.
- Disperse (no target, 4m radius, centered around caster, 28s cd)
- Disperse’s Debuff Resist and Spirit Resist linger for 2 seconds after exiting the smoke cloud.
- When Crucial Strike is active, Disperse will also deal 2% Current Health spirit damage per second to any enemies within the smoke cloud.
- Intended to be used primarily as an ability denial and escape tool, but also viable to use for ganks and coordinated ambushes.
- Appearance Notes:
- Spectral teal smoke oozes out from Gonzalo’s skin and rapidly envelops a small area around him.
- Tracking Flare (unit target, 48s cd, 20m range)
- While Crucial Strike is active, allies gain half of Crucial Strike’s Ability Crit Chance and Ability Crit Damage when attacking Tracked enemies.
- A more lightweight alternative to Bounty Hunter’s track from Dota 2 - does not reward the player for securing kills, but is a valuable tool in helping players secure kills against slippery enemies.
- Appearance Notes:
- Affected heroes will have a small flare attached to their hip, leaving a thin trail of teal smoke behind them.
- Crucial Strike (self cast, 150s cd)
Active: Gonzalo prepares for combat, enhancing his abilities for a short period of time and gaining guaranteed Ability Crits.
- Split upgrade path may not be entirely balanced, especially since it’s unique to this hero. It’s not a necessary component of Gonzalo’s kit, just something I thought would be cool to include. The idea was that the player would have the ability to mix and match ability investments. It may be more suitable for the player to be locked to whichever path they pick first (or to simply scrap this upgrade system altogether)
- Passive Investment Path:
- 1. +15% Ability Crit Chance against Tracked enemies (35%->50%)
- 2. Guaranteed Ability Crit after 8s while off cooldown
- 5. Removes cast delay for all abilities and items while Crucial Strike is active
- Active Investment Path:
- 1. Tracking Flare reveals enemies in a 5m radius
- 2. Disperse silences enemies inside the Smoke Cloud
- 5. Spectral Disc 3rd hit deals bonus Pure Damage equal to 1% of the target’s total souls
- Lv2 passive does not accumulate, will only keep one guaranteed ability crit stored at a time outside of active.
- Lv3 active (Spectral Disc 3rd hit deals bonus Pure Damage equal to 1% of the target’s total souls) is intended to be a late-game whale buster - an answer to the late-game problem of one single overfarmed enemy destroying your team in one fell swoop.
- This pure damage is considered a separate instance of damage to Spectral Disc and cannot be made critical by Crucial Strike.
- Appearance Notes:
- Gonzalo emanates a ghastly teal aura during the duration of Crucial Strike.
epic pictures:
i have additional (wip) notes surrounding potential hero interactions which i will post tomorrow. i'd love any feedback on this concept, the only part that i'm particularly unsure about is the ultimate. cheers!
