Rat King, Swarm of Rats in Clothes (Debuff, Pushing, Durable)

[evildoctor130]

I made this character starting from a character concept that would be cool. I was thinking there aren't a lot of characters that are a bunch of little guys that combine into one character visually. I started off with a passive/scaling that fit thematically and then worked from there. I went for a "grey goo" concept.

Playstyle - Durable, pusher, debuffer support. Sticks close to the troopers and harass with rat minions and DoT. To chase down heroes, uses ultimate to either speed up an ally or cripple an enemy. Generally position near the middle to front of the team
Weapon - Shoot 4-5 (scale with max HP?) rat projectiles with heavy falloff in a wide spread. (Projectile/wide spread so it can't be spammed at range. Synergizes with DoT passive ability. Towers and troopers can't roll so it's more effective for pushing than actually fighting. )
Stats/scaling - Low stamina. Ability range and model size scale with max health. (I'm considering making this a passive ability rather than innate scaling.)

1. Active - Sacrifice a portion of max HP from current health to send a rat clump minion in a direction or throw as a grenade to patrol an area. Patrol minions will follow nearby enemies until they leave its vision range. Once the duration expires or the minion dies, rats return with max HP and any remaining health. Rat King can light melee twice or heavy melee once rat clumps to explode them, dealing damage and applying rats to nearby enemies. (In lane, used to bolster creep waves or farm a jungle camp. Patrol can be used to act as a stop sign for troopers and a scout tool. Maybe the minion gets lifesteal bonuses from items? Also considering if minions should automatically dispel if the caster gets past a certain range from them.)
   • Long cooldown, 1 charge every 1.5 creep waves or so. Damage aura range is shorter than patrol's spot range. You should only have 2-3 tops out at the same time.
   • 15% max HP (Pulling this number out my ass, but seems ok. Maybe just make it an upgradable stat)
   • T1 - +1 charge
   • T2 - +X minion speed
     • Alternate T2 - +X minion vision range
   • T3 - Can be alt-cast on allied troopers and heroes to provide a barrier/speed boost
     • Alternate T3 - +X% max HP transfer
2. Passive - Attacks from weapon and abilities applies rats that deal a number of weak but stacking bullet damage per tick before falling off and dying. Dashing on the ground removes rats earlier. (Main source of damage that other abilities rely on.)
   • T1 - +X seconds to duration (Literally any flat number buff works here)
     • Alternate T1 - -1 rats shaken off per dash
       • Alternate T1 - +1 tick
   • T2 - +X% (small) slow per tick
     • Alternate T2 - Melee hits against you apply stacks.
   • T3 - +X Spirit Damage (You only get to use spirit on-hit items after significant investment)
     • Alternate T3 - +X% damage vulnerability
     • Alternate T3 - Damage tick speed scales with fire rate/cooldown reduction
3. Active - Activate to briefly gain bonus resistances based on the number of nearby allies. Each trooper or minion grants a small resist buff and heroes grant a larger buff.
   • Pushing steroid that synergizes with minion and sort of makes up for lost max HP
   • T1 - +Flat bullet resist per ally
   • T2 - +Flat spirit resist per ally
   • T3 - Give +X% resistances to nearby allies.
4. Ultimate - Cover an ally hero and provide increased movement speed and sacrifice a portion of your max HP as a barrier. Alternatively, cover and enemy hero, dealing a DoT and healing based on a portion of your max HP. Explode at the end of the duration or by casting again, dealing damage to nearby enemies. If targeted enemy hero dies under this effect or from the explosion, gain a small amount of permanent max HP. (Kind of like Lifestealer's Infest. Should this be dispellable with disjoints/debuff remover?)
   • Very long cooldown, low range
   • T1 - +X seconds to duration
   • T2 - +X% max HP scaling
   • T3 - Target enemy hero is Cursed during its duration
     • Alternate T3 - Can cast abilities and certain items while channeling. Infest an enemy and rescue beam an ally to you, colossus and slow nearby enemies, give an ulting ally Unstoppable. (This one is way more fun but maybe more broken)

Strengths:

• Debuff item stacker
• Passively chip away objectives if no one's home
• More allies = more value
• Good presence due to range scaling
• Can be really tanky under the right circumstances

Weaknesses

• Not a lot of direct damage without setup, no good nukes without investment
• Counterplay: Enemies can stick to your lane and just kill the minion for free if you're not careful
• Useless if pulled out of team or caught alone, jungling and rotating to other lanes is scary
• Needs movement speed items to keep from feeling sluggish due to size
• Vulnerable to Max-hp theft, anti-heal, general anti-tank counterplay
• No dispel/movement ability, needs to dodge or soak spells. Only "escape" is ult which is on a long cooldown so wasting it is bad

Synergies:

• Monster rounds/Cultist Sacrifice
• Most bullet-based on-hit debuffs
• Juggernaut
• Fleetfoot
• Rapid Recharge
• Colossus

Character design considerations:

• May be visually confusing for people used to looking at humanoid figures
• The blob needs to surround a solid core (a sentient rat-controlling trinket, voodoo doll, rat king, whatever). Something colorful and glowing that enemies can aim at for headshots and use spells on like Bebop hook.

 

[evildoctor130]

This kit may be too overtuned, especially with the upgrades. I spent a little too long filling this out. At least that's what I'm feeling. Let me know if there are any changes you would make or what you think about this. Would this be fun to play? How do you see this kit fitting into the current game?