Saga - The Viking Shieldmaiden

[Braddicus]

Her weapon and spell-focus, is just one big shield. A round one with a spike.

1. "Shield throw", Fires a magical shield that hits and lands on the ground, pickup to lower cooldown. bounce and finally return on level up!

2. "Shield Bash" Does a shockwave in the air where she aims the shield. very short range, moves enemies.

3. "Shield Ally" Puts up a magical shield around her shield that protects people around her and deals a portion of the damage to her.

4. "Burning Bärsärk" Sheds her armour and shield. Her red hair turns to flames and she gets a melee boost and just goes ham with fists.

 

[arcsymus]

I think there's real potential in Shield Throw, or something proximate. I like the idea of lowering the cooldown on picking up an object--we've seen this with, like Olaf's axes in LoL. I like the idea that it bounces and slowly flies back towards the player, too. I don't know how necessary it is for those to be talents, rather than inherent features of the ability itself, though. What I don't like about the idea of it returning as a talent is that it at least partially invalidates the design of the skill. I suppose if the return is slow enough, though, the object is to get it back in the ballpark of where you can pick it up. While designing the hero more broadly, you can either have them be tanky with the intention of them running into the middle of combat to pick up their Shield, or you could design a character who is more fragile, where the object of picking up the Shield becomes more risky (which I think tends to validate the design of the skill more).

Shield Ally is pretty good. I think protector abilities that cause you to share damage with a target is really good. My favorite iteration of this ability has been to target an ally and gain a shield, and take all damage they would receive until your shield runs out--but because of the dual nature of shields in Deadlock, translating an ability like that is more tricky. Does the ability end when one shield runs out? When both? The way you have your spell written out makes me think that you're imaging a physical bubble shield around the target which blocks damage from all projectiles trying to pass through it. I like that, and think that can work as a separate mechanic from bullet or spirit shield.