Soul Interaction

[carrotoniii]

Last hitting in this game is done in a really interesting way. The souls that serve as a streamlined "deny" system are really cool, and that got me thinking about how some abilities could play around it.

I pondered it for a bit, and what I've got right now is a pretty primitive "close-range" shotgun-type hero who doesn't really do anything past their effective range, nor do they have any unique movement options. Their weapon in question has miserable fall-off range, making traditional forms of lane harassment via weapon fire as, not exactly pointless, but pretty non-threatening. Their "laning" is played around a certain passive ability, though: When they deny a soul, a small blast of shotgun pellets fires towards a single enemy in a medium-ish range of the denied soul.

It's important to remember that last-hitting a minion with a melee attack automatically "secures" the soul, preventing it from popping out in the first place. This, combined with the hero's sort of "all-or-nothing" close range design, would ideally facilitate a unique playstyle from enemy players, encouraging them to play more up-close and aggressive while also empowering this hero's close-range strengths, having conditioned their foes to play around their passive.

I don't think it'd be wise to make this hero a close-range powerhouse who mandates that enemies play their game; that'd probably make them more frustrating to fight, which isn't the goal. The idea is to create an interesting lane dynamic where the hero's player needs to play patiently and adapt to their opponents' responses, while opponents need to weigh whether they want to walk up to secure a minion with melee or risk getting poked by the passive. Described as such, perhaps they'd be a lane bully, but not really able to secure kills early on without either some help from their team or the enemy messing up big time.

As for their teamfighting potential in later stages of the game, I propose the idea of their passive scaling with and being able to apply items and their effects. As such, they'd probably play more as a close-quarters ADC who could potentially "snowball" off of a kill with the souls that pop out if the enemies don't deny said souls. Keep in mind that the range for this passive proccing is kind of small, at most a little below medium reach; this could avoid team infighting over deaths that allow the hero to get their passive off for big chunks of damage since they can try to deny the souls first, which would also buy time for the hero to get into a more effective position to continue the fight.

I think the idea needs to be a bit more fleshed out since everything is just on paper, but I feel that it could be an interesting base for a potential hero!

 

[carrotoniii]

Well, I've got too much time, so I'll whip up some quick background and ability names, I suppose. I've also filled out the kit a bit more. Here goes.

A FATE'S TALE:

Somewhere in the city lies an empty grave.

When someone dies, they never quite leave the mortal plane. Beyond their rotting physicality, the essence of them - their memory, lives on. A memento of what once was, persisting to drive the world forward; to inspire future generations to grow, to be better, be it through encouragement... or through warning.

Drew Limos, the showrunner of Solomon Inc., knew this all too well. Having inherited his father's own inherited fortune himself, Limos understood better than anyone else that the dead were not to be forgotten or even lamented, but respected. Just as any other person around him.

It was a sudden heart attack that took the senior's life. His skin turned even more pale as he slumped to the floor of his empty office, but the only sound that could be heard was the crack of glass. The employee that reported the situation to authorities, the last known person to have seen the man, had reported that the office felt airy; it was difficult to breathe and even harder to see the corpse, but as the employee rushed to leave the room, they caught a final glimpse of the man's right hand: Rotted, with not quite a wound, but a gaping hole resting in its palm.

Limos, having been a "top dog" that everyone knew the name of, had undoubtedly inspired society. All across the country, his family reported bunches of roses and boxes of chocolates being left at their mansions' doorsteps, and the volumes of cries and cheers around every television in New York rivaled that of the family's recent carbon dioxide detector activity.

A few days had passed and everyone had seemed to move on. Solomon Inc. quickly reestablished its position as "state's favorite mini-regime," the Limos family said their spiritual farewells, and all was stagnant. Reports of the supernatural, however, had grown exponentially in the coming weeks, and graverobbing suddenly became a popular pastime. Most interestingly, however, recent interviews with Limos' family found that they had not only forgotten their latest fund baron, but all of Solomon's past inheritors.

And so did their friends, and then their neighbors. Soon enough, death seemed like a foreign concept to everyone involved with Limos. Not a single former or current employee could confirm whether they had ever experienced the death of a loved one before.

Within the empty office, a shattered urn laid.

LIMOS
Uses the dead against his foes

Limos utilizes nearby souls of the fallen to establish ground. With some
help from his team, he can chain kills and push the advantage even further
as long as his enemies continue to fall.

Ability 1: Stake Claim (Cooldown: 40s)
Marks a friendly or enemy unit. When a marked unit dies, they drop
an extra soul of smaller value to secure or deny.

Ability 2: Soul Tap (Cooldown: 30s)
Temporarily imbues your bullets, causing them to deal bonus
damage based on a target's missing health.

Ability 3: Under New Management (Passive)
When you deny a soul, a number of bullets head towards enemies
near the soul.

Ability 4: Stock Crash
Throw a grenade that deals bonus damage based on the number of
currently unsecured souls in your possession.