(Support) (Unfinished) Stargazer (S1C1)

[gibnewitems]

I am trying out something a bit different than what I usually do with my hero concepts. From now on, I will hope to give every concept of mine a name, and will fit within a series of concepts that share some sort of gameplay quirk. This concept is named Stargazer, and will be first in a series of three concepts that focus on unique/alternative forms of acquiring power.



Primary: Fires orbs that ricochet once and have aoe splash. No reload. Fires twice per click, sub second delay before stargazer can fire again.

Secondary: Hold to hover upwards slowly. Can hover for 4 seconds.

Vitality stats: High base HP, low base regen, middle of the road movespeed, +3 base sprint speed, 3 stamina.

Innate: Starting at minute 3, small stars will start spawning on the map. Collecting these stars will grant stargazer some souls. Reaching star milestones grants upgrades to abilities.

Abilities:

Constellation
60s Cooldown | 60m Range
Cast to throw forward a string of light, slowing and inhibiting enemy movement abilities.

• 30 Damage (+0.8 x Spirit)
• 15% Movement slow
• 1.5s Effect duration

10 second per hero hit cooldown on 2 point upgrade.
Tier 1: +50% CD reduction on successful hit
Tier 2: +10% Max HP heal upon successful hit
Tier 3: Enables ability charges

Sanctuary
45s Cooldown
Cast forward a cosmic buoy. Allies can light melee this buoy to teleport to Stargazer's position.

• 4s Lifetime

Tier 1: +2.5s Lifetime
Tier 2: 4% Max HP heal on use
Tier 3: Grants speed boost on use

Calm Mind
40s Cooldown | 9s Duration
After a slowing channel, gain bonus move speed, spirit shield health, and empower your next bullet with bonus spirit damage.

• 30 Spirit Damage (+0.7 x Spirit)
• 25% Move Speed Bonus
• 100 Spirit Shield HP (+1.5 x Spirit)
• 50% Channel slow
• 1s Channel duration

Tier 1: +10% Bonus Move Speed
Tier 2: -10s Cooldown on-hit
Tier 3: +8% Max Health Bonus Damage

To-Do list:

• 4th ability (priority)
• Unique upgrades for reaching star collection milestones
• Rework to 3rd ability (maybe)

 

[arcsymus]

Nuanced and clever abilities. Might as well rename Sanctuary into Cosmic Buoy imo. Definitely more room to expand on the character's theme. I'm imagining someone kind of like Yrel from HotS wearing a cosmic robe. Perhaps they have a lantern weapon to symbolically guide the way.

I'm thinking you can do more with the passive you've established that spawns stars; if this character is thematically a "seeker: then these stars could act as a spirit guide. What if they spawn where enemies are out of sight? Giving the character an anti-jungling bent? (If you go that route, you may want to reinvent the kit more radically.) What if you could use an ability to scry on these areas with remote viewing? What if collecting them causes a large AoE silencing burst? It's an okay concept as is, but I feel there needs to be more there to give the mechanic focus and tie things together thematically.

Consider making Calm Mind their ultimate, and making it sort of an unleash move that takes the character from a support to a temporary wrecking ball. Granting bonus gun damage based on Spirit, bigger AoE attacks.

Maybe give Sanctuary an aura effect so allies can benefit from being in proximity. Tie in the fourth ability with some kind of guardian or stewardship effect, like a shield or an aura that can protect allies for when they jump to you. Perhaps give Constellation an additional effect to punish Parry to keep enemies off the buoy? I think Buoy should definitely have a longer duration to play with distance between Star Gazer and their allies.

Really cool ideas.

 

[photon]

Sanctuary is a super cool ability.

 

[gibnewitems]

A little update. Finally adding an ult and upgrades.

• Sanctuary is now renamed to Cosmic Buoy.
• New ultimate ability: Sanctuary

Sanctuary
120s Cooldown | 4s Duration
Deploy a cosmic bubble around yourself in a large radius. Players inside the bubble OR around cosmic buoy gain buffs.
Players still inside once the duration ends gain a movement speed increase.

• 35/s Health restored (+0.55 x Spirit)
• 25% Move speed increase
• 15m Radius
• 8s Move speed duration

Tier 1: -10s Cooldown
Tier 2: +10m Radius
Tier 3: Can now be casted while inhibited.

New upgrades for reaching star milestones. Can be unlocked in any order. Some abilities have multiple upgrades. Some upgrades grant an item, or change Stargazer's base stats.

There are three different tiers of star upgrades: low, medium, and high. These tiers depend on their star costs, and are organized upon how early you can be expected to reach this milestone in a normal game. Pick one upgrade per milestone. Gain an extra low or medium star milestone at 40 minutes.

Most of these are just examples, and are subject to change depending on feedback

Some low star milestone upgrades (goal is to be achievable within 15 minutes of a game) include

• Allies within Cosmic Buoy radius gain +10% fire rate and bullet lifesteal.
• Gain Constellation's tier 3 upgrade for free. +1 ability charge if Constellation is already maxed out.
• Calm Mind now grants a heal on kill to Stargazer.
• Gain a free hollow point ward, enduring spirit, or spirit strike that doesn't take up a slot.

Some medium star milestone upgrades (achievable within 25 minutes of a game) include

• Constellation now silences item usage.
• Cosmic Buoy now grants half of it's max hp heal effect within it's radius.
• Calm Mind can now be cast onto allies. Allies have a 20s cooldown before they can be affected by Calm Mind again.
• Increase the effectiveness of your healing to teammates by 25%.

Some high star milestone upgrades (achievable natty at 35 minutes) include

• Sanctuary now refreshes shields of allies that walk into the radius. This effect works once per ult usage.
• Cosmic Buoy can now be used by 1 more teammate per buoy lifetime.
• Stargazer's move speed now scales with spirit.
• Give 1 ally the ability to buy a clone of 1 item.