DGxO
New member
Theory: With Heros like Apollo and Celeste entering the ritual the ceiling for what defines a movement-based Hero as been raised significantly, and the game's still in closed beta (alpha?). But with today's latest balance patch "fixing" Slowing Hex not applying on Apollo's 1 this new shiny hero get's completely countered for a cheap 1600 soul item.
Now my conspiracy theory is that Valve knew what they were doing and intentionally designed Apollo's 1 so that Slowing Hex did not apply because even they knew that shutting off 3/4 of his abilities does not feel fun for the receiving player. So I daydreamed up a solution that gives a bit more agency to heros who want to use movement abilities while still allowing cheap items like Slowing Hex the chance to slow down their approach.
Runaway Train
3200 Souls
+75 HP
+7% Bullet Resist
+7% Spirit Resist
Passive: Imbue a non-ultimate ability with the force of an unstoppable object. When this ability is cast grant yourself Unstoppable for the duration of the ability's cast or 3 seconds, whichever comes first.
Cooldown: 60s
Upgrades to: Unstoppable
Game Logic: Like other "imbue" items like Quicksilver Reload the player can select one of their abilities to empower with this mini-unstoppable effect. Now when that ability is cast the player can ensure they will not be interrupted by items such as Slowing Hex or Vyper's bola. This gives more agency to players and while still allowing for counterplay. Only 1 ability is imbued, and the passive only activates after the ability has been cast so the player has to be proactive in engaging their defenses. Players can "parry" a Knockdown by casting their imbued ability just before the active... well activates, or start the fight with a guaranteed strike on their backline before the enemy can retaliate. The duration of this passive is important to note too. 3 seconds of Unstoppable for only 3200 souls sounds busted but remember the "whichever comes first" line. Most movement abilities don't have very long durations. For example:
Abrams 2 - 1.4s
Apollo 3 - 8s
Billy 2 - 0.51s
Calico 4 - 3s (but she's already untargetable during her ult)
Infernus 2 - 3s
Pocket 3 - 1.5-2s
Most of the other movement abilities are either so short they don't have a duration listed (like Silver 2) or are ultimates (Mina 4) or are very long (like GT or Vindicta 2). But that's why the wording is important, the passive will only last as long as the ability does, unless 3 seconds elapse in which case the passive ends immediately AND does not apply to ults. So if Vin imbues Runaway Train to her 2 she only gets a few seconds of uncontested flying before all anvils in the tri-state area get airdropped on her dome. And Apollo and Mina can't use this to have guaranteed ults in the early-mid game without some counterplay.
Anywho that's a lot of words, what do y'all think? Too many stats? Is it too cheap/expensive for what it offers? I chose 3 seconds of Unstoppable because even though this item is half the price of Unstoppable it offers slightly more than half the time duration, which keeps in line with the game's item design of cheaper items tending to have more "value" in terms of raw stats than more expensive one.
If you have any suggestions or reactions or would like to call me stupid and dumb and bad please don't do that
Now my conspiracy theory is that Valve knew what they were doing and intentionally designed Apollo's 1 so that Slowing Hex did not apply because even they knew that shutting off 3/4 of his abilities does not feel fun for the receiving player. So I daydreamed up a solution that gives a bit more agency to heros who want to use movement abilities while still allowing cheap items like Slowing Hex the chance to slow down their approach.
Runaway Train
3200 Souls
+75 HP
+7% Bullet Resist
+7% Spirit Resist
Passive: Imbue a non-ultimate ability with the force of an unstoppable object. When this ability is cast grant yourself Unstoppable for the duration of the ability's cast or 3 seconds, whichever comes first.
Cooldown: 60s
Upgrades to: Unstoppable
Game Logic: Like other "imbue" items like Quicksilver Reload the player can select one of their abilities to empower with this mini-unstoppable effect. Now when that ability is cast the player can ensure they will not be interrupted by items such as Slowing Hex or Vyper's bola. This gives more agency to players and while still allowing for counterplay. Only 1 ability is imbued, and the passive only activates after the ability has been cast so the player has to be proactive in engaging their defenses. Players can "parry" a Knockdown by casting their imbued ability just before the active... well activates, or start the fight with a guaranteed strike on their backline before the enemy can retaliate. The duration of this passive is important to note too. 3 seconds of Unstoppable for only 3200 souls sounds busted but remember the "whichever comes first" line. Most movement abilities don't have very long durations. For example:
Abrams 2 - 1.4s
Apollo 3 - 8s
Billy 2 - 0.51s
Calico 4 - 3s (but she's already untargetable during her ult)
Infernus 2 - 3s
Pocket 3 - 1.5-2s
Most of the other movement abilities are either so short they don't have a duration listed (like Silver 2) or are ultimates (Mina 4) or are very long (like GT or Vindicta 2). But that's why the wording is important, the passive will only last as long as the ability does, unless 3 seconds elapse in which case the passive ends immediately AND does not apply to ults. So if Vin imbues Runaway Train to her 2 she only gets a few seconds of uncontested flying before all anvils in the tri-state area get airdropped on her dome. And Apollo and Mina can't use this to have guaranteed ults in the early-mid game without some counterplay.
Anywho that's a lot of words, what do y'all think? Too many stats? Is it too cheap/expensive for what it offers? I chose 3 seconds of Unstoppable because even though this item is half the price of Unstoppable it offers slightly more than half the time duration, which keeps in line with the game's item design of cheaper items tending to have more "value" in terms of raw stats than more expensive one.
If you have any suggestions or reactions or would like to call me stupid and dumb and bad please don't do that
