Payne the Cursed Assailant

Payne The Cursed Assailant

Well then, the second hero for my spawnfest! it comes faster than expected because I am bored today (I have works to do but...) this is rather old as well, so do give me feedback please :D

Anyway, this hero is meant to be a very strong late carry that bypass the limit of items (because of Assailant's Instinct that increases item chance), and a scaling system called Curse that turns enemies' power against them. These paired with a pretty high agi growth makes him that much scarier a hard carry.

However, the main selling point of this hero is not that, it is instead his gank-escape potential through Assailant's Instinct, and Cursed Walk that can also be used as ganking power because of the 2 seconds disable, which can be used to stack Curse points that slows the enemy hit. So what do you guys think?

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Statistics

Faction: The Radiant
Primary Attribute: Agility
Attack Type: Melee
Roles: Carry, Escape

Str: 69 at 25 (16 + 2.2/level)
Agi: 94 at 25 (20 + 3.1/level)
Int: 65 at 25 (17 + 2.0/level)

Health: 1461 at 25
MP: 845 at 25
Armor: 15 (1.5 base armor + 13.5) at 25
Movement: 320
Range: 120 (Melee)

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Lore

The best of the best, Payne was once a legendary treasure hunter known for many impossible feats. When one talks about the raiding of Demon King's treasury, the break in to the Lords' catacombs, the assault on the vile bandit camp of Scarlet Desert, it is sure to have Payne's name inside the tales told.

However, none can match a tale whispered only in the deeps, unknown to men in dry land. A tale that tells a story of a human treasure hunter that breaks chaos in the Levianth's barrack and stole the treasured chalice of the Slithereens. A tale that tells the story of an assailant named Payne.

After that day, his fate change completely. Every single night he hears whispers inaudible. Every single day he feels the pressure of having someone chasing after him. Every single movement he took, his strong sense knows that someone, something is right behind him. Yes, he indeed stole the treasure of the Deep Ones but he did not know of what power did it have. A cursed chalice, granting the holder unending life of fear and terror, it is an attempt of the Deep Ones to replicate the power of the Gods.

Tens of years have now pass, Payne is barely keeping his mind together. Constant terror and fear of having someone chasing after him is severe, but he won't let go of the chalice. For him, the chalice isn't a simple treasure. For him, it is a trophy of his single best accomplishment.

Incapable of holding on any longer, Payne finally decided to do something. He melded the chalice into his dagger. By doing so, he lessened the power of the chalice and condensing it into the dagger. His mind, resistant to the peak of the chalice's curse is barely affected by the lessened power of it.

After quite a while, the inexplicable happens; Payne misses the thrill of terror. The feeling of having someone right behind him is intoxicating, it forces Payne's sense to always be at it's fullest and forces him to always calculate and be cautious. Now when he feels and knows that there is no real danger, his mind just feels dull. He feels bored.

"I finally found you!" One night, a serpentine sound was heard. Payne remembers this feeling. This, the feeling of terror and thrill of the fear. Joyful, he escaped quickly out of sight of the chaser. He knows, that the rest of his days he will be chased by that person. He knows, that he shall never lose the thrill again. He knows, that he is indeed the Cursed Assailant.

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Skills

[] Assailant Instinct: The fear and terror that Payne felt throughout the years have forced him to have his sense always at his peak. This skill shows any hero, invisible or not that is in radius from him to be shown in mini map. Additionally, this skill also passively increases any item he has that have at least than 20% chance to do something by an additional percentage.

- 600 Radius, +6% chance
- 900 Radius, +9% chance
- 1200 Radius, +12% chance
- 1500 Radius, +15% chance

Type: Passive
Affect: Self

Try being cursed for decades, then, you will also be able to do this

[] Cursed Blade: Dagger of the Cursed Assailant was welded with the cursed chalice of the Deep Ones, those stricken by it will have lower movement speed and have Curse, a chance on their attack to be a 350 radius splashing attack that only affects their allied units. Stacks on each hit of maximum 4 times and last for few seconds, duration is reset on each hit. Kills from Curse splash damage is given to Payne.

- 3% slow, 2% chance of the Curse, 5 seconds duration
- 4% slow, 4% chance of the Curse, 6 seconds duration
- 5% slow, 6% chance of the Curse, 7 seconds duration
- 6% slow, 8% chance of the Curse, 8 seconds duration

Type: Passive
Affects: Enemy units

You shall feel my curse

[E] Cursed Walk: Payne goes out of enemy sight, striking them by surprise with his cursed dagger that causes them to be stricken by great fear. This skill makes him goes invisible from enemy sight. The first hit after invisibility will make the target immobile and cannot cast spell for certain duration. 0.25 seconds fade time.

- 18 seconds cooldown, 1.25 second immobilize and silence
- 15 seconds cooldown, 1.5 second immobilize and silence
- 12 seconds cooldown, 1.75 seconds immobilize and silence
- 9 seconds cooldown, 2 seconds immobilize and silence

Type: No Target
Affect: Self
MP Cost: 100
Duration: 12 Seconds

The fear of something unseen is natural

[R] Dementia: The Cursed Assailant's unique spell, combined with the curse from the chalice is capable of throwing a whole camp into riot and tantrum of inexplicable reasoning. Causes all enemy heroes to gain 1 Curse stack every 0.5 second of effect. Heroes under this effect will also be forced to move from his current position to random direction frequently. In this duration, the maximum stacks of Curse become 10 stacks.

- 2.5 seconds of effect, moves every 0.3 seconds
- 3.25 seconds of effect, moves every 0.2 seconds
- 4 seconds of effect, moves every 0.1 second

Type: Target Area
Affects: Enemy Heroes
Cool Down: 100 seconds

MP Cost: 150/175/200
Cast Range: 500
Radius: 400/500/600

The only thing to fear is fear itself

Does the explosion from Cursed Blade deal damage?

Wait... what? I am pretty sure there is no explosion whatsoever in the Cursed Blade skill... Please enlighten me?

What I meant was the splashing attack, I pictured it as an explosion :P.

Lol yeah, yeah it does deal damage.
I think I need to explain the skill again: All units struck by Cursed Blade will have a chance to deal 100% splash damage on attack, however the damage is not inflicted (treated as miss) to Payne and his allies, but instead to his enemies (basically, the damage is given to enemy units within 350 aoe of cursed unit instead of Payne and his allies)

I think invis is a tad unbalanced

18 sec invis on a 7 second cooldown: Much better than Shadow Walk, Skeleton Walk, Shadow Dance]]

Not revealed by using items or abilities. Much better than Shadow and Skeleton. Dance is an ulti, and only lasts 3 seconds.

Silences: Yeah.

Immobilizes. Yeah....

I think you are right, but do put these into considerations: both shadow and skeleton walk has 30-ish second wind walk for 50 mp cost, while this skill requires 70 mp every 18 seconds. Shadow walk gives bonus burst damage on hit while skeleton gives tremendous bonus movespeed, both of which are great for their respective gameplay.

Going by the logic, I think this skill is not much better compared to them because they are meant to accomplish different things, this skill is meant for combat and escape (thus lower duration and cooldown than normal invis). Also, the silence and immobilizes doesn't even come with damage, it's like a simple binding skill for only 2 seconds.

Another point you need to know is that shadow dance alows attacking while this one doesn't (and he doesn't have any skills that are needed other than ult)

Nonetheless, I think you are correct, so I'll balance it up soon. What do you think about 12 seconds duration with 18/15/12/9 seconds cooldown with 100 mana cost?

The lore seems a little long, and the invis reveal also seems a little overpowered. Maybe if it was a mana per second skill it would make him more balanced.

the real power is is first passive guys don't you see?

this guy will make crystalis and Talisman of Evasion and have 40% evasion and 35% crit or worse, make the [{Eye of skadi]] and have 50 % attack speed and movement slow THAT GOES THROUGH BKB. go figure. not to say anything about lifesteal and Skullbasher(40%) & Monkey King Bar(50%) procs.

Orchid of malovence will be beast item on this guy.

Thanks for explaining! Yep, the main source of his power would be the first skill later in game, as well as his first defining factor of being very hard to kill.

@TheSofa and Blubbles
I have nerfed the third skill now, and it breaks when using spell and item as well, what do you guys think now?