(Dire INT) Castor, The Dualbound Mage

Overview

Castor is a slippery Intelligence Hero with the ability to weave himself in between the Ethereal and Corporeal planes, rendering most physical-based enemies useless. To add insult to injury, his massive array of banishing spells amidst a nuking arsenal makes Castor highly adept at making clutch plays to save an ally, or shut off a vital enemy target (e.g. carry).
Castor is typically played as a semi-carry nuker, although a support build is highly viable.

---

---

Castor, The Dualbound Mage

Dire Intelligence
Base STR: 18 + 1.6
Base AGI: 25 + 2.1
Base INT: 21 + 2.4

Base Armor: 3
Base Magic Resist: 25%
Base HP Regen: 2.5
Base Damage: 49 - 55
Move Speed: 320
Sight Range: 1800/800
Attack Type: Ranged
Range: 500
Missile Speed: 850
Base Attack Time: 1.5
Collision Size: 24

Role:
Nuker
Support
Disabler

Pros:

+ Can stay in Ethereal form for prolonged periods of time.
+ Planewalk allows him to dodge incoming projectiles entirely.
+ Heavy lockdown on physical attackers.
+ Powerful amp to spell damage.


Cons:

- Very vulnerable to enemy nukers.
- Unable to pierce Magic Immunity.
- Largely a single-target Hero.

---

---

Lore

Coming soon!

---

---

Abilities

---

Riftbolt (Q)

Ability: Target Point
Affects: Enemy Units
Damage: Magical

Castor fires out a bolt of Nether energy to a target point up to 1,100 range away, striking the first target hit for magic damage and turning it Ethereal for a small period of time, slowing it while amplifying magic damage.
If the target struck by the bolt is already Ethereal, the bolt explodes radially in a medium-sized AOE, dealing further damage and turning all secondary targets Ethereal for 3s.

Cast Range: 1,100
Acquisition AOE: 120
Blast AOE: 425
Primary Damage: 80/120/160/200
Secondary Damage: 80/120/160/200
Magic Resistance Reduction(%): 20/30/40/50
Move Speed Slow: 55%
Primary Target Duration: 2/2.4/2.8/3.2
Secondary Target Duration: 1/1.2/1.4/1.6

Cooldown: 12
MP Cost: 100/115/130/145

Castor's craft is infused with entropic energy from both planes; with the resulting effect as unstable as it is lethal.

Notes:

- The bolt travels at a fixed 1,300ms.
- Targets are turned Ethereal AFTER the damage instance is dealt, for both the main bolt and explosion.
- Against an Ethereal primary target with base 25% magic resist, the bolt deals a total of 450 Magic damage.
- The main bolt and explosion can hit invisible units.

Developer Notes:
Castor typically uses this spell to set up his cookie cutter combo: Riftbolt + Variable Charm + Planewalk. This ensures that the now-Ethereal enemy is set up for a kill, and takes the maximum damage from the Planewalk effect.

---

Enervate (W)

Ability: Target Unit
Affects: Units
Damage: n/a

Castor's unreliable incantation temporally shifts a target out of the material plane - turning them Ethereal for a short duration of time. Allies receive lesser damage amp and slow.

Cast Range: 600
Allied Magic Resistance Reduction(%): 25
Enemy Magic Resistance Reduction(%): 50
Allied Move Speed Slow: 20%
Enemy Move Speed Slow: 40%
Duration: 2/2.75/3.5/4.25

Cooldown: 20/17/14/11
MP Cost: 80/100/120/140

It is often vexing why Castor would voluntarily banish himself back to the Nether Reaches, but the charm has proven benign in dire circumstances.

Notes:

- The spell gives a 0.25s transformation time to the target, allowing them to disjoint projectiles. This includes enemies.
- The total disable duration (including the transformation time) is 2.25/3/3.75/4.5s.
- Reduces most heroes' total magic resistance to 6.25% if an ally, and -12.5% if an enemy, if no other sources of magic resistance or amplifications are involved.

Developer Notes:
This spell allows for Castor to make clutch plays with his Variable Charm follow-up with allies, or set up a Riftbolt into Planewalk combo against enemies.

---

Variable Charm (E)

Ability: Target Unit
Affects: Units
Damage: Magical

An unstable charm that has varying effects depending on whether the target is an enemy or ally, and if the target is in the same plane (corporeal/ethereal) as Castor. The spell results in four subspells, triggered as shown below:

(Ally + Same Plane): Links the ally to Castor for a period of time. While linked, both the ally and Castor move at a dramatically increased movement speed, and increase MP regeneration. This effect increases by 50% when in Ethereal form.
The link is broken if either one move 1,000 range away from each other, or if one changes plane.
Range: 600
Move Speed Increase: 8/12/16/20%
MP Regen/s: 4/8/12/16
Duration: 4/5/6/7

(Ally + Different Plane): Renders the target ally invisible for an extended period of time. The ally can still act (attack, move, cast spells) and retain invisibility.
The buff is not dispelled if either party changes plane.
Range: 600
Fade Time: 0
Duration: 3/3.75/4.5/5.25

(Enemy + Same Plane): Inflicts a curse onto a target enemy. Any non-physical damage taken during the curse period is accumulated, and a fixed portion of that damage is dealt as Magic Damage at the end of the curse.
The curse does not end if either party changes plane.
Range: 600
Damage Taken as Magic Damage: 20/30/40/50%
Duration: 5/6/7/8

(Enemy + Different Plane): Inflicts a curse onto a target enemy, dealing damage over time.
The curse does not end if either party changes plane.
If the enemy is Ethereal while the curse occurs, the duration does not count down.
Range: 600
Damage/s: 12/20/28/34
Duration: 5/6/7/8

Cooldown: 20
MP Cost: 110/120/130/140

Within the Nether Reaches, the laws of reality can be overturned, and casting an ordinary enchantment twice never yields the same result.

Notes:

- Enemy + Same Plane: Damage dealt in the end is based on damage taken, not health lost. Healing does not negate the damage at the end.
- Enemy + Same Plane: Damage can be negated at the end via Magic Immunity.
- Enemy + Different Plane: The curse can be purged or removed with Magic Immunity.
- Ally + Same Plane: Bonus MP Regen is added on to current MP Regen, and will not affect percentage-based items such as Sage's Mask.
- The planes are determined by whether the target or Castor have the Ethereal buff/debuff, regardless of the source of the Ethereal buff/debuff. This can be triggered with Ghost Scepter, Ethereal Blade or Decrepify.

Developer Notes:
Castor's most difficult skill to use banks heavily on situational awareness, but can turn the tides on battle by concealing/supporting an ally, or amplifying the damage that an enemy receives.

---

Planewalk (R)

Ability: Toggle
Affects: Units
Damage: Magical

A toggle-able active, Castor can shift himself into the Ethereal realm at will.
While in the Ethereal realm, any other enemies that are Ethereal in a global range take burn damage, while allies receive a heal for half the amount.

Aghanim's Scepter: CD of ability reduced to 3. When within 900 range of an Ethereal enemy, the duration of the Ethereal debuff does not count down for 1s (i.e. extending the debuff by 1s). This effect can only occur once per enemy, per debuff.

Area of Effect: Global
Damage/s: 80/120/160
Heal/s: 40/60/80
MP Cost/s: 25/40/55

Cooldown: 10/8/6
MP Cost: 80/110/140

Those who attempt to emulate Castor's fate soon find themselves overwhelmed with irradiating Nether energies.

Notes:

- Damage/heals are dealt in 10 instances, at 0.1s per instance.
- Cooldown is activated only when the ability is toggled off.
- The ability has a Transformation Time of 0.1s, allowing Castor to disjoint projectiles.
- Enemies will only be affected by the burn if the source of their Ethereal buff/debuff comes from Castor. It does not, however, have to be from his spells - i.e. Ethereal Blade also triggers the burn.
- Allies are not affected by the same restriction, and will receive the heal as long as they are Ethereal, regardless of source.
- The ability fully damages invisible targets.
- This ability cannot be purged off Castor except when Castor is granted Magic Immunity; in which case the ability ends prematurely.

Developer Notes:
A low cooldown Ghost Scepter, in essence, with a powerful burn/heal that takes advantage of Castor's battlefield presence among allies or enemies. With a nicely timed Riftbolt onto an Ethereal target, Castor can single-handedly irradiate and damage a large proportion of an enemy team.

---

---

Responses

Killing a Rival
- Anti-Mage: "Strike me. Please."
- Anti-Mage: "You are not my antithesis."
- Faceless Void: "I've waited for eons to kill this one."
- Faceless Void: "You were right, Faceless Void. Time is irrelevant."
- Oracle: "A bad prediction falls for my magical predilection."
- Oracle: "False prophet."
- Oracle: "Our skills are matched. My wits, however, are not."
- Outworld Devourer: "Intellect alone is useless in a fight, Devourer."
- Phantom Assassin: "Oh, Mortred, you are not the only one to slip between the planes."
- Phantom Assassin: "Your Veiled Oracle has picked the wrong target."
- Puck: "You mistake your evasiveness for immortality."
- Pugna: "My craft is superior."
- Pugna: "The lamasery sends their regards for its destruction."
- Pugna: "You got me into this mess. Now we're even."
- Pugna: "You destroyed the temple, but you missed a spot."
- Sniper: "You missed."
- Sniper: "And another miss."
- Sniper: "Oh dear. I do hope they were right about your reputation."
- Spectre: "I cannot hear you. But I feel your pain."
- Viper: "I return the Nether's beast to oblivion."
- Viper: "Unworthy, even for one of our own."

Purchasing Blink Dagger
- "A temporal rift - intriguing."
- "Catch me, if you can."
- "I shift between spacetime."

Purchasing Ethereal Blade
- "At this point, I'm not even going to question this."
- "Doesn't hurt to have one more."
- "Please tell me you're joking."
- "This is redundant."

Purchasing a Specific Item
- Dagon: "The rod of smiting itself."
- Dagon: "Weird. I expected this to be much larger."
- Orchid Malevolence: Malevolence. I like it.
- Shiva's Guard: Nothing runs from me now.
- Shiva's Guard: Shiva smiles upon me.