(Dire STR) Toxiphage, The Toxic Ooze

Not many of you know me around these parts, but I'd like to start things off on a light note: 'Sup guys, I'm Kentard, pub scrub in the making; and I'm here to share a little challenge my friend and I did: to make a Hero.

Concept
The main idea of this Hero is to add something that's unique to the game:

Fairly easy to pick up.
High-risk, high-reward.
One of the few initiators to not require a Blink Dagger to be successful.
Is extremely dangerous when killed.

And here's the end result:

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Toxiphage, The Toxic Ooze

Dire Strength
Base STR: 24 + 2.7
Base AGI: 12 + 1.5
Base INT: 15 + 1.3

Base Armor: 3
Base Magic Resist: 25%
Base HP Regen: 2.0
Base Damage: 46 - 52
Move Speed: 290
Sight Range: 1800/800
Attack Type: Melee
Range: 150
Base Attack Time: 1.5

Role:
Durable, Initiator, Disabler

Pros:

+ Excellent initiation power at all stages of the game.
+ Good base strength and strength gain makes it a potent tank.
+ Has excellent sustainability through ganking, and STR steal.
+ Ultimate requires sacrificial gameplay to pull off.


Cons:

- Higher risk of feeding this hero than most, through poor situational awareness.
- Late-game damage potential falls off, especially once spell immunity is built up.
- Ultimate's power is diluted by the long delay, and spreading out units.

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Lore

The day the reawakened Lesale emerged from his chrysalis of living earth, an amalgam of both parts venom and soil, not all of him left the Jungles of Jidi for good. The weakened, yet ascended form of his slithered out, leaving behind trails of protoplasm from his transformation; each globule infused with an unearthly vibrance and liveliness only paralleled by the most brutal and violent of beasts.
Ironically, its miniscule, amorphous form eventually allowed its superiority over Jidi's myriad fauna and flora - a creature that is lesser than the mere venomflies that circle the fresh corpses of plants, yet conditioned into the ultimate predator. Attempting to kill this unique being - one that transcended life and death, sentience and blind hunger, proved simply impossible - its form was of the festering pools of acid that condensed from the vines around; volatile, yet provided almost infinite flexibility. Within the years that the beast was confined within the jungle, it fed on vine after vine, beast after beast. The most poisonous of the lot were of no consequence to the newly formed Ooze; of which scholars dubbed Toxiphage - the Toxin Eater.

The observations stopped, one day, when the same scholars that attempted to study the enraged Lesale Deathbringer found an interesting discovery in the enhanced globule, now towering over ordinary men in all of its liquid state: the very same earth that spawned the hellbeast Lesale created a bastard child through its residue, one that infused what remained of a soul with the liquid around it, coincidentally forming an ultimate weapon. It existed, erratically, as a single entity; its flesh the indigestible acid it attempted to, and still continues to attempt, to devour, adapting them into twisted machinations and appendages with which to extend its grasp. The creature had a degree of sentience - fear of the elements, of steel and magicks, yet chose, instead, to withstand these, to calculate the opportunity cost of its next meal, and to devour it wholeheartedly.

It was of great, cruel irony that the same scholars who discovered its insatiable appetite disappeared off the face of the realms; their corpses yet to be retrieved. Yet, those who know of the Ooze's existence know that their bloodcurdling screams, drowned out by a multitude of acidic substrates, continues to howl within the beast itself.

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Abilities

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Sludge Bomb (Q)

Ability: Target Point
Affects: Enemy Units
Damage: Pure

Leaps towards a target point after a fixed time delay, dealing damage and slowing all units in the radius, including Toxic Ooze.
Ooze also steals some of the targets' STR.

Cast Range: 900
Effect Radius: 270
Effect Delay: 1.95
Damage: 120/180/240/300
Move Speed Slow: 80%
Duration: 2/2.5/3/3.5

STR Steal: 4/6/8/10
Duration: 10

Cooldown: 26
MP Cost: 130

Flavor Text:
Scholars typically remark, in awe, at how something derived from primeval origins can develop such sophisticated propulsion mechanisms.

Notes:

While all targets struck take Pure damage from the skill, Toxic Ooze takes Magical damage; it effectively takes 90/135/180/225 damage with base magic resist.
The self-damage dealt can disable

Blink Dagger.
The damage dealt to Toxic Ooze is non-lethal. It cannot deny itself with this ability.
The delay for the skill is 1.95s at all levels and distances, and Toxic Ooze's leap cannot be disjointed mid-air.
This skill disjoints all projectiles.
The damage goes through magic immunity; the slow and STR steal does not.
If Toxic Ooze has magic immunity (NOT through Linken's Sphere), it will not be slowed after the spell lands, nor will it takerecoil damage.


Developer Notes:
This skill was created as an alternative to a Force Staff or Blink Dagger.
Functionally, it acts similar to a Skewer and Torrent, but with the hefty slow on the caster, it forces players to have a greater degree of situational awareness and timing to execute this spell with minimal risk of feeding Toxic Ooze. The STR stolen, however, can more than compensate for the disabled movement.
For more experienced players, this is an exceptionally easy way to disjoint projectiles, and given Ooze's innately high durability, makes it significantly harder to kill. The Pure damage also allows it to strike through Magic Immunity, making it viable in the late game as a last-resort damage option.

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Acid Armor (W)

Ability: Target Unit
Affects: Allied or Enemy Heroes
Damage: HP Removal

Engulfs a nearby allied or enemy unit, embedding it inside the Ooze for a very short duration.
Units inside the Ooze are untargetable for a brief period of time, but cannot attack or cast spells, and take damage every second.
If the Ooze digests an enemy Hero, it gains some of its STR until the enemy respawns.
Ooze cannot use Sludge Bomb while this is active.

Cast Range: 150
Damage/s: 20/25/30/35
Duration: 2.5/3/3.5/4
STR Steal: 6/9/12/15

Cooldown: 28/26/24/22
MP Cost: 60/80/100/120

Flavor Text:
The Ooze, despite its voracious appetite, has been known to engulf objects without digesting them immediately, and in some cases, reject consuming the object altogether.

Notes:

Toxic Ooze cannot kill an allied Hero with this ability.
All buffs or debuffs on enemy Heros, when consumed, will remain if the duration has not expired upon emergence from Ooze.
Units reappear in a 150 AOE of the Ooze.
If Ooze dies with an engulfed unit, the unit re-emerges.
Ooze deals 5 magic damage to itself, disabling

Blink Dagger.
A scaled down of the consumed unit can be seen inside Toxic Ooze, who increases slightly in size.


Developer Notes:
Think of this as a free Infest. With heavy utility for its team, Ooze can use this to save an ally or remove a critical enemy from a teamfight. This, however, comes at a cost of using up its one and only initiation/escape tool. With a Force Staff, this can be negated, essentially creating a Batrider's Flaming Lasso at a lower cost.
The caveat is that the HP Removal damage means that enemies can blink away to safety with good reflexes, and items such as Salves are not disabled whatsoever. In some cases, for instance, with Oracle's False Promise, the enemy can even emerge with higher HP than before, making it counterintuitive to consume it.

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Debilitation (E)

Ability: No Target
Affects: Enemy Heroes
Damage: Magical

Toxic Ooze spits out a blast of noxious chemicals that deals initial damage, and disarms opponents in the radius for a short duration. The damage scales off Ooze's STR.

Radius: 300
Base Damage: 60/90/120/150
STR Multiplier: 1.1/1.25/1.4/1.55
Disarm Duration: 2/2.5/3/3.5

Cooldown: 16/15/14/13
MP Cost: 75/80/85/90

Flavor Text:
When threatened, the creature can sublimate its more corrosive viscera, creating noxious fumes that weaken even the most battle-hardy and bloodthirsty of warriors.

Notes:

The Disarm goes through Magic Immunity, but can be dispelled through Magic Immunity.
The STR multiplier is calculated at the instance the spell is released, not when it hits the enemy targets.
Fully affects invisible units.
The ring expands outwards instantly.
Damage dealt through the STR multiplier is counted as a separate instance from the primary hit.

Developer Notes:
The mechanics work similar to Puck; only instead of shutting off spellcasters, it shuts off enemy carries in the same vein with the Disarm mechanic. This creates a valuable resource when engaging into a group of enemy physical damage dealers.
However, this requires good situational awareness, as the AOE of this spell is deceptively tiny.

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Toxic Proxies (R)

Ability: No Target, Passive
Affects: Enemy Heroes
Damage: Magical

Upon death, Toxic Ooze explodes violently after a 1.5s delay, dealing minimal damage in a large area. It then leaves a few smaller Toxic Orbs that home onto, and latch on nearby enemies, exploding after a short duration. The Orbs also slow units down per stack.
The initial damage scales off Ooze's STR.

Primary Radius: 500
Primary STR Multiplier: 1.5/2/2.5
Duration: 7

Orbs Released: 4/5/6
Orb Acquisition Range: 800
Orb Movement Slow {per Orb): 6/8/10%
Secondary Damage: 80/100/120

Cooldown: 135/120/105
MP Cost: 100/175/250

Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:
Increases Acquisition Range to 900, decreases CD to 60, and increases orb damage to 140 per orb.

Flavor Text:
A defensive mechanism that triggers, creating smaller, but no less deadly proxies of itself, this very same phenomenon's observance coincided with the day the researchers disappeared.

Notes:

Orbs are dispersed randomly into the 500 AOE.
Orbs can latch onto magic immune units, but will not deal damage to them when detonated.
Magic Immunity or purges do not remove the Orbs whatsoever.
Orbs move at 410ms.
If an Orb fails to latch onto a unit, it detonates at its current location after the duration expires.
Multiple Orbs can latch onto a single unit, increasing the slow stacks.
This ability does not trigger with Bloodstone's Pocket Suicide, but can trigger with any other denial skill - e.g. Nightmare. The only exception to this is being denied during Doom.

Developer Notes:
What makes the Ooze's suicides so deadly is this particular skill. The initial damage is laughable at best, but the Orbs cause extreme disruption during a teamfight due to their slow + explosive combo. Using a grouping initiator, such as Magnus or Enigma, effectively amplifies all the damage dealt to the targets within.
Likewise, the best way to counter this is to have Ooze die amidst a creep wave, so the damage is dispersed away from more crucial players, or spread out, especially from those with multiple stacks.

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And now for the fun stuff: Responses.

Spawning
- "Melts in your mouth, and melts your mouth."
- "Anybody care for a hug?"

Attacking
- "You won't like me when I'm hungry."
- "OM NOM NOM."
- "Sick burns, incoming."

Casting Sludge Bomb
- "Fire in the hole!"
- "Alley-ooop!"
- "Cleanup on Top/Mid/Bot Lane!"
- "Boing!"
- "Careful. I get in your hair."

Casting Acid Armor
- "Get in mah belly!"
- "You stay here, yes?"
- "I won't eat you. I think."

Killing an enemy with Acid Armor
- "Huh. I feel invigorated."
- "And that makes my third serving of Hero today."
- "All part of a healthy diet."
- "Tastes like chicken."

Killing a Rival
- Alchemist: "Next time, think twice before you throw that acid down."
- Axe: "He went down with a struggle. I like it when they do that."
- Doom: "Eat me? No, I eat you."
- Doom: "Oh, irony is a cruel, noxious little mistress."
- Lifestealer: "Flawed, but I admire your work."
- Lifestealer: "Your techniques are crude, but the sentiment is there."
- Meepo: "I didn't order the Family Combo. HAHAHA."
- Meepo: "Thank you for the meals."
- Meepo: "No seriously, that'll do. I'm full."
- Morphling: "You look... familiar."
- Morphling: "Dragged down by your lack of viscosity."
- Morphling: "I suppose a liquid diet, once in awhile, wouldn't hurt."
- Outworld Devourer: "Now what sort of Devourer are you, eh?"
- Pudge: "You're the Butcher. I'll be the Predator."
- Shadow Demon: "Your poisons are inferior."
- Slark or Slardar: "Tastes fishy."
- Slark or Slardar: "Seafood? Not my kind of thing."
- Storm Spirit: "Now that one just tasted funny."
- Venomancer: "I am your byproduct, but you are merely my prey."
- Venomancer: "I have evolved beyond you, inferior one."
- Venomancer: "Tsk tsk. Eaten by your own slime trail."
- Venomancer: "Poisons? I eat poisons for breakfast."
- Viper: "I've seen plants in Jidi more venomous than you are."
- Viper: "You're better off deep fried."

When Lifestealer Infests Toxic Ooze
- "That won't be necessary."

Purchasing Orb of Venom
- "Orb of Venom - crude, but effective."
- "I sincerely hope I'll outgrow this... crude device."

Purchasing Blink Dagger
- "Oh, now it's on."
- "Blink Dagger, spiked with the infinite venoms within me."

Purchasing a Specific Item
- Black King Bar "Immune to myself? Now that is just hilarious."
- Crimson Guard "Stay close to me. Just not... um, too close."
- Divine Rapier "More noxious than I am."
- Heart of Tarrasque "This is the one Heart I'll try not to digest."
- Heart of Tarrasque "All part of a hearty breakfast."
- Radiance "My hunger radiates."
- Refresher Orb "Care for more explosions?"
- Shiva's Guard "Behold, the wrath of the frozen venom."
- Shiva's Guard "And to think I couldn't make them any slower."

Taunt Animation
Toxic Ooze removes 3 Orbs from itself, juggles them, before splattering them into its side.

Instead of doing (Alchemist) you can do two [, and then the name of the hero/ability then two ], for an actual image of the hero/ability.

Oh, noice! Didn't know that; new here. Thanks again! :D
Hope you like Mr. Squishy Surprise above.