[Hero Concept] Vol'Jin

[De Lupe]

Firstly, I realize that Zul'Jin will likely be added to the game before Vol'Jin and I have no issues with this decision. Having said that, this is NOT a Zul'Jin thread. This is a hypothetical hero concept thread for Vol'Jin. Please take all Zul'Jin discussions to Zul'Jin threads. Thank you in advance.

Second, as with all my hero concepts, nothing proposed is final or definitive. All numbers and abilities proposed are up for revision and suggestions. The whole point of this thread is to have fun theory crafting a plausible skill set for Vol'Jin in Heroes of the Storm. So have fun with it.

Thirdly, "but why make him a support?" Because the game needs more support heroes and Shadow Hunters canonically cast healing spells to aid their allies. It fits, therefore it works.

Okay, now that those are out of the way:

Vol'Jin
Ranged Support

As the leader of the Darkspear Trolls, Vol'Jin believed firmly in the value of family and friends. Vol'Jin is no stranger to hardships, having experienced two separate exiles, the death of his father and mentor, the treachery of a scheming witch doctor, a failed assassination attempt by a corrupt Warchief, and a successfully lead revolution. His never wavering faith in the Loa spirits guided him to victories time and time again. For his efforts against Garrosh, he was named Warchief; the first non-Orc to hold the title. Those he considered family found themselves a powerful ally, while those who crossed his path gained an even more dangerous enemy.

Vol'Jin would be a very tank-oriented support with all of his abilities dealing percentage based healing and damage. The overall idea is that Vol'Jin is a bigger threat (and aid) to large HP heroes than he is to low HP heroes. His weapon of choice is bow/arrow.

D - Darkspear Warfare - Passive while alive, active while dead.

• Vol'Jin gains stealth upon entering and for three seconds after leaving a bush or vent. Five second cooldown.
  While Vol'Jin is dead, he may cast this on a friendly hero, granting them stealth for three seconds. Ten second cooldown.
  This trait interacts with his other abilities; making them more powerful.

Vol'Jin would play similar to that of Zeratul; hit and run. Darkspear Trolls are masters of guerrilla tactics and it should be reflected upon in Vol'Jin. His entire kit revolves around his trait and players who learn to utilize his trait to it's maximum potential will find themselves ahead of their enemies.

Q - Poison-Tipped Arrow - Eight second cooldown.

• Short-ranged skillshot that poisons the first enemy hero it hits for 5% of their maximum health over five seconds.
  If used from stealth, also silence that hero for 1 second.

I bounced back and forth between stun and silence for a bit on this one, but I ultimately settled on silence because the game is stun heavy as is. Silence provides the same benefit of stopping channels, but still leaves VJ open to AA heroes.

Possible talent upgrades include but are not limited to: increasing the damage, increasing the silence, increasing the range, AoE damage component.

W - Lukou's Blessing - Fifteen second cooldown

• Instantly heal all friendly allies within a large radius for 15% of their maximum HP and an additional 20% over the next 5 seconds.
  If used from stealth, increase the first heal by 10%.

In the name of being fair and honest, this is the ability that could break the whole support role for VJ. The idea is to use it like any other guerrilla tactic; in and out. You charge in, deal some damage, take some damage, use the heal, then back out a bit while it comes off CD. The problem I'm running into is that it's either too strong or not strong enough...and I can't tell which. I don't want him to be a long, sustained fight healer. Having him fulfill the role of an ambush type healer would be more appropriate to his playstyle. Very open to possible improvements here.

Possible talent upgrades include but are not limited to: Increased heal with increased CD, decreased CD with decreased heal, buffs granted with heal.

E - Serpent Ward - Two charges - Ten second cooldown per charge - No more than two can be active. Lasts until killed or replaced.
Vol'Jin places a Serpent Ward within a small radius of himself. Enemies who stand within the Serpent Ward are attacked with a curse and receive 15% less healing from all sources while within it's range. The Serpent Ward is stealthed until it is triggered.
If cast from stealth, the Serpent Ward increases it's radius by 25%.

It has a health pool about the size of a Healing Ward, but it's default size is about 50% smaller. This alteration I think would still allow the SW to remain a viable team fight tool, but avoid the Gazlowe turret clone problem.

At level 4, he would get a whole tier about his Ward and how to improve it through one of four options:
- AoE damage component like Burning Rage. Not only would it improve it's team fight use, but it would give VJ a lane clear option.
- Increase the healing reduction to 25%.
- Add a passive 5% max HP heal to all allies every 5 seconds.
- Permanent stealth and HP increase.

Older version:
E - Serpent Ward - Two charges - Ten second cooldown per charge - No more than two can be active. Lasts twenty seconds.
Vol'Jin places a Serpent Ward within a small radius of himself. After two seconds to arm, the ward goes invisible to enemies. The first enemy hero to step on the ward takes 10% of their maximum health as poison damage over ten seconds. Does not break Vol'Jin's stealth when placed.
If placed while stealthed, trap deals an additional 5%.

Think of them as Abathur mines...on steroids. These are his big ambush hitters. Now, they may not sound like much at first and, by default they're not, but being able to take out an opponent's HP by 20-30% (+talents) before they even get to a fight can be the difference in beating them or getting the beatdown. Because of how powerful they are, I wanted them to be somewhat limited by default which is where the two cap came from.

Possible talent upgrades include but are not limited to: increased damage, increased cap number, slowing component.

R1- Spirit Link Totem - Ninety second cooldown.
Vol'Jin drops a Spirit Link Totem that connects the health of all friendly heroes within it's very large radius. While the totem is active, all damage/healing is split evenly among all targets. Also reduces damage taken by all friendly heroes by 25%. The totem cannot be attacked and lasts for 8 seconds.
If cast from stealth, increase the totem duration to 12 seconds.

Older version: Edit made after Zul'Jin release. ARRRRG! I was SO CLOSE to getting this one almost exactly right.
R1 - Big Bad Voodoo - Ninety second cooldown.
Cast on a friendly hero to make them Immortal for 3 seconds. When the Voodoo is over, instantly heal for 15% of their maximum HP.
If cast from stealth, increase the Immortal time to 5 seconds.

Unstoppable makes you immune to CC. Protected stops all damage. Invincible does both. What does Immortal do, you ask? You cannot be brought below 1% HP.
Imagine this, Diablo is running from the enemy team with only 10% HP left. Knowing he's about to die the Lord of Terror does what he does best; unleashes hell. He uses his Lightning Breath and starts burning them down. Then VJ swoops in at the last second, pops a stealthed Voodoo, guaranteeing that Diablo gets that whole cast off. VJ dives back into the bushes, refreshing his trait when it's off CD, and it times perfectly with the Voodoo wearing off. Diablo gets an instant 15% back from the ult, then your stealthed Blessing gives him another 25%, followed by another 20% a couple seconds after that. You and Diablo turn the fight around on the team, wiping them out...securing the win.

Admittedly, it is similar to Kharazim's Palm. But not so similar to make them the same. Palm places you in a stasis and then gives you 50% HP back. On top of the fact that you're stuck in place, unable to do anything, for a couple seconds, it can also be wasted if the enemy heroes stop hitting you.
Voodoo is a high risk, high reward type of ultimate. The high risk being the 1% HP, the high reward being a few extra seconds to potentially finish off (or escape) your opponents. Good VJ players will learn to time their stealthed Voodoo with a stealthed Blessing to maximize the HP recovered.

R2 - Wrath of the Loa - Eighty second cooldown - six second channel, with a one second cast time.

• Vol'Jin equips his Rush'Kah mask and begins channeling the Loa in a large range circle around him. The ritual pulses damage equal to 20%, 15%, and 10% of max HP to all enemies, but not buildings, at the 2, 4, and 6 second mark respectively.
  If used from stealth, any attacks made against Vol'Jin that do not interrupt him cause the attacker to be feared in place for one second.

I wanted to incorporate the Rush'Kah mask into the build some how, but having a straight up fear would have been treading on Gul'Dan's territory. By adding it as a modifier, I got a damaging ult that could also correctly include Shadow Hunter lore. ^_^ I want it to be a very powerful attack if not countered or avoided, but it should also leave VJ vulnerable; requiring him to remain stationary..

Alterations are made in red.

As I pointed out at the top of the page, nothing is final and everything is up for discussion. I welcome you all to throw your own ideas for improvement out there.

Sources:
http://wowwiki.wikia.com/wiki/Vol'jin
http://wowwiki.wikia.com/wiki/Shadow_Hunter
http://wowwiki.wikia.com/wiki/Shadow...(Warcraft_III)

If you liked this idea, or you're interested in seeing my other ideas, check out the list below:
Magatha Grimtotem

TL : DR - Why come in here if you're not going to read the post?

[Deleted]

Looks nice! I hope Blizz makes something like that for him.

[De Lupe]

Looks nice! I hope Blizz makes something like that for him.

TY very much.

I put a bit of thought into this one. Glad I got SOME feedback.

[goof]

This is actually really good, I do like how you've made sure to look into troll and Shadow Hunter lore in general, to see what effect it would have on his abilities. And being the troll fan-fanatic I am, I'm saddened to see that there still are no trolls in HotS. But yeah, really good job. I enjoyed reading the ability "tooltips" and would actually like to read the talents at one point as well.

Although, your idea of the Serpent Ward was a bit off-putting, considering how they work in lore, Wc3 and the Dagger in the Dark scenario back in MoP, they're stationary wards that aid a Shadow Hunter in his offense, spitting what looks to be red, electric bolts. While I've never really thought too heavily on what element they'd be using, it has always looked like some sort of electricity/lightning to me. Especially with its attack sounds back in Wc3, I believe they might have used the same in MoP, having ported over the sound files from Wc3.

So having a base Serpent Ward being what it is, a stationary ward that attack enemies from afar. Potential talents could be some sort of "Serpentine Ward of Lokou" to further contribute to a potential healing role, and being another trait from Lokou, whom, as you know, is a Loa that helps with healing. So having a talent that instead changes a lightning-spitting serpent ward into a healing ward that'll instead channel some sort of a weaker HoT onto an allied hero. To have this work with Vol'jin's trait, placing one of these healing wards within bushes, and in stealth, would have its range and healing increased. Which would force enemies to go on a ward-hunt, because Vol'jin stacking two of those in the same lane would prove quite the resistance.

Heck, I could even see a pure Ward build being somewhat powerful. Putting a ward in stealth allows it to heal 2 allied heroes at the same time, but at 75% efficiency, while being in stealth still having the range and heal buff.

So let's say, putting a healing serpentine ward in stealth adds 50% more healing, so 150% in total, choosing the late talent (or even in the same row) would either lead to 112.5% efficiency (150%), or 75% (100%). Not sure if too OP, but I'm sure you've got a better grasp on that than I do. xD

I'm certainly not very versed in the balancing of HotS heroes, but that's just a thought that sound more.. accurate in my head. And somewhat more interesting, but then again, I'll repeat, not very versed with this.

[kencloudli]

I have to say, this is a pretty cool concept of Vol'jin. At first, I thought it was a typical Tyrande clone, but the darkspear warfare, serpent ward and wrath of the loa intrigued me.

- Darkspear Warfare: That passive/ability is pretty good. I like how the passive is like Dehaka bush hiding but stealth, and how you can grant stealth to an ally, similar to Medivh's Invisibility.
- Serpent Ward: I love Abathur's mines, and having more of these are fun. The only problem I felt is Serpent Ward should be an attacking Ward instead of a mine/bomb.
- Wrath of the Loa: Pretty neat design, but I hope it doesn't feel like Gul'dan's Rain of Destruction. The fear is a nice touch, but fearing enemies up to 3 times "might" be a bit OP.

[De Lupe]

Although, your idea of the Serpent Ward was a bit off-putting, considering how they work in lore, Wc3 and the Dagger in the Dark scenario back in MoP, they're stationary wards that aid a Shadow Hunter in his offense, spitting what looks to be red, electric bolts. While I've never really thought too heavily on what element they'd be using, it has always looked like some sort of electricity/lightning to me. Especially with its attack sounds back in Wc3, I believe they might have used the same in MoP, having ported over the sound files from Wc3.

So having a base Serpent Ward being what it is, a stationary ward that attack enemies from afar. Potential talents could be some sort of "Serpentine Ward of Lokou" to further contribute to a potential healing role, and being another trait from Lokou, whom, as you know, is a Loa that helps with healing. So having a talent that instead changes a lightning-spitting serpent ward into a healing ward that'll instead channel some sort of a weaker HoT onto an allied hero. To have this work with Vol'jin's trait, placing one of these healing wards within bushes, and in stealth, would have its range and healing increased. Which would force enemies to go on a ward-hunt, because Vol'jin stacking two of those in the same lane would prove quite the resistance.

See below...

I have to say, this is a pretty cool concept of Vol'jin. At first, I thought it was a typical Tyrande clone, but the darkspear warfare, serpent ward and wrath of the loa intrigued me.

- Darkspear Warfare: That passive/ability is pretty good. I like how the passive is like Dehaka bush hiding but stealth, and how you can grant stealth to an ally, similar to Medivh's Invisibility.
- Serpent Ward: I love Abathur's mines, and having more of these are fun. The only problem I felt is Serpent Ward should be an attacking Ward instead of a mine/bomb.
- Wrath of the Loa: Pretty neat design, but I hope it doesn't feel like Gul'dan's Rain of Destruction. The fear is a nice touch, but fearing enemies up to 3 times "might" be a bit OP.

Admittedly, I didn't put as much thought into Serpent Ward as I did the rest of the build. I would like to avoid giving VJ a deploy-able object that automatically deals damage to enemies that come near it; that's Gazlowe's turret. As an Abathur player myself, I recognize that the mines are very helpful to his playstyle. However, unless talented heavily, they are little more than an annoyance to people. I was hoping to introduce a similar, but far more dangerous alternative. But, ultimately, I do agree that it doesn't feel like a Serpent Ward. However, after some careful thought, I think I may have come up with a compromise that works for everyone and still stays true to VJ.

E - Serpent Ward - Two charges - Ten second cooldown per charge - No more than two can be active. Lasts until killed or replaced.
Vol'Jin places a Serpent Ward within a small radius of himself. Enemies who stand within the Serpent Ward are attacked with a curse and receive 15% less healing from all sources. The Serpent Ward is stealthed until it is triggered.
If cast from stealth, the Serpent Ward increases it's radius by 25%.

It has a health pool about the size of a Healing Ward, but it's default size is about 50% smaller. This alteration I think would still allow the SW to remain a viable team fight tool, but avoid the Gazlowe turret clone problem.

At level 4, he would get a whole tier about his Ward and how to improve it through one of four options:
- AoE damage component like Burning Rage. Not only would it improve it's team fight use, but it would give VJ a lane clear option.
- Increase the healing reduction to 25%.
- Add a passive 5% max HP heal to all allies every 5 seconds.
- Permanent stealth and HP increase.


As for the WotL, it's not like RoD. VJ is the epicenter of the explosion. It has a range similar to Hammer's default siege attack range and deals no damage to buildings. I also decided to change the channel time to 6 seconds to give a smoother flow and allow more time for people to escape. By giving it a one second cast time, everyone has a chance to back out or stop him a head of time. The damage is dealt in 2 second intervals, starting at the 2 second mark. Then the 4 and 6. To compensate for the added time, I increased the damage. As for the fear, the fear only hits if they keep hitting VJ while he's casting. Either interrupt him, run, or eat the fears and damage to fight him.