FoC Finals - Hwarin the Swordsmaster

Hwarin the Swordsmaster

Hero Introduction

Hi guys! Meet Hwarin, my entry for FoC final :)

Seriously, Smuggs' gone and put out a really hard theme, "the best" is not something we can just pump out whenever we want, you know? I've thought long and hard about which hero is worthy to be called my best among my hero lists, and honestly I can't say for sure. However, my top three favorites are definitely Ramza, Askeladd, and Redwings.

Coincidentally, all of these heroes were inspired in some manner by a genre of video game that I tried to 'port' into dota. Ramza from the classic RPGs job system, Askeladd from FPS games, while Redwings from RTS games' units selection system.

So... I figured that I should do that again, since I've had an idea I'm aching to create for a year but never had actually managed to make it properly. A fighting game (like Tekken or Street Fighter) hero. I've made several drafts back then, but I was nowhere near satisfied, so I decided to scrap the idea, only to have it resurface now.

Yeah, Hwarin is a hero based on fighting game combo system (you know, when you chain punches/kicks and some kind of "special skill" comes out) and chinese swordsman (which I figured fit more as a lady in my concept). The idea is to chain basic skills to get to her ultimate, but I won't spoil too much :p

This hero was designed to be somewhat of a physical nuker, but a scaling one at that since the damage is based on her damage and the cast time on her attack speed (thus, a carry), so she requires some farm to be effective. Luckily, her [Q] allows her to farm effectively without any farming item. When she's armed up she is really dangerous in 1v1 situation but also very advantageous against multiple enemies, all thanks to her ultimate that allows her access to plethora of abilities that is formed by chaining skills (think of Invoker, if you will). As the skills scale with damage and attack speed, in late-game she's supposed to be the kind of hero that rarely ever uses her right-click (kinda ironic, since she's a carry).

There are three tiers in her ultimate ability, each unlocked with each level in her ultimate, the first tier focuses on taking away enemy's powers in form of disables (mini-stun, silence, and disarm), the second tier on strengthening/weakening to deliver more damage, and the third tier to deliver devastating damage.

Because of her wide arsenal, she is very versatile and dangerous. However, she is very limited by the fact that:

1) Despite the number of skills, her skills focus only on killing enemy heroes and to some extent disabling them
2) She needs to continue the sequence in a duration of 1.5 seconds, making her very susceptible to silence, disarm, or stun. Thus, the [E] skill was made with that in mind, used effectively, she can avoid disables in proper timing.
3) She has mediocre intelligence, but the nature of her skills require her to spam them, leading to a mana-depraved carry even with the low costs of her spells.

All in all, she is made to be an interesting hero, and I've tried balancing her in several manners as best as I can. The main point I had when making this hero is to make a hero that is as fun to play as possible, a hero based on instinctive memory and quick-wittedness (with both the plethora of skills as well as the timing-important [E]) that is quite punishing but very rewarding.

So, I hope you guys enjoy this hero!

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Lore

No one knew who she was, a lone traveller with a dress so white, so pure. Her porcelain face seemed as though she had not seen any war, yet the two different swords she carried on her hip and back seemed eager to deny that assumption.

In the scorching heat of Misrule Desert, in a place so hot that even infernal blaze of hell cowers in embarrassment, the woman stood. Her face sparkled in the fiery heat, but she not only seemed unbothered, she was even fairer than the brightest star. She closed her eyes.

And she danced.

She danced with blinding speed, and a flash she became. A flash holding a slightly curved sword, glimmering with beauty rivaling its wielder, and the next moment a river she was, flowing with elegance made appalling by a sword so big sweeping through the whirling sands.

With each slash she grew more beautiful, each thrust more elegant, each sweep more graceful, each cut more perfect.

It was unthinkable how that slender body, hidden underneath the soft silken dress could conceal such power, such dynamic, such vigor.

Such perfection.

The wind stopped blowing, the unyielding sand stayed unmoving, the time had stopped in awe of the maiden; they were applauding the display of elegance.

And she was no longer there. The maiden had taken a single step. Just a single, effortless step, but the worshipping wind was unwilling to let her go, the stupefied sand so swiftly refusing her absence. In that single effortless step she somersaulted, in a space where even time admires such perfection. Not one eye would realize that she had moved so far in a single step, not one mind would believe. Is this a mirage? A miracle? A magic spell?

Then in an abrupt, sharp movement she shattered all mystifying illusion. Her grace was forsaken for an instant of absolute viciousness, an instant of power unimaginable.

Yes, for in her grace and perfection one forgets who she really is. She is the only one worthy of the title Swordsmaster, she is the one who traverses the worse part of many worlds to reach the pinnacle of swordmanship.

She is Hwarin.

She is the Swordsmaster.

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Statistics

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

Str: 78 at 25 (18 + 2.5/level)
Agi: 91 at 25 (19 + 3.0/level)
Int: 70 at 25 (17 + 2.2/level)

Health: 1710 at 25
MP: 910 at 25
Armor: 15 (2 base armor + 13) at 25
Movement: 315
Range: 200 (Melee)
Base Damage: 52-56
BAT: 1.5

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Skills

[] Swordsmanship: The Swordsmaster is a master of swords technique, displaying mastery in multiple techniques. Levelling this skill level both Slash and Thrust that share the same cooldown. These techniques are treated as her normal attack that cannot miss and have 15% of her current attack interval as cast time. Cleave will not work with Slash or Sweep, but works with Thrust or Cut. All Swordsmanship techniques cannot be used while disabled, disarmed, or silenced.

Damage: Physical
Affect: Enemy Units
Pierces Immunity: Yes

MP Cost: 60/50/40/30
Cool Down: 6 seconds

Her mastery in swordsmanship puts all swordsmen in shame

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[Q] Slash: Hwarin slashes enemies in front of her, dealing 70/80/90/100% of Hwarin’s total damage in a 250 radius half-circle in a radius right in front of her.

[W] Thrust: Hwarin thrusts her sword to a targeted unit within 300 points radius, damaging that unit for 85/100/115/130% of Hwarin’s total damage.

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[E] Somersault: Hwarin somersaults gracefully, moving short distance quickly. This skill will move Hwarin a short distance with triple her movement speed. Any projectile will be disjointed by and while using this skill, and weak dispels Hwarin on landing. Has a short cast time, but doesn’t require Hwarin to turn to the targeted point. Using this skill doesn't break Combo sequence, and killing an enemy hero will reduce the cooldown of this skill.

- 0.7 seconds cast time, 4 seconds cooldown reduction
- 0.5 seconds cast time, 6 seconds cooldown reduction
- 0.3 seconds cast time, 8 seconds cooldown reduction
- 0.1 seconds cast time, 10 seconds cooldown reduction

Type: Target Point
Affect: Self

MP Cost: 90
Somersault Range: 800
Cooldown: 12 seconds

Those who witness Hwarin’s perfection find their spells astray

[D] Switch Sword: The Swordsmaster displays mastery in different kind of swords as she switches freely between two swords. This skill toggles between one-handed Wakizashi and two-handed Jian (defaults in Wakizashi). While using Jian, Hwarin gains bonus base damage, but also increased BAT as well as MP cost and cast time for Swordsmanship. While using Jian, the techniques of Swordsmanship become Sweep and Cut. Has 0.1 seconds animation time to switch sword.

Bonus base damage: 16/24/32/40
BAT: 1.8

Additional Swordsmanship MP Cost: 20
Swordsmanship Cast Time: 40% current attack interval

Sweep Knock Back: 150/200/250/300 points in 0.4/0.6/0.8/1 second.
Cut Maim: 10/30/50/70%

A true master doesn’t rely on just one weapon

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[Q] Sweep: Hwarin sweeps all enemies in front of her, dealing damage in a 300 radius half-circle in an area right in front of her. Deals the same damage as the respective level of Slash and knocks back all hit enemies. Hit units will not be interrupted, but cannot move or attack.

[W] Cut: Hwarin cuts a targeted unit within 400 points radius with an attack targeted to maim the unit. Deals the same damage as the respective level of Thrust and slows the unit for 2 seconds.

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[] Combo: Hwarin’s expertise in swordsmanship allows her to chain her attacks to form devastating combinations, resulting in unique finishing moves. This skill will change Swordsmanship into a charge-based skill, removing the cooldown of all Swordsmanship techniques and grants Hwarin a number of Swordsmanship charges that is consumed every time a Swordsmanship technique is used. This skill will also unlock Overdrive that can only be used after correct sequences of Swordsmanship techniques have been used in short interval. If Hwarin doesn’t continue the sequence for 1.5 seconds, the sequence will reset. Successfully performing an Overdrive will refresh Swordsmanship charge based on the tier of the successful Overdrive. Overdrive replaces the last technique in the sequence (as well as the MP cost) and pierces spell immunity. This skill can be learned at level 4, 10, and 16.

- 3 Swordsmaster charge, unlock tier 1 Overdrive
- 5 Swordsmaster charge, unlock tier 2 Overdrive
- 7 Swordsmaster charge, unlock tier 3 Overdrive

Type: Passive
Affects: Self
Charge Cooldown: 40 seconds

Charge Refresh:
-Tier 1 Overdrive: 1 charge
-Tier 2 Overdrive: Additional 2 charges
-Tier 3 Overdrive: Additional 4 charges

Hwarin’s graceful swordplay brings forth forth devastating end

Ok, buddy. I'm legitimately not sure how to review this one, because it has so many different possibilities that I can't physically even make assumptions for certain situations. And I guess that is your biggest strength, but also something I personally don't like as much. You make tons of big, overarching, massively complex heroes but...My style is the exact opposite, tending to stick to the 4 spells formula. But that's irrelevant, and I still think this is really cool.

However...

THE KATANA IS TWO HANDED AND THE JIAN IS ONE HANDED AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Lol yeah, I know when I made the hero myself.

I guess like I said, first and foremost I want to make an original, interesting, and fun hero.

About the swords.... yeah, I know, but I found the picture of this swordswoman as so, so....

Oh and there actually are one handed use of katana (musashi miyamoto) and two handed jians. But yeah, I should probably change it to wakizashi

This is a really cool idea. Obviously it would be hard to balance, but that's ok. I'm wondering, how long is a combo going to take? Because it seems to me you could do an infinite Blossoming lotus - sudden blizzard - rampaging dragon if it takes less than 4 seconds, and if switch sword is correct in saying that the spells happen 2.5 times as fast as attacking, you could do it all in under 2 seconds, the stun time for sudden blizzard.