Lumen, the Energy Elemental
Hero concept
Lumen is a purely spell-based intelligence carry, or "ability power carry".
He is made to dish out high amounts of scaling spell damage, something no hero can do in the game currently. The closest thing to INT carries in dota right now are either right-clickers (Silencer, OD, Ench), those who only have one real damage spell which can be juked (Invoker, Timbersaw), or have high single target damage but lack teamfight presence (Tinker). I can also mention Skywrath, who had great potential as an INT carry with his 0 second cooldown aghs ulti, but sadly it was removed by the frog, and his 2 second cooldown Q, while being a "scaling" skill, is still terrible in the late game.
Lumen is made to have none of these weaknesses, and have both high single target damage, great skill scaling, and powerful teamfight presence. To compensate, his poor lane presence and his high dependance on INT items to fuel his mana needs and skill synergies make him only viable for the #1 role : safe lane carry.
I'm not saying the hero is balanced ; right now I'm aware that he's super strong.
Simply before you start going "OSfrog nerf pls", remember that this hero is dumpster tier in lane and needs babysitting, unlike guys like Invoker or Timber who are pretty much lane autowins. Also remember that he has no defensive or escape skill outside of his ulti, so he can be right-clicked down easily.
Lore
Professors at the Ultimyr Academy often said to their eager students that arcane power comes not from one's own native skills, but from one's attunement to the fundamental forces of the universe. Being but a lowly familiar, Lumen proved their teachings to be right, much to their dismay. Adpoted at the service of Demnok Lannik after being summoned from the Lower Planes, the imp's natural cunning and voracious thirst for knowledge soon made him a master of arcane lore that rivaled even the wisest mages. After finding a way to open a portal to the Source, the mystical fundamental force from which all magical energy flows, Lumen managed to trick Demnok into sending him to that plane with a summoning spell. Who knows how he managed to bend this primal force to his will, but he returned as a being of pure energy, free of the limitations of his formerly weak body, having attained a permanent link to the Source granting him unmeasurable arcane power. After thanking his former master for his services with a michievious grin, he left for the world at large, posessed by the same unquenchable thirst for learning and desire for further ascension that he had in his previous form, but now sure of the unbridgeable power gap between himself and anyone that might stand in his way.
Stats
Faction : the Dire
Primary attribute : Intelligence
Attack type : Ranged
Attack range : 350
Base damage : 50
Base armor : 6
Movement speed : 300
Roles : Carry, Nuker, Initiator
Strength : 15 + 1.4/level
Agility : 20 + 2/level
Intelligence : 27 + 3.5/level
Skills
 |
Q : Lumen touch |
Lumen brands the target hero with his own essence. Deals steady damage based on the target's max health for 4 seconds. Lumen touch has no effect as long as an enemy unit is within a 250 radius of the target. Multiple casts of Lumen Touch fully stack with each other.
Cast range : 450/550/650/750
Projectile speed : 1200
Duration : 4 seconds
Damage per second : 4% of max HP
Damage type : Magical
Cannot be purged except by becoming spell immune
Blocked by Spell Immunity
Mana cost : 100
Cooldown : 9/6/3/1.5
Notes
 |
W : Spellstrike |
Lumen focuses his destructive intent on his foes, teleporting himself to the target point within 500 range of an enemy hero and stunning the nearest enemy hero for a short duration.
Cast range : 400/800/1200/1400
Maximum distance to enemy hero : 500
Stun duration : 0.2/0.4/0.6/0.8
Stun is blocked by Spell Immunity, teleportation is not.
Mana cost : 120
Cooldown : 25/20/15/10
Notes
 |
E : Plasma flare |
Lumen opens a portal to the Source, which slowly aggregates tremendous arcane energy into a ball of plasma. After a 3 second delay, the plasma gushes forward in the direction initially selected, dealing damage to everything in its path, and pushing enemies hit towards the side of the blast.
Cast point : instant
Delay : 3 seconds
Travel distance : 600/1000/1400/1800
Beam radius : 250
Damage : 50/100/150/200 + 2*Intelligence
Damage type : Magical
Pushback direction : sideways, perpendicular to the beam
Pushback (units) : 400 + 3*Intelligence
Pushback duration : 1 second
Blocked by Spell Immunity
Mana cost : 180
Cooldown : 30
Notes
Homing Missile
Deafening Blast
 |
R : Mana tide |
Lumen assumes his true form as a worldly portal for the Source. Unleashes a massive burst of primal arcane energy in a wide area around him, dealing heavy pure damage, pushing back, and silencing all enemies in the way. Gives vision of all enemies hit for the duration.
Mana cost is always 50% of Lumen's current mana, and damage dealt is proportional to the amount of mana spent. Damage is maximal at the center of the blast (in a 250 AOE), and decreases linearly to 50% of the base damage at the edge of the AOE.
The disturbance causes every instance of Plasma Flare to trigger upon cast.
Cast point : instant
Wave travel speed : 1500
Max effect radius : 400/600/800
Damage : 60% of mana spent to cast
Damage type : Pure
Pushback (units) : 100% of mana spent to cast
Pushback duration : 1 second
Silence duration : 3/4/5 seconds
Vision duration : 3/4/5 seconds
Fully pierces spell immunity
Mana cost : 50% of current mana
Cooldown : 140/120/100
Notes
Global Silence
 |
Source link (Passive ability) |
Lumen's permanent link to the Source gives him raw arcane power far superior to any mage. Spell amplification from Intelligence is doubled as a passive ability. Whenever Lumen casts a spell, he gains bonus spell amplification for 6 seconds. 25 second cooldown.
Passive Intelligence spell amplification multiplier : x2
Spell amplification bonus when spell cast : +30%
Bonus duration : 6 seconds
Cooldown : 25
Notes
 |
Plasma burst (Provided by  Aghanim's Scepter)
|
Lumen uses the enhanced control of his powers to mold a long-range burst of searing plasma. Launches a projectile towards the target point that damages any enemy unit it comes into contact with based on its maximum HP and Lumen's Intelligence. Ministuns on impact.
Ability : target point
Travel distance : 4000
Projectile speed : 1200
Damage : 20% of max HP + 2*Intelligence
Damage type : Magical
Ministun : 0.01 second
Blocked by Spell Immunity
Mana cost : 200
Cooldown : 12
Notes
Talents
Level 10 : +125 cast range OR -10s Plasma flare cooldown
Level 15 : Lumen touch no longer disabled by creeps and illusions OR -20s Mana tide cooldown
Level 20 : Spellstrike cooldown is reset whenever a hero dies under Lumen touch OR Mana tide silences items
Level 25 : All skills deal pure damage and pierce spell immunity OR Source link spell amplification multiplier increased to x5
Playstyle
Lumen's low base damage, 350 attack range and weak laning stage means he essentially has to be played safe lane. With a high mana cost nuke, he's as good as a mid hero as Morphling is - that is, he's not.
Skill build is 1/1/4. Plasma flare is his best skill in the early game with a proper setup, not to mention his farming skill as well. Then max W, then Q.
For items, there are a lot of good options, pretty much any caster item is good on him.
Bloodstone is legit if you love mana regen and spamming E to farm, 
Aether Lens into Aghanim's Scepter if you like sniping people from afar, 
Octarine Core for obvious reasons (finally the spell lifesteal can be relevant!)... But IMO the items with the best synergy are 
Eul's Scepter of Divinity, which sets up his E perfectly, 
Scythe of Vyse for the INt, and 
Ethereal Blade for a massive shotgun combo. 
Refresher Orb doesn't work that well however since his ulti needs a full mana pool to be effective.Two of his skills have a pushback effect, which can be exploited to push enemies into Plasma flare and your teammates' skills as well (black holes etc). Also splitting enemy heroes apart is especially important since his Q only works on lone heroes. Like Invoker, he's a wombo combo hero, simply he's more damage and farm oriented while Invoker is more CC oriented.
Credits
Images are from Deviantart. The authors' names are in the titles of the image files.
Hope you enjoy the hero concept :)
That's why a 6-slotted Morph sells his eblade to buy a real damage item (e.g MKB or crit), and a late game Invoker can only carry games with his right-clicks, not with
No, the only way to have spell damage that scales as well as right-clicks is to abuse spell amplification ON TOP of the standard percentage-based damage. This makes quadratic scaling spell damage, which scales as well as right-clicks.
(right-clicks scale quadratically since DPS = damage * attack speed. y=x^2 -> quadratic)
Obviously Silencer and OD don't count since they're right-click carries. I want an ability power carry :)
In terms of scaling, an ability doesn't necessarily have to scale quadratically if its linear scaling is sufficiently potent. Regardless of this, if you do (rightly) want quadratic scaling on spells to be a thing, I would suggest using +spell damage instead of inflicting %HP damage. Technically, Skywrath's Q scales quadratically, as it benefits both from +INT and spell amplification. It's just that spell amplification is such a low-impact method of scaling to compensate for the fact that most nukes are designed to be effective early on and drop off accordingly. Adaptive Strike would be an exception, if Morphling's intelligence wasn't absolutely ****tastic.
if you do (rightly) want quadratic scaling on spells to be a thing, I would suggest using +spell damage instead of inflicting %HP damage.
I use %HP damage for all his non-ultimate skills because I don't want him to one-shot
I don't want his other skills to be able to do the same.
Spell amplification is indeed really weak right now that's why I gave him this passive that multiplies spell amp from INT.
As for