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Lich by FangzofFuzzy

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Lich

By:
Last Updated:

"A chill wind..."

Design

Personally, I’m not the biggest fan of . It’s not bad but when it was introduced, it just didn’t really make Lich any more unique or special. While I agree that it’s useful and has some synergy with his other spells, having a disable that standardizes an enemy’s move speed when all the aforementioned spells already slow, he’s just not the best hero to have it on. It’s also just out of place thematically, so there’s that.

Thus, I want to replace it with an ability I feel better gives him a better niche that serves his ice king persona nicely. I will also be taking this opportunity to make Frost Blast feel more interesting, Chain Frost feel more consistent and Frost Shield less frosty. All in all, I desire this hero to better stand out from the roster and present unique reasons to be picked. Here is the current Lich for reference, and any unmentioned numbers are assumed to remain the same.

Move Speed: 315

Primary Abilities

Frost Blast

Blast an enemy and those around it with damaging and slowing frost.

Primary – Less damage and slows for 4 seconds

Secondary – Higher damage and slows for 2 seconds

Ability: Target Unit
Mana Cost: 120, 130, 140, 150
Cooldown: 8, 7, 6, 5
Range: 800
Radius: 300
Damage: Magical
Primary Damage: 50, 75, 100, 125
Secondary Damage: 100, 150, 200, 250
Move Slow: 30%
Attack Slow: 30

Rime Shield

Grant an ally a magical shield for 6 seconds that reduces attack damage.

Every 1 second, it pulses to damage and slow nearby enemies for 0.5 seconds.

Ability: Target Unit
Mana Cost: 90, 110, 130, 150
Cooldown: 10
Range: 1000
Radius: 600
Damage: Magical
Attack Damage Resistance: 15, 30, 45, 60%
Damage per Pulse: 15, 30, 45, 60
Move Slow: 30%

Chilling Wake

Slowing effects are weaker on himself and all allied heroes.

Slowing effects are stronger on nearby enemies and their minimum move speed is reduced.

Ability: Passive
Ally Radius: Global
Enemy Radius: 600
Slow Reduction: 16, 24, 32, 40%
Slow Amplification: 16, 24, 32, 40%
Minimum Move Speed: 50

Notes

Ultimate Abilities

Chain Frost

Release an orb of frost that bounces between enemies up to 10 times.

Each enemy hit is damaged and slowed for 2 seconds.

Aghanim’s Scepter: Removes the bounce limit and allows the slow to pierce spell immunity.

Ability: Target Unit
Mana Cost: 300, 450, 600
Cooldown: 100, 80, 60
Range: 800
Bounce Distance: 800
Damage: Magical
Damage: 300, 450, 600
Move Slow: 40%
Attack Slow: 40

Notes

Hero Talents

Rime Shield Grants 60 HP Regen

150 Move Speed

200 Cast Range

Cold Attack

10% Spell Lifesteal

120 Damage

25% XP Gain

200 Health

Discussion

His new ability is Chilling Wake, a passive that truly augments the game for both allies and enemies. As it boosts the potential of his other spells to cripple foes, their individual disabling powers have been toned down. Overall, he becomes a great partner for other allies with slows and a great counter against enemies with slows. Another unique aspect is how it reduces the low end move speed cap. Basically, the slowest a movable unit can get is set to 100 move speed but this passive reduces it further to 50. Without a hard disable once again and with this passive making it easier to hit the 100% move slow cap, the extra reward here is certainly helpful. Since the effect against enemies has a limited range, his original movement speed before Sinister Gaze will definitely be helpful.
Frost Shield synergizes excellently with this new passive, creating a clear zone around himself where the slowing is strongest. Additionally, the ally it is placed on can shrug off slows so they can chase with the shield more effectively. But now it’s called Rime Shield, mainly because he has way too many spells with Frost in them. Otherwise, it is mostly the same though is now more spammable since he lost an active. Chain Frost also functions the same, with a larger bounce range and faster travel speed to make landing it on multiple targets easier. The new Aghanim’s effect allows him to better deal with spell immunity, giving him a unique opportunity to fight back and not be irrelevant as the game goes on. Slowing these targets is definitely helpful for kiting out the duration but the damage won’t apply, so it is not an omnipotent upgrade.
Frost Blast is reminiscent of the current version with 2 key differences. The main enemy is disabled more while enemies near it take more damage. So like Splinter Blast, target selection is important. Do you want to maximize the slow on an important target or maximize the damage on as many enemies as possible? Now, it’s easier to catch out a single enemy but with less damage. In tangent with his ultimate, forcing enemies to flee from their slower friend becomes easier. Overall, his spells can hit enemies even further away to maximize his safety but to maximize his disabling power with Chilling Wake, he will still have to get in close so there is that to consider in fights. In terms of talents for this revamped Lich, the notable change is moving his slowing attacks talent to level 20 and then balancing this effect by making it the same modifier as Eye of Skadi. It will be slightly weaker, but it also makes his carry build easier to achieve and plan around. With the new level 25 move speed talent, he now has the unique option to forego boots for more offense or utility with less hassle.

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Lich by FangzofFuzzy

Lich

Lich

Rework

Design

Primary Abilities

Ultimate Abilities

Hero Talents

Discussion

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