Askeladd The Gunsmith (New Gameplay Style Carry)

Askeladd The Gunsmith

I tried my best with this hero to try and deliver a new original concept for a hero. So basically, this guy is a mid-ranged hero (450 range) that has a high potential to be carry. What makes this guy interesting and new is that he have default skills (like Stone Remnant) that define his gameplay. The default skills are actually more like a disadvantage rather than an advantage, but they could turn into a great advantage later on. The default skills forces this hero to count his bullets, literally. A counter will always be put on this hero, that count his attacks. We call it a "magazine", by default there are 6 bullets in 1 magazine, and that defines the number he can shoot before he has to reload (as in FPS games, in which he can also reload before magazine runs out)

All his skills would revolves around the magazine. His Extended Muzzle and Additional Barrel both do bonus damage and different effect when activated, for limited number of attacks based on magazine size (much like Flak Cannon or Overpower) while his Bandolier improve the magazine size.

The disadvantages of having to count the bullets also pays off because it grants bonus damage per bullet missing in magazine, let's say that Askeladd is already level 16, maxing ulti and Bandolier. With 12 bullets in 1 magazine, if he do a shot with only 1 bullet left he would get 11*8 bonus damage, which is 88. But then, he cannot shoot anymore without having to stay immobile for 0.3 seconds to reload.

Basically, he is intended to be a hard hero that should only be used by players confident of their attack managing and anticipation skill. But he will also be a hero that pays it off with great advantages and potential. So that's this hero, any comment and feedback are most welcome :)

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Statistics

Faction: The Radiant
Primary Attribute: Agility
Attack Type: Range
Roles: Carry

Str: 63 at 25 (22 + 1.7/level)
Agi: 90 at 25 (25 + 2.7/level)
Int: 53 at 25 (17 + 1.5/level)


Health: 1347 at 25
MP: 690 at 25
Armor: 14.2 at 25
Movement: 320
Range: 450

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Lore

"You are so great, dad! When I grew up I want to be a hunter, just like you!" Askeladd's eyes sparkle as he said those words. His father chuckles, amused by his son's remark. A hand gun in one arm, he pads Askeladd's head with the other. "Yes, of course you will. Train hard, okay?" Hearing his father's sentence, Askeladd's eyes sparkle even more. He knew he would be a great hunter just like his father, the best hunter in the eastern plateau.

It had been 10 years; Askeladd is now a young man that has never passed a day of shooting practice. His marks were always true, and he has grown as a better hunter than most hunters in his village. Another day came, Askeladd went and train again in his backyard. As he shot his hundredth bullet, he heard a loud sound from inside his house. "Father! Mother! What happened?" Quickly, he dashed inside the house. "Wha-?" What he saw then was just corpses of what once were his father and mother. "Ooh, there's another person here? Too bad, there's a bounty on your dad! So sad..." A voice was heard. Askeladd turned around in rage, knowing that it was this guy who killed his parents. Bang! As he turned he shot his gun quickly, only to hit shadows.

A voice echoed in the room. "Tsk tsk tsk. Without any magic you wish to oppose me? Without any technique you wish to defeat me? What can a mere gun do to me? You won't even be able to hit me! You and your father are the same, stupidly ridiculous HAHAHAHA!" As soon as the words are over, he felt a slash of a blade through his body, cutting his gun and knocking him to the ground. "Is it over already? No fun!" The voice of the assailant was heard, and with his shallow breath, Askeladd took his father's gun that was lying on the floor. Bang! "ARGH!" Askeladd saw the figure of the assailant, holding his mouth that were bleeding, and quickly, he melt to shadow again. It hit, didn't it? Should be... enough. I'm... Tired... And Askeladd closed his eyes.

15 years has passed after that event. Not one day has the memory of that voice faded from Askeladd's head. What can a mere gun do to me? The voice still echoes in his head. "Oh, I'm gonna show you what it can do!" another shout can be heard from his house. Every single day the exact same words are shouted in Askeladd's house. Every single day, Askeladd spent tinkering around any modification to his father's gun. Every single day, he vowed to find and kill that assailant ONLY with his father's gun, no magic, no technique. Then, and only then will his father's honor be redeemed.

Today is the day, Askeladd thought as he wraps up all his equipment. I am now ready to kill him. Yes, Askeladd was right. He is ready, 15 years of modifications has made a mere gun the strongest weapon. 15 years of patience has fed his soul with strength. 15 years of training has made him a dangerous enemy. Now, he is indeed ready.

He set up to go, to every dire camp known to man. He vowed he should never stop, until the bounty hunter with scar on the mouth was slain. A great danger to the dire, heard throughout the hordes. Beware, beware, The Gunsmith comes.

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Skills

[D] Reload: Completely reloads the magazine after 0.3 second cast time. If used, Askeladd will be immobile for the cast time. Also stops Extended Muzzle and Additional Barrel effects if used within skills duration.

Type: Passive
Affects: Self
Obtained by default
Cool down: 1 second

[F] Limited Bullet: Askeladd's guns use limited amount of bullets. This skill sets a counter that indicates the amount of bullet left per magazine. Default magazine amount is 6. Reduce the amount of counter per attack, successful or not. If counter reaches 0, Askeladd cannot attack until he reloads. This skill can also be actively used to fire a shot to a target point (with same range as his attack range), which is needed in both Additional Barrel and Extended Muzzle, but can be used even without any skill, like normal attack and stops if 450 range is reached/it hits one enemy.

Type: Passive/Target point
Affects: Self
Obtained by default
Cool down: Current attack interval

[Q] Extended Muzzle: The Gunsmith adds an extended muzzle to his gun that allows him to shoot stronger bullets for the next magazine, dealing piercing damage in a line for a longer range. When this skill is used, automatically reloads and upcoming attacks will change to piercing shots (target point), disabling normal auto-attack. This skill doesn't affect buildings. Deals 10% lower damage per units hit.

- 10 bonus damage, 600 range
- 25 bonus damage, 700 range
- 40 bonus damage, 800 range
- 55 bonus damage, 900 range

Type: No Target
Affect: Self

Damage: Composite (Affects ghost form / magic immune unit)
MP Cost: 80
Bullet Cost / attack: 1
Cool Down: 20 Seconds
Initial Cast Time (Reload): 0.3 Seconds
Additional Cast Time (Per Attack): 0.15 Seconds

Extended muzzle can make an extended range! And not to mention, misery

[W] Additional Barrel: The Gunsmith adds an additional barrel to the gun, shooting special bullets from each barrel, dealing greater damage in a cone radius that maims enemies. When activated, automatically reloads and upcoming attack will change to cone shots (target point), disabling normal auto attack. This skill affects buildings with 0.75* damage. Deals lower damage the farther the units are.

- 35 bonus damage, 20% maim slow
- 50 bonus damage, 30% maim slow
- 75 bonus damage, 40% maim slow
- 90 bonus damage, 50% maim slow

Type: No Target
Affect: Self

Damage: Physical
MP Cost: 110
Maim Duration: 2 second
Bullet Cost / attack: 2
Cooldown: 25 seconds
Additional Cast Time (Per Attack): 0.1 seconds

Range: 350
Starting Width: 100 points
Final Width: 300 points

An additional barrel can deal HUGE additional damage

[] Bandolier: Askeladd starts to appreciate every bullet while battling, effectively increasing his efficiency by increasing magazine's capacity and subconsciously strengthening him. This skill grants bonus damage and critical chance per bullets missing from the magazine and bonus bullet per magazine

- 8 Max Bullet, 3% crit chance / bullet missing, 1 bonus damage / bullet missing
- 9 Max Bullet, 3.5% crit chance / bullet missing, 2 bonus damage / bullet missing
- 11 Max Bullet, 7% crit chance / bullet missing, 3 bonus damage / bullet missing
- 12 Max Bullet, 7.5% crit chance / bullet missing, 4 bonus damage / bullet missing

Type: Passive
Affect: Self

Critical damage: 120% damage
Critical chance halved on additional enhancements (his other skills except ultimate skill)

Double bullets amount, double enemies killed

[R] Total Customization: The Gunsmith customizes his gun to be perfectly compatible to his bullets. Giving different bonus to Askeladd according to the magazine he is currently using. Effects run out if the magazine is emptied or reload is used. 0.5 seconds cast time (cannot attack but can move in cast time).

Type: No Target,
Affects: Self

MP Cost: 200
Cool Down: 80 Seconds

A great Gunsmith can change everything in one customization

Normal Bullet (Without any skill used): Bonus damage

- 20 bonus damage
- 40 bonus damage
- 60 bonus damage

Stronger Bullet (With Extended Muzzle): Increase attack range and grants critical attack chance.

- 150 range bonus, 30% chance, 140% damage
- 300 range bonus, 40% chance, 160% damage
- 450 range bonus, 50% chance, 180% damage

Special Bullet (With Additional Barrel): Multiply bonus damage of hiss skill. (IE: Bonus damage by Additional Barrel is 70 and Bandolier is 44, with 2 bonus damage multiplier. Damage bonus is 114*2= 228)

- 1.2 bonus damage multiplier
- 1.6 bonus damage multiplier
- 2 bonus damage multiplier

oh dude... Now THIS!!! is a bloody awesome hero idea. he is like a right click hero but with Complexity ******** it i love it !!.

oh god so many next level plays i could see with this guy.

chasing a fleeing hero? but he is just outside of right click range swap out to extended barrel pop total customization extra 450 range boom dead hero.

combo would be for solo kills.

total customization >additional barrel for a full mag, then swap out to extended barrel for Crit chance to finish off.

the only problem here if my maths is correct. at level 16 on the last bullet with all bonus damage added in extended barrel with total customization gunsmith has the potential to deal 316.8 damage

and for additional barrel he can do > 316.5 damage ????

is that correct?

btw those amounts are just the additional damage, im not even adding on base damage and other bonus damage, or damage modifiers.

THANK YOU!!
Wow! Someone understands this hero!
I thought no one would understand / even try to since this hero is so complex lol
But you! YOU understand! **** man I'm crying!

Alright, just to clear it up, let me state it once more that total customization can only be used on the remaining magazine (meaning that you cannot swap magazine to get double total customization effect) this means that there is a maximum limit of total customization.

So, your calculation was only slightly wrong. However, the damage scales. When he is missing missing all his bullets his damage is at his highest, so let's calculate exactly down to the number like a freaking rocket scientist (and no, I'm not Sheldon Cooper):

For Extended Muzzle

Missing 0 8 16 24 32 40 48 56 64 72 80 88
Bonus 55
TC 1.8
EM(Max) 99 113.4 127.8 142.2 156.6 171 185.4 199.8 214.2 228.6 243 257.4
Total Maximum Bonus Damage 2138.4

For Additional Barrel (If Lvl 25, base damage without item is 120)

Missing 0 8 16 24 32 40 48 56 64 72 80 88
Bonus 90
TC 180
AB 270 278 286 294 302 310 318 326 334 342 350 358
Total Maximum Bonus Damage 3768

After such calculation, I think that it's true that the Additional Barrel is a bit OP, so I changed it to 25/40/55/70 bonus damage. I also changed the total customization effect for it so that Additional Barrel under that effect will grant bonus damage per bonus damage from his skills by multiplier 1.75 (item bonus damage doesn't count)

After the change, it would be:
Missing 0 8 16 24 32 40 48 56 64 72 80 88
Bonus 70
Multiplier 1.75
AB Damage 122.5 136.5 150.5 164.5 178.5 192.5 206.5 220.5 234.5 248.5 262.5 276.5
Total Bonus Damage 2394

Therefore, the total damage (with base damage of 120 at lvl 25) will be:

Damage Result (EM Max) 315 329.4 343.8 358.2 372.6 387 401.4 415.8 430.2 444.6 459 473.4
4730.4
Damage Result (AB) 242.5 256.5 270.5 284.5 298.5 312.5 326.5 340.5 354.5 368.5 382.5 396.5
3834

Note that the result damage for Extended Muzzle will ONLY be that amount if all his attacks are critical at lvl 25

Total Bonus Damage for Additional Barrel is 2394 and for Extended Muzzle (All Critical) is 2138.4 (in Total Customization and full magazine)

By this amount, I wouldn't call it OP. Why? Because he needs to attack the enemies 12 times to deal this much damage. In a war, it's good to even be able to dish out like 5 attacks, comparing it with Laguna Blade it won't be that strong since it needs time to totally unleash (It's just the same like Ursa being scary, however cannot dish out the damage)

Other than that, it also need 0.8 seconds to do reload + Total Customization, meaning it's hard to use between battle. Using Additional Barrel or Extended Muzzle also reduce his attack speed by 0.1 / 0.15 seconds attack interval, while also stopping his right-click effect (meaning all his attacks need to target point (A+left click), giving him quite some chance to miss. His ulti also has 80 seconds cool down (more than Chain Frost lvl 3 which has 60 seconds cool down)

Anyway, thanks again for the comment! So, what do you think now? A bit OP or too nerfed?

I'm going to have to agree with Smuggels on this one. If there is one thing I love about a hero it is its unique aspects and you have delivered. +1

haha all good dude, i like the fact that he doesnt have abilities which affect others he has abilities which change his gameplay, it would require off the wall thinking dependent upon the situation you find yourself

in saying that i feel that the his total damage out put is well OP.

being able to dish out 2000+ damage with no items at lvl 25 is ridiculous.

i see the point that he would have to attack over 12 times for that to be dealt but throw three hyper stones on him and he will be putting out 2000+ damage in under 5 seconds with no bonus damage items imagine if he had butterfly and deadulus as well? or desolator?

i love the EX-MU and the AD-BA they seem well rounded skills and total customization is i think an EPIC idea, an ulti which only affects the abilities of the hero is awesome.

but bandolier plus MAG stacks for missing bullets seems too much.


---start idea---


maybe instead of bonus damage from Limited Bullets he gets an increasing critical chance? along these lines.

(passive) Make them Count.

" knowing he has a dwindling amount of bullets until he has to reload forces Askeladd to take great care with his remaining shots, making sure they count."

for each bullet missing from Askeladd's magazine he receives an increasing critical chance upon his next shot as well as an increasing critical damage.

critical chance per missing bullet: 7.5%
Critical chance damage per missing bullet: 1.10% total damage (including bonus damage)

(not active when barrel customised.)

with the increased magazine size from bandolier and bonus damage from bandolier this skill would allow him to transition to late game quite well.

the effect of total customization to non customized barrel with pure damage and mini stun is too op and will make him the best hard carry late game. i personally would remove this.

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end idea----


i love all his skills and how they have such synergy. but the damage out put is way to high atm. most supports have 1200 hp at late game, and with items Askeladd has the potential to one hit them starting from mid game (which is a tad OP) haha

his skills 100% in love with them they are a complete and awesome new take on abilities and i wish he would be made in game. their damage and scaling? not so much. too much damage too early.

i would look at the damage he does in relation to a late game hard carry...

early ? they hit like a baby puppy

late game? they hit like a angry grizzly bear on steroids.

apart from those points.... solid well thought out hero and if he ever gets into game i expect some awesome gameplay :)

wow! thanks very much BKvoiceover (any way to shorten it?)
It was highly appreciated!
Hope to see you more :D

@Smuggles
It's still too much, eh? Alright then, what about this:

Limited bullet doesn't increase damage per bullet missing
Total Customization doesn't give any bonus to Bandolier
Total Customization only give 20/40/60 bonus damage to Regular Bullet (Physical Damage)
Additional Barrel and Extended Muzzle reset to original idea

Bandolier:
8 Max Bullet, 3% crit chance / bullet missing, 1 bonus damage / bullet missing
9 Max Bullet, 3.5% crit chance / bullet missing, 2 bonus damage / bullet missing
11 Max Bullet, 7% crit chance / bullet missing, 3 bonus damage / bullet missing
12 Max Bullet, 7.5% crit chance / bullet missing, 4 bonus damage / bullet missing

Critical damage: 110% damage
Critical chance halved on additional enhancements

Therefore Bandolier maximum bonus damage would only be 44 damage and has 82.5 % critical chance that deal 110% damage at the last bullet. Under enhancement Askeladd has 41.25% additional critical chance that deal 115% bonus damage. If used with Extended Muzzle, and the Extended Muzzle procs alongside with Bandolier's crit, Bandolier's crit is nullified.

perfect :) that makes him work a whole lot better with items and definitely a viable hero now.

i actually do some 3d modeling and am currently working on a Timbersaw cosmetic skin for the Steam Shop.

have you any idea's what Askeladd would look like?

Nicee! Thx for further perfecting my concept :D

Wow, really? You got yourself a fan now lol

My idea was that this guy is a common person actually, but than everything changed when the bounty hunter attacks (it was Gondar by the way). So probably he would look like a normal guy, not that extravagant like Chen or heavily clad like Dragon Knight. I suppose he would be around 30 years old with slim but muscular, tall and fit body, probably white hair. I would say that he will look somewhat like Omniknight, without beard but white hair and a trademark scar along his face.

His armory would be a simple handgun held in two hand for attacking and one hand while carried. His clothing would be simple leather vest on bare chest, with utility belt around the waist (like batman) that shows some bullets, wrench and other things. The pants would probably be some simple cloth pants, while the boots are just leather boots. I would prefer to keep him not "too accessorized" so that I could portray that "this is just a simple man locking himself for decades at his garage"

Oh! just thought this to myself: VASH THE STAMPEDE! Yep, if you know him he would look exactly like that (since armor will be adjustable later on in game anyway)

Yeah, I usually just go by BK if you want it shorthand.