HCC - The Demon Scout

The Hellmother has slowly been gathering her forces, all preparing for Hell's campaign to claim the surface as theirs. Countless demons and creatures of shadow from all realms have been gathering at her beckon. The fabric separating their worlds had been permanently scarred from the other side, allowing the demonic denizens to traverse back and forth. But with her ancient and eldritch form, she could not yet pass through the veil herself. Though this may be, she could feel it waning more and more with each demon crossing it. So the Hellmother began to weave and craft a plan to rip apart the barrier for good and march her forces onto the surface. But for aeons since Hell immemorial has she lived, and her patience has not worn thin. Sending wave after wave before she herself could arrive would alert the mortals. No, the plan had to be better, more subtle. So among the most deceitful of them all, only the demons among demons were gathered to be a part of The First Wave. A small but elite force of agile and cunning demons acting as scouts were tasked to invade the surface, slip past and investigate their defenses before paving the way for future waves. And with the last of the Demon Scouts earthbound, the Hellmother makes her first move.

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Role: Ganker, Initiator, Disabler, Support, Carry

Strength: 18 + 1.90
Agility: 20 + 3.40
Intelligence: 22 + 2.20

Base Damage: 22-36
Base Armor: 2
Attack Range: 450
Movement Speed: 315
BAT: 1.7
Vision Range: 1800/900

The Demon Scout is an Agility hero who finds his home ahead of allies and within enemy lines, lurking around and surveying the area before unleashing Hell on earth. Shadow Tag is his primary initiation and only combat tool, allowing him to lock down a target and direct his team to focus fire it down. Gaze gives him some unique area control as a roamer, able to remove enemy vision and safeguard himself from being collapsed on. Penumbra's movement speed ensures that the Demon Scout won't be easily pinned down while its cast range allows him to flank from creative angles, as long as he is doing his duty of being a lone scout. Once the zone is clear and a target has been selected, The Second Wave may begin to bring about their peril. With ravenous Demons ravaging the land and an ominous Abyss watching over while the Scout that started it all slips back into the shadows, it can be difficult to believe that Hell's conquest has only just begun.

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Q - Shadow Tag

The only weapons the Demon Scouts need in their task are a sharp blade and an even sharper wit.

Throw a dark dagger at an enemy to stun it and amplify the damage it takes. Can be used on the Abyss, removing 1 health from it to cast Shadow Tag on all enemies in its vision range.

Mana Cost: 90, 100, 110, 120
Cooldown: 8
Cast Range: 600
Stun: 1.2, 1.6, 2, 2.4
Increased Damage Taken: 32%
Debuff Duration: 3, 4, 5, 6

W - Gaze

The First Wave is able to connect with the Hellmother wherever her vast knowledge and power may be required.

Summon the Abyss, a portal from Hell that interacts with his other spells.

Mana Cost: 160, 140, 120, 100
Cooldown: 40, 35, 30, 25
Cast Range: 200

Abyss

A building that allows the Hellmother to bestow limited flying vision and true sight to surrounding allies.

Effect Radius: 900
Vision Radius: 450
Duration: 20
Health: 3, 4, 5, 6
Vision Range: 300/300
Bounty: 75

- Vision radius refers to the radius of the flying vision and true sight given to each ally.
- Does not grant the buff to wards or buildings.
- There can only be one Abyss at a time.
- Gaze cannot be cast while one is already active.
- Health functions like Tombstone.
- The Abyss itself only has ground vision.

E - Penumbra

To ensure that their movements go unnoticed, the Demon Scouts were ordered to keep their distance. Especially from each other.

While away from allies, gain move speed and cast range.
Aghanim's Upgrade: Nearby allies gain Penumbra's benefits.

Search Radius: 600
Move Speed: 15, 20, 25, 30%
Bonus Cast Range: 100, 200, 300, 400

- Wards and buildings will not count as allies.
- Bonus cast range affects items as well.
- The upgrade's aura has the same radius as the search radius.

R - The Second Wave

With a connection established to the surface, the Hellmother comes one step closer to conquering it.

A wave of Demons pour forth from the Abyss after a delay. They travel in the direction away from the Scout, dragging along enemies hit. At the end of their path, Demons become controllable units.

Mana Cost: 100, 175, 250
Cooldown: 120, 110, 100
Delay: 1
Travel Distance: 600
Length: 400
Number of Demons: 4

- Can only be cast while the Abyss is active.
- The Scout can move and act freely during the delay.
- The Abyss is immune to damage and its duration does not tick down during the delay.
- The direction traveled is decided when the delay ends.

Demon

Swift and deadly warrior units from Hell.

Health: 400, 600, 800
Health Regeneration: 5, 10, 15
Armor: 4, 6, 8
Magic Resistance: 60%
Damage: 35, 50, 65
Attack Range: 100
BAT: 1.7
Movement Speed: 425
Vision Range: 450/450
Bounty: 30, 45, 60
Experience: 20, 30, 40

Talents

10: 10% Evasion or 30% XP Gain
15: 120 Gold/Min or 150 Attack Range
20: 400 Health or 120 Damage
25: Shadow Tag Pierces Spell Immunity or 800 Demon Health

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The Demon Scout is designed to roam, gain the vision advantage in an area, flank a potential target before collapsing on it alongside his team. Shadow Tag is undoubtedly a very strong and solid ability for starting and finishing kills. An advantage he has over other roamers is that he can ensure that he isn't spotted thanks to Gaze, however a disadvantage is that he does not move around as easily as some of them, so the enhanced movement speed from Penumbra is all he gets and must use to the fullest.

It is important for him to play and move around the Abyss well as locking down multiple foes instead of just a single one or turning the tides with a well positioned ultimate can be very important in winning fights. The Second Wave has good displacement that can either shove the enemy into yours or peel them off your allies. The Demons are not all too fearsome by themselves in terms of stats, but their sheer number and ability to chase and slice down a key target can be scary.

For how this hero fits the theme of portals, the primary reason would be the Demon Scout's Abyss. The vision granting by itself is iffy in terms of fulfilling this requirement, but it's the interactions between it and his other abilities that make it more relevant. One can think of the Shadow Tag interaction as him sending the initial dagger into the portal to request for the Hellmother's aid, with her responding by sending back a flurry of knives from the other side. As for The Second Wave, he can literally call upon forces from Hell to march through the portal and fight alongside him. I tried not to go too deep and make the hero all about portals, instead implementing the theme to give the 'scout' trope a little more flavor.

Strengths Amazing vision control Can move very fast Damage amplification comes with a lockdown Good Agility growth Strong item interactions Good spell effect uptimes

Weaknesses Vision control is restricted to one area for long periods of time Difficulty in actual maneuvering Little damage himself outside of summons Subpar Intelligence growth and overall low Strength Little ways to farm High mana costs

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Credit for artwork goes to Andrey Korolev
Credit for icons go to WowHead

Cool idea, not a judge but it did feel unique. (or a crazy mixture of specter, warlock, bat rider, broodmother, night stalker,... Yeah it is unique)

But I get the feeling in low mmr, people would just use the 400 range boost on items for some crazy stuff. Like abyssal blade or dagon.

Only other thing that seems odd is he is almost every role? I know heroes have non Meta uses (io carry, etc), but is this supposed to be a support or carry?

This hero is pretty cool. I only have two gripes.

First, his agility growth is insane, especially when you consider how broken his [Q] can be.

Second, his [Q] is REALLY strong. The cast range is way to big, look at other single target stuns and adjust accordingly. I would even venture to say that you make the cast range shorter than other single target stuns since it applies such a strong debuff and gets a cast range buff from his passive. Speaking of the debuff, 35% is a lot! At early levels and in the late game. I would suggest lowing that a little bit and then make it improve with level (ex. 20%/24%/28%/30%).

Thanks for the feedback! If I had to describe his playstyle, it'd be a mix of BH roaming, Zeus vision, some Warlock demons and an actually good Kunkka Aghs.

TBH, I think high mmr would do the same to abuse the cast range bonus. I still do want it to affect items, so do you think the cast range bonus should be halved for items?

I plan to put a Discussion section later but basically, he'll either be a roaming/laning support or safelane core. He probably can't survive mid or offlane nor the jungle with that health pool. Like BH and Riki, he can start as a support but his talents will allow him to transition into a carry later on.

Alright, thanks for the critique! For the Agility growth, he only has 0.1 higher gain than Vengeful Spirit BUT she has 7 higher base Agility than him, not to mention Vengeful Aura as well as Wave of Terror is just as good as at abusing this just power for herself. Do you still think it's insane?

But I agree looking at it now that his Q's cast range is absurdly high even without the passive. I'll be lowering its cast range as well as the Abyss' vision range to reduce how far away he can stun. As for the debuff though, Chen's Penitence has 18% damage amp for 8 seconds at level 1, while Shadow Tag only lasts for 3 seconds. I don't think I'll agree on making the damage amp scale, but I will agree to reduce it slightly.

I thought so too. But since it deals 0 damage, I think it's justifiable. BS Q amplifies by 25%/30%/35%/40% and it's double-edged-ness is mitigated by having no mana cost. (and it's twice as long). This guy's Q has 100 mana. But it could be spammed with it's rather good intelligence.

Also, I don't see this "Demon Scout" as a carry. Not one bit. I'm sorry but I see it as position 3 at best. Let the real carries benefit from the Q. And if you think that the passive forces to him to hunt alone, Au contraire, mademoiselle, it forces him to SUPPORT ALONE. Gaining bonus movement when "scouting" deep into enemy territory and bonus observer wards range. Truly, a support for very aggressive line-ups.

Not sure if this is addressed to me, or maybe just the second paragraph, but I'll respond nonetheless. I don't think Bloodrage is directly comparable because Shadow Tag stuns the target as well. But on your point about his Intelligence, I agree it might be a little high so I'll hit it a little.

About the carry point, I suppose so. I imagine him being able to transition into a damaging role later in the game, with his ultimate acting as a self peeling and a personal frontline. Also I agree he's not meant to hunt alone, and he's meant to support alone. He's designed to hunt alongside allies while keeping away from them. Meaning, he's designed to flank for kills.