Mara, the Fractured Soul

Hello dotafire, TheSofa here.

Since I was young, I was always told "to play for fun, not to win", especially if I had just lost a game. And part of me still believes that - I believe that video games, dota 2, in this case, are meant to be fun and good heroes are ones that are fun to play.

But what exactly does fun entail?

A fun hero should be easy to understand - nobody enjoys taking hours studying how a hero's abilities work when they could be playing.
A fun hero should also have clear strengths... and weaknesses. Fun works both ways - a good hero should be both fun to play as and fun if not tolerable to play against.
A fun hero should also have a good backstory, something to fight for. Lore gives personality, drive, and character.
Finally, a fun hero should reward you for playing correctly (and punish you for not playing correctly). A fun hero should give you satisfaction, like when you land a max range Sacred Arrow or a 5-man Black Hole. Likewise, misplaying a fun hero should also evoke regret, like using Chronosphere on your own team or screwing up your team's initiation with Song of the Siren.

This is my dream hero - not one that is overpowered (I spent many hours balancing it) but one that is fun. In order to fully appreciate the hero, however, I highly encourage you to watch SirActionSlacks' video, On Phantoms and Daggers.

Enjoy!

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Strength: (15+ 2)
Intelligence: (20 + 2.6)
Agility: (23 + 3.1)

BAT: 1.6
Attack Range: 150 (Melee)
Movement Speed: 285
Damage: 50-56
Armour: 0 (+3ish level 1 from agility)



{Q}: Sinister Dagger
Casting Method: Active
Targeting Method: Point
Allowed Targets: Enemy Units

Mara throws a dagger, dealing damage to the first enemy unit hit. Additionally, Sinister Dagger applies a turn rate slow and a decaying movement speed slow. Sinister Dagger also applies Fracture’s mark upon contact of an enemy hero. Sinister Dagger deals pure damage to Isolated targets. Sinister Dagger does not provide vision, but reveals its target.
The slow decays by 20% per second.

Cast Range: 600 / 800 / 1000 / 1200
Damage: 100 / 150 / 200 / 250
Movement Speed Slow: 40%
Duration: 2
Turn Rate Slow: 40% / 50% / 60% / 70%

Mana Cost: 100
Cooldown: 18 / 17 / 16 / 15

Mara's dagger pierces through reality and flesh alike.

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{W}: Fracture
Casting Method: Passive
Targeting Method: N/A
Allowed Targets: Enemy Units

Mara’s next attack marks an enemy unit for 6 seconds. Mara’s attacks on marked targets will deal bonus pure damage based the target’s missing health and give her a burst of movement speed. Fracture’s cooldown is reset if the afflicted target dies while having the mark.

Bonus Damage per Missing Health Percentage: 0.5 / 1 / 1.5 / 2
Movement Speed: 550
Duration: 0.5

Cooldown: 13 / 12 / 11 / 10

Mara's blades cut holes in the fabric of time and space.

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{E}: Trespass
Casting Method: Active
Targeting Method: Unit
Allowed Targets: Enemy Units

Mara dashes through another dimension to reach a short distance in reality. She is invulnerable during the dash. Enemy units that she dashes through take minor damage and are briefly stunned. Her next attack gains bonus damage based on how many units she dashes through. She may also dash to a unit marked with Fracture with increased range, consuming the mark to gain a short burst of bonus attack speed. Trespass neither stuns nor gives Mara bonus damage on her next attack when targetting a Fractured unit. The cooldown of Trespass is partially refunded if Mara dashes to a unit marked with Fracture.

Stun duration: 0.5
Bonus damage per unit: 10 / 20 / 30 / 40
Dash duration: 0.25
Dash range: 400
Dash range on Fractured target: 600 / 800 / 1000 / 1200
Cooldown Refund on Fractured Target: 6
Attack Speed on Fractured Target: 300
Attack Speed Duration: 1

Cooldown: 18 / 16 / 14 / 12
Mana Cost: 50

Mara is adept at jumping through dimensions to reach her targets.

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{R}: Paradox
Casting Method: Active
Targeting Method: Point
Allowed Targets: Enemy Units

Mara causes reality to bifurcate in a 450 radius area for 3/5/7 seconds. Enemy units in this area will receive one stack of the Paradox debuff each time they cast a spell, attack, use an item, or move 150 units. Mara may reactivate Paradox to end the ability early. At the end of the duration or when reactivated, enemies are feared based on how many stacks of Paradox they have.

Cast Range: 800
Fear Duration: 1 + 0.25 x Paradox stacks
Radius: 450
Duration: 3 / 5 / 7

Mana Cost: 150 / 175 / 200
Cooldown: 140 / 110 / 80

Just like her maker before her, Mara has complete mastery over reality.

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There she is, Mara the Fractured Soul. When I was creating this hero, I started with the lore - I was extremely intrigued in the connection between Phantom Assassin's Manifold Paradox and both Spectre and Oracle's lores. You can probably see the connection in the lore already... though I did try to bring something new and fresh to the table.

Mara's stats are mediocre. Her agility and agility gain is that of a typical agility carry, but her strength and strength gain are quite low, leaving her fragile and susceptable to burst. Her intelligence and intelligence growth allows her to pull off her spells in a fight without (too much) worry of mana.

Mara's basic abilities follow quite nicely with a carry's basic abilities: one passive ability that helps them deal damage (think Time Lock, Mana Break, Blade Dance), and the remaining two usually revolve around survival and sticking on to targets (think Anti-Mage Blink + Spell Shield, Stifling Dagger and Blur, Spectral Dagger and Dispersion).

Mara has a strong ultimate ability. On the surface, it is a good teamfight ability that allows Mara to control zones on the battlefield, forcing enemies to group near choke points or discouraging enemies from moving through an area (one would receive 6 stacks = 2.5 second fear for walking through the area). But if we get creative, we can use Paradox to isolate spell immune targets by fleeing away their not-spell-immune allies. We can also use Paradox as an escape, instantly reactivating for an instant 1-second fear.

This is the essence of Mara. She is a position 2 safelaner who has a bunch of tools that she can use. Use them properly and wreak havoc on the enemy team. Use them improperly, and you're as useless as a 2k Io.

Mara's Fracture mark is essential to her hero. Without talents, she can have up to two marks at any given time. Managing Mara's Fracture mark is an important part of her gameplay. Here are some ways that you can use her marks:

Hit enemy hero with {Q}. Use {W} to apply a mark on a creep. Use {E} to dash to enemy hero. Hit enemy hero for 2 seconds. Dash back to the marked creep once {E} comes off cooldown again (requires level 20 talent).

Walk up to an enemy hero. Use {Q} to apply a mark. Use {E} to consume the mark, granting attack speed. Attack 3 times in the 1 second of attack speed, applying {W} on the first mark, then dealing bonus damage on the second and third. If the enemy runs, you may use {E} again to catch up to them.

Mara's kit also allows her several opportunities to outplay her opponents. Since {E} gives her 0.25 seconds of invulnerability, it can be used like Phase Shift or Manta Style to dodge spells. Furthermore, take this into consideration:

{E} places Mara behind her enemy.
{Q} slows turn rate.
{W} grants a burst of movement speed.

Mara is capable of staying behind an enemies back for a while, helping her against otherwise "instant" disables like Hex and Burrowstrike.

Mara's talents also allow her to choose between a dangerous playstyle and a safe, teamfight one.

Choosing +5s Trespass Refund, +1 Sinister Dagger Charge, and -7s Fracture allows Mara to have up to 4 marks at once and a 1-second Trespass cooldown when dashing to marks. This allows her to jump multiple times in a skirmish, gaining lots of attack speed and playing on the edge. Should you choose this playstyle, you must be aware of key abilities and dodge them with your dashes. Failure to do so will leave you very very dead. You could also buy a Black King Bar to remedy this, but that will leave Mara with no damage to speak of and just a nuissance to the enemy team.

Choosing +9 All Stats, +0.25 Paradox Fear Multiplier, and Paradox Fear Pierces Spell Immunity allows Mara to survive in fights and wreak havoc. This is less challenging to pull off, albeit less effective and satisfying to pull off.

Alright, that's it for me!
~TheSofa

picture credit: https://pin.it/l2o4yqs7euvds3

This is a very cool idea for a hero that combines unique but simple ideas which is a good thing- as you say it is better for the hero to be easily undestood.

I have a few questions, though.

At what speed does her q travel?

What is the purpose of paradoxes enemy illusions? To confuse allies? That seems like a useless endeavor as they can see when the illusions come out. I feel players will completely not care when under its effects. Also, when specifically is the damage and stun applied?

Hi Magnus Magus,

Thank you!

Her Q travels at a speed of 1600, as specified under the notes.
The purpose of the Paradox Illusion is to cause confusion. It is a niche ultimate that counters heroes like Dazzle, Omniknight, and Io... targets with single target save abilities.
The damage and stun are applied on cast. Will specify.

Thank you for your comment!

I feel like the Lore is completely the same as PA's story with Oracle, would have liked a more original lore. She looks ok but not as fun as you mentioned in the beginning (blackhole, chronosphere, etc..)

Thanks for the comment, Ryzze.

I'm not sure what you mean by original lore... as far as I know I didn't copy it from anywhere, it's simply an extrapolation of backstories that already exists.

I will explain the fun parts, I just haven't got around to write the hero description yet. :)

Stay tuned!

The new Paradox is much better than the old one. But how is it cast? Is it like Hoof Stomp or Terrorize, because while you mention it is Point cast like Sinister Dagger, there's no cast range mentioned. Also you listed different duration values in the description and values. I also see a possible issue with how the ability scales, as with higher levels, being silenced/stunned means that you can't reactivate Paradox so you have to wait longer before the fear takes hold. So what if more levels in the spell give it more baseline power, like radius or maybe make it deal some damage upon cast?

Landing a Sinister Dagger at max range doesn't seem rewarding enough because Trespass' range isn't always long enough for a near instant followup like PA's combo. Stifling Dagger + Phantom Strike is easier to perform, slows for more, longer, doesn't decay, gap closes further, costs less and can be used more frequently. Sinister Dagger + Trespass slows turn rate and has higher base damage, the latter of which will quickly get outscaled. Yeah sure, Sinister Dagger bypasses Linken's but then Trespass would still be blocked, so not much there. Yeah sure, it applies Fracture but if you have trouble closing the distance, that isn't the biggest factor with Coup de Grace involved. It currently feels kind of clunky in that sense and to restate, not very rewarding. 2 suggestions to consider: Increase Trespass' targeted range to at least match Sinister Dagger's and maybe give Sinister Dagger some bonus % current health damage.

I think Sinister Dagger could be a lot more interesting if it could apply the mark to creeps as well as heroes. Would make some cool plays and jukes happen in waves and the jungle. On that note, does Sinister Dagger provide vision.

What happens if Fracture is ready on your next attack and you attack an enemy who already has a mark? While I'm sure nothing really special happens, I think this could be an avenue to introduce some cool mechanic to give players more combos in a fight than just Q + E every time because it is the most convinient. Maybe the result will shatter the world, dealing bonus damage and knocking the target back? Would also give some synergy with Paradox to keep them in the radius.

On your topic of a fun hero being punished and feeling regretful, I don't really feel it so a more in-depth explanation of how she can fail and how she is punished would be nice. Missing Q and misplacing R, maybe. But while Paradox isn't a fire and forget spell, keeping track of stacks isn't necessarily that most important thing in the world as the only thing that increases is the duration. It's just a fear, a hard disable is always a welcome disable even if you lose about 0.25 seconds of it, it's not like you're getting super punished like the Chronosphere. One way I can think of making the spell feel somewhat punishing is by only fearing enemies who remained in the area, while enemies with stacks but are outside the area will be banished, so you can't exactly target those guys. At least from the wording, I assume enemies outside of the area will be disabled as long as they have stacks.

Hey, Sofa!

Boy does the quality of the hero creators around here skyrockets since I last appeared? There seems to be a lot of enthusiasm about this thing since back then, makes me feel quite bittersweet hahaha

I'm sorry that I can only comment now, after the judging period started, but I have to say that it is a neat hero you have here! I like how we both came from the same root —the hero most fun to play—, yet execute the idea very distinctly different.

Anyway, let's get right to it, yeah?

(EDIT: Geez, I guess old habit dies hard, I wrote far more than I had expected lol, sorry!)

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Her [Q] feels... underwhelming, especially since it is a skillshot that requires some degree of difficulty to land. I understand that you are aiming to balance her, but I think it might be a bit too much, when Stifling Dagger is targeted but slows for 50% compared to your 40% (that also are not decaying, mind you) for up to 4 seconds instead of only 2 seconds.

In the damage department it is also lacking, 250 for a skillshot is sort of sad, comparing to the damage of 360 pure damage Meat Hook and 320 magical damage Sacred Arrow, not counting their exceedingly stronger effect.

I think, for a skillshot, the skill should be made stronger for better payoff. Otherwise, I would rather change this skill into both target point / target unit similar to Spectral Dagger. Now that I think about it, this skill is very alike to Spectral Dagger, but even then, Spectral Dagger wins out due to the mobility it provides.

I know that her [Q] is supposed to be used in conjunction with her [E], but I think the mobility does not cover it because compared to Spectre, her [Q] doesn't alter her movement speed (which is abysmally low at 285, alike to Spectre). On top of it, somehow her [E] has less maximum range compared to her [Q], meaning that the skill cannot be used to chase as effectively. I love the use of turn rate reduction, but I think that is still not enough to cover for such short duration.

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Going to her [W], I'd like to preface by how it reminds me to the old Nethertoxin and Desolate (she does have a lot of similarity to Spectre, probably something behind the lore?), and so I will compare her [W] against those two skills.

I'll start by making a side by side comparison per 20% HP missing for compared to the old Nethertoxin, at maximum level:

100%: 0 | 12
80%: 40 | 24
60%: 80 | 48
40%: 120 | 96
20%: 160 | 192
10%: 180 | 192

Using above data, it would seem that it is rather fair, as her [W] seems stronger against higher HP enemies compared to Nethertoxin. However, the damage done is pure, instead of physical like pre-7.07 Nethertoxin bonus.

Pure damage is exactly what Desolate does, albeit only for 50 damage at maximum, not counting his talent (65 with talent). This bonus is equal to hitting an enemy with 75% HP left, with her [W], which will increase as the HP goes down.

Considering that the skill is Jinada-esque, I think it actually is well-balanced.

I would just add that I think the scaling might be an issue, depending if this hero should be a ganker or carry (I think she's supposed to be a ganker?). The thing is, at level one this skill gives a measly 12.5 damage at 75, compared to 20 of Desolate. I think it would be better if the scaling goes to something around 0.8/1.2/1.6/2 damage?

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Then, her [E]. I noticed almost immediately how the skill is ridiculously terrible if used not on conjunction with her [Q], which makes the skill single-dimensional. Compared to Blink, this skill just loses out in every single aspect. 300 range is sad, and 12 seconds cooldown even sadder.

I must say that I love how the skill synergizes with her [Q] and [W] perfectly, but I believe that it would be better if the skill can serve as both offensive and defensive tool. Perhaps, as a mean of assassinating a particular enemy hero before escaping with this skill.

Otherwise, if you would like to make it more akin to Phantom Strike, I think this skill needs to be made slightly stronger (as Phantom Strike can also be used on allies to escape). The most reasonable way, I think, is to make the range of this skill scale along with her [Q] instead, as the way it is currently forces the [Q] and [E] to be leveled alongside each other that makes the hero even more dimensional.

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Finally, his ultimate. I do think that this is an interesting ultimate. I don't have much to say about this, but at first glance it seems to be a tad bit strong. I imagine that the stack will increase ridiculously because in 7 second (is it 3/5/7 or 5/6/7 seconds, by the way?) the enemies would be likely to do way too much. Then again, the nature of this skill cannot be truly determined without actually playing the hero, so I guess that part can be waived.

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Overall, I really love how this hero becomes one 'whole'. Each part of her kit corresponds to each other, but at the same time this kind of forces her to level her skills in certain manner, making her a one-dimensional hero that sort of contradicts the idea of a fun hero.

Nonetheless, the hero is definitely interesting and well balanced (even if I do believe his [Q] and [E] are in the weaker side), so good job on that!

My personal thought, however, is that I think the hero is sort of boring. It feels like I can just play Phantom Assassin or Spectre instead of this hero. Of course, after reading the ultimate, that thought was quite radically changed, yet it does not change my first impression toward her.

Anyway, Sofa, sorry again for commenting so late, or if I wrote something that might offend you. I hold you in a high regards, and I think the hero is really good, so anything I wrote that might seem offending is not done on purpose.

Hey Yzreel, thank you so much for the comment :)

Good to see you around.

Yea... it's difficult to create a cohesive kit while leaving room for players to mess with the skill build. In my mind there could be different ones, but maybe one is clearly superior?

One could max W first for crazy early game damage/lane domination... One could also max E then Q for a chase down sort of build.

I've tweaked some stuff here and there, hopefully the abilities are less underwhelming now. I gotta be honest... I have some post-Yzreel stress disorder from 2 years ago when my heroes were wayyy overpowered haha.

Thanks again!

Hey Sofa, my pleasure! Thanks for commenting as well :)

Good to be back!

The thing is, she is a melee, so maxing W would do next to nothing without Q and E to complement it, kind of forcing her to specialize more in Q and E, I think. That said, I've just realized that a lot of dota heroes are like that, so there's not much of an issue, I guess hahaha

Hmmm I believe that should be enough, you are going more to the Spectre treatment with the isolation. I think going more than that might border dangerously on 'too-strong-category'.

Hahaha I guess it's my fault then? But seriously, it's been two years already? Wow, I feel old!

Well, good luck to us both, anyway!

Yea, it's been forever. My last hero creation was Aedh, which was created in 2016 O.O

Good luck to you as well!