Greetings, companions of the Edain!
Today, I'd like to show you some ideas I've got to improve two heroes that concern me, these being Aragorn and Gandalf the Grey. What I'd like to suggest are some concepts regarding those two heroes, which can be summarized with some peculiar skills. Going into details:
Aragorn concept v1.2Aragorn, even if a lone warrior, is an inspiring figure for all those fighting with him, who are proud to fight with him. Other than that, he's also the prophesied king of Gondor and Arnor, returned after centuries of stewards ruling the reign. However, right now Aragorn is just a pure Hero Killer, which becomes a not so good unit supporter on later levels and also losing some peculiar hero killing skills. I think that, given his price, lore, courage and impressive fighting skills, he should have a hero/unit supporter from the start, although very slightly at the beginning, of course, other than his hero killer role. So, this is my new idea for Aragorn:
StriderAs Strider, Aragorn will keep his main skills intact, because they're more than appropriate, but he will also have a passive hidden leadership (similar to the one of Gandalf the Challenge Master, which heals nearby units, even if it doesn't have a palantir slot) which is the following:
Chieftain of the Dunedain - Strider is a powerful lone warrior, other than the leader of the Dunedain of the North. His figure inspires other heroes. Nearby allied heroes will be proud to fight with him and will gain +15% damage. Hobbits and non-combatant units - such as Corrupted Theoden -
will feel protected and therefore they'll gain +15% armor. Passive skillThis ability represents Aragorn's inspiring figure even if he's still a lone warrior who hasn't accepted his fate yet. Of course, the buff should be low for balancing reasons
AragornWhen he receives Anduril and leaves the path of the Ranger, Aragorn receives an improved leadership:
Mighty warrior - Aragorn is powerful warrior, who also wields Anduril, the sword forged by the pieces of Narsil. His figure inspires other heroes and standard units. Nearby allied heroes will be proud to fight with him and will gain +25% damage. Hobbits, basic units and non-combatant units will feel protected and therefore they'll gain +25% armor. Passive skillAs you can see, the leadership is now more powerful, and also affects basic units like Gondor Soldiers, or Rohan Peasants. This is to show the trust the Rohirrim have gained in him after the brave resistance he did in the Battle of the Hornburg
Aragorn the HeirWhen he becomes Aragorn the Heir, he also gains the ability to mount on Brego, his powerful warhorse from Rohan (another sign of the trust and friendship of the Rohirrim). However, he loses an important hero killing skill, which is his Knife Throw, which I think is more useful for killing heroes than chasing them while riding on enemy troops, and I really can't see Aragorn at level 7 used as a scout thanks to his newly gained riding ability. To compensate that, his Elendil skill will be improved and will now weaken enemy heroes' damage by 15% (Eowyn at level 10 has a similar ability, while Celeborn's damage grows the more heroes are around him, so the ability is not OP). Aragorn the Heir's new skills will therefore be the following:
On foot
- Anduril
- Athelas
- Elendil
- Brego
- The Heir of Isildur: Aragorn has finally accepted his fate as the prophesied King of both Gondor and Arnor and the only hope for Men, leading them to whatever end. His figure inspires other heroes and units. Nearby allied heroes will be proud to fight with him and will gain +33% damage. Hobbits, non-combatant and all other units will feel protected and therefore they'll gain +33% armor. Passive skillOn Brego
- Decapitation: Aragorn wields Anduril, the flame of the West, forged by the pieces of Narsil, which permanently grants him +60% damage and +30% armor. Passive effect - I don't remember if this is the default passive effect of Anduril. Anyway, this one remains unchanged -
The ability can also be casted on enemy heroes and single units. The former ones will be heavily damaged, while single units (such as Berserkers or Beornings) will be instantly killedThis ability is taken from the extended scene at the Black Gate, where Aragorn decapitates the Mouth of Sauron, and it's also a way to not leave Aragorn vulnerable to enemy heroes when he's mounted on Brego (fighting with a sword is harder while riding an horse, that's why I think his hero killing skills should be limited to when he's on foot). Thanks to
ziging for the suggestion
- Athelas
- Final Stand: Aragorn's courage inspires the hearts of the men following him, even if he's leading them to death. He talks to them, biding them to do the final stand against the enemy.
All allied units in a wide radius will only receive 10% of the normal damage for 20 seconds and become fearless. For the duration of the skill, Aragorn and all allied heroes in his proximity will become invulnerable. This ability can't be casted if Aragorn is fighting. When the ability is casted, all nearby units and enemies as well will stop fighting to hear Aragorn's words. The effects of the ability will be applied at the end of the speechThis ability represents Aragorn's inspiring figure at his peak: when the Army of the West is surrounded by the forces of Mordor at the Black Gate, and he's able to make his men charge the enemy despite it was basically a suicide. The button images for the ability could be one of the following:
- Unmount Brego
- The Heir of IsildurWhile
Final Stand is active, the skills
Anduril, Decapitation, Athelas and the promotion to
King Elessar are disabled, while his Elendil skill is replaced by the following:
Charge - Aragorn and all nearby units under the effect of the Final Stand will charge at the enemy, dealing increased trample damage. Left click on the enemy unitsOf course, this has his drawbacks: trample damage means that the units charging will get recoil damage (just like cavalry). Furthermore, since not being cavalry, the trampling will end to just the first row of enemy units
This is the button for the charge ability:
And this is the sound effect:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/58y4xw52soqrknz/AragornFinalCharge_Sound.wav?dl=0After the effects of Final Stand are over, Aragorn's skills will have to reload as if they've been just used. This will give the player an hard choice: does he need a powerful but temporary boost for his army, but having to renounce to Aragorn's skills until they're reloaded, or does he need Aragorn at his full potential?
King Elessar - On foot- Anduril
- Athelas
- Elendil/Charge
- Brego
- King of the Reunited Kingdom: Aragorn has finally become the King of Gondor and Arnor. Heroes will now cost 15% less to recruit or revive. His figure inspires other heroes and units. Nearby allied heroes will be proud to fight with him and will gain +33% damage. Hobbits, non-combatant and all other units will feel protected and therefore they'll gain +33% armor. Also, units from the fiefdoms and from Dol Amroth can be recruited from the Barracks, the Archery Range and the Stable. Passive skillThe final leadership of Aragorn, which is finally visible in the palantir, fully shows Aragorn's newly gained status and importance for Men
King Elessar - On Brego- Decapitation
- Athelas
- Final Stand
- Unmount Brego
- King of the Reunited KingdomAll in all, I think this new concept of Aragorn would give the player a small buff (I know that Gondor has already a lot of leadership, but let's be honest: the only one who grants an armor bonus is Boromir, which is not enough for, e.g., the Soldiers of Dol Amroth or other units, since most of the times they die nonetheless. Atleast, this happened to me quite many times) while being more lore-wise and by not distorting too much Aragorn's role
Gandalf the Grey concept v1.1Concerning Gandalf the Grey, I think he's underused, too, mainly because, given his price and skillset being exactly the same as for Gandalf the White, most players just buy the 2pp spellbook power as soon as possible to immediately turn him to Gandalf the White. Therefore, a good way to use both of its forms, without forcing the player to purchase the spellbook power, is to use a mechanic similar to the one present in the Hero Submod in the Edain 3.81.
Therefore, Gandalf the Grey will cost 2200 resources, and will have the following abilities:
- Wizard Blast
- Lightning Sword
- Mount
- You Shall not Pass: Gandalf emits a powerful shock wave, which slightly damages and stun nearby units and also inflicts moderate damage to nearby buildings
- Battle of the Maiar: Gandalf faces his final test: he fights a Balrog of Morgoth. This Balrog may be summoned only if there are no nearby enemies, and he will attack Gandalf. He has to defeat him (his skills will reload faster). ALL Nearby units will be terrified by the clash and will not interfere. The Balrog can also be attacked by Gandalf, only. Should he be able to defeat him, he will die nonetheless for the effort and for the wounds, but after two minutes he will return to the closest citadel as Gandalf the White
This represents, to me, a more lore-wise way to show Gandalf's prowess and his return as the White, which is the most powerful rank an Istari may achieve. Also, since the ability can be cast in any moment, it gives the player a more challenging way to upgrade Gandalf: if he summons the Balrog while on lower levels, there's the risk he's not able to defeat him, therefore vanquishing his efforts and having to revive him as Gandalf the Grey (of course, the Balrog will disappear if Gandalf isn't able to defeat him). If he summons the Balrog while on higher levels, he will likely defeat him and get the free upgrade, but the enemy will have gained more time
What do you think about it?