Hello there!
A few months ago, I devised a concept for a reimagined implementation of the Balrog in the game. I didn't initially mean to post it as a suggestion, but thanks to the encouragement of my fellow Wikia team members I decided to improve on it and post it as an official suggestion for the Misty Mountains spellbook, once the gobbos roll around
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So, without further ado, here it is:
Tier 4 spell for the Misty Mountains: Dúrin's BaneOn buying the spell, it unlocks a new hero: Shaman of Bane, and a spellbook power to summon the Balrog, that is hostile to everyone, temporarily. The Balrog can only be summoned near the Shaman of the Bane. (Necro's idea: The Balrog can be summoned even when the Shaman of the Bane is not on the field.)
At this concept's core is the idea that the Balrog is not on the side of the Goblins at all, and is instead a force that will obliterate anyone that dares to stand in its path. The Shaman of the Bane, through its skillset, will be able to use several abilities that can allow the Misty Mountains player to direct the Balrog's path of onslaught, but if the player is not careful enough, the ability can hinder the player himself, granting an element of risk-reward to the Balrog that I feel fits its nature a lot.
The Shaman of the Bane's skillset is as follows:
Level 1 – Shaman of the Bane – The Shaman of the Bane is one of Moria's most prominent commanders, purely because of the craftiness and boldness he has displayed at manipulating the fell creature that dwells in the depths of Moria: Dúrin's Bane. When the Shaman of Bane is recruited, the Balrog will be summonable from the spellbook. He is hostile to everyone and will move randomly. Activate to create a decoy point, that will debuff nearby enemies by a small amount and deceive the Balrog, leading it there, attacking anything in its path, including the Shaman himself, and also granting two levels to the Shaman of the Bane each time it is used.
Level 3 – Blocked paths – The Shaman of Bane orders a troll to bring down a column, blocking a path temporarily so the Balrog won't go through it. Also knocks back enemies directly below the area where it is activated.
Level 5 – Bring the prisoners – The Shaman orders the goblins to drop some dwarven prisoners on an enemy building, creating a decoy point there. The Balrog will fly there and obliterate the building and keep attacking the area surrounding it.
Level 7 – Hellfire – The Shaman creates an illusion of a dwarven army in a selected place, making the Balrog go over there rapidly and breathe fire in a big area, killing the enemies there.
For this ability, there are two options for the Balrog to travel to the destination: either flying or igniting while gaining a speed buff. The main con for flying is that it'd be too similar to the Shaman's level 5 ability, while igniting, which differs from flying a lot and fits quite a bit, could make it much easier to dodge the fire breath.
Level 10 – Deal with the Dark – For a cost of 2000, the Shaman will make an offering to the Balrog, upgrading the spellbook power for a single use. This will make it so the Balrog is on your side when summoned. Its timer, however, will be shorter than the neutral Balrog's.
The Balrog's timer while summoned as hostile to everyone would be slightly longer than usual, to allow the Misty Mountains player to try and make full use of it, and to make it a more relevant force on the battlefield. His timer while controlled would be the usual short Balrog timer, to avoid it becoming OP since it'd now be in the player's hands for a short time, ready for the Misty Mountains player to make use of all its capabilities.
When the Balrog is under the player's control, it'd have the abilities it used to have in 3.8.1. I consider them to be very fitting, and I see no real need to change them.
All in all, I think that this may be a suitable reimagining for the Balrog spell, given the idea of making every spellbook power unique that started with every spellbook's rework in 4.5, and that will add a lot of flavour to the Goblin faction once it is released.
I hope you enjoyed this concept, if you have any suggestions or feedback, feel free to post it
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Credit:
- My fellow Edain Wikia team members, for helping with fine-tuning the concept and encouraging me to post it
In favour:
1. Oakenshield224
2. Captain Corrigan
3. Trondheim
4. Strider
5. CaptainChunk!
6. Seleukos
7. Necro
8. Gandalf7000 (Thrandy on Discord)
9. Smeargollum
10. FrediusAgainst: