Glorfindel, the Elf in Silver Armour
Today I come to ModdingUnion with a proposal to change one of Middle-Earth's most powerful elves, and one that in my opinion quite needs a rework. Glorfindel is currently the Tank hero for Imladris, and in my opinion he is currently a bit underwhelming and unfitting for the character that he is on the lore. He was such a great warrior he slew a Balrog and was brought back from the Halls of Mandos due to his noble actions in life. I don't think that his current version in Edain reflects the true nature of this character, limiting him to the role of a tank. As such, my suggestion is focused on opening his usefulness to more than a simple tank, while also keeping and improving this aspect of him and finding suitable abilities for him that help the representation of this character to be more faithful to the source in the mod.
First: Glorfindel's armourI'll focus at first on Glorfindel's aspect. This was discussed on the “Glorfindel rework” topic, started by Calsash, which is over two years old now:
https://modding-union.com/index.php/topic,33877.0.html. It also includes a proposal to make Glorfindel improve on his tank abilities, and while I found it to be good, I want to take my proposal in a different direction. However, the proposals made about his armour in that very topic would fit the nature of this one, and so I believe the images included there are quite a good fit for a change on Glorfindel's armour. His current looks (the golden armour, I find the other one to be fine)) are underwhelming at the moment, and silver armour like the ones shown in the thread could be a great fit for him.
Second: Glorfindel's role in the faction and his skillset:Glorfindel currently has the following abilities:
Level 1: Mount/Dismount - Left click to switch between mounted and on foot.
Level 3: Blade of Purity (on foot only) - Glorfindel calls upon his inner strength and purity, causing a brilliant light to emanate from him which gives him a small area of effect attack. It also causes him to receive only half damage from enemy abilities. Only available on foot. Not available during Collect Starlight.
Level 3: Wind Rider (mounted only) - Glorfindel's courage and strength inspire his mount to a great effort, giving Glorfindel +40% speed and +50% armor for a short time. He is unable to trample enemy units for the duration of the ability.
Level 5: Collect Starlight - Glorfindel, as a High Elf Lord, is able to enter the Shadow World and surround himself with pure light. For 60 seconds Glorfindel is filled with pure light which slowly restores his hit points and partially repulses melee damage dealt by enemies. The collected starlight can be released. If the Starlight is not released within 60 seconds it will have no effect. Not available during Blade of Purity.
Level 7: Brilliant Illumination - Glorfindel is the only Elf who has seen the Halls of Mandos and returned to Middle-earth, bringing the blessing of the Valar with him. Every 30 seconds he will be completely protected from an enemy attack or ability. (Passive ability)
Level 10: Light of Hope - Glorfindel becomes illuminated in his wrath, blazing brilliantly and terrifying all nearby enemies who dare raise arms against him. For 60 seconds enemy units near Glorfindel become continuously paralyzed.
While this set of abilities is quite interesting, I think Glorfindel could use more versatility to better reflect his character and his prowess as a warrior. As such, here's my proposed skillset for Glorfindel:
Level 1 – Lord of the House of the Golden Flower – Glorfindel is one of the finest warriors in Middle-Earth, and his past deeds inspire fear in the enemies of the Free Peoples. Nearby enemies will suffer a slight debuff in attack and armour. Activate to make Glorfindel mount his horse.
Glorfindel is no ordinary warrior. In the First Age, he killed a Balrog, one of Morgoth's most powerful servants. This is no mere feat, and I believe it justifies this ability. Glorfindel's mere presence would make the enemies of the Free Peoples tremble in fear, in a similar way to how orcs from the Third Age knew and feared Orcrist and Glamdring.
Level 3 - Wind Rider (mounted only) - Glorfindel's courage and strength inspire his mount to a great effort, giving Glorfindel +40% speed and +50% armor against pikes and cavalry for a short time. He is unable to trample enemy units for the duration of the ability.
I don't think this ability really needs a substantial change. It does its work quite well and can reflect Glorfindel's prowess. However, its armour effect will only work against Pikes and Cavalry now. Since Blade of Purity provides an armour bonus too, I wanted to differentiate the two of them, even if they won't overlap.
Level 3 - Blade of Purity – Glorfindel calls upon his inner strength and purity. His blade shines with pure light. Glorfindel receives less damage from infantry and hero attacks and his attack speed improves slightly for the duration of the ability, while gaining a small area of effect.
This ability would change slightly, retaining its tank capabilities in a different way and its area of effect bonus (which radius would be a bit bigger than the current one), but also improving Glorfindel's attack speed to make him more of a threat to the enemy lines. The current effect (half damage from enemy abilities) is nice in principle, but Glorfindel suddenly turning into his silver armour can give it away for the enemy player, who can just avoid using abilities on Glorfindel until it is over. Also, a similar but better effect is on his level 7 ability, which will also change on this rework, so it gets replaced by taking less damage from infantry and hero attacks, since avoiding damage from regular attacks will no longer be part of his level 7 ability. Moreover, this ability will no longer either change Glorfindel into his “light” looks, or be disabled when Collect Starlight is enabled.
Level 5 – Collect Starlight – Glorfindel, as a High Elf lord, is able to enter the Shadow World and surround himself with pure light. For 60 seconds, Glorfindel slowly restores his hit points, partially repulses melee damage dealt by enemies and it will cause fear on nearby enemies at the sight of the sudden burst of light. The collected starlight can be released. If the Starlight is not released within 60 seconds it will have a weaker effect.
This ability would be the only one to change Glorfindel to his “light” armour. His repulsing of damage to enemies and his regeneration of hitpoints would be kept, as they are quite nice currently. The fear effect would be in the vein of the level 1 ability. While Glorfindel was already feared by his enemies, reducing their ability to fight properly, him suddenly getting surrounded by pure light would strike with fear on the enemies of Imladris, causing them to flee. The effect of releasing starlight stays as is, but after 60 seconds it will no longer have no effect, but automatically apply its effect, albeit in a weaker way and end the Starlight phase.
Level 7 – Brilliant Illumination – Glorfindel is the only elf who has seen the Halls of Mandos and returned to Middle-Earth, bringing the blessing of the Valar with him. Every 30 seconds he will be completely protected from a enemy ability. (Passive ability)
While this ability was quite nice in principle, the fact that even a Mordor Orc's attack could trigger it rendered it less useful than it should be. With the retooling of it to just have an effect on enemy abilities (something that was suggested on the aforementioned Glorfindel rework thread), the ability will certainly regain usefulness and become worthy of Glorfindel and the level 7 spot.
Level 10 – Light of Hope – Glorfindel becomes illuminated in his wrath, blazing brilliantly and terrifying all nearby enemies who dare raise arms against him. For 60 seconds enemies near Glorfindel become constantly paralyzed and Glorfindel's level 1 debuffs cause double their effect.
Glorfindel's level 10 ability will be the defining feature of this terrifying warrior. This was already a quite good ability, but I believe adding the effect to synergize with his level 1 passive is a nice way to further reflect the character of Glorfindel: the elf sent back as a light of hope, that while we don't get to see much of his actions in the Third Age, would most certainly be the driving force of the elves of Imladris if they got into battle.
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This ability concludes the Glorfindel rework. While keeping his tank capabilities to still reflect the role he has been given in Edain, I've tried to change their effects to better reflect the amazing warrior he is, something that wasn't really reflected through his current tank role alone. Some other issues like the low health he had for a tank could be “avoided” through these changes. He'd no longer be just a pure Tank, but a driving force that can take hits (albeit maybe not so much as pure tanks like Karsh or Boromir are), and also turn the tides in the battle. I'm not sure if this would warrant a cost increase, but I believe that's an angle worth considering too.
I hope to see your opinions!
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Also, I'd like to give special thanks to Oakenshield224, Necro, Walküre and SilverElf for their feedback and some ideas that helped the proposal reach its final iteration!
I had the idea for the proposal precisely when I last played Hero Submod, a few days ago, so it had its share of influence on me starting this proposal!![[ugly]](https://modding-union.com/Smileys/mu/ugly.gif)
have you considered also this option?
