Karax by Murraythehuman

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Karax

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A flexible bruiser who can directly upgrade his abilities by fighting up close.

This hero concept is relatively straightforward. After someone introduced me to the concept of Solarite, I was intrigued by if the idea of a hero with a secondary style of self-upgrading could work. If such an idea was to be implemented, it would have to use only the existing inputs and UI, so pop-ups for grids or talent trees or the like would be inappropriate.

However, one issue a hero with such a robust upgrading system would have (as is the case with most questing heroes), is an innate tendency to become Feast or Famine. As such, I didn't want to introduce any mechanics that directly boosted immediate damage or sustain, but ones that would instead improve the hero's 'opportunities'.

Karax has a unique set of 3 icons to the left of his health bar, each displays the number of upgrades of his basic abilities.

Attack Type: Melee
Attack Speed: 1.20
Attack Range: 1.25
Attack Damage: 70
Health: 2200
Health Regen: 4.583
Resource: Mana

Playstyle breakdown

Spoiler: Click to view

Combat Trait

Phase Smith

Karax gains 1 Solarite every second, as well as 5 Solarite every time he basic attacks an enemy hero. By expending 100 Solarite, he can activate Phase Smith to select and upgrade a basic ability.

_{In case it's not clear, once you select your trait, you then cast/select the ability, and it'll be upgraded instead of being cast. You can also re-select trait to cancel.

The maximum stacks are some arbitrary number in the hundreds of thousands. It would just be user-hostile to punish players who want to think a bit longer on their decision. Just buy when you've made your decision.

This move is LOCKED UNTIL THE GAME STARTS, so you only start generating Solarite once the gates open.

Karax has special voice lines he'll periodically spout when he has 100 Solarite and hasn't spent it yet.}

Primary Abilities

Phase Cannon

Cooldown: 6 seconds.
Mana Cost: 30

After .25 seconds, fire a barrage of 5 energy projectiles towards the cursor. Enemies hit take 66 damage and are slowed by 25% for 1 second.

Upgrades increase the number of projectiles by 1.

Range: 7

_{Each shot is spaced about .1 seconds apart, for a total channel time of about .75 seconds.

This is Karax's main source of damage, as well as a useful poke tool. Each upgrade increases your potential damage by 20%. Though because you are locked in place while channelling, upgrades won't necessarily translate directly into damage.

Note that this works similar to Gall's Shadow Bolt Volley, you don't need to fire all shots in the same direction.

Hit Q again to cancel (only after .75 seconds).}

Power Strikes

Cooldown: 10 seconds.
Mana Cost: 40

Karax gains 75% increased attack speed for 2.5 seconds. Attacks empowered by Power Strikes heal Karax for 50% of the damage dealt, tripled against heroes.

Upgrades increase the duration by .25 seconds.

_{Power Strikes is an important mechanic for keeping Karax in the fight, as well as for generating Solarite. The move is, however, somewhat underwhelming as a damage tool. Additionally, in terms of raw benefit, upgrading Power Strikes is Karax's weakest option out of the three. But because it directly improves your Solarite Generation, it's worth investing in, especially early on. If, for some insane reason, you upgraded it 30 times, you would be able to keep the ability up indefinitely.}

Thunder Drop

Cooldown: 15 seconds.
Mana Cost: 70

Karax rises, becoming Immune for 1 second before warping to the marked area and creating a shockwave that deals 130 damage and stuns enemies hit for .75 seconds. If Thunder Drop hits at least one enemy hero, its cooldown is reduced by 5 seconds.

Upgrading increases the move's range by 10%.

Range: 6
Radius: 3

_{This is a very powerful ability, with both a moment's damage immunity, followed by a stun. The move is fairly easy to dodge, as the damage radius is displayed immediately upon activation, and the default range and radius are identical to Hogger's dynamite.

Since upgrading Thunder Drop only improves the move's range and not its power, upgrading this opens up new opportunities, but may prove redundant in a number of cases. Regardless, leaping to distance locations gives Karax some hard-to-match playmaking power.

However, because this move has the potential to be used as a 'free escape', the move punishes you with a longer cooldown if you don't hit anyone.

The targeted area for this move appears immediately, and displays a red Protoss icon in the middle, immediately conveying which ability it is when used, gutting some of its potential for surprise attacks.

Note: "At least one enemy hero" means that the cooldown reduction only applies once, so hitting 5 people is still only a 6 second reduction.}

Heroic Abilities

Overload

Cooldown: 20 seconds.

Your next basic ability casts with its upgrade effects doubled.

_{So this one's a bit of a payoff ability, used to greatly enhance one of your abilities. The more widely you spread your upgrades, the more versatile this heroic becomes, but the more you stack a single ability with upgrades, the more powerful it becomes.}

Solarite Beam

Cooldown: 75 seconds.
Mana Cost: 60

After .75 seconds, Karax fires a pair of incredibly long ranged beams from either side of his body in the target direction, crossing over at the cursor. The beams deal 150 damage, and grant 5 Solarite per hero hit. Heroes hit by both beams take an additional 200 damage and grant an additional 20 Solarite.

_{Solarite Beam is targetted similarly to Li Ming's Q, but with no middle projectile, and with the starting point of each projectile spread out further. The 'projectile' of this move has a very high range, with the speed of the projectile increasing as it travels. Land both lasers for a toasty 500 damage, plus 30 Solarite, or more when hitting multiple heroes.}

Level 1 Talents

Survivability talents that all encourage different means of applying your upgrades. Solarite Heart is somewhat dangerous (and only tentatively balanced), but further adds rewards to upgrading stats. Phase Shields favors an even spread, but doesn't necessitate it, while Boosting Strikes can grant a payoff to high stacks of Power Strikes, or simply enable one of Karax's other two abilities with its lowered cooldown.

Trait (D): Solarite Heart - Every time an ability is upgraded, it also upgrades one of Karax's stats. Upgrading Phase Cannon grants .5% increased maximum Mana, upgrading Power Strikes grants .5% increased movement speed, and upgrading Thunder drop grants .5% increased maximum health.

Trait (D): Phase Shields - Whenever you cast an ability, gain a 100 health shield for 2 seconds, increased by 20 for each upgrade the ability has received. Activating an ability will refresh the shields to match the new ability's shields.

W: Boosting Strikes - While Power Strikes is active, Karax gains 10% increased movement speed. Quest: Upgrade Power Strikes 4 times. Reward: While Power Strikes is active, Karax's basic attacks against heroes lower the cooldowns of Phase Cannon and Thunder Drop by .75 seconds.

Level 4 Talents

Talents that help with gaining Solarite. Press On follows from the design of Imperius's Press Forward, granting Karax a continuous source of health and Solarite if he plays aggressively in lane. Nerve Coils changes the nature of Power Strikes, making it a good tool for Karax to use in overly lethal matches, as it allows him to keep his distance while building up stacks of Solarite. Lastly, Vortex Maximizer rewards aggressive use of Thunder Drop, especially when used for takedowns.

Passive: Press On - Your Regen Globes heal you for 50% longer. While under the effects of a Regen Globe, your passive Solarite generation is increased by 150%. Damaging enemy heroes while under the effects of a regen globe refreshes the regen globe's duration.

W: Nerve Coils - While Power Strikes is active, Karax strikes with his tentacles, causing his basic attacks to become ranged and grant an additional 5 Solarite when used on heroes.

E: Vortex Maximizer - Hitting heroes with Thunder Drop grants 15 Solarite. Quest: Upgrade Thunder Drop 8 times. Reward: Takedowns now refresh Thunder drop's cooldown.

Level 7 Talents

Dedicated Phase Cannon talent tier. Increase its power and/or utility. Channel Energies grants Karax a pretty substantial boost to his survivability, while Spreadshot can either be used to boost his potential single target damage at close range by a massive amount, or to simply spread out damage to a larger group. Lastly, Focusing Prism boosts his range, letting him play more safely, while adding a very powerful piercing effect if the player is willing to invest the required Solarite.

Q: Channel Energies - While channelling Phase Cannon and for .5 seconds after, Karax gains 25 armor. Each time Phase Cannon hits a hero, the duration of the armor is extended by .25 seconds.

Q: Spreadshot - Phase Cannon now fires 3 projectiles at once in a tight fan formation, each one dealing 50% reduced damage.
_{People are apparently confused by this one. Basically each shot now shoots 3 at once, so with no upgrades, that would be 15 projectiles instead of 5, but now they deal 50% reduced damage each, meaning it's slightly harder to maximize the damage against a single target, because it's like trying to hit all 5 fireballs from Diablo's fire stomp.}

Q: Focusing Prism - Increase the range of Phase Cannon by 25%. Quest: Upgrade Phase Cannon 12 times. Reward: Phase Cannon pierces all non-structure enemies.

Heroic Talents

Detailed above.

Level 13 Talents

Simple flex talents that don't follow much of an overall theme, but add extra opportunities to Karax's kit. Reroute Energy can reward players who use their cooldowns intelligently, either for a harder engage with Thunder Drop, or more dedication to either Phase Cannon or Power Strikes. Quantum Edge Strike, on the other hand, Quantum-edge Strike improves Karax's single target damage, allowing him to focus down a single enemy in a manner he is usually incapable of. Lastly, Transmat Reverb adds superb extra power to teamfights, and indirectly boosts Thunder Drop's damage.

Trait (D): Reroute Energy - While all of Karax's basic abilities are off cooldown, his next ability is treated as if it has 6 additional upgrades.

W: Quantum-edge Strike - The first basic attack of Power Strikes against a hero deals an additional 233 damage over 3 seconds, slowing the target by 15% for the duration. Each time Karax damages the target it refreshes the duration.

E: Transmat Reverb - Upon reappearing, Thunder Drop releases a pulse that travels outwards, dealing 145 damage and slowing nearby heroes by 50%, decaying over 2 seconds.

Level 16 Talents

A powerspike talent tier that pays off your stacks with very direct damage boosts. Photon-Breaker adds a final boost to Phase Cannon, which rewards a good balance of upgrades, as too many will make it too hard to land. Golden Arsenal gives Karax a means of shredding tanks across his two primary sources of damage, while Hullcracker can enable him to set up for a kill against one or more priority targets.

Q: Photon-breaker - .5 seconds after the last shot of Phase Cannon, Karax fires an additional, untalented projectile that explodes in an area around the first enemy hit, dealing 233 damage, increased by 10% for each Phase Cannon Upgrade. Deals half damage to structures.

Q/W: Golden Arsenal - Phase Cannon shots and basic attacks empowered by Power Strikes deal .5% of a hero's maximum health in bonus damage.

E: Hullcracker - Thunder Drop reduces the armor of enemy heroes hit by 15 for 2.5 seconds, increasing the damage they take by 20%. The armor reduction is increased by 1 for each Thunder Drop upgrade, to a maximum of 40.

Storm Talents

Somewhat basic, but nonetheless effective Storm talents. Overload gives you more regular access to your doubled upgrades, or unleash your inner Will of Gall with Master Phase Smith, and stack up like crazy. Lastly, Solarite Armor grants a new way to use Solarite, giving up long-term benefits for short bursts of survivability.

R1: Power Overwhelming - Reduce the cooldown of Overload by 10 seconds. It gains an additional Charge.

R2: Reclamation - Reduce the Cooldown of Solarite Beam by 10 seconds. Each Solarite Beam that hits an enemy hero reduces its cooldown by reduced by 15 seconds and restores 15 Mana.

Trait (D): Solar Winds - Deal 40 damage per second to all nearby enemies. Every time an enemy hero is damaged by Solar Winds, gain 2 Solarite. Passive: Takedowns generate 100 Solarite.

Active: Solarite Armor - Activate to gain Unstoppable and restore 15% of your maximum health over 1.5 seconds. Activating this ability costs 25 Solarite. 15 second cooldown.

Version History

14/2/2023

Thunder Drop's flavor has been changed, no longer having Karax slam down, but instead he warps to the target area and the resulting shockwave deals the damage. Additionally, its cooldown has gone from 18 to 16 (or 10, when hitting a hero).
The crossing part of Solarite Beam's damage has been reduced from 300 to 200, but it now grants an additional 5 Solarite. The individual beam damage has been reduced from 160 to 150. Additionally, its cooldown and mana cost have been reduced to 70.
Solarite Heart now applies the effect with every upgrade, instead of every second upgrade. The original reason for this was because I was unsure if movement speed could be increased in increments of .5%, but I have since learned that it can.
Magnus Slam no longer lowers Thunder Drop's cooldown by 2 seconds in its quest reward as the effect is now baseline.
All level 13 talents were buffed.
- Reroute energy now adds 1 additional upgrade (5 -> 6)
- Quantum Edge Strike no longer harms non-heroes, weakening it as a PvE tool. To compensate, it now slows the target by 15% for its duration, making Karax very sticky.
- Slamwave's slow increased from 50% to 60%, and its description has been expanded to describe that the effect has a travel time.
Reclamation now lowers the cooldown of Solarite Beam by 10 seconds to compensate for the lowered cooldown. Additionally, each time a beam hits a hero, the cooldown is reduced by 15 seconds (with 15 restored mana), but there's no longer an extra reward for hitting both lasers. This should turn the move into a wild poking cool in certain situations when the enemy is grouped up.
Master Phase Smith now has its bonus Solarite Generation increased from 50% to 200%, BUT only applies while in a combat situation, adding risk to the move. The reward for getting a takedown is now 100 Solarite instead of 150.
Buyback now costs 150 Solarite instead of 180, but I may remove this one altogether, as I feel it has the potential to spoil the fun of Karax.

16/8/2023

Thunder Drop's immune time/windup is now .75 seconds, up from .5 seconds. The immunity time granted is a massive boon, but the increasingly telegraphed nature of the move adds some risk.
Revised some of the descriptive text to help convey ideas better, and to fix mistakes.
Overload now no longer costs Mana and its cooldown has been reduced from 25 to 20.
Solarite Beam's cooldown has been reduced to 60, down from from 70, but its Mana cost has been increased to 75.
Level 1 Talent Phase Shield now grants 25 extra shields per ability upgrade, down from 30.
Level 1 Talent Solarite Heart now only grants .5% increased Maximum Health per upgrade, down from 1%.
Level 4 Talent Magnus Slam renamed to "Vortex Maximizer".
Level 13 Talent Slamwave renamed to "Transmat Reverb", and its slow has been reduced to 50% from 60%.
Level 16 Talent Photon Breaker now has a stated damage value of 233.
Level 16 Talent Hullcracker now has its maximum armor reduction set to 40, down from 50.
Level 20 Talent Master Phase Smith renamed to "Solar Winds". No longer generates triple Solarite when near a single enemy hero, but is instead a burning-rage effect that generates Solarite every time it damages an enemy. The radius is smaller, but the potential for Solarite generation is higher.
Level 20 Talent Active: Buyback - While dead, spend 150 Solarite to instantly resurrect at the Hall of Storms. 60 second cooldown. Removed. While I like the concept behind the move, I feel like it could encourage a terrible playstyle that revolves entirely around stockpiling Solarite to simply have no death timer.

19/8/2023

Minor corrections
Level 4 talent Nerve Coils no longer slows, but the Solarite granted per hit has been increased from 3 to 5.
The base armor reduction of Level 16 talent Hullcracker reduced from 20 to 15.

30/08/2023

Level 4 talent Channel Energies armor reduced from 30 to 25.

02/09/2023

The range of Photon Cannon has been increased from 6.6 to 7.
Thunder Drop has had its stats modified. Its range (and thus the range boosts from upgrading the ability) has been increased from 5 to 6. However, its warp time has been increased from .75 to 1, giving more time for the enemy team to move out of its range and prepare a counterattack (such as Entangling Roots). Lastly, its cooldown has been decreased to 15 seconds, but the reduction from hitting a hero has been reduced to 5 seconds.
Level 20 talent Reclamation's base cooldown reduction increased from 10 to 15.
New level 20 talent: Solarite Armor.

Karax by Murraythehuman

Karax

Karax

Mighty Phase Smith

Combat Trait

Primary Abilities

Heroic Abilities

Level 1 Talents

Level 4 Talents

Level 7 Talents

Heroic Talents

Level 13 Talents

Level 16 Talents

Storm Talents

Version History

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Heroes of the Storm

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Karax by Murraythehuman

Karax

Karax

Mighty Phase Smith

Combat Trait

Primary Abilities

Heroic Abilities

Level 1 Talents

Level 4 Talents

Level 7 Talents

Heroic Talents

Level 13 Talents

Level 16 Talents

Storm Talents

Version History

Quick Comment

Heroes of the Storm