Lilith by Murraythehuman

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Lilith

By: Murraythehuman
Last Updated: Oct 4, 2023
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Lilith

Mother of Sanctuary

An aggressive single-target melee assassin who prepares heroes for blood sacrifice.

Lilith is a hero of both subtlety and cruelty. She can hound a foe endlessly, chipping down at their health, before creating a gap at a moment's notice. In addition, her E ability, Blood Ritual, allows her to prep an enemy for high damage, which also sustains Lilith's health.

Strengths
  • Single target damage
  • Low cooldowns
  • Burst damage mitigation
Weaknesses
  • Short range
  • Telegraphed abilities
  • Situational mobility


Attack Type: Melee (lunge)
Attack Speed: 1.15
Attack Range: 1.25 (2.5)
Attack Damage: 99
Health: 1968
Health Regen: 4.1015
Resource: None (Subject to change.)


This hero concept was a bottom-up design. Initially starting out as just a trait and a Q ability, but quickly adding in a "Needle" mechanic that required players to set up a secondary target for potential damage. After adding in an ability that allowed the hero to survive difficult encounters and buy time, I knew I needed a very specific kind of character to fit the mold. While I considered many, the final three candidates were...
  • Lilith
  • A Vulpera (Meerah?)
  • Broodmother Shu'malis

In the end, Lilith's iconic nature and the flavor of Lilith as a "blood sacrifice" assassin played well together, with the added benefit of her Q ability being canon to her boss fight.

Combat Trait

1
Infernal Lunge
Lilith can basic attack enemies within twice her normal basic attack range. When basic attacking foes outside her range, she will lunge towards the target to close the gap.

Lilith has a permanent "Rehgar Mount attack". The range isn't great, but you can stick to enemies or simply dodge around the battlefield with this.

May add bonus damage to minions as a way to improve her poor waveclear.

Primary Abilities

1
Split Strike
Cooldown: 8 seconds.

Deal 126 damage to an adjacent enemy and stun them for .5 seconds. You and the target are pushed away from one-another.

You both move about 2.5 character distances. Using this as a peel is possible, but it's intended as a disengage/mobility tool.

This resembles a move Lilith uses in her boss fight, where she flaps her wings and leaps back, while pushing players away. The main differences are that this one is single target and stuns.
2
Rebuke
Cooldown: 9 seconds.

Activate to channel in place, gaining Unstoppable and Protected for 1 second. When the effect ends, Lilith gains a shield equal to 100% of the damage absorbed, decaying over 1.25 seconds.

The animation is simply of Lilith holding her palm out as she glows with demonic energy.

Lilith is a very aggressive hero, but this makes her extremely vulnerable. Rebuke lets her buy some time.
3
Blood Ritual
2 second cooldown. Cooldown starts when the move is no longer active, so it's often a 10 second cooldown.

After .25 seconds, throw an extremely long range Sacrificial Needle that bounces off walls. When the needle hits a hero it deals 66 damage and embeds into them for up to 8 seconds. While a target is embedded, a red line will be drawn between Lilith and the target.

Basic attacking or using Split Strike on the target Extracts the Needle, dealing 107 damage to the target plus an additional 77 damage for every second the hero was embedded, up to a maximum of 4 seconds. Lilith is healed for the damage dealt.

This is a much more verbose basic ability than I normally like to create, but it's one that's much more simple to understand in action. A sacrificial needle bound by blood is thrown, and it bounces around rapidly. If it misses, it is tugged back in. If it hits someone, their healthbar slowly grows a 'damage over time' indicator, though no actual DoT damage is done. If Lilith can get close enough to hit her foe, she can steal back the needle and all the energy it had been draining from them.

There is a section below describing this ability in better detail.

The hitbox on this move is quite thin, like a Hanzo arrow. Like scatter arrow, this bounces, but instead of having a fixed number of bounces, it bounces until the full length of the skillshot is reached. Unlike scatter arrow, this move does not reveal its path, so it has limited application as a scouting tool.

Heroic Abilities

1
Group Sacrifice
Cooldown: 30 seconds.

Activate to embed an untalented Blood Ritual needle in every nearby enemy hero. No red line is drawn between Lilith and foes hit by Group Sacrifice.

Heroes can only have one Blood Ritual needle in them at a time.

Do keep in mind these are untalented, as things would get very OP very quickly otherwise.
2
Daughter of Hatred
Cooldown: 80 seconds.

After 1 second, Lilith transforms into a more grotesque form, purging all damage over time effects from herself. While in this form she has 25 armor and 25% increased spell power and attack speed.

Daughter of Hatred lasts 12 seconds.

I am considering adding 50% Relentless to this heroic.

Blood Ritual's Finer Points.

The damage
Blood Ritual can deal up to 400 damage in a single hit, making it one of the strongest basic abilities in the game. However, in spite of this quality, the move is one of extreme risk versus reward, and requires planning and foresight on the part of Lilith if she wants to get much value out of it. If you just throw the ability out and hit someone, the most you can hope for is to stall an objective. The 66 damage done by the impact is pitiful.

However, basic attacking (or using Q on) a target inflicted by Blood Ritual will deal a guaranteed 107 spell damage to the target, which is also not particularly high, but for every second the player waits before landing that follow up hit, the damage increased by 77, rapidly stacking up to 107+308 damage, for a powerful coup de gr

Level 1 Talents

Extra Sustain Tier. Lilith's main form of sustain, Blood Ritual, can be a limiting mechanic. This lets her stay alive a little longer.

Q: Clean Break - Lower the cooldown of Split Strike by 1 second. Lilith gains a permanent 178 health shield that only refreshes when using Split Strike on an enemy hero.

W: Contravention - Lilith heals for 20% of the damage absorbed by Rebuke.

Passive: Touch of Blood - Damaging enemy heroes with basic attacks or basic abilities causes Lilith to restore 19 health over 5 seconds, stacking up to 10 times.

Level 4 Talents

A talent tier dedicated to Blood Ritual, with a focus towards rewarding Lilith for maximizing its power.

E: Blood Fuelled - Extracting a Blood Ritual needle causes Lilith's basic ability cooldowns to recharge 50% faster for 1 second, increased to 4 seconds if Blood Ritual was extracted at full power.

E: Bloodburn - Lilith gains an aura that deals 15 damage per second to nearby enemies. Extracting a Blood Ritual needle at full power restores 10% of Lilith's maximum health over 5 seconds. While regaining health from Blood Fuelled, Lilith's damage aura deals 200% more damage.

E: Great Sacrifice - ? Quest: Extract Blood Ritual Needles at full power. ? Reward: Each Blood Ritual Needle extracted at full power increases how its extraction damage per second by 2.5. ? Reward: After reaching 50 additional damage per second, extracting a full power Blood Ritual Needle also reduces the target's armor by 15 for 2.5 seconds, increasing the damage they take by 15%.

Level 7 Talents

The gap-closer talent tier is filled with mechanics designed to help Lilith move around the battlefield. Into my Clutches makes use of a mechanic not seen since The Butcher's "Unrelenting Pursuit" talent, making it so that orientation matters while your enemy is prepped for sacrifice. Through Hell is one of the talents I could see being modified to become partially baseline.

W: Channel Hatred - Lilith can move while channelling Rebuke, but at 50% reduced movement speed. While Lilith has shields from Rebuke, she gains 25% increased movement speed. Passive: Rebuke's shields last .75 seconds longer.

E: Into my Clutches - Blood Ritual slows the target by 20% if they are moving away from Lilith, and grants Lilith 20% increased movement speed as long as she is moving toward the target.

Trait (D): Through Hell - After using a basic ability, Lilith's next basic attack has 125% increased lunge distance and slows the target by 25% for 1.5 seconds.

Heroic Talents

(Detailed above)

Level 13 Talents

Lilith's post-10 talents all fall into the region of 'flex talents'. The first three open up new ways to play the character by capitalizing on unique situations.

Q: Mephisto's Contempt - Split Strike deals 125% bonus damage to foes below 50% health. Additionally, takedowns refund Split Strike's cooldown.

Q: Ravaging Wings - Increase Split Strike's stun duration by .25 seconds and cause it to deal its damage in an area around the main target, knocking back and stunning all foes hit.

E: Blood Coil - Bouncing Blood Tribute's needle off of a wall before it hits a hero increases the rate at which it reaches full power by 33%, stacking up to two bounces.

Level 16 Talents

Level 16 is very similar to 13, adding new opportunities to Lilith's gameplan. Both feature a Q talent that modifies the cooldown of Q, creating some friction between the two.

W: Blood Petal Lash - After Rebuke's channel ends, all heroes who she absorbed ability damage from take 216 damage and have their spell power reduced by 35% for 2.5 seconds.

Passive: Taste of Flesh - Every unique enemy hero Lilith has damaged with a basic attack or basic ability in the last 6 seconds increases the damage of her basic attacks by 20%, up to 100%.

E: Titan's Tribute - Extracting a Blood Ritual Needle deals bonus damage equal to 1% of the target's maximum health, increased to 6% if the Blood Ritual Needle was at full strength.

R/E: Needlework - Increase the damage of the initial impact of Blood Ritual by 100%. Every time Lilith extracts a needle from a hero, her heroic ability cooldown is reduced by 2.5% for every second it had been embedded, up to 10%.

Storm Talents

Storm talents. Upgrades to her heroics aren't particularly extreme, but grant her some more power during longer fights.

R1: Complete the Ritual - After Extracting the last needle from all enemies affected by Group Sacrifice, Lilith deals 84 damage to all foes afflicted, increased by 100% for each enemy hit by the initial Group Sacrifice.

R2: Mother of Sanctuary - Lilith heals for 2% of her maximum health per second while Daughter of Hatred is active. Basic attacks against enemy heroes while Daughter of Hatred is active increases its duration by .5 seconds.

E: Revival Through Sacrifice - Lower the cooldown of Blood Tribute by .5 seconds. ? Quest: Each time Lilith extracts a full strength Blood Ritual Needle, it lowers the duration of her next death timer by 12.5%, stacking up to 6 times. All stacks of this effect are lost on death.

Active: Tribute to the Storm - Activate to instantly teleport to your Blood Tribute target. 60 second cooldown.

Changelog

4/10/2023
  • Group Sacrifice's cooldown has been increased from 30 seconds to 50.
  • Level 1 Talent Contravention now heals Lilith from all sources of damage.
  • Level 7 Talents have been reworked to try and grant them all a specific identity:
    • Great Sacrifice and Mass Tribute filled a very similar niche, so their effects have been combined into one, keeping the name Great Sacrifice. Additionally, Lilith only heals for half the bonus damage dealt. (Identity: Questing and burst damage.)
    • Blood Fuelled's name has been put onto a brand new talent that lowers her cooldowns. The old Blood Fuelled has been renamed to Bloodburn. (Identity: Q/W builds.)
    • Bloodburn's Burning Rage effect has had its damage increased from 11 to 15. (Identity: Laning and sustain.)
  • Level 16 Talent Taste of Flesh has had its effects modified. As long as Lilith has damaged a hero within the last 6 seconds, they count towards her stacking effect. This should be a semi-flexible way to let Lilith deal a lot of AA damage.
  • Level 20 Talent Revival Through Sacrifice was always intended more as a "token revival" talent, and was never intended to be anything more than a gimmick, but to make sure it has some effectiveness, it now reduces the the timer by 12.5% per stack, but only up to 6 times (75%). Additionally, it comes with a relatively minor cooldown to Blood tribute to slightly mitigate its nature as a gimmick ability.

5/10/2023
  • Great Sacrifice's functionality was reverted.
  • New level 16 Talent: Titan's Tribute. Functions like the old Mass Tribute, dealing % damage to targets.

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