Nazeebo Talent Rework by Murraythehuman

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Nazeebo Talent Rework

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Nazeebo as a hero has a fairly well-designed core moveset, as well as a focused gameplan. His basic abilities are intentionally hard to land, but have major payoffs when executed correctly. That said, over time his character has drifted in a problematic direction, and this was seen to in his August 2021 rework, which... did not seem to understand what the problems with Nazeebo were.

Simply put, all the team really did was buff him. They gave every other talent he had some extra boons, just so that he'd have a higher winrate, not realizing that when a character like this has a less-than-ideal winrate, it's usually because the character kit was simply too problematic to be given straight buffs. Today, Nazeebo is generally despised in QM and other lower-level environments, and his dependency upon Vile Infection is still one of his most defining characteristics. The problem with Nazeebo wasn't that his talents needed buffing, no, but rather that his entire talent tree needed reshuffling, and didn't provide adequate payoffs for Nazeebo stacking high with Voodoo Ritual outside of Vile Infection. Part of why Nazeebo doesn't receive much compensation for acquiring stacks is because it comes almost entirely from PvE, and rewarding a player too much for a relatively risk-free part of the game is always going to lead to problematic balance.

As such, this rework aims to...
A) Give Nazeebo ways to stack Voodoo Ritual in teamfights
B) Give Nazeebo more immediate payoffs to stacking high with Voodoo Ritual
C) Reel in Nazeebo's lategame talents while still making him a lategame hero

Combat Trait

1

Voodoo Ritual

Nazeebo's Basic Attacks and Abilities poison non-Heroic enemies, causing them to take 52 additional damage over 6 seconds.

❢ Quest: If a Minion dies while poisoned by Voodoo Ritual, Nazeebo permanently gains 4 Health and .5 Mana.

_{Damage done has been reduced slightly due to buffs in Nazeebo's talents. This will make it slightly harder for him to double lane. Additionally, Nazeebo receives far less health and mana per stack of Voodoo Ritual due to how easy it is for him to stack against heroes.}

Primary Abilities

1

Corpse Spiders

Hurl a jar of spiders that deals 50 damage and slows enemies hit by 20% for 1.5 seconds. If the jar hits at least one enemy, create 3 Corpse Spiders that attack for 32 damage. Spiders last for 4 seconds.

[Additional Changes that don't fit into the description: Spiders now move at around 60% standard hero speed, but accelerate over time, allowing them to chase down heroes. When they land an attack, their speed resets. The general idea being that they will deal less damage against foes who are attempting to run from them, but they'll deal more damage against foes who are slowed.]

_{While a bit too strong in its current iteration, Nazeebo's jar slowing is a change I think is unambiguously good, as it encourages him to land it against heroes where possible, instead of throwing it at a nearby PvE target and hoping for the best. In exchange, the damage has been reduced by a small amount.}

2

Zombie Wall

Unchanged.

3

Plague Toads

Unchanged.

Level 1 Talents

Nazeebo's new level 1 talent tier is all about determining what rewards he gets for stacking up his trait. The ability to poison heroes with basic attacks and deal more damage to minions? Increased spell damage for those dedicated to reaching high into the stackosphere? Or just more health and mana for the local witchdoctor?

Trait (D): Vile Infection - Nazeebo's basic attacks now apply Voodoo Ritual to enemy heroes. Heroes take twice as much damage each second, but are only infected for half as long. ❢ Quest: Each stack of Voodoo Ritual increases the damage of its poison effect by 1.
_{Due to scaling, this is not quite as impactful as one might think, especially as extra hits only refresh the duration.}

Trait (D): Thing of the Deep - Passive: Increases the range of Nazeebo's Basic Abilities by 20%. ❢ Quest: Gain 300 stacks of Voodoo Ritual. ❢ Reward: For every 30 stacks of Voodoo Ritual, gain 2% increased spell power, to a maximum of 20% increased spell power.
_{Thing of the Deep isn't being changed too much, though it now gives a bigger boost over the course of the game.}

Trait (D): Big Voodoo - Increases the Health and Mana bonuses from Voodoo Ritual by 100%.

Level 4 Talents

Nazeebo's level 4 talents now act to grant Nazeebo means of earning stacks while in battle, and do so at such high rates that it may not become uncommon for him to gain more stacks in battle than out of it, even if he's still best suited to the lane.

Q: Widowmakers - Every 3rd time a spider attacks an enemy hero grants Nazeebo a stack of Voodoo Ritual. ❢ Reward: After Corpse Spiders attack Heroes 100 times, it spawns an additional spider and their duration is increased by 1 second.

W: Dead Rush - Zombie Wall deals 50% more damage. When it expires up to 5 remaining Zombies uproot and attack nearby enemies for 3 seconds. Additionally, takedowns grant 10 stacks of Voodoo Ritual.

E: Toads of Hugeness - Increase the damage and explosion radius of Plague of Toads by 30% after each hop, up to a maximum of 120%. Passive: Hitting enemy heroes with a toad's explosion grant two stacks of Voodoo Ritual.

Level 7 Talents

Nazeebo's self-sustain talents. Resembles his old 4 talent tier. Now that these don't compete with Big Voodoo, it should be interesting to see what comes out on top. This tier has always been a little bland outside of Big Voodoo, and here isn't too different. That said, Old Fashioned Medicine is an experimental talent to see just what Nazeebo players will do for a bit of healing.

Q: Hexed Crawlers - Corpse Spiders restore 1% of Nazeebo's maximum Health and Mana when they attack an enemy Hero.

Passive: Blood Ritual - If an enemy dies while poisoned by Voodoo Ritual, restore 2% of Nazeebo's maximum Health and Mana. Additionally, takedowns restore 10% of Nazeebo's maximum health and mana.

Trait (D): Old Fashioned Medicine: Activate trait to consume 5 stacks of Voodoo Ritual and restore 25% of Nazeebo's maximum health and mana over 5 seconds. 30 second cooldown.

Heroic Talents

Unchanged.

Level 13 Talents

A talent tier that has mostly stayed the same, beyond some tweaks.

E: Guardian Toads - Hitting an enemy Hero with Plague of Toads gives 30 Armor for 3 seconds, stacking up to 6 seconds.
_{I don't know enough about Guardian Toads to suggest changes.}

Active: Voodoo Block - Activate to create a Voodoo Totem for up to 4 seconds. While the Voodoo Totem exists, Nazeebo is placed in Stasis and gains Invulnerability. If the Voodoo Totem is destroyed, the enemy who dealt the finishing blow loses 10% of their current health over 4 seconds and is slowed by 20% for the duration of the damage. 60 second cooldown.
_{A bit iffy on this execution, but if Nazeebo is going to keep this talent, I think it's fair to give him a voodoo-flavored one. I didn't, however, want this to be a move used for Nazeebo to cheekily win fights, so it's impossible for this move to get a kill on its own, and will only be particularly punishing for high health heroes who decide it's worth taking the damage to get to Nazeebo.}

Passive: Superstition - Gain 40 Spell Armor and 15% increased basic attack range. Heroic Basic Attacks against Nazeebo remove this bonus for 3 seconds.
_{The developers decided this move needed a buff, and I won't disagree, but the decision to punish players for properly removing its armor was a mistake. Instead, I'm giving Nazeebo a tool that will make it easier for him to avoid losing the armor in the first place.}

Level 16 Talents

This tier has not been changed much, though Spider Colony has had its cooldown reduction nerfed, just due to how much stronger Nazeebo's talents have become.

Q: Spider Colony - Corpse Spider Attacks against Heroes reduce the cooldown of Nazeebo's Basic Abilities by 0.1 seconds.

W: Ring of Poison - Zombie Wall lasts 1 second longer, and the center is filled with poison that deals a total of 319 damage over 4 seconds. This damage starts small and increases over the duration.

Active: Soul Harvest - Activate to increase Nazeebo's Health and Spell Power by 7% for each nearby enemy, up to a maximum of 35%. Lasts 15 seconds. 15 second cooldown.

Storm Talents

Previously, Nazeebo was very much defined by his 20 talent Vile Infection. That talent has been greatly weakened and sent all the way down to the tier 1 talents, which is now one of Nazeebo's strongest tiers for scaling. Instead, Nazeebo has his power take on a more generalist design at level 20. The changes to Toads of Hugeness could be seen as his answer to Fury of the Storm, while Bargain with the Beyond is a risky new Gambit Talent that sees Nazeebo gain the ability to revive himself repeatedly.

R1: Humongoid - Gargantuan Stomp's area is increased by 25% and its Slow amount is increased to 50%. Passive: Reduce Gargantuan's cooldown by 40 seconds and its Mana cost by 50%.

R2: Annihilating Spirit - When Ravenous Spirit damages an enemy Hero, reduce their healing received by 50% for 1 second and increase Ravenous Spirit's damage by 5% for the rest of its duration. Passive: Increases the range of Ravenous Spirit by 50%.

E: Fury of the Swamp - Plague of Toads now spawns two additional Toads and it gains an additional charge. Every fourth basic attack spawns a Plague Toad in the direction of the target.

Active: Bargain with the Beyond - Activate while dead to consume 25 charges of Voodoo Ritual and instantly respawn. ❢ Gambit: Each time this ability is activated, its cost is increased by 25 stacks.

Update History

31/5/2025

Corpse Spiders now slows for 1.5 seconds, up from 1 second, guaranteeing a direct hit will get a number of spider bites. Spiders are now slightly slower baseline, and accelerate up until they land a bite, before returning to base speed.
Vile Infection now deals its damage twice as fast to heroes, making the talent more immediately potent while also being less annoying for heroes like Muradin and Zeratul who must avoid taking damage for long periods to activate their trait.
Old Fashioned Medicine's cooldown reduced from 40 seconds to 30 seconds.
Pandemic has been removed (quest that adds two additional toads and grants voodoo ritual on hits with toads). In its place, Toads of Hugeness has been moved from level 20 and merged with the Voodoo Ritual granting effect, while increasing the voodoo ritual stacks on hit to two, up from one.
Voodoo Block's damage reduced from 12.5% to 10%.
New Level 20 talent: Fury of the Swamp.
Bargain with the Beyond's cost and increment reduced from 30 to 25.

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While Nazeebo does rely on [Vile Infection], which is bad for the character and the game, I think this rework does more harm than good.

Baseline Q changes make it impossible for spiders to ever deal damage to moving targets. They currently move slightly faster than Mount Speed (130%). This rework makes them almost thrice as slow. This ability does not deserve such an insane nerf. It currently only gets dangerous with both [Widowmakers] and [Vile Infection] completed.

New LVL1 has the same issues as the old one. Why ever pick [Big Voodoo] that became weaker with the passive bonus being nerfed when you can select [Thing of the Deep] for greater range or [Vile Infection] to actually deal damage?

[Dead Rush] granting Voodoo Ritual stacks on Takedowns does not fit its purpose. This bonus feels out of place due to other talents granting stacks from the abilities themselves. It would have been better if it made the zombies that uproot grant 2 stacks with every Basic Attack against Heroes.

[Hexed Crawlers] being moved to LVL7 with Q changes makes it very weak. There is no reason to ever pick over [Blood Ritual] that can now make you survive the impossible.

How much Health does the [Voodoo Block] totem have?

[Superstition] does not even grant 1 Attack Range. It does not deserve to be nerfed.

[Spider Colony] was not strong, the other talents were weak, especially [Soul Harvest]. This nerf makes [Ring of Poison] the only viable talent.

[Bargain with the Beyond] summons Nazeebo at the Hall of Storms... right? Because otherwise it is absurd. No, wait, it is absurd either way, as it makes it impossible to ever win a fight or push against Nazeebo due to him constantly returning at almost no cost. This talent needs at least a 60 second cooldown.

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