Warfield by barium56

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Warfield

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Table of Contents

Basic Attributes
Trait: Kinetic Barrier
Q Ability: Endurance Rerouter
W Ability: Rocket Salvo
E Ability: Vitality Accelerator
First Heroic Ability: Megaton Lariat
Second Heroic Ability: Hostility Restrictor
Level 1 Talents
Level 4 Talents
Level 7 Talents
Level 13 Talents
Level 16 Talents
Storm Talents

Nearly two decades of military service have shown Horace Warfield to be a masterfully skilled commander with no shortage of valor, honor, and fortitude. He holds the line behind the line, leading his soldiers not just to victory, but also to returning home from war alive.

A Tank that specializes in enabling melee allies, but must remain at range to be effective.

BASIC ATTRIBUTES

Health: 1970 (+4% per level)
Health Regen: 4.17 (+4% per level)
Mana: 500 (+10 per level)
Mana Regen: 3 (+0.1 per level)

Attacks per Second: 1
Attack Range: 5
Attack Damage: 91 (+4% per level)

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TRAIT
Kinetic Barrier
Warfield gains 40 Armor against damage from sources outside Kinetic Barrier and his Basic Attacks slow enemies outside Kinetic Barrier by 20% for 1 second.

Range: 4.25

All Tanks currently in the Nexus want to be right on the front lines, and the proliferation of more CC makes being a Melee Assassin harder and harder, so I decided that I wanted to make a Tank that had to remain at range to do his job (which would also naturally allow him to enable melee damage dealers). That meant I needed to identify what tasks good Tanks excel at (soaking damage for their team, disrupting enemy movement and positioning, peeling for vulnerable allies, and body blocking) and figure out how to do those tasks at range. It also meant that I had to figure out a way to reward Warfield’s enemies for getting close to him. Having a lower Health pool but reducing damage that occurs beyond a minimum range made a lot of sense as a way to incentivize staying at range, and it allows for some neat synergy with his Q ability. The slow on his Basic Attacks is another small thing to encourage and enable ranged play. This also allows for a little taste of double dipping Armor for those who miss the Armor-stacking days (see the description for Warfield’s Q ability for more details).

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Q ABILITY
Endurance Rerouter
Shield target allied Hero for 591 (+4% per level) for 3 seconds. While Endurance Rerouter is active, the first subsequent Stun or Root inflicted on the Shielded ally is transferred to Warfield instead. Upon breaking or expiration, all damage absorbed is dealt to Warfield. This damage does not interrupt Vitality Accelerator, and if it would kill Warfield, it reduces his Health to 1 instead.

Mana: 40
Charge Cooldown: 10 seconds
Charges: 2
Range: 9

After a lot of thought, this is what I settled on to serve as Warfield’s main tool for soaking damage and peeling for allies. Redirecting damage from allies to Warfield is exactly what he’d want to do, and it encourages him to keep his allies at range, as well (as the damage he takes from Endurance Rerouter is reduced by Kinetic Barrier’s Armor, as long as they’re outside of it), which also is easier if your allies are melee attackers. Transferring Stuns and Roots from the ally to Warfield is another way that lets him indirectly peel, letting his more fragile teammates get away while he takes the hit.

As mentioned in the Trait description, this allows for Armor double dipping: putting Armor on an Ally while they are Shielded by Endurance Rerouter means they take reduced damage, which gets reduced again by Kinetic Barrier as long as Warfield is at range. Just a bit of a minor throwback to the old days ;D

Two clarifications: (1) If the ally is Stunned or Rooted when Warfield casts Endurance Rerouter, that ally remains Stunned or Rooted; it only transfers the first Stun or Root that is inflicted after the Shield is gained, and (2) when a Stun or Root gets transferred that has additional mechanics (such as Dehaka’s Drag or Imperius’s Celestial Charge), it will act as though its target died the moment the Stun was applied. For example, if Warfield Shields an ally, and Dehaka lands a Drag on that ally, Warfield is stunned for the full 1.75 second duration, but Dehaka’s initial target is neither Stunned nor moved, and Dehaka is not able to drag anyone around, simply continuing on about his business. Another example: if Warfield Shields an ally and Diablo casts Overpower on that ally, Warfield is stunned for 0.25 seconds (but is not moved), and the ally also is not moved. Big thanks to Reddit user Senshado for requesting those clarifications!

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W ABILITY
Rocket Salvo
Fire rockets at a targeted location toward a targeted direction, dealing 72 (+4% per level) damage and knocking enemies in the targeted direction. If targeted inside Kinetic Barrier, Rocket Salvo strikes after 0.5 seconds. If targeted outside Kinetic Barrier, Rocket Salvo strikes after 1.25 seconds and also leaves behind a wall that enemies cannot pass for 1.25 seconds.

Mana: 20
Charge Cooldown: 9 seconds
Charges: 2
Range: 12
Area: 2.25 radius circle

Rocket Salvo is how Warfield fulfills the other tasks of a Tank (disrupting enemy movement and positioning, and body blocking) while staying at range. Rocket Salvo allows him to bounce his enemies around, and the walls they leave behind allow him to “body block” without using his own body. The fact that the walls only appear outside of his Kinetic Barrier means he needs to stay at range to use Rocket Salvo to its full effect.

Rocket Salvo would be targeted much like Telekinesis - the initial click indicates the impact area of the ability, and a subsequent drag and click indicates the direction of the knockback. All enemies are knocked back in the same direction, regardless of where they are in the impact area.

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E ABILITY
Vitality Accelerator
Channel to regenerate 12% of Warfield’s maximum Health per second. Moving while channeling or taking damage from sources other than Endurance Rerouter will interrupt this effect.

Mana: 60 per second
Cooldown: 26 seconds

Given that a Warfield that is doing a good job will be taking a lot of damage, he needed a way to get that health back. A Zul’jin-style channeled regeneration with no duration limit but an exceedingly high mana cost made the most sense to me - it means that skilled Warfields need to mind their Mana to keep themselves alive, and it again incentivizes staying at range (because channeling in the middle of the enemy team is a good way to get immediately interrupted).

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FIRST HEROIC ABILITY
Megaton Lariat
Charge through target enemy Hero, dealing 248 (+4% per level) damage and stunning the target for 1.5 seconds.

Mana: 45
Cooldown: 16 seconds
Range: 2.5

For Warfield’s first Heroic, I wanted something that would: (a) give Warfield a way to deal with enemies that close in on him, and (b) give an option for damage-focused Warfields. This ability fulfills both those requirements nicely. Also (not that I want to seem like too much of a weeb) Warfield reminds me a lot of Raikage from Naruto, whose signature move is a lariat, so it really felt right.

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SECOND HEROIC ABILITY
Hostility Restrictor
Emit a pulse outside Kinetic Barrier that deals 30 (+4% per level) damage. Enemy Heroes damaged by Hostility Restrictor deal 10% less damage for 3 seconds, stacking up to 40%. Hostility Restrictor repeats every 2 seconds as long as it hits an enemy Hero. After pulsing 3 times, subsequent pulses also affect enemies inside Kinetic Barrier.

Mana: 80
Cooldown: 75 seconds
Range: 6.3

I went through several different ideas before I landed on this as Warfield’s more defense-oriented Heroic. I wanted something that incorporated Kinetic Barrier and didn’t want to mess with ally or enemy Armor (leaning too much on Armor for one character) or Movement Speed (too much like Thrall’s Earthquake) or Invulnerable/Protected (too much like Tyrael’s Sanctification or Anduin’s Holy Word: Salvation) or creating walls (too much like Leoric’s Entomb or Maiev’s Warden’s Cage; though I do give Warfield a Storm talent like that but that’s neither here nor there). So this is what I came up with.

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Talent Tree

Level 1 Talents

Field Compaction
Reduce the range of Kinetic Barrier from 4.25 to 3.5.

Adaptive Routing
Reduce the charge cooldown of Endurance Rerouter by 1 second.

Quest: Every 50 damage absorbed by Endurance Rerouter increases Warfield’s maximum Health by 3 and the size of Endurance Rerouter’s Shield by 1.

Dynamic Dynamos
Increase Warfield’s Basic Attack range and Rocket Salvo’s range by 10%.

Quest: Basic Attacks against Heroes increase the damage of Basic Attacks and Rocket Salvo by 0.25. Hitting an enemy Hero with Rocket Salvo increases the damage of Basic Attacks and Rocket Salvo by 1.5.

Fuel Recyclers
Regeneration Globes and Healing Fountains restore 25% more Mana.

Quest: Gathering a Regeneration Globe increases Warfield’s maximum Mana and Mana Regeneration by 2%.

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Level 4 Talents

Seismic Warheads

Quest: Hit Heroes with Rocket Salvo.

Reward: After hitting 20 Heroes, increase the duration of the wall Rocket Salvo leaves behind by 80%.

Reward: After hitting 40 Heroes, Rocket Salvo gains a 3rd charge.

Blot Out the Sun
Reduce Rocket Salvo’s charge cooldown by 50% seconds, but increase its Mana cost by 75%.

Thrust is a Must
Increase Rocket Salvo’s knockback distance by 50% and reduce the time before it strikes by 80%.

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Level 7 Talents

Redlining
Vitality Accelerator is no longer channeled and cannot be interrupted, but its Mana cost is increased by 100%.

Emergency Regeneration
Casting Vitality Accelerator grants Warfield a Shield for 40% of his missing Health. While the Shield is active, Warfield is Unstoppable and Vitality Accelerator is not interrupted by damage. The Shield persists for 1.5 seconds after Warfield stops channeling. If the Shield expires without breaking, Vitality Accelerator’s cooldown is increased by 100%.

Endurance Feedback
Each active Endurance Rerouter when Vitality Accelerator is cast reduces that Vitality Accelerator’s Mana cost by 10%. Allies with active Endurance Rerouters when Vitality Accelerator is cast are healed for 4% of Warfield’s maximum Health per second until Warfield stops channeling. This healing is doubled while Warfield is at maximum Health.

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Level 13 Talents

Both a Sprint and a Marathon
Endurance Rerouter grants Warfield and its target 15% Movement Speed for 3 seconds. This bonus is doubled and its duration is refreshed if Endurance Rerouter is broken before it expires.

Unrelenting
Endurance Rerouter now transfers the first 2 Stuns and/or Roots inflicted on Shielded allies to Warfield instead. The duration of Stuns and Roots on Warfield is reduced by 50%.

Viscous Ballistics
Warfield’s Basic Attacks now slow enemies outside his Kinetic Barrier by 30% for 1 second. Enemies damaged by Rocket Salvo are slowed by 30% for 1.5 seconds.

Rocket Jump
Rocket Salvo now affects Warfield, knocking him back opposite of its targeted direction.

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Level 16 Talents

Impact Dampeners
Increase Kinetic Barrier’s Armor to 48.

Re-reroute
Endurance Rerouter gains a 3rd charge and grants its target 8 Armor for its duration.

Warhead-canon
Basic Attacks against Heroes increase the damage of Warfield’s next Rocket Salvo within 5 seconds by 75%. Casting Rocket Salvo increases the damage of Warfield’s next Basic Attack against Heroes within 5 seconds by 75%.

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Storm Talents

Wrestlemania
Basic Attacks or casting Rocket Salvo reduces the cooldown of Megaton Lariat by 1.5 seconds.

Hostility Prohibitor
Hostility Restrictor now repeats every 1.5 seconds as long as it hits an enemy Hero, and all pulses affect enemies inside Kinetic Barrier.

We Will Endure
When Warfield takes fatal damage, he is healed for 25% of his maximum Health. Each active Endurance Rerouter increases this healing by an additional 25% of Warfield’s maximum Health. This effect has a 120 second cooldown.