OK, that helps. The part your missing, that we're looking for, that I'll go ahead & assume, is that you are making a custom Race that is
similar to/
in the same style as the standard/ladder/melee Races (Alliance, Horde, Scourge, Sentinels). That will mean certain things (especially if you want the race to exist separate from the campaign at all, as well).
I would highly suggest checking out
this invaluable resource to custom race creation, which itself links to my
personal favorite.
~~~
Some of the stuff that's important to "5th Race Addition" modding is to recognize that the game doesn't generally re-use stuff. Abilities mostly, but units, buildings, heroes, most upgrades, most names; each race is unique with creative ways of gathering resources, constructing buildings, and defending themselves.
What that means for
this guy is that I would suggest
not having any Hero abilities that are simply copies of other abilities. Summon Lava Spawn, Flame Strike, etc. While there are many abilities that can be similar (many of the "generic" Summon abilities are basically the same, so that's fine; abilities like Drunken Brawler & Spiked Carapace are essentially combinations of other abilities, so there's some room there), and there are some very few exceptions (inter-racially (e.g. Backpack), & intra-racially (e.g. Cannibalize, Shadowmeld, etc)), there's basically no overlap otherwise.
~~~
The hero is basically a support hero. It focuses on spawning fire elementals and then has some extra support for nearby units with an aura.
The first part is the most important part. The 2nd bit is really more specific than "Role", but it does help in that you want to make sure there's a Summon & an Aura.
However, there's a pretty wide range of Support heroes; there's Ranged Combat Support (PotM, Dark Ranger), Offensive Support (Far Seer, Archmage, Lich), Melee Combat Support (Paladin)... Etc.
So assuming you want him to be kind of the generic "ranged support" like the Archmage or Far Seer, the question becomes whether you want him to be more offensive, more defensive, or something else.
Based on what you're saying about how he uses fire magicks, I'd say it sounds like you want him to be more offensively-oriented. Even so, I wouldn't have more than 2 Direct Damage/Damage-over-Time abilities.
It's a bit tricky, given that the standard game already has heroes like the Pit Lord (Rain of Fire), the Demon Hunter (Immolation), and of course the Firelord. But there should still be plenty of room for interesting ideas, and best of all; as of the latest patch (1.30), Buffs Can Stack! (What that means for you is that you can modify existing abilities & they'll 'play nice' with the original versions, which hasn't been true for the last...
ever in modding xD)
~~~
I'd suggest something along these lines, given all the above & what you've told me, I might say:
-
The Summon you asked for - Start with generic "summon X", but perhaps come up with some interesting twist or an interesting ability to give it. Consider some of the small remaining 'mythological' ground untapped by Blizzard & find an interesting fire-aligned magical creature; I would suggest the Salamander (like a regular Salamander but fiery & stuff, maybe with sticky/gooey flames?)
-
The Aura you asked for - Come up with something simple (like a combination of existing ones; maybe "+Damage & +Move Speed", or "+Attack Speed"... Or something unique & crazy like "every allied unit that dies with this Aura EXPLODES dealing Damage in an AoE". Who knows? Something supportive but still offensive, is the idea, and not too strong.
-
The Damage - You can do something simple like a Firebolt or a Bouncing Fireball or something, but I'm gonna suggest you instead go with his Ultimate & create some crazy-huge destructive fireball or explosion or waves of fire... Call it "Cataclysm" and make an ability
worthy of that name. ; )
-
The Rest - An idea I like is Lightning Shield; no Hero has that ability & if you modify it sufficiently, it'll not only look different enough, but it's a neat combination of "dealing damage" & "supporting". Give it Fire SFX, and use the MarkOfChaos.mdx SFX on cast, and buff the damage per level (and/or the manacost/cooldown to allow him to put it on more dudes). You could potentially (with triggers) give armor to the unit, but that's just an option.
There are plenty of other ways to make this guy, but that's my take on it (& I've got to go anyway). Overall it would look like:
HERO | (I) - Centaur Flamecaller |
FORM | Wizened centaur shaman, aligned with the violent elemental spirits of fire |
FUNCTION | Offensive support; Mystical hero, adept at damaging enemies and empowering his allies. |
ABILITIES | Searing Shield |
- | Summon "Salamander" |
- | "Igneous/Primal/?" Aura |
- | Cataclysm
|
Good luck!
