[Altered Melee] Need ideas for Orc Hero abilities

[SerenityInFire]

Warchief - Strength Hero, adept at leading troops into battle and fighting multiple units at once. - Needs three standard abilities and one ultimate.

Wolf Lord - Agility Hero - Abilities are Claw Swipe (Deals damage in melee range and restores health equal to damage on killing blow), Lord of Wolves (Summon wolves to fight by your side), Lycanthropy (Transform into a powerful wolf with critical strike) - Needs one more standard ability.

Hermit - Intelligence Hero, adept at using the elements (Earth, fire, wind, and water) to destroy his foes. - Needs three standard abilities and one ultimate.
NOTE: Lightning based spells count as wind.

 

[noob]

Maybe give some movement ability to the wolf lord?(Maybe a spell that boosts its own speed?) right now the wolf lord is quite bad at closing in and no ranged abilities which is odd for an agility hero. (demon hunter could nearly fit that category if they did not have the strong ranged ability called mana burn and the ability to turn into a ranged hero as an ultimate but otherwise all agility heroes either have ranged attacks or an ability that helps closing in like the dread lord using torpor or the warden teleporting or the blademaster that gets both divine wind and mirror images)
The passive on the wolf lord is quite odd: it is unusual to have a passive that corresponds to an upgrade to your units.
Warchief could get one typical ability like "boosts allied units in aoe on use" or "throw an axe" or "protects allies in some way" but then you would need to find more interesting abilities or else it will be too bland when there is like a hundred people who made axe wielding warlords with all their different takes on it(even just in the base game you got multiple axe wielding warlords using their martial might in battle).
The hermit could get anything: it is a generic enough concept.
You could add stuff going from summoning to blasting or blessing allies or cursing opponents or even things like teleporting stuff but usually orc mystical casters have a lightning association so making one of their abilities use lightning could make it less odd(maybe give them something like "ride the lightning: turns close allied units in lightning balls, send them at a fast pace toward a location and make them explode back to being units at the destination")
As a joke here is a version of the hermit.
The hermit of might practised the most generalized and most known art of war: stomping.
Anyone buff knows stomping is the way to solve issues from the mountain king that ruthlessly kills by stomping at a fast pace to the Tauren chieftain that stomps with all their power and then all the monsters that innately access stomping through their sheer size like hydras, thunder lizards, giant demons and the like.
The hermit of might went further and studied all those style of stomping in order to seek the ultimate mastery of all the four elements through stomping harder.
Abilities: Thundercrash: jump on a close opponent and bash in their head with lightning and feet thus inflicting damage and stunning and zapping close opponents.
Epic smash: grab a close opponent lift them above your own head then smash them into the ground for epic effect.
Stomping mastery: the hermit of might gain increasing amounts of stunning resistance and slowing resistance and gains increased stomp damage it also can be used to replicate war stomp but without the stunning.
Four elements fracture: the hermit of might stomps so incredibly hard it creates a lightning explosion then causes a volcano which is followed by an earthquake that then release a tornado wandering randomly.

 

[Cheshire]

wolf lord - this not original, but from the title it sounds like you would expect it to have some sort of wolf summoning ability... maybe you could have a wolf companion (like a wolf version of misha) and the ult would be to mount the wolf companion (instead of lycanthrope) thus combining them both into one mega unit. sounds like that is more fitting lorewise(frost wolves bla bla) then just having him randomly also be a werewolf. just my two cents...

hermit and warcheif - you will probably get better feedback/have an easier time coming up with ideas if you decide on a more specific direction themewise. currently they just seem very generic.

I kinda disagree with noob about the hermit - all of those very close-quarters stomp/throw abilities seem much more appropriate for a str hero, and not a squishy int hero who usually is better at casting spells from a distance...

 

[SerenityInFire]

@Ender Wiggins I'm not really following WarCraft lore at all with my map, so the Lycanthrope is fine. I am considering your idea of summon a wolf companion and having that replace the current version of the "Lord of Wolves" ability. The model that I'm using for the Wolf Lord has a really nice "Spell Slam" animation that I'd like to use for an ability. I was thinking of combining Warstomp with Blink, but since I already did that with another hero, I'm at a loss for ideas. Maybe Thunderclap with Blink?

I'll edit the first post with more specific details about the direction the heroes could go in.

UPDATE: Forgot to say, thanks for the feedback guys! Remember, all ideas are good ideas!

 

[noob]

wolf lord - this not original, but from the title it sounds like you would expect it to have some sort of wolf summoning ability... maybe you could have a wolf companion (like a wolf version of misha) and the ult would be to mount the wolf companion (instead of lycanthrope) thus combining them both into one mega unit. sounds like that is more fitting lorewise(frost wolves bla bla) then just having him randomly also be a werewolf. just my two cents...

hermit and warcheif - you will probably get better feedback/have an easier time coming up with ideas if you decide on a more specific direction themewise. currently they just seem very generic.

I kinda disagree with noob about the hermit - all of those very close-quarters stomp/throw abilities seem much more appropriate for a str hero, and not a squishy int hero who usually is better at casting spells from a distance...

Right before writing my variant of the hermit I wrote "As a joke here is a version of the hermit." it was a joke variant of the hermit not a regular suggestion.
Essentially I wrote the hermit could have nearly any ability set then wrote an example of the rare ability set that would not fit the hermit.

 

[Cheshire]

Right before writing my variant of the hermit I wrote "As a joke here is a version of the hermit." it was a joke variant of the hermit not a regular suggestion.
Essentially I wrote the hermit could have nearly any ability set then wrote an example of the rare ability set that would not fit the hermit.

And I strongly disagree.

combining Warstomp with Blink, but since I already did that with another hero, I'm at a loss for ideas. Maybe Thunderclap with Blink?

you do realize that gameplay-wise that is pretty much the same thing, right?

just to give you another direction to think about - spell slam animations are also commonly used for spells like roar, howl of terror etc'. it could be for some kind of ability that gives the hero an attack or attack speed boost.

another direction you could go for could be to shoot something in all directions sort of like fan of knives.

if you want to go with war stomp but with an extra twist - maybe have it have a knockback to all units in range.

 

[noob]

And I strongly disagree.

And now I do not even know what you do not agree with since I clarified I agreed and knew the hermit of stomping was a bad design for the hermit and just a joke.
Can you please tell me on which thing you disagree with me?

 

[Cheshire]

And now I do not even know what you do not agree with since I clarified I agreed and knew the hermit of stomping was a bad design for the hermit and just a joke.
Can you please tell me on which thing you disagree with me?

lol... just kidding around (I didn't get your joke and I guess now we are even)

 

[Tickles]

Warchief

Sundering Wave:
Launches a rippling force of destruction which deals more damage to enemies the closer they are to the center of the wave.

Crushing Blow:
Deals damage, stuns for 1 second and temporarily reduces armor of a targeted enemy at melee range.

Warband Aura:
Provides bonus damage to allies within 600 range. For each ally in range, the aura grants 1 bonus damage up to a maximum of X damage.

You could use a dummy ability as the hero ability (like a hidden spell book or Channel). Then use a damage aura with multiple levels up to the maximum amount of damage. Run a periodic check to see how many allies are in range, and adjust the level of the aura accordingly.

Battle Fervor:
While active, nearby allies that are attacked gain temporary life steal and an attack speed bonus.

You could add a hidden spell book with the life steal and gloves of haste ability to the allies attacked and add them to a unit group. When the duration ends, remove the spell book from the unit or all units in the unit group.

Wolf Lord

Onslaught:
Periodically moves the hero in the targeted direction at rapid speed. If he reaches an enemy before the spell ends, nearby enemies are pushed away with the exception of the enemy hit. All enemies affected are slowed (or stunned).

I was thinking of how a wolf pack would try to pick off individual targets, so the enemy that isn't pushed back would be left there alone and vulnerable to being surrounded. The dash also gives the Wolf Lord some mobility.

Hermit

Shocking Strike:
A lightning bolt deals damage and purges a target. Damage is increased for each ally with the Cloud Cover buff near the target.

Cloud Cover:
Creates a cloud (at a fixed position or moves with the Hermit) that periodically makes allies invisible for a short duration.

Burning Veil:
Applies a modified spell shield to a targeted ally. If it's activated, a fiery blast detonates around the enemy caster, dealing damage to itself and its allies.

I'm pretty sure you would have to check for the buff each time a unit begins casting an ability to catch it before it activates. Untested.

Earthen Assault:
Continuously launches boulders at nearby enemies which deal damage and stun for 0.5 seconds. If an enemy is killed by a boulder, a mud golem is spawned.

 

[cleavinghammer]

Warchief:

Hidden

Give Orders (Active, spellbook): Gives nearby units a temporary buff. Buff is not channeled, but giving a new order cancels the previous one. Buff stats increase with level.
* Charge!: Increases movespeed and damage.
* Hold The Line!: Decreases movespeed, increases armor and health regen.
* Stay Watchful!: Increases sight range and gives True Sight.
* Bring Them Down!: Increases attack range.
* Retreat!: Greatly increases movespeed, slightly increases armor, greatly decreases damage.
* Stand Down!: Cancels current order (gives mana to caster).

Ravage (Passive): Attacks deal splash damage. Splash radius increases with level.

Bloodthirst (Autocast, Drains mana): While active, restores X HP for every attack the Warchief makes.

Lead By Example (Active): Increases damage and armor. While active, allied units deal more damage the lower the warchief's health is.

Wolf Lord:

Hidden

Fierce Howl (Active): Temporarily stuns nearby enemy units. Refunds part of its mana cost if cast at night.

Hermit:

Hidden

Blessed Weapon (Autocast, spellbook, drains mana): Causes attacks to deal AoE damage depending on the element. Radius/ distance/number of attacks increases with level.
* Fire: Cleaving Attack.
* Water: Splash.
* Wind: Line.
* Earth: Bounce.

Meditate (Active, Channeling): Increases mana regeneration of all allies in a wide radius. Has Spell Shield during the channeling. Rate of regen increases with level.

Spirits of Earth and Storm (Active): Randomly summons 4 weak elemental spirits (2 Fire, 1 Wind, 1 Earth; 3 Water 1 Earth; 1 of each; 4 of one, etc.). Spirits grow stronger with level.
* Fire: Permanent Immolation
* Water: Spirit Touch
* Wind: Lightning Shield
* Earth: Slow

** Spirits can combine with each other to cast a minor version of a spell at the point where they combined:
*** Fire + Fire: Breath of Fire ; Fire + Water: Cloud ; Fire + Earth: Flame Strike ; Fire + Wind: Rain of Fire
*** Water + Water: Crushing Wave ; Water + Earth: Statis Trap ; Water + Wind: Blizzard
*** Wind + Wind: Tornado ; Wind + Earth: Scroll of Protection
*** Earth + Earth: Earthquake

Convergence (Active): Targets an area. Briefly (2-3 waves each) attacks the area with Blizzard, Flame Strike, Monsoon, and Earthquake.