Thoughts on Pandaren Units.

[CaffeineMonkey]

Been working on the descriptions of various units for a pandaren themed map I've been thinking about. Read up on a lot about the various units and the lore behind them and tried to figure the types of units they'd be and the spells and upgrades they'd have.
Mostly they're all based on the proposed units from the old april fool's joke about the pandaren race in Warcraft III with a lot of educated guess work due to the vagueness of their descriptions.

Now for my descriptions. First off is the hero.

SHODO-PAN

Warrior Hero, adept at elemental and melee combat. Can learn
Whirlwind, Fury, Fiery Weapon, and Army of Stone. Attacks
land units.

Strength - 22 (2.5) Primary
Agility - 19 (1.6)
Intelligence - 17 (1.9)

- Whirlwind
In a whirlwind of steel you attack up to 4 enemies within
melee range, causing 70...115...165 damage to each enemy.
- Fury
Increases the attack speed of the Shodo-Pan by 50% for
6...10...14 seconds.
- Fiery Weapon (Passive)
Engulfs your weapons in flame, giving you a 10...20...30%
chance to deal an additional 40 damage whenever you attack.
- Army of Stone (Ultimate)
Summons 3 mighty stone elementals to attack your enemies for
45 seconds.

The following descriptions are for the units I have so far.

WARDANCER

Agile close-combat warrior. Can learn the War Dance ability.
Attacks land units.

Hit Points - 425
Armor Type - Medium 1(*7)
Sight - 140/140
Speed - 350
Attack Type - Normal 21 avg

- War Dance (Passive)
Gives the Wardancer a 10% chance to avoid attack. Requires
War Dance.

PIKEMAN

Versatile defensive unit. Can learn the Spear Throwing
ability. Attacks land units.

Hit Points - 385
Armor Type - Heavy 2(*8)
Sight - 140/140
Speed - 270
Attack Type - Pierce 18.75 avg

- Throw Spear
The Pikeman hurls his weapon at the enemy, dealing damage to
the enemy target. Requires Spear Mastery.

GEOMANCER

Primary spellcaster. Can intitialy cast Earthbind, which
decreases movement speed on enemy units. Can also learn Fire
Shield and Fireball. Attacks land and air units.

Hit Points - 320(*400)
Mana - 200(*400)
Armor Type - Unarmored 0(*6)
Sight - 140/140
Speed - 270
Attack Type - Magic 10.25 avg

- Earthbind (Autocast)
Decreases the movement speed of an enemy target by 50% for 8
seconds.
- Fire Shield
Surrounds the target in a shield of fire, making every strike
against the target cause damage to the attacker. Lasts 20
seconds. Requires Geomancer Adept Training.
- Fireball
Hurls a ball of fire at the target, dealing 75 damage then an
additional 24 damage over 8 seconds. Requires Geomancer
Master Training.

 

[GrandEnder]

You may want to give the pikemen some sort of spear-wall type spell instead of Spear throwing, like;

Spear-Wall: Activate to cause the Pandaren to raise his spear in a wall form. Reduces movespeed by 50%, increases attackrange by 130 and causes enemies to be returned for 50% of their attack damage on attack. Requires the Spear-Wall upgrade.

 

[CaffeineMonkey]

That is an interesting idea. One I do like. Thanks for the imput GrandEnder. But instead of it replacing, maybe an added ability for it's melee form. Spear Mastery would be more like it. Could allow the pikeman to preform ranged attacks in a ranged stance. Additionaly when the pikeman is in a defensive stance his attacks return damage to attackers.

- Spear Mastery
Further trains Pikemen to return damage to attackers when in
a defensive stance and gives the Pikeman the ability to use
the Spear Throwing ability.

Not sure if I'd want his speed to be reduced for his base form though since for now the only way I know how to do this is through a custom version of the druid forms. But at least it works for me. Maybe reduced speed in his ranged form instead could work.

Caffeine'

 

[GrandEnder]

May want to make it so the ranged ability can only be used X times, and the mana must be replenished and does not regenerate.

 

[CaffeineMonkey]

Could replace what I have so far with a ranged direct damage spell on a cooldown. Say the pikeman faced another melee force. Heavily damaged their rivals retreat only to be taken down by a volley of spears. That could be based on mana, but maybe a slow recharge rate, long cooldown, or high cost could be implemented for that. I can see that one.

- Throw Spear
The Pikeman throws his spear at the enemy, dealing damage to the enemy target equal to the average damage of the Pikeman's melee attack.

Just as a concept.

 

[GrandEnder]

You could have it deal damage in a line, and it take X seconds for the pikemen to rearm himself.

 

[CaffeineMonkey]

Indeed. The ability will likely have a cooldown. Probably the same amount of time as his base attack requires but likely extended by a percentage due to it being not a regular attack. As for the line damage idea I don't quite see that. I pictured it closer to the headhunter vollying his spears. They'd come down and hit one specific target at a time.

Started then decided to drop the Monk unit so instead choose to start work on two additional heroes. The pandaren Brewmaster (we all know him) and the pandaren Transcendent.
The Transcendent is a far more powerful Geomancer which instead uses more storm based magic instead of the Geomancer's earth and fire based spells. (also to differentiate it from the Shodo-Pan, who has some earth and fire based abilities) It's ultimate will be a version of the Pandaren Brewmaster's Earth, Storm, And Fire ability.
As for the Brewmaster, I'll have to think him over a bit. But expect a lot of drunken abilities and quite possibly a healing spell. He does make drinks, so why not some with healing properties. Just my thought on it though. If anyone has any ideas for spells for these two heroes, feel free to post them.