THW.TTC19 Katrana Prestor

[435D]

I must admit you have improved considerably with your Custom Races!

 

[The Nightmare Book]

Why Katrana has this vibe here...

 

[puck]

Hearthstone's another feedback to Warcraft III

 

[The Nightmare Book]

World has enough of heroes. (c)

Lovely race, lovely heroine (well, at least in human form, khm).
I will update my review a bit later, but here is a gameplay showcase.
Like!

 

[Footman16]

Update 22/05/2025

• Nerfed Rend's W from 30/40/50 to 20/30/40% and AoE to 450
• Dragon Riders are now level 5
• Seers reduced to level 3
• True Form nerfed hp bonus by 200
• Music re-imported as .mp3 so drastically reduce filesize
• Changed animation attachments of enforcer to large

 

[Venombite]

Great map! Had lots of fun with it... though not a single Black Dragon/Drake/Whelp unit felt a little weird at times...

Suggestion: Instead of pick Master of Sorcery or Master of Deception, add pick Victor Nefarius (master of Sorcery) or Katrana Prestor (Master of Deception).

 

[Footman16]

Great map! Had lots of fun with it... though not a single Black Dragon/Drake/Whelp unit felt a little weird at times...

Suggestion: Instead of pick Master of Sorcery or Master of Deception, add pick Victor Nefarius (master of Sorcery) or Katrana Prestor (Master of Deception).

Spoiler

If I did that then I don't think it would fit the theme of the contest very much maybe once the contest is over I could make that change but for now, she is the focus of the whole techtree and faction.

Yeah, tbf Onyxia can summon whelps and the Dragon Rider rides a drake and if it's imported into a map with a black dragonroost mercenary camp you could get them that way, unfortunately there'd be no real way to add them in a balanced manner to a faction like this.

Glad you enjoyed it and had fun!

 

[puck]

I think the only flaw is that her 'true form' is a normal black dragon.

 

[Footman16]

I think the only flaw is that her 'true form' is a normal black dragon.

Yeah I might try to find a different model or make one myself to make her stand out before the contest deadline. I've been tempted to use a port but I'm not sure.

 

[Daffa]

The tar ability from the air unit doesn't seem to require upgrade to trigger. Otherwise, this is a splendid work.

 

[Footman16]

The tar ability from the air unit doesn't seem to require upgrade to trigger. Otherwise, this is a splendid work.

Update 29/05/2025

• Fixed issue with Paralysing Tar not requiring the associated upgrade to work.

 

[Footman16]

Update 10/06/2025

• New model for Onyxia based on her WoW appearance. Her morph time is also doubled for her ultimate.

Update 15/06/2025

• Changed it so Broodmother's Aura buff appears red like a negative buff on enemies.

 

[puck]

Some suspicious mistakes: the AI does not have enough lumber. When I died and resurrected as a dragon:skills are wrong.

 

[Footman16]

some doubtful bug: AI dont have enough lumber. When I die as dragon and revive

View attachment 540540View attachment 540541View attachment 540543​

I've not made any changes to the AI and they appear to still have lumber, are you sure your ally didn't just spend it?

 

[puck]

I've not made any changes to the AI and they appear to still have lumber, are you sure your ally didn't just spend it?

Oh, I mean should we increase the trees? It's not common in general melee maps for the lumber to run out while there is still plenty of money.

 

[Footman16]

Oh, I mean should we increase the trees? It's not common in general melee maps for the lumber to run out while there is still plenty of money.

Ah I see, the map is provided for the contest, so I can't make changes to the map itself only the faction

 

[stein123]

love to see katrana as a protagonist, nice concept! but kinda weird to have basically a dark horde race with a human bandit hero, and none bandit (nor human) units, maybe replace van cleef with a black dragonspanw commander? or add some defias units to represent his (sub)faction

 

[Footman16]

love to see katrana as a protagonist, nice concept! but kinda weird to have basically a dark horde race with a human bandit hero, and none bandit (nor human) units, maybe replace van cleef with a black dragonspanw commander? or add some defias units to represent his (sub)faction

The truth is that I'm using this contest as an excuse to do the prep work for one of the enemy factions in my next campaign which will be fighting Defias for the first half and then the Dark Horde for the second half with Katrana as an overarching antagonist. So yeah, if I was making a "proper" Katrana faction it would probably lean more into the Defias, Goblins, Gnolls, Kobolds and maybe some Dark Horde units? However, I wanted to make a Dark Horde faction and thought it would be cool to have the excuse to make a Katrana custom unit/hero too.

 

[stein123]

Fair enough, nice concept and great execution, good luck in the contest!!!

 

[GhostThruster]

I've just finished a more thorough playthrough against a normal AI, and here are my notes.

Good

• You have kept the abilities simple and intuitive for the most part. This makes the faction very easy to get into.
• Bone Soup is cool; was initially worried it'd be OP due to being a free Heal Salve, but the cooldown makes it as fair as Moon Wells are.
  
  • Only suggestion would be to code it to be able to cast from infinite range and have the unit auto-move to usage range, or make it usable upon right-click ain to Moon Wells. Makes micro easier, especially as unlike Healing Salve, you need to send units back to base to heal; and unlike Moon Wells, it's not just one click.
• No real complaints with artistic choices.

Lacking

• Katrana's design felt wanting for more for several reasons.
  
  • Master of Deception is just a way better first pick. Numbers aside, Sorcery's abilities are essentially just a bunch of debuffs and DOT. They might work on a support hero in big battles, but lack impact in the early game. Compare that to the ability to summon guards (basically Water Elementals)…
  • I don't feel much thought was put into the techtree path between Deception and Sorcery; for example, it doesn't affect the rest of the techtree / unlock special units or capabilities. It's also deeply incompatible with getting a tavern hero first.
  • Her revival cost is way too high.
• I played a game vs Computer (Normal) and struggled to win battles in the mid-game. I think this is due to an overarching theme where the faction is missing some punch. Some examples below:
  
  • Van Cleef's Q ability is lackluster. It costs more than a Storm Bolt for doing less; the teleporting isn't always a net benefit, so you can't assume it justifies a higher mana cost and worse effect than Storm Bolt.
  • I thoroughly dislike Scarshields; a melee unit with Piercing and Unarmored accomplishes virtually nothing - you're making him only good against casters who don't have cc (he'll suck vs a composition with Slow for example, since it mitigates his ability to connect and deal dmg). At which point, why would the player not just get Predators - at the same building, for cheaper, with better armor type, and with a ranged anti-air attack?
  • The faction is lacking proper dedicated anti-air. Owl Riders and Dragonriders do too little too late. The faction is begging to be taken advantage of by enemies going mass air.
• The abundance of casters made it a bit hard to get my head around what each did. I felt a better job could be done on making each of them functionally more distinct too e.g. you have 2 detection spells across 2 casters, and 3 anti-magic spells across 3 (Spellshield, Mana Shield and Curse of Tongues).

Nitpicks

• Idle worker icon is bugged
• Typos in Katrana's Fire Within spell
  
  • Her Q spell effect is a bit too subdued
  • Her E is a bit much
• Forge and Altar seem a bit too small
• True Form's attack missile is visually underwhelming. The model's extents / collision also needs some touching up, as it can be hard to select her.

 

[Footman16]

I've just finished a more thorough playthrough against a normal AI, and here are my notes.

Good

• You have kept the abilities simple and intuitive for the most part. This makes the faction very easy to get into.
• Bone Soup is cool; was initially worried it'd be OP due to being a free Heal Salve, but the cooldown makes it as fair as Moon Wells are.
  
  • Only suggestion would be to code it to be able to cast from infinite range and have the unit auto-move to usage range, or make it usable upon right-click ain to Moon Wells. Makes micro easier, especially as unlike Healing Salve, you need to send units back to base to heal; and unlike Moon Wells, it's not just one click.

An interesting suggestion although I'm not entirely sure how to implement it without maybe an infinite range channel and triggering the entire cast behaviour, but I could look into it

Master of Deception is just a way better first pick. Numbers aside, Sorcery's abilities are essentially just a bunch of debuffs and DOT. They might work on a support hero in big battles, but lack impact in the early game. Compare that to the ability to summon guards (basically Water Elementals

Sure, Deception is probably better for early game from that perspective in the same way Far Seer is more an early game hero vs Shadow Hunter who is mid-game. However I think Sorcery's abilities can do a lot of damage, you mention debuffs and DoT but not the armour reduction and Direct Damage she can deal by synergising the Q with the debuff of the W and E skills. I'm quite happy with her power at this point as I don't want her to be OP.

Her revival cost is way too high

I don't believe her revival cost was edited in any way although I can double check if there's unintended behaviour occuring.

I don't feel much thought was put into the techtree path between Deception and Sorcery; for example, it doesn't affect the rest of the techtree / unlock special units or capabilities. It's also deeply incompatible with getting a tavern hero first.

That's because there is no "path" it's simply to not shoehorn the player into picking "the same" hero every start (even though she is identical stats wise I think the ability variation makes up for it). I fully intended for this to be a standard 5th race outside of the difference in hero choice.

I played a game vs Computer (Normal) and struggled to win battles in the mid-game. I think this is due to an overarching theme where the faction is missing some punch. Some examples below:

Van Cleef's Q ability is lackluster. It costs more than a Storm Bolt for doing less; the teleporting isn't always a net benefit, so you can't assume it justifies a higher mana cost and worse effect than Storm Bolt.

Mana cost is not always related to the power of the ability in isolation but also things like the hero's overall mana pool, stat increases etc. In the same way Ultimates aren't always long cooldown/high mana cost. I can maybe tweak the mana cost down a little if it feels underwhelming however.

I thoroughly dislike Scarshields; a melee unit with Piercing and Unarmored accomplishes virtually nothing - you're making him only good against casters who don't have cc (he'll suck vs a composition with Slow for example, since it mitigates his ability to connect and deal dmg). At which point, why would the player not just get Predators - at the same building, for cheaper, with better armor type, and with a ranged anti-air attack?

Sure but throw some Spirestones in there with their spellshield and your Scarshields won't need to worry about slow Massing a single unit unless it's tier 3 is usually not going to win. I will admit there is overlap but I wanted to include raiders so this is how they've been included lol.

The faction is lacking proper dedicated anti-air. Owl Riders and Dragonriders do too little too late. The faction is begging to be taken advantage of by enemies going mass air.

Owl Riders are pretty cheap and will completely immobilise a target unit and bringing to ground range. I suppose if you scout your enemy and they're going say fast Wyverns as Orc commonly do then you can just rush to owl riders and their upgrade to counter. I can't really imagine other races being able to rush to air fast enough besides maybe gargs? But gargs aren't that good vs ground so something like predators would probably be strong enough to counter imo.

The abundance of casters made it a bit hard to get my head around what each did. I felt a better job could be done on making each of them functionally more distinct too e.g. you have 2 detection spells across 2 casters, and 3 anti-magic spells across 3 (Spellshield, Mana Shield and Curse of Tongues).

Mana shield? Are you referring to the bone armour? It's not an anti magic shield it blocks physical damage. Ehh I'm not too concerned about the versatility of the casters I think their spells all fit their roles mechanically and thematically. I mean one only needs to look at the OG casters to see the variation in their spells.

Nitpicks

• Idle worker icon is bugged
• Typos in Katrana's Fire Within spell
  
  • Her Q spell effect is a bit too subdued
  • Her E is a bit much
• Forge and Altar seem a bit too small
• True Form's attack missile is visually underwhelming. The model's extents / collision also needs some touching up, as it can be hard to select her.

The idle worker bug is an issue with the UI system from Tasyen so I'm not sure how to fix it.
I can look at the rest though and see about fixing them

Thanks for the playthrough and feedback!

 

[GhostThruster]

An interesting suggestion although I'm not entirely sure how to implement it without maybe an infinite range channel and triggering the entire cast behaviour, but I could look into it

Yes, that'd be one way to do it. The 2nd way via right-click is to detect when a unit is ordered "smart" onto to the building, then kicking off a timer that checks when it gets into range of it, upon which you order the building to Bone Soup the unit.

Sure, Deception is probably better for early game from that perspective in the same way Far Seer is more an early game hero vs Shadow Hunter who is mid-game.

The difference is you have the option of getting SH at T2. You don't really have the option of getting Deception at T2; it's T1 or bust, at which point, Sorcery is always the clear winner.

Sure but throw some Spirestones in there with their spellshield and your Scarshields won't need to worry about slow Massing a single unit unless it's tier 3 is usually not going to win. I will admit there is overlap but I wanted to include raiders so this is how they've been included lol.

Sure but throw some Spirestones in there with Predators, and you won't need to worry about slow. You'll also have a better and cheaper unit than Scarshields, who's not weak against other piercing. The weakness to slow is the least of of the problems with Scarshields. The biggest problem is their attack/armor combo makes them unviable and an objectively worse pick than Predators - a unit available earlier and from the same structure - in virtually every way. I know they get Heavy armor in T3, but I highly recommend giving them something extra in T2. It could be something as simple as just doubling their DPS or so lol.

Owl Riders are pretty cheap and will completely immobilise a target unit and bringing to ground range. I suppose if you scout your enemy and they're going say fast Wyverns as Orc commonly do then you can just rush to owl riders and their upgrade to counter. I can't really imagine other races being able to rush to air fast enough besides maybe gargs? But gargs aren't that good vs ground so something like predators would probably be strong enough to counter imo.

I might be wrong, but I thought Paralyzing Tar was T3? If it's T2, then I can see you getting away with it. Wyvs and Gargs start appearing at T2. Hippo Riders are typically shit, but I could see it working vs your race. Dragonhawks would work too.

Mana shield? Are you referring to the bone armour? It's not an anti magic shield it blocks physical damage. Ehh I'm not too concerned about the versatility of the casters I think their spells all fit their roles mechanically and thematically. I mean one only needs to look at the OG casters to see the variation in their spells.

Sorry, I meant Mana Feast not Mana Shield.

 

[Althavis]

5/5

I really love the aesthetic of the race and the icons about the hero's lore.

Tried two games against Computer (Insane).
First match (as Deception), I lost the game against Human (probbably me being noob) survived till the second wave due to base defenses.
Second match (as Sorcery) won against Undead, I was able to creep and repel attacks especially with the third ability. Still, I was not able to push through my attacks and switched to mass producing Enforcer, Owlrider and Necrolyte (with the Bone armor as autocast).

I really enjoyed the race and will probabbly play against different AI race (or a player).

Though I have some questions/concerns.
1. Is it intended for the True/Dragon Form to have the portrait of the human form?
2. Upon reviving after dying as Onyxia, the abilities disapper. Using the ultimate again makes Onyxia have the abilities of Katrana (Human Form) instead. Dying again as Onyxia fixed the issue for me.

 

[Kyrbi0]

Excellent showcase, good work on the faction my man.

World has enough of heroes. (c)

Lovely race, lovely heroine (well, at least in human form, khm).
I will update my review a bit later, but here is a gameplay showcase.
Like!

Good of you to link that; @Footman16 you ought to consider linking it in the description

 

[Cristian]

When I use warlock's E it crashes the game

 

[Footman16]

When I use warlock's E it crashes the game

Skill issue.


Jokes, I've got an update in the works so I'll check it out. Are you playing on latest version?

 

[Cristian]

Skill issue.


Jokes, I've got an update in the works so I'll check it out. Are you playing on latest version?

Yes sir

 

[Footman16]

Update 9/08/2025

• Reduced mana cost of VanCleef's Q
• Double checked gold and lumber cost of heroes and revival costs so they should all be correct
• Re-sized some buildings
• Made Paralysing Tar upgrade tier 2
• Fixed the Curse of Tongues crash
• Attempted to fix Katrana dying in Onyxia form and losing her abilities bug and gave up

 

[Kasrkin]

Not sure if there's anything that can be done about it but searing heat burns enemies while the building is still being constructed.

 

[Footman16]

Not sure if there's anything that can be done about it but searing heat burns enemies while the building is still being constructed.

There might be a boolean tag for "under construction" but rather than do that, I shall instead say it's an intended gameplay mechanic and that way I don't need to fix it

 

[Kasrkin]

The bug finding shall continue until morale improves!

I don't need to fix it

I shall remember this for the next campaign.

 

[Shar Dundred]

There might be a boolean tag for "under construction" but rather than do that, I shall instead say it's an intended gameplay mechanic and that way I don't need to fix it

Bad balancing, 0/5, can't vote for this in the contest.

 

[deepstrasz]

Approved based on Techtree Contest #19 - Results