Archbishop Lazarus (complete) by beargeist

CONCEPT

simple offence vs defence: more blades = weaker shield
management: shield/mana regen vs mana reserve = capped amount that can be regained

The 15% reserve and 10% current pool return, justifies the 0 cost on Command blade(A)
Fire wall is a great way to dump mana and min max.
A 100% mana shield = true protection

Pacing and difficulty

The difficulty of this character stems from mana and shield management
The impact the other team can have on your mana pool, is unlike any other style of mana management.
continually forcing Lazarus to use his shield(E) kills his mana regen.
the next level of pressure on his shield; forcing him destroy or not use blades to add HP or regen.. can leave him without a trait, basic attack mechanic and Q ability for the remainder of a fight.


MECHANICAL NOTES

Command Blade and Arcane blade.

Mana Reserve: draws from the bottom of your Mana bar; If the value removed is greater then the value available, the power cannot be activated. when a charge fades that mana becomes usable or "active mana" again..

Mana returned: the cost is essentially 5% mana but you're charged after the duration, all of your maximum mana is returned
Player information: would be easier for the player to just show the cost, 15% = 75 mana x 3 = 225.
Don't even have to call it mana.. could call it energy.


Mana Shield: "a shield equal to 150%(+4%)" scaling is literally an additional 4%. 150% + 4% = 154% (not 156%).

Active maximum - Spawning Arcane Blades while Mana shield is active removes an equal value from current shield pool, based on the max pool calculation (not a percentage of current). Likewise If a charge fades, equal value from the maximum increase is added to the current shield pool. must have minimum mana and shield hp to use.

example: if a Blade charge takes 75 active max mana, you lose 112 shield (150%) for both the maximum and current value. If 75 mana reserve is opened, you equally gain max pool and current pool.

Shield regen to cooldown calculation: 15s cd x 97.5% shield health.. making the 100% regen time equal to the 100% cooldown time, so no advantage to canceling or keeping it active. (actual regen number would be 6.66)

Labyrinth(R2): Your allied team will see a phased version in the copies place, but the fake image can not be revealed by the enemy team. If the enemy team cleanses the wrong target, the fake image will disappear but the silence and blind will remain. If the right target is cleansed, the effects and copy disappear.



TALENT DIRECTION

talents like Energy armor, Familiar edge, and living blade are essential picks for relief vs heavy pressure comps, that are continually poking and breaking your shield.

The Lv 7 tier is a scale representation of tempo and pressure.
Twin blades allows you to burst and stack the lv 13 talents faster. but does nothing for your management.
Familiar edge is the middle ground, letting you poke 1 blade without cutting into reserves. over a stretch it saves you a bit of mana, mana regen, and leaves you with 1 blade after dumping your reserves on your shield.
Living blades is for dealing with combo burst pressure. It allows you to dump everything into your shields and re-up on your blades completely. the reserve return secures another charge and saves you more mana then Guarding, when the pressure is high. great to combo with Energy armor.


TALENTS

T1

Fuel for the flame (W) - For every 1s Firewall is active, it lasts an additional 1s after deactivation, for up to 4s. Quest: 40 seconds of dot damage on enemy heroes. Reward: increases the width of firewall by 100%

Energy armor (E) - If Mana shield breaks, it recharges shield hp at 3x the rate for 4s. and lowers the break downtime to 3s

Serpent's globe (passive) - Globes instantly restore 50(+0%) additional mana and grants 10% ability power for 20s.


T2

Fire ward (Active/W) Firewall becomes impassible by enemies effected by its Dot, for 5s. cd 30s.

Arcane explosion (E) - If Mana shield breaks, it knocks back all nearby enemies and deals 150 dmg. Can only happen once per cast.

Infravision (active) - enemy heroes in fog of war are displayed with a red filter. does not reveal, global, cd 50s.


T3

Twin blades (D,A,Q) - The first arcane charge used, spawns a second blade that acts in tandem with the first.(does not effect charges)

Familiar edge(D) - Permanently gain your first charge of arcane blade for free. But increases the cost and reserve of the first charge used by 100%

Living blade (D) - all reserved mana is returned, Destroy Blade(1) can restore up to 3 charges per Arcane blade duration.


T4
Golem
Labyrinth

T5

Lethargy (D,A,Q) - Arcane blade powers slow enemy heroes by 8% for 2.5s, stacking up to 30%, stacks refresh duration.

Blade of the bat (D,A,Q) - Arcane blade powers restore 30hp every time they hit an enemy hero.

Arch blades (D,A,Q) - Arcane blades deal an additional 0.5% damage equal to targets max health.


T6

Drake's blood (passive) - Takedowns improve your active maximum mana by 50, up to 175, stacks lost on death. (does not count against reserve)

Warmth (passive/W) - gain a minimum of 4 mana regen at all times, and reduce firewall mana cost by 4.

Arcane activity (E) - increases shield regen to 12% until it is broken and reduces mana shield cooldown by 5s


T7

Iron and blood (R1) - allows you retarget the Golem with (R). Enemy and allied minions leave corpses that your Golem can absorbs when in radius, up to 14. Corpse last 10s; stacks heal the golem, increase his duration and damage.

Labyrinth (R2) - replace the ability to move both images with a 3rd image.

Guardian (active) - summons an 800 life hydra that can shoot fireballs in 3 directions. lasts 7s, cooldown 60s, cost 50 mana.