Cenarius by FidgetingFly

For context, this review carries over from a post in my Arthas rework.

Trait: You could probably adjust this to say "increases spell power with every stack" so every other ability doesn't have to specify the bonus damage. Just waiting to get bonus stacks isn't a great approach to things, but I think this is easily solvable by making all the level 4 talents offer alternate ways to recharge the stacks. Overall, the identity here is "Cenarius is strong, but after popping his best ability, he is left considerably weaker".


Q: Bramble Ward - This is a move that kinda falls into a no-no territory for me. Abilities that only affect minions are something that should be avoided in a base kit. For talents, they're fair game. I think what you really want here is to just make it able to target any ally, maybe even structures. This means it won't be a dud talent in teamfights. You could probably also add a slow. Though I will note that this does sort of push Cenarius towards a bit more of a 'wants an ally to really thrive' style of play, which would really be an identity unto itself.

W: Harmonious Disruption - There's not really anything to this move. A point and click 'deal some damage' isn't really interesting beyond the basics of "this is stronger if my stacks are higher". On top of that, I think this should be on Q, and Bramble Ward on W, as Q abilities tend to be a hero's simplest ability. Once on Q, you could just turn it into some kind of basic poke tool. The thing Cenarius uses to bide time.

E: Soul of the Forest - So, two problems I have with Soul of the Forest. A) Point-and-click silence. Most silences in the game either have a big delay, are point-blank, or have some other limitation to them. B) This isn't nearly cool or interesting or deep enough to warrant being the 'big flashy final gambit' move of the kit. It's not a bad idea to have a CC whose duration is stack dependent, but using the move that drains all your stacks should be the 'make it or break it' part of your kit. Using it to win fights, OR as a final desperate gambit because you need to get out of there (or are about to die anyway and don't want to waste your stacks).

My initial vague idea for a replacement to Soul of the Forest would be some kind of "instantly charge in on an enemy, dealing damage, then after a delay, kicking off, hopefully getting to safety", getting in some of that demon hunter flavor, before being force out of position.

Another (admittedly more nuts) version could be to give his heroic options at level 1, and have those be what consume all stacks of Power of the Forest. The level 1 heroics would need to be weak until you pick your 10 upgrade for them, just so Cenarius isn't oppressive in the early game. Normally I wouldn't suggest something as gimmicky as "oh you get heroics early", but I think Cenarius is a hero who doesn't want to have his heroic-feeling 'final gambit' style move be competing with traditional heroics.

I really do like this concept and I think it has potential, although I really do think it needs some heavy buffs.

His passive takes 108 seconds to get to max stacks. Then spending that to silence an enemy for 1.2 seconds and sacraficing your damage seems like it wouldn't be so optimal.

Bramble Ward being on a 3 second duration seems a bit low if it's gonna help push and clear the wave. I'd like it at a looong duration or indefinetly so it really becomes a good pushing ability. Especially since it only damages minions.

His W deals very low damage. At max stacks it's 132 damage and that is the same as 5 Abathur Basic attacks.

His cooldowns are really high.

I see that he gains a lot of stats later on, but if you were to pick him in a game I would think you would be considered a troll due to his lack of power early. The enemy team would play a 4v5 and you would have no power when taking objectives.

Quest for Balance is heavily underpowered -2.5% Max Hp is 43 hp at lvl 0 and getting the last hit on units without high damage is kinda hard when the minions are there. -2.5% max hp is pretty much nothing and if you want to 1 hp regen you need to land the killing blow on 100 minions, which is almost 14 whole waves of minions.

I really like the concept of Stonebark, Having an ability that makes a minion a great fort tanker isn't something we have either. But I think it's a bit underpowered. 60 seconds for something that doesn't have a big impact on the game is really long. 15-20 or something would be more fitting imo.

I think Cenarius should have some kind of mount, especially if he's gonna be a pusher or something similiar to Lunara. But 7.5% increased movement speed is really low.

Interested to see where you're planning to take this ☺ ♥