Mal'ganis by Attest

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Mal'ganis

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"This is where your journey ends... with only death to sing the tale of your doom!"

The Nathrezim
Mal'ganis is a high-ranking member of the elite Nathrezim, or Dreadlords, who command hordes of followers within the Burning Legion. They are a clever and wicked species that delights in causing pain, confusion, torment, and deception among the lesser races of the galaxy. Sargeras, fallen Titan and master of the demonic Burning Legion, chose them for their affinity to shadow, fel and unholy magics, and their unrivaled cruelty and cleverness.

The Scourge of Azeroth
Mal'ganis was tasked with bringing the Scourge to rise upon Azeroth, deceiving and cursing Arthas Menethil into becoming the Lich King, but his mission was cut short when the spirit of Ner'zhul, inhabiting the freshly-corrupted body of Arthas, betrayed him and his brother Nathrezim. Mal'ganis was cut down by the puppet he had created, and the Scourge continued on their bloody conquest without the imposing will of the Dreadlords.

Resurrection into the Nexus
Despite being vanquished by the fallen Prince, no demon of the Burning Legion truly dies. Now made manifest in the Nexus, Mal'ganis brings his formidable shadow magics and clever stratagems to the battlefield, crippling enemies over time with Devouring Plagues wrought through creatures of unholy origin, and leeching the vital essences from foes with vampiric abilities and siphoning magics.

Dreadlords are not known for donning heavy amounts of armor when taking the fight to their foes, but their attunement to shadow and fel magic should not be underestimated. They are harbingers of pain and confusion, and can quickly fatigue and dominate enemies. Mal'ganis is no exception, and he will prove to the foes of the Legion why the Nathrezim are to be feared throughout the galaxy!

Breakdown
Class:Warrior
Role: Bruiser
Difficulty: Medium
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Strengths:

Good dueling with fatigue mechanics.
Decent resource sustain through talents.
Good escape/engage potential with Dread Flight.
Lane bully with great siege potential.

Weaknesses:

No shielding, minimal Armor.
Low damage, especially early game.
Resource/health sustain requires combat.
Limited CC and peel, vulnerable to burst/ganks.

Ability Ranges
Carrion Swarm - Conal attack roughly the size of Jaina's Cone of Cold.
Hypnosis - Target an enemy up to 3 distance away.
Vampiric Touch - Melee range.

R1 - Fel Spires -- 2 Spires summoned 3.5 distance apart simultaneously, each the size of KT's Frost Spike.
R2 - Dread Rush -- Ichor and Blast Zone are as wide as Diablo's Lightning Breath, 2/3 the length default, 100% length talented.

Character Stats
Passive: 10 Spell Armor
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Health: 2480 (+4%)
Regen: 4.42
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Mana: 490 (+10)
Regen: 3.75
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Attack: 82 (+4%)
Speed: 1/sec
Range: Melee

Combat Trait

1

Devouring Plague

Mal'ganis' attacks and abilities spread a ruthless, hungering plague of unholy rot across enemies.

When Mal'ganis attacks with Basic Attacks or Carrion Swarm against a non-structure enemy, the target is inflicted with Devouring Plague for 4 seconds, stacking up to 5 times.

Devouring Plague: Target takes 22 (+4%) damage every second and loses 4% attack speed per stack.

Primary Abilities

1

Carrion Swarm

A swarm of unholy bats and insects spreads across the area before returning back to the Dreadlord.

Launch a medium cone of bats outward for 2.5 distance that passes over all enemies in the way before returning back after 1.5 seconds. With each pass, enemies are dealt 96 (+4%) damage and given a stack of Devouring Plague.

Cost: 35 Mana
Cooldown: 4 seconds

2

Hypnosis

A powerful hypnotic gaze places the foe in a fatigued state of sleep and lethargy.

After a 1.5 second cast, Mal'ganis put a targeted enemy Hero up to (3) distance away to Sleep for 3 seconds. Any damage caused to the target will wake them. If a target is woken prematurely, they are Silenced for 0.75 seconds.

Cost: 45 Mana
Cooldown: 12 seconds

3

Vampiric Touch

A deadly shadow caresses the target, siphoning life essence to the Dreadlord.

Imbue a non-structure enemy with Vampiric Touch for 6 seconds. Every second of Vampiric Touch that passes deals 70 (+5%) damage to the target and restores 1.5% of Mal'ganis' total health. While active, Mal'ganis' Basic Attacks against the afflicted target will also heal for 2% of his total health.

Cost: 40 Mana
Cooldown: 18 seconds

Heroic Abilities

1

Fel Spires

Summon two corrupted spires of Fel energy that draw extra Carrion Swarms to them.

Summon 2 spires, spread 3.5 distance apart, at range that last for 6 seconds. While they are active, Mana costs are reduced by 30% and Carrion Swarm has its cooldown reduced by 1 second, and will cast a bonus untalented Carrion Swarm to each Spire.

Cost: 75 Mana
Cooldown: 80 seconds

2

Dread Rush

Dash through an area, leaving a trail of toxic Fel in your wake before blasting enemies behind you.

Mal'ganis dashes forward, passing through enemies and terrain, and leaving a wide trail of Fel Ichor in his wake that lasts for 2 seconds. Enemies standing in the Ichor are slowed by 40% for its duration. After completing the dash, he turns around and fires a massive Felfire beam behind him which deals 460 (+4%) damage over 2 seconds to all enemies standing in it.

Cost: 90 Mana
Cooldown: 100 seconds

Special Mount

1

Dread Flight

Mal'ganis cannot mount other creatures, for a Dreadlord does not enter the fray by conventional means.

Instead of mounting, the Dreadlord uses large wings to carry him at 10% increased movement speed across the battlefield. Activate to fly up into the air over terrain and land up to 8 distance away at a target location.

Cooldown: 70 seconds

Level 1 Talents

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Ravaging Swarm [Q]
Hit Heroes with Carrion Swarm to increase size and damage.

Quest: Hit enemy Heroes 60 times with Carrion Swarm.
Reward: Carrion Swarm's area is increased by 10% and its damage by 20%.

Eater of Dreams [W]
Restore Mana while the enemy Sleeps.

For every second an enemy is Sleeping from Hypnosis, restore 45 Mana.

Acquired Taste [E]
Vampiric Touch now affects structures but at reduced damage.

Vampiric Touch may now be cast on enemy Structures but at 60% reduced damage.

Malefic Influence [Passive/Active]
Mal'ganis generates Malice when attacking non-Heroic units. Malice is used to enslave Mercenaries.

Mal'ganis now takes 30% reduced damage from Minions and Mercenaries.
For every 500 (+4%) damage done to Minions and Mercenaries, gain
1 Malice, to a total of 60. Use 15 Malice on a non-Boss Mercenary to
instantly defeat them.

If a camp is defeated entirely with Malice, the camp respawns 50% faster.

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Level 4 Talents

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Nine-Inch Nails [Passive]
Basic Attacks now cleave; this does not spread Devouring Plague.

Basic Attacks now cleave up to 5 enemies for 75% Basic Attack damage.
This cleave damage does not spread Devouring Plague.

Caustic Swarm [Q]
Carrion Swarm deals more damage to non-Hero targets.

For 6 seconds after any non-Hero targets are hit by Carrion Swarm,
they take 8% more damage from the next one, stacking up to 3 times.

Destructive Gaze [W]
Enemies now take damage before being put to Sleep.

Hypnosis now deals 210 (+4%) damage to the target before putting them to Sleep,
and enemies standing between Mal'ganis and the target take 160 (+4%) damage.

Death From Above [Z]
Dread Flight now deals damage on impact.

Deal 140 (+4%) area damage on impact when landing from Dread Flight.

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Level 7 Talents

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Hungering Swarm [Q]
Carrion Swarm now heals the Dreadlord.

Carrion Swarm heals Mal'ganis for 60 (+4%) for each Hero and
16 (+4%) for each Minion it passes through.

Waking Confusion [W]
Targets woken up prematurely take extra penalties on their cooldowns.

Increase the Silence penalty by 100% for enemies who are
prematurely woken up from Sleep through Hypnosis.

Every Last Drop [E]
Vampiric Touch lasts longer.

Vampiric Touch lasts for an additional 3 seconds
and restores an additional 1% health per second.

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Level 13 Talents

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Dread Aura [Active]
Emit an aura of dread that reduces damage.

Activate to curse enemies in an area around Mal'ganis.
Cursed enemies deal 20% less damage for 4 seconds.

Cost: 55 Mana
Cooldown: 60 seconds

Crippling Plague [Trait]
Devouring Plague lasts longer and further slows attack speed.

Devouring Plague now lasts 1 second longer and the
attack speed reduction is increased to 6% per stack.

Ravenous Hunger [E]
Attacks against victims of Vampiric Touch lower the cooldown.

Each Basic Attack that Mal'ganis deals against a non-structure enemy
currently afflicted by Vampiric Touch lowers its cooldown by 1 second.

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Level 16 Talents

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Shadow Fiend [Trait]
Summon a writhing, misshapen horror from the Shadows to attack and restore Mana.

When a target has Devouring Plague for 6 seconds or longer, a Shadow Fiend is
spawned at their location that attacks them for 56 (+4%) damage every second and
restores 10 Mana with every attack. Lasts for 6 seconds or until killed.
Can not have more than 2 Shadow Fiends active at a time.

Mystifying Haze [W]
Hypnosis now creates a sleep-inducing cloud.

Targets of Hypnosis now create a cloud at their location that lasts 3 seconds.
Any other enemy Hero that enters the cloud is put to Sleep for 1.5 seconds.

Vampiric Aura [E]
Vampiric Touch creates an aura that grants health-leech effects to Allies.

While Vampiric Touch is Active, you and Allies near you gain
Vampiric Aura, restoring 9% of damage dealt as health.

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Level 20 Talents

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Gift of Tichondrius [R]
Fel Spires emit a slowing wave and last longer.

Fel Spires last 3 seconds longer and every 2 seconds they emit a small
wave of Fel energy that slows enemies by 45% for 1.5 seconds.

Dirge of Dantalionax [R]
Dread Rush gains increased range, duration and cooldown reduction.

Dread Rush now has 25% increased range and the Felfire beam deals
an additional 30% damage over the duration. Every enemy Hero hit by
the beam now reduces the cooldown by 10 seconds.

Malice of Mephistroph [Trait]
Devouring Plague gains bonus effects and damage.

Enemies affected by Devouring Plague now lose an additional
0.3% of life per stack and it can stack up to 8 times.

Dispersion [Active]
Disperse into shadows to prevent damage and restore resources for a short time.

Dematerialize into shadow energy and gain 75 Armor for 4 seconds.
During this time, Mal'ganis is Unstoppable, passes through enemies,
and restores 40% of his Health and Mana, but cannot attack or use abilities.

Cooldown: 70 seconds

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Developer's Note

Summary

Thank you for reading through my Warrior concept for Mal'ganis. I always envisioned him as a Bruiser, despite seeing so many cry out for his role being Assassin or Specialist. I loved the idea of an off-tank that relies on a touch of Spell Armor, slight mobility, confounding damage tactics combined with frustrating CC and shutdowns, and an overall sense that fighting them for too long would leave you more fatigued and battered than they are, as if they simply drain the strength from you.

This concept helps to bring that idea to bear, with mechanics revolving around constantly applying Devouring Plague to targets so that not only are they losing percent-based life over time, but they are losing attack speed, as well. With Hypnosis applications, mages can become reluctant to waste a Basic Ability, knowing the lengthened cooldown awaits them. Vampiric Touch (and later, Vampiric Aura) allow for health sustain and consistent battlefield presence. His Heroic abilities allow you to choose between heavy applications of Devouring Plague through frequent and furious Carrion Swarm attacks, or simply punish a clustered enemy team by slowing them right before you unleash Felfire into their rooted bodies.

Final Thoughts

The talents section, as with all my most recent concepts in progress, took tons of time to fine tune. The ideas were straightforward enough and easy to think up, but honing them down and choosing the right tier takes lots of time spent balancing. Please inform me if something feels overpowered or underwhelming, unnecessary or better off baseline. I'm open to advice on this area as it is a more convoluted part of character development and subject to such minute changes for balance to take effect.

The type of Warrior that Mal'ganis could play as really expresses his fantasy, and I believe that this type of "Deterrance" or "Aversion" type of Warrior is a unique way to incorporate a new flavor of off-tank/bruiser into the mix. The goal here isn't so much to absorb, block, or mitigate damage outright through shielding, armor, or other mechanics.

Instead, what you are aiming for with Aversion tanking is making the foe simply not want to deal with you. Not just through dealing heavy damage to them, either (which would make Warriors a bit overpowered, if their only version of "deterrence" was "not only can I do your damage, but I have way more health and damage reduction, too,"). Though Mal'ganis has decent damage output, the idea here is to drain the life essence and ability to fight from your enemies over time. Attackers who deal burst damage might fair best against the Dreadlord, but most others will be hard-pressed to find an easy fight on their hands.

By constantly berating enemies with attacks, you guarantee a consistent percent-based life loss on them, as well as attack speed reduction, which is great against high-health targets or targets who rely on Basic Attacks. For mages, your passive Spell Armor and Hypnosis tactics can keep them second guessing their plays. Stay moving, keep the Carrion Swarm alive, and you will see enemies whittled down before you. Happy playing!

Please leave comments, critiques, thoughts, and any advice on tweaks to the data here in the comments below. Thanks!

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I'm gonna start of by saying, that whenever i see a Mal'Ganis / Tichondrius / Dreadlord concept, i always think, "Oh great another copy and paste carrion swarm, sleep and vampiric aura concept", but while reading yours i was pleasantly surprised. You've used the classic dreadlord abilities, but added your own interesting twist to them. I really like Hypnosis, because of the added Silence effect, alot better than a basic "sleep for 3 seconds". I like how you've combined the dreadlord abilities from WC3 with some WoW dreadlord inspired abilities for his ultimants too (Tichondrius in Nighthold and Dantalionax in BRH!), as well as the shadow effects in Devouring Plague and Dispersion, which helps to tie in with his affiliation with the scourge. I can tell that you've put a lot of effort into this and it really pays off, probably the best Dreadlord concept on this website.

In terms of balance, everything looks pretty good, although i think Caustic Swarm (level 4 talent) is a bit weak, as 8% isn't that much when it comes to minion waves, although i'm sure it's better against merc camps. I would still suggest raising the % however.

Again, awesome concept, keep up the good work!

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Thanks very much! I totally spent way too much time nerding out over this concept haha. It definitely showed with naming things after his brother Nathrezim or coming up with ways to tie together the WC3/WoW fantasies as well as Shadow Priest spells (thanks for noticing, that was actually something I tweaked endlessly).

Appreciate the kind feedback, and I'll bolster that talent. That kind of info is especially appreciated, at that granular level, because I simply won't know what to tweak/edit until the community has a look at it.

Thanks again!

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