Probius (My Rework) (WIP) by XZandY

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Probius (My Rework) (WIP)

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Health 1310 (.04/Lvl)
Health Regen 2.73 (.04/Lvl)
Energy 600 (.04/Lvl)
Energy Regen 0
Armor 0
Speed 110
Attack Speed 1.11
Attack Range 3.0
Attack Damage 34 (.04/Lvl)

Since his activation, Probius has always wanted to prove himself. He may be small, but he made a big difference by warping in a critical pylon during the retaking of Aiur. As the bravest of probes, Probius is eager to fulfill his purpose in the Nexus.

Why?

I started this just for fun and do not expect this to actually be considered by blizzard but I do hope that this will generate discussion on what Probius could have been and what current personal problems we might have with him. My personal problems with Probius is his lack of depth, meaning that I don't think he is fun to play at all. His talents are generic stat boosts and do not offer much in terms of customization. I'm sure most of us agree that we did not expect Probius to be this hybrid burst mage with a cannon, Blizzard said (somewhere I think) that he zones very efficiently but none of his current builds supports that strength. I would be okay with that if we were given the option to focus more towards other playstyles, but regardless of which talent chain we choose we are forced to still be a hybrid burst mage with a cannon.

Possible playstyles I hoped for and problems that I see:
Blizzard said that they wanted Probius to require set up time in order to be efficient. As he is now I don't see why his burst combo should be hindered by this, I expected his set up time to be exclusive to a sort of cannon build but I guess not. To alleviate this problem while still staying true to what Blizzard intended (I think), I increased his base cast range of Warp Rift (W) so that he can "set up" his burst with more tactical options while also keeping him safer. Not only does this make his damage more consistent it also allows him to be more aggressive (targeting the backline, place a Warp Rift forward to chase).
Photon cannons and Warp Rifts were intended to zone the enemy and provide a safe spot against enemy divers/cloaks, it does none of these. Zoning not only comes from aoe abilities but from potential damage and scary factors, someone as fragile as Kael Thas can zone because he is very threatening with his lockdown, burst and range, assassins will think twice about engaging a Kael Thas even if his damage is risky to pull off. Gazlowe is often compared to what people expected Probius to be like, Gazlowe can zone efficiently not only because of his turrets but his Grav-o Bomb combo. Probius's cannons are so fragile that most of the time it is not casted as a conscious decision, I found many people cast it because their other abilities are on cooldown. Although I did not make any real changes to the Photon Cannon (E) I started brainstorming on what talents can really make these cannons an actual threat. As I said before his Warp Rift gives him that range he needs to zone a bit more to what I expected. I especially want to emphasize that Probius needs set up time to go with a Builder/Zone build but I also want some talents to make that set up time more bearable.

Combat Trait

Warp In Pylon

Cooldown: 14 seconds

Warp in a Pylon that generates a Power Field and grants vision of the surrounding area. Probius only regenerates mana while inside a Power Field.

Up to 2 Pylons can be active at a time.

Primary Abilities

Disruption Pulse

: 75
Cooldown: 3 seconds

Fire a burst of energy forward, dealing 157.5 (+5% per level) damage to all enemies it passes through.

Hitting the center of a Warp Rift will cause it to explode, dealing additional damage.

Warp Rift Reworked

: 150
ChargeCooldown: 6 seconds

Open an unstable Warp Rift at a location that takes 1.25 seconds to arm, which then slows nearby enemies by 20% lasting 9 seconds.

Armed Warp Rifts explode when hit by Disruption Pulse, dealing 274.05 (+5% per level) damage to nearby enemies.

Stores up to 2 charges.

Rework
Base cast range increased by 25%

Photon Cannon Reworked

Cooldown: 15 seconds

Warp in a Photon Cannon that deals 98.8 (+4% per level) damage per second. Lasts for 11 seconds.

Must be placed within a Pylon's Power Field. Deactivates if it doesn't have a Pylon powering it.

Up to 2 photon cannons can be active at a time

Heroic Abilities

Pylon Overcharge

: 100
Cooldown: 80 seconds

Increase the size of Pylon power fields and allow them to attack enemies within it for 114.4 (+4% per level) damage per second. Lasts 10 seconds.

Passive:Pylons gain permanent Shields equal to 52.5% (+5% per level) of their max Health.

Null Gate

: 100
Cooldown: 40 seconds

Vector Targeting
Project a barrier of negative energy in the target direction that lasts 4 seconds. Enemies who touch the barrier take 66.56 (+4% per level) damage per second and are slowed by 80% for as long as they remain in contact with it.

Special Mount

Worker Rush Reworked

Activate to gain an additional 60% Movement Speed for 5 seconds. After .5 second of activation taking damage ends this effect early. Damage over time does not end this effect.

Passive:Probius moves 10% faster by hovering over the ground.

Talent Tree

Tier 1

Echo Pulse

REWORK

Disruption Pulse now sets Warp rifts to detonated if an enemy is within its range when it is armed. Warp Rifts can be set while it is arming. It essentially turns armed Warp Rifts into proximity mines.

Notes: A more consistent beginner talent that still requires set up time and improves both Probius's zoning and burst.

Warp Resonance

REWORK

Increase Warp Rift explosion radius by 25% but disruption pulse no longer passes through Warp Rift.
Quest: Hit 25 Heroes with Warp Rift explosion
Reward: Warp Rift explosions trigger armed Warp Rifts, gain an addition charge of Warp Rift.

Notes: A talent that make his combo a bit more reliable and also gives clever players an option to set up a large aoe explosion.

Warp Hole

New Talent

Increase the cooldown of Warp Rift to 12 seconds. At the end of Warp Rift's Duration a Photon Cannon is summoned at that Warp Rift's location, if an enemy is in the Warp Rifts area when it expires the Photon Cannon is not summoned. Allies no longer collide with Photon Cannons (did they currently?). Warp Rifts can now be damaged and block skill shots. Warp rifts have 150HP (.04HP/lvl)

Notes: I was browsing reddit to see what others thought of Probius and came across many suggested changes to make him better. This was 1 of the most supported suggestions and rightfully so. Reddit Link
A builder and utility talent in 1. Players have the choice to use this talent to set up more than 1 cannon or place the Warp Rift to block an incoming skill shot (like how skilled Nova players block with decoy). However the enemy can deny Probius if he was intending to set up instead.
Probius will still be able to use his combo but because his Warp Rifts can now be destroyed timing needs to be more precise.

Tier 1 Notes

I currently haven't thought about other talents that Probius could have in the future so let me know if you have any concerns about broken builds.

For Tier 1 I wanted players to have a choice in what type of playstyle that they are going for, all tier 1 talents still require set up time but some talents don't require that set up time to get some effect from it. Probius's early damage and wave clear is already pretty decent so I wanted talents that give players the options to either sacrifice some damage in order to get more reliable damage or get even more damage but make it more harder to pull off or require set up time.

Tier 2

Photon Barrier

REWORK

Probius gains 25% of damage done from Photon Cannon as shields (50% vs Heroes) which lasts 3 seconds, additional damage from Photon Cannon refreshes the duration of shields.

Notes: A Builder talent that makes enemies think twice about diving Probius with his cannon(s) up. Does seem a bit too overpowered but the percentages can be changed (let me know what you think).

Chrono Boost

New Talent

Worker Rush grants an additional 20% passive Movement Speed while in a Power Field. While Worker Rush is active casting Warp In Pylon within the next 3 seconds sets the cooldown of the next Warp in Pylon to 0 seconds.

Notes: Pylon charges is another highly suggested change around the community but I understand why Blizzard decided not to do that. It would always provide Probius a powerfield and gives him too many opportunities to set up with very little risk. This talent is intended to relieve the tedium of setting up near an objective but making it mutually exclusive with his disengage(his disengage sucks). A good player will be able to make full use of this talent by being proactive with his positioning but punish a player for pushing too far forward wasting both an opportunity of a pylon and Worker Rush if he gets hit.

Tactical Pause

New Talent

Toggle Tactical Pause to unpower all Photon Cannons, While unpowered Photon Cannon duration no longer counts down. Increases the number limit of photon cannons to 3.

Notes: A much slower talent with more potential firepower, I wanted Probius and enemy players to actually consider the positioning of pylons. So by binding a large amount of damage that can be shutdown by killing 1 pylon separates the good players from the bad, rewarding mindful play. This talent will most likely be used on maps with predictable objectives (Dragonshire, Sky Temples, 3rd curse of that Crow map) or can be used in am(BUSHES).

Talents I Don't know where to put yet

Power Nap

Cooldown: 60 seconds
Puts Probius in Statsis for 5 seconds that fully refills Probius's mana while also generating a power field.

Backdoor Probe

Probius gains cloak while in a power field that belongs to a pylon in a bush. Any actions or damage taken reveals Probius, after 3 seconds of not taking damage or action enter re-enter cloak.

Original Mining Machine

Quest - Minions drop minerals on death. Gather 50 Minerals.
Reward - Upgrade Probius auto attack to a thermal lance, increasing range by 50% and increasing auto attack damage by 100% and damages all units in a line.

Probius (My Rework) (WIP) by XZandY

Probius (My Rework) (WIP)

Probius (My Rework) (WIP)

CURIOUS PROBE

Why?

Combat Trait

Primary Abilities

Heroic Abilities

Special Mount

Talent Tree