Heroes of the Storm Build Concept: Rory Swann

Combat Trait

Augment

Target an allied structure to reduce the damage it takes by 75% for 5 seconds. Towers, Forts, Keeps and the Core gain 25% increased attack damage and range for the duration and prioritise enemy heroes. Cooldown: 10 Seconds.

Primary Abilities

Perdition Turret [Q]

Deploy a Perdition Turret with 300 health and short range that deals 25 (+4%) damage every 0.5 seconds plus an extra 20 (+4%) damage over 2 seconds to all enemies in its area of effect. Deals 100% additional damage to enemy minions, mercs and monsters. Cooldown: 10 Seconds.

Devastation Turret [W]

Deploy a Devastation Turret with 400 health and medium range that deals 50 (+4%) damage every second to a nearby enemy prioritising enemy structures. Deals 100% more damage to enemy structures. Enemy heroes are slowed by 20% for 2 seconds. Cooldown: 15 Seconds.

Missile Turret [E]

Deploy a Missile Turret with 500 health and long range that deals 100 (+4%) damage every 1.5 seconds to a nearby enemy prioritising enemy heroes. The Missile Turret's attacks splash to nearby enemies for 25% damage. Deals 50% less damage to enemy minions, mercs and monsters. Cooldown: 20 Seconds.

Heroic Abilities

Combat Drop [R]

Calls down 4 A.R.E.S. war bots, stunning all enemy heroes in the drop zone for 1.5 seconds. The war bots each have 500 health and deal 25 (+4%) damage every 0.5 seconds to nearby enemies prioritising heroes. The war bots last for 10 seconds. Cooldown: 100 Seconds

Pulse Cannon [R]

After 3 seconds deal 600 damage over 3 seconds in the target area. The damage is reduced the further the targets are away from the centre up to 50%. Deals 200% additional damage to enemy structures. Cooldown: 100 Seconds.

Talents

Level 1:

Master Mechanic: Augment gains an extra charge and its duration is increased by 2 seconds.

Tough Turrets: All turrets gain 25 armor, reducing the damage they take by 25%.

Ballistic Mod: Increase the range of your basic attacks by 1.

Level 4:

Call Down Mule: Activate to calldown a Mule that repairs structures, one at a time, near target point for 40 seconds, healing for 100 Health every 1 second. Cooldown: 60 Seconds.

Tactical Upgrade: Augment can now be cast on allied heroes, giving them 15 armor and increasing their damage by 10% for 5 seconds.

Fragmentation Shells: Your basic attacks splash for 50% of their damage in a small area at the point of impact.

Anti-Material Shells: Your basic attacks deal an extra 100% damage against enemy structures.

Level 7:

Hellfire Boosters: Increases Missile Turret's range by 25%.

Volatile Canisters: Perdition Turret explodes when destroyed, dealing 100 (+4%) damage to all enemies in its radius.

Advanced Upgrade: Any enemy hit by an augmented structure will receive an extra 10% of their max health as damage.

Call Down Advanced Mule: Call down an advanced mule that repairs structures, one at a time, near the target point for 60 seconds, healing for 200 health every 1 second. Grants a shield equal to 10% of the repaired structures max health once the mule starts repairs. Cooldown: 80 Seconds.

Level 10:

Combat Drop

Pulse Cannon

Level 13:

Degrade: Augment can now be cast on enemy structures, reducing their damage by 50%. If Tactical Upgrade was taken as a talent, it can be cast on enemy heroes, reducing their damage by 20%.

Infernal Pre-Igniter: Perdition Turret has 25% increased range and reduces the armor of enemies by 25%, increasing the damage they take by 25%.

Concussive Rounds: Basic attacks slow the target by 20% for 1 second.

Sentry Gun: Activate to place a sentry gun with 150 health at the target location. The sentry gun deals 30 (+4%) damage every 0.25 seconds to nearby enemies prioritising heroes. The sentry hides underground when out of combat, gaining invisible and protected status. Has 2 charges. Cooldown: 100 seconds.

Level 16:

Counter Measures: Missile Turret will release a flash of light when it takes damage,
blinding all enemies in it's vicinity for 2 seconds. This effect has a 10 second cooldown.

Remote Command: Devastation Turret can be manually retargeted and deals an extra 50 (+4%) damage.

Advanced Upgrade: Activating Augment on an allied target, gives that target a 150 (+4%) damage shield for 3 seconds.

Point Defence Drone: Activate a Point Defence Drone at the target area that will intercept up to 10 projectiles from structures or mercs. Cooldown: 15 Seconds.

SCV Ready!: Call down an SCV to rebuild one for your destroyed structures over 10 seconds. The SCV has 50 health and if killed the rebuild will be cancelled. Cooldown: 120 Seconds.

Level 20:

Six for the Price of Four: Increases the number of A.R.E.S. war bots called down by Combat Drop by 2, for a total of 6.

Charged Pulse: Pulse Cannon will deal all of its damage instantly but will now take 4 seconds to fire.

Betty and the Gang: Devastation Turret is renamed Blaster Billy and has 3 increased attack range. Attacks now slow enemy movement speed by 30%.

Missile Turret is renamed Spinning Dizzy and has 75 (+4%) increased life. The splash radius and damage is increased by 50%.

Perdition Turret is renamed Flaming Betty and has 25% increased attack speed and its cooldown is reduced by 5 seconds.

Storm Shield: Activate to give all nearby allied Heroes a Shield for 20% of their max Health for 3 seconds.

Play Style

The idea behind this character is to create a sort of anti-specialist character. As you can see, he has lots of talents that lean to a defensive play style. However he can also be played as a buff style support instead. He has many options available to help his team.
I was concerned that the level 16 talent SCV Ready! might be considered overpowered but I would argue against this, as it would be very situational and would have a long cool down. Being useful if the enemy has focused on a single lane, but next to useless if many lanes have been opened. Also his Advanced Mule talent just seemed fitting for a mechanic style character and would prove potent, especially if a regular mule was taken at level 4 (which is a tier lower than the other heroes, but again seemed appropriate for Swann). Advanced Upgrade may seem underpowered but it does affect any enemy, including bosses. Making it the ultimate defensive option.
Advanced players could take Point Defence Drone for more defensive options but it would be a situational talent.

His ultimates are also situational. Combat Drop is designed to be a CC skill, useful for objective play maps such as Dragon Shire or Sky Temple. Pulse Cannon on the other hand would suit a more aggressive siege style of play.

I am open to thoughts and suggestions so please leave them in the comments below.

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I like this concept! I've been playing a bunch of Swann in SC2 co-op and this matches his playstyle pretty well.
However, I have two concerns. For one, I feel that the turrets should be diversified a bit more. Perdition Turret and Missile Turret both specialize in aoe so they seem similar, and I think that Devastator Turret should as a base slow enemies and gain more anti-armor capabilities as an upgrade (also, they were grenade launchers in SC2 so maybe their attack speed should be slowed and attack damage increased). Maybe since Perdition Turrets are the cheapest to build in SC2 they should have a lower cooldown and be weaker, maybe Missile Turrets can be specialized with a longer cooldown but more range. Just some ideas, but I do think that the turret abilities have a lot more potential to be diversified.
My other concern is how many of Swann's talents are structure based. I think that this could cause him to fall off in the late game or to just be generally annoying to play against. I'd suggest that instead of the Mule and SCV talents, he could have long duration summons that act like buildings (maybe siege tanks, or turrets could be placed on destroyed structures to grant increased stats and duration).
Also as a last note, the Tactical Upgrade talent seems undertuned, since it only gives 5% increased damage to a hero for 5 seconds. I think it could do with more damage and maybe a little Armor.
Otherwise, this concept has a good base and with some tweaks Swann could be a really interesting builder hero.

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(1) |

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, I was worried about the Tactical Upgrade being underpowered, but I did not want it to become an auto pick talent. I will think on it and up its damage a bit. I like the armor idea too. As for the turrets, the aim was to have Perditions for minions, Devastators for structures and Missiles for heroes. I will play around with the cooldowns and talents and diversify them a bit. I note what you say about him falling off late game. I tried to balance this out with his heroics and his level 20 talents, but I may take a look at another way to make him decent late game. Thanks again, I appreciate the feedback. Hope you can take a look at my Tusky idea. It is my fav one I have done.

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Rory Swann by MagicPants

Rory Swann