The Butcher by Maximus Ultima

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The Butcher

By: Maximus Ultima
Last Updated: Sep 15, 2021
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The Butcher

Rework Concept

This is a major rework concept for The Butcher.

The Butcher has always been a problematic Hero. He is the most extreme example of "feast or famine" in Heroes of the Storm -- a Butcher who has not completed Fresh Meat's quest will feel useless, but a Butcher who has completed it will feel extremely oppressive.
There are a number of reasons for this (teams that could deal with a stacked Butcher won't let him stack in the first place, for example), but the primary cause is that the Butcher's quest is too extreme a case of high-risk/high-reward. It can be difficult to consistently complete this quest, so its reward must be absurd to compensate.

Between this issue and a couple other minor issues in the Butcher's kit, I decided the Butcher probably deserves a thorough rework.


Base Stats
For starters, the Butcher's base stats have been buffed up in order to help smooth his powerscaling out. His attack speed is slightly lower, but his base attack damage is significantly higher. This should make the Butcher feel more impactful early in the game, before he has gained much Fresh Meat.

Fresh Meat
Fresh Meat is now automatically collected if the Butcher scores the killing blow against an enemy. This should make collecting dropped Fresh Meat easier.
Fresh Meat's quest is now easier to complete. It now requires 100 Fresh Meat to complete, at which point all current stacks of Fresh Meat are exchanged for permanent bonuses to attack damage and speed. This quest can be completed twice (baseline).
Since completing Fresh Meat resets the Butcher's Fresh Meat stacks, it effectively now has two "checkpoints," below which Fresh Meat cannot be lost. However, any Fresh Meat beyond those "checkpoints" can still be lost. The amount of Fresh Meat the Butcher drops when slain also now scales with how much Fresh Meat he has.
All this together should help smooth out the Butcher's scaling curve, allowing him to stack more reliably early in exchange for lower returns (+100 total damage after collecting 200 Fresh Meat, rather than +225 total damage), while also allowing his opponents to keep his late-game scaling in check more easily.

Hamstring
Hamstring is now essentially a Basic Attack in AoE ability form. It applies the Butcher's Basic Attack damage and effects to enemies hit. For example, Hamstring scales with Fresh Meat and heals the Butcher when hitting an enemy afflicted with Butcher's Brand. This is a change I've wanted to see for a while to spice up Hamstring.

Butcher's Brand
Butcher's Brand's cooldown will now be reset if a Hero afflicted with it dies. This should help the Butcher stick around in protracted fights a bit better.

Ruthless Onslaught
Ruthless Onslaught's cooldown is reduced if it impacts a Hero. This is essentially Unrelenting Pursuit partially made baseline.
The Butcher now also retains Unstoppable for 0.25 seconds after impact. This should help prevent that infuriating bug where the Butcher is stunned or displaced immediately before impact, canceling the charge while the Butcher should still be Unstoppable.

Furnace Blast
Furnace Blast can now be reactivated to reduce the delay at the cost of also reducing its damage. This is intended to make the ult a little more consistent and desirable without significantly undermining the value of patience and proper timing. I doubt this will be enough to bring it up to par with the powerhouse that is Lamb to the Slaughter, but it should help.

Talents
Way too many changes to list. Basically every tier has been completely overhauled. All but 3 talents have been replaced, reworked, and/or moved.
I've tried to give the Butcher as much build flexibility as I could. He should have at least two ability-centric builds (Q vs W+AA), a few playstyle builds (burst damage vs DPS vs durability), and a flex-build or two.


I fully expect this to need further balance tweaks. I've been careful to try to steer away from the obvious balance issues, especially any hyper-scaling off of Fresh Meat, but there's no way I could predict all the effects such intrusive and extensive changes would have on the state of balance, both for Butcher's overall performance and his talents' and builds' individual performance.

Combat Trait

1
[Trait] Fresh Meat
Drop Radius: 13
Fresh Meat Duration: 15 sec.
Damage per Stack: +0.5
Stacks per Minion: 1
Stacks per Hero: 20
Stacks Lost on Death: 10 OR 20% of Current
Damage per Completion: +50
Attack Speed per Completion: +25%
Max Attack Speed Bonus: +50%
Upon dying, nearby enemy Minions drop 1 Fresh Meat and enemy Heroes drop 20 Fresh Meat. Fresh Meat lasts for 15 seconds and is automatically collected when the Butcher walks over it or if he deals the killing blow.
Upon dying, the Butcher loses 10 Fresh Meat OR 20% of his current Fresh Meat, whichever is greater.

❢ Repeatable Quest: Collecting Fresh Meat grants 0.5 bonus Attack Damage.
❢ Quest: Collect 100 Fresh Meat. This quest can be completed 2 times.
❢ Reward: The Butcher consumes all Fresh Meat, resetting his stacks and permanently gaining +25% bonus Attack Speed and +50 Attack Damage.
2
[Basic Attack] Butcher's Carver
Damage: 180
Attack Speed: 1/sec.
Range: 1.5

Primary Abilities

1
[Q] Hamstring
Cooldown: 4 sec.
Mana Cost: 40
Base Damage: 180
Slow: 50%
Slow Decay Duration: 2 sec.
Length: 7
Width: 2.5
Slam the ground in front of the Butcher, applying Basic Attack damage and effects to enemies hit and slowing them by 50%, fading over 2 seconds.
Casting Hamstring resets the Butcher's Attack Period, causing his next Basic Attack to occur immediately.

Hamstring's damage is tied to the Butcher's Attack Damage, meaning it scales with Attack Damage bonuses such as Fresh Meat.
2
[W] Butcher's Brand
Cooldown: 14 sec.
Mana Cost: 60
Damage: 37
Duration: 4 sec.
Healing: 75%
Healing vs Heroes: 150%
Brand an enemy, dealing 37 damage and marking them for 4 seconds. The Butcher's Basic Attacks against the Branded target heal him for 75% of the damage dealt.
If the Branded target is a Hero, Basic Attacks against them heal for 150% of the damage dealt and extend the duration of the Brand by 0.5 seconds. If a Branded Hero dies, the cooldown of Butcher's Brand is reset.
3
[E] Ruthless Onslaught
Cooldown: 15 sec.
Mana Cost: 50
Damage: 120
Range: 12
Tether Range: 17
Maximum Duration: 4 sec.
Stun Duration: 1 sec.
Charge at an enemy, becoming Unstoppable and gaining Movement Speed over time. If the Butcher reaches the target, he stops charging immediately but remains Unstoppable for 0.25 more seconds, and the target takes 120 damage and is stunned for 1 second.
If Ruthless Onslaught impacts a Hero, its cooldown is reduced by 5 seconds.

Reactivate this ability to cancel the charge early.

Secondary Abilities

1
[Passive] Seeing Red
Cooldown: 30 sec.
Duration: 2.5 sec.
Tether Range: 6
Upon impacting a target with Ruthless Onslaught, the Butcher gains 30% increased Movement Speed and Unstoppable for 2.5 seconds, but loses control of his movement and is forced to move toward and attack the target of Ruthless Onslaught for 2 seconds or until the target moves more than 6 range away or dies.
The Butcher can cast abilities while under the effects of Seeing Red, but does not respond to movement or attack commands.

This ability can be toggled on or off.

This ability requires the level 16 talent Seeing Red.

Heroic Abilities

1
[R1] Furnace Blast
Cooldown: 60 sec.
Mana Cost: 75
Damage: 500
Delay: 3 sec.
Radius: 4
After a 3 second delay, fire explodes around The Butcher, dealing 500 damage to enemies within a radius of 4.
Furnace Blast can be reactivated within the first 2 seconds to reduce the delay to 1 second, but also reduce its damage by 50%.

Furnace Blast can be cast while using Ruthless Onslaught.
2
[R2] Lamb to the Slaughter
Cooldown: 90 sec.
Mana Cost: 75
Damage: 171
Cast Range: 14
Delay: 1 sec.
Duration: 3 sec.
Radius: 4
Throw a hitching post at a target location. After 1 second, the post tethers the nearest enemy Hero within a radius of 4, dealing 171 damage and chaining them to the post for 3 seconds. While chained to the post, enemies are Silenced and will be pulled to the post if they walk more than 4 range away from it.

Talents



Level 1


[Q] Flail Axe
Increases the length of Hamstring by 40%.

[Passive] Scorn Pain
Every 5 seconds, gain 75 Physical Armor against the next Hero Basic Attack. Stores up to 2 charges.

[Passive] Engorged
? Quest: The Butcher gains 15% Maximum Health. Collecting 50 Fresh Meat without dying grants 5% additional Maximum Health, up to 30% total.
Dying reduces this bonus by 5%.



Level 4


[Trait/Q] Invigoration
If Hamstring hits a Hero, half its mana cost is refunded and its cooldown is reduced by 1 second.
Hitting a Hero with Hamstring causes them to drop 2 Fresh Meat.

[Trait/W] Hot Cuts
Every second Basic Attack against Branded Heroes within 5 seconds grants the Butcher 1 Fresh Meat and extends the Brand's duration by an additional 0.5 seconds.

[Trait/Passive] Victuals
Every third enemy Minion that dies while the Butcher is nearby drops 1 additional Fresh Meat.
Every time an enemy Minion drops Fresh Meat or the Butcher collects 10 Fresh Meat, the Butcher heals for 5% of his maximum Health.

[Trait/Passive] Fleishmaster
? Quest: Killing a unique Hero increases the amount of Fresh Meat that Hero drops in the future by 2, up to 10.
? Reward: After killing a unique Hero 5 times, the Butcher's Basic Attacks deal 10% additional damage against that Hero.



Level 7


[Q] Flay
Hamstring reduces enemy Heroes' damage by 40% for the duration of the slow.

[W] Rip and Tear
Each time the Butcher completes Fresh Meat, he gains 10 Armor permanently, up to 20.
Basic Attacks against Branded Heroes and collecting Fresh Meat reduces the Butcher's Basic Ability cooldowns by 1 second.

[E] Meat Shield
When Ruthless Onslaught impacts a Hero, the Butcher gains 25 Spell Armor and a Shield equal to 20% of his Maximum Health for 3 seconds.



Level 13


[Q] Tenderize
Hitting an enemy with Hamstring causes them to take 15% more damage from the Butcher's next 3 basic attacks within 5 seconds.

[W] Seared Flesh
Basic Attacks against Branded Heroes deal additional damage equal to 2% of their Maximum Health, healing the Butcher for 150% of that amount.

[E] Savage Charge
Ruthless Onslaught deals bonus damage to Heroes equal to 6% of their Maximum Health.
Completing Fresh Meat increases this damage by 2% of their Maximum Health, and every 50 Fresh Meat the Butcher has increases it by 0.5%.



Level 16


[Q] Crippling Slam
Hamstring's slow no longer fades and now lasts 30% longer.

[W] Bloodthirst
The Butcher gains 10% Movement Speed every second, up to 60%, for 1 second while moving towards an enemy Hero who is Branded or below 30% health.

[Passive] Blood Frenzy
Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes grants 5% increased Attack and Movement Speed, up to 25%, for 3 seconds.



Level 20


[Trait/Passive] Insatiable Hunger
The limit on how many times the Butcher can complete Fresh Meat is removed, but he does not gain additional Attack Speed after the first 2 completions.
The Butcher's Basic Attacks slow enemies by 10%, increased by 5% for every time he has completed Fresh Meat, for 1.5 seconds.

[E/Active] Seeing Red
Occasionally, Ruthless Onslaught forces the Butcher to chase the target after impact for 2.5 seconds, granting 30% increased Movement Speed and Unstoppable.

[R1] Fires of Hell
Furnace Blast explodes a second time 3 seconds after the initial explosion.
While Furnace Blast is charging up, enemies within its radius receive 50% less healing.

[R2] Slaughterhouse
Lamb to the Slaughter now chains all enemy Heroes in range.

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