"The Overmind was a millennia-old brain-like entity. It was created by the xel'naga on Zerus to bring order to the zerg and guide them into merging with the protoss. At first it was only a semi-sentient entity created from the instincts and collective sentience of the zerg, but it quickly developed intellect and personality. The Overmind was created with intelligence and the ability to reason, but its free will was undermined by an overriding directive to destroy the protoss. This was part of a greater plan by Amon to remould creation in his own image. The Overmind learned of Amon's plan through scattered and confused images, which the Overmind ultimately formed into a more coherent narrative. The Overmind disagreed with its directive because it knew the zerg would be destroyed once the protoss were, but could do little to resist.
The Overmind was not an automaton, and had broad latitudes in its thinking. However, 'iron-clad' compulsions prevented it from considering rebellion. The Overmind used 'cracks' in these controls to support the goals of the zerg over Amon's."
The "fantasy" of The Overmind: - Hive-minded: Expand your area of influence via Cerebrates, mimicking the spread of the Zerg among planets - Endless Tide: Command an army of Zerglings on a global scale; their power resting in their sheer numbers - A War On Many Fronts: Constant, unrelenting pressure on every lane - Changing, Evolving: A swarm that can adapt to meet any challenge
The Overmind replaces your team's core. To enter the battle, The Overmind can spawn Cerebrates anywhere on the map that it has vision. Once a Cerebrate has been spawned, The Overmind can cast abilities and control certain units within range of a Cerebrate. The Overmind receives experience from enemies that die near a Cerebrate or an Infestor.
Combat Trait
1
Cerebrate
Spawn a Cerebrate at the target location, allowing The Overmind to control units and use abilities within its (large) range. Requires vision of area or to be within range of another Cerebrate. 30 second cooldown.
Killing a Cerebrate grants the enemy 25% takedown experience. Units you are not controlling or that are not within the radius of a Cerebrate's influence will merely push down the nearest lane.
Mutation: Spawning Pool. Host targets within the range of a Spawning Pool summon an additional Zergling.
Primary Abilities
1
Host
Infest enemy minions or mercenaries in the target area, dealing damage over 3 seconds. If an enemy dies while under the effect of Host they enter a chrysalis for 2 seconds. After this brief incubation period the chrysalis hatches, each spawning 2 zerglings that The Overmind can control while they remain within range of a Cerebrate. Zerglings last 20 seconds. 6 second cooldown.
Zerglings have the same health and damage as minions, but attack 100% faster. In addition Zerglings move 20% faster than heroes and deal 50% bonus damage to structures.
Mutation: Metabolic Boost. Increases the movement speed of selected Zerglings by an additional 20%, and their health regeneration by 300%.
2
Infestor
Spawn an Infestor at the nearest Cerebrate. The Infestor can be controlled outside of the range of Cerebrates, and any Zerglings near an Infestor will follow it and assist it by attacking its target. Maximum 1 Infestor at a time. Infestors last for 30 seconds or until killed. 1 minute cooldown.
Infestors possess the Neural Parasite ability, a skillshot that allows them to control an enemy heroes movement for 1.5 seconds. Enemies can still cast abilities while under the effects of Neural Parasite. 10 second cooldown.
Mutation: Give the Infestor the Fungal Growth ability. Fungal Growth can be cast on an area to slow enemies that remain within it by 30% and to disable structures. Lasts 3 seconds. 10 second cooldown.
3
Mutate
Mutate the unit you currently have selected. See individual units for their mutation. 20 second cooldown.
Heroic Abilities
1
Overlord
Spawn an Overlord from The Overmind that slowly and randomly moves around the map, providing vision for 1 minute or until it is killed. Vision radius is the same size as a hero's. 3 charges. 45 second recharge.
Mutation: Turn the target Overlord into an Overseer. Overseers reveal cloaked units.
2
Drone
The Overmind now spawns 1 Drone with each minion wave. When a Drone reaches a friendly structue that is damaged it morphs itself into a cocoon around that structure, healing it for 1% of its health per second and restoring 1 ammo per second for 5 seconds. If a Drone does not encounter a damaged structure it will simply continue down the lane with the other minions (it has the same damage/health as Abathur's locusts).
Mutation: Hatchery. While healing a building with cocoon, three larva are spawned. These larva can be targeted with Host to create Zerglings. Each effected larva reduces the cooldown of Host by 2 seconds and refunds 33% of the mana cost. Larva last for 10 seconds.
Talents
Level 1: Cerebrate Good Times: Increases the radius of a Cerebrate's influence by 30% if it has been alive for 30 seconds. Insidious: Cerebrates become cloaked for 5 seconds whenever an enemy hero comes within range. This cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds. Underlings: Increase the speed of Infestors by 3% for each nearby Zergling. Gestation: Using Mutate on an allied hero allows their basic attacks to infuse enemy heroes with Gestation for 3 seconds. If an enemy hero dies while under the effects of Gestation they spawn 3 Zerglings. Allies retain this power until they are killed.
Level 4: Surrogate: Increase the radius of Host by 20%. In addition it can now be cast on friendly minions and mercenaries as well. A Toast To The Host: Casting Host on an allied hero provides them with a shield equal to 15% of their health for 2 seconds. If this shield is broken it spawns 3 Zerglings that will assist that hero. The Nest Defence: Cerebrates spawn 6 Zerglings when they are killed. Influence: Enemies that attack a Cerebrate have their attack speed slowed by 100% for 2 seconds.
Level 7: Zerg Rush: Zergling's auto-attacks increase their duration by 0.25 seconds. Mu-Two: Mutate gains a second charge. Neural Powersite: Increase the range and duration of Infestor's Neural Parasite ability by 30%. Fungal Spread: Increase the range and duration of Infestor's Fungal Growth ability by 30%.
Level 10: Overlord: Spawn an Overlord from The Overmind that slowly and randomly moves around the map, providing vision for 1 minute or until it is killed. Vision radius is the same size as a hero's. 3 charges. 45 second recharge. Drone: The Overmind now spawns 1 Drone with each minion wave. When a Drone reaches a friendly structue that is damaged it morphs itself into a cocoon around that structure, healing it for 1% of its health per second and restoring 1 ammo per second for 5 seconds. If a Drone does not encounter a damaged structure it will simply continue down the lane with the other minions (it has the same damage/health as Abathur's locusts).
Level 13: Swarm Reception: Killing blows by Zerglings on enemy minions cause that minion to spawn 1 Zergling. Killer Z's: Each attack by a Zergling against a hero increases the damage all Zerglings deal to that target by 0.5% for 10 seconds. Practice Mutates Perfect: Permanently reduces the cooldown of Mutate by 0.5 seconds each time you use it. Infestation: Increases the number of Infestors you can have at a time to 2, and reduces the cooldown of Infestor to 30 seconds.
Level 16: Brood Brothers: All damage dealt to a Zergling is divided equally among nearby Zerglings. Brood Lord: Zerglings that die near an Infestor increase the duration of that Infestor by 5 seconds. Spine Crawler: Cerebrates can now use Mutate to change into a Spine Crawler. Spine Crawlers can uproot and walk slowly to move to a new location. Once rooted again Spine Crawlers are able to defend themselves against attacking enemies. Hive Cluster: Reduce the cooldown of Cerebrate by 2 seconds for each active Cerebrate.
Level 20: Uberlord: Overlords can be controlled and allow you to control units within their range as though they were a Cerebrate. Additionally, the number of Overlord charges is increased by 1. Droves: Increases the number of Drones spawned per wave to 2, and these Drones can now be 'banked' by toggling the Drone ability off. Zergling Frenzy: Increase the attack speed of Zerglings by 50%, and they now leap towards their target. Pack Leader: Infestors increase the damage bonus of nearby Zergling's attacks against structures to 100%.
General Notes
- The Overmind is capable of soaking in every lane at once, so the fact that Cerebrates are worth 0.25 takedown experience helps offset this slightly.
- Zerglings are meant to be disposable. This creates action for The Overmind player as they'll need to consistently be spawning more to make sure there is pressure on each lane. In addition they will want to micro specific groups of Zerglings to get the most out of them by focusing their attacks or leaving a lane to join a team fight.
- Infestors are meant to give The Overmind player a feeling of having a more substantial presence on the map. They provide some strong utility while still allowing the control of nearby Zerglings
- Mutate is meant to mimic the constant evolution of the swarm as it adapts to different environments. Its long initial cooldown forces the player to make choices as to where it is best used.
- Overlords and Drones, although basic units in Starcraft, hold much greater power in a game like HotS with vision and structure repair being incredibly strong tools in the MOBA genre. I feel like this justifies them being qualified as heroic abilities
Skin Concept
The Overmind character lends itself to some interesting skins. One I had in mind was an "Exterminator" skin. The Overmind itself is covered with a sort of bug-spraying tent while its tendrils peak out from underneath. Zerglings are made to look like roaches and Infestors become fat little "Bug-Be-Gone" vans (similar to the one driven by the alien in Men In Black).
With all these zerglings and infestors in the lanes, it'll give the enemy team so much xp if these things barely do anything to help the team. It would be Chaos for you if all of your zerglings and infestors died within two seconds of them spawning. If they last their full duration though, you would be getting some good profit out of your minion waves. HEY but wait, check out my OVERMIND too, it doesn't go on the core OR summon minions, so it's more of an assassin/support/specialist.
The main problem with allowing the Overmind to replace the Core is that this prevents future similar ideas. I've also read ideas that let the Hearthstone Inn take the place of the Core. What if we want individual cerebrates in the game? Wouldn't they be the Core as well? How about C'thun? Or Yogg-Saron? What if you have a few of these characters on the same team?
Who gets the be the Core?
Believe me, I've done a ton of brainstorming on this topic, and I don't have a solution. However, I don't think changing the Core itself is the best mechanical way of representing these types of characters, considering how many of them there could be.
You may want to consider additional methods for representing him on the map. Thanks for working so hard on this concept. Good work!
What? No it isn't, you see the huge indicator before it's cast (big yellow box pointing in a general direction). The Murlocs spawn in that box and run in the direction you point it.
Er, reduced the cooldown until the next Host can be used by 2 seconds? I'm not sure how else to explain it. If you use it on 3 larva there is no cooldown. Use it on 2 larva and Host has a 2 second cooldown before you can use it again, etc. Meant to just be an easy way for the quick zerglings. The more I think about it though it's only worth it if you've got the talents that make you able to use Mutate a lot, or else you're using Mutate to get some cheap Zerglings, which doesnt make sense.
"Not sure; they likely wouldn't have too much health" => well, without the talent, they can't really defend themself or flee, they should have lots of hp IMO.
"Each larva you use Host on will shorten the cooldown by 2 seconds" => Still does not understand. We can use host on larva even if it's on cooldown ? If not, using hots on larva give 4s cooldown (6-2=4), so we need 4*3=12 seconds to use host on all larva, and because they last 10s, how do you do that ?
- "I think the 20s Zerglin duration is not enough..."
I wanted to avoid players simply saving up a ton of Zerglings and then sending them down one lane at the same time.
- "What are Cerebrates health ? Are they long to kill?"
Not sure; they likely wouldn't have too much health
- "Infestor should have high damage against hero..."
They might need that, yea. I pictured most of their damage coming from the Zerglings that will follow them and attack their target.
- "What do you mean by Drones can now be 'banked' by toggling the Drone ability off?"
You can toggle Drone off and save them if your base isn't currently damaged. When you eventually need them, toggle them back on and all the Drones that would have been spawned in that time are sent out at the same time.
- "It's me or we can't hatch three larva because of CD ?"
Not sure what you mean by this. If you mutate a Drone it releases 3 larva while it is healing a structure. If you use Host on them they spawn Zerglings. Each larva you use Host on will shorten the cooldown by 2 seconds, so assuming you manage to target all three (none have been killed) it doesn't trigger the Host cooldown.
- "Zerglin should have bonus damage againast hero."
That might be required, yea.
- "Overmind replacing core is good idea, but I think you could go further and give him some ability while selected. Or special statistic maybe ?"
There's already so much going on with this concept, I didn't want to introduce any more, but it's possible.
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Who gets the be the Core?
Believe me, I've done a ton of brainstorming on this topic, and I don't have a solution. However, I don't think changing the Core itself is the best mechanical way of representing these types of characters, considering how many of them there could be.
You may want to consider additional methods for representing him on the map. Thanks for working so hard on this concept. Good work!
Skymer : murky march ulti is random
What? No it isn't, you see the huge indicator before it's cast (big yellow box pointing in a general direction). The Murlocs spawn in that box and run in the direction you point it.
It focuses around evolution and it's tentacles.
"Each larva you use Host on will shorten the cooldown by 2 seconds" => Still does not understand. We can use host on larva even if it's on cooldown ? If not, using hots on larva give 4s cooldown (6-2=4), so we need 4*3=12 seconds to use host on all larva, and because they last 10s, how do you do that ?
I wanted to avoid players simply saving up a ton of Zerglings and then sending them down one lane at the same time.
- "What are Cerebrates health ? Are they long to kill?"
Not sure; they likely wouldn't have too much health
- "Infestor should have high damage against hero..."
They might need that, yea. I pictured most of their damage coming from the Zerglings that will follow them and attack their target.
- "What do you mean by Drones can now be 'banked' by toggling the Drone ability off?"
You can toggle Drone off and save them if your base isn't currently damaged. When you eventually need them, toggle them back on and all the Drones that would have been spawned in that time are sent out at the same time.
- "It's me or we can't hatch three larva because of CD ?"
Not sure what you mean by this. If you mutate a Drone it releases 3 larva while it is healing a structure. If you use Host on them they spawn Zerglings. Each larva you use Host on will shorten the cooldown by 2 seconds, so assuming you manage to target all three (none have been killed) it doesn't trigger the Host cooldown.
- "Zerglin should have bonus damage againast hero."
That might be required, yea.
- "Overmind replacing core is good idea, but I think you could go further and give him some ability while selected. Or special statistic maybe ?"
There's already so much going on with this concept, I didn't want to introduce any more, but it's possible.