Possible Shadow reworks

[captcpc]

Some possible changes:

-Occlusion is too situational, maybe have it be a flat movement speed similar to Phantom Menace? Should be swapped to be the E passive since it has more scaling potential than Stepping Strikes

 

Reasoning: Occlusion is a great as a mobility tool, but takes a full 35 seconds to ramp up the max 21% movement speed and has no use in teamfights after entering for the first time.

 

-Stepping Strikes changed to Heroic Passive with 1.5/1.75 range or reworked

 

Reasoning: There is absolutely no reason to level this ability past 1 for early chasing and though stat levels are nice, it's mediocre at best when it becomes a damage steroid. As a damage steroid it depends on Shadow to constantly attack in order to make full use of it providing no immediate boost in damage and provides little utility outside of being able to move 0.5 units every attack. The ability requires Shadow to have good crowd control backing him up, in which case the damage steroid becomes pointless.

 

-Shadow Walk is too unreliable. Maybe add a silence to Shadow Walk, removing timescale and reducing the AoE and duration to compensate?

 

Reasoning: Shadow Walk is as reliable as a disable as Stepping Strikes is reliable as a damage steroid. This ability is easily countered by a 40 mineral scan (as well as Rancor) and provides absolutely no benefit to the team when countered outside of the damage boost it gives to Shadow alone. By focusing more on the ultimate's utility, it will have more presence in teamfights and late game scaling in return for lower damage and the loss of a situational pushing/counterpushing tactic.

 

Overall: Shadow is not well-suited for any role in particular and falls off incredibly after the early stages of the game unless he snowballs out of control (which every hero can do). He should be reworked to focus more on his ganking capability and teamfight potential or his ability to scale later into the game rather than a mediocre mix of damage and utility.

[Doom]

Shadow walk is the best lag spell in the game, other than Egon. If he ults you, fps drops quite a bit. If you scan, the next 3 seconds are uncontrollable. We already have an AoE silence ult and a debuff-based agility melee hero, aka Zeratul. Perhaps Shadow needs a change, to stop him from being such a "feast or famine" hero but what you propose is not to my liking.

[Phyresis]

While i agree with doom about shadow walk, i have to agree with Capt on the other ones. Occlusion does have a higher scaling potential than stepping strikes, and i feel would be interesting swapped.

[OrderSixSix]

How about... change stepping strikes entirely to:

 

Void Rush: Shadow's attacks mark his target with a "Void" icon (black skull or something) for 5 seconds. Shadow can use E to jump to his marked target, up to a range of 4/6/8/10. Cooldown of ~15/12/9/6 seconds, decrease cool down by 1 second every time Shadow attacks.

 

This would make his ability much more of a "Catch them at the proper time" than just "I jump around so fast you can't click me". Late game he could still have considerable mobility while also opening up opportunity for new Shadow Builds.

 

You could still have the quick attacking DPS shadow with very fast jumping (though you actually have to push E to use it). However, you could also now build a spell burst shadow with Black Hole Magnum. Initiate with Shade, powered up attack, hit a few times, if they CC you or try to run, use Void Rush, proc another BHM hit, then drop vortex...etc.

 

EDIT: Out of all Shadow's skills, this is truly the only one I have a problem with.

[captcpc]

How about... change stepping strikes entirely to:

 

Void Rush: Shadow's attacks mark his target with a "Void" icon (black skull or something) for 5 seconds. Shadow can use E to jump to his marked target, up to a range of 4/6/8/10. Cooldown of ~15/12/9/6 seconds, decrease cool down by 1 second every time Shadow attacks.

 

This would make his ability much more of a "Catch them at the proper time" than just "I jump around so fast you can't click me". Late game he could still have considerable mobility while also opening up opportunity for new Shadow Builds.

 

You could still have the quick attacking DPS shadow with very fast jumping (though you actually have to push E to use it). However, you could also now build a spell burst shadow with Black Hole Magnum. Initiate with Shade, powered up attack, hit a few times, if they CC you or try to run, use Void Rush, proc another BHM hit, then drop vortex...etc.

 

EDIT: Out of all Shadow's skills, this is truly the only one I have a problem with.

Yeah, a sort of Blink Strike would be much better and safer for ganking and entering fights quicker.

 

Though in my opinion, it's his ultimate that needs a change the most (how about 100% evasion and some movement speed to allies?). Just about every other ultimate in the game would work better with him (Egon's gives Magic Immunity, Balrog's gives a massive amounts of health and a nuke, Molgloo's gives stupid amounts of situational, but instant, mobility, Zeratul's lets him assasinate carries and disable entire teams, etc).

 

On a side note, it's pretty easy clicking Shadow. The passive makes him teleport behind his target so all you have to do is hold fire and position. Or Shrapnel Cloak.

[OrderSixSix]

Yeah, a sort of Blink Strike would be much better and safer for ganking and entering fights quicker.

 

Though in my opinion, it's his ultimate that needs a change the most (how about 100% evasion and some movement speed to allies?). Just about every other ultimate in the game would work better with him (Egon's gives Magic Immunity, Balrog's gives a massive amounts of health and a nuke, Molgloo's gives stupid amounts of situational, but instant, mobility, Zeratul's lets him assasinate carries and disable entire teams, etc).

 

On a side note, it's pretty easy clicking Shadow. The passive makes him teleport behind his target so all you have to do is hold fire and position. Or Shrapnel Cloak.

 

No. Shadow's ultimate does not need a buff. Shadow's ultimate gives wide-ranged AoE Sight reduction to 0. That's right, 0. Meaning that it's all about positioning it properly. Not only does that mean that fighting inside the Shadow Walk becomes all but impossible, the big black hole also makes a whole lot of other abilities harder to avoid/escape/anticipate. Ever tried to bail out of the Shadow Walk only to have Darpa pop up and melt your face in? Ever had Shadow Walk dropped on top of your enemy team's Mandrake so you can't interrupt his ultimate?

 

Shadow Walk can be Area Denial, unremovable debuff (Blind is a pretty nasty debuff), escape, chase, intimidation, juke, etc.

 

Merely the potential for all the stuff that can happen under it grants it insanely high intimidation value beyond almost any other ultimate or skill in the game. DO NOT BUFF.

[captcpc]

No. Shadow's ultimate does not need a buff. Shadow's ultimate gives wide-ranged AoE Sight reduction to 0. That's right, 0. Meaning that it's all about positioning it properly. Not only does that mean that fighting inside the Shadow Walk becomes all but impossible, the big black hole also makes a whole lot of other abilities harder to avoid/escape/anticipate. Ever tried to bail out of the Shadow Walk only to have Darpa pop up and melt your face in? Ever had Shadow Walk dropped on top of your enemy team's Mandrake so you can't interrupt his ultimate?

 

Shadow Walk can be Area Denial, unremovable debuff (Blind is a pretty nasty debuff), escape, chase, intimidation, juke, etc.

 

Merely the potential for all the stuff that can happen under it grants it insanely high intimidation value beyond almost any other ultimate or skill in the game. DO NOT BUFF.

And all of this amazing potential is wasted by a 40 mineral scan. Or Rancor. The skill is completely unreliable as a disable, and pretty much turns into a 6 second damage steroid for Shadow by mid to late game.

 

I'm suggesting that the ultimate is reworked to become either a better disable at the cost of the damage boost or a real damage steroid because it can hardly fill either role correctly, not a straight buff.

 

EDIT: If the ultimate at it's current state is so powerful, then why would 100% evasion to allies instead be a buff?

[VasyaKot]

And all of this amazing potential is wasted by a 40 mineral scan. Or Rancor. The skill is completely unreliable as a disable, and pretty much turns into a 6 second damage steroid for Shadow by mid to late game.

 

I'm suggesting that the ultimate is reworked to become either a better disable at the cost of the damage boost or a real damage steroid because it can hardly fill either role correctly, not a straight buff.

 

EDIT: If the ultimate at it's current state is so powerful, then why would 100% evasion to allies instead be a buff?

40 mineral scan is a slot in your inventory. Nowadays pubbers wont waste the slot to make team win.

[OrderSixSix]

While the scan CAN be used, there's still the issue of the giant black vortex that's still obscuring actual vision, as opposed to the ability's effect that obscures character vision.

 

Kerrigan can still lay down an ult inside Shadow's ult without anyone being the wiser until the radishes start falling.

Other characters with less than visible abilities (Zera, Raynor, Jakk, etc.) are able to take advantage of the panic that Shadow Walk invariably causes. The whole deal with Shadow Walk is that it isn't a 1v5 ultimate. It's best used in a team fight. If you use it and they clump up, have your Jackson or Drake disable the whole team at once. If they split up, your Nova, Shadow, or Rory can pick one or two off easily. Either case usually results in a win for your team.

[captcpc]

While the scan CAN be used, there's still the issue of the giant black vortex that's still obscuring actual vision, as opposed to the ability's effect that obscures character vision.

 

Kerrigan can still lay down an ult inside Shadow's ult without anyone being the wiser until the radishes start falling.

Other characters with less than visible abilities (Zera, Raynor, Jakk, etc.) are able to take advantage of the panic that Shadow Walk invariably causes. The whole deal with Shadow Walk is that it isn't a 1v5 ultimate. It's best used in a team fight. If you use it and they clump up, have your Jackson or Drake disable the whole team at once. If they split up, your Nova, Shadow, or Rory can pick one or two off easily. Either case usually results in a win for your team.

So this giant, laggy effect that leaves nothing but health bars won't effect Shadow or his team either? It's exactly these 5 man engagements that are common late game in which Shadow Walk loses its edge. There's a better chance that a support will be able to counter the ultimate and that the enemy team will be able to counter-initiate (What exactly is Shadow Walk doing if your team is already in a superior position?). After Shadow Walk, Shadow has a mediocre nuke, a good disable, and is competent at picking off stragglers, but you've just listed seven heroes that do all of those jobs better. He can initiate and punish out of position teams under ideal conditions, but why would you choose him over Micro or Jackson, for example? Zeratul and Kerrigan are stronger late game, Cain and Molgloo are better at ganking lanes (the latter of which has better mobility), and Rory has a better mid game and arguably late game without the need for excessive farm. He needs to be more capable at filling a specific role.

[thomulf]

...Shadow walk == damage steroid

Stepping Strikes =/= damage steroid

Shadow walk is one of the most epic ults in the game, gives tons of kills early game and allows you to manage against almost any enemy late game. Why change it???