Queen Baneling & Heal Mechanic Change Proposal

[Hanedog]

Queen's banelings are a relatively brainless ability in their current state. You click on something, they go out and damage whatever that something is. Here is my proposed mechanic change for Q as well as W:

 

Baneling Strike: 'Q'

Queen can use banelings in two different ways:

Type 1: Rapid fire banelings

By pressing 'Q' in rapid succession, Queen can fire a single baneling once every half second at either a selected target OR location. If a target is selected, the baneling will follow the target similar to the current mechanic. If a location is selected, the baneling will travel straight to the location and detonate. Queen regenerates a baneling every 2.5 seconds.

 

This change allows the queen to choose between a skillshot harass or an annoyance harass. This also gives the queen some viability against burrowed or invisible units and gives the Queen the ability to choose how and when mana is spent.

 

 

Type 1: Baneling charge up

By pressing and holding 'Q', Queen is able to corral her baneling brood and send them at either a selected target OR location in mass. Banelings charge up 2 per second. Once 'Q' is released or reaches full charge, Queen has 3 seconds to direct the banelings at a given target or location by right-clicking. If the Queen does not release the banelings within 3 seconds, they will detonate. Banelings can be destroyed while held by the Queen.

 

This provides the Queen with a skillshot nuke that is controllable and a bit time-able.This allows her to stun an enemy with Timmy, kite in, and release the brood she is holding. This requires timing, skill and micromanagement but the payoff is fair for the skill level required.

 

 

Queen's Transfuse fits in her toolkit only sort of well. This would be changed to a passive ability that provides her banelings with the ability to burst heal a selected target. Here is my suggestion:

 

Transfuse: 'W' -> Biomass Transfusion

While deadly to enemies, biomass has the capability to regenerate friendly living tissue. Each baneling released by the Queen can regenerate allied heroes health for 10/15/20/25 per baneling detonation +5% (stack limit set to Baneling strike maximum charge) for each baneling within a 1 second window.

 

Note 1: Baneling heal has the same radius as baneling damage and banelings will do both at once.

Note 2: The internal timer used to count heal stacks would reset 1 second after the first baneling detonation. This would work similar to how Rory's molotov damage ticks.

 

This change provides Queen with a much better support ability than transfusion. It provides incentive to heal an ally with more banelings because of the % increase. It also gives Queen tankiness, allowing her to run into a fight with a fully charged Baneling Strike and soak up AOE damage each time a baneling is destroyed.

 

Creep Tumor: 'E'

Creep tumor mechanic remains the same except:

Creep Tumors can now be detonated, slowing enemies on creep by 15% for 3 seconds.

 

This gives her the option to sacrifice a long CD skill to increase movement speed differential between her skills (timmy and banelings) and the enemy but would have the drawback of having to place the tumor again.

 

The speed differential would be the +ms to her skills given by the remaining creep before it disappears combined with the detonated slow.

Edited December 16, 2014 by Hanedog

[king]

Transfuse: 'W' -> Biomass Transfusion

While deadly to enemies, biomass has the capability to regenerate friendly living tissue. Each baneling released by the Queen can regenerate allied heroes health for 10/15/20/25 per baneling detonation +5% for each baneling within a 1 second window.

 

Note: baneling heal has the same radius as baneling damage and banelings will do both at once.

 

This change provides Queen with a much better support ability than transfusion. It provides incentive to heal an ally with more banelings because of the % increase seen by large banelings. It also gives Queen tankiness, allowing her to run into a fight with a fully charged Baneling Strike and soak up AOE damage each time a baneling is destroyed.

 

HOTS has a similar mechanic and I think this would be a neat boost for queen. Similar to Erkul's Q though where it damages enemies, and heals allies.

[MOTHER]

Very nice idea on changing the function Baneling Strike similar to Immortal's Q, it could work well but enemies can already see the banelings coming from a mile away, let alone see queen channeling a full barrage of them. The channel set up also sacrifices the chaotic spamming that Queen can dish out during team fights and the speed at which she can clear creep waves.

 

I honestly like the way Banelings work right now and the way they combo with R, all they need is a damage buff right now and minor MS buff on creep could also help alleviate their uselessness during 2/3rds of the game.

 

If we were to change the mechanic of baneling strike completely, I would suggest making it a target point AoE skill shot. After a short delay, Queen summons banelings at a target location (Medium-medium large size AoE), the banelings will attack all units inside the AoE only (units that manage to leave the AoE in time are safe), the more units there are in the AoE, the less damage is dealt to each one. Likewise, if there is 1 or 2 targets in the AoE, they receive all the baneling damage. Combine it with a set up stun like Fungal, and we can have a baneling party.

 

Having said that, I do like the messy army of banelings version we have now, especially in team fights - it's a unique nuke.

Edited November 12, 2014 by Jessika

[Hanedog]

If you like the 'messiness' of the current baneling nuke, simply decrease the cast cd which in turn would decrease the charge time. So make casting take 0.25 seconds enabling you to charge at 4 banelings per second.

 

Also, you can change the technique for launching individual banelings to something similar to Greelus' ulti where as fast as you can click 'Q' the banelings seek out wherever your mouse cursor currently is.

 

And the reason for my change to banelings was to give her the option of the mini-cast pot shots or full nuke. The change also couples well with the heal concept and allowing Queen to tank using the banelings as your sustain. I believe decreasing the charge time would give you essentially the same skill as Queen currently has EXCEPT that it now provides great heal potential and more creative play.

Edited November 13, 2014 by Hanedog

[Hanedog]

Thinking about this a bit more, if she goes with an item like N. Retrofit, her potshots now because a great support slow, especially since they can be used as skillshots and dont have to follow the stupid pathing they currently do. This just makes her even more lethal as a support hero, giving her great viability.

Edited November 13, 2014 by Hanedog

[Hanedog]

Another Queen change I would like to see- is allow her to detonate her creep tumors, slowing all enemies 20% for 3 seconds. This gives her the option to sacrifice a long CD skill to increase movement speed differential between her skills (timmy and banelings) and the enemy but would have the drawback of having to place the tumor again.

 

The speed differential would be the +ms to her skills given by the remaining creep before it disappears combined with the detonated slow.

Edited December 16, 2014 by Hanedog