Telepath is a highly versatile, utility-focused mage who can fulfill multiple roles in a team. His untraditional debuffs and crowd-control give him a plethora of options in a fight, and although his damage is not high, he can make up for it with careful use of his Dominate and Architect of Thought abilities.
In-lane, Telepath functions as a powerful mid laner who can avoid being pushed out with Dominate, and usable waveclear in Traumatize. Thoughtseize can be useful harass, but his skills are limited to baiting the enemy into fighting in a group of Dominated minions.
In teamfights, Telepath absolutely needs control of the battlefield to function. An empowered minion wave lets him become a devastating siegeing force, and Traumatize can be a devastating control spell against an entire team. His ultimate is perhaps the single trickiest ability to use in the entire game (zero exaggeration), but it can be a devastating blow against the enemy team and force them to make some unpleasant choices.
Stats
Health: 415 (+80 per Level)
Health Regen: 8 (+0.5 per Level)
Armor: 10 (+3 per Level)
Magic Resistance: 35 (+1.1 per Level)
Attack Damage: 55 (+2.7 per Level) (+20% of your magical power)
Attack Speed: 0.9 (+2.0% per Level)
Attack Range: 60 feet.
Movement Speed: 380
Kit
Passive: Mind Reader: Telepath can see the ability cooldowns and targeting indicators of all enemies within 55 feet. (Basically, you see a four-section circle with ability icons over every god's head, and you can see the progression of their cooldowns.)
Q: Dominate: Passive: Telepath gains 6/7/8/9/10 magical power per stored Dominate charge. Telepath can hold up to 2/3/4/5/6 Dominate charges.
Active: Telepath spends a number of Dominate charges to gain permanent control of target minion, pet, or monster, increasing its attack damage and move speed by 10/20/30/40/50 (+10% of your magical power) and granting it 50% damage reduction from abilities.
Dominated units will prioritize targets, in this order: Enemy gods hit with Thoughtseize, enemies hit by basic abilities, enemies hit by basic attacks, and then will push like normal minions.
Range: 40 feet.
Cost: 1 for minions, 2 for jungle camps and pets.
Charge Cooldown: 10/9/8/7/6 seconds.
Cooldown: 0.5 seconds.
W: Traumatize: Telepath unleashes a wave of psychic power, dealing 80/120/160/200/240 damage (+75% MP) to all enemies in a 45-degree, 50 foot cone, stunning enemies hit for 0.5 seconds and slowing them by 30/45/60/75/90% for 1 second.
Cooldown: 15 seconds.
E: Thoughtseize: Telepath steals the thoughts of target enemy within 40 feet, dealing 55/100/145/190/235 magic damage (+60% MP) increasing their cooldowns by 1.5/1.75/2.0/2.25/2.5 seconds and decreasing his own item and ability cooldowns by the same amount.
To clarify, this is NOT the same as a silence. Like his ultimate, it is not considered CC. It will not interrupt abilities, nor will it disable any active abilities or anything like that. This obviously has its pros and cons, as it can't be mitigated by tenacity, but it can be rather unreliable.
Cooldown: 10 seconds.
R: Architect of Thought: Channel for 1 second, focusing on target god within 45 feet. After channeling, Telepath can control target god for 3 seconds (+0.25 seconds per 100 power), dealing 40/47.5/55/62.5/70% damage and becoming slowed by 50%. Controlled god cannot target itself with any abilities, nor use any consumables or active items, and will take 50% damage from its allies. This effect is not considered CC.
If an enemy walks out of range while channeling or the ability is interrupted while casting, Architect of Thought is put on a 9 second static (read: unchangable) cooldown.
Basically, you possess an enemy god for 3+ seconds, and "your" (technically his) abilities deal reduced damage, but you'll take damage from both sides. However, the god you're controlling is resisting you - therefore the reduced move speed and damage, and you are unable to target yourself - so Poseidon cannot use his ult at his own feet - but he can use Whirlpool and then walk into it to take damage.
What makes this ability balanced? It's that Telepath is literally stuck for 5 entire seconds channeling one ability, and 1 of those seconds are him doing nothing. He cannot damage the target himself, and is forced to use them in other ways - throwing them into towers, making them attack allies, or simply dragging them out of position. It's a scary ability, but that's why it has a massive cooldown.
Cooldown: 180/170/160/150/140 seconds.
Meta
Telepath is a very antimeta champion. He can use enemies' burst damage and mobility against them with his ultimate to wreak havoc and drag them away despite the move speed debuff.
Build
Core: Shoes of Focus, Polynomicon, Chronos' Pendant.
Damage: Obsidian Shard, Gem of Isolation, Chronos' Pendant.
Defensive: Ethereal Staff, Warlock's Sash, Spirit Robe.
Currently the slow on Traumatize is so strong, it's closer to a stun + root at level 5. The disadvantage to it being a slow though is being vulnerable to
As for Architect of Thought, I take back what I said about changing the cooldowns when you cast abilities while controlling an enemy; I think that may ruin the point of the ability as you said. Another thing to consider though is what can enemies do during the one second channel and is Telepath immune to certain things? I'm wondering this because a god like
His passive needs that range. It's barely in the outer edges of engagement - any closer, and he'll be putting himself in danger to use his passive and that's contrary to how his kit is designed to work.
Why on earth would his 1 just leave a room for ults? So Poseidon can ignore it by ulting? No. You're telling me to do things without any reasons for it, and I don't know why you're expecting me to do whatever.
And one second is plenty of time for them to get out of range or stun or whatever. Think about it this way - Poseidon's ult has a 0.75 second delay for a nuke and stun, and no delay for the slow, which is instant, plus it deals massive AoE damage, and has a way lower cooldown. Plus, the ultimate practically guarantees a kill if you use his combo right.
Those stats are perfectly intentional. If you're going to criticize me for changing up base stats, you might as well criticize me from creating a new kind of CC and having a new Dominate mechanic and all sorts of stuff that's not copypasta'd from Smite wiki. -_-
I didn't put in mana costs because honestly, those don't matter. How many gods in Smite have mana costs that really are different from one another?
He's a mage, of course his MR is going to be high and his physical defenses low. Kali has 375 speed, BTW.
tldr: You need reasons to convince me that his abilities need changing, not "it needs changing." As for the stats, I'm hearing is "this stuff isn't like Smite, so change it," and in response:
Deal with it.
Lemme get on my PC then yeah, for sure. Also that was kinda scumbaggy but ok, who am I to judge ? XD
Yeah, I think I messed up with the health. Toning this down would also tone down the "invincible magic tank at level 1" problem, I think.
- Change: 565 health + 70 per level > 415 + 80 per level. Yes, it's still very strong at level one, but minion damage (even with Dominate) should be an effective deterrent.
I don't really see a problem with the move speed as it's not really that noticeable in Smite. Like, stuff like innate mobility (a la Janus or even Isis) make more of a difference, I think. His autos are intentionally longer to somewhat make up for his shorter ranged abilities, and they're intended to be a good part of his early game, and somewhat significant in late game.
Dominate:
Yes, you got the description right.
I should have put controls on it. BTW, the "- Change:" doesn't mean I'm changing the idea, but the blog.
- Change: Minions will prioritize gods you hit with Thoughtseize, then enemies you hit with your basic abilites, then enemies hit with basic attacks. This is designed to pinpoint single enemies to focus.
Don't forget a lot of counterplay with this ability is simply not deploying pets in the first place. For example, Vulcan can do plenty of damage without his turrets, and Bastet usually uses her ult as a tower-diving execute assistance thing, rather than her main source of damage (although it is still notable damage). There should still be room to outplay Telepath even if you cannot afford to deploy your pets, is my point.
Maybe make pets cost 3 charges? That, and/or adjust the cooldown between charges or something.
As for the numbers, I honestly believe we can't really test this sort of thing until it's in the game proper. I agree with you in that it's likely going to be really strong, but...yeah.
Traumatize:
Eh, I kinda disagree with that, just out of the principle that stacking CC is a no-no. (I'm a fan of League's new "slows don't stack" rule.)
Tossing this idea up in the air: What if it were a longer-lasting, decaying slow? Gem would still have an effect.
Thoughseize:
Yes.
Architect of Thought:
Yes, they can walk out of range, but it would be put on a heavily reduced cooldown.
- Change: If an enemy walks out of range while channeling, Architect of Thought is put on a 9 second static (read: unchangable) cooldown.
Ideally, it would be enough of a window to punish Telepath without becoming completely feast-or-famine if you hit or miss with it.
In most MOBAs, channeling abilities essentially is a self-stun, so I went with that here.
Yes, the 40-70% damage is how much damage you deal when you are controlling the enemy god. Yes, you can walk into it, and yes, you can put your enemy's abilities on cooldown.
Predicted response: Holy **** get hit by it once and lose laning phase.
Reply: Don't forget that a lot of possibilities can happen in one second. One of those possibilities is the enemy using their ultimate, in a last-ditch effort to deprive Telepath of their abilities.
Of course, Telepath can just psuedo-silence them first...leading into a possession that is basically also a silence for a few seconds afterward...honestly, this is one of those things where I feel out of my depth.
Yes, at first glance, this looks broken. However, a TON of champions appear to have chain-based kits in both Smite and League, like Ryze, Anubis, Malzahar, Isis, and they all vary in player interactivity, creativity, and viability. However, you are completely correct in your assumed reply that this presents a lack of counterplay.
*shrugs* I can't change Thoughtseize' mechanics - the fact that it's a targeted single-target ability makes it crucially cohesive to the kit. Trying to open up avenues of counterplay on Architect of Thought is going to be a headache.
Currently, as it stands right now, assuming the Thoughtseize-Ult combo:
Reward: Complete spending of all of target's abilities, full CC, partial damage onto enemy team, likely enemy death, definite enemy repositioning.
Risk: Being surrounded, interrupted, killed, put out of position.
Group: Target can attack, move out of range, or stay out of range. Due to team presence, enemies can also converge on Telepath while he is channeling, or interrupt it themselves, so I'd argue that this part if fine.
Single: Target can attack, move out of range, or stay out of range due to the relatively short range on Thoughtseize (40 feet is honestly quite short.) This one's a bit more problematic due to the low consequences of failure and the relatively unfair risk-reward ratio.
Personally, I think the risk-reward ratio for this ult is less unfair than most Smite gods. Maybe reduce the reward part?
Have enemy abilities put on a static cooldown? But that would weaken his ult when possessing enemies with short cooldowns - like putting Merc's 1 on a 15 second cooldown.
Have them not use their cooldowns at all? I don't look forward to possessing a god and then refreshing all their cooldowns in the middle of your team. Too binary.
Percent-based cooldowns? Cooldowns are reduced by 50% when possessed? Nope nope nope.
???
The fantasy behind the ult was complete domination over an enemy - and this would include using their ultimate against their team, and all the consequences thereof - essentially trading your ultimate for the god's. But damn...
And after typing this stream-of-consciousness rant, I still have no freaking clue on what to do here. I think there's a problem here, but I'm not sure where to start, or even where to go.
I'm glad you liked the idea, though.
I don't see anything about CC immunity so it could be easily countered. and the not taking damage part of the controllign god is a bit vague as kraken won't damage him but whirlpool would and later you state can't take damage the target himself
His base attack damage, range and attack speed are high which gives him a stronger early game despite having so-so clear (hard to tell how much his 1 will do for it), this would need to be played with to see how much it effects his balancing (although I don't think he needs extra range). His movement speed is high, but he lacks any CC aside from a short stun and slow and his ultimate (although I still think the movespeed might be a bit broken since he'll be able to rotate and farm more effectively which seems a bit unbalanced).
All in all, would be very hard to balance just looking at stats without the actual gameplay, but before any of that, lets get into deciphering the abilities.
1) Dominate:
-Just to clarify that I understand the ability correctly, you can hold up to x number of charges sort of like
-What is the priority of said controlled creature? Do they prioritize enemy minions? Enemy gods? Will jungle camp creatures just attack the other ones? Will a minion prioritize other minions but one of
-"increasing its attack damage and move speed by 10/20/30/40/50 (+10% of your magical power)," so you're increasing the minion/pet/whatever's damage and move speed by a flat number + 10% of your magical power? Something about having a
-Does this work with
2) Traumatize:
-Not much to say here, you may want to reduce max slow since with
3) Traumatize:
-Just to make sure I'm getting this right, the targetting is a single target sort of like
4) Architect of Thought:
"R: Architect of Thought: Channel for 1 second, focusing on target god within 45 feet. After channeling, Telepath can control target god for 3 seconds (+0.25 seconds per 100 power), dealing 40/47.5/55/62.5/70% damage and becoming slowed by 50%. Controlled god cannot target itself with any abilities, nor use any consumables or active items, and will take 50% damage from its allies. This effect is not considered CC.
Basically, you possess an enemy god for 3+ seconds, and "your" (technically his) abilities deal reduced damage, but you'll take damage from both sides. However, the god you're controlling is resisting you - therefore the reduced move speed and damage, and you are unable to target yourself - so Poseidon cannot use his ult at his own feet - but he can use Whirlpool and then walk into it to take damage."
-Um wow, a lot to clarify here. During the one second channel, can the enemy get out of your range and put your ultimate on cooldown? Do you have to be standing still during the one second channeling? When you deal 40/47.5/55/62.5/70% damage, is that how much damage you deal while controlling the enemy god? Can you use
Overall: This god idea is inventive and well thought out, but would require a LONG time to get it balanced correctly. Personally, I think that with his current characteristics he feels like he would have to much of a presence within the meta. Make him a really viable counterpick, and other characters would suddenly become trash (eg: he could turn any late game god against their own team like
Why on earth would his 1 just leave a room for ults? So Poseidon can ignore it by ulting? No. You're telling me to do things without any reasons for it, and I don't know why you're expecting me to do whatever.
And one second is plenty of time for them to get out of range or stun or whatever. Think about it this way - Poseidon's ult has a 0.75 second delay for a nuke and stun, and no delay for the slow, which is instant, plus it deals massive AoE damage, and has a way lower cooldown. Plus, the ultimate practically guarantees a kill if you use his combo right.
Those stats are perfectly intentional. If you're going to criticize me for changing up base stats, you might as well criticize me from creating a new kind of CC and having a new Dominate mechanic and all sorts of stuff that's not copypasta'd from Smite wiki. -_-
I didn't put in mana costs because honestly, those don't matter. How many gods in Smite have mana costs that really are different from one another?
He's a mage, of course his MR is going to be high and his physical defenses low. Kali has 375 speed, BTW.
tldr: You need reasons to convince me that his abilities need changing, not "it needs changing." As for the stats, I'm hearing is "this stuff isn't like Smite, so change it," and in response:
Deal with it.
Other thing : up dates the stats. Theyre not Smite stats. He has 35 more speed than every god in the game without boots and basic attacks have % scaling. Also defenses are wrong and he has no mana ??
EDIT : hes basic attack range is +10 from any ranged basic attack.
Also, now that I think about it, a 1 second delay is plenty of enough time to use whatever CC or escape you need.
Also one thign isn't clear on the CD increase is it for active cooldowns (aka abilities on cooldown) or also puts abilities on CD (like I hit you and now you can't use
Prediction:
- "HOLY **** BROKEN"
- "Too weak."
One of the two.