Roach Horde K'Thir Forest Race: Arthropod Flavor: Visual: An intrusion of roaches swarms over the carcass of a fallen elf, whose lifeless arm protrudes limply from the mound of writhing beetles. Gist: Let's get an Arthropod KF thing going, folks. Obviously, you need something to make it worth it, so this rune is outwardly, unabashedly powerful with Arthropod BGs. This rune's schtick is simple: snowball and swarm. It requires other Roach Hordes to snowball, so it starts off VERY slowly and the collective can become unstoppable if left unchecked. Why not SL or UD? Simple: Roaches belong in cool, dank caves and on forest floors -- not in desert sand or in hot, barren caverns. Class: None DMG: 8 SPD: 6 DEF: 0 RNG: 1 HP: 34 Cost: 65 Attack: Physical Bulwark: Arthropod Creep and Crawl Regeneration 3 Replicate Surge: Arthropod Upgrades: Evasive 2 Improve Range Resistance - Physical 2 Swarm Dropped a new ability: Infestation (passive) For each other real champion you own with the same name as this one, this unit has +1 DMG. For every 3 other real champions sharing its name, this unit has +5 max HP. The why's: KF should be "the" Arthropod faction. Has anyone ever been camping? I've been to a desert, and I've been caving... trust me: forests are where the creepy-crawlers are, and Roaches epitomize the whole swarm/infestation mechanic Arthropods are known and loathed for. This rune is an effort to bring Arthropods to KF as a theme, without requiring other arthropods. I felt like that was a good place to start. More than anything else, there need to be Roaches in PoxNora. They're on a list of the world's most "intimidating" arthropods, so... voila. Obvious downside: Starts off REALLY SLOWLY. These things can be killed off quickly if the owner is reckless or the foe clever and prepared; however, with several rounds of safety behind it, it will have become a growing threat.
The hatred of Occuli Slag may hinder any future Replicate champs for KF. With that said, the basics of this champ are awesome. Keep in mind that 30 HP, with Pride of K'thir, Boost: Arthropod, and Foment, turns into 48 HP. Also, if the devs didn't want to create a new ability, some mix of Stalwart: Arthropod and Surge: Arthropod would work (though both of those on base would require the stats to be adjusted downward). Another idea for a base ability would be Multitude (of course, too many base abilities and the devs probably won't make it). Lastly, I've said it before but I would really like to see more snakes and bugs in KF. This is a great idea!
Arthropods are a theme primarily withing UD & SL. SL has all of the creepy, ugly insects, and UD has the spiders. KF should definitely join the club, but as the "pretty" faction, roaches don't seem like a very good fit. Props to whoever designed the sprites for the SL insects, because some of them honestly give me the chills. The spiders are mostly just cute though. Snakes are already half a theme, so why not build off of those?
Yeah, I thought of Occuli Slag, actually... I think I got too bogged down with keeping it "fun" + "balanced," and lost sight of the "why." I actually like your idea of "simpling" it down. It doesn't need a brand new ability. It could achieve a similar goal with existing abilities. Made a few major changes to the OP, keeping mostly in line with your great suggestions. Thanks, Xirone! PS: Prami, I would usually, wholeheartedly agree, RE: KF being the elegant, pretty faction (even with insects) -- but when it comes to some animals, plants, and insects, I think of KF as encompassing nature's wrath: a forest protecting itself through any means necessary, and some of those means aren't pretty. I also like the idea of subverting the norm by bringing a touch of ugly into a faction of attractive Elves and noble beasts.
