What are some abilities you would like to see on SC2 heroes?

Just post ideas of what you think would be cool abilities for Heroes in SC2, because honestly in my experience, heroes in SC1 were units that I kept at the back of my base because a few control groupd of other units were far superior.

Also, I don't claim credit for all these ideas, I'm just posting ideas that I like.

Raynor:

- Although a bit Warcraftish, I personally think (and am sure other people do as well) that a passive aura would be fantastic for his game unit. He's supposed to be a pretty good leader after all right? If he can't be super like ghosts or Protoss, then give him a leadership Aura of some sort.

Tosh (or any other hero ghost):

- I think it'd be cool to give his game unit the ability to traverse cliffs, using his psionic capabilities he'd just jump them.

- Infrared vision: Allows the unit to see other units in the fog of war, sort of like the radar/sensor (I don't know which it is now) tower, except mobile and doesn't reveal himself. Also, for an added bonus, allow the ghost to identify what the units are through the general figure of the unit (in infrared style).

Findlay:

- Passively allow him to run faster than normal marines. Have a naturally longer range, and also a faster rate of fire than normal marines.

- Allow him to fire to his left/right/front while moving.

- Allow him to "superimpose" a map of the surrounding (fog of war) area and pinpoint interesting features. This is actually (in lore) a functionality in CMC combat suits and I think it would be cool for Tychus to utilise it. So say up ahead along the map is unexplored. Tychus would use this ability to box off on the map and screen points of interest such as watch towers, ramps, bridges etc. Although this is just an idea I think is cool, I'm not sure how useful it would actually be (unless you force a mission where it's necessary to use because there are too many enemies around for any scout to scout properly while staying alive). IMO It'd be cool though to have a mission where he's by himself, where this ability would really shine.

Any viking hero:

- Let him shoot his gun (or missiles) at ground targets in fighter mode

- Let him shoot his missiles at air targets in walker mode

Medivac hero:

- Heal units even when they are loaded. Can also repair units within its cargo such as tanks.

Reaper Hero:

- Allow him to jump up to 2 levels of terrain at a time

- lol, give him a shotgun instead of duel pistols. High damage per shot.

- Warhammer Assault Marine style impact landing. Since throwing units and such isn't exactly starcraft style, when he lands he could stun and damage them.

- let him fire his shotgun while moving. Basically can fire while moving.

Anyway, there are a lot more ideas, but what do you guys think would be cool abilities for heroes in SC2?

The hero Carrier shall be a Supercarrier -- it should be able to hold twice as many interceptors and should also have a version of the warp ray's weapon that is twice as powerful. The default attack mode causes both groups of interceptors to attack the same target, but each group of interceptors will also have their own attack buttons so they can attack separate targets simultaneously. The ray weapon will have its own little attack button as well, so the Supercarrier could effectively attack three targets at the same time.

The hero BC should have twice as many laser cannons, which can be split into two groups in order to attack separate targets. It should also have all three abilities available to it, but with cheaper casting costs.

It looks like you're assuming there should only be one hero for each unit type. That would suck. Heroes should be unique, but they shouldn't have every single spell or ability you can imagine for them, otherwise all of the heroes would be the same, and that's not cool. I definitely agree that heroes should be much more powerful though, and mixing them into your army should be totally worth the risk of losing them (hence losing the mission). I do think auras and stuff are a good idea though. The more stuff we have in the editor the better anyways, and although I didn't like WC3 multiplayer because of heroes, I think it made absolutely awesome campaigns and UMS maps.

One Zerg hero should definitely be the Omegalisk.

Also, in the previous instalment any unit not in multiplayer was a hero. I'd like to change that so that only named heroes are stuck in that category, other units ought to get put in a misc. unit folder, likewise for buildings.

In a Warcraft III using StarCraft units campaign, one of the marines had a special ability; he would target his grenade launcher on one unit, and when he used the ability the two closest marines would also fire on his target.

They would also fire with a grenade launcher? Or with their regular attack? If it's the latter that's kind of pointless because you could just micro them to focus fire right?
The idea is cool though, it's basically a direct damage spell that gains more and more damage the more units you've got around. I'd also like to see something similar like a marine hero that would have a spell that, when activated, made all the marines around him throw grenades in a certain direction (slightly random throws, but it would basically result in a aoe in a general direction). Again, making him an "army oriented" hero.

Wouldn't some of the heroes not actually be specific units at all but kind of their own unit if you know what I mean....

one of the terran heroes such as the ghost hero or raynor should have an ability called orbital bombardment. basically, a bunch of modified hunter seekers fall from the sky, but the missiles fragment in midair, and hundreds of little bomblets rain down on a large area. (also does friendly damage)

lol, if any "aura" in singleplayer, PLZ NO VISUALs loll. I don't mind a "hidden" buff for near units, but no "magical" feel from it lol.

Also for Findlay, letme add something.

Findlay: Stimpack that doesn't cost any hp. Findlay is strong enough to just take the good effects out of it :D

Zerathul: some passive abilities like dodge ALOT, like a ninja ;) The charge ability from the zealots. Blink? Make Zerathul just coool... They got time.

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Originally Posted by Bisso

lol, if any "aura" in singleplayer, PLZ NO VISUALs loll. I don't mind a "hidden" buff for near units, but no "magical" feel from it lol.

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Enthusiastically seconded.

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Originally Posted by Noise

Wouldn't some of the heroes not actually be specific units at all but kind of their own unit if you know what I mean....

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You mean each hero would have its unique models? Yeah, ever since we got those screenshots with Raynor and Zeratul in the backround, I would assume most (or all) would not just be a unit with a different name.

Oh, and heroes Id like to see -

Id like to see a hero Mothership, resembling the WWI Mothership.

Super Carriers of Course. It should resemble the old carrier (nostalgia ftw).

Hero Queen (Martriarch) - give it crazy abilities, and allow it to fly in viking fasion.

Hero Thor - Unique upgrades like the BC, bigger, more powerful, etc.

I 2nd the 'Hero' Thor - The one from the Terran demo (complete with 'bombardment') will do just fine. :)

In fact, A ghost with that scrapped, "psi detect" ability would be great for certain missions.

Well i guess with heroes in singleplay, you can break a lot of the 'chess-like' qualities of SC and add in a bunch of RNG RPG elements like crit chance, dodge chance, stun etc.

I think it'd be cool for the Terran heroes to have a special inventory that would be more specific than War3's 6 slots of anything. Have a slot for weapon, optional side arm, slot for headgear (Visor improvements, goggles, psi-screen) etc. Something that would be appropriate so you could equip your Marine hero with different weapons like a shotgun, grenade launcher etc.

I'd love to see Heroes get the Battlecruiser treatment too. Have different upgrade paths you can choose that are reflected visually. You can't have all upgrades at a time, forcing you to choose the right one for the right situation. I'd love this for on-use abilities so you can customize not only a hero, but an entire party of heroes based on what combination you want.

Tauren MARINE on a hoverboard and the murloc firing an AA turret

WEll, hero carrier might need the aditional belly shield, just like the original tempest.

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Originally Posted by n00bonicPlague

The hero Carrier shall be a Supercarrier -- it should be able to hold twice as many interceptors and should also have a version of the warp ray's weapon that is twice as powerful. The default attack mode causes both groups of interceptors to attack the same target, but each group of interceptors will also have their own attack buttons so they can attack separate targets simultaneously. The ray weapon will have its own little attack button as well, so the Supercarrier could effectively attack three targets at the same time.

The hero BC should have twice as many laser cannons, which can be split into two groups in order to attack separate targets. It should also have all three abilities available to it, but with cheaper casting costs.

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That's the description of what I thought the legendary Gantrithor was, an uber carrier with bigger model, more interceptors, HP and hardened shields and some kind of energy beam attack... like Warp ray's weapon.

I think Norad III or Hyperion should be the way you describe the Hero BC.

back to protoss...

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Originally Posted by Crazy_Jonny

Id like to see a hero Mothership, resembling the WWI Mothership.

Super Carriers of Course. It should resemble the old carrier (nostalgia ftw).

Hero Queen (Martriarch) - give it crazy abilities, and allow it to fly in viking fasion.

Hero Thor - Unique upgrades like the BC, bigger, more powerful, etc.

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As do I.

The Hero Mothership should have all the cool abilities that were lost/scrapped (i.e. planet cracker
black hole, etc.)

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Originally Posted by MattII

One Zerg hero should definitely be the Omegalisk.

Also, in the previous instalment any unit not in multiplayer was a hero. I'd like to change that so that only named heroes are stuck in that category, other units ought to get put in a misc. unit folder, likewise for buildings.

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Definitely, However I still like the old name "Torrasque"

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Originally Posted by Bisso

lol, if any "aura" in singleplayer, PLZ NO VISUALs loll. I don't mind a "hidden" buff for near units, but no "magical" feel from it lol.

Also for Findlay, letme add something.

Findlay: Stimpack that doesn't cost any hp. Findlay is strong enough to just take the good effects out of it :D

Zerathul: some passive abilities like dodge ALOT, like a ninja ;) The charge ability from the zealots. Blink? Make Zerathul just coool... They got time.

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you know, the zeratul part is quite a cool idea... make him have some cool "ninja" and/or "jedi" style abilities instead of just lots of HP, Shields & damage as in SC1.

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Definitely, However I still like the old name "Torrasque"

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The Omegalisk isn't a replacement name for the Torrasque, it's yet another strain of Ultralisk.

A Zerg hero taht spreads creep wherever he/she goes. <3

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Originally Posted by Hammy

They would also fire with a grenade launcher? Or with their regular attack? If it's the latter that's kind of pointless because you could just micro them to focus fire right?

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With their grenade launchers as well. It was more a case of cool than practical anyway.

I should note that campaign has UI problems and a bunch of other irritants, but it had some cool coding though. There was a hard cap of three assisting marines.

Kerrigan:

Venomous vagina - All males get epic AIDS and lose HP every second.

Zeratul:

Eternal wisdom - Zertaul looks deeply into the Horizon. This ability does nothing.

Reynor:

Nuclear fart - Nuke comes out of Reynors ass.

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Originally Posted by Rizhall

A Zerg hero taht spreads creep wherever he/she goes. <3

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Saw that in a Warcraft III campaign, several in fact. It really slows down the game though.

One thing I'd like to see is old cool but broken abilities being given to heroes. (Or maybe the abilities weren't broken, but anyway...)

For instance, I could picture three zerg bases, colored green, purple and brown. Each has a queen with a different ability. One is a defense specialist who moves really slowly and has the "Swarm Infestation" ability (this is a buff which can be added to any zerg structure, giving it combat ability; and yes, you could add it to a spine crawler). Another queen would be the old Huge Queen (but with a unique name) with the high stats (eg 600 hit points, high damage) but the old melee attack. Another queen would have the now-missing Razor Swarm ability and fast movement, and would frequently attack you with other troops, and uses the old Deep Tunnel ability to escape when she has low hit points.

I would love to see a ghost or spectre hero with StarCraft: Ghost's heat vision ability (basically a weaker detection; could be really tactical in an installation mission). SC: G also had (IMO) the cool napalm rocket for firebats and buildable turrets by light infantry (security guards).

If anyone has ever downloaded the Dwarf Campaign Warcraft III campaign, it was awesome. In the third mission, they had a trigger that could detect when a hero carried a plot-relevant weapon, and if the wrong hero carried it, triggered a conversation about that.

And later on, you find a mad wizard operating a potion shop. You bought components, which had "random" effects. (They weren't, but some were nasty.) You could also pay him to have "visions of the future" (very cool and specialized in-game cutscenes).

Zeratul should have the classic samurai move where there are like 5 marines in front of him, he charges through them in a blink of an eye, and a few seconds later the marines lay in a pool of dismembered limbs and blood. :D

they should give Zeratul mind control/telekenetic powers
and raynor should have an ability to temporarily improve overall combat effectiveness of infantry

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Zeratul should have the classic samurai move where there are like 5 marines in front of him, he charges through them in a blink of an eye, and a few seconds later the marines lay in a pool of dismembered limbs and blood.

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I totally support this idea. It sounds badass!

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Saw that in a Warcraft III campaign, several in fact. It really slows down the game though.

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Just curious, what do you mean by slows down the game? Also, I love the idea of a creep spreading unit that innately spreads creep wherever it walks.

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Originally Posted by Pandonetho

Just curious, what do you mean by slows down the game? Also, I love the idea of a creep spreading unit that innately spreads creep wherever it walks.

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You couldn't scroll away from the hero. I don't know if the campaign designer deliberately prevented that, or if it's part of the Blight-spewing, but either way that was harmful to the experience.

Also, everything just seemed to move slower. This was before I upgraded my computer, but I have no desire to retest that campaign.

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Originally Posted by Pandonetho

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Originally Posted by LoTuS

Zeratul should have the classic samurai move where there are like 5 marines in front of him, he charges through them in a blink of an eye, and a few seconds later the marines lay in a pool of dismembered limbs and blood. :D

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I totally support this idea. It sounds badass!

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+1

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Originally Posted by starcraftguy13

they should give Zeratul mind control/telekenetic powers

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+1

I was thinking

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Originally Posted by Josue

... make him have some cool "ninja" and/or "jedi" style abilities instead of just lots of HP, Shields & damage as in SC1.

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Now seems like I wasn't the only one with this kind of ideas in mind.

Gabriel Tosh
http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/994...oshsc2art1.jpg

This guy definitely needs a headshot ability. Regular ghosts have a +60dmg shot, but this guy should one shot kill any T1-T2 infantry units.

That, or give him the ability to slit their throat while he's stealthed at melee range.

I got one for Kerrigan:

Shredder Blades (50 energy): The Queen of Blades ascends into the air with her wings wide-spread, and dives at the target, dealing 100 damage on contact (in a Marine's case, completely slaughtered).

This grants Kerrigan the power to traverse elevation by temporarily becoming a projectile and landing next to the target.


-Psi

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Originally Posted by PsiWarp

I got one for Kerrigan:

Shredder Blades (50 energy): The Queen of Blades ascends into the air with her wings wide-spread, and dives at the target, dealing 100 damage on contact (in a Marine's case, completely slaughtered).

This grants Kerrigan the power to traverse elevation by temporarily becoming a projectile and landing next to the target.


-Psi

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Speaking of Kerrigan, I recall in Queen of Blades she was able to deflect bullets.

So... delfector, or something more psionic sounding. For sixty energy, Kerrigan creates a shield around herself that can deflect any non-laser or energy projectiles for ten seconds. Because it only deflects non-energy weapons, it will be useless against the Protoss.

In the case of AoE attacks, she is unharmed while anything else in the radius is not.

Whether the projectiles are deflected back to the firer is up to whoever ends up modding that in, assuming any one wants to.

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Originally Posted by Pandonetho

The Omegalisk isn't a replacement name for the Torrasque, it's yet another strain of Ultralisk.

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Yet another strain of Ultralisks... hmm even so, I'd like to see Torrasque-Omegalisk or whatever... heck!

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Originally Posted by PsiWarp

I got one for Kerrigan:

Shredder Blades (50 energy): The Queen of Blades ascends into the air with her wings wide-spread, and dives at the target, dealing 100 damage on contact (in a Marine's case, completely slaughtered).

This grants Kerrigan the power to traverse elevation by temporarily becoming a projectile and landing next to the target.


-Psi

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+1 for this one, it sounds quite interesting, however I wonder if her wings really have flying capabilities... anyways it still sounds awesome.

All this thread makes me wonder...
Will the new Star Edit have all the old units and buildings? I mean... what if we want to make a map with SC1 units and buildings, i.e. a map with Tassadar in the Gantrithor or the Protoss temple (I'm not saying the X'el naga, but I'd also like it) or Fenix Dragoon or even Fenix zealot!

Thanks Josue, and I think Kerrigan has the ability of flight, simply from her sheer psionic might (telepathy we've known, but telekinesis would be overwhelming at her psionic level).

Muspelli, that ability sounds great. Kinda like a Defensive Matrix, but the name could use some work (like, Membrane, for example).

The ability I made up earlier reminds me of the battle scene with Kerrigan and Zeratul, her flying kicks xD

Edit: SCUMEdit will most likely have a majority of the previous game units and structures, but don't count on that being final (we know Reaver, Dragoon, Medic, Vulture, Goliath and Firebat will be included).


-Psi

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Originally Posted by PsiWarp

Thanks Josue, and I think Kerrigan has the ability of flight, simply from her sheer psionic might (telepathy we've known, but telekinesis would be overwhelming at her psionic level).

Muspelli, that ability sounds great. Kinda like a Defensive Matrix, but the name could use some work (like, Membrane, for example).

The ability I made up earlier reminds me of the battle scene with Kerrigan and Zeratul, her flying kicks xD

Edit: SCUMEdit will most likely have a majority of the previous game units and structures, but don't count on that being final (we know Reaver, Dragoon, Medic, Vulture, Goliath and Firebat will be included).


-Psi

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Her psionic powers could be the very reason, but also the wings give a "she could fly!" feeling.

Ohh c'mon! there's a lot of things the old units can do in the new maps
BLLIZZARD! HEED MY CALL, PUT THEM ALL THERE, I'M SURE THE FAN COMMUNITY WILL BE GRATEFUL!

Haha, Super Girl gone bad and scaly :P

Don't worry, I am sure Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void will add a product-size collection of units, buildings and abilities to the Core game's SCUMEdit.

After all, they are their own campaign with their own unique doodads, units and buildings!


-Psi

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Originally Posted by PsiWarp

Haha, Super Girl gone bad and scaly :P

Don't worry, I am sure Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void will add a product-size collection of units, buildings and abilities to the Core game's SCUMEdit.

After all, they are their own campaign with their own unique doodads, units and buildings!


-Psi

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I hope so... I had been thinking about re-making all the original missions for SCII, it'd be cool to have all the units, tech trees, after all, the new SCII editor is quite more powerful than the SC1, and all the original hero units can get everything they were limited to do in the original Star Craft. i.e. the Gantrithor can get all the might, abilities, etc that it couldn't get in SC1

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Originally Posted by Josue

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Originally Posted by n00bonicPlague

The hero Carrier shall be a Supercarrier -- it should be able to hold twice as many interceptors and should also have a version of the warp ray's weapon that is twice as powerful. The default attack mode causes both groups of interceptors to attack the same target, but each group of interceptors will also have their own attack buttons so they can attack separate targets simultaneously. The ray weapon will have its own little attack button as well, so the Supercarrier could effectively attack three targets at the same time.

The hero BC should have twice as many laser cannons, which can be split into two groups in order to attack separate targets. It should also have all three abilities available to it, but with cheaper casting costs.

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That's the description of what I thought the legendary Gantrithor was, an uber carrier with bigger model, more interceptors, HP and hardened shields and some kind of energy beam attack... like Warp ray's weapon.

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Here's one that almost made it into my Hero Contest submission for a 'win first, screw logic and physics' Zealot hero:

Shield Bomb:
Turns the hero's psionic shields into an offensive weapon; dealing 1 damage within a 3 range radius for each remaining shield point (e.g.: 200 shields = 200 damage to all enemies within 3 range radius).

Imagine the uses of this coupled with Charge. :p

I would like good defense abilities on heroes to keep them alive. Imagine an ability of Zeratul which makes all attacks targeted at him miss for a certain duration; like a single unit dark swarm that affects melee attacks. I'd also like to see innovative attack and combo abilities. If Raynor makes a kill, his kill timer activates and if he kills another unit within a few seconds he gains access to more deadly skills. The window of time to chain kills in a combo decreases as the combo gets longer; like from 5 seconds for the first kill, then 4 seconds, 3, 2, 1......

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Originally Posted by flabortast

I would like good defense abilities on heroes to keep them alive. Imagine an ability of Zeratul which makes all attacks targeted at him miss for a certain duration; like a single unit dark swarm that affects melee attacks. I'd also like to see innovative attack and combo abilities. If Raynor makes a kill, his kill timer activates and if he kills another unit within a few seconds he gains access to more deadly skills. The window of time to chain kills in a combo decreases as the combo gets longer; like from 5 seconds for the first kill, then 4 seconds, 3, 2, 1......

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Sounds very WoW or DOTA. I don't mean it as a bad thing, I think its a formula that works.

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Originally Posted by flabortast

I would like good defense abilities on heroes to keep them alive. Imagine an ability of Zeratul which makes all attacks targeted at him miss for a certain duration; like a single unit dark swarm that affects melee attacks. I'd also like to see innovative attack and combo abilities. If Raynor makes a kill, his kill timer activates and if he kills another unit within a few seconds he gains access to more deadly skills. The window of time to chain kills in a combo decreases as the combo gets longer; like from 5 seconds for the first kill, then 4 seconds, 3, 2, 1......

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I disagree. The hero doesn't have to have a defense ability. Rather, what the hero needs are abilities, whether defensive or offensive, that promotes their use in the battlefield. It can be an ability that helps it survive longer or it could just as easily be an aura that buffs nearby friendlies or even a powerful attack that can't be used from miles away. In other words, the hero needs to confer some tactical advantage that cannot be achieved, or at least not easily achieved, through other means.

Specifically for Zeratul, just being permanently cloaked would be sufficiently advantageous.