River Idea: The Mud Angler

Vainglory Discussion UI & Overall Environment
#1

So this is an idea I’ve had for some time and shared with others however no one cared enough to reply so I’ll force it here. I’ve always dreamed as a designer of including something into the river of Sovereigns Rise. Now before all the negativity and people not caring about the game dead starting rushing in like the 3 male assassins going for that booty,

This is just my personal thoughts as a person who loves designing heroes and weaving tales and just aesthetics in general. Creativity is subjective. I implore all of you to just hear me out before burning me to the ground.

I’ve always found the river that runs through Sovereign’s Rise to be lacking in some regards mainly in objectives. I mean sure you have the 2 dragons but that’s about it. What I would like to see is actual river fauna. Here in lies my proposal for the Mud Angler.

Ice_Snark
Ice_Snark.jpg510×510 389 KB

Icy Snark from Alice: Madness Returns. The best approximation of my vision.

The Mud Angler will wander along the river surface wandering up and down the river revealing everything around it within a 3-meter radius for both teams. Upon seeing any hero crossing the river it will charge at them and viciously attack. Its first attack will deal a large amount of damage to whichever hero it’s attacking.

Killing the Mud Angler will take considerable time however as it is quite beefy. However, if you secure the Mud Angler it will dive underwater and start patrolling the river up and down providing the vision for your team only. The Mud Angler, when captured, provides true vision along the river revealing enemy heroes and cams. The hero who last hits the Mud Angler will also be granted a temporary water denizen perk for 1 minute. (all durations and time limits will be subject to change)

There will be 2 Mud Anglers spawning in with the rest of the jungle at the start of the game. I’m not knowledgeable about respawning times so comment down below.

I personally feel the Mud Angler will add a new dimension to the River as a mechanic aside from just a speed boost to the other lanes.

Commentate down below about what you think about this.

NEXT POSSIBLE TOPIC, SHOULD JUNGLE EXCLUSIVE ITEMS BE INTRODUCED?

7 Likes
#2

So somewhat like a capturable Crystal Sentry? It’s not a bad idea, but I feel it should be adjusted. Here are my opinions:

  • At first spawn, the Mud Angler serves no team, and doesn’t provide vision for anyone.
  • Spawns at 4 or 5 minutes
  • Provides vision for a single team after capture.
  • Can be captured back by other team.
  • Has similar health and damage than Crystal sentry, and maybe faster attack speed.
  • Wanders round the Jungle, not the river.

Let me explain why this reasoning.

Providing vision for both teams would be way too much vision in the early game, which is partly also why I have him spawn later. another reason for the later spawn is that there’s already a lot being contested when jungle camps spawn (Crystal + Healing treant steals etc.) so a later spawn will add an intermediate objective. Once captured, he’ll provide vision to that team wherever he is. I suggest he walks in a circular path around the jungle on a team’s side of the map, burrowing under the lane every time he reaches it (so as to be invincible in the lane). I prefer this to the river because of the Dragons. putting him in the river would make it almost impossible for a team to capture a dragon, because they’d easily get spotted out by the mud angler. It would also make the mud angler an overcontested objective as he’d control vision of the dragons.

If he’s walking around the jungle on the other hand, he could be used by both teams to control either jungle, but also allow tactical stealth play such as trying to locate the enemy’s angler and waiting until he’s out of an area to try and steal a treant. He’d need to have similar or probably more health and damage (because 2 extra heroes on each team) than the Crystal sentry to provide an actual threat tho.

4 Likes
#3

The other way I would implement the Mud Angler will be to have it swim up and down the river revealing everything around it. However killing the Mud Angler will extinguish the vision it provides for both teams

#4

AoV has a bird on each end of the river that works pretty much like that: whichever team “kills” ( = captures) the bird is then rewarded with vision for a period of time as it flies around.

1 Like
#5

It’s defiantly a cool idea, but there really is no reason for it to grant vision to both teams before capture, or even provide vision in any capacity. It’s already quite easy to set up vision on 5v5, and as the map is on the smaller side you generally don’t have too much “dark map” to worry about.

If anything, on capture it should hunt down enemy cams near the river giving your team control over that side of the map vision wise, without actually providing even more vision.

Alternatively make it a more unique objective and have it not interact with vision at all (most river creatures in MOBA do). It would be really interesting if on capture (in addition to gold and XD) it ran down the river to push the side lane, but it behaves like a minion targeting heroes, turrets, and other minions. It couldn’t be very strong, post capture, but would be a cool objective imo

1 Like
#6

The problem is, killing the mud angler would be an immediate warning to the enemy team of a potential dragon take. How long would the respawn time be? there would have to be enough time for a team to go through a teamfight, go away, prepare for another teamfight and come back…

#7

I like the idea more of if you kill it it hides under water and comes up to attack enemies on that side of the river who try to cross. If it was really powerful, it could be a really strong early game deterrent for jungle ganks while providing a clear means of income for enemy teams who do want to get a headstart early for a hero but may not be as good in the jungle. It could have a shared gold with the bulk going to the last hitter so that you could boost up heroes who are late game or who’ve fallen behind, while deterring enemies from sneaking into your jungle without first taking down your outermost turrets in any lane.

I would make the mechanics so that it starts off invisible once orb guardians spawn, and it patrols the river, with it’s exact location able to be revealed by cams or flares. It doesn’t go as far as bot or top lane’ stopping at the bush lines. I would also give it a mechanic that it races through mid as it goes from river to river, only attacking heroes that attack it. However if killed on land it dies easier, is a bit weaker doesn’t patrol a given river, and gives a smaller amount of gold. That way carries on either side can take advantage of it if they are strong enough and want to get ahead or are lagging behind, and if you lose your middle turret, your team loses the chance to tell which side it’s on unless they get caught by it in the river. Also kinda just for fun and interactivity. Also it can’t be leashed, only aggroed to stop in place or move into the next river.

So once it’s in a river, it gets a move speed boost, att speed boost, damage buff, and a ranged attack that pushes back and can stun if you hit a wall that it doesn’t get on land. It gives enemies a 3 second warning that it’s trailing them before it pops up to attack. If captured in a river, it sinks back underwater and pops up on enemies.

Now the vision idea I’d save for a late game empowerment, when constant vision is a necessity, kinda like blackclaws empowerment. It’s then that I would have it give you vision on the river side it’s on as it moves once captured. I would also give it a swallowing move like grumpjaw that it only uses if enemies can’t successfully take it down quickly enough, where it picks up the hero and removes their vision and swims along the river side for 5 seconds, randomly dropping the hero in a different spot. This gives it a chance mechanic that could be gamebreaking if you get caught in it as you could be dropped in a group of enemies or moved to a safer position by chance.

That’s about how I see this working. I definitely think Vainglory should have this and more interactive npcs or objectives on the map. It kinda feels bare. I think thats what it is with 5v5’s map. It kinda feels bare.

2 Likes
#8

So basically the Rift Scuttler from League? The only difference I see is the fact that RS heals you when you kill it and only gives vision when captured by one of the teams. Pretty much everything else is the same.