Are heal-over-time effects still not permitted for Champion design?

darkdill·Nov 17, 2014·3 votes·3,373 views

Soraka's healing, while fairly strong, can now be sort of quantified as a heal-over-time ordeal since it's so rapid. However, it's not ACTUALLY heal-over-time, as Riot doesn't like the idea of granting an ally super-strong regeneration over a short time since it would result in "fire-and-forget" situations.

I think I have a way to remedy this: Make the heal tether-reliant, and make it stronger if your target is wounded.

By being tether-reliant, you can't fire-and-forget; you gotta stick to your teammate. Making it stronger when the target is wounded means it's worse in sustain cases, and you need to reserve it for clutch saves.

Discuss.

13 Comments

killd0zerNov 17, 20146 votes

The main issue with HoT's has been that compared to a game like WoW, people die a lot faster. Champions with heal over time abilities tend to be self heals, as they work best on tanks, that can survive the initiate burst (see Mundo)

For a heal over time to work, it needs to essentially be overtuned so that you can notice it's impact. Even though Soraka's heal has a short cooldown, it's much more of a Burst Heal over Time that you can more visibly notice.

RiotMeddlerNov 18, 20145 votes

Heals over time are sometimes the right option if :

You want heals that can't really be used for clutch saves and are intended primarily as long term sustain tools (e.g. health pots)
You want heals that are really powerful where you want some telegraph to give the enemy a chance to burst the target down (Mundo ult)
You're working on a game with long combat times where healing's a minigame of its own with a number of tools to juggle (e.g. MMO boss fights). LoL's combat times aren't a good fit with HoTs for that reason.

Other wise however immediate heals offer a lot of benefits, since they lead to skilled clutch plays, are easier to read for all players (clarity benefits of applying the effect all at once) and therefore have higher satisfaction versus power (easier to read = feels better).

darkdillNov 18, 20141 votes

Part of why I asked is because in the upcoming Overwatch, Mercy (who is a support character) has a tether that heals her target over time. But since Overwatch is a first-person shooter, the mechanic might apply differently.

FantasySniperNov 18, 20141 votes

It works the same in TF2, and comparing such different genres is an irrelevant comparison in the first place.

Plus, Meddler just used "clutch plays" as a reason.

RoyaiChaosNov 18, 20141 votes

As I don't believe Overwatch has minions or cs, it encourages more pvp which is why there would have to be more sustain in the game.

ThryaleNov 18, 20143 votes

What about a HoT tied to a shield?

Something like: target receives a shield for X hp for Y seconds. While the shield is unbroken, target heals Z hp each second.

This way, the enemy is presented with the option of engaging to stop the healing as well as the player being able to be reactive with the barrier.

Thoughts?

darkdillNov 18, 20142 votes

The problem with that is it can lead to "apply-and-forget" sustain situations where you just sit in a bush and top off your teammate.

ThryaleNov 18, 20142 votes

Because you totally can't do that with normal heals, right?

Just look at sona and soraka. Soraka feels like she was designed to top ppl off. And the long range on her q means she can safely harass from a distance to keep herself topped off.

So unless the any heal has a really high cost, it will always be used to top champs off while not in direct combat.

At least with the shield/HoT design you can create decision points where the enemy needs to decide if it is worth engaging the enemy to remove the barrier. And if they are gonna just sit in a bush and heal up, then that means you are gonna need to invest in more vision.

So I fail to see how this is an overly bad thing.

darkdillNov 18, 20141 votes

Point taken.