REWORK: Sylph, the Dryad Daemon [AGI Pusher]

Sylph, the Dryad Daemon

Agility Ranged

Pusher Jungler Support

REWORK GOALS:
* Much much simpler overall, with fewer summoned units and effects
* Keep the agility pusher flavor but like Brood's rework make sure she's a more normal hero in lane
* Rework lore to relate Sylph to Dark Willow and also to the Bloodroot referenced in Drow's "Reaper's Wrath" cosmetic lore

Tags: Summon HealingManipulation Healing HealthRegen Lifesteal Physical Burst Root Debuff Building CooldownManipulation

Playstyle: A Broodmother-style infestation pusher focused around stealing healing from enemies and sharing lifesteal with her summoned ward-type Bloodroots

# Lore

Formerly a guardian of the Sacred Drow Bloodwood grove, Sylph was driven mad with rage when the humans set fire to the Elder Bloodwood and so went on a journey of vengeance, committing her own acts of random and unspeakable violence. As the darkness slowly corrupted what little compassion remained in Sylph's heart, a chance encounter with Mireska Sunbreeze and a chance to protect the Sunbreeze Vale from Grundion gave Sylph a fresh start and a chance to again find the light within her, but sadly as went the Bloodwoods so went the Redwoods.

Searching across the known realms several times over, Sylph finally acquired a new Bloodroot seedling with which to nurture her own Bloodwood grove, and yet her inability to trust mankind left her no choice but to feed the seedling with darkness, creating a horrific and parasitic new variety of Bloodwood. While grotesque to some for its endless voracity, the corrupted Bloodwood's evolution shall ensure that neither Logger nor Warlord can ever halt its growth again.

Appearance: The same race as Dark Willow (without wings) but with a dark brown skin tone that appears more like tree bark. Flashes of bright magenta similar to the color of Mireska accompany Sylph's ability effects and icons, but her abilities also have globules of black/dark red goo that convey the parasitic and corrupted nature of her Parasitic Link and the lifesteal sharing effect of Bloodroots. For her auto-attack, flings a blade-shaped leaf and for her Entangling Roots actually summons roots from beneath the enemy target to attack them. Bloodroots appear as vine-like growths out of the ground that whip enemies as a long-ranged attack, growing longer during the animation before returning to normal size. The Elder Bloodwood appears as a very tall but gnarled and twisted white tree with red leaves that has a face-like growth facing towards the camera and appears glowing/corrupted from the inside.

# Overview

Q: Bloodroot Spore
Infects the target tree with a Bloodroot spore, transforming it into a voracious ward-type unit that appears as a normal tree until it is commanded to attack. Bloodroots heal themselves for a portion of the damage they deal and share a portion of this healing with Sylph and her controlled units globally. Bloodroots refresh their duration when last-hitting a creep or getting a hero kill/assist.

W: Parasitic Link
Absorbs a portion of the target unit's healing from all sources, including healing, health regen and lifesteal. Greatly amplifies healing coming through the link, up to a certain amount.

E: Entangling Roots
Sylph's attacks passively have a chance to spawn a Bloodroot based on her current level of Bloodroot Spore. When activated, grants bonus attack speed for three attacks and guarantees that one of those attacks will root the enemy and spawn a Bloodroot.

R: Hypertrophy
Induces rapid growth in a target tree or a target ally, turning up to one tree into a powerful Elder Bloodwood or healing a target ally for a portion of their missing health per second. The Elder Bloodwood behaves like a tower and can be teleported to by allies, but cannot be placed near enemy structures and deals the Elder Bloodwood's health as damage to Sylph if it dies.

Shard: Parasitic Link
Healing absorbed from Parasitic Link is also shared with nearby allies as an aura.

Scepter: Bloodroot Spore
Bloodroot Spore can be ground targeted to spawn a Bloodroot, increases the max Bloodroot limit, and increases Bloodroot damage each time they attack.

# Stats

Str: 20 + 1.9
Agi: 23 + 3
Int: 16 + 2.7

Attack Range: 500
Projectile Speed: 900
Movement Speed: 295
Turn Rate: 0.6
Vision: 1800/800
BAT: 1.6
Base Damage: 26-34 (49-57 total at level 1)
Base Armor: 2 (5.83 total at level 1)
Attack Time: 0.5 + 0.32s

# Talents

Lvl 10: +10% Lifesteal
Lvl 10: +500 Parasitic Link Range
Lvl 15: Bloodroot +100 Heal on Spawn
Lvl 15: +350 Entangling Roots Attack Range
Lvl 20: +60 Bloodroot Damage
Lvl 20: +200 Entangling Roots Damage
Lvl 25: Bloodroot Spore Global Cast Range
Lvl 25: Hypertrophy Ally +50% Cooldown Rate

# Abilities

Q: BLOODROOT SPORE target tree (scepter: target point)
Infects the target tree with a Bloodroot spore, transforming it into a voracious ward-type unit that appears as a normal tree until it is commanded to attack. Bloodroots heal themselves for a portion of the damage they deal and share a portion of this healing with Sylph and her controlled units globally. Bloodroots refresh their duration when last-hitting a creep or getting a hero kill/assist.
Cast Range: 250/400/550/700 (talent: global)
Growth Time: 0.5s
Bloodroot Duration: 30/40/50/60s
Bloodroot Lifesteal: 25/50/75/100%
Lifesteal Shared at Close Range: 100%
Lifesteal Shared Globally: 20/40/60/80%
Max Number of Bloodroots: 2/4/6/8 (scepter: 16)
Bloodroot Health: 125/250/375/500
Bloodroot Armor: 3
Bloodroot Attack Range: 500
Bloodroot Damage: 33-37/48-52/63-67/78-82 (talent: 93-97/108-112/123-127/138-142)
Bloodroot BAT: 1.0
Bloodroot Vision: 600
Bloodroot Fade Delay: 0.6/0.5/0.4/0.3s
Bloodroot Gold Bounty: 45/50/55/60
Bloodroot Experience Bounty: 15/20/25/30
Bloodroot Bonus Damage per Attack: 0 (scepter: 10%)
Bloodroot Bonus Damage Duration: 0 (scepter: 60s)
<cd> 40/30/20/10s <mana> 90/110/130/150
[aghs] Aghanim's Scepter – Bloodroot Spore can be ground targeted to spawn a Bloodroot, increases the max Bloodroot limit to 16, and increases Bloodroot damage by 10% for 60s each time they attack.
* While within 500 range of a Bloodroot Spore or the Elder Bloodwood, Sylph shares 100% of that unit's lifesteal instead of the 20/40/60/80% shared globally.
* Bloodroots are passive by default and only attack when commanded to, however they also have a 'Q' ability that toggles them between passive and aggressive attack modes.
* Bloodroots have the Piercing attack class, giving them 50% reduced damage against heroes, 50% increased damage against non-hero units, and 65% damage reduction against reinforced targets.
* The animation of a Bloodroot emerging from the ground or infecting a tree is not visible to enemies.
* The Bloodroots give a portion of their lifesteal to Sylph and each other, but do not benefit from Sylph's lifesteal in return.
* Bloodroots can also be revealed by true sight.
* Attempting to spawn a Bloodroot that is beyond the max limit causes the oldest Bloodroot to despawn (killing the tree if the Bloodroot had targeted a tree).
* Bloodroots spawned by Entangling Roots or after buying Aghanim's Scepter to allow ground targeting are invisible until attacking instead of disguised as a tree until attacking, but both forms of bloodroots share a 0.6/0.5/0.4/0.3s fade delay before reverting to their hidden form after attacking.
* With the level 15 Bloodroot +100 Heal on Spawn talent, Bloodroots from Bloodroot Spore or passively spawned by Entangling Roots heal allies in a 500 radius for 100 health when they emerge, and shares 20/40/60/80 of that healing with Sylph and her controlled units globally (does not double dip if Sylph is standing in the radius, applying only the 100 full heal).
* Bloodroots and the Elder Bloodwood no longer count as valid trees for enemy abilities, but can be counted as trees by non-destructive allied abilities like, for example, Tree Dance. Bloodroots cannot be cut down by abilities that cut down trees and gives an error sound when targeted by enemy abilities that require or target a tree (revealing that a Bloodroot is there without breaking its disguise). If for example an enemy Monkey King is on top of a tree when Bloodroot Spore is cast on that tree, it counts as the tree being cut down.

W: PARASITIC LINK target unit (shard: aura)
Absorbs a portion of the target unit's healing from all sources, including healing, health regen and lifesteal. Greatly amplifies healing coming through the link, up to a certain amount.
Cast Range: 750 (talent: 1250)
Link Break Distance: 1000 (talent: 1500)
Healing Absorbed: 25/40/55/70%
Bonus Healing Amplified: 100/175/250/325
Bonus Healing Amplification: 100/150/200/250%
Ally Aura Healing Shared: 0 (shard: 20/40/60/80%)
Ally Aura Healing Radius: 0 (shard: 1200)
<cd> 18/15/12/9s <mana> 45/55/55/65
[aghs] Aghanim's Shard – Healing absorbed from Parasitic Link is also shared with nearby allies as an aura.
* The link does not have a max duration but can be recast to reset the bonus healing amplification limit.
* The bonus healing amplified limit only counts healing received by Sylph, and is not consumed if Sylph is at full health. With Aghanim's Shard, allies in aura radius and Sylph's controlled units do benefit from the bonus healing amp, but their healing doesn't count towards the limit.
* Shard causes Sylph to have a 1200 radius aura where Parasitic Link's healing is shared with allies.
* Linking to an ally does reduce the healing received by the ally, but with Aghanim's Shard this can create a desirable feedback loop where Sylph amplifies the healing and returns it to the ally while spreading it around to others. Without Shard, the only situation where linking an ally would be desirable would be if an ally who is already receiving healing and is not in danger is in range while Sylph is being focused.
* Parasitic Link can also be cast on a Bloodroot or Elder Bloodwood, which DOES double dip if Sylph has Shard and is in 1200 range to receive back a portion of the healing done to the Parasitic Link target by its own aura (this feedback loop only happens once and does not infinitely/continuously amplify healing).

E: ENTANGLING ROOTS no target, physical
Sylph's attacks passively have a chance to spawn a Bloodroot based on her current level of Bloodroot Spore. When activated, grants bonus attack speed for three attacks and guarantees that one of those attacks will root the enemy and spawn a Bloodroot.
Bloodroot Chance on Attack: 9/11/13/15%
Entangling Roots Number of Attacks: 3
Bonus Attack Speed: 300
Root Duration: 1.5/2/2.5/3s
Entangle Damage: 60/80/100/120 (talent: 260/280/300/320)
Entangling Roots Bonus Attack Range: 0 (talent: 350)
<cd> 12/10.5/9/7.5s <mana> 75/80/85/90
* Does not spawn a Bloodroot if Sylph has not yet leveled Bloodroot Spore.
* The attack that roots deals bonus physical damage and also has true strike.
* During Entangling Roots, Sylph attacks by summoning roots from below the enemy hero, meaning her attacks will have no projectile speed or travel time (but still count as ranged attacks).
* Each attack has an equal chance of being the rooting attack, but rolls for the passive spawn chance first to maximize the possible roots during the 3 attacks (does not consume the guaranteed root if a passive one procs).

R: HYPERTROPHY ultimate, target tree/target ally
Induces rapid growth in a target tree or a target ally, turning up to one tree into a powerful Elder Bloodwood or healing a target ally for a portion of their missing health per second. The Elder Bloodwood behaves like a tower and can be teleported to by allies, but cannot be placed near enemy structures and deals the Elder Bloodwood's health as damage to Sylph if it dies.
Cast Range: 500
Ally Missing Health as Heal per Second: 8/10/12%
Ally Heal Duration: 4/6/8s
Ally Cooldown Rate Increase: 0 (talent: 50%)
Elder Bloodwood Growth Time: 1.5s
Max Number of Elder Bloodwood: 1
Elder Bloodwood Lifesteal: 125/150/175%
Elder Bloodwood Health: 1500/2250/3000
Elder Bloodwood Armor: 12/15/18
Elder Bloodwood Attack Range: 850
Elder Bloodwood Damage: 108-112/148-152/188-192 (talent: 168-172/208-212/248-252)
Elder Bloodwood BAT: 1.0
Elder Bloodwood Flying Vision: 1200
Elder Bloodwood Gold Bounty: 185/200/215
Elder Bloodwood Experience Bounty: 90/95/100
<cd> 55/40/25s <mana> 130/150/170
* The Elder Bloodwood also shares 20/40/60/80% of its lifesteal with Sylph and her controlled units globally based on the current level of Bloodroot Spore.
* The Elder Bloodwood cannot be placed within 1600 radius of an enemy structure.
* The Elder Bloodwood has the Reinforced attack class, giving it 150% damage against other reinforced targets and taking reduced damage from other attack classes (50% reduced from heroes, 30% reduced from units and 65% reduction from piercing).
* If cast on a tree when the Elder Bloodwood already exists, the Elder Bloodwood relocates itself to the new tree over its 1.5s growth duration, stopping any allied teleports to the old Elder location that are in progress.
* With the level 25 Hypertrophy Ally +50% Cooldown Rate talent, Hypertrophy also speeds up the ally's cooldown rate by 50% for the duration of its heal.

# Changelog

# 3.0.0 – June 2022 – see previous hero version to see all the small/numerical changes: https://pastebin.com/VhqEnyfv

* Reworked summons from one type of summon, Bloodwoods, with three tiers to now just have two summoned units: Bloodroots and Elder Bloodwood
* Replaced W, Forest Mother, with a new ability, Parasitic Link, which absorbs a portion of healing from all sources of a single target rather than absorbing healing around her passively
* The passive spawning of Bloodroots from Forest Mother and the level 15 Entangling Strikes talent have been rolled into the reworked E, Entangling Roots, which now gives a smaller passive chance to spawn Bloodroots and guarantees a Bloodroot when its root procs
* Heavily reworked Q, Bloodroot Spore, to now require targeting a tree by default, with ground targeting moved to Scepter, and also moved the 'gain damage on hit' effect to Scepter
* The 'global sharing of lifesteal between Bloodroots, Sylph and her other controlled units' effect is now a part of Bloodroot Spore itself instead of requiring a second ability, and Entangling Roots now explicitly relies on the current level of Bloodroot Spore
* Removed the concept of maturing or upgrading your Bloodroots, as well as much of the additional complexity from the Elder Bloodwood like being able to be garrisoned
* The Great Tree/Elder Bloodwood mechanic is no longer a baseline part of the Q and instead becomes the new ultimate, Hypertrophy
* In addition to its role in spawning the Elder Bloodwood, Hypertrophy also can target an ally to heal them over time based on their missing health, allowing Sylph to take on a more direct support role or help her fight aggressively with her summons
* In a throwback to the earliest versions of the hero where the ultimate gave cooldown reduction, her talents were reworked to include a level 25 talent that causes Hypertrophy to also speed up the target ally's cooldowns (begins speeding up a cooldown when the effect starts rather than requiring the hero to cast the spell with the buff)