Hero Overview Design
Aggressive male berserker with a dark/chaos theme. The vibe is barely-contained fury — dark energy crackling, scarred/battle-worn gear, heavy build. Think a barbarian meets dark magic — raw physical power fused with unstable dark energy. Red and deep purple accents against dark armor. A-rank complexity — moderate detail, threatening silhouette. Visual intensity should scale with Fury (see VFX notes).
Havoc is a berserker whose power comes from crisis and rage. The back element should convey stored aggression or dark energy. Could be war trophies, chains, a dark energy vent, or scarred back armor. Key requirement: distinct back silhouette that reads as 'dangerous' from behind.
War axe — this is the core of Havoc's identity. The axe is hurled as a spinning projectile during Reckless Charge. Auto-attacks swing the axe to launch dark energy slash projectiles at medium range. The axe needs to look throwable and dangerous. At high Fury, the axe should be engulfed in dark energy. Animator will need both held and spinning-in-flight states.
Design Intent
Design Intent
Havoc is the roster's only reactive scaling hero — a berserker that gets stronger as the Ship takes damage. Every other hero operates best when things are going well; Havoc flips this dynamic by turning crisis moments into power spikes. This creates a unique emotional arc: when players would normally panic, Havoc players lean in. On active skill cast, Havoc hurls his spinning war axe to a target area, shredding everything in its path before the axe returns. Deploy Havoc when you want a comeback mechanic and a high-risk, high-reward damage gambit.
Core Behaviour
- Havoc is stationary on the ship, swinging his war axe to launch dark energy slash projectiles at medium range.
- Fury is generated each time the Ship takes a hit — the lower the Ship's HP, the more Fury each hit generates. Fury decays at a flat rate (−1/s), always active.
- On active skill cast, hurls his spinning war axe to a player-targeted area. Impact damage on contact, then spins in place dealing tick damage. Axe instantly recalls after spin.
- At L2+ with ≥50 Fury, the spinning axe leaves a damage trail along its outbound flight path.
- At high Fury, Havoc's attack damage and attack speed increase significantly — transitioning from baseline contributor to dominant damage dealer as the fight gets desperate.
- Core loop: Ship takes hits → Fury builds → Havoc powers up → hurl axe into enemy clusters → repeat. Ship safe → Fury decays → Havoc returns to baseline.
Expedition Notes
A-rank = powerful in close battles, helping players break through hard levels they get stuck on. In Expedition's long idle battles, the Ship will naturally take hits over time, generating Fury through the event-driven system. During sustained combat phases, Fury builds; during lulls between waves, it decays. This creates natural power cycling during idle play. Blood Pact rewards Dark Expedition comps with higher crisis ceiling.
Skills & Mechanics Dev
Active: RECKLESS CHARGE
Hurls spinning war axe to target area. Impact damage on contact, then spins in place dealing tick damage. At L2+ with ≥50 Fury, leaves a damage trail along flight path.
| Level | Mana | CD | Impact Damage (% Hero ATK) |
Spin Duration | Spin Tick Damage (% Hero ATK) |
Tick Rate | Fury Damage Scaling |
Spin Radius | Damage Trail (≥50 Fury) |
Trail Duration | Trail Tick Damage (% Hero ATK) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L1 | 30 | 10s | 150% | 2s | 60% | 1.0s | +1% per Fury stack | ~140px | No trail | — | — |
| L2 | 35 | 9s | 190% | 2s | 80% | 1.0s | +1.2% per Fury stack | ~150px | Trail active | 2s | 40% per tick (0.5s) |
| L3 | 40 | 8s | 240% | 2.5s | 100% | 1.0s | +1.5% per Fury stack | ~160px | Trail active | 3s | 60% per tick (0.5s) |
Implementation Notes:
• Targeting: AOE Circle — player taps skill icon and drags to a target area, then releases to cast. Havoc hurls his spinning war axe to that location.
• Impact damage: Applied once to each enemy on their first contact with the spinning axe. This includes enemies hit during the flight path AND enemies that enter the spin zone while the axe is active. Each enemy can only receive impact damage once per cast — no double-dipping.
• Spin zone: On arrival at the target location, the axe spins in place for the spin duration. Enemies that remain in the spin zone take tick damage every 1s in addition to their initial impact damage.
• New enemies entering the spin zone receive impact damage on contact, then tick damage if they stay.
• Damage sequence per enemy: impact damage (on first touch) → spin tick damage (every 1s while in zone) → axe recalls (no further damage).
• Axe recall: After the spin duration ends, the axe instantly returns to Havoc (no travel time on return, no damage on return path).
• Auto-attack pause: Havoc cannot auto-attack while the axe is out (same pattern as Gin's Lightspeed Slash). Total pause = flight time + spin duration (~2.5–3s). At high Fury, the skill's damage output significantly exceeds the missed auto-attacks.
• Fury damage scaling applies to both impact damage and spin tick damage. Example at L3 with 80 Fury: impact = 240% + (80 × 1.5%) = 240% + 120% = 360% ATK.
• Total damage potential at L3 (single enemy, full duration): impact 240% + 2 ticks × 100% = 440% ATK base (before Fury scaling).
• Damage trail (L2+): At ≥50 Fury, the spinning axe leaves a lingering dark energy trail along its outbound flight path. Enemies crossing the trail take tick damage. Trail does NOT taunt or slow — pure damage.
• At L1, trail is not available. At L2+, trail only appears if Havoc has ≥50 Fury at cast time.
• Havoc remains stationary on the ship during the entire animation. The axe is the projectile, not the hero.
Passive 1: FURY ENGINE
Fury is generated each time the Ship takes a hit. The lower the Ship's HP, the more Fury each hit produces. Fury provides ATK and ATK SPD bonuses.
| Level | Base Fury Cap | ATK Bonus per Fury Stack |
ATK SPD Bonus per Fury Stack |
|---|---|---|---|
| L1 | 80 | +0.4% | +0.2% |
| L2 | 100 | +0.5% | +0.25% |
| L3 | 120 | +0.6% | +0.3% |
Fury Generation (per Ship Hit)
Fury is event-driven — generated each time the Ship takes a hit. Per-hit amount scales with Ship's current HP.
| Ship HP Range | Fury per Ship Hit |
|---|---|
| 76–100% | +1 |
| 51–75% | +2 |
| 26–50% | +4 |
| 1–25% | +7 |
Implementation Notes:
• At L3 max Fury (120 stacks): +72% ATK damage, +36% ATK SPD. Strong but bounded.
• Fury generation triggers on each Ship damage event (per hit, not per tick). No cooldown between stacks — the Fury cap is the hard limiter.
• The amount of Fury generated per hit is determined by the Ship's HP at the moment the hit lands.
• Fury decay: flat −1 stack/second, always active. Generation and decay run simultaneously — when Ship is under heavy fire, incoming hits generate faster than decay; when Ship is safe, decay wins and Fury drains to zero.
• Fury resets to 0 at battle start.
• When the Ship is not being attacked, Fury drains to 0. Havoc is still a capable hero with solid auto-attacks and Reckless Charge base damage, but his power spike requires the Ship to be under active fire.
• The system is intuitive: players see Fury rising when the Ship is being hammered and falling when it's safe. No hidden thresholds to learn.
Passive 2: BLOOD PACT
Dark team synergy — increases Fury cap and per-stack ATK bonus based on Dark heroes on the team.
| Level | Fury Cap Bonus per Dark Hero |
ATK Bonus per Stack per Dark Hero |
|---|---|---|
| L1 | +10 | +0.08% |
| L2 | +15 | +0.10% |
| L3 | +20 | +0.12% |
Implementation Notes:
• Fury cap bonus is additive to Fury Engine's base cap. Example: L3 Blood Pact + 4 Dark heroes = +80 cap → total cap = 200.
• At L3 with 4 Dark heroes and 200 Fury: ATK bonus = 200 × (0.6% + 4 × 0.12%) = 200 × 1.08% = +216% ATK. This is the theoretical ceiling in a full crisis + full Dark team — extremely powerful but requires both very low Ship HP AND heavy Dark investment.
• Dark hero count includes Havoc itself.
Interactive Skill Visualizer Interactive
Interactive skill range and area visualization. All distances in game pixels (1080×1920 screen).
Balance Tables Balance
Values marked [TBD] require a tuning pass before final implementation. All others are suggested starting points.
| Value | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mana cost (30–40) | Suggested | Moderate — frequent throwing without being free |
| Fury per Ship hit (+1/+2/+4/+7 by HP range) | [BALANCE TBD] | Event-driven generation — per-hit amounts are the core crisis feel lever. Needs playtesting with real Ship damage frequency |
| Fury decay rate (−1/s flat) | [BALANCE TBD] | Always-on decay drains Fury when Ship is safe. Net buildup depends on hit frequency × per-hit amount vs. decay |
| Base Fury cap (80–120) | Suggested | Bounds the baseline ceiling; Blood Pact extends for Dark comps |
| Max theoretical ATK bonus (+216% at ceiling) | [BALANCE TBD] | Extreme edge case (L3, 4 Dark, 200 Fury) — needs stress testing |
| Spin radius ("Medium") | [BALANCE TBD] | Needs exact unit distance — spinning axe zone at target location |
| Spin duration (2–2.5s) | Suggested | Short enough that auto-attack pause feels acceptable, long enough for 2 ticks |
| Spin tick damage (60–100%) | Suggested | Rewards enemies staying in the zone — combined with impact, full duration = 270–440% base ATK |
| Auto-attack pause (~2.5–3s) | Suggested | Gin pattern — total pause = flight time + spin duration. At high Fury, skill damage > missed autos |
| Damage trail tick rate (0.5s) | Suggested | Fast enough to matter, not so fast it's burst |
| Axe travel speed | [BALANCE TBD] | Affects responsiveness and trail length — faster = shorter trail, slower = more trail coverage |
Animation & VFX Requirements Art
Havoc (Hero Entity)
- Standard idle, aggressive axe-swing animation that launches dark energy slash projectiles at medium range. Each swing releases a crescent-shaped dark energy wave toward enemies. Animator's call.
- Projectile visuals should scale with Fury tier (faint slash at low Fury, intense dark flame slash at high Fury).
Reckless Charge (Cast VFX)
- Cast animation: Havoc winds up and hurls his spinning war axe toward the target area. Axe spins visibly during flight.
- Spin zone at target: The axe hovers and spins aggressively at the target location for the full spin duration. Should look like a grinding sawblade. Spin zone radius should be visually readable.
- Axe recall: Instant return to Havoc's hand after spin ends. Havoc catches the axe (idle/waiting pose while axe is out). Animator's call on throw, wait, and catch animations.
Fury-Scaled VFX (REQUIRED)
Havoc's visual appearance MUST intensify based on current Fury level:
- 0–30 Fury: Subtle dark aura / faint glow. Baseline appearance.
- 31–60 Fury: Visible dark energy crackling around Havoc. Noticeable but not overwhelming.
- 61–99 Fury: Intense dark flames / energy engulfing Havoc. Clearly 'powered up.'
- 100+ Fury (cap range): Maximum intensity — dark storm effect, screen-edge vignette or subtle shake on Reckless Charge cast. The player should feel the power.
Damage Trail (L2+ VFX)
- Dark energy trail along the axe's outbound flight path. Should visually match current Fury intensity tier.
- Linear and short-lived — must be visually distinct from Nightshade's Singularity zone (which is a persistent circular zone).
UI Elements
- Fury UI indicator: Fury stack count or bar near hero portrait. Should be visually distinct from mana bar. Color shift from cool → hot as Fury increases. Animator's call.
Team Synergies Design
Team Synergies
Dark crisis carry. Key pairings:
- N.O.X (both scale as fights get harder — N.O.X snowballs kills, Havoc snowballs damage taken).
- Nightshade (Singularity zone groups enemies → Havoc throws axe into the cluster for maximum impact).
- Neon (Dark Pact mana reduction for frequent Reckless Charges + cooldown acceleration).
- Grim Intentional anti-synergy: Grim's Ship healing keeps HP high, meaning less Fury per hit — creates genuine team-building tension (safety vs. damage gambit). (cross-element)