Ok! I’ve finally narrowed it down to my favorite eight Hero ideas, and sketched them up to give you a little visual along with the concept. These are just starting points, and whichever Hero gets chosen will likely go through a number of redesigns before it gets into Heroes of Newerth. Additionally, the ideas for their abilities are in no way guaranteed to make it into the game.

Groth and Bindle are a pair of orc brawlers. The player controls both, though they activate and fight as one unit. Bindle is used as the weapon in their special abilities, usually getting tossed and hurled around as a cannonball. One idea is that Groth throws Bindle at an enemy Hero, Bindle latches on and “steers” the enemy back towards Groth.

In the case of Durandel, the sword itself is the hero. An ancient, sentient sword that traps the souls of all the enemies it has killed. Each of Durandel’s abilities would summon forth a different warrior soul to wield it, and the souls bring with them different attributes and attacks. You would be able to switch between between speed, strength, etc depending on which soul you called forth to wield the sword.

Vixen is a werefox. A cunning, deadly dual-wielding bandit in her own right, she can also shift into fox form to pursue enemies or escape from situations.

Haglish is a dwarf with a huge, unstable rocket strapped to his back. His abilities include dive bombing from above, and grabbing his enemies and rocketing them into nearby obstacles. The idea behind is rocket is that the fuel is unstable, and more he uses his abilities, the more it overheats. It does more damage, but also runs the risk of exploding and causing damage to Haglish. He’s a risk vs reward dps hero.

Cthulhuphant is a tank. A demon elephant with a trample to engage, and also an otherworldly aura of despair and pestilence that can lower the attributes of enemy heroes.

Kaiser is a utility mage dps hero. His primary ability allows him to plant Runestones in the ground (up to 5). His other abilities let him activate the runestones, channeling powerful arcane magic through them to enemies nearby. If the runestone are close enough to each other, they are connected by a beam of this energy and the power is amplified. Kaiser can create intricate and deadly webs of energy to trap and destroy his foes.

Amoeba is a gelatinous blob of ooze. He is able to release small oozelings to pursue his enemies, or excrete a vile trail of muck that slows any enemy hero crossing it. Amoeba can also form his body into a wall structure preventing anyone from passing.

Gorge is a sentient shark augmented with robotic appendages that allow him to traverse land and chase down his prey.

I’m really psyched about all of these ideas! One of these concepts will be taken to S2Games where we’ll brainstorm and develop, and eventually produce aan actual playable Hero to take to the fields of battle in Heroes of Newerth! So cast your vote now!