Lunaclaw by rgg138

Alright! I just don't want to be attacking the concepts people have put work into unprompted. Some find it incredibly rude.

That said...

I really do think you have two good ideas here, but at the same time, I feel like neither one really shines just because HotS characters can only hold onto so many abilities, and, almost fittingly, it feels like this one is perfectly split down the middle, but not in a good way. To wit, your two characters are:
-A character who switches between two forms in order to get different jobs done.
and
-A character who is primarily focused on building up a resource that funds their most powerful ability.

Each one has potential, but I don't think they can co-exist here. That said, I do want to go through your abilities one by one to give some thoughts on why I think they have this problem. I will note that I consider accuracy to the source material secondary to creating a fun and entertaining character.

D (Trait):
Switching between two forms is not something that should be handled lightly. Of the characters that do this currently (ignoring Heroic abilities), D.Va, Greymane, and Deathwing, all of them have a reason for the effect to exist. The first two have their transformations handled very strictly, unable to switch between the two arbitrarily, forcing them to weave through both in order to be played effectively. Deathwing, on the other hand, is more about mitigating the extremities of his matchups. By nature, his character is absolutely melted by some characters when up close, so an alternative form is justified in order to give him more well-rounded balance. That said, he helps to point towards a key problem that transforming characters have in most games they appear in: If one form is even slightly better, you have no reason to switch them. In its current form, I think Lunaclaw players would spend 90% of their time in one form, only switching to the other for situational bursts of damage or utility. In that situation, the gimmick may as well be replaced with a single ability that does the same job.

I think the fact that your Q ability refreshes three times faster when you're in its form only exacerbates that problem. As it is, you're rewarded for only sticking to the one ability. In a typical fight, you would switch to the other precisely one time, then jump back to using the first.

Additionally, the auto attack properties are almost identical in function. One sacrifices single target damage for group damage, but they don't provide substantial enough reasons to switch between them, beyond the first Level 7 talent (which, I'll note, I do think is a well designed talent concept for a switching character, applying effects from both onto an enemy for bonuses).

Overall there's no reason to ever switch between the two forms, and one of the big reasons is that they more-or-less have the same job, as neither one is particularly specialised, at least not in a significant way.

Q:
In terms of the switching mechanic, these two abilities abilities, while very different in terms of how they're cast (AoE vs. Skillshot) both do the same basic job: They deal damage, and they build Astral Power. The real distinction is that one is focused around hitting a single target and has a short cooldown, while the other has a much longer cooldown and can hit multiple targets. While there is something behind the idea of picking which of two abilities gets the shorter cooldown, that kind of design doesn't require an entire transformation mechanic. As it is, Lunaclaw's Q abilities are the only ones that particularly care about which form he's in, and the only purpose of those abilities is to build up charge for his W ability.

Again though, having abilities whose primary purpose is to get energy for another ability is a good concept. In that regard I do think that their damage and cooldowns are a bit high for that idea. Yet if they were made to be weaker, less impactful moves, then you'd be left with even less of a reason to switch traits, since the the core ability of the character wouldn't actually change, just the abilities that support it.

W:
Starsurge is the key element of one half of the kit you've designed, and hypothetically I really like it. Something akin to D.Va's Self-destruct and Tracer's Pulse Bomb, but instead of it only being something they only use 8-12 times a match, it's instead the focus of Lunaclaw's gameplan. Unlike the other two, Starsurge can be used more flexibly due to the ability to fire off 2-3 Star Surges rapidly, or hold onto your Astral Power and space them out more. In theory, a moveset like this could be incredibly interesting, giving a hero a unique ability cadence not yet seen in HotS. But as it is, it's improperly executed, and competing too much with the form-switching gimmick.

As an aside, powerful abilities should always be designed with counterplay in mind, ie how the opponent is supposed to avoid taking the damage. This version of Star Surge would be like making Kael'thas's Pyroblast into a basic ability. Trivial for some to deal with, but a nightmare for others. If I'm playing Li Ming and I see three of these coming, that might just kill me without any way for me to survive without help from an ally with burst-mitigation, and even if I do survive, Lunaclaw could already have another three ready to go. Not very fun to play against. Ming can throw out orbs all day, but those can be avoided.

E:
Solar Beam and Lunas Beam I'm not entirely sure I understand. One applies more of a support role, the other is a minor disruption to enemies (unless the idea is that the enemy is silenced repeatedly until they leave its area, in which case the move is a strictly more powerful version of Stukov's Lurking Arm, which is already incredibly powerful and frustrating, and unlike Lunaclaw who can set it and forget it, Stukov is forced to commit to it). The two abilities sharing a cooldown is potentially interesting, but as-is I'm not sure I understand what this move does well enough to say how well designed it is. That said, I do think it's a good idea to give a transforming character some moves that are similar in both forms, but have distinctly different purposes, a circle that provides buffs to allies in one form, but nerfs to enemies in the other? That's fairly elegant design.


So... with all that said... I do want to give one major suggestion for this character, one that I think helps both aspects of the design to play well together, bringing out the best of both worlds. It... probably doesn't match any lore, but I think it'd lead to a much more interesting character overall:

Make it so that Solar Eclipse is Lunaclaw's offensive form. Your abilities in Solar Eclipse form drain your Astral Energy with each cast. Your auto attacks apply a burning effect, and your abilities are powerful and effective. However, while in Solar Eclipse form, you'd have no way to generate Astral Energy, and that's where Lunar Eclipse comes in.

Lunar Eclipse would be Lunaclaw's defensive form. Your abilities in Lunar Eclipse form are free to cast, and on-hit, they generate Astral Energy. While the damage dealt in this form would be low, they'd come with benefits, such as self-healing and other defensive options. In this form, auto attacks could have a self-healing effect, or maybe generate armor for Lunaclaw. Lunaclaw could even have baseline armor in this form, or an increased health regen.

This, I think, would create a character that has the best of both worlds. They're still about generating energy for those Big Time Abilities, and about switching between forms, it's just that now the two concepts are baked into one-another. It even helps turn Celestial Alignment into an even more powerful Heroic, one that lets you have the power of Solar form, and the defence of Lunar form.


I really hope this was useful and not too out-of-line (also, a quick side-note, but you'd probably have to use a different name than Moonfire, since HotS doesn't like to double up on ability names, and Malfurion already has that one).