An Archangel named Zero was the leader and most powerful Guardian, endowed with all admirable qualities possible in beings that walk the mortal planes. Wisdom had Zero in abundance, and shrewd was he in matters of strategy. Strength came naturally to him, for his power was that of the Light. Compassion and mercy remained within him, yet ruthless was he to those that embraced Darkness and Azrail’s teachings. His capacity for leadership and the strength to see Cael’s will carried out made Zero the perfect commander of the forces of Light. It took all of this and more to stop the Anima Schism and drive Arawn’s invading forces back to Kraxus. The aftermath would show to be more challenging as Zero faced the consequences of his actions, causing other Guardians to rise to dispute his position.

The last half of this months development post reveals the kit for the next new Myth, Zero: Light’s Herald. Zero is a Sky Slayer class Myth who is of the Fighter archetype. He is a solo laner who loves to switch between melee and ranged stances to keep his enemies at bay. With the power of the Cael running through him he commands the battlefield to protect his allies and punishing any who wish them harm. Zero strikes hard, fast, and often and using the power of his empowered weapons for extra combat effectiveness. 

Zero will be the highest skill cap character released in Ethereal so far, and likely the highest for some time. Some of our latest kit designs are on the upper end of the skill ceiling (ex. Malware, Exiel, Zero) so the Myths following Zero will tone it down when it comes to complexity. We hope that Zero will allow experienced solo laners a breathe of fresh air to learn a new playable MOBA character. He will be on our radar as he is sent into public tests and following the games early access release. 

Without further ado, lets get into the kit!

First up is Zero Special Ability. This is the bread and butter stance switch that will transition Zero from ranged and melee forms and grant various bonuses based on the form he is in. 

An important thing to note is that all abilities have independent cooldowns, so switching stances will update cooldowns from the abilities as they counted down behind the scenes.

• Special Ability – Reliquary Weapon
  Zero can switch between Melee and Ranged forms. While in Ranged form, he gains Bonus Range and Attack Speed. While in Melee form he instead gains Bonus Movement Speed, Armor, and Magic Resist.

Zero’s Passive is a sustain mechanic for both his health and mana pools. This is not meant to be a way for him to stay in lane forever, but due to his casting of many spells this gives him a skill expressive way of retaining some of the mana spent and healing nearby allies during skirmishes and team fights.

• Passive – Blessing of the Mighty

Killing an enemy restores a small amount of Health and Mana. Getting a takedown on an enemy Myth instead restores a large amount of Health and Mana and also applies that restoration to the closest nearby Allied Myth.

The first basic ability conjoins both stances to work towards an empowered cast from either the melee or the ranged stances. Both halves of the ability swipe his spear and gain stacks of Angelic Power. When 3 stacks is gained, the next cast from either form will instead shoot a piercing shot with different effects. Because each cooldown is independent, you are able to get the 3rd stack from 1 form and switch to cast the empowered version of the other form immediately. 

• Melee Ability One – Guided Strike

Zero swipes his Spear in a cone in front of him, dealing Physical Damage and Slowing all enemies hit. Gain a Stack of Angelic Power for 6 seconds, max 3. At Max Stacks, casting this ability instead consumes the stacks and fires a piercing projectile that deals Physical Damage to all targets hit and instantly teleports himself to the last target hit.

• Ranged Ability One – Thunderous Strike

Zero stabs his Spear forward, dealing Physical Damage and piercing Armor of all targets hit. Gain a Stack of Angelic Power for 6 seconds, max 3. At Max stacks, casting this ability instead consumes the stacks and fires a piercing projectile that deals Physical Damage to all targets hit and displaces the first target hit backwards.

Ability Two is more combat focused with high impact, medium cooldown abilities.

• Melee Ability Two – Channel Divinity

Empower your next 3 Basic Attacks to deal Bonus current Health Physical Damage on hit.

• Ranged Ability Two – Holy Smite

Smite down an area around you restoring Health and cleansing all debuffs of Allies hit.

Ability Three is movement oriented, containing both a dash and movement speed buffs to allow engagement and repositioning in fights.

• Melee Ability Three – Turn the Unholy

Dash a short distance forward, dealing Physical Damage in a cone in front of you upon impact with an enemy Myth or at the end of the dash.

• Ranged Ability Three – Invigorate

Gain Bonus Movement Speed and a burst of Attack Speed for a short duration.

Zero’s Ultimates are extremely powerful when used independently or in unison in a team fight, due to them not sharing a cooldown. His Ranged Ultimate is global and can target both ally and enemy Myths to travel to them from anywhere on the map. Be careful as you could end up in an unsafe location like the enemy Tower! His Melee Ultimate is combat focused as it knocks up all targets caught by his spear locking both him and his targets down until the end of the cast. 

• Melee Ultimate – Judgement

Zero swipes his spear in a large arc in front of him. Myths hit get knocked up and take Physical Damage over the duration.

• Ranged Ultimate – Skyfall 

Target an Ally or Enemy Myth and quickly soar to their location. Upon impact, all enemies in the radius are dealt Physical Damage and knocked away from his location. If the targeted Myth was an enemy, they are not knocked back.

Quick FAQs:

• Stacks of Angelic Power from Ability One are retained between stances.
• Holy Smite currently includes cleansing CC of all types and Anti Heal before the heal is applied.
• Turn Unholy damage is dealt at the end of the dash.
• Invigorate bonus stats are retained between stances.
• All cooldowns are independent of each other, including his Ultimate cooldowns.
• Zero uses Mana and first purchases Heaven’s Blade due to his low cooldown Ability One.
• He will have the lowest Range of all Ranged Myths in the game, around 1000. (For reference, Kahlea is the current lowest at 1200)

Overall, we expect Zero to be an extremely high octane, high skill cap character that will be able to punish mistakes and create favorable situations for both himself and his team. With the ability to fly and be anywhere on the battlefield through the use of his Sky Slayer Class Ability and Ranged Ultimate, enemies will need to be aware of the possibility of his presence at all times. This iteration of Zero will be playable in the next open test in conjunction with the new combat/ability systems and we cannot wait for you all to try him out yourselves!

As always thanks for your support,

Undying Games ~~