Edain Mod 4.5: April Fools news

today, we are dealing with one of the most important heroes of the Third Age at all.
Dain is one of those heroes, who needed a rework most urgently. Also, it was often wished by the community to rework him. A revision of the community was also often desired. That is why we dedicate ourselves to the Iron Hills Dain today.

Dain had previously been a largely defensive hero with skills focused on both defense and structures. In doing so, he assumes the role of the leader of the Iron Hills. After several attempts, we finally managed to watch the scenes in the movie, where Dain appeared, and we have come to the conclusion that both, Dain's skills and his role, require a lot of rethinking.
The Dain we probably saw in the movie was not a defensive leader, but a wild and unpredictable warrior, who gave little attention to things like diplomacy or restraint. Therefore, we have come to the conclusion that the role of a mass-slayer is much better suited for the Lord of the Iron Hills. Since Dain, as Lord of the Iron Hills, is such a central character, whose screentime almost reached other iconic characters of Middle-Earth like Alfrid, Tilda, Gamling, Deagol, or Madril, we could not neglect his leading aspects, but they will do well with his role as a mass-slayer.

- Level 1: Mount/Dismount: Dain and all nearby dwarven infantry mounts their rams.
Since Dain has ridden on a boar somewhere in the film or in the trailers, this ability can not be missed.
Moreover, it is an ability which emphasizes the speed with which the Iron Hills came in the book, and the cavalry is a powerful mass-destroying ability worthy of the Lord of the Iron Hills.

- Level 3: Relentless Succesion: Dain benefits from the demise of those who are in the succesion before him. If an ally hero dies, his normal permanently gain an area of attack, which increases with every stack. The ability can be activated to sacrifice an ally hero.
Historically, Dain was a very unlikely candidate, because his line was in the thrones' seventh place, but by the unnatural demise of Thror, Fror, Thrain, Frerin, Thorin, Fili and Kili, he came to the succesor of the kingdom. In addition, Dain is English-Old for 'The Deceased'.
This ability represents Dain's wildness and his low regard for losses. In addition, it offers the player a strategic choice, and can prevent the opponent gaining experience from killing a hero.

- Level 5: Diplomacy of the Strongest: Dain can only negotiates, if he gains an advantage, and does not take any consideration of his allies. For 60 seconds, own units globally receive +50% armor and +25% damage. Allied units globally lose 50% armor and 25% attack.
The player receives a strong bonus at the expense of his own allies. We also took into account the wish of the community, so that Dain no longer only grants armor, but the attack of own units is strengthened, too. The strength of the bonus is justified by the fact that it affects only the player himself and not his allies. Isn't a direct mass-slayer ability, but the right use of it can lead to masses of dead enemies.
As a small Easteregg, Dain also causes 10% more damage to Elves when the ability is active.

- Level 7: Charge of the Iron Hills:Dain orders some Battle Wagons to charge through the enemy ranks, knocking back any that stand in their way.
A version of Murin's old ability. However, the normal ram riders were replaced by Battle Wagons to meet the glory of the Lord of the Iron Hills.

To make the whole thing a bit better understandable, you can see some of the new or reworked abilities here in the video:

We are very pleased with this overhaul of the Iron Hills Dain, and look forward to your feedback.

Your Edain team