Last Friday, the folks over at Super Evil Megacorp offered a first look at the newest hero for its popular mobile MOBA, Vainglory (Free). Celeste is the game’s newest mage and, being a mage, has a few qualities that she shares with other similar characters. For one, she’s a ranged damage dealer and will probably start out in the lane. Based on what we’ve seen revealed, she will also most likely end up being a damage dealer on the edge of battles towards the end-game.
One interesting tidbit unveiled is the fact that her basic attacks are spells and deal crystal damage. In addition, her abilities and ultimate also primarily increase in strength via crystal damage, meaning that crystal items provide double the benefit. This also means that items that offer weapon damage will probably be highly ineffective.
Ability-wise, Celeste’s first ability, Heliogenesis does AoE damage in a small location on the field of play and leaves a small star on the battlefield for a few seconds. Using the ability again on the star causes it to go supernova, dealing even greater damage across a wider range. Core Collapse leaves stars on the battlefield that act like mines. If enemies step on them, the stars collapse and cause damage while stunning the enemies.
Celeste’s ultimate, currently called Solar Storm (the devs have been soliciting input for a possible name change), deals damage on a horizontal plane that does a decent amount of damage to heroes, but not as much to minions and deals no damage to turrets. Adding to the strategy is the fact that the lead star will pass through and damage all enemies in its range, while the stars that follow impact the first enemy they hit and do AoE damage. It sounds like an interesting move that requires some good positioning and understanding of enemy placement.
Each of Vainglory’s recent character additions have done a great job offering unique gameplay mechanics that provide novel ways to succeed on the Halcyon Fold. Celeste looks to follow that same path with some pretty neat potential for spell combination and damage dealing. While Super Evil Megacorp hasn’t offered any indication as to when she’ll be available for public play, chances are more info will be unveiled during PAX East, where Vainglory looks to have a presence. Meanwhile, we’ll be on the lookout for more info and feel free to check out the developer stream for more info.
