Aghanim's Shard upgrades or grants new abilities to heroes. In its current position, Aghanim's Shard is quite similar to a mini Aghanim's Scepter (other than the hard time limit). While I think it's done a good deal to increase options available to each hero, it feels very much like yet another slot/ability/upgrade that has consistently pushed the power creep further up there. Instead of having Aghanim's Shards be plain old upgrades/new abilities, I think it could be interesting if that role was left to the Scepter and the Shard could instead 'modify' abilities. By this, I mean instead of granting a straight upgrade, the shard could instead grant a side-grade. A buff, that comes with a cost/drawback in another area. The shard effect could be switched On/Off by selecting the Shard Icon on the HUD (on a cooldown) Here's some examples that can help demonstrate the idea: (Note: In the examples below any % changes apply multiplicatively and not as do not add/subtract percentage points unless stated otherwise. For example 20% reduction on 20/30/40/50% Evasion would be equivalent to 16/24/32/40% Evasion and not 0/10/20/30% Evasion) Anti Mage: Mana Burn Benefit: Places a debuff on the affected unit slowing them and increasing their cast point by 10% + 0.3% per % of missing mana. Lasts 2 Seconds Drawback: Reduces Manaburn damage by 20% Toggle Cooldown: 18s #Phantom Assassin: Coup de Grace Benefit: Critical Hits from Coup de Grace cleave for 40%. Drawback: Coup de Grace Critical Strike reduced to 180%/280%/380% Toggle Cooldown: 25s #Rubick: Fade Bolt Benefit: Fade Bolt steals attack damage and grants it to Rubick (instead of just reduction) (125% from heroes, 25% from creeps) Drawback: Reduces Fade Bolt Damage and Damage Reduction by 10% Toggle Cooldown: 25s #Lion: Impale Benefit: Creates two additional rows of spikes at a 35 degree angle. Drawback: Reduces Damage and Stun Duration by 30% Toggle: 30s **** Pros: * Adds another layer of complexity and decision making. In addition whether or not to itemize for the shard, players could also have to consider when to turn the effect on/off and would require foresight and strategic planning to make the best use * Reduces Power Creep Cons: * Adds yet another layer of complexity and decision making * The choice to get a shard is no longer a no brainer, but instead depends on the lineup. The 'new' effects/benefits don't even necessarily need to be new they could easily created out of existing shards with a suitable drawback tacked on. For this set of abilities I chose to go with new ones, just because it seemed like the more fun route. If anyone's sufficiently interested, I'd love to brainstorm some ideas about possible shards for the rest of hero roster.