DOTA IDEAS A DOTA 2 INTERACTIVE FORUM

Changelog from my fan-made 8.00 patch (updated from 7.36a):

Agility increased from 17 + 1.4 to 18 + 2.2
Intelligence gain reduced from 3.3 to 2.4
Eureka! removed
Keen Conveyance removed

Rearm (New Innate): Rearm is now innate, and improves with every skill point put into Tinker’s spells.
All other spells have 3 ability levels rather than 4 and have level lock changed from 1/3/5/7 to 1/5/8.
(This means all of Tinker’s regular spells can only be upgraded to their 2nd level by hero level 5 rather than 3, and their 3rd level by hero level 8 rather than 5)
Tinker using Town Portal Scroll no longer expends charges
Will now set all non-neutral item cooldowns that were on cooldown on Rearm’s completion to 6.75 seconds. This set cooldown will be lowered by 0.4 per skill point placed in Tinker’s spells to a minimum of 0.75 seconds (skill points in talents and attribute bonus do not count) Will not affect items that were already below the set cooldown on completion.
Mana cost rescaled from 100/150/200 to 175
Channel time changed from 3.25/2.25/1.25 to 4.75 - 0.25 per skill point in placed in Tinker’s spells, to a minimum of 1

Items that cannot have cooldown affected by Rearm:

All neutral items
Any items belonging to allied heroes or picked up from enemy heroes
Aeon Disk
Arcane Boots
Black King Bar
Boots of Bearing
Hand of Midas
Helm of the Dominator
Helm of the Overlord
Linken’s Sphere
Meteor Hammer
Pipe of Insight
Refresher Orb
Refresher Shard

Laser:
Now has 3 ability levels instead of 4
Cast range increased from 600 to 600/650/700
Cooldown rescaled from 22/20/18/16 to 18
Mana cost changed from 95/105/115/125 to 100/120/140
Damage changed from 75/150/225/300 to 65/180/295
Duration changed from 3/3.5/4/4.5 to 2.5/3.5/4.5
Scepter bounce radius now matches cast range
Scepter bounce now also reduces max health of target by 6%

Heat Seeking Missiles (Returning Spell):
Launches a guided missile at the 2 nearest visible enemy heroes within 1000/1400/1800 range, dealing 90/210/330 magical damage. Mana cost: 110/125/140. Cooldown: 18.

Warp Flare:
Now a basic ability without requiring Aghanim’s Shard
Moved to the third ability slot
No longer deals damage
Now applies leash instead of root
Cast range changed from 700 to 700/750/800
Cooldown increased from 15 to 18
Cast backswing reduced from 0.5 to 0
Teleport distance changed from 600 to 300/375/450
Duration changed from 2 to 1.75/2/2.25
Cast range reduction changed from 40% to 20%/35%/50%
Attack range reduction changed from 40% to 20%/30%/40%

Defense Matrix:
Moved to fourth ability slot
Now has 3 ability levels instead of 4
Status resistance changed from 10%/20%/30%/40% to 12%/24%/36%
Barrier changed from 100/180/260/320 to 140/210/280
Cast range changed from 700/750/800/850 to 500/700/900
Mana cost changed from 70/80/90/100 to 90/95/100
Cooldown reduced from 20 to 18

March of the Machines:
Moved to fifth ability slot
Now has 3 ability levels instead of 4
Duration changed from 6 to 6/6.5/7
Damage changed from 17/25/35/44 to 14/29/44
Mana cost changed from 90/110/130/150 to 100/140/180

Keen Conveyance:
Removed

Facets:
Translocator (Reworked):
Makes Defense Matrix vector targeted. When cast on an ally, can choose a direction that will be notified by a constant visual arrow so long as the buff remains on them. Arrow visuals are not seen by enemies. When the barrier is broken, the ally will be pushed 300 units in the set direction. New Matrix buffs will overwrite the original direction.

Aghanim’s Shard reworked: Now makes Warp Flare root instead of leash

Talents:
Level 10: Changed from +8% mana cost/mana loss reduction to +12% Warp Flare attack/cast range reduction
Level 15: Changed from 250 AoE Laser to Rearm grants 25% magic resistance for 4s
Level 20: Changed from -0.5s Keen Conveyance teleport time to Warp Flare deals 220 magical damage
Level 25: Changed from Rearm grants 50% magic resistance for 4s to +1 Heat Seeking Missile count and 0.2s stun
Level 25: Changed from +80 Laser damage to Laser now also lowers outgoing spell damage by 80%

While I usually give patches time to simmer down before going back to my crazy ideas for my big 8.00 patch, I feel like Tinker needs a reimagining faster than others. And even though I know they will make him viable eventually, similar to Dazzle, him refreshing items just made the game better from a design space perspective. The real issue was how to get to that point without it being super broken. I think I found a good solution.

Now Rearm will create a set cooldown for all items, and only items, rather than a full refresh. This means there is a bigger window to counteract Tinker's item spam, and makes it more manageable, while emphasizing his spells being spammed instead, which are easier to balance around being refreshed.

Speaking of, he now has 5 normal abilities to start with, which is a first for the game. Rearm is changed to an innate ultimate, similar to Invoke. Hopefully this higher amount of spells to refresh by default makes his gameplan more centered on spell spam, while still allowing for more freedom with item interactions on his ultimate.

It also doesn't remove his global presence, since Rearm passively causes TP scroll charges to not be used, but does make the ability to stop his teleporting more generous for lower level players.