Scoring assists with Prime World's support heroes

Nival's entry into the MOBA arena, Prime World , has been kept under fairly-secure wraps since we last saw it at last year's E3 (with a bounce castle and fox-tailed booth babes).

, has been kept under fairly-secure wraps since we last saw it at last year's E3 (with a bounce castle and fox-tailed booth babes). All that's changed with the relaunch of Prime World's official website. Now you can get insight into the game's map-changing mechanics, lore, and persistent castle building. But the most important element of a MOBA is its heroes. We're taking a look at the Prime World heroes who've shown their faces thus far, starting with two support heroes, one from each faction. Read on for our breakdown on the Keeper's Artiste and the Imperium's Inventor.

The Artiste

Using a gigantic brush given to her by a master painter, the Artiste is able to channel the powers of the magical resource Prime to bring her works of art to life. As a member of the Keepers, she fights to reclaim nature and find the harmony in the living world. Her suite of abilities focuses on buffing herself and boosting her allies, whittling down her team's focused target or duplicating items for her teammates across the map.

The Artiste's abilities:

Palette (Passive): When standing still, Artiste will gain stacks of Paint, which increase her Agility and lower the cooldowns on her abilities. Moving will slowly deplete her supply of Paint, so it seems this passive is designed to promote a sort of stop-and-go style of play. Think of Paint like a depleting sprint bar in an FPS: you'll want to move quickly to get in position for a fight, then try your best to stay stationary once you're in place to assist your team. Painted Beast: Artiste paints cuddly animals (which vaguely resemble pink-and-purple Eevees) that spring to life to attack her opponents. This is her main offensive ability, used to pester enemy heroes or dwindle oncoming creep waves. Color of Life: This is Artiste's bread-and-butter skill, which can help allies or hinder enemies. Casting it on a teammate will heal them, while enemies will take magic damage when splashed with this paint. But the ability isn't that simple: casting it while you're on Native Terrain (aka the territory that your side currently controls) will give Color of Life the added property of blinding enemies, for reduced attack damage. There's also a talent called Speed of Color; if the Artiste trains this talent, Color of Life will also slow enemies or boost allies' movement speed. Paint of the Master: This is one of Artiste's more interesting abilities, and has the potential to be the most broken one. Paint of the Master will give Artiste's normal attacks additional damage, but more important is the buff this gives to all allies: when a teammate on the map purchases or earns a "magic scroll" and donates it to another player, there's a chance that they will receive a copy of that item for themselves. At the moment, it's unclear what these scrolls do and how they're obtained, but this ability could turn a team of grumpy curmudgeons into altruistic, gift-giving pals. Brush of the Master: This ultimate boosts all of Artiste's other abilities, causing them to hit enemies who are near your target and bounce around for added damage and efficiency. It can also be used as a super-steroid for Artiste's attacks while on defense: using Brush of the Master on Native Terrain will temporarily give Artiste full stacks of Paint, so her cooldowns will dwindle while her Agility and attack damage go through the roof.
The Inventor

This dapper young prodigy's got a knack for all things technological, using his mechanical contraptions to fortify a position on the battlefield. He's equally useful as a pusher and a defender, using his tool-kit of space-control abilities to hold down a makeshift fort wherever needed. And, if all else fails, the Inventor can simply gun his enemies down.

The Inventor's abilities:

Components (Passive): This passive works much like the Engineer's metal in Team Fortress 2—a resource that's needed to use class talents. The Inventor will generate components over time, which give the added bonus of additional damage to his basic attacks. Discounter Goods(Passive): Now this ability is just crazy. When leveled, the Inventor and all his allies will receive an "impressive discount" on all items; depending on how impressive a percentage that is, your team could be rolling in end-game items well before your opponents. This ability will also increase the Inventor's maximum constructs (turrets and dispensers) from two to three. Turret: Like any self-respecting tech wizard, the Inventor can plop down a turret, which will dole out improved damage if it's set up on Native Terrain. The Inventor can also learn a talent named Camouflaged Turret, which will render them invisible unless enemies are in close range. Dispenser: Need a dispenser here! Need a dispens—ahem. Pardon my inner TF2 Scout. This mechanism is simple enough: place it near your allies and they'll regenerate health over time. Time Bomb: Like a cross between Ziggs' and Zilean's bomb abilities, the Inventor will chuck a bomb at the specified location. If it comes into contact with an enemy, it'll explode shrapnel in their faces; otherwise, it'll detonate after a few seconds. Great for zoning out aggressive heroes or clearing creep waves. Machine Gun: The Inventor does his best impression of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the finale of Commando, whipping out a colossal chaingun and mowing down enemies with a barrage of bullets. He won't be able to move while firing (c'mon, chaninguns are heavy), but he can redirect his aim at will.

So there you have it: two heroes that buff up their teammates while doing some decent damage themselves. Be sure to check back later today for more Prime World hero breakdowns, where we'll look at the rest of the revealed cast.