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Hello everyone. This is the second part in an ongoing series where I discuss the unreleased hero labs characters. In my last thread, I took a look at Slork/Fathom. In this one, I'm taking a look at Raven, AKA Operative, the ill-fated Soviet James Bond archetype that never was. This quick series is be an examination of each of the four unreleased heroes, a look at what may need to change to facilitate their reintroduction, and hopefully promote a discussion about them on what you all think they'd need to come back. Please reply to add to the discussion if you feel so inclined, it motivates me to make more of these.
Raven (AKA Operative)
Who is he?: Raven was the last hero added to Hero Labs in December 2024. Unlike Fathom and Wrecker, he was created for Deadlock and does not originate from Neon Prime. Raven was somewhat unusual in that his visual identity was more or less complete. He did not seem to have any hero as a base with which they built his model from, and had a good looking model. His abilities on the other hand were very incomplete. A third upgrade for his second ability was never added, and his third ability was never implemented at all, instead just being Wraith’s third ability. While the files do indicate there being some level of code for a third ability, it was never added during Raven’s lifespan on Hero Labs.
His strong visual identity and lore are primarily what have earned Raven his fans. He has a well developed character with clear motivations, and a connection to Russia that other characters don’t have. The sheer existence of the Soviet Empire is in itself very intriguing, but we’ll get to that more later.
Raven’s theme for his abilities seemed to be fighting dirty and getting behind the opponent. Unfortunately, it also made his kit pure poison. We’ll get to this later as well.
What’s his lore?: Raven, or the agent with the codename of Raven, is the spymaster of the Soviet Empire. We don’t know much about the Soviet Empire other than it’s led by the ghost of Catherine the Great (considered to be one of Russia’s greatest rulers and is the reason why it’s so damn big), and that both the Romanovs as well as Rasputin are still involved in it judging by Raven’s voice lines. If we had to guess, it is likely the halfway point between the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union with a bit of slavic occultism thrown in for good measure.
Catherine has tasked Raven with the goal of giving her a body so she may live once more. Raven has traveled the globe looking for artifacts, spells, and the like to help him with this task. To this end he has apparently acquired the Tome of Anubis, and a cursed canopic jar. His goal in participating in the ritual is to get Catherine a body. It is possible that the artifacts he carries will help him with the Patron’s wish.
Raven is intensely loyal to Catherine the Great. His dialogue also hints at animosity with Rasputin, as when he is selected he states that Rasputin “had best not meddle in my plans.” Rasputin was a priest who became infamous among the Russian populace for his social influence amongst the Romanovs, and later became well known for his eccentric behavior and the extreme nature of his assassination. The Romanovs are likewise described as not tolerating failure. They too did not survive the Russian Revolution. Soviet politics was often complicated, and very factionalized, so him being more loyal to an entity of the state rather than the state itself is thematically appropriate
It is hinted through Mirage’s voicelines that he has come into conflict with the Djinn before, as the two apparently have a negative history. When Mirage kills him, he says that there will be no reconciliation between the two factions, hinting at some sort of geopolitical conflict. Dialogue with Calico also shows that the two have interacted before. Both Mirage and Calico indicate that Raven has lost some form of encounter with them in the past. Calico in particular seems to like him. Perhaps they have worked together in the past as well?
The heroes who interact with him are worried of causing an international incident or making enemies with the Soviet Empire. Vyper even refers to him as “dangerous”, which is something she only ascribes to Seven. Holliday describes him as handsome, and the shopkeeper describes him as dapper.
Raven has a very confident and professional demeanor. He has a thick Russian accent and speaks in a quiet tone. It’s similar to Mirage honestly, so much so that I think the two share a voice actor. Much of his dialogue speaks about his loyalty to Catherine. He also seems to enjoy New York, aside from their ballet which he considers subpar. Raven sometimes refers to himself in the third person, i.e. The Raven. His real name is unknown.
In short, it would be appropriate to consider him a Soviet version of James Bond. Or even a James Bond villain. He looks as if he would be a great adversary for one of the British spy’s famous outings. Raven’s lore also creates a new entity in the world that helps to better add depth to the world of Deadlock.
What’s he look like?: Raven has a very dapper look to him, and his visuals are easily the most complete of the four Hero Labs characters. From his lore to his looks to even his character portrait, Raven is visually the most complete character we will be discussing. Even his animations seemed, for the most part, complete. His reload animation and gun animations did admittedly need work
He eschews a deliberately Russian twist on the James Bond style, taking in many of the classic spy movie tropes in his design. Raven has a thick face full of facial hair, a long beard and a well groomed curling mustache, with an eyepatch to boot. He also wears a white tuxedo with black lapels and bow tie, a likely deliberate reversal of the black with white style of James Bond that he commonly displays. His hands have very intricate tattoos on the back, which would glow golden during his heavy melee, and he has a very broad and tall form. The model is notably less detailed than the portrait, which is a common aspect for most Deadlock characters. In this case the colors are darker.
His gun is uniquely an umbrella, and was a single shot weapon with decent range and good damage. If I recall correctly, it was later adjusted to be a quicker firing weapon like a machine gun but with less damage. Umbrellas have infamously been used by Russia as a tool of espionage and assassination in the past and present, often to deliver poison from a distance. They are the originators of the umbrella gun in real life. It is therefore appropriate that Raven carries one, both culturally thematically and also to fit his identity of being a sneaky spymaster who conceals their weapon.
One final unusual aspect is his owning of the Tome of Anubis. Paradox claims to own the Tome, while Wraith in her dialogue with Paradox states she thought it was at the Met. Furthermore, the Newscaster mentions it reportedly being seen on the Black Market. Even Apollo has a line where he mentions its rarity. Regardless, he does not use the Tomb of Anubis in his kit, but does make mention to holding it. Whether it is real or fake is difficult to say.
What did he do?: Raven unfortunately had the least complete kit of the four Hero Labs characters, with one ability being copied entirely from Wraith’s kit. If he were to return, this third ability would be replaced with something else.
His first ability, Blindside, passively caused him to deal bonus melee and weapon damage when attacking from behind. When activated, he threw a grenade that dealt spirit damage and slowed enemies' turn rate. This slow was HUGE, and made facing him literal hell since your character turned like a truck backing up. It was a major part of why facing him was so unfun. This notably did not slow movement, only turn speed. Notably, the item Backstabber was later added in May, a few months before his removal. While not an exact copy of Raven’s passive, it was very similar in function.
His second ability, Umbrella Maneuver, launched him backwards in a hovering manner. Think of a jump pad but slower. Afterwards he would fire an explosive from his umbrella that dealt spirit damage. This ability was his primary mobility and made it difficult to catch him, especially if you were under the effects of his other abilities. It served as an excellent disengage. Blindside plus this made it very difficult to pursue Raven. As his prime damaging ability, it also served as good poke due to its high spirit scaling. This ability notably never had its third boon upgrade implemented.
His third ability, as discussed, was just Full Auto from Wraith’s kit. An actual third ability was never properly implemented. Unusually, he had voicelines for activating his third ability as well as a visual cue, with purple fire coming from the tip of his umbrella. Regardless, Raven never got a true third ability. If he did, it would likely be something similar, some form of buff.
Raven’s ultimate was Revelation. This caused him to activate his canopic jar, causing it to float above his head for a short while. Nearby enemies would have their movement and dashes slowed, and would take spirit damage while looking at you. If they looked at you for too long, they would get cursed as well. This ultimate ability was partially retained from Tokamak, another cancelled Hero, though that one applied a blind and increasing DPS when looked at.
Raven was designed to impede your movement in ways that made it difficult to adequately work around. By slowing your speed, dashes, and even turning, he could easily get behind you and deal extra damage while you were unable to properly retaliate. Furthermore, if in trouble, he could use his umbrella to dash away and blow you up, or even use it to poke from a distance.
I’m not factoring in Full Auto into this analysis of his kit as that was clearly meant to be a placeholder. Most likely he would’ve gotten some sort of similar buff to his attacks.
Why wasn’t he added?: The issue with Raven once again lay entirely within his kit design. Crowd control is a necessary part of any MOBA as it allows taking out the enemy to be more easily achieved. On the other hand, nobody likes being cc’d to death as it feels there isn’t as much you’re capable of doing. Typically crowd control heavy characters make up for this with being more limited in damage or long cooldowns, or having a way to dodge the crowd control (Dynamo, Abrams).
Raven however had three forms of crowd control, all of which were various slows. While a standard slow is unusual, a dash slow is bizarre but manageable. Affecting turn speed however feels miserable and impossible to play against. By greatly limiting how the enemy is capable of actually responding to you, it feels very frustrating to fight Raven.
Picture the following. Raven throws out his Blindside grenade. You can barely turn at all. He gets behind you and murders you. Or he’s running away. He throws his grenade out then jukes away with his second ability. Or it’s a teamfight. You’re unable to adequately respond because of said grenade. Then pair this with his ultimate which punishes you for being near him and curses you for even looking at him. Even if you do manage to get into a semi-optimal position against Raven, you do not have a way to actually counterplay him properly.
Raven’s entire kit was designed to limit the ability of the enemy to respond when Raven wants to get behind you. Much like Fathom before him, this felt unfair. While Raven was visually a very cool character, in a MOBA, visual and lore is sadly secondary to gameplay.
What could be changed?: Visuals and lorewise, Raven is essentially a complete character. The only thing I would suggest changing is the name of his weapon, Umbrella Gun. That’s more of a description than a title. Something more fitting like Nevermore, Soviet Surprise, Catherine’s Rebuttal, or even Зонт (pronounced zont, the Russian word for umbrella) would be more appropriate I feel.
When it comes to Raven’s kit, however, this is where it begins to fall apart. The simple fact of the matter is that Raven is not fun to deal with, nor is it healthy for this game. Significant alterations should be made to Raven, which I believe could go in two directions.
A: Scrap the kit entirely and start over
B: HEAVILY rework the kit to be less toxic while keeping the sneaky spy theme.
For the purposes of this discussion, let’s assume we’re going with B. I’m trying to make something which keeps his playstyle of getting behind the enemy. However, instead of focusing on removing the enemy’s ability to maneuver, I’m trying to focus more on increasing Raven’s ability to more effectively get behind his foe and attack them. This would make him a higher skill character to be sure, but I think that’s part of the fun of playing a spy-like figure. You want to feel as if you’re executing complex maneuvers.
Raven’s first ability is the most problematic. I think that the passive component should be retained, but the active’s effect should be changed. Slowing turn speed is not healthy, so that should go. What I instead propose is the following.
A: Change Blindside to being a short duration stun instead.
B: Have Blindside instead have the slowing effect from Revelation for both movement and dash speed, but reduced.
C: Remove the active entirely and boost the passive component to encourage players to get behind their foes more creatively. Perhaps also include more to the passive that makes Raven have a better turn speed, sort of like Vyper when she’s sliding.
Raven’s second ability is his least problematic in my opinion, being mobility plus damage, except going backwards as opposed to forwards (like with Calico, Shiv, etc). It also uses his umbrella for something else other than shooting, which makes it more fun. I’ve heard some people suggest in the past giving him a floating ability similar to Mina, but I don’t think this is appropriate given how burly he is. It would look off.
What could be done with Umbrella Maneuver is to perhaps give him more air mobility while he’s in flight to make him “trickier” per say. It would play into his sneaky archetype.
Since Raven never had a third ability added, he would obviously need something given to him. It would also have to fit somewhat with the placeholder they gave him, as that was probably a blueprint for what they wanted. If we dig into his lore a bit, I think we can more easily find an answer. This being the Tome of Anubis
For someone who apparently has possession of this lore important item, he doesn’t actually use it. I also like the idea of Raven being this Soviet spy who uses foreign artifacts to aid him on his quest. Therefore, I propose the following.
A: Have it apply lifesteal and damage buff.
B: Have it cause shots to apply a DoT and slightly reduce resistances.
C: Have it apply a mark which makes enemies visible through terrain, and which detonates to deal damage if they are struck in the back.
D: Have it apply a buff that makes you faster, increased against enemies that are facing away from you.
E: Some combination of the above.
To fit with this being a buff-based ability that affects allies, it could apply a reduced effect to everyone, or apply a boosted effect if Raven is alone.
Lastly we come to Raven’s ultimate, Revelation. Curse is a very powerful tool given it can so effectively lock down an enemy and force them to play defensively. I however think this ability is a bit overloaded. Dealing damage plus having a curse is already quite a bit, but the unavoidable slow makes it worse.
Here is what I propose instead. Have the damage be automatic, move the crowd control to the first ability, and retain the curse if the target looks at you too long. This way you can retain the canopic jar into his kit, but also make it less frustrating to deal with.
Alternatively, if you wish to incorporate a new kit entirely, I think Valve could look no further than another spy character. Specifically The Spy, from Team Fortress 2, who also does insane damage from behind. The ability of the Spy to disguise himself is a key component of his capabilities. Something similar to that exists in Neeko from League of Legends. It could quickly turn Raven into a walking prop hunt, which makes for fun play and mind games.
His character seems mostly complete. I think characters such as Haze, Mirage, and Paradox have the highest likelihood of interaction potential with him. Haze representing the American government would of course put her at odds with the Soviet government, especially with both being involved in secret service shenanigans. Paradox would of course be highly interested in the Tome of Anubis, especially since she claims to have the real one.
Mirage is even more interesting. Dialogue suggests a conflict between the two entities they represent and that they have clashed in the past, with Mirage coming out on top. I think it would be fun to see this rivalry explored further, perhaps with both appearing in their character’s respective visual novels whenever those are gotten around towards. This also explores the thematic in-universe political shenanigans between the Soviet Union and the Middle East.
Will he come back?: Overall, Raven is a character with high potential, but he needs work. Thematically he’s great, but mechanically he’s a mess. A strong overhaul will be necessary, probably more than any of the other characters. I think Raven has a decent enough chance to return, especially given the work put into his model and lore, but I also think that he will more than likely need extensive work on his kit more than the other four Hero Labs characters.
As they say in Russia, До свидания Raven
Next time, we'll take a look at Trapper, the only Hero Labs character to get a new model and still not get released.
Raven (AKA Operative)
Who is he?: Raven was the last hero added to Hero Labs in December 2024. Unlike Fathom and Wrecker, he was created for Deadlock and does not originate from Neon Prime. Raven was somewhat unusual in that his visual identity was more or less complete. He did not seem to have any hero as a base with which they built his model from, and had a good looking model. His abilities on the other hand were very incomplete. A third upgrade for his second ability was never added, and his third ability was never implemented at all, instead just being Wraith’s third ability. While the files do indicate there being some level of code for a third ability, it was never added during Raven’s lifespan on Hero Labs.
His strong visual identity and lore are primarily what have earned Raven his fans. He has a well developed character with clear motivations, and a connection to Russia that other characters don’t have. The sheer existence of the Soviet Empire is in itself very intriguing, but we’ll get to that more later.
Raven’s theme for his abilities seemed to be fighting dirty and getting behind the opponent. Unfortunately, it also made his kit pure poison. We’ll get to this later as well.
What’s his lore?: Raven, or the agent with the codename of Raven, is the spymaster of the Soviet Empire. We don’t know much about the Soviet Empire other than it’s led by the ghost of Catherine the Great (considered to be one of Russia’s greatest rulers and is the reason why it’s so damn big), and that both the Romanovs as well as Rasputin are still involved in it judging by Raven’s voice lines. If we had to guess, it is likely the halfway point between the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union with a bit of slavic occultism thrown in for good measure.
Catherine has tasked Raven with the goal of giving her a body so she may live once more. Raven has traveled the globe looking for artifacts, spells, and the like to help him with this task. To this end he has apparently acquired the Tome of Anubis, and a cursed canopic jar. His goal in participating in the ritual is to get Catherine a body. It is possible that the artifacts he carries will help him with the Patron’s wish.
Raven is intensely loyal to Catherine the Great. His dialogue also hints at animosity with Rasputin, as when he is selected he states that Rasputin “had best not meddle in my plans.” Rasputin was a priest who became infamous among the Russian populace for his social influence amongst the Romanovs, and later became well known for his eccentric behavior and the extreme nature of his assassination. The Romanovs are likewise described as not tolerating failure. They too did not survive the Russian Revolution. Soviet politics was often complicated, and very factionalized, so him being more loyal to an entity of the state rather than the state itself is thematically appropriate
It is hinted through Mirage’s voicelines that he has come into conflict with the Djinn before, as the two apparently have a negative history. When Mirage kills him, he says that there will be no reconciliation between the two factions, hinting at some sort of geopolitical conflict. Dialogue with Calico also shows that the two have interacted before. Both Mirage and Calico indicate that Raven has lost some form of encounter with them in the past. Calico in particular seems to like him. Perhaps they have worked together in the past as well?
The heroes who interact with him are worried of causing an international incident or making enemies with the Soviet Empire. Vyper even refers to him as “dangerous”, which is something she only ascribes to Seven. Holliday describes him as handsome, and the shopkeeper describes him as dapper.
Raven has a very confident and professional demeanor. He has a thick Russian accent and speaks in a quiet tone. It’s similar to Mirage honestly, so much so that I think the two share a voice actor. Much of his dialogue speaks about his loyalty to Catherine. He also seems to enjoy New York, aside from their ballet which he considers subpar. Raven sometimes refers to himself in the third person, i.e. The Raven. His real name is unknown.
In short, it would be appropriate to consider him a Soviet version of James Bond. Or even a James Bond villain. He looks as if he would be a great adversary for one of the British spy’s famous outings. Raven’s lore also creates a new entity in the world that helps to better add depth to the world of Deadlock.
What’s he look like?: Raven has a very dapper look to him, and his visuals are easily the most complete of the four Hero Labs characters. From his lore to his looks to even his character portrait, Raven is visually the most complete character we will be discussing. Even his animations seemed, for the most part, complete. His reload animation and gun animations did admittedly need work
He eschews a deliberately Russian twist on the James Bond style, taking in many of the classic spy movie tropes in his design. Raven has a thick face full of facial hair, a long beard and a well groomed curling mustache, with an eyepatch to boot. He also wears a white tuxedo with black lapels and bow tie, a likely deliberate reversal of the black with white style of James Bond that he commonly displays. His hands have very intricate tattoos on the back, which would glow golden during his heavy melee, and he has a very broad and tall form. The model is notably less detailed than the portrait, which is a common aspect for most Deadlock characters. In this case the colors are darker.
His gun is uniquely an umbrella, and was a single shot weapon with decent range and good damage. If I recall correctly, it was later adjusted to be a quicker firing weapon like a machine gun but with less damage. Umbrellas have infamously been used by Russia as a tool of espionage and assassination in the past and present, often to deliver poison from a distance. They are the originators of the umbrella gun in real life. It is therefore appropriate that Raven carries one, both culturally thematically and also to fit his identity of being a sneaky spymaster who conceals their weapon.
One final unusual aspect is his owning of the Tome of Anubis. Paradox claims to own the Tome, while Wraith in her dialogue with Paradox states she thought it was at the Met. Furthermore, the Newscaster mentions it reportedly being seen on the Black Market. Even Apollo has a line where he mentions its rarity. Regardless, he does not use the Tomb of Anubis in his kit, but does make mention to holding it. Whether it is real or fake is difficult to say.
What did he do?: Raven unfortunately had the least complete kit of the four Hero Labs characters, with one ability being copied entirely from Wraith’s kit. If he were to return, this third ability would be replaced with something else.
His first ability, Blindside, passively caused him to deal bonus melee and weapon damage when attacking from behind. When activated, he threw a grenade that dealt spirit damage and slowed enemies' turn rate. This slow was HUGE, and made facing him literal hell since your character turned like a truck backing up. It was a major part of why facing him was so unfun. This notably did not slow movement, only turn speed. Notably, the item Backstabber was later added in May, a few months before his removal. While not an exact copy of Raven’s passive, it was very similar in function.
His second ability, Umbrella Maneuver, launched him backwards in a hovering manner. Think of a jump pad but slower. Afterwards he would fire an explosive from his umbrella that dealt spirit damage. This ability was his primary mobility and made it difficult to catch him, especially if you were under the effects of his other abilities. It served as an excellent disengage. Blindside plus this made it very difficult to pursue Raven. As his prime damaging ability, it also served as good poke due to its high spirit scaling. This ability notably never had its third boon upgrade implemented.
His third ability, as discussed, was just Full Auto from Wraith’s kit. An actual third ability was never properly implemented. Unusually, he had voicelines for activating his third ability as well as a visual cue, with purple fire coming from the tip of his umbrella. Regardless, Raven never got a true third ability. If he did, it would likely be something similar, some form of buff.
Raven’s ultimate was Revelation. This caused him to activate his canopic jar, causing it to float above his head for a short while. Nearby enemies would have their movement and dashes slowed, and would take spirit damage while looking at you. If they looked at you for too long, they would get cursed as well. This ultimate ability was partially retained from Tokamak, another cancelled Hero, though that one applied a blind and increasing DPS when looked at.
Raven was designed to impede your movement in ways that made it difficult to adequately work around. By slowing your speed, dashes, and even turning, he could easily get behind you and deal extra damage while you were unable to properly retaliate. Furthermore, if in trouble, he could use his umbrella to dash away and blow you up, or even use it to poke from a distance.
I’m not factoring in Full Auto into this analysis of his kit as that was clearly meant to be a placeholder. Most likely he would’ve gotten some sort of similar buff to his attacks.
Why wasn’t he added?: The issue with Raven once again lay entirely within his kit design. Crowd control is a necessary part of any MOBA as it allows taking out the enemy to be more easily achieved. On the other hand, nobody likes being cc’d to death as it feels there isn’t as much you’re capable of doing. Typically crowd control heavy characters make up for this with being more limited in damage or long cooldowns, or having a way to dodge the crowd control (Dynamo, Abrams).
Raven however had three forms of crowd control, all of which were various slows. While a standard slow is unusual, a dash slow is bizarre but manageable. Affecting turn speed however feels miserable and impossible to play against. By greatly limiting how the enemy is capable of actually responding to you, it feels very frustrating to fight Raven.
Picture the following. Raven throws out his Blindside grenade. You can barely turn at all. He gets behind you and murders you. Or he’s running away. He throws his grenade out then jukes away with his second ability. Or it’s a teamfight. You’re unable to adequately respond because of said grenade. Then pair this with his ultimate which punishes you for being near him and curses you for even looking at him. Even if you do manage to get into a semi-optimal position against Raven, you do not have a way to actually counterplay him properly.
Raven’s entire kit was designed to limit the ability of the enemy to respond when Raven wants to get behind you. Much like Fathom before him, this felt unfair. While Raven was visually a very cool character, in a MOBA, visual and lore is sadly secondary to gameplay.
What could be changed?: Visuals and lorewise, Raven is essentially a complete character. The only thing I would suggest changing is the name of his weapon, Umbrella Gun. That’s more of a description than a title. Something more fitting like Nevermore, Soviet Surprise, Catherine’s Rebuttal, or even Зонт (pronounced zont, the Russian word for umbrella) would be more appropriate I feel.
When it comes to Raven’s kit, however, this is where it begins to fall apart. The simple fact of the matter is that Raven is not fun to deal with, nor is it healthy for this game. Significant alterations should be made to Raven, which I believe could go in two directions.
A: Scrap the kit entirely and start over
B: HEAVILY rework the kit to be less toxic while keeping the sneaky spy theme.
For the purposes of this discussion, let’s assume we’re going with B. I’m trying to make something which keeps his playstyle of getting behind the enemy. However, instead of focusing on removing the enemy’s ability to maneuver, I’m trying to focus more on increasing Raven’s ability to more effectively get behind his foe and attack them. This would make him a higher skill character to be sure, but I think that’s part of the fun of playing a spy-like figure. You want to feel as if you’re executing complex maneuvers.
Raven’s first ability is the most problematic. I think that the passive component should be retained, but the active’s effect should be changed. Slowing turn speed is not healthy, so that should go. What I instead propose is the following.
A: Change Blindside to being a short duration stun instead.
B: Have Blindside instead have the slowing effect from Revelation for both movement and dash speed, but reduced.
C: Remove the active entirely and boost the passive component to encourage players to get behind their foes more creatively. Perhaps also include more to the passive that makes Raven have a better turn speed, sort of like Vyper when she’s sliding.
Raven’s second ability is his least problematic in my opinion, being mobility plus damage, except going backwards as opposed to forwards (like with Calico, Shiv, etc). It also uses his umbrella for something else other than shooting, which makes it more fun. I’ve heard some people suggest in the past giving him a floating ability similar to Mina, but I don’t think this is appropriate given how burly he is. It would look off.
What could be done with Umbrella Maneuver is to perhaps give him more air mobility while he’s in flight to make him “trickier” per say. It would play into his sneaky archetype.
Since Raven never had a third ability added, he would obviously need something given to him. It would also have to fit somewhat with the placeholder they gave him, as that was probably a blueprint for what they wanted. If we dig into his lore a bit, I think we can more easily find an answer. This being the Tome of Anubis
For someone who apparently has possession of this lore important item, he doesn’t actually use it. I also like the idea of Raven being this Soviet spy who uses foreign artifacts to aid him on his quest. Therefore, I propose the following.
A: Have it apply lifesteal and damage buff.
B: Have it cause shots to apply a DoT and slightly reduce resistances.
C: Have it apply a mark which makes enemies visible through terrain, and which detonates to deal damage if they are struck in the back.
D: Have it apply a buff that makes you faster, increased against enemies that are facing away from you.
E: Some combination of the above.
To fit with this being a buff-based ability that affects allies, it could apply a reduced effect to everyone, or apply a boosted effect if Raven is alone.
Lastly we come to Raven’s ultimate, Revelation. Curse is a very powerful tool given it can so effectively lock down an enemy and force them to play defensively. I however think this ability is a bit overloaded. Dealing damage plus having a curse is already quite a bit, but the unavoidable slow makes it worse.
Here is what I propose instead. Have the damage be automatic, move the crowd control to the first ability, and retain the curse if the target looks at you too long. This way you can retain the canopic jar into his kit, but also make it less frustrating to deal with.
Alternatively, if you wish to incorporate a new kit entirely, I think Valve could look no further than another spy character. Specifically The Spy, from Team Fortress 2, who also does insane damage from behind. The ability of the Spy to disguise himself is a key component of his capabilities. Something similar to that exists in Neeko from League of Legends. It could quickly turn Raven into a walking prop hunt, which makes for fun play and mind games.
His character seems mostly complete. I think characters such as Haze, Mirage, and Paradox have the highest likelihood of interaction potential with him. Haze representing the American government would of course put her at odds with the Soviet government, especially with both being involved in secret service shenanigans. Paradox would of course be highly interested in the Tome of Anubis, especially since she claims to have the real one.
Mirage is even more interesting. Dialogue suggests a conflict between the two entities they represent and that they have clashed in the past, with Mirage coming out on top. I think it would be fun to see this rivalry explored further, perhaps with both appearing in their character’s respective visual novels whenever those are gotten around towards. This also explores the thematic in-universe political shenanigans between the Soviet Union and the Middle East.
Will he come back?: Overall, Raven is a character with high potential, but he needs work. Thematically he’s great, but mechanically he’s a mess. A strong overhaul will be necessary, probably more than any of the other characters. I think Raven has a decent enough chance to return, especially given the work put into his model and lore, but I also think that he will more than likely need extensive work on his kit more than the other four Hero Labs characters.
As they say in Russia, До свидания Raven
Next time, we'll take a look at Trapper, the only Hero Labs character to get a new model and still not get released.
