Big Al - Sewer Crocodile

[Quote]

"Call me an Alligator one more time, buddy, and we're gonna have a problem."

Alphonse, or Al for short, is the (former) king of the seedy underbelly of the city. He doesn't see what the big deal is about those amateur "Mo" and "Krill" fellas—the Cursed Apple already had a perfectly good underground tunnel system built into the city itself before they stuck their noses into his business. Sure the sewers weren't as flexible as on-the-fly tunnels (and were much easier to flush out by the authorities as a result), but he woulda bounced back if not for that meddling mole! Now spurned as second rate, Al is eager to put his crime family back on top of the food chain. One wish from the Patron will be all it takes to flip the city on its head, and place him where he belongs: on top.


(Drawn by a good friend of mine that wanted to stay anonymous!!)
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Al is an aggressively Italian, mafia-inspired Crocodile that takes some visual design notes from Mo. Armed with a sawn-off shotgun, he wears a gold chain with a popped collar. He's got the accent, and the swagger, but he's also kinda washed up. Middle-aged, fat... would be balding, if crocodiles had hair. He has a natural feud with Mo and Krill, and has a similar heavily-animal aesthetic to match up against them. Kinda like Tony Soprano, but a crocodile—just suited up enough to impress at a glance, but with a natural sort of sleaze that makes his antics seem kinda goofy.

Due to his size (and therefore lack of speed), Al excels at doing what he does when he's up close and personal, like a grappler archetype in fighting games. His strength is difficult to tap into due to his lack of gap-closing tools (think Abrams movespeed without his shoulder charge or ultimate), but devastating should he be allowed to wreak havoc.



Skill 1 - Snap
Al winds up and snaps his jaws shut around an enemy, inflicting heavy damage and bleed. Due to the strength of his bite, Al is able to maintain his hold and drag the enemy around for a short time, albeit with reduced movespeed. The windup is similar to Drifter's Rend but has a much shorter range, forcing Al to somehow get directly on top of an enemy to 'grab' them. For the duration of the drag, Al must channel the ability and cannot take any other actions. He has a slower turn rate while biting. Upon being released, enemies will be crippled and suffer a heavy movement speed slow + short duration bleed damage. Grabbed enemies are fully actionable, and can shoot or punch Al while they are being moved. A heavy melee attack can instantly break the grab, but creates a LOT of mindgames...

Skill 2 - Whip
Al cracks his tail forward in a sweeping motion like a whip, strong enough to break bones. The attack briefly stuns enemies and knocks them back a short distance. This is considered a melee attack.

Skill 3 (Passive) - Tough Skin
Crocodile skin is naturally tough. Al's natural armor affords him a higher degree of protection than most, granting him innate bullet resistance. The base value is a modestly small percentage to make him beefy in lane, but with investment becomes a much stronger defense with flat damage block (like Tidehunter!) at max level (can be pierced with APR).

Ultimate - Rock Toss
Tapping into his immense strength, Al tears up a chunk of concrete and hurls it at an enemy. Functions almost identically to the Tank's rock throw from Left 4 Dead—has a slow windup and travel time, but deals immense damage if it lands. Upon hitting an enemy, the rock does not stop. It will deal damage and knock an enemy back (like a Walker's stomp), and continue past them to its destination. It can hit multiple enemies along its trajectory this way, and deals heavily reduced damage with a slow to enemies within a certain radius of its landing area. Due to its properties, it can be hurled over buildings for cool trickshots if aimed correctly. Also, there is a very small chance for Al to rip up a big manhole cover instead of a rock that makes a funny frying pan-tier sound effect on contact damage.



His 'combo' loop might look something like this: Once an enemy is caught between his jaws, Al is able to put them where he wants them with his tail to follow up with a rock. The lingering slow from Snap should last long enough to give him a clean shot if he aims well, and any survivors will have to scramble to escape his explosively strong close-range weapon. He excels in tight spaces (in buildings or underground) where his AoE is strongest, just like he would in the sewers that he calls home.

He'd have connections of note with Mo & Krill (as mentioned above), Wraith, and Vyper. While Wraith is the more glamorous 'above ground' type of mafia boss engaged in high rolling, Al is the opposite side of the coin that has to do the dirty work (in the sewers no less) that no one else wants to do. He's a lot rougher around the edges as a result, and relates to Vyper a lot. Them lizard types gotta stick together, ya'know? It helps that they have a similarly crass sense of humor and outlook on thheir lives.

Just as a side note I've had the idea for this guy in mind since like, 2024, but never felt confident enough to post about it until now. Hopefully it doesn't overlap with Silver too much now that her kit is out and featuring a bite/tail attack; I feel that there's a different enough playstyle to make it work.