Captain Wrecker, Ex-Military Mercenary Fueled by Forbidden Ixian Incantations

[photon]

Personal Note: Safe to say, the original concept of Wrecker was a mess. His kit was all over the place. But his lore is so good that I really would like to see some future iteration of him in the game. More specifically, the vile, disgusting creature-ish mercenary theme and leave the metal gnome theme in neon prime. Therefore I present: Captain Wrecker!

​

NEW LORE:
When the Maelstrom first hit New York, it didn’t just usher in a new age of mysticism to the world… it changed geopolitics. From CIA employed seers identifying threats decades before they rise to power to occult pacts made in smoky backrooms; countless wars and atrocities have been prevented that would otherwise have shaped history. But that doesn’t mean there is no war… just that war has changed.

Paranormal Military Companies have risen to prominence. These groups, using a combination of extra-planar creatures and various blood magics, have found ways to circumvent the guardrails established by the nation’s watchdog oracles, allowing them to function as proxies for nations seeking to wage war.

Captain Martin "Wrecker" Recker is one such soldier.

Employed by Eldritch Tactical Solutions (a subsidiary of Fairfax Industries), Captain Martin Recker, once a decorated U.S. Black Ops operator, earned his reputation running suicide missions no sane man would take. To match the odds, Wrecker secretly turned to forbidden Ixian incantations and blood rites meant to keep his unit alive. Over time, he dabbled in more dangerous spells with every mission. Each death brought him back, but never whole. His flesh warped, his mind fractured, and piece by piece, the man that was Martin Recker began to disappear.

Medically discharged and buried under classified reports, Wrecker vanished from official record. Now, as a mercenary for hire, he sells his talents to the highest bidder while secretly seeking someone who could fix him.

Weapon: Automatic M16 Carbine (e.g., something Special Forces would use)

Ability 1: (ACTIVE) Volatile Arm

Wrecker charges his disfigured arm with volatile blood magic for 5 seconds.
At any point, Wrecker can rip out his arm and hurls it at his crosshair.
The arm detonates on impact with the first enemy, stunning and damaging him.
After 5 seconds, the arm reaches peak instability, delivering maximum damage and stun duration.
If held for more than 5.5 seconds, the arm erupts prematurely, detonating on Wrecker, dealing the full damage and stun to himself.

(After Wrecker throws it, he grows a new one instantly)

Ability 2: (TOGGLE) Blood Dividend

Wrecker empowers his bullets, dealing a small self damage with each bullet fired.

In addition, Every 100 + 50 * (enemy boon count) damage dealt to a target with these bullets causes a piece of Flesh to fly off the target and land nearby them. Wrecker can collect Flesh to heal for a percentage of the damage dealt, while enemies can destroy them by stepping on them.

Ability 3: (PASSIVE) Sanguine Engine
Wrecker's injuries feed his power, giving increased fire rate, spirit resistance and health regen based on missing health.

Ultimate: (ACTIVE) Forbidden Incantation

Wrecker casts a forbidden incantation on himself, marking his current location and draining his % max health over time until his death. Upon death, he detonates in a powerful explosion, dealing spirit damage. Wrecker can manually trigger the explosion early. After dying, Wrecker resurrects at the marked location with the amount of HP he activated the ability with.


Thanks for reading! Feedback is much welcome!

 

[spaceman_xx]

its a good idea but i should note this doesnt fit with deadlock's time period, the gun should be an M1 carbine or an M3 grease gun and black ops wasn't established until vietnam.
if you want inspiration for a mercenary i recommend leaning into the soldiers of fortune seen in the rif war (escadrille américaine) or russian civil war (cossack units were hired by various chinese warlords in the years immediately after 1921). there is a german who's name i forget who began freelance mercenary work shortly after the war but i dont think valve wants to touch nazis with a ten foot pole

 

[photon]

its a good idea but i should note this doesnt fit with deadlock's time period, the gun should be an M1 carbine or an M3 grease gun and black ops wasn't established until vietnam.
if you want inspiration for a mercenary i recommend leaning into the soldiers of fortune seen in the rif war (escadrille américaine) or russian civil war (cossack units were hired by various chinese warlords in the years immediately after 1921). there is a german who's name i forget who began freelance mercenary work shortly after the war but i dont think valve wants to touch nazis with a ten foot pole

Appreciate it! I am aware M16 is totally out of the time period (that's why I remarked about a special ops weapon) and in general I thought I would get some leeway with that since Deadlock is more fantasy themed and less about being historically accurate. Maybe weapon development has advanced far enough to reach automatic carbines such as M16 via the introduction of soul-based technology? I think we would run out of weapon designs for new heroes pretty quickly if we were to assume Deadlock is historically accurate

 

[Hubabuba 🤡]

I think if his name was something like “William Recker,” it would suit him better, because if you shorten his name, you get W. Recker—which is why he has the nickname Wrecker

 

[photon]

I think if his name was something like “William Recker,” it would suit him better, because if you shorten his name, you get W. Recker—which is why he has the nickname Wrecker

Ohhh that's actually a sick idea!!
Maybe not William since Billy's full name is William but maybe Wade (that would be a deadpool reference) or even Walter

 

[Hubabuba 🤡]

Ohhh that's actually a sick idea!!
Maybe not William since Billy's full name is William but maybe Wade (that would be a deadpool reference) or even Walter

Yeah, William was just the first name that came to mind (definitely not because of fnaf)

 

[spaceman_xx]

Appreciate it! I am aware M16 is totally out of the time period (that's why I remarked about a special ops weapon) and in general I thought I would get some leeway with that since Deadlock is more fantasy themed and less about being historically accurate. Maybe weapon development has advanced far enough to reach automatic carbines such as M16 via the introduction of soul-based technology? I think we would run out of weapon designs for new heroes pretty quickly if we were to assume Deadlock is historically accurate

good point, i still think we shouldnt lean into automatic carbines since that gets the concept a bit too close to haze (soldier with high-quality automatic weapons), so i suggest basing his rifle on the Howell Automatic Rifle[1]. its an interesting little kitbash from the great war and i think with some magic doohickeys stuck to it (thinking of the weird bulbs on seven's gun, but a bit sleeker) it could fit in pretty well with deadlock's weapons. maybe it'd shoot beams of spirit damage instead of bullets

gameplay-wise it might be interesting to give it a ramp-down mechanic (think the opposite of mcginnis' gun, slowing down in fire rate instead of speeding up), aiming for more of a hit-and-run style like a proper commando (i cannot remember the name of the weapon but i do remember a ramp-down mechanic was actually experimented with by the european union, having a very rapid 3rd burst followed by slower sustained fire to give you the advantages of both. dont think it went anywhere)

if you want to stick with smaller automatic rifles, i recommend giving him a metal-stock SKS[2]. you lose a little bit of the sleekness the Howell has but it fits the role more, not sure where the doohickeys would go but a bauble right in that nook in the stock seems fitting

design-wise, i'd like to point you toward the uniforms of the US infantry in the vietnam era[3] (lots of gear, heavy armour, based on the 'walking firepower' doctrine), maybe with a flash suit (used by the navies of the world to protect sailors from the heat of their guns)[4,5] as an undersuit. given that wrecker is also dealing in magic, i think it'd be interesting to put a radio operator's kit on him (maybe have his magic abilities be more 'artificial' in nature, like his projectiles would make the sidewinder growl)

 

[spaceman_xx]

unfortunately the edit window passed before i thought to add this but as a final note on gameplay, i think it'd be interesting if his spells had a more permanent effect on him. for instance; his ult incurs a permanent max health debuff, each arm from his 2 grows back weaker than the last (incurring permanent reload and ROF debuffs), his 3 slowly saps his base stats, and he has little to no out-of-combat regen. the only way to alleviate these debuffs is to get kills, forcing wrecker to use his abilities carefully and commit absolutely when he uses them. he can give himself immediate buffs to win fights but he has to juggle these buffs with his slow decay over the course of a match. a wrecker player should have to be tactical and use their abilities efficiently, as like any veteran he has arthritis and a bad back

 

[photon]

good point, i still think we shouldnt lean into automatic carbines since that gets the concept a bit too close to haze (soldier with high-quality automatic weapons), so i suggest basing his rifle on the Howell Automatic Rifle[1]. its an interesting little kitbash from the great war and i think with some magic doohickeys stuck to it (thinking of the weird bulbs on seven's gun, but a bit sleeker) it could fit in pretty well with deadlock's weapons. maybe it'd shoot beams of spirit damage instead of bullets

gameplay-wise it might be interesting to give it a ramp-down mechanic (think the opposite of mcginnis' gun, slowing down in fire rate instead of speeding up), aiming for more of a hit-and-run style like a proper commando (i cannot remember the name of the weapon but i do remember a ramp-down mechanic was actually experimented with by the european union, having a very rapid 3rd burst followed by slower sustained fire to give you the advantages of both. dont think it went anywhere)

if you want to stick with smaller automatic rifles, i recommend giving him a metal-stock SKS[2]. you lose a little bit of the sleekness the Howell has but it fits the role more, not sure where the doohickeys would go but a bauble right in that nook in the stock seems fitting

design-wise, i'd like to point you toward the uniforms of the US infantry in the vietnam era[3] (lots of gear, heavy armour, based on the 'walking firepower' doctrine), maybe with a flash suit (used by the navies of the world to protect sailors from the heat of their guns)[4,5] as an undersuit. given that wrecker is also dealing in magic, i think it'd be interesting to put a radio operator's kit on him (maybe have his magic abilities be more 'artificial' in nature, like his projectiles would make the sidewinder growl)

ramp down mechanic sounds super interesting and could work but I feel like it could kinda halt the "suicidal mission" gameplay im going for, SKS sound good if you don't wanna head too far into the future as well
as for the visual, I'd imagine him being a disgusting and disfigured creature, that way the interactions and his current voice lines remain consistent but at the same time, whilst his body is disfigured, he should have professional military fatigues and proper gun posture to indicate that he is indeed a trained killer - the absolute best at what he does.

An anomalous radio or any anomalous/eldritch equipment sounds super in-theme with new deadlock art we received in the last patch and fits perfectly

Also for your last comment about the permanent effects, I feel like with drifter and mina we've gotten too many of these gimmicks lately.

Overall great ideas!! Appreciate it a lot