(Skip past the 2nd paragraph if you just want to see the abilities.)
I've heard that a Commander hero / role was potentially in the works, something like Natural Selection 2's commander, which oversees the game using the vision of teammates across the map and can support teammates while having a strategic vantage point by being able to look at everything at once. I think this would be very cool in Deadlock.
Something between Abathur in Heroes of the Storm and Natural Selection 2's commander would be interesting. Abathur in HotS is a hero that can place mines at an extremely large range, symbiote onto allies at global range to provide support firepower/defenses, heal towers, teleport globally within vision etc. One thing my friends and I have noticed is that it's much harder to strategize and know what your teammates are doing in Deadlock compared to Dota 2 due to the third person environment and limited minimap. Having a commander to oversee coordination and support in certain ways (e.g. airdropping extended ammo packs, health packs, placing snares that alert allies of enemy positions when crossed or even security cameras, drone striking the map etc.) would be really cool! Here's my take on what this could look like (I'm sure the numbers could use tweaking):
Hero Name: Commander
General Attributes: Carries a shotgun which pushes the commander back slightly upon firing. Has very low health (starting health 350).
Passive: Commander travels in a wheelchair and cannot jump (meaning they can't use ziplines) or dash (but can build movespeed items with 60% effectiveness). Can operate a terminal located in the base which vastly changes the UI from third-person-shooter to top-down-RTS. Commander shares vision with allies (but cannot see inside buildings from a top-down perspective) and can ping locations on the map. All abilities (excluding items) have global range when using the terminal and a cast range of 5 meters when not using the terminal via the Commander's handheld radio. Abilities cannot be deployed via radio when under a roof (except for Trusty Wrench).
Ability 1: Air Reconaissance
Deploys a balloon with a camera at a *very* high altitude that provides vision over an area. The balloon can be shot down in 1 hit, but is hard to see due to its altitude. Provides 100 souls when shot down. Vision radius: 25 meters (+0.1/spirit). Cooldown: 60 seconds. Duration: 60 seconds.
T1: Increase vision radius by 25 meters.
T2: Reduce cooldown by 30 seconds.
T3: X-Ray Vision: Can scan entities inside buildings.
Ability 2: Supply Pack
Drops a supply pack that can include either improved magazines with left click or health packs with right click. Supply packs can be picked up by opponents. Improved magazines provide 2x (+0.02x/spirit) the capacity. Health packs heal 10% HP (+0.1%/spirit). Cooldown: 30 seconds.
T1: Magazines provide 1.5x fire rate and health packs provide 20% HP.
T2: Cooldown reduced by 10 seconds.
T3: Drops 2 magazines or health packs.
Ability 3: Experimental Zipline
Creates an experimental zipline on the map that only allies can use by first clicking the start and then the endpoint. Commander must travel between the start and endpoint to deploy when using the handheld radio. Maximum distance: 25 meters (+0.1 meters/spirit). Cooldown: 60 seconds. Infinite duration, but only 1 experimental zipline may be deployed at a time.
T1: Maximum distance increased by 25 meters.
T2: Cooldown reduced by 30 seconds.
T3: Allies always receive speed boost on the experimental zipline.
Note: Since the Commander can't use ziplines, they also can't use the experimental zipline.
Ability 4 (Terminal): Air Strike
Air strike can ONLY be accessed from the terminal. Nukes a location after a short delay. The nuke can be aimed during descent (the mobility is similar to what a Helldivers 2 reinforcement falling from the sky has). The nuke is very loud (even during descent) and can be heard by all players within roughly half the map. Damage: 500 (+2/spirit). Radius: 25 meters. Travel Time: 10 seconds. Cooldown: 120 seconds. Maneuverability: 1 meter / second.
T1: Cooldown reduced by 40 seconds.
T2: Nuke slows all hit enemies by 50% for 3 seconds.
T3: Maneuverability increased by 1 meter / second.
Ability 4 (Non-Terminal): Trusty Wrench
This ability is NOT available from the terminal and requires the Commander to be present with their trusty wrench. Commander can channel the trusty wrench on a building (Guardian / Walker / Shrine / Patron) to repair damage dealt. Buildings cannot attack while being repaired. This is a channeled ability with no cooldown. Repair Rate: 1 HP / second.
T1: Repair rate increases by 1 HP / second.
T2: Buildings can attack while being repaired.
T3: Commander and the building being repaired receive 50% less damage during repair.
The idea is to incentivise the Commander who is otherwise quite safe (and useful) inside their base to leave the base and risk their fragile life to contribute more for the team. Another way to do this would be to make abilities unusable from the terminal until you get the T3 upgrade (e.g. "T3: Can be deployed globally from the terminal.").
Share your thoughts!
I've heard that a Commander hero / role was potentially in the works, something like Natural Selection 2's commander, which oversees the game using the vision of teammates across the map and can support teammates while having a strategic vantage point by being able to look at everything at once. I think this would be very cool in Deadlock.
Something between Abathur in Heroes of the Storm and Natural Selection 2's commander would be interesting. Abathur in HotS is a hero that can place mines at an extremely large range, symbiote onto allies at global range to provide support firepower/defenses, heal towers, teleport globally within vision etc. One thing my friends and I have noticed is that it's much harder to strategize and know what your teammates are doing in Deadlock compared to Dota 2 due to the third person environment and limited minimap. Having a commander to oversee coordination and support in certain ways (e.g. airdropping extended ammo packs, health packs, placing snares that alert allies of enemy positions when crossed or even security cameras, drone striking the map etc.) would be really cool! Here's my take on what this could look like (I'm sure the numbers could use tweaking):
Hero Name: Commander
General Attributes: Carries a shotgun which pushes the commander back slightly upon firing. Has very low health (starting health 350).
Passive: Commander travels in a wheelchair and cannot jump (meaning they can't use ziplines) or dash (but can build movespeed items with 60% effectiveness). Can operate a terminal located in the base which vastly changes the UI from third-person-shooter to top-down-RTS. Commander shares vision with allies (but cannot see inside buildings from a top-down perspective) and can ping locations on the map. All abilities (excluding items) have global range when using the terminal and a cast range of 5 meters when not using the terminal via the Commander's handheld radio. Abilities cannot be deployed via radio when under a roof (except for Trusty Wrench).
Ability 1: Air Reconaissance
Deploys a balloon with a camera at a *very* high altitude that provides vision over an area. The balloon can be shot down in 1 hit, but is hard to see due to its altitude. Provides 100 souls when shot down. Vision radius: 25 meters (+0.1/spirit). Cooldown: 60 seconds. Duration: 60 seconds.
T1: Increase vision radius by 25 meters.
T2: Reduce cooldown by 30 seconds.
T3: X-Ray Vision: Can scan entities inside buildings.
Ability 2: Supply Pack
Drops a supply pack that can include either improved magazines with left click or health packs with right click. Supply packs can be picked up by opponents. Improved magazines provide 2x (+0.02x/spirit) the capacity. Health packs heal 10% HP (+0.1%/spirit). Cooldown: 30 seconds.
T1: Magazines provide 1.5x fire rate and health packs provide 20% HP.
T2: Cooldown reduced by 10 seconds.
T3: Drops 2 magazines or health packs.
Ability 3: Experimental Zipline
Creates an experimental zipline on the map that only allies can use by first clicking the start and then the endpoint. Commander must travel between the start and endpoint to deploy when using the handheld radio. Maximum distance: 25 meters (+0.1 meters/spirit). Cooldown: 60 seconds. Infinite duration, but only 1 experimental zipline may be deployed at a time.
T1: Maximum distance increased by 25 meters.
T2: Cooldown reduced by 30 seconds.
T3: Allies always receive speed boost on the experimental zipline.
Note: Since the Commander can't use ziplines, they also can't use the experimental zipline.
Ability 4 (Terminal): Air Strike
Air strike can ONLY be accessed from the terminal. Nukes a location after a short delay. The nuke can be aimed during descent (the mobility is similar to what a Helldivers 2 reinforcement falling from the sky has). The nuke is very loud (even during descent) and can be heard by all players within roughly half the map. Damage: 500 (+2/spirit). Radius: 25 meters. Travel Time: 10 seconds. Cooldown: 120 seconds. Maneuverability: 1 meter / second.
T1: Cooldown reduced by 40 seconds.
T2: Nuke slows all hit enemies by 50% for 3 seconds.
T3: Maneuverability increased by 1 meter / second.
Ability 4 (Non-Terminal): Trusty Wrench
This ability is NOT available from the terminal and requires the Commander to be present with their trusty wrench. Commander can channel the trusty wrench on a building (Guardian / Walker / Shrine / Patron) to repair damage dealt. Buildings cannot attack while being repaired. This is a channeled ability with no cooldown. Repair Rate: 1 HP / second.
T1: Repair rate increases by 1 HP / second.
T2: Buildings can attack while being repaired.
T3: Commander and the building being repaired receive 50% less damage during repair.
The idea is to incentivise the Commander who is otherwise quite safe (and useful) inside their base to leave the base and risk their fragile life to contribute more for the team. Another way to do this would be to make abilities unusable from the terminal until you get the T3 upgrade (e.g. "T3: Can be deployed globally from the terminal.").
Share your thoughts!
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