I don't have a name for this thing but conceptually its a disembodied shadow monster/homonculus whose lost most of its original shape looking for a new home. A smallish hunched over figure seemingly covered in hoods and rags with an inhumanly long head that coils in its hood and glowing eyes.
Their role involves facilitating a designated partner using their Mobility and CC however they require a large amount of coordination and spacial awareness to get the most out of their kit. They are a semi fragile character despite fighting at close to mid range with negative base resistances that are supplemented by their abilities.
Im not really thinking of any specific stats beyond a handful of numbers
2 Stamina
Character Fantasy a mischievous but well meaning ghost enables plays and annoys enemies. Ultimate hype man in a 2v1 jump king. tons of map presence and utility. Saves people through repositioning them at the potential cost of their own life.
Right Click: Charge up to ~13 ammo and launch a slower moving multi-hit shadow ball with reduced range and reduced damage per ammo. The speed, size, and amount of hits are dependent on charge time. This cannot deny. Hits every .15s. Each ammo does ~70% the damage it would do if fired normally. Takes 2.2s to full charge, while charging on the ground the shadow is slowed until fully stationary at 1 second. Can charge in the air with little movement penalty.
*Could possibly swap the stunning aspect of this ability and tier 5 upgrade.
A short range swapping teleport. After a short animation and sound cue the shadow will instantly swap places and momentum with the targeted ally. Can alt cast an ally to designate them as your partner causing any quick or double cast of the ability to swap them by default. When cast while crouching causes the shadow to swap with themselves this still absorbs a charge.
*Possible Upgrade the shadow deals a small amount of scaling spirit damage where they depart and arrive
*I believe the ending animation should be longer for the shadow making them somewhat vulnerable after a swap but the beginning should be close to instant not only to increase its ability to save but also to disorientate the ally being swapped as little as possible.
*Unsure if the horizontal camera orientation should be inherited
*Very disorientating for everyone involved either way
Mandatory passive. When far away from enemies become harder to see
Active: Meld into the ground appearing as a dark oil like shadow gaining surface movement(can move up walls and possible cling to ceilings). Gain movement speed and regen while melded. While melded you cannot attack or use items but can use your first ability. Any form of heavy cc, heavy melee, knock-up or any action that physically removes you from the surface will end the effect.
*The animation is similar in length to MoKrills when entering their tunnel
*When heavy melee-ing from the shadows the start up and flash happen on the shadow before the body emerges from the surface
*If used in the air the shadow will do a special animation that greatly slows their horizontal air speed
*You can meld into a wall if you collide with it, probably not ceilings.
*You can use Throw from a surface
A short range single target ability. The Shadow jumps into another person and will either posses or enhance them depending if they are an enemy or ally. By pressing the ult button again the shadow can jump off the target ending the effect. During this effect you are considered under the effect of Hide Myself. If you take above a certain threshold the effect ends.
When possessing an ally create a shadow copy of their primary weapon which has its own ammo and can be fired freely by the shadow. A portion of the damage the target takes is taken by the shadow instead and the shadow heals the target for a portion of their hp regen. If the target is stunned then the shadow will take it instead. If the target is heavy melee'd the shadow falls off stunned. If the shadow is unstoppable the stun or cc will instead go to the target. Bonuses from Hide Myself are also transferred to the target.
When possessing an enemy the shadow will fight them for movement, in a similar way to the jockey from left 4 dead. A portion of the damage that the shadow takes is transferred to the target and the shadow takes partial control over their primary weapon allowing them to potentially shoot the enemy team. The shadow also gets 1/3 of their stamina bars or one minimum to do what they want with it. If the shadow takes too much damage, is stunned, interrupted, or heavy meleed from either allies or enemies they fall off stunned. If the target is purged the shadow falls off but isnt stunned. The shadow can force the target to melee or parry.'
Some thoughts:
The swap archetype (ex. vengeful spirit) does exist somewhat due to paradox filling the aggressive side of it. But I think deadlock could use an ally swapper, Both would share the same fun of having to get yourself out of whatever crazy situation your ability got yourself into. But this characters kit already has multiple ways of doing that so the swap is short, more aggressive requiring clever plays and hopefully not relegating it to a worse rescue beam. Although most people would probably just swap their dumbass lane partner behind a wall when they inveitbaly get parried under tower. At the same time your given a near limitless bag of tricks to use on the enemy team.
Swap an ulting infernus or dynamo or an abrams who you told to start charging a punch. get behind an enemy and swap your ally behind them instead they expect something like this? fake them out with crouch version. Thouroghly boogieng their woogy you get the idea.
This characters a combination of alot of stuff but i primarily see them as a "Support brawler" with there low range gun in combination with their abilities essentially being similar to mokrill but instead of disabling the enemy you move your allies into advantagious positions.
I imagine ganks and to an extent teamfights involving alot of being in the thick of a fight in spite of your fragile body diving into surfaces to reposition yourself to get the most out of your orbs and stun then using your quick swaps( or faking a swap to throw the enemys off)
The weapon charge would allow weapon stacking mechanics to quickly ramp up in certain scenarios further complimenting their brawler like playstyle along with giving them a form of area denial. Combined with their 1-5 talent they could even have some kill potential using the sticky napalm like effect.
Throw Myself is effectively a smaller aim-able majestic leap that stuns for most of its animation. its decent ability made powerful through the ability to charge a shadow ball through the later part of its animation and the ability to swap with an ally mid flight to transfer your momentum to them. The reason it doesnt drag like other knockdowns is due to the combo of dragging them down and swapping being too easy and powerful. Although itd still be possible to do it somewhat using dashing or 3 to cancel your momentum.
The third skill starts as traversal tool later becoming a combat repositioning tool. It was made mandatory as the shadow ball is effectivly an ability and its similiar to vyper flavorwise as its simply a thing their body does.
The ult throws their gun in the trash for whatever their enemy or ally is using, I imagine most ult centered builds would then be sort of tank builds to maximize the amount of time you can stay on your target. For an enemy its basically a jockey ride that can use your ammo and later an ability from you and some of your stamina but you can use your own stamina to potentially fight it or use something like a stunning aoe or self purge. For an ally its similiar to yuumi from league or the groot rocket teamup from Marvel Rivals. Maybe you can head shot shadow to do more direct damage.
Their role involves facilitating a designated partner using their Mobility and CC however they require a large amount of coordination and spacial awareness to get the most out of their kit. They are a semi fragile character despite fighting at close to mid range with negative base resistances that are supplemented by their abilities.
Im not really thinking of any specific stats beyond a handful of numbers
2 Stamina
Character Fantasy a mischievous but well meaning ghost enables plays and annoys enemies. Ultimate hype man in a 2v1 jump king. tons of map presence and utility. Saves people through repositioning them at the potential cost of their own life.
Weapon: Aqueous Nigrodo- little below medium ammo capacity
Left Click: Throw two small arcing shadow balls, one quickly after the other. The shadow will pull these out of their body while standing and pull them out of the ground while crouched.Right Click: Charge up to ~13 ammo and launch a slower moving multi-hit shadow ball with reduced range and reduced damage per ammo. The speed, size, and amount of hits are dependent on charge time. This cannot deny. Hits every .15s. Each ammo does ~70% the damage it would do if fired normally. Takes 2.2s to full charge, while charging on the ground the shadow is slowed until fully stationary at 1 second. Can charge in the air with little movement penalty.
Ability 1: Throw Myself
Transforms into a shadowy blob losing the ability to fire their weapon and launch as an arcing projectile in the direction they are aiming. After a few moments of flight they reform carrying their momentum. Enemies hit by the initial form take spirit damaged are stunned and knocked down. They are not dragged with the shadow unlike other knockdown abilities.Cool-down Reduction | Gain a barrier on cast/Gain 1 temporary stamina on cast for 8 seconds | Characters are slowed and take bonus damage instances of damage when they take damage |
1 | 2 | 5 |
*Could possibly swap the stunning aspect of this ability and tier 5 upgrade.
Ability 2: Trade Myself
A short range swapping teleport. After a short animation and sound cue the shadow will instantly swap places and momentum with the targeted ally. Can alt cast an ally to designate them as your partner causing any quick or double cast of the ability to swap them by default. When cast while crouching causes the shadow to swap with themselves this still absorbs a charge.
Gain 1 charge | Gain significant cool down reduction between charges and another charge | Gain a substantial amount of range and yet another charge |
1 | 2 | 5 |
*Possible Upgrade the shadow deals a small amount of scaling spirit damage where they depart and arrive
*I believe the ending animation should be longer for the shadow making them somewhat vulnerable after a swap but the beginning should be close to instant not only to increase its ability to save but also to disorientate the ally being swapped as little as possible.
*Unsure if the horizontal camera orientation should be inherited
*Very disorientating for everyone involved either way
Ability 3: Hide Myself
Mandatory passive. When far away from enemies become harder to see
Active: Meld into the ground appearing as a dark oil like shadow gaining surface movement(can move up walls and possible cling to ceilings). Gain movement speed and regen while melded. While melded you cannot attack or use items but can use your first ability. Any form of heavy cc, heavy melee, knock-up or any action that physically removes you from the surface will end the effect.
Can melee while Hiding | Gain evasion from gun and slow resist from spirit triple while hiding | no cooldown infinite duration |
1 | 2 | 5 |
*The animation is similar in length to MoKrills when entering their tunnel
*When heavy melee-ing from the shadows the start up and flash happen on the shadow before the body emerges from the surface
*If used in the air the shadow will do a special animation that greatly slows their horizontal air speed
*You can meld into a wall if you collide with it, probably not ceilings.
*You can use Throw from a surface
Ability 4: Lose Myself
A short range single target ability. The Shadow jumps into another person and will either posses or enhance them depending if they are an enemy or ally. By pressing the ult button again the shadow can jump off the target ending the effect. During this effect you are considered under the effect of Hide Myself. If you take above a certain threshold the effect ends.
When possessing an ally create a shadow copy of their primary weapon which has its own ammo and can be fired freely by the shadow. A portion of the damage the target takes is taken by the shadow instead and the shadow heals the target for a portion of their hp regen. If the target is stunned then the shadow will take it instead. If the target is heavy melee'd the shadow falls off stunned. If the shadow is unstoppable the stun or cc will instead go to the target. Bonuses from Hide Myself are also transferred to the target.
When possessing an enemy the shadow will fight them for movement, in a similar way to the jockey from left 4 dead. A portion of the damage that the shadow takes is transferred to the target and the shadow takes partial control over their primary weapon allowing them to potentially shoot the enemy team. The shadow also gets 1/3 of their stamina bars or one minimum to do what they want with it. If the shadow takes too much damage, is stunned, interrupted, or heavy meleed from either allies or enemies they fall off stunned. If the target is purged the shadow falls off but isnt stunned. The shadow can force the target to melee or parry.'
Cool-down reduction | Bonus spirit and cooldown reduction/ Reduce spirit and increase cooldown | Can now force the use of the target's first ability. (Creates a unique copy if its an ally.) |
1 | 2 | 5 |
Some thoughts:
The swap archetype (ex. vengeful spirit) does exist somewhat due to paradox filling the aggressive side of it. But I think deadlock could use an ally swapper, Both would share the same fun of having to get yourself out of whatever crazy situation your ability got yourself into. But this characters kit already has multiple ways of doing that so the swap is short, more aggressive requiring clever plays and hopefully not relegating it to a worse rescue beam. Although most people would probably just swap their dumbass lane partner behind a wall when they inveitbaly get parried under tower. At the same time your given a near limitless bag of tricks to use on the enemy team.
Swap an ulting infernus or dynamo or an abrams who you told to start charging a punch. get behind an enemy and swap your ally behind them instead they expect something like this? fake them out with crouch version. Thouroghly boogieng their woogy you get the idea.
This characters a combination of alot of stuff but i primarily see them as a "Support brawler" with there low range gun in combination with their abilities essentially being similar to mokrill but instead of disabling the enemy you move your allies into advantagious positions.
I imagine ganks and to an extent teamfights involving alot of being in the thick of a fight in spite of your fragile body diving into surfaces to reposition yourself to get the most out of your orbs and stun then using your quick swaps( or faking a swap to throw the enemys off)
The weapon charge would allow weapon stacking mechanics to quickly ramp up in certain scenarios further complimenting their brawler like playstyle along with giving them a form of area denial. Combined with their 1-5 talent they could even have some kill potential using the sticky napalm like effect.
Throw Myself is effectively a smaller aim-able majestic leap that stuns for most of its animation. its decent ability made powerful through the ability to charge a shadow ball through the later part of its animation and the ability to swap with an ally mid flight to transfer your momentum to them. The reason it doesnt drag like other knockdowns is due to the combo of dragging them down and swapping being too easy and powerful. Although itd still be possible to do it somewhat using dashing or 3 to cancel your momentum.
The third skill starts as traversal tool later becoming a combat repositioning tool. It was made mandatory as the shadow ball is effectivly an ability and its similiar to vyper flavorwise as its simply a thing their body does.
The ult throws their gun in the trash for whatever their enemy or ally is using, I imagine most ult centered builds would then be sort of tank builds to maximize the amount of time you can stay on your target. For an enemy its basically a jockey ride that can use your ammo and later an ability from you and some of your stamina but you can use your own stamina to potentially fight it or use something like a stunning aoe or self purge. For an ally its similiar to yuumi from league or the groot rocket teamup from Marvel Rivals. Maybe you can head shot shadow to do more direct damage.
