Hero concept. Aftificer - The Invoker of Deadlock

[Дедлокер]

A hero whose skills equip artifacts. Weapons that temporarily change everything about his gun and have special effects.


Base stats : to be done.
Looks : to be done.
Gun: to be done.
Abilities:
The max cooldown decrease from ammo should be around 50%.


And finaly his ULT:

I spent A LOT of time making this and it is probably not ballanced. The heroes power level will heavily depend on Artifacts stats(weapon scaling, fire rate etc).

 

[Дедлокер]

Wrote any Sourcer instead of Sources Also Energize Artifacts will still go on if you switch your Artifact, but wont give bonus ammo to the new one.

 

[Дедлокер]

This was my first time making any kind of digital art

 

[Дедлокер]

Also i think the abilities should be cancelable and switch to main gun(and give decreased cooldown based on the ammo left) oh and spirit fire shotgun shoots 2x more bullets with alt fire(like shiv)

 

[Дедлокер]

A fun idea to make, would be to add 3 MORE weapons. Then make ult alt castable(can be alt casted even when not upgraded or on cd). Alt casting ult will switch the weapon pool to the other 3 XD. I really think Deadlock lacks in hard to play characters right now. Would apreciate if anyone wants to give ideas for other artifacts

 

[Rosgath]

I like the concept, though I would like to see it in play to see how it would balance out. The Axe's bonus Regen feels pretty high, and you state explicitly that the ammo of the weapons isn't increased by %ammo effects (which makes sense considering these are more abilities than actual guns).

I'm also not clear on how his Staff and the Axe are supposed to work together. Yes it gives him move speed and evasion, but why does it have knockback? That feels like it would work directly against a melee weapon like the axe or the Shotgun effect of his 1. Maybe the energized effect of the axe causes his shots with it to leap forward a bit?

Also, while his 1 having Knockback seems pretty cool, again I'm not seeing a lot of cohesion between his abilities. It's clear he's supposed to be an up close brawler type, but his weapons seem to have effects that work against that.

For example, Haze's Sleep dagger functionally stops an enemy who might be out of position, allowing haze to rush in and hit her ult on them. Her Fixation increases damage on enemies shot (which is what her ult does) and her stealth helps her get into a good place to hit the skillshot of her dagger or get into the middle of the enemy team to ult.

What is an ideal combo for his abilities? How are they supposed to work together? Right now, it feels like some nifty concepts all thrown onto 1 character. The individual ideas are great, but they need to work together in some way, or the hero won't be much fun to play

You also might want to consider making it so that gaining bonus charges affects ammo capacity instead, though. Alternatively, the ultimate could have charges (which indirectly also increases the ammo of your special weapons).

Looking at it as well, I can't think of any situation where you wouldn't max the Ult first. It has impact on all of your other abilities, so there's just no reason not to. Maybe the special enhanced effects should be either lower on the ability tree? Like the 2 point effect? Not sure. It would need to see play, but my gut says every build will go Ult max first.

And if I understand correctly, you're supposed to use his ultimate after you equip a weapon? Does that mean that his base gun would also have an ultimate effect? I think that would be a great way to make him have both solid Spirit and Gun paths.

 

[Дедлокер]

I like the concept, though I would like to see it in play to see how it would balance out. The Axe's bonus Regen feels pretty high, and you state explicitly that the ammo of the weapons isn't increased by %ammo effects (which makes sense considering these are more abilities than actual guns).

I'm also not clear on how his Staff and the Axe are supposed to work together. Yes it gives him move speed and evasion, but why does it have knockback? That feels like it would work directly against a melee weapon like the axe or the Shotgun effect of his 1. Maybe the energized effect of the axe causes his shots with it to leap forward a bit?

Also, while his 1 having Knockback seems pretty cool, again I'm not seeing a lot of cohesion between his abilities. It's clear he's supposed to be an up close brawler type, but his weapons seem to have effects that work against that.

For example, Haze's Sleep dagger functionally stops an enemy who might be out of position, allowing haze to rush in and hit her ult on them. Her Fixation increases damage on enemies shot (which is what her ult does) and her stealth helps her get into a good place to hit the skillshot of her dagger or get into the middle of the enemy team to ult.

What is an ideal combo for his abilities? How are they supposed to work together? Right now, it feels like some nifty concepts all thrown onto 1 character. The individual ideas are great, but they need to work together in some way, or the hero won't be much fun to play

You also might want to consider making it so that gaining bonus charges affects ammo capacity instead, though. Alternatively, the ultimate could have charges (which indirectly also increases the ammo of your special weapons).

Looking at it as well, I can't think of any situation where you wouldn't max the Ult first. It has impact on all of your other abilities, so there's just no reason not to. Maybe the special enhanced effects should be either lower on the ability tree? Like the 2 point effect? Not sure. It would need to see play, but my gut says every build will go Ult max first.

And if I understand correctly, you're supposed to use his ultimate after you equip a weapon? Does that mean that his base gun would also have an ultimate effect? I think that would be a great way to make him have both solid Spirit and Gun paths.

I imagine the staff more like an escape tool. For example, you rushed the enemy with the shot gun, killed him of with the axe(little forward jump seems like a good idea) and when you are being targered by the other enemies you use the staff to gain extra mobility and push enemies away(might be good with fleetfoot). And the staff could also be used as a long range poke tool on laning stage(you can curve it arround like wraith cards). His weapons also are as foowing 1) Mid range shotgun 2) Long Range staff 3) Melee range Axe. I can imagine building him through either the shotgun, or the axe. If the weapon pack switch thing is implemented, i also have 3 more weapon ideas: 1)Wings that give flight, but use ammo each seccond passively, shoot feathers that damage enemies or heal allies(5AP ugrade gives aura that pulses with healing, aura ignores vertical distance) alt fire will be a big dash, but consumes a lot of ammo 2)Rapier that shoots slashes which ignore part of the enemies resists and has alt cast that parries (deflects back at 5AP upgrade) projectiles(even items) during a small window(like 0.2s). 3)Void Minigun. Primary fire something like McGinis, alt fire shoots a slow moving black hole that sucks enemies to itself and deals damage.

 

[Дедлокер]

Making the skills weaker than normal ones individually, but giving him a lot of variety was the idea. I suppose i made him a better close range brawler than anything else. Also a bit of a redesigned ult:

It now adds special effects only to the curently held gun, if you change it, you losse the buff. I will see what i can come up with for his base gun later. Might need to increase time between charges, considering rapid recharge exists.

 

[Rosgath]

I imagine the staff more like an escape tool. For example, you rushed the enemy with the shot gun, killed him of with the axe(little forward jump seems like a good idea) and when you are being targeted by the other enemies you use the staff to gain extra mobility and push enemies away(might be good with fleetfoot).

His kit doesn't give him anything to help him close. Is he supposed to shot his shotgun backward to launch him forward?

And the staff could also be used as a long range poke tool on laning stage(you can curve it around like wraith cards).

Poke tools are nice, but nothing should be exclusively a poke tool. The knockback on multiple abilities doesn't feel like it works well with a character who wants to be close to his enemies to kill them.

His weapons also are as follows 1) Mid range shotgun 2) Long Range staff 3) Melee range Axe.

This is nice to make him something of an "all-rounder" but he lacks clear direction on what he should do. Again, the concept is cool but he needs a clear idea of what he's going to do to win. Mcginnis is incredibly effective at pushing objectives. Mirage can farm constantly while still having global map presence. Abrams is great at initiating fights and soaking initial damage. Paradox is great at picking out and taking down enemies caught out of position. They all have clear goals and routes to victory. What is the Artificers?

I can imagine building him through either the shotgun, or the axe. If the weapon pack switch thing is implemented, i also have 3 more weapon ideas: 1)Wings that give flight, but use ammo each second passively, shoot feathers that damage enemies or heal allies(5AP upgrade gives aura that pulses with healing, aura ignores vertical distance) alt fire will be a big dash, but consumes a lot of ammo 2)Rapier that shoots slashes which ignore part of the enemies resists and has alt cast that parries (deflects back at 5AP upgrade) projectiles(even items) during a small window(like 0.2s). 3)Void Minigun. Primary fire something like McGinnis, alt fire shoots a slow moving black hole that sucks enemies to itself and deals damage.

That's. . . a lot of different effects on 1 character. I would focus on getting 4 abilities that work together to have the Artificer accomplish a given goal in the match, then maybe work on other abilities.

 

[nathanieljbrill]

I like the design. In effect it's a very simple character since each ability is a form which satisfies people's desire for simple characters even though there is a lot of text to explain the efficiency. I do think the execution should be modified and could be simplified so I will be working on my suggestions.

 

[Дедлокер]

So, i remade the guns with your feedback and here is what i got:

Now his kit is: 1)spirit-bullet hybrid midrange shotgun focusing on DOT. 2)Long range, precise staff, focused on weapon damage 3)Melee ranged Axe, focused on survivability and executions.

 

[Дедлокер]

I think that if you make ult alt castable(giving him 3 new weapons). People will focus on 2 forms at most(since item slots are limited), which they think will suit them better. This will make the character jack of all trades, master of none. He can fill in whatever role your team needs.

 

[Rosgath]

So, i remade the guns with your feedback and here is what i got:
View attachment 35378View attachment 35379View attachment 35380View attachment 35381
Now his kit is: 1)spirit-bullet hybrid midrange shotgun focusing on DOT. 2)Long range, precise staff, focused on weapon damage 3)Melee ranged Axe, focused on survivability and executions.

Ok, this is definitely feeling a lot more cohesive. The first 2 are items you build into for Spirit builds, whereas the axe is going to be a melee bruiser/frontline build. I like that the Shotgun works well particularly with the melee items already in game (spirit Strike and Spirit Snatch) as they will help it scale well and work in melee/midrange.

One more thing I noticed: This character is going to always pick up echo shard due to the extensive cooldowns on his basic abilities. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but that is definitely going to be a thing. Extra Charge is gonna be a regular pick (which isn't that big of a deal, it's only 500 souls) but Echo shard is going to make it so that you can stay in the spot that you want to much longer.

 

[Дедлокер]

Ok, this is definitely feeling a lot more cohesive. The first 2 are items you build into for Spirit builds, whereas the axe is going to be a melee bruiser/frontline build. I like that the Shotgun works well particularly with the melee items already in game (spirit Strike and Spirit Snatch) as they will help it scale well and work in melee/midrange.

One more thing I noticed: This character is going to always pick up echo shard due to the extensive cooldowns on his basic abilities. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but that is definitely going to be a thing. Extra Charge is gonna be a regular pick (which isn't that big of a deal, it's only 500 souls) but Echo shard is going to make it so that you can stay in the spot that you want to much longer.

I intended for the staff to scale with your weapon damage, should have written that somewhere. And I don't think echo shard pick is a problem. If people prefer 1 weapon, let them stay in it.

 

[Rosgath]

I intended for the staff to scale with your weapon damage, should have written that somewhere. And I don't think echo shard pick is a problem. If people prefer 1 weapon, let them stay in it.

I think it can work for either build.

What are you thinking for his base gun? That will be pretty important for any weapon builds. Something like a mid range repeater like Warden and Kelvin, or more of a Heavy pistol like Geist or Mirage? I can't imaging having a base shotgun or full auto rifle would fit well given that 2 of those are abilities of his.

 

[Дедлокер]

I think it can work for either build.

What are you thinking for his base gun? That will be pretty important for any weapon builds. Something like a mid range repeater like Warden and Kelvin, or more of a Heavy pistol like Geist or Mirage? I can't imaging having a base shotgun or full auto rifle would fit well given that 2 of those are abilities of his.

I am thinking something like Lady geist pistol.

 

[Дедлокер]

I will draw other weapon ideas, the base pistol, and the hero concept art later. I draw very slowly, since i get lost in the hotkeys and menus.

 

[Дедлокер]

Another idea that I had is make it so when you use Energize Artifact on the base gun, you can then activate any ability off cooldown with the bonus effect(without the bonus ammo), but you only get half the full ammo.