Hero Concept: Cyclone, The Atmospheric Sage

[okhasovtimur]

Hello, fellow Deadlock players!​

While our current roster is filled with aggressive brawlers and relentless assassins, we're lacking true masters of control who can dictate the terms of a fight. I propose a new Support/Controller hero designed not to secure kills, but to deny engagement and protect his team: Cyclone, The Atmospheric Sage.

His entire kit is built around one core philosophy: Area Denial. He doesn't just disengage; he shapes the entire battlefield, creating safe zones for his allies and no-go zones for his enemies.

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Kit Breakdown: Mastering the Winds​

Passive: Tailwind

Allies moving toward Cyclone gain a slight bonus to movement speed. Enemies moving directly against the direction of his active wind abilities (Wind Wall, Typhoon) are slightly slowed.

Ability 1 (Q): Ventral Gust (1 charge)

Cyclone projects a concentrated line of wind in a target direction. Enemies hit take minor damage and are pushed a fixed distance directly away from Cyclone. This is his primary tool for instantly creating space between a diving enemy and a vulnerable ally.

Ability 2 (W): Wind Wall

Cyclone summons a large, translucent wall of churning wind that persists for several seconds. The wall is one-way:

• Allies moving in the wall's direction are accelerated.
• Enemies attempting to move against the wall's current are slowed significantly.
• Projectiles from outside the area (for enemies and allies) are destroyed upon entering the wall.
  Perfect for cutting off choke points, facilitating escapes, or enabling aggressive pushes.

Ability 3 (E): Diffraction Shield

Cyclone envelops a targeted ally in a shimmering, spherical shield for a short duration.

• The ally gains a temporary bullet shield and a small chance of damage reflection.
• Active Defense: While active, a percentage of incoming ranged projectiles that hit the shield have their trajectory randomly deflected, potentially causing them to miss entirely. Point-blank/direct shots have probability to be reflected back.
  The ultimate "get out of jail free" card for a caught-out teammate.

Ultimate (R): Typhoon (Channeled Ability)

Cyclone roots himself and channels his full power, summoning a massive, growing typhoon around himself for several seconds. The storm pulses every second.

• Each pulse deals light damage and knocks back all enemies within its area of effect.
• Successive pulses also apply a stacking slow.
  This ability is the ultimate zone control and disengage tool. It can completely disrupt enemy formations, scatter pushes, and secure objectives by making melee heroes utterly useless.

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Strategic Role & Synergy​

• Playstyle: A reactive, position-based controller. Cyclone excels at punishing enemy teams that over-commit or cluster together.
• Counters: He is a direct counter to melee-heavy compositions and dive heroes who rely on getting in close (e.g., Haze, Abrams). He struggles against long-range, poke-heavy compositions that can operate outside his effective range.
• Synergies: He is a dream partner for immobile, high-damage carries (e.g., Seven, Grey Talon, Vindicta), providing them with the peel and space they need to unleash their full damage.

Conclusion & Discussion​

Cyclone would fill a crucial niche in Deadlock as the premier anti-engage specialist. He wouldn't top the damage charts, but his presence would completely change how the enemy team is allowed to approach a fight.

What do you think?

• Would a hero like this be healthy for the meta?
• Which existing hero would he synergize with best?
• How would you play against a skilled Cyclone?

Thank you for reading! I'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions below.

 

[okhasovtimur]

I just saw that similar hero is already in development named Rutger Gun. Nevertheless, I hope it to be useful for devs to expand his kit.

 

[AleksiyFlek$$iy]

I really like this hero. You're absolutely right, there should be a hero like this in the game.

He doesn't look like a good choice for any non-support player. Is area control his only potential specialty or his abilities/stats/upgrades can change gameplay to some extent?
Also his first ability is similar to Doorman's 3. Maybe it could let you interact with allies too? Like pushing away to the safe place or pulling from a dangerous battle. These "Wind Abilities" have a huge potential to be used in many different ways.

 

[okhasovtimur]

I really like this hero. You're absolutely right, there should be a hero like this in the game.

He doesn't look like a good choice for any non-support player. Is area control his only potential specialty or his abilities/stats/upgrades can change gameplay to some extent?
Also his first ability is similar to Doorman's 3. Maybe it could let you interact with allies too? Like pushing away to the safe place or pulling from a dangerous battle. These "Wind Abilities" have a huge potential to be used in many different ways.

Thanks for the feedback! You've really hit on some key points.

You're absolutely right, his core design is as a Support/Controller, and he would appeal most to players who enjoy that strategic, area-denial playstyle. However, I agree that a hero should have some flexibility. His potential for alternative builds could come from a few places:

1. Ability Upgrades: His talent tree or itemization could allow for more aggressive play. For example, upgrades that add a damage-over-time effect to his knockbacks, increase the damage of Typhoon based on the number of enemies hit, or grant him bonus weapon damage for each enemy recently affected by his winds.
2. Weapon Synergy: If his weapon had strong scaling or a unique effect (e.g., "attacks slow enemies" or "deal bonus damage to slowed targets"), building him as a Weapon Damage Dealer could become a viable, albeit niche, strategy. He could use his own control tools to set up kills for himself.

Regarding Ventral Gust and Doorman's ability: that's a great comparison. My intention was to create a different feeling:

• Doorman's cart is a precise, long distance skill shot that pushes one target a long way.
• Cyclone's Ventral Gust would be a wider, shorter-range cone used for instant, reactive peeling right in the middle of a fight. It's less about sniping and more about creating immediate space in a bigger AoE and faster time.

On the idea of affecting allies: This is a brilliant suggestion that plays perfectly into the "wind" theme, but I wonder about the risk of toxicity and trolling . However, I very much support this idea, imagine pulling off some insane saves on your teammates from enemies abilities, that would be cool to see!

 

[okhasovtimur]

Here are some image arts from AI

 

[okhasovtimur]

Also, for more context, the similar heroes from other MOBA games would be Falstad and Brightwing from Heroes of the Storm.