arcsymus
Active member
Reaper
Reaper Artwork: Reaper is a manic character that wears many emotions, which are represented by whether his smile/frown is facing up or down, and where his eyes and mouth are placed on his head at any given point. While running around in battle, he takes on the visage of a hulking monstrosity,...
Hey, what's up, it's Arcsymus, formerly known as Vodoun, 3rd place winner of Icefrog's Model to Hero contest and creator of Illusory Orb and Waning Rift, a.k.a. Puck, the Faerie Dragon. I recently posted my best hero concept yet, and it received zero responses, despite that I enacted a genius plan to drum up engagement and invoke controversy by including xenogender pronouns in the title. That's three less responses than my most popular concept, Chariot, and now I'm realizing why: you guys really liked Chariot's very large package. So, rather than presenting you with a soy boy lich kidnapper, or a powerful female leader, I'm giving you all what you really want: meaty forearms and thick calves. This is Reaper, the candelized priest.
Reaper
Artwork: Reaper is a manic character that wears many emotions, which are represented by whether his smile/frown is facing up or down, and where his eyes and mouth are placed on his head at any given point. While running around in battle, he takes on the visage of a hulking monstrosity, shoulder blades pushed up, his hands furled into claws, his mouth wide open. Reaper's melee attacks produce a massive spectral axe.
Story: Reaper, or Nicolae Anatoliev, was once an Orthodox Catholic priest, distraught by the magical apocalypse which he saw as an offense to God. Caught up in a pogrom, Nicolae died, and was offered a chance to return to life in another form by undergoing a process known as candelization. Thinking that he would come back to avenge his God, deliver his kingdom and root magic out wherever it was to destroy it, he accepted this heresy upon his soul. However, candelization changed Nicolae in ways that he could not have predicted, and his memories as a priest quickly faded as he came to revel in the hedonism of his new, evil ways.
Pitch: Tenacious melee powerhouse. Reaper puts the pressure on with all-in scenarios where he is able to sacrifice his own health to silence and damage his enemies, while holding on to a devastating melee wild card.
Kit
Gun: Reaper fires a rapid, short range burst of blood spray from the open wound in his abdomen at the cost of his health. Short clip, rapid reload. Very high damage, rapid damage fall-off.
1. Reckoning: Reaper sacrifices 10% of his max HP to deal a burst of high damage in a medium area around him, silencing enemies hit for 2.5 seconds. Reckoning has a 2x Spirit ratio.
[Rank 1] Reduce the health cost by 2.5%.
[Rank 2] Silence lasts for 0.5s longer.
[Rank 3] Increase base damage of Reckoning.
2. Beleaguer: Reaper begins forward momentum in his facing direction for 15 seconds. Momentum pauses while holding the back arrow. Reaper is still able to jump, dash and slide while in this state. Can be canceled by reactivating.
[Rank 1] Increase momentum speed.
[Rank 2] Reduce the duration of disables and movement impairing effects by 35% while active.
[Rank 3] Beleaguer no longer has a cooldown and becomes toggleable.
3. Perdition (Passive): Reaper gains increased Health Regeneration, and Damage Amplification the lower his current health becomes. Gain up to 6.5% of your Health in Regen every Second, and up to 30% Damage Amplification while at 20% health or lower (bonuses are 0% while at 100% health).
[Rank 1] Gain maximum bonuses at 35% health or lower.
[Rank 2] Increase maximum Damage Amp to 45%.
[Rank 3] Gain an active component. Immobilize Reaper to channel rapid healing (6.5% HP/s). After channeling, gain maximum Damage Amplification (45%) for a number of seconds equal to channeling time (up to 15 seconds).
4. Bring to Ruin: Reaper winds up a heavy melee attack that can not be blocked that deals 500% Melee Attack damage. Reaper can cancel most actions into Bring to Ruin (such as a heavy melee).
[Rank 1] Reduce cooldown.
[Rank 2] Deal bonus damage equal to 25% of each target’s missing HP.
[Rank 3] Heal 25% max HP when scoring a kill and retain maximum bonuses from Perdition for 5 seconds.
"Heh, look. I'm playing with my thing."
Design Notes: Check it out--it's a candle character, and they're not a robot. I created this lore mechanism called candelization which I think has potential. He's got an iconic look, I think. The chains around the wrists are a nice touch.
This character was partly inspired by this post by aubadeKnight about an Orthodox Catholic inspired character that hates magic. I felt that the candle-head / Oogie Boogie look of this character fit the bill for the 'ghost cap' appearance of an Orthodox priest and fit that into the lore of Deadlock.
As far as kit goes, I think this one worked out well. I've been interested in Melee-oriented characters recently and got the idea for his second ability, Beleaguer, from trying out Abrams after watching this video by Anomi, who suggests buying all of the melee items and then, never stop punching. As a noobie, I failed on multiple levels and would find myself trying to punch and not being able to punch, and not keeping up with characters while punching, and thinking, "It would be great if I just had forward momentum constantly." The core idea behind this concept is that forward momentum keeps you punching.
I married this concept with the ultimate, which isn't a typical execute, but rather a modified melee attack, with a fighting game mechanic: the ability to cancel your attacks into this one. I think this is great and cements Reaper as a powerful melee character, because it means that he can outplay enemies when they try to parry him.
Due to his heavy melee-oriented nature, and having another ability that is a passive, I included Reckoning and gave it a very high Spirit bonus multiplier (at least I think I did) so that Reaper still benefits from Spirit as much as other characters. The reason I gave him this passive is, because I noted that Abrams is a good candidate for melee because of his ability to persevere in combat, and I wanted to give Reaper a defensive regeneration ability. This one also increases his total damage output.
I added an active component to his passive as a ranked talent, which is interesting. I imagine Reaper brooding, panting heavily while looking at his hands while he's channeling this, as if having an existential crisis. He would use this ability ideally while waiting on the fringe of a battle before engaging.
I like this guy a lot. I hope you like him too--and I know you like those meaty forearms and thick calves.
Arcsymus' Concepts
Chariot, Controls spacing, initiates and peels. https://forums.playdeadlock.com/threads/hero-concept-chariot-controls-spacing-initiates-and-peels-artwork.19727/#post-34327 Nether, Catch, Isolation and Battlefield Control. https://forums.playdeadlock.com/threads/hero-concept-nether-catch-isolatio...
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