shivaklanss
New member
Squire
Character Design:
I envision him as a middle-aged man, largely resembling Venator. The hero is decked out in a pile of weapons, some of which he uses for his abilities. His movements are deliberate but slightly clumsy - perhaps due to his age, or maybe because of the sheer weight of all the gear hanging off him. In terms of personality, I don't get the sense that he'd be unhinged like, say, Junkrat (from Overwatch), though there might be hints of it, possibly stemming from his life experiences.
In my opinion, the game is lacking a hero whose damage comes from their weapon but who also has movement abilities. We have a spirit-carry like Apollo, who has all four abilities dedicated to helping him escape fights, or Viscous, who - theoretically - can also be a spirit-carry and already has two escape abilities. All of their abilities require skillful execution to get out of a fight. But among gunners, escape abilities are often quite basic and not always as effective as those on someone like Apollo. So I believe Squire's abilities will also offer such options.
Squire's abilities scale off his weapon damage. I won't go into upgrade paths; instead, I'll just list the various effects each ability could provide.
1st Ability:
The hero pulls out some kind of paired weapon from his arsenal and spins forward (like Mirage's Tornado), dealing weapon damage to all enemies caught in the ability's radius. It could also apply a slow or pull enemies in. The ability could have charges, giving the hero a way to escape a fight or deal more damage.
2nd Ability:
The hero pulls out a heavy weapon from his arsenal - something like an M60 in size - and begins advancing rapidly, dealing damage to all enemies under a hail of fire. This ability could function similarly to Roadhog's ultimate from Overwatch: when he hits an enemy, the target gets knocked back and almost completely loses the ability to move.
Alternatively, the hero himself, while firing, could lose his balance and slowly get pushed back from the spot where he activated the ability.
Or a third option: during the ability, the player can press forward to advance on the enemy and push them back, or simply activate the ability to start pushing himself away.
3rd Ability:
The hero releases a pulse from beneath himself (I have no idea what kind of weapon could theoretically create this effect), stunning enemies within the radius. Perhaps a conditional mechanic could be added: the ability has a wind-up (like Yamato's Power Slash). You can activate it early, dealing minor damage and slowing enemies, or wait for a full charge to stun all enemies in the area. Additionally, after using the ability, the hero could launch into the air, similar to Apollo's first ability.
4th Ability:
The hero calls in a mortar. Upon casting, the camera zooms out, allowing the player to select a location within a large radius (roughly the range of Doorman's doors) where the shell will land. Enemies should have a chance to escape, so the landing zone should be clearly marked. Multiple shells could be fired. Perhaps the ability shouldn't be deadly but rather apply effects like slows, stuns, etc.
The cast time should be quick, as the ultimate should serve as part of the hero's combo. Below are examples of ability synergies for Squire.
Synergy:
Squire spots enemies, engages with his first ability to pull everyone in; then uses his second ability to, if possible, push the caught enemies toward a wall or somewhere it'll be hard for them to avoid the third ability's stun; then uses the third ability to stun the affected enemies, and finally uses his ultimate to finish them off or destabilize them, setting up the caught enemies for a takedown.
Stepping away from the "perfect" combo described above, each ability could synergize regardless of the order they're used. For example, Squire could dive into enemies with his first ability, immediately stun them with his third, then either disengage with his second ability or use a charge of his first; he could drop onto enemies with his third ability and, while they're stunned, pull them with his first or immediately hit them with his fourth; he could pin enemies with his second ability and finish them off with his fourth.
The key here is to avoid repeating the mistakes made with Venator's Crossbow when calculating ability damage. The damage from abilities should be meaningful, but the hero still deals damage with his primary weapon, and it wouldn't be fair if he could deal as much ability damage as a spirit-carry hero while also having significant weapon damage - or alternatively, the scaling on his primary weapon shouldn't be as high as on traditional gun-focused heroes. To summarize: either Squire primarily deals damage through his abilities, with his primary weapon serving as a finisher option, or he uses his abilities purely for setup, with the bulk of his damage coming from his primary weapon.
There's also another interesting option: forget everything I wrote about the hero's aesthetic and just map all these abilities onto Raven, stylizing them as spy gadgets. And with the second ability I described, that would make for a great homage to Heavy from TF2.
Character Design:
I envision him as a middle-aged man, largely resembling Venator. The hero is decked out in a pile of weapons, some of which he uses for his abilities. His movements are deliberate but slightly clumsy - perhaps due to his age, or maybe because of the sheer weight of all the gear hanging off him. In terms of personality, I don't get the sense that he'd be unhinged like, say, Junkrat (from Overwatch), though there might be hints of it, possibly stemming from his life experiences.
In my opinion, the game is lacking a hero whose damage comes from their weapon but who also has movement abilities. We have a spirit-carry like Apollo, who has all four abilities dedicated to helping him escape fights, or Viscous, who - theoretically - can also be a spirit-carry and already has two escape abilities. All of their abilities require skillful execution to get out of a fight. But among gunners, escape abilities are often quite basic and not always as effective as those on someone like Apollo. So I believe Squire's abilities will also offer such options.
Squire's abilities scale off his weapon damage. I won't go into upgrade paths; instead, I'll just list the various effects each ability could provide.
1st Ability:
The hero pulls out some kind of paired weapon from his arsenal and spins forward (like Mirage's Tornado), dealing weapon damage to all enemies caught in the ability's radius. It could also apply a slow or pull enemies in. The ability could have charges, giving the hero a way to escape a fight or deal more damage.
2nd Ability:
The hero pulls out a heavy weapon from his arsenal - something like an M60 in size - and begins advancing rapidly, dealing damage to all enemies under a hail of fire. This ability could function similarly to Roadhog's ultimate from Overwatch: when he hits an enemy, the target gets knocked back and almost completely loses the ability to move.
Alternatively, the hero himself, while firing, could lose his balance and slowly get pushed back from the spot where he activated the ability.
Or a third option: during the ability, the player can press forward to advance on the enemy and push them back, or simply activate the ability to start pushing himself away.
3rd Ability:
The hero releases a pulse from beneath himself (I have no idea what kind of weapon could theoretically create this effect), stunning enemies within the radius. Perhaps a conditional mechanic could be added: the ability has a wind-up (like Yamato's Power Slash). You can activate it early, dealing minor damage and slowing enemies, or wait for a full charge to stun all enemies in the area. Additionally, after using the ability, the hero could launch into the air, similar to Apollo's first ability.
4th Ability:
The hero calls in a mortar. Upon casting, the camera zooms out, allowing the player to select a location within a large radius (roughly the range of Doorman's doors) where the shell will land. Enemies should have a chance to escape, so the landing zone should be clearly marked. Multiple shells could be fired. Perhaps the ability shouldn't be deadly but rather apply effects like slows, stuns, etc.
The cast time should be quick, as the ultimate should serve as part of the hero's combo. Below are examples of ability synergies for Squire.
Synergy:
Squire spots enemies, engages with his first ability to pull everyone in; then uses his second ability to, if possible, push the caught enemies toward a wall or somewhere it'll be hard for them to avoid the third ability's stun; then uses the third ability to stun the affected enemies, and finally uses his ultimate to finish them off or destabilize them, setting up the caught enemies for a takedown.
Stepping away from the "perfect" combo described above, each ability could synergize regardless of the order they're used. For example, Squire could dive into enemies with his first ability, immediately stun them with his third, then either disengage with his second ability or use a charge of his first; he could drop onto enemies with his third ability and, while they're stunned, pull them with his first or immediately hit them with his fourth; he could pin enemies with his second ability and finish them off with his fourth.
The key here is to avoid repeating the mistakes made with Venator's Crossbow when calculating ability damage. The damage from abilities should be meaningful, but the hero still deals damage with his primary weapon, and it wouldn't be fair if he could deal as much ability damage as a spirit-carry hero while also having significant weapon damage - or alternatively, the scaling on his primary weapon shouldn't be as high as on traditional gun-focused heroes. To summarize: either Squire primarily deals damage through his abilities, with his primary weapon serving as a finisher option, or he uses his abilities purely for setup, with the bulk of his damage coming from his primary weapon.
There's also another interesting option: forget everything I wrote about the hero's aesthetic and just map all these abilities onto Raven, stylizing them as spy gadgets. And with the second ability I described, that would make for a great homage to Heavy from TF2.
