Sarus
Active member
muh lore: The Sandman division of the OSIC is infamous, but its most ruthless and secretive operatives remain invisible in plain sight. By day, they appear as ordinary United States Postal Service employees; new hires who take a few shifts and then vanish without a trace. In reality, they are the OSIC’s deadliest, specializing in wet work. Known only as the "Mailmen," they pursue any target with specialized wire devices, cutting-edge stealth explosives, and a disturbing appetite for murder.
hero inspo:
kit inspo: Rolento from Street Fighter, Gun Lash (rip)
kit concept: the "I miss gun lash" kit. aerial anti-carry/assassin type. although I began this as a "whip" kit, could also fit a "secret agent wire" device or something (see that new yakuza game). there's enough here for a spirit burst-ish build, but I really had a gun assassin in mind making this. 1 and 2 have long enough CDs they are more for enabling targeted pick offs instead of stepping into Lash or Calico territory, or so I hope.
weapon: I usually leave this open for interpretation, but I think a slightly mid-range billy SMG would be a good fit here.
1 - Love Letters
15sCD, bomb count: 6, 22m length, 7m width, 3s duration DOT, 15% slow
Throw a cluster of letter bombs in a wide arc that detonate after a delay, dealing spirit damage and slowing enemies. Using letter bombs while a Live Wire swing is active will cause them to deploy directly beneath you with bonus spirit DOT. - Enemies hit by multiple bombs take 55% damage
1 CD+
2 Bomb count increase (9)
3 +damage, slow increase (25%), fire rate reduction (15%) on bombed enemies
Concept: Variation of Calico bombs. Basic wave clear and mostly defensive lane pressure tool. Although they would not deploy as far as Calico bombs for poke, it would likely function perfectly well for defensive laning anyway.
The special function of Love Letters is that alongside Live Wire, the Hero will deploy the bombs directly beneath him, rewarding him for aerial initiation or assist in getting DOT on death balls during teamfights. Fiddling around with Calico's 1 in the lab shows Gloom Bombs can reach up to 45ish meters, so this would likely function in lane at around 22m. lvl3 would reward the hero with a damage increase and a spirit DOT for spirit on-hit effects, healbane, etc.
2 - LAMS
23sCD, 7.5s duration, detonation trigger (within 5m of enemy), AOE (6m), 1.5s arm time
Toss a bouncing sticky bomb that can attach to any surface. Attaches immediately to any wall and will become a landmine after bouncing on the ground once. Will directly explode upon contact with enemy after one initial bounce. This deals spirit damage and knocks back struck enemies.
1 Damage+
2 CD Reduction
3 AOE radius increase (10m)
Concept: Directly inspired by LAMS from Deus Ex 1. You've played it haven't you? I wanted to create something distinct from the jump pad -> barrel combo from Holliday, so I figured something that required
a bit more setup or rewarded creativity would fit the bill here. Also plays into the OSIC assassin themes and is more about setup than burst. Think venator bear-traps compared to Talon traps.
To tip people off, this could have a faint ticking sound to punish people/streamers who blast music during matches. Another alternative could be the Trip-wire landmines from Half life with a visible laser to warn people. I have also had this emulate venator (nades) a bit further by requiring it to bounce once, making the player work positioning a bit more rather than using it as a simple burst ability.
3 - Live Wire
+1 charge, 26sCD, 3sCD between charges, 12m wall cast, 15s gun buff CD
Cast a wire towards a wall. Casting on a wall will swing you forward with momentum. If cast perpendicularly, this will instead pull you towards the targeted area.
1 Fire rate increase +15%
2 full gun clip reload upon 1st cast
3 +1 charge, in-between charge CD cast reduced to 1.5s, cast range increased (18m)
notes: could possibly add a "cannot use in-between CD charges after taking enemy damage within 1.5s"
Concept: It's a spiderman swing, what else? Key ability and mandatory first lvl3, rest of the T3s depend on play style or team comps (healbane, bresist shredder for lvl3 letter DOT, etc).
Similar to lash grapple, this gives major gun DPS buffs you are meant to play around. Possible candidate for sharp shooter.
4 - No Mercy
15m length, 3s curse duration, 130sCD
Throw your wire at an enemy hero, cursing and pulling them toward you and launching them slightly upward above you to take spirit damage.
1 Damage+
2 CD Reduction
3 No Mercy can now apply to 2 enemy heroes.
Concept: Ultimate skillshot. More for combos, initiation, disruption, and getting people off your teammates then a big finisher. Pretty simple ultimate but would look really cool and complements/completes the kit. The pull on the ultimate would likely enable some funny combos with LAMs.
Inspired by and would likely be animated similarly to Rolento's Take No Prisoner super move:
hero inspo:
kit inspo: Rolento from Street Fighter, Gun Lash (rip)
kit concept: the "I miss gun lash" kit. aerial anti-carry/assassin type. although I began this as a "whip" kit, could also fit a "secret agent wire" device or something (see that new yakuza game). there's enough here for a spirit burst-ish build, but I really had a gun assassin in mind making this. 1 and 2 have long enough CDs they are more for enabling targeted pick offs instead of stepping into Lash or Calico territory, or so I hope.
weapon: I usually leave this open for interpretation, but I think a slightly mid-range billy SMG would be a good fit here.
1 - Love Letters
15sCD, bomb count: 6, 22m length, 7m width, 3s duration DOT, 15% slow
Throw a cluster of letter bombs in a wide arc that detonate after a delay, dealing spirit damage and slowing enemies. Using letter bombs while a Live Wire swing is active will cause them to deploy directly beneath you with bonus spirit DOT. - Enemies hit by multiple bombs take 55% damage
1 CD+
2 Bomb count increase (9)
3 +damage, slow increase (25%), fire rate reduction (15%) on bombed enemies
Concept: Variation of Calico bombs. Basic wave clear and mostly defensive lane pressure tool. Although they would not deploy as far as Calico bombs for poke, it would likely function perfectly well for defensive laning anyway.
The special function of Love Letters is that alongside Live Wire, the Hero will deploy the bombs directly beneath him, rewarding him for aerial initiation or assist in getting DOT on death balls during teamfights. Fiddling around with Calico's 1 in the lab shows Gloom Bombs can reach up to 45ish meters, so this would likely function in lane at around 22m. lvl3 would reward the hero with a damage increase and a spirit DOT for spirit on-hit effects, healbane, etc.
2 - LAMS
23sCD, 7.5s duration, detonation trigger (within 5m of enemy), AOE (6m), 1.5s arm time
Toss a bouncing sticky bomb that can attach to any surface. Attaches immediately to any wall and will become a landmine after bouncing on the ground once. Will directly explode upon contact with enemy after one initial bounce. This deals spirit damage and knocks back struck enemies.
1 Damage+
2 CD Reduction
3 AOE radius increase (10m)
Concept: Directly inspired by LAMS from Deus Ex 1. You've played it haven't you? I wanted to create something distinct from the jump pad -> barrel combo from Holliday, so I figured something that required
a bit more setup or rewarded creativity would fit the bill here. Also plays into the OSIC assassin themes and is more about setup than burst. Think venator bear-traps compared to Talon traps.
To tip people off, this could have a faint ticking sound to punish people/streamers who blast music during matches. Another alternative could be the Trip-wire landmines from Half life with a visible laser to warn people. I have also had this emulate venator (nades) a bit further by requiring it to bounce once, making the player work positioning a bit more rather than using it as a simple burst ability.
3 - Live Wire
+1 charge, 26sCD, 3sCD between charges, 12m wall cast, 15s gun buff CD
Cast a wire towards a wall. Casting on a wall will swing you forward with momentum. If cast perpendicularly, this will instead pull you towards the targeted area.
1 Fire rate increase +15%
2 full gun clip reload upon 1st cast
3 +1 charge, in-between charge CD cast reduced to 1.5s, cast range increased (18m)
notes: could possibly add a "cannot use in-between CD charges after taking enemy damage within 1.5s"
Concept: It's a spiderman swing, what else? Key ability and mandatory first lvl3, rest of the T3s depend on play style or team comps (healbane, bresist shredder for lvl3 letter DOT, etc).
Similar to lash grapple, this gives major gun DPS buffs you are meant to play around. Possible candidate for sharp shooter.
4 - No Mercy
15m length, 3s curse duration, 130sCD
Throw your wire at an enemy hero, cursing and pulling them toward you and launching them slightly upward above you to take spirit damage.
1 Damage+
2 CD Reduction
3 No Mercy can now apply to 2 enemy heroes.
Concept: Ultimate skillshot. More for combos, initiation, disruption, and getting people off your teammates then a big finisher. Pretty simple ultimate but would look really cool and complements/completes the kit. The pull on the ultimate would likely enable some funny combos with LAMs.
Inspired by and would likely be animated similarly to Rolento's Take No Prisoner super move:
