[Hero Idea w/ art&gifs ! ] Queen Medusa - Sovereign of the Abyss (area denial mage/crowd control with mines)

[PetitOursBrun]

Queen Medusa:
Role: Area Denial Mage Playstyle: Trap-based, High Risk–High Reward, Zone Control
(For TL;DR I made GIFs bellow)

Lore : I present you Queen Medusa, a jellyfish inspired hero. Once the undisputed ruler of the silent, lightless deep, Queen Medusa reigned over an ocean untouched by mortal noise. But as restless spirits and human machines pierce ever deeper into her realm, the abyss grows loud, restless, and defiled. Now she rises to bargain with the Patron, demanding power enough to cast every intruder back to the shallows… or drag them down where no light can follow.

Main gameplay : She’s a fragile but cunning mage who thrives in close-range chaos. Stack up small jellyfish-like mines and unleash them one by one (or all in the same time) and manipulate our ennemies into your deadly jellyfish swarm. Although she’s conceived as a spirit‑focused hero, her kit leaves room for creative deviations (for instance going more in the support path).

Art : Her art is done by my gf for the great deadlock community, here is her insta @poulpe_rose_ if anybody is interested. She embodies the essence of a jellyfish—graceful and ethereal, fragile in appearance, yet lethally dangerous when approached.



Gun : For her gun I imagine a jellyfish gun, kind of similar to viscous. For her alt fire, she needs a trade off for her squishyness and need to get up close, so I envisioned her lashing out her tendril like a whip that would deal light melee damage in a small straight line.

(TL;DR) I made animated GIFs to better illustrate the several capacities :

1st : Brood mine
Brood Mine is her core gameplay ability. She plants a jellyfish mine that takes a moment to arm, then explodes on contact. It’s stationary and dodgeable—designed to punish careless movement or force enemies into tough decisions. Smart placement is key: it only triggers if an enemy touches it, making awareness and positioning crucial to play against Queen Medusa.

The ability charges through last hits rather than on a timer, preventing spam and keeping the experience fair and engaging for opponents.

Tip : Make every jellyfish count. Place them where you expect enemies to go—or where you don’t want them to. Control the battlefield, one sting at a time.



2nd : Queen's grasp
Queen’s Grasp is one of her 2 crowd control abilities. It roots an enemy in place while you channel, making timing and positioning critical. Though powerful, it’s still a skillshot : your tendril must first connect with a target to begin the effect. With the right items, such as cooldown reduction and duration extenders, this ability can shape her into a potent support or zoning specialist. She can recast her ability at anytime to dash tower her rooted target, granting her a needed movement ability.

Tip : Drop a Brood Mine just before your tendril lands to guarantee an explosive surprise while they’re rooted !


3rd : Tidal Wave
Tidal Wave is her second crowd control tool. She summons a powerful surge of water that pushes enemies along its path, stunning them if they collide with a wall. It pairs perfectly with her Brood Mines, letting her force enemies through her carefully placed minefield. With a quick recast (recast when the wave passes through her), she can ride the wave hersel, granting a much-needed burst of mobility and creative playmaking potential.

Tip : Use Tidal Wave to herd enemies straight into your jellyfish swarm, diving into the ennemy team or for a quick escape solution !

Game Dev’s Den: The wave is implemented as a discrete object divided into multiple horizontal segments (e.g., 8 sections). If a segment hits a wall, that segment is destroyed (triggering a stun if applicable) while the rest of the wave continues moving. This prevents frustrating interruptions caused by small map geometry (like clipping a tiny object) and keeps the ability smooth and fun to use.



Ult : Abyssal swarm
Abyssal Swarm is the embodiment of jellyfish terror : being surrounded and trapped in a inescapable swarm of deadly jellyfish. Upon casting, she releases all of her stocked Brood Mines in a deadly burst, surrounding the area with explosive danger (get excited when stocking brood mines !). To ensure it remains impactful even without preparation, the ability also summons a base number of mines. This makes Abyssal Swarm the perfect area denial tool for key map objectives like mid-bosses or walkers. Any enemy movement risks triggering multiple detonations. However, using it offensively requires careful timing and positioning since the most devastating results come when you’re right in the middle of the enemy team, despite your fragile nature.

Tip : Maximize impact by combining this with displacement, whether from your own abilities, item effects, or allies’ setups, to trap enemies in your minefield with no escape.


Typical gameplay loop :
Stock up Brood Mines, go in with Queen's Grasp, cast Abyssal Swarm with all stocked up mines, escape with Tidal Wave while draging ennemies with you in your minefield

 

[PetitOursBrun]

[Update lore]

I updated the lore to fit her better in the current overall deadlock universe. I tried to keep her story&kit simple and not overwhelming, all the while legitimizing her place in the lore :

[Lore]
Medusa had a modest start: a minor vampire wandering Europe in the 18th century, the kind of background that gets whispered about in hunting journals and tavern afterlives. She was nobody important.

Fleeing Europe for New York in 1899 on a fool's hope and a crowded steerage deck, she was intercepted by Priest's former masters. It happened on a cruise that drifted through the Bermuda Triangle, the night an eclipse crawled over the sun and the sea decided to show its teeth. As the sky folded, something in her woke. Power uncoiled like a storm within her, faster than anyone could reckon.

With time running out, Priest’s masters did what hunters sometime do in desperation : they sealed the thing they’d caught. A steel coffin, bound in golden chains and meant to turn her into a story. They tipped it into the ocean and counted her gone.

The deep did not surrender her. Jellyfish swarmed the sunk hull and stung her pale skin. The first Maelstrom tore the water into madness : tendrils, bubbles, a dark magic that didn't belong to either sea or sky. Her iron prison cracked. When she crawled out, she was not a vampire in a box but something else: part revenant, part abyssal queen, baptized in pressure and darkness.

She spent fifty years in the dark learning how to be catastrophic. She learned patience. She learned hunger. And she learned how to make bargains. Now she wants the Patron, not for mercy, but for the means to erase the order that threw her away. Priest's name is on her list. His order is her map to revenge.

[Added new dialogues and relationships]

Priest :
Medusa despises Priest and his order. They put her in a grave and called it justice; she calls it an insult. If fate demands an alliance, she will feign cooperation long enough to finish the ritual, then she will finish him. Irony: Priest's order has forgotten her. Priest himself doesn't even remember who she is. That will change.



Viscous :
Viscous insists Medusa is a “jelly sister of the deep.” Medusa refuses the title with the sort of cold politeness reserved for insults wrapped as affection. During those fifty years, Viscous tried to soothe her with games and company. It didn't work.


Sinclair :
Sinclair heard the story about the iron coffin escape and is equal parts fascinated and opportunistic. To him, she’s an impressive trick, a shared secret between performers with dangerous props. Much to the discontent of Savanna.


Lady Geist :
As a little girl, Lady Geist used to hear rumors about Medusa the vampire existence as a story to scare children, that her dad Léon used to swear was real as he claimed to have met her. Almost 150 years later, Lady Geist delights in meeting the story in the flesh and be reminiscent of her good old days.


Mina :
Medusa is exasperated by the vampire youngster behavior, and she sees them as styleless and irreverent. In return, Mina has never heard of Medusa and thinks that old people like her should stay in retirement house (except her idol Geist)