Lifestealer, the flesh-cursed

[maxkaibarreto]

As eternal battlegrounds go Deadlock's is pretty bloodless, which is a real challenge for everybody's favorite shambling meat pile. Imagine them in a newsboy hat, knickerbockers & well stained tank top while occasionally rearing up to their slow little back legs so as to shoot something antiquated & automatic. Here's the kit:

- Open Wound bites an enemy hero in range with a 'tearing off' animation, dealing damage & stealing movement speed.
- Spawn extends the horror by adding decay to the aesthetic. Lifestealer releases a plague of flies that apply damage over time, spreading between enemies by a shorter range. Ends with an 'immunity' window for the afflicted and their flies flying back to Lifestealer to heal them like exorcism's ghosts do Death Prophet.
- Infest begins with a ghoulish version of Quantum Entanglement and, like DotA, is castable on any unit. Allies can be lept to from a further distance, any damage allied heroes take while infested is shared with Lifestealer, & infestation ends with just a fall out the back. [Shiv's Final Blow becomes Bloodseeker's Rupture and...] Lifestealer deals moderate damage to enemies they leave or, if they are below an execution threshold, kills them in an explosion of gore.
- Gripping Rage is a channeled ultimate. Lifestealer applies loss of control & modestly jumps to jockey a targeted enemy hero in range. For its duration Lifestealer can be shot but also controls the target's movement, dashes, & gun. At 5p jockeyed heroes take friendly fire.

 

[micbenso66]

As eternal battlegrounds go Deadlock's is pretty bloodless, which is a real challenge for everybody's favorite shambling meat pile. Imagine them in a newsboy hat, knickerbockers & well stained tank top while occasionally rearing up to their slow little back legs so as to shoot something antiquated & automatic. Here's the kit:

- Open Wound bites an enemy hero in range with a 'tearing off' animation, dealing damage & stealing movement speed.
- Spawn extends the horror by adding decay to the aesthetic. Lifestealer releases a plague of flies that apply damage over time, spreading between enemies by a shorter range. Ends with an 'immunity' window for the afflicted and their flies flying back to Lifestealer to heal them like exorcism's ghosts do Death Prophet.
- Infest begins with a ghoulish version of Quantum Entanglement and, like DotA, is castable on any unit. Allies can be lept to from a further distance, any damage allied heroes take while infested is shared with Lifestealer, & infestation ends with just a fall out the back. [Shiv's Final Blow becomes Bloodseeker's Rupture and...] Lifestealer deals moderate damage to enemies they leave or, if they are below an execution threshold, kills them in an explosion of gore.
- Gripping Rage is a channeled ultimate. Lifestealer applies loss of control & modestly jumps to jockey a targeted enemy hero in range. For its duration Lifestealer can be shot but also controls the target's movement, dashes, & gun.

Since, as you say there isnt a lot of flesh here due to the cybernetics and androids and such, what if....

You take the exact same idea, but put it in the realm of computer viruses and hacking character?

There is a movie about something like this. Old, from 80s I think. But a guy dies and his soul ends up in the internet and he start infecting things with his rage using the internet.

It could be similar to that and maybe his "body" is just an android he infested semi permanently and he uses it to further spread his hate field viruses in the physical world.

 

[maxkaibarreto]

You're right, this would carry being reskinned to an anthropomorphized computer virus in a generic sci fi shooter quite well. Maybe with holograms like GW2's SAB and an 'honest' body left on death like spongebob's plankton? Sounds interesting

 

[micbenso66]

You're right, this would carry being reskinned to an anthropomorphized computer virus in a generic sci fi shooter quite well. Maybe with holograms like GW2's SAB and an 'honest' body left on death like spongebob's plankton? Sounds interesting

Im heading home right now but Ill check back into this later. If you havnt already, Ill post some ideas on what would be mostly reskinning for this concept to be more deadlocky.

 

[micbenso66]

You're right, this would carry being reskinned to an anthropomorphized computer virus in a generic sci fi shooter quite well. Maybe with holograms like GW2's SAB and an 'honest' body left on death like spongebob's plankton? Sounds interesting

So i tossed this into chatgpt just to see what it would output and this is what it gave based on my prompts. Ive added what seems like would be good upgrades.

Character Concept: Netvenge, the Digital Phantom​

Once a brilliant mind, Netvenge was betrayed, his soul extracted and imprisoned in the endless void of cyberspace. For decades, his anger festered, his consciousness learning to traverse digital pathways, seizing control of machines, and corrupting AI with malevolent code. Now, he inhabits a long-abandoned, battle-worn first-generation android, his fragmented humanity barely holding together beneath layers of decayed circuitry and viral rage.


Abilities:

• Data Leech (formerly Open Wound): Netvenge forcefully injects a malicious code burst into an enemy hero, siphoning their processing power. This deals damage and slows them, with some of the stolen speed temporarily transferring to Netvenge. Visually, this appears as a chaotic stream of neon-blue data leaping from the target’s body into Netvenge’s cybernetic form.

t1- reduced cd
t2- increased slow transfer
t3- slow resistance when chasing target with data leech

• Viral Swarm (formerly Spawn): Netvenge releases a swarm of self-replicating malware drones that attach to nearby enemies, dealing damage over time. The virus spreads between units in close range, visually appearing as glitching holograms and erratic, malfunctioning movements. After the infection expires, affected enemies gain brief immunity, while the virus returns to Netvenge, restoring some of his health and system integrity.

t1 - Increased spread range
t2 - increased duration
t3 - infected take increased damage if they are within spread range of another target

• System Hijack (formerly Infest): Netvenge enters a selected unit's hardware, allowing him to possess an ally or an enemy. When inside an ally, receive some of their received damage (50%). If inside an enemy, they suffer system corruption, causing random ability misfires to cause self-damage. Exiting an enemy unit detonates a short-range EMP burst that damages and silences nearby foes.

t1 - exiting ally also causes emp
t2 - reduce damage split to 30%
t3 - able to perform all actions while inside a target except movement (cannot control the movement of who you are inside in any way).

• Override (formerly Gripping Rage - Ultimate): Netvenge hacks into a targeted enemy's cybernetics or weapon systems, taking control of their attacks for a short duration. Overridden enemies will deal friendly fire if they attack their allies. Netvenge can be damaged while channeling, but the enemy cannot break free until the effect ends or Netvenge is disrupted.

t1 - reduced cd
t2 - if cast from inside an enemy, enemy becomes vulnerable to damage
t3 - can now spread to targets affected by Viral Swarm

Im interested in a gunless character so I was thinking:

Primary - Data Scourge - Swings loose cabling laden with Netvenge's vitriol - deals normal melee damage but does not apply bullet or melee on hits- twice melee range - 1 second delay timer (scales with fire rate, cannot be parried)

Secondary - Data Frenzy - Data scourge 3 times with no delay. 10 second cd. Deals bonus damage against targets effected by viral swarm and consumes the debuff. applies melee on hits 1.5s data scourge lock out. Can be parried without stun.

 

[maxkaibarreto]

Flesh is honest. How this 'cyber' version shows itself for the ult when controlling vs hiding within another could be so cynical as a flowey with vines. And always damaging on exit doesn't play right with how the fantasy wants to scare: Put most of the damage on entering up front and make the victim vulnerable but faster.

EDIT: Infesting should be a reprieve. But a Weekend-at-Bernie's cooldown-burn when an enemy hero dies while invaded would be a fun never-happens ludo mechanic or heavy training wheel

PS Consuming the 'flies' is a nice IRL nod but actually too automatic to be mechanically significant

 

[micbenso66]

Flesh is honest. How this 'cyber' version shows itself for the ult when controlling vs hiding within another could be so cynical as a flowey with vines. And always damaging on exit doesn't play right with how the fantasy wants to scare: Put most of the damage on entering up front and make the victim vulnerable but faster.

EDIT: Infesting should be a reprieve. But a Weekend-at-Bernie's cooldown-burn when an enemy hero dies while invaded would be a fun never-happens ludo mechanic or heavy training wheel

PS Consuming the 'flies' is a nice IRL nod but actually too automatic to be mechanically significant

So damage when entering an enemy but exiting a friendly?

Making it hard to consume the flies wouldnt be that difficult. Can either a make the flurry attack have a) way longer cd and/or b) make it so all of the attacks have to land first. If any miss or are parried it doesnt consume. So even though you dont get stunned from the parry, bating it out first would still be important.

Im not really sure i understand your edit though.

 

[maxkaibarreto]

Exiting friendlies could be a speed boost 'loan' by way of a shove-jump. Hiding in enemies functionally as a debuff is a Move focused on the 'forgot about me?' moment: damage is almost irrelevant. Try making the heal conditional to melee & put the smallest buff possible on the flies returning

 

[maxkaibarreto]

A commonly visible glowing mote over one's head should be the only UI tell for being Infested. And better as:
An Infested victim's allies can attack them with guns & spells to damage Lifestealer, but cc & debuffs do not apply and at 5p Infest upgrades to share that damage with the victim. Damage is applied on entering and for a brief dot following. Enemies have vulnerability applied and their runspeed increased

Lifestealer's model is so close Jockey the ability almost feels core but alternate ultimates include a kill-frenzy 'werewolf' form & a body-horror LoL's-MF's-Bullet-Time

 

[micbenso66]

A commonly visible glowing mote over one's head should be the only UI tell for being Infested. And better as:
An Infested victim's allies can attack them with guns & spells to damage Lifestealer, but cc & debuffs do not apply and at 5p Infest upgrades to share that damage with the victim. Damage is applied on entering and for a brief dot following. Enemies have vulnerability applied and their runspeed increased

Lifestealer's model is so close Jockey the ability almost feels core but alternate ultimates include a kill-frenzy 'werewolf' form & a body-horror LoL's-MF's-Bullet-Time

nah, i dont like mf ult for this. I was kind of thinking like a Yone inspired ult where you "leave" your host body and just become an incorporeal body with various buffs and immunities then when it ends you snap back to the your host body

 

[SingularityMaw]

I like the thematic, but the kit itself is too reliable? Like there's very little to get wrong or misuse, which could be fine with Mo and Krill in the game, but that one's not really a damage focused hero.

Lifestealer's model is so close Jockey the ability almost feels core but alternate ultimates include a kill-frenzy 'werewolf' form & a body-horror LoL's-MF's-Bullet-Time

I think he could use an Omnislash-styled ability, where he jumps to multiple nearby targets and uses Open Wound on them? And of course if they're isolated it does just look like a Jockey. Although I do like those steroids ultimates that just multiply the hero's strength for a duration, the only one we really got right now for that is Yamato.

 

[maxkaibarreto]

Any design of Lifestealer without Infest will strongly feel its absence, but the ability's fantasy requires a minimum of 'magic' well past baseline for most heroes: If added to the game, it would probably be Lifestealer's ultimate and their other abilities designed around selling it ludo-narratively: Jockeying just happens to be 'free' for the meatbag model & stronger control magic, so I made it the ult.

Spreading flies are perfectly diegetic for a virus, so definitely stay for a 'cyber' version. But they're not really fun until accidentally spread by victims (Hence vulnerability & buffed movespeed for the Infested: To encourage they flee to their team. Open Wound is intended to work the same by its threat of punish). And ideally return with aid Lifestealer needs downtime with so as to clearly signal a window of vulnerability. And any Fate-Sealed/Omnislash (the latter of which is great for punishing the isolated, but our goal is to encourage isolation) 'go nuts' ability redundantly has another such window when enemies step in just as channeling ends to exploit the caster who outstays their welcome; which is theater this power fantasy does not support. Without Jockeying maybe just bring back Rage with Armlet's life loss added to it

 

[maxkaibarreto]

Here's a take without Jockeying:

- Spawn buffs one's attacks to build up to a threshold (like Infernus's afterburn) after which flies spawn from Lifestealer to become a DoT on the victim. These spread between victim's (they apply the same stacks Lifestealer's attacks do to other Allies within a far range by an amount inversely proportional to distance) allies, increase their damage each tic, and carry that increase as they spread. When the effect ends, enemies gain an immunity window & their flies return to Lifestealer to apply a HoT proportional to life taken. At either 2p, melee attacks against effected enemies extend the duration and 'pulse' further spread. At 5p it can spread to creep.
- Rage uses chain-able charges with a long cooldown to briefly gain unstoppability while costing one a decent fraction of their current health per cast. 2p extends this window at the cost of more health.
- Open Wound bites an enemy hero in range with a 'tearing off' animation, dealing damage & stealing movement speed. Flat upgrades bank the balance budget.
- Infest Quantum-Entanglement-ishly leaps one into any creep or hero. Creeps are controllable while Infested and enemy ones can, if below a threshold health when exited, explode in a shower of gore. Allies can be Infested from a further distance, share any damage they take while so with Lifestealer, & when done being so plop Lifestealer out the back. Infested Enemies take moderate damage up front, can be attacked by their allies to damage Lifestealer, and if ever fall below a threshold health (Shiv's ultimate should apply Rupture imho) explode too. At 2p Infested enemies lose attack speed but gain movement speed. At 5p enemies attacking their Infested ally damage that ally as much as they do Lifestealer.

A Lewis gun might be too real but works because it's an unwieldy automatic: With one Lifestealer functionally becomes modal, alternating between his fast crawl and a slow turret for scarface moments.