[Rework Idea] Old but New Bebop

[qneetsa]

Problem: A lot of players do not enjoy facing Bebop and find him noninteractive (judging by my own experience and r/Deadlockthegame). Hook is a 0 risk, 0 investment win condition and the bomb stacks reward taking bad trades while still being effective.

Solution: I propose a rework that aims to:

• Keep the Hook-Bomb-Punch headline
• Keep the reposition tool
• Keep as many interactions untouched that already have voiceline reactions recorded (like characters reaction to a sticky bomb)

At the same time it aims to:

• Reinforce Bebop lore identity as a pit fighter who is not afraid to skirmish in melee
• Add risk to his rewards
• Give counterplay to his tools

Exploding Uppercut
Deal melee damage to nearby enemies and apply knockback. Hitting a target that already has Sticky bomb attached triggers the bomb explosion, causing a much greater knockback distance, velocity and locks the target out of air control.
22s cooldown

1. -11s cooldown
2. On hit: heal for 80hp (scales with boons)
3. Now deals 100% Heavy Melee Damage

Sticky Bomb
Load in a sticky bomb that will be attached to an enemy with your next Exploding Uppercut, Grapple Arm or Melee. Once attached, the bomb explodes after a delay
18s cooldown, 1 charge, 6 second recharge (time between charges), 4s duration (loaded in to be attached), 3.5s fuse time

1. +1 charge
2. On cast: +2m/s move speed
3. +80 damage and improved spirit scaling

Grapple arm
Shoot forward a mechanical arm that attaches to the enemy and pulls them the ground, slowing and disabling movement abilities. After attaching, the arm clenches, dealing %2 max health/second Spirit damage. The victim can use Heavy Melee to break free from the shackles once it has clenched.
This Heavy melee is performed in place and can be parried
25m range, 33s cooldown, 25% slow, 3.5s total duration, clenches after 0.5s

1. -12s cooldown
2. +30% weapon damage against victims for 6s
3. +1.5% max health as damage

Hyper Beam
Aims the beam at the ground next to Bebop and splits the world in half all the way to the skies with a powerful beam dealing Spirit damage and leaving a trail of plasma on the ground. Plasma explodes after a short delay dealing heavy Spirit damage and creating Wall of smoke that Blocks vision and Line of sight (similar to old steam vents)
160s cd, 2s fuse time, 30m wall length, 6s wall duration. Visuals: first part of Darkeater Midir laser combo

1. -0.5 fuse time and +100 explosion damage
2. -40s cooldown
3. +15m wall length and +4s duration

This way bebop keeps his ability to reposition with a Hook - Bomb - Punch combo but has to put himself out here to do so similar to Holliday and Paradox. It gives him an option to go for a melee build with Uppercut being Heavy Melee, and if Bebop doesn't want to send the opponent away with the Uppercut (when they have a bomb already attached) he can first Punch then Grapple Arm to bring the target back to the ground cancelling Uppercut Knockback effect. He also gets an ultimate that enables his close range (either bomb or melee) playstyles while being an option for a heavy spirit damage nuke.

 

[Your dinner is cold!]

This rework idea is fantastic and I really hope the devs get a chance to look at this, as a long time Bebop player since around the start of the public invite only playtest started, the current version of the character is doomed to me, for reasons you've stated above.

Having counterplay in his kit is essential for both parties to have an enjoyable exchange, and in his current iteration, the most it is, is counter spell and Bebop using hookstun to stop the counter spell parry animation or staggering bombs with echo shard, I find this deeply reductive to the potential that Bebop has to be a truly great player character.

The reason I've stuck to one tricking Bebop for so long is that I am absolutely enamored with his upper cut and hook being able to work on allies, saving an out of position ally by predicting their movement with a hook is immensely satisfying and uppercutting some poor random teammate into a walker when I was trying to put a bomb laced creep in to damage it, shameful and hilarious.

I just love love love this rework, all the ideas flow so well together, the idea of launching someone even further with a bomb upper cut is just awesome, an actual exploding uppercut, the idea that you can use melees to attach bombs if you're on cooldowns with even greater risk is awesome, also the image of his planting a bomb with a little light melee is so cool to me, rather than teleporting a bomb onto someone.

I also appreciate the new ult, whilst his current one is fun and exciting to use in team fights, it is clunky to integrate with the rest of his combo heavy brawler style kit, this new one adds good dimensions and different uses that I can appreciate whilst still maintaining the oh so important spectacle of an ultimate, it also does away with using ult to nuke a guardian or large camp, another frustration for his enemies in lane. Oh and using the idea of using the smoke screen to land a hook, amazing.

I've never really been the biggest fan of the bomb doing all of the heavy lifting in his kit damage wise and I would like more variety in the ways to play him, I find that all the meta builds that go so bomb heavy that they can just outright ignore gun items entirely whilst still being effective, extremely boring, I want to engage with his whole kit not just bomb people and have no reason to even shoot my gun, in this moba shooter.

I would seriously prefer this version of this character to current, as I feel that my skill, my effort in learning this character I love, is cheapened by the poor counterplay and suffocating design, which has left a stain on his reputation.

Would love to see other peoples thoughts on this proposed redesign.

 

[stealth(y)]

This is sick, as a Bebop player it always seemed to me that, while bomb does have a place in his kit being a melee-range high-damage tool, the way it was implemented and the scaling aspect bug me to no end. I've been mostly building melee lately and having your hook be a "Get Back Here!" tool instead of a "Whoopsie! you peeked out of cover so you're under my walker now" tool is a lot more refreshing but making it a grounding ability with the clench effect on top adds a lot of interactivity that both bomb and hook currently lack, although I feel like there could be a better middle ground with his right hand. The whole loading the bomb into his fist and using it for knockback idea also sounds tremendously fun and would probably be a lot more fun to play against as it's a lot riskier than current hook and doesn't scale like current bomb. If at least some parts of this rework make it into the game I'd be the happiest golem ever.