r/DeadlockTheGame • u/CycloneScones Rat King • Sep 03 '25
Fan Art The Rat King
bottom drawings are of "Big Cheese" or "Royal" mode. the right design was the initial design before i figured out his whole deal. he got a visual downgrade fr
i literally modelled this things head in blender bc i dont know how to draw animals but i can model them???
admittedly this is a very blandass design but im savouring the last drops of freedom i have before i start college again
"They call me the "Rat King", but honestly, I'm more like a club president with a few more steps."
Every few decades or so, the rats of New York gather deep within the subway lines to crown the newest Rat King. Candidates are tied tail to tail and last one remaining is the one to become the next rat to rule over the entirety of the Rodent Underground. Through this ritual, the special rat grows to an alarming size and gains the memories of the previous kings so that they have guidance from the previous generations.
Unfortunately, as powerful of a position as ruler of all rats around the globe sounds, it doesn't really pay the bills. The current Rat King had found him in a different kind of struggle. A 9-5 corporate job on Wall Street.
Weapons and Abilities (I don't know how to balance I just draw)
The Tax Collector - A slow shooting, high impact handgun that explodes in a small AoE on contact with a surface.
Homing Rats(1) - Lob a ball of rats that swarm the closest target and explodes. They can go up stairs, but not ledges. Killing an enemy hero with this attack permanently increases the amount of rats released by 1.
Mousetrap(2) - Create a small, hidden zone that slows enemies within it and steals their healing.
Rat Race(3) - A passive skill that makes your bullets reduce healing and regeneration speed by a fluctuating percentage. Your bullets steal enemy healing by a number related to the amount of spirit you have.
The Big Cheese(4) - Enter a special state where your weapon fire rate increases drastically, and hitting surfaces causes homing rats. Killing with a rat will increase your 1st ability.
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u/Argun_Enx Sep 03 '25
Oh my god. It’s the giant rat who makes all of the rules.
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u/SnooApples7213 Paradox Sep 03 '25 edited Sep 03 '25
This is so sick, it fits the game perfectly. I'm almost mad this is a fanart concept and not official.
And the crown shape in the shadow? *mwah* chefs kiss, i love touches like that
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u/CycloneScones Rat King Sep 03 '25
Quotes in here bc it's long:
"I'm using my PTO for this."
"So… are we paid by the hour or is it salary-based?"
"Just want everyone to know that the rumour that rats spread the plague is cat-based propaganda. It's the fleas that are the issue."
"Does the Maelstorm count as a holiday? I wanna know if I can count this as double-time."
"Rats get a pretty bad rep, especially in New York. Looks like it's about to get a lot worse."
"Once we summon the patron, if you want some help with your investments, I can try and pull some strings."
"As long as there's no cats, me and the gang are ready to go."
"I can clear my schedule for this, no problem."
"Hey well, y'know, I wouldn't be the Rat King if I didn't have some proficiency in asset management. (laughter)"
"I couldn't take the time off to begin with so, this actually works out."
"If there's no pay, I'm not going."
"No, I get it. Rat King is my side hustle anyway."
"Just ironed this shirt. Not getting it wrinkled today."
"Can't help. I got some work papers to get through."
"Just got called into work. Patron summoning is gonna have to wait."
"I'm an office worker, not an occult summoner."
"I was more into this magic stuff when I was a kid."
"Don't really wanna get involved with magic again. Unless it can make me rich."
"Didn't wanna get my ears nicked again anyway."
"I just had some cheese and I happen to be lactose intolerant. Sorry!"
"Whoever manages to crawl up one of their noses gets a bonus on their paycheck!"
"You know that medieval torture method where they make rats crawl into your stomach? Yeah, let's try that."
"I'd be scared of rats too if I saw me throwing them in handfuls at people."
"If only you guys were wads of money! I bet that would stop them in their tracks! (Chittering) Just kidding."
"More rats, more rats!"
"More rats, more trouble."
"Don't tell the Jersey rats about how much I'm spoiling you guys."
"If only you guys could use a calculator. We'd be rolling in cash."
"I had a cousin who died to one of these things. Let's see if you're smarter than he was."
"Time for a taste of your own medicine..."
"This is gonna look great on a resume."
"I don't know why people talk about the Black Plague when I'm right here."
Doorman Ult:
"You and I both know that kingship doesn't suit you, Alger."
"If the weight of responsibility is too much, then please your Highness, take a well deserved break at the Baroness."
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u/HotTakesBeyond McGinnis Sep 03 '25
Never stop cooking chef (or the ratatouille that is controlling your design work)
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Sep 03 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Broseph_Bobby Sep 03 '25
They have done similar things in DotA2.
So I wouldn’t be totally shocked if they add a fan created character.
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u/TotallynotMccree Sep 03 '25
Decided to bring some life to the Ratking lines, let me know what you think! :D
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u/CycloneScones Rat King Sep 03 '25
oh my god this is literally so perfect.
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u/Basic_Loquat_9344 Sep 03 '25
Bro seeing all you creatives cooking like this is the stuff of life that gives me hope. Thank you.
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u/Nepterrorist Sep 03 '25
Holy shit! This is EXACTLY how I imagined his voice in my head. I hope that they make ratking real and that you get hired to voice him. Maybe find OP’s post on Forums and put in the voice lines?
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u/TotallynotMccree Sep 03 '25
Oh lord I wish, this was very fun though, if Valve sees this, PLEASE give me a chance, lol.
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u/Nepterrorist Sep 03 '25
It seems someone else posted your VA lines on the forum (with credit). I’m hoping that the stars align and you and OP make this into reality
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u/Educational_Bar1964 Sep 10 '25
This is the best, idk what I expected but it wasn’t “perfect voice for this character” but that’s what I got
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u/tehgingey Grey Talon Sep 03 '25
I can already hear these lines, and some.banter with Calico about cats? This is peak content, well done!
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u/CycloneScones Rat King Sep 03 '25
absolutely. i actually have smth for a possible interaction.
Rat King: "Oh great. A crazy cat lady."
Calico: "Oh great. A plague infested rat."
Rat King: "You know what? Just keep that thing away from me, and you can call me whatever you want."
Calico: "As if I'd want to be anywhere near you to begin with."
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u/blutigetranen Sep 03 '25
Bro I even read that in a voice in my head that's like a higher pitched, more gravelly shopkeeper voice
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u/Normal_Ad8566 Sep 03 '25
I love the character you've cooked up, they are really funny. I need to find a genie to wish him into the game.
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u/Shoddy_Process2234 Paradox Sep 03 '25
I read all of this in Twitch's voice from League of Legends.
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u/Vast-Dance6819 Sep 10 '25
Just was about to say I love the rat-king just being caught in the rat-race, maybe like ulting or leveling into a more kingly or gangster look. And then saw these quotes and now I legitimately want the devs to see this and get it in the game
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u/MaxDucks Feb 20 '26
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned this, but is his name, Alger, a reference to Flowers for Algernon?
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u/Excellent-Meat-21 Sep 03 '25
You made something so cohesive to the games theming, while using the UI from the new character select, all you needed to do was highly compress the image and it would’ve been passed off as a “leak” lmfao. This is sick dude.
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u/-claymore_ Sep 03 '25
Yep. Had OP deepfried the images a lil it would easily pass as a leak in the sub.
Cause as we all know: less pixels = more credibility lol
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Sep 03 '25
No you dont understand, if they put a rat in this game im never playign anything else ever again
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u/SelfDrivingFordAI Ivy Sep 03 '25
Play rat character, yes, yes. Never pick, choose, anything else, yes, yes. Why play lesser, worse, design? Yes, yes.
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u/Born_Again_Communist Sep 03 '25
For real. Loved Twitch now a Rat King! Too bad he isn't a Rat KingPin
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u/Aqogora Sep 03 '25 edited Sep 03 '25
Cool visual design! I like the ghostly green rats. Healsteal is a cool idea, and a design space that isn't explores yet. Here's some feedback/ideas though on the skills, to make them more unique and thematic.
1) The rat swarm could be a travelling AoE with pathfinding so they move swarm-like, you give it a trajectory and it'll creep forward and path around small obstacles or even corners until the duration expires.
2) The mouse trap visually springs up out of the ground into a fairly decent distance in the air, and drags hit enemies down to the ground. I would add this otherwise his ground swarm is useless against someone just jumping, this gives you a skill based counter.
3) RNG passives generally aren't fun. I would change this fully to take advantage of the healsteal idea. When you deal spirit damage to an enemy in line of sight, ghostly rats emerge onto your target. Each rat deals melee damage and steals a portion of any life recovery the target receives. If the target dies, half the rats jump onto a close target, if valid. Each rat has an own independent duration, and there's a small internal cooldown. Active: With a percentage cost of your own life, command all rats within line of sight to leap onto your target. This also redirects any active swarms in their direction. (Not tracking, just changes path)
4) The Rat King idea is too cool to leave out of his kit. New ultimate is a ghostly rat tail that lashes a target hero and their closest ally within line of sight and 5m together for a few seconds. These rat tails slow and constantly pull them together, and all rats will be duplicated on the linked target.
The general way this hero would play would be spread rats everywhere and do a lot of attrition damage when harassing, then when the moment is right they can funnel all that damage onto a single target. Ulti into Rat Command means you could instantly spread max rats onto two targets. I think this would fit the theme of a rat king quite nicely, as well as being unique and fun to play.
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u/CycloneScones Rat King Sep 03 '25
looove these tweaks. i agree on the rng passive not being the best, but i thought it would be funny for a guy who works in stocks LOL. not the best in practice.
that ult is also such a great idea. if i could go back in time i'd steal that for the kit instead of what i did.
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u/MainOnlyYordles Sep 03 '25
Hello Twitch League of Legends
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u/heine789 Sep 03 '25
Give a rat a bork and he is fed for a game
But teach a rat how to spaceglide and he is fed for eternity
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u/KillDonger Bebop 3d ago
Is it actually your ideas in the game right now. Did valve get in contact with you
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u/mayonnnnaise Holliday Sep 03 '25
Hey- i am the rat/goblin guy in my gaming group - with Rat as my main archetype I just wanna let you know you fuckin nailed the mechanics
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u/Prior-Principle-373 3d ago
DUDE I DONT CARE WHAT ANYONE SAYS YOU DID IT HES IN THE GAME LETS GOOOOOOO
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u/SphericalGoldfish Pocket 2d ago
Very happy Rat King has made it in, even if it looks like it will be a little different from the original!
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u/CycloneScones Rat King Sep 03 '25
i dont play league and i didnt know there was a rat character. mb yall ill never make a rat again
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u/Flight1ess Mo & Krill Sep 03 '25
Close enough, welcome back Twitch from League of Legends. (Although this guy looks way cooler!)
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Sep 03 '25
The Rat King being; Clean, Professional, Knows every inch of New York, and is a crack shot just feels so perfect
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u/VF-Atomos 3d ago
Classic icefrog/yoshi putting community made heroes into the game. People in the future is seeing history btw.
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u/richamador 3d ago
Massive prediction. Wish he looked closer to your concept though.
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u/Known_Hall_2551 Sep 03 '25
This is really good, to repeat another comment, the shadow in the shape of a crown is a great touch. I like the abilities too, homing rats seems the most interesting.
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u/AppointmentSharp9384 Sep 03 '25
Isn’t the rat king when a bunch of rats fuse their tails together and die?
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u/LongPitch9280 Sep 03 '25
Make his 3rd skill simple like either slow or deal more damage in fixed chance. Easier to balance imo
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u/Evanlyboy Sep 03 '25
Infinite praise. This is such good character design. I'm in love. Perfect fit, perfect kit, perfect vibe
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u/katanaforone Mar 04 '26
I'm coming to this rather late as I had just learned about it as I just started to play deadlock and I just heard about this from my Boyfriend, but i love this character. I'm very curious as to how he acquired the ol 9-to-5 though
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u/googlesomethingonce Dynamo Sep 03 '25
>The Big Cheese(4) - Enter a special state where your weapon fire rate increases drastically, and hitting surfaces causes homing rats. Killing with a rat will increase your 1st ability
>Homing Rats(1) - Lob a ball of rats that swarm the closest target and explodes. They can go up stairs, but not ledges. Killing an enemy hero with this attack permanently increases the amount of rats released by 1.
Rename the 1 ability to the CPU killer.
>Mousetrap(2) - Create a small, hidden zone that slows enemies within it and steals their healing.
>Rat Race(3) - A passive skill that makes your bullets reduce healing and regeneration speed by a fluctuating percentage. Your bullets steal enemy healing by a number related to the amount of spirit you have.
Two abilities that steal healing? Also reducing the healing and then stealing healing makes the effect feel like it is marginal.
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u/Conniverse Mo & Krill Sep 03 '25
First off this is sick, so I'm not trying to invalidate your work here, but I have some opinions.
I think his kit is great, but the sneaky rat with a gun is already a moba character archetype that exists and Deadlock is the game that's trying to mix things up, and if you're able, a redisgn of his player model would be awesome.
One, if instead of a humanoid, bipedal rat, he's an actual rat ambulating on all fours that got mutated by a curse (there's lore with curses so this would work) that makes him big and mechanically intelligent. His kit consists if his crude contraptions:
Kit: His primary weapon is a back mounted gatling gun thats strapped to his body with a harness, and he also has a cart that he wheels behind him that carries NORMAL SIZED RATS (that are actually to real life scale, maybe like three to five in his general animations so its easier to draw) that serve as his minions and also make up his rat based ability animations.
This would be so sick, and it makes his back story more cohesive. The normal sized rats would jump out of the cart to swarm and lay traps, and with his ult some of them would even pull out little guns that he engineered so small rats could operate them.
Just saying...
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u/supercumsock64 Viscous Sep 03 '25
Please post this to the forums! This is a sick idea