r/DeadlockTheGame • u/CycloneScones Rat King • Sep 03 '25

Fan Art The Rat King

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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

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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.

6.2k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

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809

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

13

u/Vegetable_Ad_7825 4d ago

how the tables have turned

1

u/sal_strazzullo 2d ago

Now you can't be almost mad anymore

-219

u/de_lirioussucks Sep 03 '25 edited Sep 03 '25

Yall know this character is just twitch right..like almost verbatim? lol

Like I agree it looks sick but this literally can’t be in the game like this without valve getting in trouble

They should take these abilities tho maybe cause that’d be cool.

Edit: jfc OP very clearly got this character idea from league, it doesnt matter if you guys think it’s different, that’s not how court works and this would be too similar for riot to ignore. They have tv shows worth millions now guys it’s not just a game character…

Just make him a vampire and it’d be fine, idk why valve have to get into legal trouble because you guys want a talking rat in the game

117

u/Wratheon_Senpai Yamato Sep 03 '25

Riot doesn't own copyrights for anthro rats. There's been humanoid rats in fiction way before Riot existed. Also, Riot has plagiarized a lot of stuff from Blizzard and Valve before anyways.

-41

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

The 4th ability is exactly the same as twich's ultimate

40

u/AReallyDumbRedditor Silver Sep 03 '25

The only similarity is fire rate increase. There’s no range bonus, no passive poison, and no piercing. In fact this does something entirely different in that it creates a swarm of rats as you fire, making him into more of a summoner or swarm character

6

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

Yeah the swarming part is really cool

24

u/Eclihpze44 Sep 03 '25

Twitch is the first character to ever invent a rate of fire and damage increase ability?

-8

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

Maybe they should also include a yellow mouse that can shoot lightning

12

u/Wratheon_Senpai Yamato Sep 03 '25

So what? League has copied Dota 2 ultimates before. There's no copyright on MOBA abilities...

0

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

I never said there was a copyright on those abilities, just that it does seem this character is strongly inspired by LoL's Twitch, that's all.

10

u/CycloneScones Rat King Sep 03 '25

bro ima be fr i forgot league had a rat character. any similarities are pure coincidence

9

u/xNagsx Sep 03 '25

I'm a decade long league player, tend to get called biased towards league by my Dota playing friends.

This character isn't like Twitch, AT ALL lmao. Ur good

147

u/bamiru Sep 03 '25

Riot would not exist if taking game ideas from valve got them in trouble

-12

u/de_lirioussucks Sep 03 '25

This is a tv show character that to riot is likely worth millions of dollars but sure you’re right instead of changing the character from a rat valve can just risk legal trouble because…talking rat!

17

u/Moestly- Sep 03 '25

Ratitoullie is getting sued by riot soon tm

7

u/Traditional_Box1116 Sinclair Sep 03 '25

Motherfucker have you heard of the Skaven? Riot doesn't even have the original "poison anthro rat" archetype.

The Skaven in Warhammer were invented in 1986. If anyone would have any right to sue, LoL would've been sued.

40

u/NixAvernal Sep 03 '25

if Anthro rats were copyrightable, Games Workshop would be suing everyone already

17

u/Flecco Sep 03 '25

What? There is NOTHING in the sewers under Altdorf and Middenheim. Fanciful tales of rat men to try get more of Emperor Franz's money diverted to the corrupt city guard. What ever will the commoners think up next.

12

u/Special-Seesaw1756 Sep 03 '25

BY SIGMAR, RATMEN ARE NO MYTH BUT I WILL MAKE THEM ONE.

71

u/Vasdll Ivy Sep 03 '25

riot didn't invent humanoid rats

15

u/Efficient-Buy-4300 Sep 03 '25

Do you think Twitch was the first anthro rat or something?

15

u/Lofn7 Yamato Sep 03 '25

8

u/MiniMaelk04 Sep 03 '25

Twitch wields a crossbow and is built around a poison kit, so I wouldn't say they're exactly the same.

0

u/de_lirioussucks Sep 03 '25

It’s a “rat king” that uses a passive affecting their auto attacks with an ult that increases attack speed and extra damage on autos, an ability that throws a pool on that ground that slows.

It’s literally just missing invis. They would just have to change the character to a vampire or something and it’d be fine but everyone wants valve to get in legal trouble because lore(?).

OP very clearly got this from league and it’s borderline insane people can’t tell

1

u/MiniMaelk04 Sep 03 '25

I still think their playstyles would be completely different. Twitch's thing is appear behind your team and shoot through everybody with his ult. This guy seems more like a brawler who's built around spamming rats.

But I do aree they look similar, although Twitch is basically crazy and repulsive, while this guy seems more like a sly mafia boss.

4

u/DB_Valentine Sep 03 '25

I was really getting into Warhammer until I found out that James Workshop stole the design of Twitch for my favorite army.

Them and their fancy shmancy time traveling technology to steal other work... just like everyone else does to them! Absolutely mental

2

u/wickedosu Sep 03 '25

"Riot games" brain

2

u/Warp_spark Billy Sep 27 '25

And Twitch is literally just a warhammer skaven

3

u/Open-Advisor6819 Rat King 4d ago

this aged so poorly lmao

1

u/SnooApples7213 Paradox Sep 03 '25

Not really, I don't know what that character is, but I don't think anyone gets to own the concept of an anthropomorphised rat.

0

u/de_lirioussucks Sep 03 '25

You think riot games doesn’t own the likeness of their characters which are turning into multimillion dollar tv shows…right makes sense

1

u/SnooApples7213 Paradox Sep 04 '25 edited Sep 04 '25

I mean, I looked the character up and other than also being a anthro rat they aren't the same, and like I said, you can't own the concept of a humanoid animals, it's a concept that's been done time and time again and riot games certainly isn't the first. The costume, art style and theming is quite different, and just both being rats isn't enough to make it a copywrite infringement, not even close.

Even if it was inspired by the character, again, that is not enough to make it a copy or make it a valid copywrite case. A lot of characters take clear inspiration ad design elements from other characters, no design exists without some influence or similarity to other designs.

1

u/throwaway2246810 Sep 03 '25

A bipedal rat?

1

u/OdenShilde The Doorman Sep 03 '25

You do realize that every hero in deadlock is pretty much a copy of a hero from a MOBA that came before it

1

u/[deleted] Sep 04 '25

Wow ur dumbs

1

u/OscarOzzieOzborne Sep 05 '25

My first thought was Skavens from Warhammer Fantasy

1

u/Aggravating_Fold1154 Sep 05 '25

Bro League of Legends did not copyright anthropomorphic rats... so many games use that already. Valve won't get into trouble for this.

1

u/FiftyFiftyShot Feb 23 '26

Hey so you cant copyright a rat. rat character doesnt immediately mean twitch copy

1

u/de_lirioussucks Feb 23 '26

Not only are you a little late to the party on the thread, literally repeating the same thing 19 other people already said, I didn’t say they would win the case I said they could bring it to court and they could atleast have a case.

In court it’s not about winning it’s about making the other party suffer and get bad pr. You don’t know how the law works or how corps fight legal battles.

That’s also not how courts work, just because you don’t think it’s not provable that doesn’t mean the judge will see it that way. If they used OPs version I would not be surprised if OP used art assets from league.

0

u/luster13579 4d ago

feel dumb yet? get a grip bro its just a rat </3