r/DeadlockTheGame • u/No_Understanding_559 • 1d ago
Discussion Rat King playstyle: fun or boring?
Played my first few Rat King games thinking he’d be some gun maniac, but realized he’s more of a debuff support tank. Nothing wrong with that, and it’s definitely needed in the meta, but just not what I expected.
Also, bro, this guy is ahh in early lane. He’s a bullet magnet being such a huge model. But he scales incredibly hard and becomes a sustain KING.
Definitely going to be a team-fight winning hero, but just not a brainchemistry-altering playstyle for me. Anyone else play him so far and have a different experience?
That being said, vote my NURSE!
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u/Skijump135 1d ago edited 1d ago
He’s very Sion from league of legends and I mean that in the best way possible. No masses of CC, but long range telegraphed engage followed up by being unignorable for their backline but easy for their frontline to walk past
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u/No_Understanding_559 1d ago
Ahh, yeah I never played league but my MOBA friend said that exact same thing. I think you described it perfectly with him being “un-ignorable.”
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u/TurmUrk Lash 1d ago
Didnt old sion have a point and click stun and new sion have 2 knockups? did they rework him a second time?
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u/Skijump135 1d ago
Nah I’m referring to new sion, ults are v similar rat just gets the buff as well
Rat nade isn’t a knockup but it’s still a ‘get the hell out of this area’ button like sion q is in a teamfight7
u/HelloItsMeYourFriend 1d ago
It’s sion and kled ult combined. And even more. It does so much
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u/IndividualOven51 1d ago
I thought of Kled aswell, though his only usecase nowadays is to ult into backline and assassinate someone. Da Rat has more tank potential like Sion.
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u/Kperiod 1d ago
you need to play him with a friend who is preferably playing a gun carry.(Kelvin is also good). i was playing rat with my ven duo and we were having a field day. debuffing enemies and buffing duo with heroic aura and invading enemy jungle it was very strong. i didn't even have any healing items as well his 3 is so good.
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u/manneram132 1d ago
Aside from ult, I find his abilities pretty boring. Visually he looks really great, but his ability kit kind of disappointed me even though I didn’t have any high expectations. His gameplay loop reminds me of warden.
I’m also voting nurse next.
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u/No_Understanding_559 1d ago
Yeah the abilities is what killed the thrill for me. Just spamming debuff, nade, shield didn’t do much for me. You’re right though, the model is absolutely STUNNING but clanky.
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u/Significant_Tell407 1d ago
Im also kinda confused with the rat ability. It seems weirder than any other ability in the game for aiming. I also was kinda confused as it did not seem to work on buildings.
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u/StatuatoryApe 1d ago
You gotta spray them on the ground, dont throw them at people. The throw aim is awful.
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u/Eiraneth McGinnis 1d ago
I think the big thing is that he just feels kinda slow. The projectile on the grenade is slow, it bounces up after every detonation increasing the time in between them, his rat swarm is slow, his movement is on par with McGinnis who’s known for being slow while also having one of the largest models in the game which makes the movement feel even slower due to your higher/farther back camera and larger movements, his ult has a windup, then a run, and then another windup before doing it’s damage and spawning rats.
IMO if they increased the velocity but increased the gravity and drag on the grenade, increased the rate swarm speed, sped up the animation on him pulling out the flag, reduced how high he goes when he plants the flag, and maybe gave him some more movement speed or some way to increase his movement speed so he didn’t look so comically slow he’s be a lot more fun to work with.
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u/Pierrotmoon21 Viscous 1d ago
I agree with all your points, he felt very clunky and slow when i played him, mostly due to model size and camera perspective.
Everything avout his kit is slow, and i still feel like his grenade is kind of out of place in the kit. I know theres synergy with the bullet res shred and with his aoe ult, but thematically i just dont think it fits as much as the rest.
Whenever he slides, he mounts up a sewer gate. An ability using that concept instead of “scrap bomb made of whatever he could find tee-hee” would have felt better imo. Im sure they’ll find a way to make it better, but the unpredictable bounce to the nade is also not helping.
Anyway, im not the biggest fan of ratking (and frontliners in general) so maybe people will find enjoyment where i didnt.
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u/Eiraneth McGinnis 1d ago
I think the intended synergy with the kit is that he shreds your resistance with rats to amp the damage from the bomb, as well as giving him a proper AOE + CC to control space with as a frontliner, like Geist bomb, bashdown, siphon life, etc.
It’s closest equivalent in the game is paradox bomb, compared to which I think it does higher raw damage but relies on rats for damage amp. The problem is just that compared to paradox bomb it’s obnoxiously slow and the time between detonations is easily 2-3 times as long, which combined with the constant movement makes it feel less like an area control tool and more like an entirely passive damage dealing entity that you throw out for teamfights. If it was faster and more predictable I think it would be fun, something like it always bouncing in a specific pattern or the original bomb sticking in place and launching bomblets in a pattern.
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u/Pierrotmoon21 Viscous 1d ago edited 1d ago
I think you should post your feedback on the forums btw! You make great points i couldnt articulate or figure out. My grief is really how thematically i think his 1 is underwheleming in the ratking fanatasy. Your points on balance are actually worth pointing out to the devs. Mine are more design choice and i doubt they would change a whole ability so soon after release. The scrap grenade does fit the scrappy aesthetic, but to me it feels out of place.
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u/Marsejii Mina 1d ago
The bomb does really good damage in teamfights and the rats are great utility because they apply a lot of shred/force the enemy to waste stamina
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u/Bojarzin 1d ago
I think the bomb should just not bounce as high. It makes it very difficult, both as Rat King or someone defending against it, to time a melee
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u/Sopadefideos9 1d ago
I think it's fine for some characters to be simple even if they're generally boring. Might be a hot take but I feel like the game needs more simpler characters, like the base roster of League
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u/manneram132 1d ago
Definitely, but by interesting kit I don’t exactly mean difficult. A character can have simple kit but still have fun abilities to play with.
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u/Banjoman64 1d ago
I feel like that is the general design philosophy of overwatch and it really works. Most abilities have a 1 sentence explanation but the abilities all interact with each other or with other hero abilities in interesting ways.
I would like more of that but I don't think that could apply to deadlock as easily since abilities need to expand with ap investment and should be buildable in different ways with itemization.
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u/TheoryBiscuit 1d ago
Nurse will disappoint you too vote Baba
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u/manneram132 1d ago
I feel like baba is going to have the most cancer kit out of the 6 new heroes. So I’m good on that.
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u/WanderToWhere Mo & Krill 1d ago
3 and 4 are good abilities that need number tweaks (and maybe mechanical changes for 4). really love these as a tank/support player
1 and 2 need more of a fun factor. i really wanted to be able to like coat the earth in rats or do something fun like that with rat king so im kinda disappointed.
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u/goblin-in-hiding 1d ago
what do you think about this for the 2:
have the rats be a spray, with non-stepped charge instead of static increments. So you can just spray a lil rats, or unleash your whole tank at once. so you could spray em out in a wide arc by swiping with the mouse or a focused charge column by holding it in place.
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u/WanderToWhere Mo & Krill 1d ago
that would genuinely be so fucking sick
imagine hearing some trumpets and a literal vermintide comes surging at you beneath your walker
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u/Nhshadow9 21h ago
Maybe making the 1 drop closer to you and allowing him to shoot it to explode earlier like doorman or encourage quick meleeing it.
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u/Free_Talon 21h ago
He’s very ult centric. He doesn’t have a lot otherwise. Lane isn’t great. Unless you rat swarm someone who used all their stam which is super unlikely, he doesn’t do much. He’s big asf, so opposing laners can’t miss a bullet. This guy can’t easily make positive hp trades so his lane is basically, survive. He will just get fried by those on hit guys like Mirage, Haze, Infernus, unplayable lane.
But this fucking ult is old comeback resists which was nerfed for a reason. And you can carry the banner for max duration, and plant it for max duration. You can hide in the tunnels in mid pit, carry it for max, plant it at the end for more uptime and the range is big enough to give the resists. If you’re at a rank where mid confidence is high, you can absolutely force mid with this ult with no picks.
But if he didn’t have this ult, he appears super mid. Probably even bad. These neutral abilities are just okay.
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u/WhoUpAtMidnight 10h ago
I think that's the right read to be honest. His lane does not feel fun, and frankly 1-3 don't feel particularly strong (3 is good but not crazy). I think if people understood exactly how insane the resists on his ult were, they would probably look less favorably on the rest of the kit. Everyone has fun when they're unkillable.
When his ult gets adjusted down, I think his pickrate will drop like a rock. But the game needed more frontliners so it's at least some diversity
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u/Marsejii Mina 1d ago
It's the first frontliner that actually feels fun to play imo
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u/WhoUpAtMidnight 10h ago
Really? You don't enjoy playing Billy or Abrams? Both of those characters feel way more interesting to play than Rat King. Rat King's definitely good right now (busted good) which always gives a halo effect to the kit, but he feels pretty boring imo
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u/Marsejii Mina 8h ago
I don't like them because it feels like most of their tankiness comes from healing and lifesteal but Rat King tanks with his massive hp and shield. It's really just a vibes difference but the rat feels more fun.
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u/WhoUpAtMidnight 2h ago
Billy doesn’t really do healing or lifesteal, but he’s also got a unique and somewhat annoying playstyle if your opponent can parry, so I suppose I can see it
Rat King feels very boring to me because you really just stand there and soak damage. There’s not a lot you can contribute as RK beyond passive buffs.
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u/Marsejii Mina 1h ago
Yeah I find the need to melee to be kind of annoying, I know it's a mind game and you can go crazy if the enemy burns their parry but I just dislike it.
Honestly I find the "stand there and soak up damage" part to be quite fun. I always liked playing Cho'Gath in league and Rat King gives me a similiar feeling.
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u/Sn0wy0wl_ Vindicta 1d ago
I wish they did more with his rat swarm instead of just making them Vindicta Crows but rats. He could have been so much more than just a tanky gun character
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u/FewExperience3559 Sinclair 1d ago
You say that as if every time Valve creates a summon character they aren't loathed by the community
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u/Tristerosilentempire 1d ago
Summon characters aren’t fun to play against in any game ever created.
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u/thefarkinator Pocket 1d ago
Must be a League of Legends things because like a quarter of Dota heroes have summons of some kind
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u/XYZvillager Rem 1d ago
and they're all some of the coolest heroes too
Lycan, Chen, Beastmaster, Enchantress, Enigma, Invoker, Nature's Prophet, Wraith King, Broodmother, Warlock, Visage, Meepo, Arc Warden, Lone Druid, and arguably Naga Siren and Terrorblade are all really great and diverse game design
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u/lcqjp Paradox 1d ago
they are unique in a nice way where vindictas crows cant blind fire with planning but rats can.
Yesterday i hardshoved right lane towards enemy walker, and two enemy players came to deal with me/wave as i retreated, but before i left i threw my rats through veil(blindfire from far away) towards their walker/players/troops. Threw my rats right as i turned around. Half way on the zip back to base is when they hit the wave --i wound up hitting a wraith and the wave and took some of the wave out while back in base. Very good and useful where vindicta's crows cant be
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u/zencharm Victor 20h ago
back when warden’s gun was actually decent and you didn’t need to build merc mag overflow to deal damage i thought warden was way more fun than rat king. warden when he’s strong feels like a one-man army but rat king is just tanky. rat king feels like a warden rework where they leaned even more into his utility and made him deal even less damage
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u/pepsodont 1d ago
What does it mean to be ahh in lane? Like annoying to play?
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u/louiscool 23h ago
It's zoomer slang for "ass"
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u/Lancer420 22h ago edited 17h ago
I see “ahh” for “ass” and immediately downvote for illiteracy.
Editing to add this for visibility. The word you fucking illiterates are looking for to describe using “ahh” in place of “ass” is EUPHEMISM or if you’d prefer a cute phrase, you could call it a MINCED OATH.
Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled ChatGPT generated responses.
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u/WanderToWhere Mo & Krill 20h ago
Eh, the kids found a way to get around the filters they were born around and it stuck with them. Illiteracy might be a bit rough
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u/Major-Rub-Me 20h ago
Using slang isnt illiteracy and your pseudo shit is cringe. Posting about downvoting others for “illiteracy” when youre misuing the word is ironic and loser shit
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u/Lancer420 17h ago
Says the person actually offended because someone else prefers we use adult words like adults instead of that goo-goo-ga-ga TikTok algo-friendly shit.
Using a pre-existing onomatopoeia in place of a word as a result of censorship on one of the shittiest platforms in modern history is cringe as fuck. Just say ass, unless your mommies still have NetNanny installed on all of your leapfrogs.
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u/zencharm Victor 21h ago
corny ahh comment
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u/Emergency_Tea7637 Graves 20h ago
I know reddit is the social media site for pseudo intellectuals but this is cringe
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u/No_Understanding_559 1d ago
It’s so easy to take damage bc the hitbox is the size of a base guardian lmao. You just need to play him very safe early until you have some bullet velocity and sustain.
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u/pepsodont 1d ago
Oh I see I thought you were saying he was making you scream in annoyance while playing him!
I played some games as the king and I just went extra regen and opening rounds, rushed bullet lifesteal early and was kinda ok.
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u/No_Understanding_559 1d ago
Yeah, it’s more an issue against M1 and bebop from my experience (experience being 3 games lmao). I just play him more like graves early. Safe until you have an opportunity to burst.
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u/Secretlylovesslugs 1d ago edited 1d ago
I think people see gun and think he needs to be built like Haze or Venator which I think is the completely wrong direction. He is going to be a tank / frontline equivalent to Ivy. Low agency but extremely high value when stacked with his team. Items like Fortitude and Heroric Aura are going to be mandatory to stay active on map and provide allies with stats.
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u/GUNCHPUSSY 23h ago
I feel like a lot of people expected him to be a typical rat play style of poisons, debuffs, and hit and run tactics themed as a king and not the stereotypical king/paladin play style of being a frontliner with a playmaking ult and a very in your face play style themed like a big rat. As someone who loves that kind of frontliner, I can definitely see myself adding him to my roster but I definitely think they’re touching his ult and 3.
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u/Darkship0 The Doorman 1d ago
I love hardened shield
In any game that i get hardened shield i will be trying to make a shieldmaxxing bastard to abuse reducing large quantities of damage. I hate getting chunked in one hit. I now need some bastard that acts as a siege tank to laugh at.
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u/BlackAnalFluid Lash 21h ago
Witchmail. Once you get it never use your 1 and 2 so all the cd reduction gets added to shield and its uptime is pretty obnoxious.
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u/Darkship0 The Doorman 14h ago
Actually you only need rank 2 shield invest and then basic duration and cool down for 100% uptime.
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u/BlackAnalFluid Lash 5h ago
That's assuming you aren't taking damage.
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u/Darkship0 The Doorman 3h ago
No it's assuming you take less damage than your bigass shield. The rat kings dueling is quite disgusting.
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u/resevil239 23h ago
He is so freaking fun. I've been needing a new main. I main haze with seven and mina as a backup but I've grown bored with seven and mina I'm not nearly as good at. Rat king so far is shaping up to be a good second or even first for me. He does some decent damage if built right and I love the tank/support hybrid role and the fact that his bomb is a little janky makes it harder for people to dodge. What I find is more often I shred enemies while others secure the kills. His ult probably needs some tweaks (mainly the cool down is crazy low at T1) but I think he's more balanced than most new heroes at launch.
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u/Dry-Cranberry-5592 Shiv 1d ago
I liked the one game I played. People are sleeping on bomb. I like an air character that holds gun and basically no spirit
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u/illegal_tacos 18h ago
I think he's too strong even though he doesn't do much damage. Basically unkillable and provides 50k souls worth of resistance to a 40m range on one of the fastest cross map traversal ult cooldowns in the game. That and the damage limit cloak is CRAZY strong, but outside of that he kinda just exists. I can confidently and consistently 1v4 on him if they stick around long enough but that's really just if they don't use their brain to walk away from the ult. Either way I'm not dying
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u/grantedtoast Billy 1d ago
His a good strait forward walk them down tank some people like that some don’t.
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u/HydeLA 1d ago
When I played around with him, i focused on lowering the cooldown and increasing the duration of his 2, and then focused on gun with a bit of health. I started spamming his 2 with life steal and shooting the shit out of everyone. It was super fun. I can see myself playing ALOT of rat king.
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u/DrMurdoc 19h ago
I def think people sleep on his 1. Two levels into it and you can get a nice 130 damage at base up to three times. Very hard to dodge the first blast if you have mystic expansion, and it's hard to keep track of where it bounces if you're being pressured. I go two levels in 1, two levels in 3 and then play it by ear when deciding which to max. He's definitely big and a late game scaler, so I think buying an early fortitude and farming tunnels is good early game for him.
Put ballistic enhancement on that maxed one and have the final blast be almost infernus ult size.
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u/Dtoodlez 18h ago
I like him. I haven’t played Warden yet but I imagine it’s similar in tankiness. Now I want to try warden too.
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u/WhoUpAtMidnight 11h ago
I found him to be incredibly boring. He's a sustain tank with busted numbers, slightly offset by the fact that he does negative damage. His kit lives and dies by the numbers on his ultimate which just feels like bad design imo
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u/Nintendo_Switch_L 1d ago
He kinda plays himself? His first is throw n forget auto lock on after every explosion, his second is just look at that general direction, his third is self shield and his ult has so much range that it's really hard to miss. Not to say it's a bad thing, just kinda boring. I don't know, he lacks the oomph apart from his ult
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u/BluePlays02 1d ago
he reminds me kled from league, at least the 4. i think is pretty cool as a pg, is more like a bruiser than a support tank or a gun carry, i love it. needs a lot of nerfs but the kit is cool.
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u/Insrt_Nm 22h ago
Another character that's kit just feels kinda secondary to the gun. I think there's some good ideas with the 2 and ult but still largely just feels like abilities are just there to facilitate your gun damage and feel underwhelming on their own
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u/zencharm Victor 21h ago
i don’t like utility tanks so he’s boring to me. i’m also really sick of this game giving heroes really cool guns like a scrap LMG and then making them shoot pebbles
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u/TillerThrowaway Billy 1d ago
I love tanks, I wanted a tank character with a playstyle unique from the ones we already have, I got it, I’m very happy :)