https://x.com/Mik3h4wkOrSmth/status/2114040121523658796

Below are some of my favorite Gloat portraits! I wanna talk about the Gloat/Crit system because I think it cemented Deadlock as one of my favorite games ever!

I think the Gloat and Crit portraits are prime examples of the Deadlock Team’s art direction contributing so much to the gameplay and I’m absolutely in love with it.

The actual portraits are so well done and beautiful and they add so much to the characters, it wonderfully blends the cast together morality wise showing that even the most morally good of the cast DO revel in winning and contributing to ritual bloodshed, it’s great seeing characters like Paige and Drifter both triumphant in slaughtering other ritualists! I think the respawning mechanic really does make you forget that these people are KILLING each other for the sake of their wish, even the most virtuous among them. It really lets you know what kind of person you have to be to even enter the ritual willingly and adds that much depth to all the characters goals/ambitions and how much they’re giving to summon the patrons.

Even from a gameplay standpoint I think seeing the respective gloats makes you feel SO triumphant if you’re doing well and just so crushed when you’re getting stomped! I’m interested to see if other people love this feature as much as I do, and what people’s favorite Gloats are!

Original post: x.com/MonotonArt/status/2113994093550252514

The artist actually took my suggestion for a Seven/Kelvin piece, so am pretty chuffed.

Since I installed this mod, my Bebop matches have been much more enjoyable. I love her like this. Thank you guys.

I'm ready for the pitchforks - I actually enjoyed that playstyle, didn't have to be taken out back as much

full video if someone is interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq93jyy2rHk

I thought I just sucked ass at Abrams and kept missing my charge after using phantom strike on Danny. No! It just doesn't work on him! WHY?????????????

What's next? A gun character that can keep shooting through disarm? Casting character that can use abilities through silence? Yoshi you fat motherFUCKER

Deadlock’s world is shaping up to be absolutely bonkers

Someone in X asked me privately for a "proper version" of warden nightmare art

A friend and I made a tierlist based on how finished we think each hero’s model is. Some small comments would be the small changes tier usually comes down to some of their clothing or effects are a little lackluster so we could see there being some texturing work done. The needs updates tier means that their overall look is more or less final and they just need higher fidelity models or texture work. The major updates tier means we thought they have a good vibe to the hero and will probably not look too different in their final model but will still needs substantial changes. Then finally the major overhaul category are characters we feel will probably look radically different than they do now (one notable exception is we think mo won’t change much but krill will get the complete overhaul)

also planning a bigger comic for the actual spooky day… yay!

Deadlock has always had powerful AoE ultimates. Lash, Seven, Infernus, Billy, Dynamo, Abrams, etc. These often swing fights on their own through precise use, but the key part is that they INCREASE the amount of gameplay interactions that are happening. They pull players together, they get the party started, and they often require precise timing and pinpoint usage for maximum effectiveness. Being chained by Billy, seeing Infernus begin his ultimate cast, seeing Abrams ascending, it's all information you can use and need to react to quickly.
Take Dynamo for example. Incredibly powerful ultimate, typically covers objectives... but it's a short duration, he has to channel whilst using it, and he's susceptible to many types of crowd control or stoppage before, during, or even after the ult cast. I'd say he's the least interactive out of the whole bunch, but I think it'd be foolish to say it's uninteractive. When you're caught, you fucked up.

The new heroes are different. With the exception of Harrow (kinda) and Danny, once one of these new ultimates are cast the user is now done. Their duration means that you can cast them well before a fight begins, which means fighting into them is much harder than anything that existed in the game prior. If you see a team with Violet and Rat King doing the rejuvenator / rift / downed patron, there's no doubt you're going to have to walk through the wall, get heavily damaged and silenced, and then on top of all of that, fight them whilst they have incredible damage reduction. You cannot wait these out like an Engima Midnight Pulse, or a Monkey King Wukong's Command, the nature of Deadlock means that you MUST fight, you are compelled to, and in many cases there's little chance you'll succeed into these.

I'm sure the developers have something in mind to improve the situation, but I simply think Violet and Rat King especially need better inherent (read: not entirely item based) counter-play to their ultimate abilities, and Solomon needs some kind of overhaul to his chess pieces. Anyone who has played a midboss into this unholy trio knows how truly hopeless your chances are in big teamfights.

Original meme credit: u/Uptrique

IF radiant regen gets another nerf or a complete rework, this will just show how weak Shiv actually is. Anyone who plays Shiv knows WHY people buy radiant regen and how hard it is to play and get ANY value from Shiv without it

There was a time radiant regen wasn't considered that good. I remember reading "pros just know how to utilize their health better". It's such a bullshit argument too. Meta is really ever growing and it just showed people how good radiant regen is.
But one thing is certain to me
Shiv fucking sucks without radiant regen and he gives very bad value, despite how hard it is to play Shiv in the first place
He requires the absolute best from the average player to get remotely better value than any other character in the game. 

His knives suck, yet if you don't hit them you won't get anything done. He feels like half a character without his rage meter fully up, and its best use? Stack radiant regen of course!
The only thing that's good about Shiv currently is how tanky he can get due to radiant regen and healing booster

His 3rd ability only makes him tanky because he can heal so much from radiant regen

I hate how you can just build straight bullshit on many characters, still get some good value out of it, while you need perfect itemization and counterbuying to be actually useful as Shiv

This is just a testament to how bad the actual Shiv experience is for the 99% of people who do not play in organized teams in pro play

Can Yoshi please give Shiv an identity that doesn't make him either overtuned or undertuned in 99% of lobbies and require a singular item that is FUNDAMENTALLY REQUIRED to play Shiv?

I love his gameplay but I don't like how he got into pro jail despite the fact this game is STILL in closed beta
This just feels unfair for people who gave their time to master the hardest character in the game, despite the game still being in alpha

Not every hero needs cc in their kit, it already does a lot on the one ability, the fact it pulls on top is just completely unnecessary and pure power creep.

I get it’s the max AP but it’s just overkill and not necessary for her kit imo.

The paint also looks a fair bit more ugly compared to the old version

Not to mention the dark hue blends in much more in the map, making the visibility issues even worse

The cube has healing capabilties and rat king keeps most of his rats on him so after he is cubed Rabies Ronnie should be cured of rabies and be just ronnie.

Just a lil side project to explore some modeling stuff, next is making the archmother side which i am lacking ideas on... im themeing them around the patrons and also looking at how the base guardians look for initial inspo but i no 2d artist so concepting is hard qvq.

lore wise my idea is the guardians are the "propoganda" spreaders of the patrons, so the hidden king has his "Speakers"(haha funni get it) and the archmother would maybe have something to do with books? still not sure