In the name of the Holy Father, I will lock & load.<\/b>
\nDeadlock’s most recent update, „Old Gods, New Blood“, has added six new heroes to the game. Well, kinda\u2014it’s allowed players to vote on the release order of six new heroes, which have been coming to the cursed apple piecemeal. So far we’ve had sleepy little guy Rem, an actual highschooler (who you bet is somehow listening to My Chemical Romance in the 1950s) Graves, and drunk werewolf Silver, who I am normal about.
The most recent addition to the cast is Venator, leaving the fencer Apollo and carnie Celeste in the lurch, and to be fair it’s not hard to see why\u2014this man has aura, and I’m not just talking about the shining power of the Holy Spirit.
Venator, also known as Father Quinn Rourke, is a member of the Venators, „a Vatican-sanctioned order whose members are deployed to regions with a high concentration of supernatural predators.
„Few in number, their modus operandi is to observe, identify, and exterminate. They are methodical, they are precise, and once they identify a threat to the flock they are relentless. But even amongst those who are called The Sword Of St. Benedict, one stands apart from the others. A man whose hardened heart has allowed him to pay terrible prices in the name of the greater good. and he has once again been dispatched to New York.“
So yeah, he’s cool as\u2026 well, not hell. Cool as heaven? Sure.
Venator is a gun character, and that’s not just because he’s literally wielding so many armaments that he needs to light melee by headbutting people. Almost all of his abilities scale with weapon damage, so you’ll be building for just that on this character.
First up we’ve got Consecrating Grenade, which deals weapon damage (told you) and sets enemies on fire. It’s a projectile that bounces once before exploding, leading to a potential for trickshots\u2014though it’ll also detonate on contact with an enemy. Like a lot of Venator’s abilities, it also deals „pure“ damage, which ignores all resistances, and reduces enemy healing, making him a good pick against self-healing heroes like Victor.
Gutshot is a shotgun blast that deals (you guessed it) weapon damage, while also pushing enemies back. If you bonk someone into a wall with this, you also apply a stun\u2014at max level, stunning someone like this also makes your next heavy melee attack „blessed“, dealing pure damage and executing low-health enemies. And since melee damage scales with weapon damage in this game, that’s gonna hurt.
Hex-Lined Snap Trap (killer band name, by the way) is his most finickity ability. You slide a trap across the floor that arms after a delay, and if an enemy walks into it, they take spirit damage, are immobilized, and become revealed\u2014letting you see them through walls for a bit afterwards.
These suckers stay on the floor for about 30 seconds, so they can sometimes catch people unawares, and at their max level Venator deals 20% damage to any poor sod whose gormless legs are stuck in them. It’s a little tricky, but if you aim it right, you can combo your Gutshot into one of these.
His ultimate, Ira Domini (literally ‚the wrath of the lord‘) gets his stake-firing crossbow involved. He can shoot three stakes while this is active, each dealing a boatload of weapon damage\u2014with the last one being blessed. At max level, however, all of his Ira Domini bolts are blessed, so you’ll likely be maxing this ultimate fairly early on.
As for how to build him? Weapon damage, mostly. Taking a look at the build browser (where I can find such early-day delights as „GUN CATHOLIC DADDY BUILD“ and „TOP 1 PRIEST NA“), that means items like Fleetfoot, Titanic Magazine, and Bullet Lifesteal\u2014eventually leading into Glass Cannon, Lucky Shot, and Vampiric Burst.
Now only Apollo and Celeste remain before all of the new updates‘ heroes are released, and honestly, I’m pretty excited\u2014all of these new heroes have been really interesting from a design perspective, even if I hate Graves‘ little zombies and stupid immobilising wall that I keep walking into (my fault) so much. It’s enough to make me want to not join the black parade at all, but I shall confess such sins to Father Quinn and hope for absolution.<\/p>\n