You can’t say that Deadlock doesn’t have variety. Shortly after it added the sleepiest, cutest ‘lil guy Rem to its roster, Valve switched things up with zombie-summoning goth girl Graves, and has now announced, ahem, “hot mess” werewolf lady Silver. She has been met with the exact reaction you’d expect from a large group of gamers with overactive imaginations, and has led others to believe that the MOBA is degenerating into “goon slop.” Aesthetics aside, I can’t wait until she’s released to try out her shapeshifting abilities while I fire devastating shotgun blasts at anyone who crosses my path.
On that note, we’ll start with her abilities. It’s only polite, after all. Due to the nature of her lycanthropic curse, Silver has more abilities than your average Deadlock character, owing to her mid-skirmish transformations – think Gnar from League of Legends.
As a human, Silver can use the Slam Fire ability to instantly reload her gun, gaining bonus fire rate and 300% damage rate but reduced accuracy for the next three shots. If you’re even closer to your foe, think about opting for the Boot Kick instead, which lets you dash forward to, you guessed it, kick the enemy. This ability can be combined with a melee attack mid-animation for extra damage, and marks your opponent, who will then take extra spirit damage the next time you shoot them.
For her last human ability, Silver can utilize Entangling Bola, which applies spirit damage and applies slow to your enemy by 45%, while also preventing them from using their movement abilities, or jumping. This has great synergy with Boot Kick, and it’s perfect just before you pop your Lycan Curse.
Lycan Curse is Silver’s signature ability which sees her transform into lupine form. Dealing damage generates bloodlust, a meter which increases even faster when you have low health. Once filled, you automatically cast Lycan Curse and become the sexiest She Wolf since Shakira.
While Lycan Curse can be activated early by pressing the Ult key, managing it will be key to success with Silver. The ability alone gives you 350 bonus health and heals 30% of your missing health, as well as adding resistances to bullets and spirit attacks and increasing your movement speed. Combining it with the Entangling Bola can devastate an opponent in an isolated fight, and that’s before you get to Silver’s werewolf-form abilities.
Go For The Throat may sound like it’s ripped straight from Heroes of the Storm’s own werewolf, Greymane, but it shares few similarities. Instead of leaping forward, Deadlock’s version of the ability deals damage to any enemies within 7m in front of you, and lifesteals 40% of that.
Mauling Leap, however, is a leap forward and slash with your wolf claws. It also debuffs your opponent’s bullet resist and causes them to take spirit damage for 15 seconds. Finally, Silver’s seventh (yes, seventh) ability is Tail Whack, which disarms and slows opponents.
Despite the power of her abilities, Silver will be a tricky character to use to her full potential. She’s a slow jungler, weak in her human form, and her focus on combat and short-ranged attacks means she can be easily kited. But she’ll be a powerful ally if you can manage her curse and pop it at the perfect time.
Silver is the third new hero to be added to Deadlock as a part of the Old Gods, New Blood update, but honestly I expected her to be added first. I don’t mean to get all #TeamJacob on you, but the fanart that has already been drawn of her frankly can’t be shared on a professional website. Valve itself describes her as a “hot mess;” what else is there to say?
Deadlock players have taken to Reddit to share memes about her being “goon slop” and complain about “the insane number of thirst posts” featuring her. I imagine that’s exactly the reaction Valve expected, but hopefully it calms down a little after this initial rush.
Silver will be added to Deadlock on Thursday, February 5. You can download the game on Steam here so you’re ready to get your wolf on when she arrives.
Whether you’re aesthetically interested or a mechanics purist, Silver really has something for everyone. I imagine she’ll be a difficult character to master, but those who put the time in will be richly rewarded with plenty of room for skill expression.
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