This iteration is an anchor tank / bruiser; think Rein x Orisa with dashes of Winston & D.Va, but hopefully feeling like her own worthy hero.
I have tried to avoid damage numbers as I am not a game designer & I feel that balanced values can be produced working up from my suggestions/ideas.
**D.Mon Lore Summary & Speculation**
For the record, I don’t think they should add all the MEKA pilots, especially not yet.
There are several factors to consider in order to do such a thing correctly: releasing each one incrementally while prioritising more actualised characters from the lore, giving each MEKA unique & relevant hero kits, giving them interesting backstories & future prospects in the lore; all the while still not overshadowing D.Va or making her redundant…
So my reasoning why D.Mon over anyone else is because there’s potentially loads of story & possibly even good story to be told through her.
As for her & D.Va’s relationship; apparently they both have the “D.” prefix from being in the same e-sports team, but there are other suggestions that they are far closer than we definitely know, to some extent at least.
That on its own already suggests they are close, or at least know each other better than any of the other MEKA pilots do.
For further things, these are largely suggestive, but we can glean some relatively sensible/clear information from them…
On the Busan MEKA HQ map, their rooms & gaming bean bags are situated next to one another. Nothing huge but it does further prove their familiarity. It could possibly suggest that they are genuinely reliant on each other in this extreme situation & even that they asked particularly for their rooms to be adjacent because of this.
During Shooting Star, it is hearing D.Mon get hit during the giant gwishin fight (flashback) that seems to be the exact moment (within the greater situation) that breaks D.Va & induces the behaviours we see her display in Shooting Star.
This suggests that D.Va truly cares for D.Mon, possibly (& understandably) more than the other MEKA members.
We could take this further & hypothesise that D.Va is particularly affected by this not just due to their long-lasting relationship, but due to what exactly D.Mon means to D.Va.
D.Mon being taken out surprising D.Va to such an extent suggests she would have never imagined this to occur. We can take from this that D.Va views D.Mon as an older sister, role model or mentor; or at least as a strong fighter or dependable team-mate.
The fact that this also hurts her emotionally shows how much faith/respect D.Va must have in/for D.Mon.
Then, finally, we can look at D.Mon’s attitude towards D.Va. The one image we do have of her is at the press conference following the giant gwishin attack.
Firstly, the look on her face, directed towards D.Va, is hard to definitively read; but she is very likely feeling anything from frustrated, to jealousy, possibly even overlooked. She doesn’t look happy at least.
We can ascribe this reaction to the situation at hand, but that could well be part of the problem also. D.Mon could well be jealous of D.Va for her fame, for her comparative recognition within MEKA despite her efforts, or even annoyed at how she feels Hana has changed into D.Va. She could obviously both be jealous of D.Va’s situation & D.Va herself, or attribute one to the other.
She could also be disappointed in herself, being a very obviously confident & strong person (D.Mon, Beast) & is developing an inferiority complex because of her best friend outperforming her & suffering far less.
There is also the possibility that she finds her sole value in life through piloting with MEKA & D.Va’s existence tarnishes that idea; or that she didn’t want any of this at all & has been putting up a strong front for everyone else’s sake, but no-one has actually considered that she might be suffering too, especially her often-absent best friend, D.Va.
A small note on this also, D.Mon has the exact same grease streak on her face that D.Va has within the short. This is used with D.Va as a contrast to her pink whiskers to suggest her duality, hard-working nature & her psychological & emotional damage.
This is later expanded upon through use of a plaster on the same location to indicate she is now healing (emotionally).
I would take this to suggest at least that D.Mon is working just as hard as D.Va & has her own emotional baggage due to the situation (with MEKA & with D.VA herself); which again would feel even worse when your best friend seemingly lives the high life & gets all the glory for going through way less hardship (until the events of Shooting Star).
The other MEKA pilots all COULD have impactful stories to be told that don’t interfere with or overshadow each other; but this will be difficult to achieve.
However, this existing & possibly strained relationship with D.Va can open up loads of avenues for story-telling (especially in terms of intra-MEKA conflict) to move us forward & that is why I think D.Mon at least is worth adding at some point.
I’ve also tried to only use aspects of her mech’s design that we have definitely seen in either Shooting Star or the Busan MEKA Base map.
So if any of this feels familiar, it’s because all that we know definitively about her mech’s kit at present is very similar to existing game mechanics (Rein’s shield, D.Va’s boosters). But I have added some of my own ideas based on these where possible.
**D.Mon Hero Kit**
D.Mon - Beast Mech
HP: Anywhere from 500 - 1000 depending on size & relative tanking abilities/statistics, split between health & shields or armour.
If Beast stays near 2x Rein’s size, 1000 may even be necessary, but I’d rather not take it that far & that’s also very unlikely as it seems unfeasible. I’d imagine with a shrunk in-game model we will end up with a 600/700 health pool.
Primary Fire [M1]: “The Beast’s Claws” (Close Combat Limbs)
3-hit combo with knockback on final hit.
2 single jab punches, 1 double palm / thrust kick.
Faster than Rein swings, lower damage. (50?)
1st 2 hits only hit single targets, larger hitbox (& damage?) for 3rd hit.
Each hit could dash Beast forward a very small amount.
Alternate Fire [M2]: “Thick-Hide” (Personal Shield)
Raise personal shield a la Rein.
2000 - 3000 HP, see Shooting Star for size. See E for why so much.
Could differentiate from Rein in some way;
- Makes D.Mon stationary but gives some kind of resistances.
- Only allows you to move in short hops, but these hops cause knockback.
- Juggernaut movement style that gains speed when continuously moving in a single direction.
- Pressing M1 while shield is active changes the shape/size of the barrier.
- Pressing M1 while shield is active gives it an extra property, such as a repulsive blast when damaged in a certain time frame?
All of the above extras are huge maybe’s.
Ability 1 [E]: “Vanguard Aegis” (Deployable Barrier a la Orisa)
Place a copy of your personal shield within a close range.
500HP barrier, subtracting the amount from your shield’s total health pool.
Can place max of 2/3 at a time?
AoE knockback & damage on placement, acting very briefly as physical cover to instigate damage, then becoming a regular barrier.
Either no cooldown (due to shield-health distribution mechanic) or a relatively short one. (4-6 sec?)
Ability 2 / Reload [R]: “Reclaim/Rend” (Return your deployed barriers into your shield generator)
Recall any placed barriers within range into your shield’s health pool.
Barriers do not dissipate to do this, but move quickly from current position to D.Mon’s position unless LoS/environment prevents this, at which point they dissipate & the shield health will not be instantly recovered (instead it will shortly start to regenerate as normal).
Any enemies in path of barriers returning to D.Mon will be knocked towards her & damaged.
Again, in this short instance, barriers act as physical objects, & can still be destroyed in flight based on their current health.
Again, either no cooldown or a moderate one. (8-10 sec?)
Ability 3 [Shift]: “Stampede” (Uses thrusters to accelerate)
Mid-way between D.Va boosters & Rein charge, 3-4 second duration?
Can perform all other abilities during this period.
Grounded, no pin but more manoeuvrable than Rein charge, more damage & knockback than D.Va, or no contact damage & all damage has to come from punch combos etc.?
OR when Stampede is active; D.Mon gains slightly increased movement speed & alterations to her M1 & M2.
M1 now causes her punches etc. to dash forward significantly more than before, or at all if this is not initially implemented.
M2 causes her to raise her shield, but locks her movement to her current direction. While in this state, the longer she continues to move in that direction, the more speed she will build up; entering a knockback charge state similar to Hammond’s fiery ball. I referred to this as a “Juggernaut” style movement mode earlier in this concept.
When using Primary Fire (Punches) during Stampede, the final hit could be changed from the knockback kick/double palm.
- The 3rd hit could be a grab & throw, suppressing the chosen target & launching them a great distance. I would not want this to have wall impact damage; as much as I like Doomfist, the community would not appreciate another one-shot punch->wall technique.
- It could also be an uppercut, launching the targets into the air along with D.Mon, so as to also give her some vertical mobility?
- It could also be a jumping ground slam, dealing AoE damage?
Any of these “combo finishers” would prematurely end the thruster mode if executed. The option to cancel it prematurely could also be a consideration.
Moderate cooldown (6-10 sec?)
Ultimate [Q]: “The Beast’s Cage” (Spinning shield transformation Ultimate)
8 copies of her deployable barrier (500HP) project around her at regular intervals at a similar radius to Winston’s bubble, spinning to damage & knockback enemies that they make contact with, while also shielding from incoming fire; acting as physical objects when contacting enemies, but generally acting as barriers for teammates to shoot through.
This lasts 8-10 seconds & D.Mon can perform all her other abilities as normal while this is active.
Using Reclaim [R] will also cause the barriers summoned by the ultimate to push in towards D.Mon quickly before returning to their original distance, knocking any enemies close enough further towards her.
You can set the orientation of the spin: clockwise or anticlockwise by pressing Q multiple times a la Symmetra’s Photon Barrier.
Possibly pressing Q again while the transformation is active will allow the spin direction to be changed. This could only be allowed once, available a certain number of times or infinitely usable within the limits of the ultimate’s duration.
Skip to 7.15 in the video below to see a visual example of how I envision this working.
[Earthen Aegis Arcana]
Passive [Q]: “Dismount/Summon the Beast” (Basically - Eject/Call Mech)
It seems silly for the other MEKA pilots to not also do this, as much as Blizzard & the community will hate the idea & as sort of boring as it is… It does just make sense though.
Baby D.Mon - 150 HP.
Uses a shotgun similar to Enforcers (Retribution); needs to charge to fire heavy damage close-range slug/pellets.
More close range threat, less ranged ult charge build compared to D.Va.
She could also get one 500HP barrier, or can summon a previously placed one to her location; but this is likely too much.
Summon the Beast [Q]:
Beast bursts up from the ground in front of D.Mon, knocking enemies up & away.
D.Mon climbs up the back of the mech & hops around the front into the open cockpit.
Conclusion/Summary
D.Mon’s high health pool & shielding potential is mitigated by her lack of any ranged abilities & low-moderate mobility. She has a great deal of area denial (largely in the form of forced movement), but this can also mitigate the potentially high amount of damage she can do with her nearly pure close-range combat.
Any thoughts?
![:slight_smile:](https://d74zh8edaijub.cloudfront.net/en/overwatch/images/emoji/twitter/slight_smile.png?v=5" ":slight_smile:")
or so that your personal shield can suffer briefly from poor deployable barrier placement.
![:blush:](https://d74zh8edaijub.cloudfront.net/en/overwatch/images/emoji/twitter/blush.png?v=5" ":blush:")
thank you!