Siertse, the Hemorachnid (aka “the Heart”)
Super Short Summary: Siertse is a spider-and-blood-themed support that does best when coordinating with multiple allies. Her primary and second ability both hit a small area around her: the primary damages and heals, and the secondary provides future shielding, allowing her to do set-up turns. Rounding out the kit, we have Bloodburst and Neutralize. The former allows allies to heal off an enemy similar to Khita, and the latter is a free-action debuff-removal. Her ultimate spins a web. Overall, she is probably difficult to play in Solo Queue but a lot of fun with a coordinated team.
By the way, Night may make some sketches of concept art for this concept? I’ll let you know if and when.
CLICK ME TO SKIP THE COMMENTARY.
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Commentary: This concept started out with the primary. I wanted some sort of Su-ren / Aurora / Meridian mix that could help nearby allies. It was very important to me that we got another support that could actually heal people (only 6 supports can directly heal an ally!) so I put that right into the primary, even if it’s relatively weak numerically. I then devised her second ability which seemed like a cool pre-emptive shielding tool. I had some other ideas floating around but focused on theming. I didn’t want the support to have a dash…have to be careful with those, and I had given one to Holly. I came up with the spider theme while walking through a forest in Costa Rica and seeing some spiders. I’m not sure where I got the giant ruby heart notion. The concept fit right into Hyperbotics, though, who seem to have a vacancy for another support. (Note — I was somewhat avoiding EvoS since the last three lancers released were EvoS, and I designed her with Hyperbotics in mind, but as she is a spider she could plausibly be moved to EvoS.)
Okay, so the spider theme ended up inspiring the ultimate, and also how I ended up theming the second ability. What about the rest? Well, ability 4 was supposed to be a direct heal but I managed to sidetrack myself with this cool Neutralize ability that could counteract various enemy debuffs. Too many cool concepts in one lancer? Maybe — could have gone with a vanilla heal there. But I kind of like the direction it takes her. I mean, sure, I forgot to actually give her direct healing, but I basically ditched that idea — I can always put a more simple direct heal on a future support concept (actually, I did, on Spooky). So, not only is Siertse a bit short on direct healing, she also lacks the ability to much to an enemy at range. Ergo, I came up with the Bloodburst idea, which fits thematically and resembles something of a love child between Titus’s dagger, Khita’s take aim and Zuki’s sticky bombs.
As a result, this is kind of an interesting team-setup-oriented support where Guardian Egg Layer, Bloodburst and even Aether Web all require some planning. As noted, she doesn’t have much direct healing, although she can group with her team and use her primary to pick them back up over a few turns if a fight is disengaged. The ultimate can also provide some healing, so this lancer really has a lot going for her, as well as combo potential…but again, she can’t do too much against enemies that aren’t nearby (though she can set up a Guardian Egg Layer turn to allow herself to move in relatively safely). There’s actually a real chance that none of her abilities give her value on a given turn, which is fascinating. It’ll be extremely interesting to see how she plays, but I think she’ll be a lot of fun if you know anyone on your team.
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Siertse, the Hemorachnid
Affiliation: Hyperbotics
Role: Support
160 hp
(Note: If my proposed support hp nerfs are adopted, I would change her to have 150 hp.)
Lore: The first prototype of Hyperbotics’ new Hemobots line, Siertse resembles a large, glowing, beating (anatomically-shaped) heart made of ruby-red glass mounted on a black steel frame with eight spider legs. She uses magnetics to control the hemoglobin in the blood of living beings, friend or foe, or to control the direct metal wiring of robotic ones, granting damaging and healing powers to supplement her spiderlike abilities.
Primary — Pulse — Blast Phase
Attacks with a radius-2 pulse at the target location (center of the pulse can be targeted up to 4 units away) and a second radius-2 pulse centered around Siertse. Each pulse deals 22 direct damage to enemies within 1 radius and 18 direct damage to enemies within 2 radius. Similarly, heal allies closer to each pulse for 10 and farther allies for 8. Gain 6 energy for each enemy hit and 3 energy for each ally hit.
Note: The pulses are affected by cover. Each pulse is treated as emanating from Siertse or the targeted location, respectively, and calculates cover accordingly. It may be possible to place the pulse behind an enemy to hit for full damage, similar to Isadora’s primary.
Mods:
Heart-to-Heart (2 points, default) — Ally healing increased by 2.
Beat It (2 points) — Deal an additional 2 damage to enemies in the inner portion of either pulse.
Self-care (3 points) — Heal yourself for 8 as well.
Permeate (3 points) — Pulses also damage and heal through walls (but still may not be targeted through walls). Only deals half damage through walls.
EKG (1 point) — Allies hit gain 2 energy.
2 — Guardian Egg Layer — Prep Phase — Cooldown 3
Plant mechanical spider eggs on self and nearby allies (3 range). Next turn, the eggs hatch during Prep Phase, granting affected targets 30 shields. Gain 6 energy plus an additional 3 per ally hit.
Note: There are 6 mods below, which is probably too many — I think abilities are generally limited to 5. Couldn’t decide which one I’d remove — probably either Venomous or Hatching Ideas. Like the concept of the former a little more but I really like the name of the latter.
Mods:
Prime Clutch (2 points, default) — You gain an additional 8 shields next turn.
Incubation (2 points) — Eggs hatch immediately this turn. Friendly targets gain 15 shields this turn and an additional 15 next turn (these stack if the initial 15 are not consumed).
Venomous (3 points) — Allies hit gain Might next turn, but only gain 15 shields. (Siertse gains 30 but does not gain Might.)
Hatching Ideas (3 points) — Allies hit gain energized next turn.
Skitter (2 points) — Gain Haste until end of turn.
Ovipositor (1 point) — increase the range by 1.
3 — Bloodburst — Blast Phase — Cooldown 4
Shoot a black steel bolt in a line that deals 10 direct damage to the first enemy hit (7 range, ignores cover) and marks / punctures it (enemy looks like it is about to spurt blood). Next turn, any ally that deals direct damage to the target triggers the bloodburst, causing Siertse to deal 10 indirect damage to the enemy and healing the ally for 10. (This effect can occur up to once for each ally.) Gain 8 energy on initial hit and 4 energy for each ally that triggers the bloodburst.
Note: I originally had this as cooldown 3, but that was when Pulse didn’t have as much ranged capability as it currently does.
Mods:
Rupture (2 points, default) — upon the triggering of the Bloodburst, the target is slowed until end of turn.
Transfusion (2 points) — triggering the bloodburst no longer deals additional damage, but each trigger heals the ally and Siertse for an additional 5. (i.e., 15 to ally and 5 to Siertse.)
Heartseeker (3 points) — increase the range by 1.
Scent of Blood (1 point) — on initial hit, reveal the targeted enemy until the end of the next decision phase.
4 — Neutralize — Prep Phase — Free Action — Cooldown 4
Remove all Weaken effects from a friendly target. That target cannot be Weakened this turn. Gain 5 energy.
Mods:
Immunize (2 points) (default) — Grant the target 10 shields until end of turn.
Mobilize (3 points) — The target gains Unstoppable until end of turn.
Stabilize (1 point) — The target cannot be Scrambled this turn.
Natural Camouflage (2 points) — At end of turn, all Reveal effects are removed from the target.
Ultimate — Aether Web — Prep Phase — Costs 100 energy
Spin a web between two target points up to 4 distance apart (akin to a manually targeted Nix drone). Can be targeted through walls, and the web can go through walls. Enemies passing through the web take 20 indirect damage and are rooted. Friendly targets passing through the web gain 20 health. The web lasts 2 turns. Enemies can only be damaged once per turn; friendly targets can only be healed once per web.
Worldwide Web (2 points) (default) — the web’s maximum distance is increased by 1 (from 4 units to 5).
Web of Life (2 points) — friendly targets heal for an additional 6 health when passing through the web.
Spider’s Lair (3 points) — passing through the web grants Siertse invisibility until the end of the next decision phase.
Silksteel (2 points) — the web lasts an additional turn.
Web Design (1 point) — gain 10 energy whenever an enemy passes through the web.
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A Few Suggested Builds:
Permeate — Venomous / Hatching — Scent — Immunize — Web Design. Just a solid and versatile all-around build. We have some utility through walls, might (or energized) buff, reveal, shields, and energy on ult. As a variation (though there are plenty of good variations), I might take Skitter on 2 instead for mobility during set-up turns and maybe use the extra point to take Rupture on 3 for some extra CC.
Self-care — Ovipositor — Heartseeker — Nothing — Spider’s Lair.
Self-care — Prime — Scent — Immunize — Web of Life. Two builds designed to protect yourself. The first uses range on Ovipositor/Heartseeker and invisibility on Spider’s Lair to try to stay safe, positioning-wise. The second has more raw healing / shielding and can let you get in the fray more with your Pulse.
Heart — Incubation — Transfusion — Immunize — Web of Life. Maximum ally-healing capabilities, simple as that.
Permeate — Ovipositor — Scent — Mobilize — Silksteel. Build designed to defend against heavy knockback (Helio, etc.). We have Mobilize for on-demand Unstoppable, Permeate so we can hide behind walls, Ovipositor to position more safely, and some utility on the others. Silksteel is nice for zoning; another option would be to use the points for Rupture for similar reasons.
I didn’t throw in a build with Natural Camouflage or Stabilize, as these are really enemy-specific. I’d probably tweak one of the above builds to include, say, Natural Camouflage vs Grey or Stabilize vs Juno or PuP.