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Deracine

In the barren wastes outside the Rock Wall lies a solitary burial ground that since ages past has been a sacred resting place for those lost to the countless wars and calamities of Aether’s past. For generations, the sacred ground was watched over by a group of spiritual wardens who tended to the graves and channeled the will of the spirits resting there to help give the living closure. Among them, Déraciné was one who was particularly in tune with the dead resting there, being able to hear the whispers of those resting there as she burrowed through the earth and willingly letting the spirits speak through her directly. This tie to the spirits of the earth, however, was more of a prison to her than anything else, as the dead refused to let her leave.

Then, as the Abyss began its assault on Aether, the monsters formed from the endless pit began encroaching upon the sacred ground, stirring the countless dead into a restless frenzy that shook the very soil the land was built upon. Overwhelmed by the influence of the dead, Déraciné was forced into action, slithering around the grave of a long-lost mage before unleashing a harrowing cry which stirred the spirits of long-lost heroes from their graves. Staring into the eerie green sky, Deracine spoke with multiple voices, the restless dead speaking alongside her…
"The night is long, and the moon hangs low... We will not let you take this sacred ground, o creatures from the depths... NEVER!!! "
Déraciné is a zoning-oriented character who utilizes strong pokes and a terrifyingly powerful stage control tool to snowball matches into her favor and tear opponents apart from any range. On her own, she is a slow-moving character with committal yet massive attacks that allow her to make up for her poor speed by harassing opponents from afar to try to make openings to get her stage control up. Once she has fulfilled certain conditions, she is able to summon the Skeleton Minion Vaal, shifting her playstyle into a long-ranged puppet character who can easily overwhelm the opponent from anywhere with a mix of big attacks from both characters and high damage combo conversions, making her an absolute force to be reckoned with. However, while she can very easily command the battlefield if things go her way, her combination of poor speed, large hurtboxes, and slow frame data contribute to her struggling to get opponents off of her once they can get in on her, and she has to work to get Vaal on screen in the first place to become a truly threatening presence. If you feel up to the challenge of commanding the unruly power of Aether’s restless dead, then channel their power with the Skeletal Warden, Déraciné.

• Hero’s Grave – By hitting her Nspecial, Déraciné will summon a tombstone that chases the opponent’s location before rising rapidly out of the ground. Once it’s on screen, an Incubation meter will begin filling slowly over time until it is fully filled. The opponent can decrease the Incubation meter by hitting it, destroying the Tombstone once the meter is emptied, meaning Déraciné has to prevent the opponent from getting in and wailing on the tombstone with all of her might.
  
  
• Skeleton Minion Vaal – Once the Tombstone has been on screen for a few seconds, pressing Nspecial again will have Déraciné summon the remains of the old hero Vaal to fight on her behalf. Vaal can be activated and controlled by pressing and holding the special button or can be commanded to perform one of 4 powerful attacks by releasing the special button. Vaal also has 2 automatic actions he can perform while inactive, grabbing opponents who get knocked at him with decay applied or grabbing Déraciné if she Uspecials into him. The amount of Incubation meter the Tombstone had built prior is the amount of health Vaal has while active and dictates how long he can be actively attacking the opponent, so be mindful of how much meter you had built prior.
  
  
• Decay – By landing her Ftilt, Fair, or Fspecial, Déraciné will apply Decay to the opponent, dealing damage over time for as long as its active. Decay has a bunch of contextual utility having to do with Déraciné’s stage control tools, allowing her to summon a tombstone without needing to hit the opponent with Nspecial, increasing the Incubation meter buildup while the tombstone is on screen, allowing Vaal to restore his own health by hitting his attacks, and giving Vaal access to his decay grab for easy and deadly followups.

- Déraciné’s Nspecial, Uprooting Cry, is a somewhat slow disjointed attack with great coverage all around Déraciné that, as already stated, summons the Hero’s Grave when it hits directly or if an opponent has Decay applied to them. When done in the air, the move both stalls Déraciné in the air and acts as a weak semi spike, enabling some cheek edgeguards if used properly. You can make the tombstone spawn early by pressing Nspecial again while its traveling, giving you better control over where the tombstone appears if you can summon it.

- Déraciné’s Fspecial, Spectral Hunt, is a projectile attack that gets shot at a very shallow diagonal downwards angle and applies Decay on hit. When it hits the ground, the projectile will instead travel along the stage and wrap around walls, allowing her to cover angles that wouldn’t normally be reachable for her and disrupt opponents who are trying to block her recovery attempts.

- Déraciné’s Uspecial, Coffin Drop, has Deracine leap off of her Tombstone, dropping it as a strong projectile downwards. Pressing the special button during the initial part of the leap will have Deracine coil up and dive downwards, lightly knocking opponents away and drastically changing her trajectory while recovering. If she contacts Vaal during Uspecial, then Vaal will grab her and slam her into the ground, dealing heavy damage to anyone caught in its wake, though this does destroy Vaal in the process.

- Déraciné’s Dspecial, Soul Vortex, is a multi-hit spin attack that deals solid damage and knockback, making it a solid finisher option or combo extender when Vaal is active. Holding the special button during the spinning portion will cause her to rise steadily during its duration, making it double as a recovery tool. If landed against a Decayed opponent, Dspecial will get enhanced, doubling the duration of the spin and increasing the knockback of the final hit.


Animation, Normal attack implementation, Gameplay Balance– ArtistOfSeer
Gimmick Implementation, Sound design, Victory theme, Gameplay balance, Additional VFX, and General polish–Delta Parallax
Additional coding assistance-Pejota