ZAYDARIEL
Zaydariel's Backstory:
Earth-777: A literal paradise populated solely by a race of immortal winged mutants, who call themselves archangels. It's a dimension without strife and without war, isolated by their power from all other dimensions. Nothing gets in or out except by the will of the angels. They posses strong psychic and "divine" powers, and control over the elements. On the rare occasions they interact with outsiders, they are haughty, arrogant, and judgmental. Because of their sense of superiority, every 500 years they choose a strong archangel to travel to another dimension to fight whatever evil they come upon. These angels never return, as they see it as their duty and privilege to protect "lesser" beings.
At the most recent Judgement, a powerful archangel named Zaydariel is deemed worthy and chosen to "save" a random dimension. Little do the angels know, however, leaving their home dimension leaves them temporarily vulnerable. Zaydariel lands in a blaze of light in upstate New York, weakened and unconscious from dimensional travel. Not far from where he arrives, the mutant Mister Sinister is stalking another mutant to capture for experimentation. Seeing a glorious opportunity in front of him, Mister Sinister abandons the chase and captures Zaydariel instead. Using nefarious genetic science and leftover DNA from his transformation of Warren Worthington III into Archangel, Mister Sinister conducts painful experiments on the hapless angel from Earth-777.
After weeks of torture and torment, Mister Sinister succeeds in giving Zaydariel a second set of wings and corrupting his mind so he'll obey his commands. Zaydariel awakens in a fit of rage, unleashing a psychic call of anguish. While using Cerebro in the basement of the X-Mansion, Professor X hears Zaydariel's mental cry and dispatches the X-Men to thwart Mister Sinister's plan. A tense battle ensues, and Mister Sinister commands a fallen Zaydariel to attack in order to make his getaway. However, having just awoken from his dark transformation, the X-Men overpower Zaydariel and rescue the tortured angel. As thanks for saving him, Zaydariel joins the X-Men and vows to protect other mutants and humankind, but must now also struggle with the darkness within himself. His codename: Dark Angel.
Inspiration:
Zaydariel is inspired by several different sources, including Angel/Archangel himself. He also takes a lot from my favorite Shin Megami Tensei enemy, Metatron. I love the idea of a winged mutant plus having a variety of powers.
FEATURES:
-10 powers (6 archangel, 4 dark angel), 2 Xtremes, and 2 boosts.
-Can change to Dark Angel mode to gain access to different powers.
-Some new unique effects.
-Multiple skins with sound/voice file.
-Uses assigned number #236.
NEEDS:
Would love feedback! Especially where balance is concerned (damage, EP use, etc.).
Do you feel the time you get and the costs during Dark Angel mode are fair?
Have a suggestion for a color or pattern of wings that you'd like to see?
Message me on Discord (Ninja Kyden#2636)
MOVESET:
1. Ray of Light | Wrath of the Fallen: Standard one-enemy beam attack (archangel) | Fly straight into the enemy and lower their defense (dark angel)
2. Angel Blade | Poison Plumes: Throw very sharp swords (archangel) | Loose some very poisonous feathers (dark angel)
3. Divine Storm | Darknado: Two types of lightning attacks - because electricity is always fun! (archangel) | Lots of tornadoes (dark angel)
4. Smite | Debilitate: Fly high then crush down (archangel) | Severely weaken the enemy (dark angel)
5. Fire of Sinai: My favorite move. Just like Metatron does it.
6. Seraphic Radiance: Unleash light from above.
7. (Xtreme) Judgement: Holy judgement that uniquely lowers enemy resistances.
8. (Xtreme) Fallen Angel: Go really dark and take full advantage of what the darkness offers.
9. (Boost) Divine Intervention: Sometimes, thoughts and prayers
do make a difference and heal you.
10. (Boost) Dark Angel: Dark On! Enter Dark Angel mode and access dark angel powers.
MOD HIGHLIGHTS:
To encourage leveling up powers, there are big bonuses at max level to damage, range, or debuff chances, etc. for most of Zaydariel's abilities, even passives. In the enhanced edition (see the Readme), he can also dodge starting at level 1 - move in a direction immediately after using a light attack (the equivalent of doing this from a block in MUA1). He also has some extra combo moves (see below).
Due to the trauma of Mr. Sinister's genetic experimentation and torture, Zaydariel starts with a lower Mind (Focus) stat and lower max health. (Zaydariel is potentially very powerful, but also a bit of a glass cannon to balance things out for the mod.) Despite having some natural psychic powers, Zaydariel also now suffers from a lower resistance to mental attacks; this weakness and his lower health can be improved by investing in specific passive abilities.
Boost 2 is both how the boost itself is activated and how dark angel powers are used.
-Though dark angel powers are
used with the boost button, they are
improved at the same time as archangel powers 1-4.
-To activate dark angel mode with Boost 2, hold down the button for the boost. ***NOTE: You may have to use the keyboard for this (my controller could not always get the boost to work by holding down the button, but the keyboard always worked).
-To use dark angel powers, press the button for the boost power but then immediately press the button for a light attack, heavy attack, jump, or guard. (NOTE: This *did* always work with my controller).
1) light attack -> Wrath of the Fallen (dark angel power 1)
2) heavy attack -> Poison Plumes* (power 2)
3) jump -> Darknado (power 3)
4) guard -> Debilitate (power 4)
*Poison Plumes can also be activated during flight in the enhanced edition by combo'ing 3 light attacks together.
Zaydariel has 6 "archangel" powers and 4 "dark angel" powers.
Details:
Spoiler -Archangel mode is the default mode for Zaydariel.
-The first 4 archangel powers grant Zaydariel a "blessing" that is stackable - meaning that the buffs stack with repeated uses.
-Some dark angel powers also have stackable debuffs, so the more it's used on the same enemy, the greater the debuff.
Dark Angel Mode
Details:
Spoiler -Dark angel mode is activated by using Boost 2 (Dark Angel) or Xtreme 2 (FALLEN ANGEL).
-Dark angel powers can be used at any time after Boost 2 is learned. However, if dark angel mode is not active, the EP cost of dark angel powers will be extremely high.
-Activating dark angel mode will LOWER the cost of dark angel powers but INCREASE the cost of archangel powers.
-When activating with Xtreme 2, dark angel mode lasts longer, grants more max EP than Boost 2, gives a bigger percentage cost discount for dark angel powers (meaning it lowers the cost to use them even further than Boost 2 does), and does NOT increase the cost of archangel powers.
-Even during dark angel mode, the EP cost of dark angel powers is high, but the additional max EP and lower EP cost will help. Be cautious however, because you need the MAX EP cost of the power in reserve, or the power won't activate, even if you have enough current EP to use them with the cost reduction.
-For example, if you're trying to use dark angel power 3 (Darknado), and it has a base cost of 400, and the EP cost reduction from Boost 2 is 10%, then the actual power cost of power 3 would be 360 EP. But the game requires you to have 400 EP in reserve to use power 3, even though the cost with discount while the boost is active is only 360.
Grab attacks always drain EP. After Fallen Angel Mastery (passive) is learned, grab attacks also drain HP during dark angel mode.
Details:
Spoiler -The amount that is drained can be improved by investing in Fallen Angel Mastery.
-If grabbing and throwing the enemy, there is extra damage attached to the grab (normally the only damage with a throw is the impact). The grab damage is *mental* damage because Zaydariel is psychically attacking a person through touch when he grab attacks them - this is how he is able to drain EP and HP with grab attacks.
-This extra added damage is on par with a basic light attack and like any normal light or heavy attack, improve the damage by putting points into the Strike stat.
Extra combo moves
Details:
Spoiler (all editions)
-During flight, Zaydariel's flying charge attack (heavy attack while flying), will create a tornado on impact; damage scales with the Strike stat. Knockback, range, and damage are higher during Dark Angel mode.
(enhanced edition)
-Zaydariel's flying kick knockback finisher is automatically followed up with another combo that will cause a small area telekinetic push. Damage, knockback, and powerusage scale with Ray of Light (power 1).
-Using a 3rd consecutive heavy attack will summon a sword from the heavens to impale an enemy from above. This attack ignores defense, always crits, and is unblockable. Damage and powerusage scale with Angel Blade (power 2).
There's lots of ways to power up Zaydariel, so try out different things and see what works best for you! Have questions about how any of Zaydariel's moves work? Message me on Discord (Ninja Kyden#2636)
CREDITS:
**Models and Original Textures**
LorisC93 -
https://www.deviantart.com/lorisc93Maxdemon6 -
https://www.deviantart.com/maxdemon6UltraMegaMagnus for help on the Hades model extraction
**Special Thanks**
BaconWizard17 for all the guidance and assistance in helping me make this complicated winged model and skins. Couldn't have done it without his patience and expertise.
Cohollow for his Angel mod. A special source of inspiration and coding.
**Sounds**
Paladins Wiki - Corvus voice lines:
https://paladins.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Voice_PackPixabay for sound effects:
https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/**Installation Instructions**
Matt710
Maegawa (skin swapping)
**Other**
Additional thanks for effects wizards that came before me, go to Cohollow (Angel mod and Iceman booster for XML2), Ceamonks890 (Kain and Starbolt MUA1 mods), Dorpond (Saint Walker MUA1 mod), Norrin Radd (Angel MUA1 mod), Outsider (Blue Marvel, Inferno, Sauron, and Captain Universer MUA1 mods), MUALover (Storm booster MUA1).
And thanks to Crescendo for the idea of Divine Intervention (Boost 1) and BloodyMares for Wrath of the Fallen (dark angel power 1).
Let me know if I missed a credit.
GET IT HERE:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/2jy4algdzyojlsy/Zaydariel_Custom_Mod_for_XML2_%2528Ninja_Kyden%2529.zip/fileLast updated 7/17/2022 | Released 7/17/2022
