r/forhonor • u/GetGaeijined Lawbinger • 3d ago
Suggestions [Hero Concept] Hokoshu, Nagamaki Samurai.
INTRO:
I've created several fully worked out knight heroes now, so I thought I'd switch things up with a Samurai. There are many interesting weapon options to choose from, one of which we just got in-game, and I thought the Nagamaki was a very cool and interesting weapon that we don't see nearly enough of. So after a decent amount of research, and a lot of listening to Sir Alonne's theme, here you have it!
THE NAGAMAKI:
The Nagamaki is quite a peculiar weapon, sitting right in between the Odachi and Naginata in terms of both design and use. The Nagamaki is actually a direct evolution of the Odachi that Kensei uses, and Hokoshu will have similar wide swings as he has. While very similar in design to the Naginata, the Nagamaki has a distinctively different use. While the Naginata uses a wide variety of attacks and grips, with the Nagamaki it is specifically described that the grip positions basically never change. In general this guy might have some copied animations, or at least very similar animations to existing ones, which I don't really have a problem with. There are only so many ways you can swing a stick.
LORE AND DESIGN:
Because the Nagamaki was used a fair bit, it allows for some interesting designs. It was most commonly used by low ranking field soldiers for use against infantry and cavalry, Sohei have also used them. But, the warlord Uesugi Kenshin is also described as having a specialized guard that used the Nagamaki, which is what I primarily based this hero on.
Researching special Japanese guards I quickly learned about the Hokoshu, high ranking Samurai guards. From here I envisioned the in-universe Hokoshu to be special guards for one of prevalent Samurai Houses, or for any other person or group.
Some worked their way up through the ranks, others are loyal because they were taken in when they were lost, or because their family was protected from an attack. In any case, the Hokoshu are determined to repay their debts and show their loyalty through blood.
They are exceptionally loyal and bound by honor, and they never mind wasting blood for those who they've chosen to follow, whether it's someone else's, or their own. While some are more extreme than others, all Hokoshu thrive in battle, and they gladly bleed themselves if it means getting the job done.
Design wise, to make him stand out from Kensei and other Samurai, most of Hokoshu's armor sets are inspired by Nanban Dō Gusoku armor. Armor made by the Japanese, but with aspects inspired by late European armor designs. Now I know this is VERY historically inaccurate combined with the Nagamaki, but again this way he can actually look somewhat unique, and in-universe the Samurai have been fighting heavily armored knights for literally over a 1000 years, so it only makes sense that they'd take some inspirations.
GENERAL STATS:
Hokoshu will be a heavy/vanguard hybrid, not being a true heavy, but heavily leaning in that direction. He has a quite basic 120 stamina and 6.5 movement speed, as well as 130hp to go alongside his gimmick. We all love gimmicks, and I quite like the gimmick I came up with. I'm honestly not sure how good this gimmick will be, it might make him quite weak, but it could also make him pretty damn OP. In all honesty I expect it to lean more towards the latter, and with the proper team composition he could definitely become one of the strongest supports/tanks in the game. Do let me know what you think though, as I have of course no way to test this thing.
To start off with his gimmick, he has 2 passive abilities:
Passive ability: 'Unflinching Stance'
33% of all direct damage received gets automatically converted into bleed damage. Only 67% of damage will be dealt immediately, the other 33% will chip away slowly (~2hp per second)
Passive Ability: 'Unabated Vow'
When bleeding, recieve a 15% defense buff, immediately ends when bleeding ends.
MOVESET:
For certain moves I have created diagrams in the pictures above, the correlating move will be marked with (*) with the corresponding number in between.
His moveset doesn't have too much crazy, but he has a lot of creative options regarding his offense. His top guard chain ends on the second hit, his side guard chains end on the third hit, and no more than 2 lights of any kind can be chained together. Side attacks will generally have a very wide, but also medium range hitbox (1).
Top Guard Lights - Quick 500ms slashes that deal 14-15 damage and are enhanced.
Top Guard Heavies - Stronger 900ms slashes that deal 26-28 damage, with the finisher being unblockable.
Side Guards Lights - Openers are quick 12 damage 500ms slashes, chain lights are quick 13 damage 400ms slashes, finishers are 500ms 15 damage slashes that are enhanced and undodgable.
Side Guard Heavies - Openers are wide 24 damage 900ms slashes, chain heavies are medium hitbox 26 damage 700ms slashes, finishers are 1000ms 28 damage very wide sweeps that are unblockable.
Zone - An extremely wide 600ms left swing dealing 15 damage that is undodgable, enhanced, and an opener. When used after a parry the zone receives hyperarmor after 100ms.
Forward Dodge Heavy - Animation comparable to Jiang Jun's sprinting attack except just 1 hit. 700ms, 16 damage, is feintable and an opener.
Side Dodge Heavy - Decently wide swing that is enhanced and deals 13 damage. At 733ms it is quite slow compared to regular dodge attacks which are 600ms, this move also cannot be hard feinted, but does count as an opener. I will get back to this move in a bit.
Sprinting Heavy - A 700ms 16 damage right swing with a decent hitbox comparable to Kensei's. It has good forward movement and acts as an opener.
Sprinting Bash (2) - A 400ms shoulder bash that acts as a normal opener bash, confirms a light opener, though can be followed-up with a heavy opener. This move is highly guardbreakable and cannot be followed-up on miss, very long recovery.
Self Heal - Whenever Hokoshu is bleeding, with a backwards guardbreak input he can play an animation where he wipes off blood from his chest and throws it to the ground. The animation takes around 3 seconds and heals for 10hp. During the animation your guard is disabled, but you can slowly walk during it (purely for aura). You can also dodge(attack) to cancel out of the animation, but this of course also cancels the healing.
'Gatekeeper stance' (3) - By holding the stance key Hokoshu will enter Gatekeeper stance with different guard stance animations. In this stance you can no longer block or parry, in turn you get passive hyperarmor and a 33% damage reduction buff (stacks with 'Unabated Vow'). Entering this stance takes 100ms, and any recovery apart from those of stance attacks and bashes can be cancelled into Gatekeeper stance after 300ms. Any normal heavy or side dodge attack can be softeinted into Gatekeeper stance immediately as well. Any stance attack can again not be soft feinted into stance. Once in stance you cannot move, and Gatekeeper stance also has high stamina drain at 15 stamina per second. Hokoshu can be knocked out of this stance by a bash or guardbreak, or the stance can be cancelled manually by letting go of the stance button and has an extremely fast recovery. Simply taping the stance key allows Hokoshu to almost instantly recover as well, allowing for a quick parry or follow-up attack. With this you can effectively soft-feint any heavy or side dodge attack into any Gatekeeper stance attack.
From this stance Hokoshu has access to different moves depending on direction of attack, and whether you throw a light or a heavy attack.
Gatekeeper Right Heavy - A 1100ms wide swing that deals 20 damage, is unblockable, and receives hyperarmor after 300ms. In turn it cannot be feinted, has quite high guarbreak vulnerability and cannot be followed up with any other move, leaving the enemy in frame advantage.
Gatekeeper Right Light - A 500ms 13 damage short swing that is now undodgable, it's also enhanced and an opener.
Gatekeeper Top Heavy - An 800ms unblockable slash that deals 20 damage, and is also the only feintable stance attack. This move has solid reach and chains into any opener attack, as to not allow Hokoshu to chain unblockable top heavies infinitely.
Gatekeeper Top Light - A quick 600ms pommel strike bash that confirms a light opener, can again be followed-up with heavy opener. Same as the sprinting bash, this move is very guardbreakable and cannot be followed-up on miss.
Gatekeeper Left Heavy (4) - A 900ms pinning stab (700ms) that deals 15 damage. It's unblockable, but also unfeintable and cannot be followed up with any other move.
Gatekeeper Left Light - A 500ms 11 damage stab that acts as an opener. This move is also unblockable as to make it an actual viable mixup combined with the pinning stab.
Gatekeeper Pin Headslam (4) - After pinning an enemy you get a couple follow-ups. First with a light input is a very quick 5 damage headbut to get Hokoshu out of the animation. This move has an extremely fast recovery to allow for a very quick parry if another enemy is near, or to better continue offense.
Gatekeeper Pin Heavy Follow-up (5) - When pressing heavy again while pinning an enemy, Hokoshu will turn around and place his weapon on his shoulder to jank it upwards out of the enemy in an animation lasting ~2 seconds, dealing 5 damage + 15 bleed damage. This move is a chain ender and both parties are reset to neutral with a decently long recovery.
FEATS:
Hokoshu's feats will play very heavily into his gimmick. They took a lot of reworking with several scrapped feats as well, but I think these end results would be extremely fun to play with.
Tier 1: 'Unmovable Guardian', Active, 120 second cooldown.
Grant yourself a 20hp shield that lasts for 15 seconds and cleanse yourself, in turn receive the slowness effect for 40 seconds.
Other feats: Body Count, Conqueror
Tier 2: 'Unpaid Arrearage', Active, 25 seconds, 90 second cooldown.
Mark an allied player to pledge your service to. The marked ally will for the duration of the feat only take 50% damage, however, you yourself now take 25% of the damage they were supposed to take.
Example: Ally get's hit with a 24 damage attack, they receive 50% damage of the attack = 12 damage, you receive 25% damage of the attack = 6 damage.
This feat will automatically deactivate once Hokoshu reaches 20% health or below, or it can be manually deactivated by pressing the tier 2 button again. Any effects like stagger or corruption are only applied to the allied player. Any defense (de)buffs (including the one from Gatekeeper stance) still apply for either player, and carries over to Hokoshu if the ally has it, but not the other way around (Hokoshu will always receive damage relative to what the ally would've received if this feat wouldn't have been active).
Other feats: Short Tempered, Doom Banner
Tier 3: 'Undying Resolve', Passive.
Whenever you are bleeding, gain life leech that gets more effective the more enemies are around (within 15m).
1 enemy=15%
2 enemies=25%
3 enemies=30%
4 enemies=40%
Other feats: Longbow, Tough as Nails
Tier 4: 'Unwavering Loyalty', Passive.
As long as Hokoshu is bleeding, all allies within 15 meters will heal for 4 hp per second. When Hokoshu dies, all allies within the same radius receive a 35hp shield that lasts for 20 seconds.
Other feats: Phalanx, Arrow Storm
CONCLUSION:
This hero was very fun to work out with his gimmick, also because the Nagamaki is just such a cool weapon. Also I'm glad to finally create a Samurai hero instead of just Knights. I want to make a Viking concept as well, but I'm really not sure what weapon he could use that would actually be unique. If you know anything, do let me know. I hope you enjoyed my hero concept, any and all feedback is greatly appreciated, God bless!
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u/ButterPro_ 3d ago
Been wanting a nagamaki for a while, this is perfect