[DotA 2] - Riki - Remorseless Severance

editpolygon

Katars (Weapon/Weapon Offhand)

"Assassins called to war prefer weapons that will not slip out of hands bloodied by countless deaths."

A pair of punching weapons where each blade is more broad than a traditional dagger with guards that protect the hands similar to a pata.


Ring Knife (Tail)

"The most effective distractions are ones that end lives."

This lightweight razor slips onto the tip of Riki's tail similar to a ring and proves to be a sharp and deadly distraction in battle.


Smoke Sleeves (Arms)

"Transform a grazing blow into a disorienting advantage."

Small pouches of alchemical mixtures line a leather sleeve. When struck they burst and shadow combatants in a veil of thick smoke.

editpolygon

Here are still images for the silhouettes with the guard and without.

The main focus of this entire set will be the pair of Katars that Riki wields. Everything else will support these two items so I wanted to make sure that these blades looked interesting and would stand out from the background especially while invisible. This is why I did a few silhouette studies of the weapons.

This mod is meant for the public as much as it is for me so I would like to hear any general input as well as which silhouettes are most preferred.

Which silhouettes do you like?

editpolygon

Finalized the shape the of the katar and it has considerably less spikes than any of the previous iterations. This time around I used Riki's dagger for proportion reference. The blade of the silhouette is no bigger than the blade of Riki's default weapon; the grip was adjusted accordingly.

I've added a hood that connects back to katar to both protect and cover up his hand. That way I can use more polygons on the arms away from the hand. If the tri count is too high when I model the weapon I'll sacrifice the hood all together.

Edit: Alternatively, if there are still tris remaining I may very well add some curvy spikes after all or do something to break up the silhouette.

editpolygon

I ended up changing the silhouette a little bit more so it would stand out as a key piece of equipment. The shape is reminiscent of "D" and "E" in the initial drawings.

Since the katars will be so small I would like to texture the weapons simply and boldy. With enough color and contrast differences to identify the four parts of the weapon (blade, hilt, grip, hood).

2D art in general is a pain the ass for me so this will take a lot of my time. Argh! :P