Rudra

Rudra unleashes chaos on Aether! Apply Dark Matter to opponents with any special, any strong, or Nair. You can then harness its energy by landing any DM move on an infected opponent, changing your move and its properties entirely.

It is no secret that dangers lurk in the darkest corners of Aether. At night, when these dangers are the most threatening, the inhabitants of Aether can slumber with ease, knowing that they will be protected by the stars. Countless tales tell of the stars above Aether serving as guides for lost travelers, mentors for those in need of assistance, and warriors of the night.

However, these stars can sometimes be lead astray…

Rudra is one such fallen star. After a rather brutal altercation with the creatures of the Abyss, Rudra was defeated, while the rest of his brethren retreated. Pitying the young star, and seeing his power, the Abyss adopted Rudra as their own.

Now, seeking revenge on the stars that abandoned him and the inhabitants of Aether that shunned him, Rudra gains the perfect opportunity to make his adoptive family proud. With the Aetherial Gates shattered, Rudra sets out to make the inhabitants of Aether bow to the Abyss.

• EVENT HORIZON – Rudra is capable of inflicting Dark Matter to the opponent. They’ll crumble to your mental pressure!
• RUNE ENERGY – Thanks to the power of Abyss Runes, Rudra fights using several acquired abilities granted by his adoptive family. Your wings, spikes and mirror will aid you well in combat.
• CELESTIAL HARNESS – By performing a status-inflicting attack on the infected, you’ll harness the energy you spread and power up!

Rudra is my pitch for an Abyss-themed antagonist. I had a few ideas floating around in mind for his design, but I ultimately settled on what we have now. Rudra’s bizarre look was an intentional decision from the start. I felt like it paralleled the other characters well, as he stands out among his fuzzy rivals. His design is also simplistic, making him very easy to animate.

Some important context + more elaboration on Rudra’s design:
Just to clarify: the "stars" are creatures like Orby. I imagined that their element would be air, since stars are just made up of really hot gasses. Their "heads" generate the rest of their shadowy bodies at will. As Rudra was raised by the abyss, harnessing powers eventually granted to him by abyss runes, his current element is reflective of that.

A small projectile that gets stronger the longer its charged. Angle it with the control stick. For max distance, try to aim for the center of the bar. The Dark Matter version of this attack puts the opponent in special fall.

For a short duration, you can float in midair. This action carries your momentum and can greatly aid in recovery or combos. Hard pressing the joystick left or right will turn Rudra around. Tapping down or performing any action will cancel it.

A recovery similar to Zetterburn’s. Cancel the startup with an airdodge. The Dark Matter version of this attack doesn’t put you into special fall.

A quick dash forward. Doing it right before landing sends you farther. The Dark Matter version of this attack turns into a jumping command grab where you can act first after landing with your opponent.

Throw a solid wall in front of you. You can wall jump off of it and destroy it with any attack. It only deals knockback to those in hitstun, including yourself. After three hits, the mirror will explode. The Dark Matter version will shock infected opponents for a brief period.

When the mirror is out, you can press Down Special again to explode it.

Because of my unhealthy dedication to this silly creature, I’ve programmed a fully featured menu that you can use to make practicing Rudra a little easier.

You can directly alter Rudra’s stats, and even check out a tutorial that directly explains how certain attacks work.

To access this menu, all you have to do is taunt in practice mode. Please check it out. You have no idea how much detail is in this thing. I can’t feel my fingers anymore.

Hopefully that answers all of your questions.

(Thank you to everyone that loves this thing as much as I do. You guys helped me push on forward. Rudra is my first publicly released mod, but I have much more planned for the future.)