I've become more and more disappointed in Mavuika's character and design as the story has continued as well as after her kit and motorcycle were revealed. So I decided to have some fun (punish myself) and reimagine Mavuika entirely.

I don't draw digitally, this is the best I could do with paint 3d and my mouse

My concept draws inspiration from characters such as Karlach, Absolute Wonder Woman, and Magik. The goal was to emphasize Mavuika's identity as a true warrior, which includes the removal of her motorcycle in this redesign. I toned down most of the coomer-bait in the original design, so to compromise I thought some abs would suffice.

This version of Mavuika was a great warrior who died in the war against the Abyss. Similar to something like a Guardian from Destiny, she was revived to assume the role of Archon 500 years later but she retains her memories. I'm going for a Buffy pulled out of heaven against her will situation. Her revival places her in a world where her family and comrades from the war are long dead, forcing her to re-enter the fight, burdened by loss and duty.

This makes both her and Capitano warriors bound by fate to endure deathlessness, carrying the weight of their fallen comrades. This version of her would suffer from PTSD and severe survivor's guilt. Their shared pain and sense of duty create an actually compelling reason for Mavuika and Capitano to fight and sacrifice for one another. Also it's possible that this Mavuika could have met Thrain during the war, adding another layer of complexity to their narrative.

Kit rework

Taking this new concept into her kit, Mavuika's abilities are centered around conjuring flaming spirits of her fallen allies created from memories. I'm not going to worry about numbers at all to focus on the thematic and mechanical design.

Her Tap-E remains pretty much the same besides a visual update. Instead of the ring, which feels repetitive and diminishes the uniqueness of Raiden's design, Mavuika summons a spectral champion that floats alongside the active character. She hurls flaming spears at enemies that acts very similar to the current ability.

Her Hold-E is completely redesigned, as now Mavuika summons her other spectral champion and his legion of warriors. She leaps into the air with them and they rain down flaming, explosive spears in a large AoE. This is shamelessly heavily inspired by Styanax's 4th from Warframe, which is an insanely fun ability.

https://i.redd.it/qyxw8cehxcce1.gif

The "fighting spirit" mechanic is completely removed. Opening up more team comps and allowing Mavuika to stay more relevant in new regions, which aligns with the narrative and mechanical expectations of an Archon. The initial hit from her burst remains unchanged; however, the burst now activates an empowered version of her Tap-E without the use of her elemental skill. Mavuika gains Pyro-infused normal attacks, damage reduction, and full interruption resistance. Her Hold-E now applies a unique damage-over-time effect that cannot trigger elemental reactions but is considered Pyro damage.

This redesign preserves Mavuika's sub-DPS and main DPS identity. During her burst, Mavuika’s normal attacks decrease the cooldown of her elemental skill, creating her playstyle: use the hold elemental skill, execute normal attacks to reduce the skill cooldown, and then repeat. Each elemental skill creates a new instance of DoT allowing the damage to stack. This is where most of her on field damage comes from.

Her on field damage potential would be comparable to Arlecchino, but as the Pyro Archon, this Mavuika provides a Pyro damage buff for allies whenever her Tap-E or burst is active, enabling other Pyro DPS characters to excel when paired with her.

I want this Mavuika to have better supporting capabilities with a complete overhaul of her A4 passive ability. Specifically, the removal of "fighting spirit" allows for a new design where Mavuika's burst provides allies with an attack buff comparable to that of Bennett. To maintain balance, both Mavuika’s and Bennett’s buffs are classified as the same type of buff and, consequently, cannot stack.

I concluded that if the buffs cannot stack, giving the player essentially two Bennetts was okay. Because of the increase in characters who use Bennett in their team compositions, I believe it would be healthy for the game to allow the player to use two different "Bennett teams". This change addresses the need for greater flexibility in team-building while maintaining overall game health.

With this change, Mavuika would no longer enter the Nightsoul's Blessing state to deny her the use of the Cinder City artifact set. New artifacts would be developed for her specifically to maintain a balance between her and Bennett. This poses a unique challenge, as Nightsoul mechanics remain a pervasive issue within Natlan’s gameplay systems. An alternative solution could involve imposing elemental restrictions on the Cinder City artifact set—for instance, limiting it to triggering on Geo, Cryo, and Electro reactions only.

Similar to Kokomi, this Mavuika gains a unique, third passive ability. Upon her health reaching zero, the flames command her to continue the fight. After a brief revival animation, she instantly heals to full health and unleashes a burst of Pyro damage in an AoE around her. During her revival animation, the duration of her abilities are paused. This ability has a long cooldown and is meant to be only usable once per battle.

This passive allows Mavuika to utilize the interruption resist of her burst to simply endure attacks without concern. It also increases viability in teams lacking defensive support. This reinforces Mavuika's resilience and thematic narrative as the unyielding Archon of war. And obviously during her revival she would deliver some badass voice lines.

Conclusion

It's unfortunate this Mavuika wouldn't have an exploration ability herself, but as well as decreasing Night Soul transmission CD, she would also decrease phlogiston consumption for other characters. The removal of her motorcycle is necessary for the goal of making Mavuika a more balanced and lore-appropriate character. Since her motorcycle is capable of everything Mualani, Xilonen and Chasca provide in exploration and I think that's honestly unfair.

Obviously something like this Mavuika would never get made by Hoyo and that's just the reality. Natlan in a vacuum isn't bad, but once you start thinking about what it could have been and its place in the game as a whole, it becomes kind of disappointing.

But uh yeah sound off in the comments I guess, any suggestions, what you like or what you hate. I don't really make posts ever so right now I'm feeling like a shy little guy. But I had ideas and needed to get them out.