El Bastardo

**El Bastardo** is a Fighter featured in *Bleeding Edge*. "The Bastard" is an old one-eyed Mexican guerrero - warrior - of mysterious origin and legend, his stories known almost solely to him alone. Hooked up to a life support system he totes on his back and wielding dual machetes, he joined the "Bleeding Edge" gang of cybernetic misfits with what appears to be a death wish. He competes in the underground pit fights intending to go out on his own terms, not wasting away in his twilight years hooked up to a failing life support system.

## Biography

*No one knows the dark past of the embittered, grim mercenary called as El Bastardo; only fragments of this lone wolf’s story - halftruths and rumors - exist. Some say he was the illegitimate son of an important politician, abandoned to the streets as a child; others that he is the product of a dangerous experiment gone awry; or that he was once a decorated soldier left for dead by his own commanders and is now out for revenge.*

*Only one thing is certain; those who cross him in the arena must face a lethal whirlwind of blades and an unstoppable fighter who acts without pity or mercy.*

*His past a mystery, he now seeks a chance to go out in a brutal blaze of glory before the machines keeping him alive can no longer support him...*

[Note: previous versions of the story included rumors he was the illegitimate son of a cartel *sicario* - an assassin; or that he roamed the Mexican streets as a one-man-army vigilante.]

## Abilities

### Basic Abilities

*Hack enemies, stealing their energy for your Life Support backpack.*
 Evade
*Dodge out of harm’s way. Costs stamina.*
 Parry
*Deflects an enemy's attack when well-timed.*
 Life Support
*Provides protective shields. Powered up by damage from Machetes and Specials.*
El Bastardo builds additional health on top of his base health as armor as he lands successful hits. Life Support armor grants El Bastardo super armor, meaning he does not flinch against basic attacks. A visual hexbarrier appears covering his body, growing more intense as he builds shields. Life Support armor caps at 400 HP (default); El Bastardo will audibly mention when he is at max armor. Armor naturally degrades at approximately 10 HP per second (default).

### Specials

If El Bastardo is not locked to a target with <Lock-on>, he will leap forward the direction he's facing at max range. When locked on, he will automatically adjust the distance of his leap to catch his target in the center of his impact. Jumping before using Leap of Faith gives El Bastardo extra vertical height on the leap itself. Leap of Faith deals damage and a split-second stun upon impact. The leap's landing impact point - a very small AoE - is telegraphed when the leap is activated; an opponent can Evade right before impact to avoid landing.
When activated, El Bastardo spins like a top and whirls his machetes in a circle around him as a channeled ability for a few seconds, dealing consistent damage to any enemy(s) in close proximity. The cooldown starts when Death Spiral ends. Pressing <Attack>, or performing an Evade or a Parry will end the Death Spiral early. El Bastardo can move and jump while spinning. Death Spiral has super armor, meaning he does not flinch against basic attacks.
When activated, El Bastardo automatically gains a base shield of 40 HP (default). Any nearby enemies when Empower is activated take damage and immediately give El Bastardo additional armor; the amount of shields gained can vary anywhere between 40-60 HP per enemy. Empower does not heal his base health.

### Supers

When activated, El Bastardo gains the Unkillable buff ("Player can be damaged, but cannot be killed. [Health will always stay above 0]"). Any armor he has before activing Unbreakable is lost to add extra time to the super's base timer; the default maximum of 400 HP armor adds approximately an extra 2 seconds. Empower is disabled for the duration of Unbreakable. El Bastardo does not generate any armor while Unbreakable is active. When Unbreakable ends, he gains a minimum of 100 HP in armor, with extra armor granted depending on how much damage he did while Unbreakable was active. Unbreakable does not heal his base health at any time.
When activated, El Bastardo generates an AoE aura around him for about 7 seconds (default) that constantly damages all nearby enemies in range. He can perform all other actions while Overload is active, including generating armor with Life Support. Damage from Overload does not contribute towards Life Support.

## General Strategy

> "An aggressive bruiser, who relies on defensive shields generated by attacking enemies."
>
>

El Bastardo is an aggressive dive tank whose survivability is tied directly to his relentless damage output. With strong gap closers and consistent damage, he lays the hurt on enemies while generating his own armor to stay on the front line even longer. He doesn't have much in the way of direct crowd control, but he makes up for it by charging a target and never letting up on his offense. The old mercenary holds the line by carving a path through anyone who gets close.

For El Bastardo's survivability, the name of the game is "damage for armor." His Life Support passive gives him armor - additional temporary HP atop his base health and super armor against flinching - as he does damage with any of his non-super attacks. This covers everything from hacking up enemies with his dual Machetes, to diving a target of opportunity (even a level above him) for a stun with Leap of Faith, to becoming a whirling dervish slicing any and all enemies even vaguely close to him with his relentless Death Spiral, to stealing health from all enemies surrounding him in a quick burst with Empower. All that armor, even if it naturally degrades or gets chopped up by enemies, will always be in supply as long as he never stops doing damage. He otherwise can't heal himself, but that's what friends and power-ups are for. He picks a target - preferably someone who can't get away easily - and dives them to cut them down to size. If he absolutely needs to make a retreat, an untargeted Leap of Faith and his high stamina help him get away, while Death Spiral and Empower further discourage pursuers with close-range damage. El Bastardo's choice of super lets him choose whether to lean harder on his undying defense or unceasing offense. Unbreakable dumps his armor into his Life Support and makes him unkillable for several seconds - even longer as long as he keeps doing damage during the duration - and rewards him with bonus armor as compensation when the super ends. On the other hand, Overload gives him a damaging AoE aura that shocks all nearby enemies with constant damage from his Life Support unit, only further exacerbating his damage output ontop of everything he already does. Either way, people get chopped.

Everybody dies, but El Bastardo will make certain it's not him, not today.

## Gallery

Pixel ArtConcept ArtBLEEDING EDGE El Bastardo Guide - Abilities, Supers, Tips & Tricks