Tyrael Judges The Competition! (Diablo's Archangel of Justice for Smash)

[Manondork]

Who is Tyrael?
Tyrael is, as the thread's title mentions, the very Archangel of Justice in the Diablo games. As one of the most powerful members of the Angiris Council, he has had many a battle with Diablo, Azmodan, and their ilk in pursuit of upholding justice. In the Eternal Conflict (the war between the High Heavens and Burning Hells), Tyrael was a major player. Despite how hard both sides fought, however, it was evident that neither would gain dominance in this war. So both sides started searching for a way to gain the upper hand...It was in these warring times that Sanctuary was founded, where the Nephalem were born through an angel-demon relationship. And from those Nephalem came mankind itself. To make the very long lore behind the Diablo games and the long story of Tyrael short, here's a summary. He was initially against mankind, the Nephalem, and Sanctuary's existence alongside most of the Angiris Council, but, in the events leading up to the beginning of Diablo III, Tyrael had soon changed his mind as he was moved by a human's sacrifice to save his world from destruction by angels and demons alike. In the voting as to what should be done to Sanctuary, Tyrael actually voted for mankind to stay. However, mankind was not safe, as the Prime Evils were plotting to lead them to corruption. To make that long story short, Tyrael and a group of humans had eventually defeated the Prime Evils, but at the cost of Tyrael's physical form (though he eventually got it back through an unexpected revival). In the events of Diablo III, Tyrael and the rest of the Angiris Council saw that mankind was now under threat of being attacked by demons again, as the angels had underestimated how corrupted humans could be. Tyrael went against the rules of the High Heavens to promise mankind that they would not be fighting the arriving evil alone. But Imperius, the Archangel of Valor that had taken over leadership after Malthael had mysteriously disappeared a long time ago, had discovered Tyrael's transgressions and fought him for it. Tyrael grew frustrated with how these laws were preventing him from helping mankind and upholding justice, so he sacrificed his angel status to become mortal and prove that laws could be bent for the sake of the greater good. The player character finds Tyrael and brings him to the main group of characters that you quest with - namely, Deckard Cain and Leah - with him totally forgetting who he is. You find the shards of his sword, El'Druin, and his memory is then restored. I won't reveal the rest of the story in case you guys haven't played through Diablo III, it is a relatively recent game after all (and this segment is long enough, as much as I tried to be brief with it).


Why Should Tyrael Be In Smash? Why not a WoW, SC, OW rep?
He has become an iconic face of the Diablo franchise, standing right there with even Diablo himself. The Diablo franchise has quite a legacy in the video game industry, and, while it may not have a history with Nintendo in specific, Diablo III has got a port on the Nintendo Switch and even was given it's own amiibo. Blizzard is a company that I feel is big enough to at least be considered to have a Smash character, and why not have the only notable Nintendo port they've had (not counting the retro games from when they were called Silicon & Synapse and the port of Starcraft on the N64) get a rep in Super Smash Brothers? As for other Blizzard reps...while I would also love a Warcraft or a Starcraft character, the former has had no games on Nintendo consoles at all while the latter only had a Nintendo 64 port that people forgot even existed (guess they could pull a Cloud though if they really wanted to). Perhaps Overwatch could be a competitor, but it's popularity has been dying out quite a bit.


What Could Be Tyrael's Play Style?
I think a good place to draw inspiration for a move set would be Heroes of the Storm. Tyrael's Q, W, E, and his two Ultimates in that game could all work as specials, while I think that his neutrals would mostly be average sword swings mixed in with angelic magic of a physical nature. They could try to adapt his passive into Smash, as well; in Heroes of the Storm, Tyrael's passive makes him explode when he dies, dealing damage to enemies, though I think this effect would have to be changed for it to not be potentially game breaking. I think a straight-up flying Up B, akin to Wings of Rebellion or Power of Flight, would be good. Tyrael would most likely be a floaty character, with plenty of air time in his jumps, but he would still be on the heavier side to replicate how his role in Heroes of the Storm is a tank (heaviness to be similar to how he has more health naturally as a tank). He would be an entirely melee focused character. His only ranged moves would most likely be two of his loan moves from Heroes of the Storm - his Q, which has him toss his sword at a location that he can then teleport to once it hits the ground, and his E, which has him slice the ground wherever he wants (in Smash, this would likely be adapted to where it slices the ground at a fixed location). I think this would, overall, be our best material to work with for Tyrael being in Smash.


How Could Tyrael be Represented? (Stage, Costumes, Music, Spirits)

Spoiler: Stage Idea

This image is a picture of the Battlefield of Eternity map from Heroes of the Storm, and I think it could work very well for representing the general idea behind most of the Diablo series. The stage would transition in scenery between The High Heavens and the Burning Hells as you continue to play through it; while the overall structure of the stage is completely the same, the aesthetic changes wildly between the two. In Omega and Battlefield form, the stage instead looks more similar to how the whole map looks (as in the image), where the stage will be almost perfectly halved between Heaven and Hell rather than transitioning between the two.

Spoiler: Some Music Tracks

While Diablo's music wouldn't be the most fitting tracks in Smash, the orchestral and dark theme to the songs would be very unique. Here's some suggestions.
. "New Tristram" - Diablo III
. "I Am Justice" - Diablo III (likely Tyrael's trailer theme)
. "Evil Reawakened" - Diablo III
. "Zakarum" - Diablo II
. "Desert" - Diablo II
. "Monastery" - Diablo II

Spoiler: Alternate Costumes

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[Human Tyrael but with his default color's armor]
Alt 7:

[Human Tyrael but with armor colored like a Stormwind Guard from World of Warcraft. Helmet not included, fun little reference to another Blizzard game.]
Do note that the human Tyrael skins will not have wings, but will still sprout them to have the Up B make sense.

The List of Supporters!
Manondork ​