Delsin

EARLY LIFE: Delsin is a 24-year-old Native American from the Akomish Tribe. Believing that he is destined for greatness, Delsin's occupation as a street artist, and his uncontainable penchant for free expression, sets the perfect background for his standoff with the D.U.P. Delsin has a rebellious attitude and favors anti-authoritarian street art. Unfortunately, Delsin's tendency to tag buildings and structures with graffiti constantly irritates and embarrasses his older brother, Reggie Rowe, who is forced to keep arresting him "over and over and over again". It is implied that Delsin and Reggie's parents are deceased.

BECOMING A BIO-TERRORIST: After being confronted by his brother, Reggie, over vandalizing the latter's "Congrats, New Sheriff!"* billboard, the brothers witness the crash of a military truck transporting a trio of Conduits - Henry Daughtry, Abigail Walker, and Eugene Sims. While Abigail and Eugene quickly get away, Delsin attempts to help Hank out of some rubble and, for his troubles, becomes a hostage in the resulting standoff with Reggie.

During the struggle, Delsin accidentally absorbs Hank's powers and falls unconscious. After coming to, he finds the area around him in shambles. Discovering his new-found power, a frightened Delsin manages to reach and save his brother. Although Reggie tells him not to use his new "tricks", Delsin uses them anyway to chase Hank into the nearby burning fish cannery, attempting to save Betty who is trapped in the building.

Armed with nothing but a chain and his underdeveloped smoke powers, Delsin chases Hank into the D.U.P.'s custody. Unfortunately, the D.U.P.'s leader Brooke Augustine uses her Concrete powers to brutally interrogate Delsin, and threatens to move on to the rest of the tribe if Delsin doesn't tell her what he is hiding. Delsin confesses to being a conduit, but Augustine doesn't believe him, as he claims he "caught" the "Conduit Bug" from Hank, which isn't possible. She knocks him out cold and continues interrogating the rest of the tribe.

The return: Later on, Delsin is surprised to hear his allies question him about a rampage he was on downtown. He soon realizes that it wasn't him, but the other Smoke Conduit, Hank, who escaped from D.U.P. custody. After chasing Hank down again, Delsin convinces him to help him against the D.U.P. Hank informs him that his fellow Conduit allies, Eugene and Abigail, are both in D.U.P. custody in the makeshift D.U.P. base, at an island off the coast of Seattle.

The brothers and Hank infiltrate the island, but Delsin is soon lured into a trap by Hank who is revealed to be the D.U.P.'s ally. Because of Hank, Delsin and Reggie are beaten and nearly captured by Augustine, who attempts to encase them both in concrete while they're dangling off of the edge of the base. Reggie sacrifices himself to prevent Delsin from being captured, prompting a fight between Augustine and an enraged Delsin.

After the fight, Augustine collapses the island and Delsin washes ashore and proceeds to hunt down Hank who is now on the run from both of his former allies. During the chase, Hank explains, and later proves, that the D.U.P. had his daughter hostage, prompting Delsin to reluctantly spare Hank's life on the condition that he never sees him again.

Appearance: Delsin's appearance consists of denim jeans, a red beanie, a denim vest, a hoodie, and a red flannel shirt. While in the neutral karmic state his hoodie is gray and his vest, and jeans are dark denim blue. If Delsin gains Good karma, his hoodie will go from black to white, and his jeans will go from dark denim to brighter denim blue. His face has a normal, healthy look. If Delsin gains Evil karma, his hoodie will go from black to red, and his jeans will go from dark denim to completely black. Also, he has a sickly appearance (black soot under his eyes and down his neck and red spots on his face). The symbol on his vest also changes form in accordance with his current karma.

Powers and Abilities:

Delsin discovers his powers when he absorbs the abilities of Hank, a prisoner on a D.U.P. carrier, taking on Smoke Manipulation. Later, he discovers that he possesses the unique ability to mimic the powers of other Conduits.

(Power Absorption: Delsin has the natural ability to absorb the abilities of other conduits, which he discovers after encountering a crashed conduit transport vehicle.[2] This gives him the potential to be one of the most versatile Conduits ever in existence, due to the fact that he can have multiple powers at any point and can always absorb more. Telepathic Perception: Delsin along with his ability to take the powers of others, also has the ability, through touch, to look at another person's past and the emotions they experienced to rapidly gain information of their lives. Although it's not confirmed, it appears that this power can't be used on non-Conduits because he has shown no signs of it when touching any non-Conduits such as his brother. This power is not to be confused with Telepathy, as he is not reading their minds, but receiving information (It is also interesting to note that the memories that Delsin sees always involve, in some way, when the Conduits got their powers). Smoke Manipulation: Delsin's initial powers seem to be based on smoke and ember, having taken it from Hank, the Conduit he helped survive. He suddenly gains the capacity to shoot smoke out of his hands, or even turn into smoke and travel quickly around the city through the use of air ducts. He can also deploy smoke grenades, which, after explosion, cover affected enemies in smoke and incapacitate them. Delsin can use the chain on his arm as a whip, seemingly imbuing it with burning ash, similarly to how the Amp was wrought in Cole's electricity. Additionally, he can make use of a smoke dash ability for heightened motion and produce lateral propulsion for a short while via Smoke Thrusters. His smoke dash can also be used offensively, as he dashes through an enemy and rematerializes behind them, choke-slamming them to the ground in the process. Delsin also replenishes his power by absorbing smoke from chimneys, cars, and DUP tear gas canisters.[3] He can use his special Smoke Karma Bomb ability called Orbital Drop: Delsin dematerializes into three balls of smoke which propel upwards. Upon reaching a specific height, Delsin rematerializes and rapidly falls down, exploding into smoke and embers upon contact with the surface. Neon Manipulation: Later on the game, Delsin absorbs from Abigail Walker the ability to control neon. With it, he is shown to have powers similar to his smoke dispersal abilities yet instead dissolves and reforms from gaseous energy based semblance. He can discharge Neon stream lasers from his hands, which also blow up upon contact to deal more damage to enemies than the smoke projectile as well as simulate a light dash, which when used dissolves him into Neon itself and enables him, and brief after images of him, to sprint up or around walls and literally run on air from a starting jump for brief periods of time.[4] Delsin's chain can also be covered in neon and made rigid, allowing it to be used like in sword-like fashion; he can also use neon to charge it directly into enemies, knocking them over, similar to his smoke choke slam. He also has neon grenades which suspend enemies in air for a short amount of time. Aiming while using the Neon power set utilizes a mode similar to Precision, time slows down and it highlights certain weak points around specific enemy body parts. Weak points are Karma specific, shoot an enemy in the head to cause them to be "obliterated" and explode into a puff of red neon and receive evil karma, or shoot them in the shins to restrain the enemy to receive good karma.[5] He also has some kind of propulsion ability honed by a force field situated at the lower legs similar to Cole's Static Thrusters and Delsin's own Smoke Thrusters. He can replenish his Neon reserves by absorbing it from the brightly lit neon signs situated around the city. With Neon power active, Delsin can use his special Neon Karma Bomb called Radiant Sweep: in which he concentrates neon energy into himself and then bursts, shooting beams in all directions, producing a massive explosion. Video Manipulation: Delsin then gains the ability of Video by absorbing a Conduit named Eugene Sims. Delsin can drain this power from television monitors to computer screens or satellite dishes. When using Video, Delsin can shoot out a stream of pixelated projectiles in a rapid fire motion similar to Cole's Bolt Stream. Also gaining the ability to transform himself into faint pixels, becoming invisible to enemies for a certain time period. When using melee attacks, Delsin doesn't seem to use his chain. Instead, depending on his karma, he creates a digital sword (good) or claws (evil) to hack and slash. Furthermore, when dashing he can create wings for himself to fly over obstacles and directly up walls. Dashing into satellite dishes will cause him to launch higher up in the air. Delsin can also mark and summon three Bloodthirsty Blades. When the blades are summoned, they then seek out the target that has been marked. With Video power active, Delsin can use his special Video Karma Bomb called Hellfire Swarm: in which he summons both angels and demons, from the game Heaven's Hellfire, to swoop down and carpet bombing enemies. When over, the Karma Bomb will either subdue (good) or obliterate (evil) enemies depending on Delsin's decisions.[6] Concrete Manipulation: The last power Delsin gets, which is absorbed from Brooke Augustine, gaining her unique ability to manipulate Concrete. Delsin can drain this power from any down members of the D.U.P. he comes across. What also makes concrete separate itself from the other powers is that while using it, Delsin automatically takes less damage from enemy fire. While using the power he can shoot out a shrapnel of concrete in a burst fire manner. Delsin can also fire off slabs of concrete, very similar to one of Augustine's attacks and those used by the weaponless DUP soldiers. Like Video, Delsin doesn't seem to use the chain either when using concrete. Instead, Delsin smashes his hand on the ground, creating a miniature tremor that knocks enemies back. When dashing Delsin is covered in concrete wearing it like armor, making himself a living boulder. Delsin can also travel around using concrete thrusters, similar to Cole's Static Thrusters, where stones are surrounded under him. Every time the thrusters are used, they initially lift him higher in the air, causing him to glide even farther. Surprisingly, out of all the current power sets (Smoke, Neon, Video and Concrete) Concrete is the only one that doesn't have a Karma Bomb for some odd reason, this may be due to the Karma Bomb requiring another Blast Core Relay which he was unable to obtain. He can also use a miniature boost to push himself into the air which leaves no trace of damage from the launching point, unlike the DUP Knights' ability. When used while climbing a building Delsin will simply Launch himself vertically up it.)

Basic Conduit Abilities: (Superhuman Strength: Like all Major Conduits, Delsin possesses greater physical strength than a normal human. An example sees Delsin effortlessly pulls his brother's arm off of Abigail Walker, to the point where Reggie shows physical pain. He has also displayed being able to send others flying several feet through the air with his kicks, was also able to effortlessly pull off a chainlink door off a cage. Superhuman Agility: Delsin also possesses incredibly agility and grace, allowing him effortlessly scale buildings, and land on his feet from several stories. He has also shown to be able to easily balance himself on any surface, no matter how narrow, and run across it as though it was a large strip of road. Superhuman Stamina: Like other Conduits, Delsin is able to exert himself for far longer periods of time. He is seemingly able to run for an endless period of time, and is able to scale buildings without any hindrances or exhaustion. Despite this, Delsin is still capable of tiring, as it seems using his primary conduit can cause him, and whomever he uses it on to pass out. Superhuman Durability: Delsin is far more resilient and enduring than a normal human being, he is able to fall from almost any height and land unharmed. He first discovers this when entering the Fish Canary to find Betty and Hank, commenting that "that...should've hurt". He has also been shown to be able to withstand numerous gunshots while showing only slight discomfort. Accelerated Healing Factor: Delsin has shown to be able to rapidly recover from sustained wounds and injuries. Throughout the game Delsin is shown to be able recover from any form of harm he receives, so long as the damage isn't fatal, and he is not harmed again before he has a chance to recover. This is shown twice: After Augustine tortures Delsin to the point of knocking him unconscious, he wakes up a week later to find the concrete shards in his legs gone. When Delsin encounters the looters in the tunnel, they panic when they realize what he is. One of them shoots Delsin twice, but it doesn't take long for him to get back onto his feet.)

Weaknesses:

(Delsin's power absorption does come with a few drawbacks:

Firstly, when he acquires a new power, he is unable to switch to his other powers until he develops his proficiency with said new power. After absorbing an ability from another conduit, Delsin is temporarily knocked unconscious due to the amount of stress and strain it puts on Delsin. This is very similar to when Cole absorbs Blast Cores in Infamous 2, as after he fully absorbs one, it knocks him out for a while. Delsin cannot switch powers on a whim; he must switch powers by absorbing energy from a different power source. For example, if Delsin currently has Smoke but wants to use Neon, he must absorb Neon to replace it. For this same reason, he can't use multiple powers at once.)