User blog:Emptylord/Champion reworks/My Assassin Update

The following is my implementation of Riot's intended goals and outcomes for their upcoming Assassin Roster Update.

General

 * AD assassin itemisation overhaul.
 * likely to become melee only.
 * AP item changes are unlikely due to AP assassins being fairly well supported by existing AP items.
 * Stealth rework, which will affect all stealth champions and not just assassins.

High Scope

 * Goals
 * Extend her burst window enough that enemies can react to her.
 * A delay on reactivating Distortion is very likely.
 * Removing double-Distortion from being her biggest tool, enabling "trickier" plays to actually be worthwhile pulling off.
 * Give LeBlanc active deception tools. Her innate's random triggering does not contribute enough to her fantasy.
 * Make sure LeBlanc's contribution to the team is unique, preferably through deception tools.
 * Early explorations of implementing Trickster's Glass in her kit have been overall unfeasible, although enjoyed.
 * My Changes
 * (I)
 * LeBlanc is offered a selection of allied champions to disguise herself as, which is hidden while in combat with an enemy champion. Once selected, LeBlanc takes on their appearance for 30 seconds, including their unit frame with their current health and mana, as well as their emotes. The disguise is broken upon casting a spell or attacking, or either her own or her disguise's health being dropped to.
 * 90 seconds
 * Emptylord_Sigil_of_Malice.pngEmptylord_Malice_Stacks.png
 * LeBlanc's projects an orb towards the target enemy, dealing  magic damage and applying Malice for 3.5 seconds. Once marked, LeBlanc's abilities will apply additional stacks of Malice. After  seconds or upon reaching 4 stacks, the mark detonates dealing   magic damage per stack.
 * The effect could be increased to 6 stacks, which is the maximum number of stacks that can be acquired using each of her abilities only once (combo: Q E RE E2 RE2 W).
 * Reactivation now has a second static cooldown.
 * Dash speed is now affected by bonus movement speed and slows.
 * Movement interrupts will cause LeBlanc to stop early, but still deal damage over the surrounding area.
 * Mimicked abilities will apply an empowered stack of Malice, which deals.
 * Mimicked abilities will apply an empowered stack of Malice, which deals.
 * Mimicked abilities will apply an empowered stack of Malice, which deals.

Giving Sigil of Malice a delay before detonation means that her enemies have an opportunity to react without directly affecting LeBlanc's damage. The decision to add a stacking mechanic, similar to Tristana's Explosive Charge, was to give LeBlanc something to do during the delay and potentially reward her with additional damage if she gets everything right.

Whether or not the effect should stack 4 times or 6 times is dependant on how high the skill ceiling on the ability should be - I'm inclined toward the 4-stack option because I do not believe 6 stacks is a feasible feat for LeBlanc and is more dependant on her enemies complying with her (i.e. rewarding her for her opponents misplays rather than her own good plays).

I know Riot said they did not think the Trickster passive would be viable long-term due to the maintenence it would require, but I honestly think it would be worth it. The gameplay around Trickster's Glass not only suits LeBlanc's lore, her theme, and the goals of the rework, but it's down-right good gameplay. Does she disguise herself as the tank to avoid being focused initially? Or as her vulnerable support/marksman, and break the disguise in time to murder her foe? Or does she simply disguise herself as someone low health to bait a fight, or as someone high health to make enemies ignore her? The decoy can't possible require more/different maintenance to Mordekaiser's ultimate as well as other decoys/clones...


 * Goals
 * Extend his burst window. Killing someone in 0.25 seconds isn't good gameplay.
 * More depth to Thrill of the Hunt.
 * Enemies now have meaningful gameplay opportunities. Not just an ! that appears once you're already within his kill range.
 * Ferocity currently promotes a burst paradigm, due to him having only 3 abilities but needing 5 stacks.
 * Ferocity should have to be built up in a fight, rather than approaching a fight already charged.
 * Consequently, Rengar's first empowered spell should be more readily accessed and they should be up consistently.
 * New spells
 * His Q, W and R will all receive substantial changes, if not outright being new abilities.
 * The bush-leap and bola are unlikely to change beyond number changes.
 * His new Empowered W is "game changing".
 * Bonetooth Necklace rewards picking on the same weak enemy rather than collecting trophies from worthy prey.
 * Each unique enemy may only be worth one trophy, at least as standard.
 * Bonetooth Necklace grants rewards that make it impossible for enemies to get used to Rengar's mechanics, e.g. increased leap range.
 * My Changes
 * Resource
 * Ferocity
 * Renekton's Rage mechanic. Empowered abilities cost 50 Rage, and he can up to 100.
 * Basic attacks and non-empowered abilities generate 5 Rage on-hit. Abilities will grant twice as much Rage (10) if they hit a champion, with Battle Roar stacking per champion hit (up to 50).
 * (I)
 * Rengar retains the cloaking effect of being in a brush for 2 seconds upon exiting the brush, ending early if he performs a hostile action. The cloaking behaves as with brush, and Rengar will be revealed by any hostile vision within the brush (even without Rengar's knowledge).
 * Each enemy champion, unique type of elemental dragon, Rift Herald, Baron Nashor, and the enemy Brambleback and Sentinel have a Trophy that Rengar can claim once by scoring a takedown against them. Rengar gains bonuses based on his current Trophies.
 * The hunt begins. Rengar gains 25 bonus movement speed while out of combat or in brush (which persists during Unseen Predator).
 * Thrill of the Hunt starts with 1 stack of Thrill.
 * Thrill of the Hunt starts with 2 stacks of Thrill.
 * Thrill of the Hunt grants half its bonus movement speed at all times.
 * Thrill of the Hunt starts with 3 stacks of Thrill.
 * (Q)
 * Grants % bonus attack speed for 5 seconds.
 * Rengar's next attack has 600 range and causes him to leap on his target, dealing 30-240 (based on level) bonus physical damage as well as granting 50-100% bonus attack speed for 5 seconds.
 * (R)
 * Rengar gains % bonus movement speed while moving toward enemy champions, generates 5 Rage per second and detection of nearby enemies for the next 15 seconds, detecting lower health enemies from further away. While active, Rengar will gain stacks of Thrill per champion takedown.
 * Grants or  per stack.
 * Grants or  per stack.

Most of Riot's analysis on Rengar's issues are on-point, and leave little to the imagination as to what will be changed... up until they say practically his whole kit will be changed. I'm somewhat at a loss of how to keep "Rengar" who he is while also giving him 3 new abilities.

Thus, I've opt'd to give Rengar the Xin Zhao treatment and simply move all his effects around into more economic locations, as well as addressing Riot's concerns with his resource and Bonetooth Necklace in ways appropriate for the direction I took his rework. He retains his power as King of the Jungle, I feel, but without substantially less instakill. While Riot has stated that Rengar will remain an assassin after his rework (and not become a Skirmisher/Fighter), I personally disagree with this - I don't think someone with Rengar's autoattacker paradigm can work as a true assassin, and he either needs to lose his knifekitty identity or he needs tools that are appropriate for an autoattacker.


 * Goals
 * Make Talon more distinct from other assassins.
 * Play-up Talon's existing niche - roaming.
 * Make Talon less of an AOE nuke and more of an assassin.
 * Extend his burst window. Assassins should be reliable, but enemies should have time to react.
 * Focus his damage against a single target. No more accidental quadrakills when all he was trying to do was kill one person.
 * My Changes
 * (I)
 * Talon gains 35% bonus movement speed while no nearby enemy champions have sight of him. This bonus lingers for 2 seconds upon being seen.
 * (Q)
 * Will apply on Cutthroat versus champions. Talon's next attack or Cutthroat against a champion...
 * Bleed.
 * If a champion, Talon marks them for 3 seconds and stores % of premitigation physical damage he deals to them (including the empowered attack). After the duration, they bleed for the stored damage over the next 3 seconds.
 * (E)
 * Talon rapidly dashes forward, dealing physical damage to all enemies he passes through. Upon colliding with a champion or reaching maximum range, he slows to a stop before vaulting back and blinking to his original position. If Talon collides with a champion, they are by 99% and he will  them if they do not get out of range before he kicks back.
 * Talon can use his other abilities during the delay.
 * (R)
 * Talon flourishes his cloak about him, briefly becoming untargetable and dealing  physical damage to all nearby enemies as well as intercepting and destroying nearby projectiles.
 * Talon periodically stores charges of Blade Waltz, up to 3.
 * Cooldown: 3 seconds
 * Recharge time:

It was stated that Talon will be losing his blink ability in his rework, and that it would not be replaced with a simple dash as people feared. The new mechanic would be "familiar but different", and I immediately thought to Warwick's scrapped "Hamstring" ability (that, for those who don't know and cannot infer from above, is essentially Boomerang Blade as a dash). Since the ability forces Talon to return to the start point, it is not truly a mobility spell - he cannot use it to get away or close the distance on an enemy in a direct sense.

The new ultimate I chose for him was based on a general dissatifaction with Talon's original delivery - namely, he wears a cloak made of blades and never uses it.

Low Scope
If has been confirmed there will be 4 High Scope champions, with the currently-unknown fourth being an AP champion.

Pending Goals= Personal Changes=
 * The amount of health that Ekko will restore is now displayed as Grey Health.
 * One seen, the hologram will now remain visible until sight is obstructed (i.e. it will not immediately disappear once Ekko becomes invisible).
 * One seen, the hologram will now remain visible until sight is obstructed (i.e. it will not immediately disappear once Ekko becomes invisible).

Pending Goals= Personal Changes=
 * (W)
 * Missing health ratio on passive.
 * Active AP ratio.
 * Active now scales with.
 * (E)
 * Damage reduced to  from.
 * Damage radius reduced to 270 from 330.
 * (E2)
 * Damage radius reduced to ??? from 270. To match bounce detection radius.
 * (R)
 * Fizz throws a fish toward the target location that lures in Chompers for the next 4 seconds, marking a 375-radius area and enemies within. If the fish collides with an enemy champion or an enemy champion walks directly over it after it has come to rest, they will pick it up, carrying Chum the Water's effects with them.
 * After 4 seconds, Chompers will erupt from the earth, dealing magic damage and slowing all enemies within the area for 1.5 seconds. If the fish's holder falls below, Chompers will emerge early, executing them instantly.
 * Radius increased to 375 from 250.
 * Damage amplifier. I'm undecided...
 * Slow reduced to 20% from 50 / 60 / 70 %.
 * Bind duration increased to 4 seconds from 1.5 seconds.
 * Chompers will emerge from the ground early if his target falls below, executing them.

Pending Goals= Personal Changes=
 * Stats
 * Magic resist increased to 32.1 (+1.25) from 30 (+0).
 * (new Innate)
 * Kassadin shields himself equal to the he expends for  seconds, stacking with no upper limit.
 * (new Q)
 * Kassadin hurls an orb in the target direction that deals 60 / 75 / 90 / 105 / 130 magic damage to all enemies in its path. At maximum range or if it hits an enemy champion, the orb slows to a stop and expands. After a 0.5 second delay, the orb contracts -  surrounding enemies inward and dealing 60 / 85 / 110 / 135 / 160  magic damage.
 * (W)
 * Passive magic damage changed to 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 from 20.
 * Active no longer innately restores mana.
 * Empowered attacks against champions will consume a stack of and replenishes.
 * Empowered attack the target.
 * (E)
 * Stack system removed.
 * Cost changed to reduced to 40 / 55 / 70 / 85 / 100 from 80 at all ranks.
 * Base damage reduced to 70 / 95 / 120 / 145 / 170 from 80 / 105 / 130 / 155 / 180.
 * Effect is now a conic wave from an instantaneous cone. 1400 missile speed.
 * The pulse will now destroy hostile projectiles.

Pending Goals= Personal Changes=
 * (E)
 * Damage removed.
 * Damage reduction increased to 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 % from 15% at all ranks.
 * Cooldown reduced to seconds from 12 / 10.5 / 9 / 7.5 / 6.
 * Cooldown is now static (unaffected by cooldown reduction or Voracity).
 * Now has an second per-target cooldown (affected by cooldown reduction and Voracity).
 * If Katarina targets a minion or monster, all other minions and monsters within a large radius will also be put on cooldown.

Pending Goals= Personal Changes=
 * Accommodation
 * is now applied by, and , such that they can only see who they're focused on.  also applies  instead of.
 * Stats
 * Attack range increased to 175 from 125.
 * (Innate)
 * Damage type changed to true from magical.
 * Kha'Zix now heals for 20% of the damage dealt.
 * Can now be triggered against large monsters. Monsters are considered to have sight of Kha'Zix while they are leashed to him.
 * (Q)
 * Radius of isolation increased to sight radius (~1300) from 500 for champion-to-champion (remains 500 for minion-to-minion and minion-to-champion).
 * Effects that reduce a champion's sight radius will benefit Kha'Zix.
 * Isolation now uses line-of-sight instead of a "snuggle bubble". Line of sight will be obstructed by terrain and effects that remove shared vision. This means that enemy champions within 1000 units of one another will be considered isolated if they are separated by terrain.
 * Nearby enemy champions will now have an indicator present on them at all times and it will change color depending on whether or not they are isolated: Green for Isolated; Orange for they look isolated, but Kha'Zix's vision is obscured and he cannot be certain (his enemy is near brush, or his own sight is reduced); and Red for they are not isolated. Minions and monsters will only show the indicator while isolated. This will be unobtrusive, similar to Worked Ground.
 * (Q2)
 * No longer increases Kha'Zix's attack or cast range.
 * (W)
 * Heal at point-blank range.
 * Slow changed to a 50% slow that decays over 2 second from a 20% slow for 2 seconds.
 * (W2)
 * Increased slow.
 * Two additional spikes.
 * The explosion radius is now moderately increased.
 * The enemy the spike collides is now for 4 seconds.
 * (E)
 * Range increased to 900 from 600.
 * (E2)
 * No longer increases Leap's range.
 * (R)
 * Choose to evolve Active Camouflage.
 * Upon evolving each of his other abilities, Kha'Zix will automatically gain Evolved Active Camouflage.

Pending Goals= Personal Changes=
 * (new innate)
 * Whenever Zed activates Razor Shuriken or Shadow Slash, he creates a Living Shadow at his current position that will duplicate his next cast of Razor Shuriken or Shadow Slash.
 * Shurikens beyond the first dealing only 50% damage.
 * Shadow shurikens now only deal only 50% damage.
 * (new W)
 * Zed's basic attacks execute targets below  health. Scoring a unit kill or champion assist by any means will restore 35 energy.
 * Zed switches places with his Living Shadow.
 * Cost: 35 Energy
 * (R)
 * Living Shadows will duplicate an additional abilities before expiring. Feint will use the same targeting paradigm to Shifting Sands, and cannot target the same Living Shadow more than once.
 * Zed becomes untaretable for seconds and dashes through the target enemy champion, applying Death Mark for 3 seconds and attacking them once. Death Mark stores %  of premitigation physical damage that Zed deals to his target through attacks and abilities and, after 3 seconds, detonates to deal the stored damage. The initial attack's damage is stored.
 * Zed becomes untaretable for seconds and dashes through the target enemy champion, applying Death Mark for 3 seconds and attacking them once. Death Mark stores %  of premitigation physical damage that Zed deals to his target through attacks and abilities and, after 3 seconds, detonates to deal the stored damage. The initial attack's damage is stored.

Out-Of-Scope
The following champions have been confirmed to be beyond the scope of this project, but will likely receive "band-aid" changes in the Assassin Update to tide them over until their individual Visual Gameplay Upgrades.

Pending Goals=

Pending Goals=

Pending Goals=

Personal Additions

 * General
 * Damage_Annie.png All damage over times and stored damage effects will now use a pending damage indicator.


 * Automatically selects targets.
 * Ahri will now hurl a Fox-Fire on each of her next 3 basic attacks. The damage dealt by Fox-Fire will apply spell effects.
 * Damage penalty versus previously damaged enemies - i.e. full damage each time.
 * Each cast will now reset Ahri's attack timer.
 * Each cast will now reset Ahri's attack timer.
 * Each cast will now reset Ahri's attack timer.


 * Accommodation
 * is now applied by, and , such that they can only see who they're focused on.  also applies  instead of.
 * Stats
 * Attack speed growth increased to 3.5% from 2.7%.
 * Heal now scales with.
 * Blocking an ability doubles the passive attack speed.
 * Blocking an ability now grants Nocturne stealth for 1.5 seconds and halves the cooldown of Shroud of Darkness.
 * Passive attack speed is now doubled while attacking an enemy.
 * Nocturne's gains 200 movement speed while moving toward enemies or while stealthed.
 * Bonus movement speed change to 200 flat from 60%.
 * Nocturne implants nightmares into the target enemy, causing them to turn and for up to 2.5 seconds or until they break the tether. While tethered, the target also takes periodic magic damage.
 * Cast range increased to 475 from 425.
 * Tether range increased to 525 from 465.
 * Targeting now uses instead of.
 * Cooldown is now reduced to 60 seconds if Nocturne does not use the second active.
 * Tether range increased to 525 from 465.
 * Targeting now uses instead of.
 * Cooldown is now reduced to 60 seconds if Nocturne does not use the second active.
 * Cooldown is now reduced to 60 seconds if Nocturne does not use the second active.