Thread:Willbachbakal/@comment-26815373-20160908163145/@comment-1330314-20160910232034

I really don't think qualifies as a squishy melee support (his support playstyle is mostly incidental, and extremely minoritary), and even if he did, that's not a niche in itself, just like "tanky melee support" or "squishy ranged support" isn't a niche. I also don't think a "key-gun" is really that great an idea, since keys are generally used only for things you're close to (which is why the most common depiction of keys in combat is the keyblade).

If you want to keep her as a ranged champion, that's alright, though at this point I'd really advise against a support-marksman niche because a) your champion does enough already to not need to be a marksman on top of it, and b) the only reason your kit would qualify for a marksman is because of some really artificial and awkward scalings. Perhaps there is an opportunity for another support marksman kit, but it's not going to work on Imoen unless you implement a lot of weirdness, particularly since she's not meant to be good at actual combat. As a side note, I'd avoid banking on the "chance" aspect of crit chance, because it's precisely what's causing the stat so many problems, so you're not setting yourself a good foundation for a mechanic, particularly since your implementation of it ultimately doesn't have all that much gameplay.

Re: the abilities:
 * Passive: Perhaps there's value in making the caches visible to enemies right from the start, and letting them disable them then in exchange for faster spawning, though ultimately they're going to have to spawn over time, otherwise this is just a bonus that disappears completely after a few minutes (the original active is not worth keeping either). I don't think it's all that interesting to guard the same caches all the time, particularly since most champions are already occupied with winning their lane or jungling and can't really be around them consistently. While ultimately this is a "Treasure Hunter" ability regardless of whether it's on Imoen's passive or ult slot, I don't think that's a bad thing, since treasure hunters do blend into the thief archetype (e.g. tomb raiders), and it would be consistent with her theme.
 * Q: Yeah, I adjusted the cast range to my version of Imoen's attack range, so in the end it'll be at whichever range she attacks. However, I think the advantage to a short attack range, and thereby a shorter casting range, is that Imoen could immediately enter Rogue's Passage, instead of having to travel all the way to the corridor.
 * E: Considering that the stun only follows a 2-second interruptible channel, I think it would be very fair (that's why there's a channel and a self-slow in the first place). Stasis is a very particular form of crowd control that only truly works as a double-edged effect, i.e. something with both a benefit and a downside, which on abilities means you'd only want to use it on abilities that can, at the very least, affect allies. Since this kind of effect, both in the above kit and on yours, is only directed towards enemies, a stun would be much more appropriate. I also don't think her Q is "real" invisibility (it's about blocking vision via the corridor, which is more about stealthy denial than full-on stealth), and I think stealth is not only the quintessential rogue ability, but also fits the theme of rogues crouching in the shadows or taking a secret passage.
 * R: I think this is distinct enough from Rogue's passage (which I imagined more like a kind of cave with lots of tunnels, mainly due to the icon) in both theme and gameplay that it could apply without taking away from Imoen's Q. As for it working in lane, I think the point is that Imoen is meant to be a roaming support, since that's encouraged by her kit, which gives her both the incentive and the tools to leave lane and explore enemy territory, and her theme (rogues don't like to stay in the same place for too long). If she takes the risk of going out a little, seeking out caches and even ganking other lanes, she'll be guaranteed to unlock portals at larger distances. Because this is essentially meant to work like, and would otherwise provide a free escape if entering a portal were instant or near-instant, I think it's necessary to give the ability an interruptible channel, even if its channel time can be reduced (this also makes a separation between it and Rogue's Passage, which would be much better for escaping). Generally, I think it's meant to be more of a proactive ability (i.e. you're gonna be using this to converge towards a location you want to put pressure on) than a reactive ability, which is also why it would be distinct from her Q.

As for her damage, I may have been too discreet with this, but I gave Imoen significantly above-average autoattacking power, in both base stats and growth, and that's where her damage is meant to come from. That would still put her into an autoattacker kind of space if you really want to fight, but the idea is that she'd get to output at least some level of satisfying damage if she has to fight, even if her total damage would obviously be sub-par.

I don't think it really works to give supports in-kit damage, since they're forced to generally have weak damage and scalings due to their role, and the end result is a heap of damaging abilities that don't individually feel all that great to use, particularly since they're usually tacked on to the ability's "true" effect, i.e. CC or utility. In the worst cases, the damage actually hinders the ability from fulfilling its potential to its fullest, as in the case of having serious limitations and reduced overall CC to prevent overbearing poke in lane. On the flipside, autoattacking is very important for supports when it comes to trading and fighting, and I think it would be better to just cut out the middle man and boost their autoattacking power to satisfying levels, than to play the losing game of giving supports mediocre damage for the sake of them having damage.