User blog comment:LivesByProxy/Heir To Blackblade: Fulfilling League's Thief Fantasy/@comment-1330314-20160910072201/@comment-26815373-20160910202729

Thanks for the criticisim, I'll definitely be refining her in the coming days. I'm going to try to explain my rational for each ability, and what I was going for with her role and theme:

Passive - I was deliberately trying to recreate the feeling of 'lock-picking' in several old games. In DnD, Elder Scrolls, and Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines, among others, all had lock-picking that was basically a stat check combined with a percent chance to open the lock. Typically it would go like, "lock-picking unsuccessful", "lock-picking unsuccessful", "Success!" (meaning you tried 3 times to pick the lock.) This kinda ties into the idea of a X-hit passive, which I'd like to see, and the visual metaphor of her attempting to lock-pick by her reload (I imagine her turning the key back and forth like, "why won't it open?!"). It was also an attempt to incorporate the idea of 'luck' into her kit i.e. crit chance, and something about the idea of her reaching 100% was suppose to create the feeling of "Success!" The idea of was two-fold: 1) it's CC which she needs, but 2) it's also a way of representing  (I like metaphors). You're right about the ability itself being messy and a bunch of gates, but I was hoping I could get away with it since Jhin does it. :S

Q - You may remember that this ability could be reactivated to collapse the corridor dealing damage and slowing enemies caught inside. It was pointing out to me that this discourages enemies from entering the corridor, so I removed that particular bit, which coincided with your suggestion so long ago. The extra functionality of using her Q on a Keyhole is part of creating this fantasy of running down dark halls and opening doors. I'm still uncertain about CDs but I think it would be awesome if she could run down a corridor at the end of which is a Keyhole she had made previously, only to use her Q again to open that corridor, and run down it, etc.

W - The intention with leaving behind a Keyhole after she uses the ability was 1) future combo-use with her Q, since Keyholes last so long, and 2) a way for her to continously 'scout' for enemies, kinda like a built in 'ward'. In my mind, I see the Imoen player creating several Keyholes off to the side of bot lane, letting her keep tabs on different directions. I also imagine that they can be seen, and even have a little indicator showing their direction. I can also see her creating keyholes in her lane pointing in certain directions (like, a keyhole in brush, pointing toward river) which she can use with her Q to harass / zone / mind-game the enemy (she ran into that corridor, is she still there? what if she's roaming through our jungle right now? should we go in? etc.)

E - This was intended on being her mobility spell, as thieves are typically fast and agile. It's like a take on the whole 'hit and run' 'snatch-n-grab' thief, and the inclusion of the unique spell-shield was suppose to give her a way to feel slippery and lucky, like she could catch / steal spells thrown her way. You're right about the implimentation of the though, but I think I know what to do...

R - You already know what I was intending with this ability, so I'm just going to work on trimming it down and tweaking it based on your suggestions. I will say that I thought the global gold and the AoE heal fit with her thematically (being an honest thief) while also emphasizing her role as a support.

Time for more polish!