User blog comment:LivesByProxy/Heir To Blackblade: Fulfilling League's Thief Fantasy/@comment-1330314-20160409232153

I really like the theme you've set for Imoen, and she brings a lot to the table that makes her stand out. You've set a clear niche for her, and I love some of her abilities, especially Keyhole. On the flipside, I think her passive and E are both innapropriate for a thief champion, and her kit generally lacks internal synergy. I also question making her an AP champion, as AD seems like a much more natural choice on a champion whose kit is pretty much all utility (Unlocked & Loaded makes Imoen damage enemies in a manner similar to an AD champion anyway). Here's my criticism of her kit:
 * I feel you should probably indicate Imoen's base stats: even if the details aren't really relevant, the general ballpark of some key numbers (e.g. her attack range, movement speed, etc.) gives an indication of how she'd fight.
 * Unlocked & Loaded feels more like a malus, since it prevents Imoen from dealing any damage for the first few moments of a fight, and the subsequent AA steroid doesn't feel like the best compensation. You'd also have to special-case this ability to not disable initial autoattacks against minions, otherwise it would be practically impossible for her to last-hit properly. I feel you should ditch this ability and instead look for a way to incentivize players to not fight enemies outright as Imoen. It would make sense for a thief to be the least combat-capable champion in the game, as thieves avoid direct confrontation at all costs, and in exchange she could receive a huge amount of power towards cool utility and other effects against her opponents.
 * I'm not entirely up to speed on the functionality of Rogue's Passage, but I really like the idea of a zone that stealths allies, and making it work on enemies too is a good move, as it adds interesting counterplay and allows such a massively powerful effect to exist as a basic ability. What I'm less sure of, though, is the reactivation effect, and I think you could do away with it entirely. There's probably more to say about this ability, but I don't fully understand how it works: does it provide mobility through terrain? Is the exit separate from the entrance? Do units automatically enter the corridor if it appears over them?
 * I love Keyhole, and I think the ability is perfectly suited for a thief. I'd perhaps give it no cost or cooldown, since it carries heavy drawbacks already, but otherwise the effect's pretty much perfect.
 * Hushhh!, by contrast, feels really out of place and kind of jumbled: why and how is this thief silencing and slowing everyone? Why is she healing people? How does this help her steal stuff? You should probably find something completely different here: Imoen could definitely use an option if she gets rumbled (or, at least, another option), and perhaps you could take the stealth-on-exit out of her Q and try to see how it could work here.
 * Spelljack is thematically awesome, since stealing spells is appropriate for a thief, but as with Hushhh!, I think the implementation here is totally wrong: as a thief, Imoen shouldn't be launching herself in the middle of combat, trying to get hit, she should be trying to steal it from them when they least suspect it. I'd personally go for another kind of implementation that would allow her to play with her enemies' spells, such as selectively disable them and steal them for herself.

Overall, you've set the theme right with Imoen Q, W and R (especially her W), but her implementation needs a few improvements here and there, and I think you should work on giving her more synergy between her spells: a thief-type kit should definitely feel like some kind of tool box for different occasions, but all of them should be directed towards a similar goal (i.e. breaking into a secured environment, stealing the prize and getting out without getting caught). I also feel you should encourage a playstyle where Imoen would try as hard as she could to not fight her opponents, while still interacting with them: one of the sources I think you should research for her kit is the Thief franchise, which is considered by many to be one of the best for fulfilling the fantasy of a thief, and one of the core aspects of gameplay is that the player character only wants to fight enemies as a last resort, and is not that good at it. There's probably a ton of potential here to revisit stealth mechanics and try to implement a new, fun kind of stealth for Imoen, where she'd try her best to avoid her enemies' sight as she steals from them, with opportunities for cool gameplay for everyone.