Rammus Lore and Gameplay Rework

Although this is Fan Creations I would also like to tag this to: Gameplay & Strategy, Ideas & Feedback, Story & Style and Live Balance.

We start with the lore; with this I hope to inspire Riot into making lore pages longer and more compelling. With this I would also like to give Riot the idea of making Lore Videos similar to what they did with A Twist of Fate.

Rammus was always one of few words; although quiet his journey across the lands south of the Great Barrier had piqued the interest of all travelers that met him on his path. As he was steadily treading through the Shurima Desert he came upon an intense battle between two groups; one consisting of a young man and woman, the other was a band of tomb raiders. Rammus rushed into the fray; to assist the couple as they were vastly outnumbered. As the dust settled; the three emerged victorious, they rested after a battle well-fought. Contemplating and asking how they could repay Rammus was a futile situation as Rammus could not respond for his lack of language. Wishing to continue his journey he attempts to leave; it is then that the two decide to gift Rammus artifacts they reclaimed from the tomb raiders. The first gift was golden gilded armour made of pure white steel; the armour bestowed him with great strength, granting the ability to summon the sands of the Shurima Desert at will. The man gave him the title of the Armourdillo and suggested it was the perfect gift for one with a true “heart of gold”. The second gift was a necklace that the woman place around Rammus’ neck; on this necklace the chain held 7 large gems, the necklace blessed him with the power of the wind allowing him to travel with unmatched movement to take him to wherever his curiosity leads. With both happiness and sadness in their tone; they knew the time has come to allow Rammus to venture forth. As both sides said their goodbyes and wishes of a reunion; Rammus departed further south towards the Plague Jungles. As he emerged from Kumungu and into the Plague Jungles; he heard a voice, the necklace of gems tasked him to continue to the farthest reaches of the jungle. Following the call; he traverses the land full of twisted vines and festering rot to find an oddity – a healthy evergreen hedge maze, and at the entrance of this everlasting maze was a shadowed figure which resembled an armadillo such as himself. Noticing the figure move into the maze; he quickly chased into the maze, it was then that the two had reached the center of the maze. Within this center a vastly larger sized gem resembling those around his neck emitted a light that blinded Rammus; during this he caught a glimpse of the figure he had chased into the maze. It rushed towards him grabbing his necklace; it then shouted the words: “Chaos Unleash”, they were engulfed by a large black orb and Rammus was knocked unconscious. When he awoke, Rammus had noticed the maze had vanished along with the large gem, 4 of the gems around his neck and the mysterious figure that caused it all. Rammus left the Plague Jungles searching for answers; eventually his quest drew him to – the League of Legends, where it is said that all beings are gathered. Here he waits in hope to find the group of young travelers he had helped and also the armadillo that attacked him – was he a figment of Rammus’ imagination or a reality?

-Tried to keep a resemblance to the original lore but add meetings with other Champions (something lore fans are always looking for in lore), in which I tried to add in Ezreal but could not find how or where he met Rammus (was it in a Journal of Justice or is it somewhere in Ezreal’s lore?).

-I believe the lore is better to not add him now though; seeing as my version of the lore is nearly double the length of the original. Which I want Riot as stated above to change this.

-The two he meets in Shurima are currently not in the game but are champions whose lore, gameplay and artwork that I have been working on over a year now. These characters tie into other Champions lore that I am working on (Xerath’s) as people who enjoy Xerath and have read his lore also complain about him not having any ties to other champions. With these two I am hoping to rekindle his lore to be exciting and have players wondering who would stand against such a powerful being. Also with the man giving the title to Rammus "Armourdillo" I believe it adds more depth behind the title.

• The other armadillo is also not in the game; in which I may work on his lore, gameplay and art. The difficult part would be finding a way to make his gameplay and artwork not resemble Rammus.

-In the lore I change armor to armour; I am absolutely fine with leaving it as armor, armour is just a preference when writing.

-His lore has quite a few references to other video games; which I might try to make less obvious in order to make the lore original.

Rammus Ability rework-

Spiked Shell -> Phase-Shift Shell (still working on name)

Change icon to match the armour he gains in lore.

New passive:

Rammus receives 30% of his total armour as bonus attack damage and 15% of his magic resist as bonus ability power.

Powerball Change icon to match a rolling animation instead of the current which looks as if he is spinning horizontally.

New Active:

Rammus enters a rolling ball state for up to 7 seconds, constantly accelerating from an initial bonus of 3% move speed up to a bonus 165% move speed. While in this state, Rammus cannot attack or use Puncturing Taunt.

Casting Powerball again during its duration will cause Rammus to jump and then slam himself into the ground knocking all nearby enemies away from his landing zone and dealing magic damage.

For each second Rammus spends in this state the knockback distance is increased by 15% but the slam takes .2 seconds longer for each stack to land. If Defensive Ball Curl is activated during Powerball he instantly slams the ground and knocks back all enemies for the furthest distance regardless of time spent during Powerball.

-Changes allow Defensive Ball Curl during Powerball for use during the AoE knockback.

-Lowers the learning curve of Powerball but allows for powerful pro plays with the new mechanics.

-Gets rid of the unit collision of the original Powerball, may have to tweak or rework this as it may prove to make Rammus harder to counter.

-Not certain of what to do with the slow I think I want to remove it and move it onto Tremors.

-May have to implement the ability to not cast “Powerslam”; as in if you do not use it during Powerball it will end and not do anything as it did before. Due to the change of mechanics; I might want to allow a cooldown reduction if “Powerslam” was not used to favor situations that Powerball is needed only for movement and you are not forced to self-CC for a second or so by using Powerball.

Defensive Ball Curl

Icon looks a little outdated needs a new icon.

No changes to Defensive Ball Curl mechanics, only changes will be how it ties into Powerball and Puncturing Taunt.

-Allow players to decide to use Defensive Ball Curl to improve his abilities. Allows players to think in what situations would an improved Puncturing Taunt or an improved Powerball be better.

Puncturing Taunt

Needs a new icon.

Range increased to 475-500 from 325. Needs this range to compete with other junglers and also make him a viable support.

Rammus taunts a target enemy by launching a spike from his armor into the enemy, reducing their armor and forcing them to attack Rammus for a few seconds. If Defensive Ball Curl is active before using Puncturing Taunt, Rammus taunts his intended target but also causes the spike to blast spreading the armor reduction to all enemies caught in the blast and dealing magic damage.

Blast Radius (250-300), Magic Damage: 75/100/125/150/175(+20% AP)

-Give him more damage during his rotation, and allow his armor reduction to benefit the whole team on multiple targets.

-Trying to leave the damage values low on this ability as I do not want a revival of the Rammus that could pub-stomp most melee ADC’s single-handedly.

Tremors -maybe a rename to change it to feel more lore based

Change icon to resemble the ability to have the power over the sands as mentioned in the lore.

Active: Rammus creates tremors beneath him for 8 seconds dealing magic damage to nearby enemy units and structures each second. The sands released from the tremors grab at enemy units slowing and reducing enemy attack speed that stacks to a maximum of 5 stacks.

Slow/ Stack slow increase: +5% per stack 20%/25%/30%/35%/40%

Attack speed reduction: +7% per stack 7%/14%/21%/28%/35%

-Changes to Tremors will allow Rammus to survive team fights, hopefully allowing him to become a better frontline initiator.