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[Champion Concept] Rylai, the Darkin Scepter

Rubitonabuilding·4/26/2014, 3:10:59 PM·1 votes·794 views

Rylai is the last of 4 champion concepts introduced in my lore The Dawn of the Shadow Isles. You can read the lore to understand his role in the creation of the Shadow Isles, but it's not 100% necessary for understanding his character and how to play him.

Rylai is a health-based Darkin Mage whose kit revolves around confusing enemies and pitting them against each other. He is able to possess people and make them do his bidding. Rylai is a rename and slight rework of my previous champion Mollock, since he fit so well into my story.

Passive: True Form

  • Rylai begins the game in the form of an old merchant, who looks deceptively weak and pitiful. Upon (truly) dying (you'll understand that in a bit), his true Darkin form is revealed, dealing minor magic damage and terrifying enemies nearby.

Q: Hallucinate

  • Rylai projects a fleeting image of himself (in human form) at the edge of the target's field of vision. Only Rylai and the target see this. If the target moves away from the copy, it blinks to them and explodes, dealing magic damage in a small radius. If they move toward it, it disappears and Hallucinate's cooldown is reduced.

W: Crippling Doubt

  • Rylai afflicts his target with insecurity and paranoia, dealing magic damage per second and slowing them slightly until their next ability use (or until Rylai cancels the spell or gets too far away).

  • There is an initial HP cost to this, and then it slowly drains Rylai's health for the duration.

  • Enemies may cleanse or eat an orange etc (or just use an ability) to escape Crippling Doubt.

  • Protip: if you wait till your enemy has blown all their abilities and put them on cooldown, this ability deals more damage, as the target cannot cleanse it by using an ability right away.

E: Treason

  • Rylai convinces his rivals that the target of Treason is their enemy. Nearby enemies are taunted into attacking their own teammate for (0.5/0.75/1/1.25/1.5) seconds, dealing ((10/15/20/25/30)+(0.05AP))% of their normal damage.

R: Possess

(The focal point of this champion concept, Possess is a dirty, dirty trick.)

  • Rylai marks an enemy champion. If Rylai dies while the mark persists, he takes over control of the marked champion for a while, gaining use of all of their abilities and any activatable items in their inventory, while keeping his own passive.

  • Possessed champions appear completely normal to their own teammates, but take Rylai's summoner's name for the duration, and Rylai can attack the possessed champion's teammates, minions, and turrets.

  • The possessed champion's allies may damage and kill the possessed, but only Rylai gets a kill if the possessed champion dies while under his control (i.e. enemies who kill their own teammate will not get a kill).

  • Rylai's turrets and minions will attack a possessed champion, but his allies cannot damage the possessed champion for the duration.

  • If or when the possessed champion dies, Rylai's passive True Form is triggered.

  • Protip: if you Possess a champion, you can simply walk them into your turret to kill them, or at later levels (with longer durations) you can deal more damage by turning them against their teammates.

Additional Notes:

  • TL/DR: If Rylai Possesses you, you're pretty much dead.

  • BUT if you have Cleanse summoner 1 , you can use that summoner spell at any time during the possession to escape. I wanted to provide incentive for people to use the Cleanse summoner spell, because virtually nobody uses it (maybe they do in higher ranks, but it's practically non-existent in bronze).

  • If you have Quicksilver Sash item 3140 or Mercurial Scimitar item 3139, you have a very brief window of opportunity to use that item before Rylai takes full control of your champion. Same for abilities like Gangplank's W (Eat an Orange and it's K), and Alistar's Ultimate (NOW I'M ANGRY!); any ability or item that cleanses debuffs is fair game here.

  • Rylai is an HP-based mage like Mr. Putin (Vladimir), meaning his spells cost HP instead of mana. This is an incentive for Rylai players to purchase Rylai's Crystal Scepter item 3116, but it is not mandatory for Rylai to build it.

  • Rylai's kit is filled with CC abilities (a fear-based passive, minor slow, and a suppress), but he does not deal very much direct damage with his abilities. His strength is in turning enemies against each other and making them deal the damage for him. Rylai does not do well in direct combat, as he is a low-mobility mage without any actual escapes (unless he has flash or ghost).

  • I'm a big fan of Peacemaker ultimates. These are things like Zilean or Yorick's ultimates that provide a very strong incentive for enemies to avoid attacking a certain person (i.e. if Zilean's ult is active, the target will just revive and wreck your face). Rylai's ultimate is a Peacemaker in that if he dies while it's active, someone on your own team is probably going to wreck your shit. If you're interested in seeing another example of a Peacemaker ultimate (where I sort of coined the term), check out Vishnu, the Destroyer of Worlds.

  • Thanks to ThatGuyNamedAce for providing some great feedback on my original champion concept Mollock, and to everyone who provides constructive feedback on any of my champion concepts.

  • Let me know what you think of Rylai in the comments. As I just said, feedback and questions are always welcome and appreciated. If you liked Rylai, check out some of my other Champion Concepts here.

P.S. I will be posting Banshee tomorrow! Prepare yourselves!

3 Comments

ModCaptainMårvelous4/27/2014, 7:52:52 AM1 votes

I don't know if you're aware but Rylai is the real name of Crystal Maiden from DoTA. So there might be issues using that name.

Saranthos6/14/2014, 8:45:50 PM1 votes

I really like the concept (I love health based champions), but his ult worries me in that it seems like you are taking too much agency away from the player who is marked when you use it (though that may just be me; I feel like the only time a champion should have a complete lack of control is when they are dead). I can only imagine what it would be like for you to get ulted by Rylai and then have to go, "Welp, I might as well sit back because I can't do anything now." You also said that Rylai could be stopped by Cleanse, but any situation where you have to take something as permanent and large as a summoner spell to counter a champ pick is bad business. Maybe you could changes it so that Rylai could inhabit a dead champion instead of a live one? Aside from the issues I have with certain parts of the ult, though, I love the kit and the concept!