champion concept mercer the future soldier
I’m sure you have all heard the stories of, or even seen with your own eyes, the infamous Rambo ADCs, charging at multiple enemies and relying on killing them before they are killed themselves. Mercer is a way to turn the death-wish of these madmen into a viable strategy, charging at your enemy and letting rip with your damage at close range.
Mercer’s strength comes from his passive, which grants him a shield in place of a portion of his health, and his massive DPS at close range. This shield regenerates at a very high rate, making it perfect for shrugging off harassment and coming back from trades, but is rather weak. Mercer is a very high risk high reward marksman as he has massive DPS but must come in close range to deal most of it, putting him within reach of melee bruisers and assassins. Thanks to his rapidly regenerating shield mercer can force trades and more easily come out on top in the long run.
Early game mercer relies on his support to set up trading windows on his opponent, unloading his abilities on his target before having his support disengage and cover him as he runs back behind his minions. Past level 6 however mercer can begin starting his own fights as his X-99 "manticore" catapults him into close range where his flechette launcher and havoc strike deal the most damage, crushes his enemy’s armour to enhance his damage and grants an additional shield to absorb any retaliation. Appearance: Bulky metal battle armour with small mechanical pistons visible under its armour plates. Helmet has a single solid visor with two filters coming out either side of where his mouth would be. On his back there is a three nozzle jet pack, two over his shoulder blades and one on the small of his back, and small thrusters are also present on his calves, jet back and thrusters are used during his E, R and recall animation. Weapon is quite similar to the multiplas rifle from fallout new Vegas but without the micro fusion cell being visible, having a device similar to the typhoon attachment from crysis 3 underneath it, reaching two thirds of the way along the barrel from the muzzle and the entire rifle is just under half as long as he is tall.
Role: marksman/fighter Stats Health: 580-2090 Health regen: 5.5-15.4 Mana: 310-1245 Mana regen: 9.2-20.1 Ranged: 540 Attack damage: 52-114 Attack speed: 0.654 (+0%-43.9%) Armour: 24.3-80.5 Magic resist: 30 Movement speed: 330
Passive: R-27 “Aegis” shield core 25% of Mercer’s max health is replaced with a shield. The shield begins to regenerate at 1% of its max capacity every second when he doesn’t receive damage from champions or epic monsters for 1.5 seconds and this rate increases by 1% every second after that up to a maximum of 5% max capacity per second if he doesn’t take damage, damage from minions and non-epic monsters prevents regeneration increasing but doesn’t reset it. If the shield is completely destroyed then it will not begin to regenerate until mercer goes 4 seconds without taking damage from champions or epic monsters. Mercer also gains shields equal to 50% of his total attack damage. Drawbacks of the shields are that 50% of all true damage dealt to mercer penetrates through the shield, the shield has 25% reduced magic resist and all healing mercer receives (health regen, life steal and allied healing spells) are 75% less effective.
Q: S-15 “Hedgehog” flechette launcher Range:550 Cost: 30 mana Damage per flechette:40/60/80/100/120 (+45% AD) Max damage: 80/120/160/200/240(+90% AD) Cooldown:4 Fires 4 spikes in a cone in front of mercer, dealing physical damage to the first two targets they hit, second target’s take 50% reduced damage. The ability can be charged over 1 second to reduce the spread of the flechettes from 70 degrees to 35 degrees; the flechettes will automatically fire when fully charged. Targets can be hit by multiple flechettes but can only take damage from 2 flechettes per cast. Flechettes can critical strike for 50% bonus damage plus mercer’s bonus critical strike damage.
W: F-19 “Triad” Barrel Amp Cost: 50 mana Damage per shot: 40%/42%/44%/46%/48%AD Total damage:120%/126%/132%/138%/144%AD Cooldown:10/9/8/7/6 Next basic attack fires three times at the target in quick succession, dealing bonus damage and triggering on hit effects three times. Critical strike chance is calculated separately for each shot.
E: K-34 “havoc” CQC attachment Cost:60/70/80/90/100 mana Range:400 Max damage:50/70/90/110/130 (+70% AD) (+70% AP) Min damage:25/35/45/55/65 (+35% AD) (+35% AP) Max slow:20%/25%/30%/35%/40% Min slow:10%/12.5%/15%/17.5%/20% Cooldown:15/14/13/12/11 After a 0.5 seconds delay Mercer uses in built jets to propel himself along the ground at high speed to a target and deliver a massive blow to the first unit he collides with that damages and slows their movement and attack speed, move and attack speed recovers over 2.5 seconds. The damage and slow intensity decreases based on how far he travelled during the charge, down to 50% at max range. The Cooldown is reduced by 25% when striking a champion and deals 20% more damage to champions.
R: X-99 “manticore” flight system Passive damage to shields conversion:30%/40%/50% Max shield restored:200/300/400 Cost:100 mana Min range:550 Max range:1100 Min damage:75/150/225 (+40% bonus AD) (+20% AP) Max damage:150/300/450 (+80% bonus AD) (+40% AP) Armour reduction: 10%/15%/20% Cooldown:110 seconds Passive: Striking target’s with the havoc attachment, via his E and R skills, causes Mercer’s passive shields to be strengthened by an amount equal to some of the damage dealt by the impact up to a cap. Shields generated past mercer’s max shields form a separate shield that decays over 3 seconds. Active: Charges for up 3 seconds, doubling the ability’s targeting range over the first 1.5 seconds and being slowed by 20% while charging. When reactivated Mercer locks on to the enemy champion closest to the cursor and launches upward for 0.5 seconds before flying into them at high speed to strike with the havoc attachment, dealing damage in a 150 radius area that decreases down to 50% damage at the edge and reduce the armour of the primary target for 4 seconds after impact.
Lore This document pertains to project Invictus, a top secret joint development between the yordle academy and the Piltover armed forces to create the newest line of defence in the continued war against Zaun. While the league of legends prevents any kind of full scale war small skirmishes and raiding parties are not uncommon so we are required to maintain a standing army to deal with these attacks. After the incident involving the kidnapping of multiple yordle professors from the academy by Zaunite agents it has been made clear that Piltover’s military is severely lacking to power, we are having to rely too much on individuals such as Jayce and Caitlyn to protect this city from threats like Viktor, Jinx and even the city state of Noxus, with their failure to capture Ionia they may turn their gaze toward us with help from Zaun. With this in mind we require a much more reliable way of protecting ourselves, and project Invictus is just this. If successful our military strength will increase twenty fold, making us a force to be reckoned with.
Test pilot Name: Mercer Ramirez Rank: gunnery sergeant Additional notes: Mercer was original drafted into military service as an alternative to imprisonment, after being apprehended by the enforcer Vi. While the details of the incident report are not public the rumour is that Mercer was caught attempting to steal Vi’s custom hextech gauntlets; either to sell them off or, through his technical expertise, replicate the gauntlets’ design for his own use. He has been known to be highly disrespectful to his superiors, especially those he deems as having a “cushy position of barking orders 5 miles from the frontline”, though he is fiercely loyal to his comrades. The reasoning behind choosing Mercer to be the test pilot for Invictus was that he is most expendable soldier we have, he has no family and besides his arresting officer, him and Vi have been seen together in a strangely friendly manner, he has no contact with anyone outside of his squad. This means that should the Invictus suffer a catastrophic malfunction and he is killed there will be very little backlash from his death.
Suit armour Materials: "Galvornum" alloy and "oricnite" ceramic plates Average plate thickness: 1.5 cm Alloy density: classified Maximum kinetic energy absorption: classified Additional notes: The armour plates are a composite design of the classified materials oricnite and galvornum. This allows the armour to withstand, and even deflect, all manner of conventional and explosive munitions with very little penetration. The modular design of armour plating allows individual panels to be removed and replaced for fast and easy repairs after battle.
Power core EF-42 “Solus” fusion hex core Operating power output: 10MW Max power output: classified Additional notes: The fusion nature of the solus core will require very strong radiation shielding around the core housing to prevent lethal radiation poisoning to the operator. Mechanical augments H-15 kinetic servos and T-6 pneumatic actuators Max servo output: classified Max actuator output: classified Additional notes: The sheer weight of the suit required the implementation of high strength pneumatic actuators to be fitted to major joints, the knees and elbows, to compensate for this. Less powerful, but more precise, kinetic servos were fitted to all joints to increase the wielder’s raw strength by a factor of three.
Flight system X-90 “manticore” Max thrust capacity: classified Max air speed: classified Additional notes: the implementation of the manticore greatly increases the mobility of what would otherwise be a walking tank, allowing the user to more easily navigate the battlefield. The manticore also comes equipped with a kinetic dampener that prevents damage taken from high speed collisions, usually from being dropped at a high altitude. The kinetic dampener will allow the suit to be easily deployed from an aerial transport, without exposing the transports to all but the most advanced ground based anti-air weaponry.
Internal environment regulator J-6 “Atmos” Max operational period without external intake: classified Additional notes: The Atmos system is designed to regulate the internal environment of Invictus to maximise operator physical and mental capabilities, maintaining a proper internal temperature and even its own atmosphere to maximise oxygen intake. In the event that external conditions are suboptimal the regulator will alter its output the keep the internal environment the same, and in extreme cases the entire suit completely seal itself to protect the operator from anything from toxic and corrosive fumes to lethal radiation and energy surges.
Shield core R-27 “Aegis” Max electromagnetic field strength: classified Max kinetic energy absorption: classified Additional notes: Due to the nature of the shield core, absorbing more energy that the capacitors can supply will cause the hybrid gravitational/electromagnetic field to be temporarily disabled as the system reboots Weapons system Primary weapon: F-20 “firestorm” plasma caster Secondary weapon: S-15 “Hedgehog” flechette launcher Additional notes: Due to the nature and sheer power of the weapons system it is physical impossible to use independently of Invictus without incurring severe bodily harm. The recoil of the hedgehog is enough to dislocate and even remove a person’s arm and the exhaust from use of the firestorm can cause severe third degree burns, at maximum operating temperatures the exhaust can even cause fourth degree burns. Only the thermal insulation of the armour plating and the recoil dampening of the servos in the Invictus suit are able to properly protect the user from harm.
CQC attachment K-34 “havoc” Maximum energy transferable: classified Additional notes: the havoc attachment allows the user to engage enemies when the primary and secondary weapons are unavailable due to being disarmed or the terrain making them too unwieldy. After some late night tinkering it was also discovered that the flight system could be used to further enhance the destructive power of the havoc by accelerating the user to high velocities for a much higher impact force and the havoc could be used to super charge the aegis shield for further defensive power. Lab tests and calculations show that if the suit is able to reach terminal velocity the havoc could cause small scale terrain deformation and even create localised tremors detectable from 0.25 miles away.
Quotes (voice sounds slightly robotic and muffled due to his helmet)
Upon selection (voice starts human then changes to his standard voice as his helmet closes half way through)“I follow my orders, all of them”
Attacking “Target sighted” “Firing” “Weapons primed” “Eat this!”
Movement “More orders?” “I’m on it” “Moving” “en-route”
Taunt “Welcome to the kill box, population: you” “Do you have any idea how FUBAR this is for you?” “This is top of the line military grade hardware, you don’t stand a chance” Taunting Vi”How are you really still using those things?”/ ”looks like you brought your fists to a gunfight”/"hard to believe I even wanted those things once upon a time" Taunting Jayce ”All your fancy stuff won’t help you now” Taunting Ekko “A teenager with time travel, how could this possibly end badly” Taunting Victor “I’m still flesh under all this metal, unlike you” Taunting Ziggs “unless you’ve got a bunker buster up your sleeve, I’m not impressed” Taunting Heimerdinger “sitting back and letting your turrets do the hard work? That’s just lazy” Taunting Blitzcrank “Let’s see how much punishment you can take”
Joke Mercer will cock his weapon like a shotgun, with the classic sound effect, and says “I have no idea how any of this works”/” All I know is fire and nails come out this end”
Dance Mercer holsters his weapon on his back and then proceeds to break dance.
Recall animation Mercer collapses his weapon and holsters it on his back and punches in some commands into his left gauntlet. After he finishes typing them the thrusters in his flight system fire up and cause him to hover a short distance above the ground. When he gets his balance, he takes off straight up and goes off screen. Back at base he comes down with a slight directional shift based on which direction he came from and he lands with the iron man landing pose, with his left hand to the ground, and takes out his rifle with the right hand as he stands up and primes it when up right.
Counters and synergies Works well against Mercer is very powerful against immobile glass cannons, especially those with no way to disable or disengage from him without help from allies. He can close the gap with them via his ultimate before crushing them under a hail of close range flechettes, plasma shots and havoc strikes. His bursting power and attack speed cripple also makes him very good at overpowering marksmen and other sustained damage attackers; he can cripple their damage potential so they are unable to kill him before he destroys them. Also, as he is ranged, mercer also works relatively well against melee bruisers as he can just barely out range them and their attempts to engage upon him.
Kog’maw: Kog’maw relies on whittling his enemies down with artillery shots before unloading bio-arcane barrage enhanced basic attack on to his target, all the while keeping his fragile frame out of reach of potential killers. Mercer’s shield allows him to survive the voidling’s opening salvo with little long term damage before flying straight at him and reducing him to a caustic stain on the rift.
Teemo: Teemo’s reliance on his range and movement speed to keep out of harm’s way and his DoT to wear down and bully his opponent out of lane become his down fall against the future soldier. Mercer’s shield counter acts Teemo’s harassing power; his ultimate and havoc attachment let him close the distance with the swift scout and his hedgehog launcher and havoc strike allows him to circumvent blinding dart to eventually finish off the swift scout.
Varus: Varus needs to keep mercer at arm’s length to win but if mercer can slip past his hail of arrows and chain of corruption then the arrow of retribution’s only hope of surviving is being able to burst down his would be killer, an unlikely outcome in the face of the future soldier’s brutal close range onslaught and durability.
Synergies Mercer’s shield gives him in built sustain that few other marksmen can match, but has few ways to start his own fights from the normal distances involved in the laning phase of bot lane outside his ultimate along with little to hold his enemies in place and no way to disengage from a fight gone bad. With this in mind anyone looking to lane with the future soldier should come with good lock-down power and ways to protect him from pursuits and retaliation as his retreats.
Braum: The heart of Freljord makes for a powerful support alongside any marksman but he comes into his own alongside Mercer. Braum’s concussive blows can be easily triggered by Mercer’s triad barrel amp, he can follow mercer into battle following a successful manticore aerial engagement with stand behind me and he can protect his six with unbreakable ad glacial fissure as he high tails it out of danger.
Blitzcrank: When mercer and Blitzcrank go bot lane together there is only one objective, kill the enemy. One successful hook and follow up blow from the great steam golem is all mercer needs to obliterate his hapless opponent with everything he has.
Thresh: Thresh’s versatile skill set nearly perfectly covers up all of mercer’s short comings while bolstering his strengths. Death sentence gives the pair a solid engage, flay can both push unfortunate victims closer to mercer’s flechette launcher and push potential pursuers further away, dark passage can pull mercer out of what would be a suicidal situation and the box keeps their targets just where they need to be.
Counters Mercer has a short range and is rather immobile without his ultimate, so anyone that can get out of his damage zone or shunt him away after he engages on them can easily turn a potentially dangerous situation to their favour. He also has no ways, outside of simply running, to break off from combat. Pushing your advantage if he oversteps can quickly end him. Finally while his shield lets him survive consistent low damage poke it does very little in the face of high damage burst, even less against magic damage and completely breaking it will leave mercer completely exposed to your onslaught.
Azir: The emperor has the range and damage in his soldiers and mobility in shifting sands to keep Mercer at bay before lvl 6 and after lvl 6 emperor’s divide can shove mercer back and keep him back when he goes in for the kill while Azir repositions his soldiers to hammer the now out of position Mercer.
Vayne: Silver bolt’s true damage cuts straight through mercer’s shield for serious damage while the knock back from condemn and mobility afforded by tumble, especially when enhanced by the stealth from final hour allows Vayne to quickly get away from Mercer’s fearsome damage output and leave him with no way to keep up with her and night hunter leaves him with no way to escape her devastating damage output.
Ahri: Mercer is a powerhouse when he can stay close to and out damage his opponents but the mobility given by spirit rush, the shield penetrating true damage of orb of deception, the disabling power of charm and her sheer bursting power means Ahri is more than capable of sending the future soldier home in a pine box with little more than a scratch.
Items Mercer benefits from many different builds from AD carry to off-tank. For maximum gold efficiency build him as an AD caster with a primary focus on attack damage, spell blade, critical strike and armour penetration for offense and health, and resistances for defence.
Infinity edge is a must item for an ADC and mercer is no different, the sheer attack damage it grants along with the extra crit chance and damage grants him a ton of damage potential
Trinity force should also be considered a core damage item for both ADC and bruiser mercer as there is very little of it that goes to waste, the spell blade can be constantly triggered via his hedgehog, the attack damage, ability power and attack speed all go to enhancing his burst and DPS, the health can keep him alive in heated confrontations, the mana keeps him firing off all his abilities and the rage passive can help him keep up with enemies and kite of he needs to. Iceborn gauntlet is also a fair choice if you want a tankier spell blade item.
Youmuu’s ghost blade is another useful damage item for both ADC and bruiser builds. The attack damage, crit chance, armour penetration and the Cooldown reduction increases his DPS in fire fights against all kinds of target, while the active allows him to keep pace with all but the fastest enemies as he hammers them into submission in a hail of plasma bolts, flechettes and havoc strikes.
While his shield grants him massive sustaining power life steal can make him almost completely immoveable during laning, bloodthirster is the best choice as it grants a powerful shield and massive boost to his AD.
Mercer suffers greatest against burst damage based enemies, the most dangerous being ranged mages as they can easily snipe him from outside his kill-zone. Against magic damage heavy teams it would be good idea to invest in an early maw of malmortius to protect him from burst attempts at all stages of them game.
When taking a more defensive route to building mercer consider the black cleaver and sterak’s gage. Both grant good defensive stats while also bolstering his offensive power, he can easily stack the cleaver’s armour shred onto enemies with auto attacks, hedgehog and triad shots and his total AD scalings make good use of the base attack damage boost from sterak’s and a spell blade added to the mix can give him deceptively strong amounts of damage.
For boots try berserker’s greaves for and ADC build and either ninja tabi or mercury treads for a bruiser, depending on enemy’s composition.