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Shā, The Shifting Sand (Champion Concept, Art Included)

Dedrien Hawke·11/15/2013, 9:05:53 PM·16 votes·8,581 views

This is a champion concept that a few friends and I have been going over for a few months, and we finally decided to upload it to the community for some feedback. I have not put in any numbers, simply because I am not sure what the numbers should be. If anybody has any specific number ideas in mind, (base stats, damage, scaling, etc.), feel free to add.

Shā, The Shifting Sand

Lore: Created in the same lab as the eventual Zaun Amorphous Combatant, he ended up just another failed experiment in the quest for the perfect combatant. He was a contaminated specimen, therefore promptly disposed of. As he sat in the dirt and sand that made up the ground where he was dumped, he began to take in that sand. Using it as a bonding agent, he began to take a shape.

As he gathered more sand and dirt, he was able to slowly move, though only if he moved the sand with him. His body was incomplete, and could not stay together if he left his sand pile. He became known as the shifting sand, and took on the name of Shā.

Lost and wandering the world, Shā began to notice that the more sand he took in, the more his strength grew. Shā was eventually able to use this sand as a means to defend himself against would be adversaries. Using his new-found abilities, Shā began to seek answers. Who created him? Why was he created? However, Shā hopes that his acceptance into the League of Legends will allow him to answer the most important question of all. What(or who?) will be the one that will finally allow him to be complete?

Passive: "Quicksand" - When Shā is killed, his body sinks down and becomes like quicksand. Slowing all enemies that pass over this area for 5 seconds after his death.

Q: "Blinding Sand/Sand Spear" - Shā throws out a cone of sand that blinds and/or slows enemies hit.

--After 4 successful casts, Shā then casts Sand Spear.

--"Sand Spear" - Throws a sand spike in a straight line, stunning the first enemy it hits. (Sand Spear gains damage every time it makes contact with an enemy champion. However, If Sand Spear does NOT make contact with a champion, it will lose damage.)

W: "Accumulation" - Shā gathers dirt and sand around him to gain bonus armor and magic resistance for 8 seconds. (Shā will lose movement speed over the course of the spell duration, due to his build up of sand. His movement speed is restored once the spell is over. It can be cancelled at any time within the duration by re-casting.)

E: "Withdraw/Arise" - After a second of cast time, Shā drops into the ground, becoming one with the ground and becoming untargetable. (At any time during the 4 seconds, Shā may cast Arise.) If Shā does NOT cast "Arise," Shā then ascends from the ground from the cast location, with no effects happening.

--"Arise" - (When cast on an enemy) Shā ascends from the ground at the enemies location, bringing stalagmites of sand with him, dealing magic damage, stunning enemies in the radius, and gaining an attack speed boost for 2 seconds.

--(When cast on an ally) Shā ascends from the ground at the allies location, shielding them with sand for 5 seconds, granting bonus armor and magic resist.

R: "Sandstorm" - Shā creates a whirling sandstorm on his location, dealing damage over time to all enemies inside the storm radius, and reducing visibility.

Here are the links to the artwork, they are very rough drafts of Shā, and if anyone wants to request a different angle drawn, mention in the comments, and we will try to accommodate.

This is the full body drawing.

This is his facial profile and back.

This is the re-sketch

These are the people responsible for coming up with this idea, and making it a reality. Tora1330, Venom1742, LaetNotroh, Zekamaru, and myself, Dedrien Hawke.

P.S. Those who think it resembles Zac, please read Shā's lore. Shā is based off of the same experiment, but from a whole different standpoint. So we wanted to honor that and make him slightly similar, though not the same.

Let us know what you think, and as i said, we haven't made up any numbers , because we weren't sure what the numbers should be. Any input in the direction would be greatly welcomed. We hope you like Shā.

109 Comments

Revan Sulli11/16/2013, 1:05:55 AM7 votes

Allright. I love the idea, as it functions well with the lore and has a bounty of uses. However, some changes I would suggest: Passive: The slow is not required, as he already has an escape mechanism (Arise/withdraw) in place, and wouldn't be as useful for the team while laning(Assuming he is a top) or in teamfights, as solo tops are usually the first or last to die.

A suggestion for a replacement passive would be "Completion" (Fits the lore, no?), which allows Shā to upgrade an ability to a new "Element" upon full upgrade of that Ability. 3 examples would be Glass(deals bonus physical damage), Ice(Slows more and deals bonus magic damage), or Earthen(Increases effectiveness of normal nature of abilities)

This is a combination of both KhaZix and Syndras Passives, making for an interesting mixture of possible roles and Tactics.

Thank you for listening! Reply soon, and good luck!

Zekamaru11/16/2013, 9:49:40 PM3 votes

First off, I'd like to say that this champion sounds pretty interesting. I just have some quick ideas to shout out about each ability, since I can actually see a rough draft of the Champion since me and Hawke last brain stormed on Sha.

His Passive - A solid idea, however I don't think it should be a revive. A quick alternative off the top of my head could be something like this :

Passive: "Burdened Sands" - When Sha successfully lands an ability onto an enemy champion, the next consecutive attack does % damage.

Or

Passive: "Earthen Fortitude" - Sha gains ?/?/?/?/? Armor and Magic Resist per Champion around him. Pulling away from the revive passive opens up a lot of other opportunities for Sha to be a Mid lane, or a Top.

His Q: I would keep Blinding Sand/Sand Spear as two separate abilities myself. Trying to land a cone shaped ability (Assuming the range is like Talons "Rake.") to turn it into a sandy Enchanted Arrow, seems tedious. Maybe you could do something along the lines of:

Q: Sand Spear/Sand Javelin: Sha shoots a Spear of sand at a target Champion. After Sha successfully deals damage with 4 abilities, he is able to cast Sand "Javelin."

  • Sand Javelin - Deals "x" amount of damage, bursting on impact to deal area damage and slow for x%. Enemy champions hit take reduced damage and slow. This way, a good Sha can combo into this during Teamfights, making him more deadly.

His W: Sounds awesome, almost like a Skarner shield. This could make people want to build him a tanky-spellcaster. My only question would be is the Shield a % Armor and Magic bonus, or a flat amount per rank?

His E: When Sha drops into the ground, he becomes untargetable. However, is he still able to move? Or is it like Elise's "Rapple"? My only major concern with this is that "Arise" on enemy cast has a stun. Maybe you could revolve this ability around the 4 spell casts as well. Something like:

E: Shifting Sands/Arise: After X amount of cast time, Sha melds into the ground, becoming untargetable for 3 Seconds. (Seems like a fair enough time) A second cast allows Sha to use "Arise", with additional effects if used after 4 successful abilities deal damage to an enemy champion.

-On enemy cast - Sha ascends from the ground, bringing stalagmites of sand with him dealing magic damage. After landing 4 successful abilities on enemy champions, "Arise" stuns targets caught in the ability for X seconds.

-On Ally cast - Sha shifts to a champion (Or friendly unit?) and shields them for X amount of damage. (based on AP). After landing 4 successful abilities on enemy champions, "Arise" will grant a larger shield (or maybe movement speed?) to an Ally that is shielded.

His R: Love it just the way it is. A Sha player could use "Q" to poke down enemies before the Teamfight happens, get his Chain up to 4, pop his "W", then "E" into the middle of the enemy team, stun, and drop his "R" for game.

Artwork: looks great! However, quick question on the spine. Would it be white like a normal spine? Or Sand-colored like the rest of him? If it was sand colored, it would be much more appealing. (in my opinion).

Overall great work on the idea Hawke, glad I could be a part of it!

Dedrien Hawke11/15/2013, 11:20:17 PM3 votes

Also this is just the first sketch we made of him. I'm planning on having a more refined version made and ill add it to this post. I wanted to give everyone an idea of where it was going, and to get some feedback. :)

its just andrew11/16/2013, 12:41:57 AM3 votes

That is so fking badass. Riot plz make this. Hes not too much like Zac btw Cut4Kija... Anyway I can imagine that being a real champ. Ido think that he shouldnt be untargetable for more than 2 sec and I think arise should either stun the target and slow nearby enemies, or it should just slow all nearby enemies for a larger amount. It's like a Liss / Mao mix imo. But TBH the lore: I get that it is a part of the champ I think it would be cooler if he came from a real desert or something. Or If ur still stuck on him being from same lab maybe he could be used to stop Zac? :D Anyway GREAT job and Riot... plz

Major Jesus11/15/2013, 10:58:52 PM3 votes

i think its an awesome idea. i love it when riot ties champions together and this just seems to work. hope riot will see this!

Arredrin11/16/2013, 1:52:29 AM3 votes

I love this idea and i dont think he copys alot off zac and the passive Revan Sulli suggested would be great! I hope riot sees this and makes him into a champion

Dedrien Hawke11/16/2013, 4:07:36 PM2 votes

Okay just so everybody knows, we ARE resketching him right now and this new drawing really emphasizes his lore and gives him his own identity, while keeping the similarities we wanted. It'll be posted as soon as its finished!

Dedrien Hawke11/16/2013, 2:59:56 AM2 votes

I want to thank everyone for their feedback, and am definately hoping for more. We're working on re-drawing Shā again to get a better representation of how he looks. Here's hoping the riot sees this and we can get some official feedback.

Liuza Herz11/16/2013, 3:43:17 AM2 votes

This should be a thing! I really want this to be a thing. Hey Riot! Make this a thing!

SmilingPuppets11/16/2013, 4:04:48 AM2 votes

I like both ideas for the passive. With "Completion" idea, I think it would be interesting if he could choose one upgrade that would become part of him, not his abilities. For example, if he chose Glass then all of his abilities and his basic attacks would do more damage. I believe it would make it less like Kha'Zix and also leave a lot of different play styles open. One thing that bothers me is that his Withdraw/Arise skill seems a lot like Vladimir's Sanguine Pool.

Revan Sulli11/16/2013, 5:01:24 AM2 votes

On Arise/Withdraw:

Agreeing with previous comments, it is a bit like sanguine pool, so why not shake it up a bit?

Withdraw/Arise, as previously mentioned, plays a large part in Shā's escape and chasing mechanisms. BUT, taking advantage of his form, we could allow zack to simply become stealthed, as complete untargetability should stay reserved for stasis and quick moves like Master Yi's Alpha Strike. So, in order to counterbalance the slight change, "Completion", again, will be used in my example to prove it's worth. For normal, a simple, short blind should be applied. However, on Glass, A large bonus physical damage boost and an instant use of Sand Spear; Ice, A fair-sized Stun and Bonus Magic Damage, or Earthen, allowing Shā to use Withdraw/Arise twice in succession with increased Blind. This will change the play so the opposing team must be prepared for whatever Shā has in store.

GG Guys,

Revan Sulli

lorewise11/16/2013, 9:18:15 AM2 votes

Just a small thing but I think his ultimate should persist after death. It would give his passive more oomph and really add to the idea of him being an initiator.

Edit, the passive just seems a little lack luster. Have you thought about some kind of "unstable" mechanic that stacks with each death? I'm thinking something like his magic damage increases x% at a fixed reduction to armor. The stacks could be limited in number and I think the offset of increased damage done to increased damage taken would provide needed balance. And I think this could be added to the existing passive.

GranspearZX11/16/2013, 12:04:38 AM2 votes

I just kinda wrinkled my nose at the idea of a sand-based champion having nothing to do with Shurima. That might just be me though.

redbullmonkey1/30/2014, 3:40:24 AM1 votes

This looks sick but sounds and looks a little like Zac

Sir DingleRumpus11/16/2013, 2:50:22 PM1 votes

While I like the idea of the champion, I feel that it's resemblance to zac is just too close. I understand and like the concept that Sha and Zac were from the same strings of experiments(yes I read the lore.), but don't let that factor totally consume that champion. I feel the uniqueness of the league is definetly the huge variety of unique looking champions. While you can allow some resemblance, I feel that the design is much to close to Zac to consider a possible Champ. Keep up the great work!

Eyrgos11/17/2013, 5:53:02 AM1 votes

With "Arise", I think if he gets beneath enemies, it should knock-aside/interrupt those struck around him.

Axel Senpai11/20/2013, 3:36:17 PM1 votes

I like what you have for his passive, but I think that it could be a bit better than slow for 5 seconds. Probably a high percent slow AOE, and if they're in it for too long, it roots them in quicksand for a few 1 or 2 seconds. This could help against adc's who might escape since they can distance themselves from his melee.

Diddle God11/15/2013, 10:04:21 PM1 votes

Its a good idea but its too zac like