How I Think Evelynn should play after her Rework, after Reading her Lore
Given Evelynn's lore story here over on the Universe page, Evelynn really seems like she should play a lot more like a vampire. I know she is scheduled for the team that is currently working on Galio's rework to take on her rework when they finish, so I wanted to give my thoughts as someone who enjoys playing her on some different gameplay features that she seems like she should have based on the story.
[1] Stealth: Now, obviously stealth is important for Evelynn. She's always had stealth in her kit, whether it was the (completely broken, by the way) 60 second stealth with her first basic attack stunning the target she had for a W back in her old kit or the current permanent Camouflage, she has literally never had a rework that didn't have some way to cloak itself. However, after reading this, I feel like her stealth should be Invisibility and much more brief and limited, though active, rather than permanent Camouflage, after her rework. The story includes a section where Evelynn slips completely invisible, making it impossible for even the nearest people to her to see her. However, it also describes in the start how she is shrouded in darkness until she comes closer to him, making it difficult to see her. My idea for her is this: make her passively turn not into Camouflage, but simply fade slightly, making her still visible to all enemies if they're attentive enough, but completely visible when she gets within a certain distance, however, give her a way to actively turn Invisible for 1-2 seconds. This would fulfill the fact that, in the story, she seems able to use both passive Camouflage and active Invisibility.
"Shadows clung to her, making it difficult to see her clearly, though Takeda glimpsed a flash of blue-tinged flesh and a pair of predator’s eyes that reflected the chem-fire sconces of his office. He felt an unfamiliar tremor of apprehension at her appearance, but forced it aside. He was one of the most feared men in Zaun. Why should he feel uneasy in his own office?"
"The blue-skinned assassin took a step back and instantly disappeared into shadow. Takeda’s bodyguards tensed, flexing their piston-strengthened limbs in unease. Takeda glanced left and right, trying to discern her location. Nothing. She was simply gone, vanished completely, as if she had been swallowed by the darkness."
[2] Vampirism: Evelynn is described with some pretty vampiric physical features, however, while these are reflected in game, the idea of her being a vampire isn't. She much more seems to be some kind of demonic torture master, using spikes to torture her target to a slow death. I get that Vladimir is supposed to be the vampire, however, Riot Groovylord has mentioned that he feels that Vlad doesn't fit the vampire fantasy as well as he could, and what better fit for the pure true-to-myth vampire than Evelynn? Vladimir still has his design space as a sustain-based mage that plays like videogame vampires (for example, Elder Scrolls vampires, who primarily use the Destruction spell Vampiric Drain to show themselves as being vampires). Her ultimate seems somewhat vampiric, dealing % current health damage and giving her a shield, but even that, because of the spikes, feels like it would belong to some type of demon rather than a vampire.
"Her slender figure was clad in gleaming red leather, and her eyes were yellow and almond-shaped, like those of a cat. A wild mane of crimson hair framed her face, and sharp canines glinted as her lips parted in a sardonic smile."
"Taloned hands grabbed him from behind, blood red nails digging into his flesh as Evelynn emerged from the shadows. She was far stronger than she looked, and forcibly turned his head to expose his thick neck. Her grasp was ice-cold, as if warm blood no longer flowed in her veins, and her fangs were inches from his jugular."
[3] Visuals: This one is more on the art side of things. She's described as wearing red leather and having crimson hair, though currently she wears what looks like a red-and-black bondage outfit and has what looks more like dark pink hair. She certainly deserves to look better, more like an assassin. First off, get rid of the heels because "it takes a lot of effort to move like this in heels." Second, make her wear more clothing. Third, make her more petite, as she's described in the story. No more giant bust and clothes that exist just to show it off. Anyone who looks at her in-game model can see that it's extremely outdated, as well, and I really wouldn't mind it keeping the revealing clothes if it looked more like the awesome new splash art.
[4] Story: I like stories. I like lore. I hope they expand on her lore with her rework, both the story of her in Zaun dealing with Saito Takeda and with her origin story. She's listed as being from the Shadow Isles, but we don't really have much of a story for her. All that we have other than the (amazingly well-written, might I add) story The Shadows Beckon for her is "Swift and lethal, Evelynn is one of the most deadly - and expensive - assassins in all of Runeterra. Able to merge with shadows at will, she patiently stalks her prey, waiting for the right moment to strike. While Evelynn is clearly not entirely human, and her heritage remains unclear, it is believed that she hails from the Shadow Isles – though her link with that tortured realm remains shrouded in mystery," which is not just literally nothing, but is the most lazy writing ever and we can certainly see that it was old Riot that did this, back when they had 2 weeks to make each new champion.
[5] Hybrid Scaling: Going back to gameplay for a bit, this one is less influenced by lore, but currently, she has strong enough hybrid scaling to be able to build either AP or AD and stay effective, like Shaco can, and I hope she keeps this aspect of her. I like when champions have multiple options for builds because it means that you're more free to experiment with what you want to build and more ways to break away from the META - and potentially create a new META in the process. While I know that hybrid scalings make champions pretty tough to balance because there's always a new OP build for them, it also makes them more interesting and fun for players.
Well, that's what I got for Evelynn stuff. Hope you enjoyed reading, and please, feel free to leave comments on if you agree or not with some of the things here. I know I didn't get too specific on direct abilities for the rework, but I hope I hit a fantasy for her that other players would enjoy as well.