[Concept] Zoe rework - Spell Thief

Preface

There are two conflicting parts to Zoe.

The first is a complex trickster, zipping around the battlefield stealing spells and zapping people. This is represented by her Passive, W, and R. When a Zoe kills me using this side of her kit, I feel genuinely outplayed. When I kill somebody using this side of her kit, it feels amazing.

The second is the nightmare artillery pick artist we all know and hate. Nid v2.0. While I believe that this version of Zoe has a lot counterplay (even on release), it's annoying as hell and isn't great design. If she can one shot somebody with her E-Q combo, she feels like cancer. If she can't, she's pretty much worthless. Just as importantly, you don't feel "outplayed" when Zoe lands a potshot and takes half your HP. You just feel "oh, here we go again".

I think the best way to bring out Zoe's potential is to focus on Spell Thief, which I'll move to her ultimate. Paddle Star and Sleepy Trouble Bubble will still exist, but in an altered form, and Portal Jump will simply be put onto a basic ability. It never really felt like an ult anyhow. Her basic abilities in this version are meant to be relatively underpowered and tricky to use, but still very versatile.

I'm aware she's new, but she has a lot of very old balance problems.

Anyhow, let's jump into it. -_-

Stat Changes Base Attack Speed: 0.625 >> 0.635

A big part of this Zoe is that I want her to be relying on her passive more. With her current sub-par attack speed, that would be extremely clunky.

Passive: More Sparkles!!! After casting an ability, Zoe's next basic attack within 5 seconds deals 12-135 (+.325 AP) bonus magic damage and heal her for half that amount if she strikes a champion or large/epic monster.

If I want her to rely on her passive more, Zoe will be fighting for a considerably longer duration. This will keep her alive slightly longer.

Q: Paddle Star 8/7.5/7/6.5/6 second CD, 55 mana Zoe hits a star in a target direction, traveling 975 units. If the star strikes terrain, it will ricochet and reset its range. When the star strikes an enemy it will deal 50/70/90/110/130 (+.4 AP) magic damage to all enemies within 275 units, with the initial target taking 25% bonus damage per ricochet, capping at a 50/75/100/125/150% increase in damage. The star fizzles on its own after 10 bounces. Each time the star ricochets, it's projectile speed increases by 15%.

Ricochet behavior emulates a beam of light bouncing off of a mirror. Can you still potentially chunk fools with this spell? Yes, the maximum damage is 325 (+1.0 AP). Will this happen occasionally? Yes, but this spell is so chaotic that you'll get chunked out by it much less often than by the current Paddle Star. While the old paddle star is all about sniping people you've already immobilized, this one is all about the trick shots. Even if they're asleep, you stand a good chance of missing. This is inspired by how kids like throwing rubber bouncy balls in enclosed spaces just to see what happens, and something usually ends up breaking eventually. The difference is that this ball is made of hot plasma and is not slowing down.

I debated not putting a bounce cap, and letting godlike trickshotters snipe globally, but I feel like that would just turn the entire jungle into a pinball machine of death.

W: Portal Jump 15/13/11/9/7 second CD, 50 mana Zoe blinks to a target location (575 range), then blinks back one second later.

It's a basic ability now.

E: Sleepy Trouble Bubble 16/15/14/13/12 second CD, 80 mana Zoe kicks a bubble of Twilight energy in a target direction (975 range). The first enemy struck is dealt 50/100/150/200/250 (+.5 AP) magic damage made Drowsy for 2.2 seconds, applying a slow that increases to 10/20/30/40/50% over the duration. After this, the enemy falls asleep for 2 seconds. Taking damage will wake them up, and a rude awakening causes them to lose 15 magic resistance for 8 seconds. If the bubble does not directly strike anything, it will leave a trap for 2 seconds at its max range.

The initial hit does more damage at later ranks, but the overall damage is down since the hit that wakes the target up is no longer matched by this spell. Still good for picks, and it can line up a Paddle Star ricochet great. The base range has been increased to make up for the lower trap duration and removal of the infinite wall-phase.

R: Spell Thief 0.5 second CD, Variable Cost passive: Enemy champions who use summoner spells, certain active items, or certain abilities in vision of Zoe (within 2000 range) will drop shards of those actives on the ground. Zoe can pick up these shards to temporarily replace Spell Thief with one use of that spell. Shards last 15 seconds on the ground and 30 seconds on Zoe's hotbar. If a shard from a champion is already on the ground they will not drop extra shards until that shard either despawns or is picked up, and the same champion cannot drop another shard for 15/10/5 seconds. Activating a summoner spell, active item or Spell Thief will grant Zoe 30/50/70% movement speed for 2/3/4 seconds and summon three orbs that seek enemy champions, sending out one per second, each dealing 25/55/85 (+.25 AP) magic damage. active: Consume your currently held spell shard to cast that spell. If it would deal physical damage, it is changed to magic. The cost of Spell Thief is equal to the original cost of the spell. Spells with no cost will cost 60 mana. Stolen basic champion abilities are at rank 1/3/5, and stolen ultimate abilities are at rank 1/2/3. For scalings, the greater damage value is chosen between Zoe and the original owner.

All summoner spells can be dropped, and the list of items that can be dropped is the same. Here follows the complete list of champion abilities that can be stolen by Zoe.

Something worth noting is that if you steal a tank's initiation ult (say, unstoppable force), you can portal jump in, use that ult, and portal jump will still take you back. Same way it works if you flash during the interval on live, but flashy and isn't in a fail montage.

Q E E W Q W Q R Q W W E R Q R P R Q E R Q R E R E W W R Q W W (normal and package) E W E Q E R W human W, human E W R E R E R W E R Q W R E R E R E R W W R W E RQ RW RE E E R (this is outdated in, like, two weeks, but w/e) Q E Q R E (melee) E (ranged) E W R E R W R Q W RQ RW RE R E R R W W E E R W E R R E Q E R W E RW RE W (no reactivation) E W E E Q W Q R R Q R W E R W Q E Q R W E Q human Q cougar W W R Q W (always centered on you) R W R W R E E R E burrowed Q E W E E W R W R R Q E W E W E Q E E R E W R E R E E (Can manipulate the spheres of the original Syndra) R E R E E Q W Q W W R E W E W W Q W E R (Only the on-cast effect. You do not get to steal Bear stance and stun on-hit the entire game) R R E W E E R Q Q W W E E W (drops when decoy ends) W W E W R W W E Q W (Zoe shadow clone does not replicate abilities, she can only swap to it) W E E Any stolen spell they use. E R

To differentiate between spells Zoe has stolen and the originals, visuals on these spells will be a sparkly pink and the SFX will be made distinctly cheerful (even for the spookier champions).