Warwick Redesign [LONG]

Warwick as a champion has a strong resonance point in that the majority of fantasy players understand the werewolf trope and can easily latch on to playing this type of champion. That he would get stronger the more he hits you, that he would hunt you down in the dead of night, that his howl would strike fear into his opponents. All of these are things you might think of when you think werewolf champion. It's cool, it's easy to grok. But what does the champion actually do and how much does it relate to what you would expect from a werewolf champion?

Here are the points I'd hit on that are core to Warwick's design to make sure he has the feel of a werewolf champion:

1. When Warwick is hunting you, it should be meaningful and scary. This is currently his E, Blood Scent. Much like Rengar gives the feel of the hunter and the hunted, Warwick should have a similar type of play. Perhaps Warwick could mark a bloodied (less than 50% or X% HP) target to hunt and gain massive bonuses to movespeed, attack speed and lifesteal such that he is there to finish you off. The feel of a champion that is really there to take you down when you're weakened is something that I think the original Warwick design was going for with the Blood Scent but failed in execution. Having a Warwick in the game could mean you might want to be very careful about how low you allow yourself to get much like having a Karthus in the game might make you think similar. You don't want to be put in a situation where Warwick can run you down and tear you apart.

2. Warwick's howl should be terrifying. This is currently his W. Warwick's howl increases the attack speed of himself and his allies. Which is nice but unexciting. There is room here to create an exciting moment. Warwick's howl could literally cause the fear effect on nearby opponents in addition to the hidden power the attack speed already gives. Having choices and times when you want to use it or save it to get greater bonus out of it is better design than a button that you just mash every time it comes off cooldown.

3. If Warwick catches you, he should be difficult to escape from. Currently his R I would draw inspiration here from the Jockey in L4D2. The Jockey would jump on you, pin you down and eat you and you would need an ally to help get them off of you. Right now, Warwick's R has that feeling but it could be better. Warwick could do less damage over time but when he jumps on you and pins you down, you could possibly limited only to being able to basic attack him. And he would just stay on you until you die if you're already bloodied. Unless an ally helps. Effectively being caught out alone against Warwick would spell death. There would need to be some counterplay built in so it feels you can outplay the Warwick chasing you but once he catches you...

4. He becomes stronger as he fights you. His Q. A very simple ability, I don't think this one needs much changing. He eats a part of you and becomes stronger. You could play around with him getting some sort of bonus off this but that's already Trundle's territory. Stealing life is also Vladmir's territory. So how can Warwick's Q be more unique and satisfying? Perhaps a fleeing target or a CC'd target would reset the cooldown on Q. This reinforces the feeling that you really don't want Warwick to catch you. Being stunned or suppressed and having Warwick Q you, he could just keep using his Q and biting you. Over and over and over. Until you die. Provided he has the mana to do this.

   So how would all this be pieced together to make sure Warwick has this feel? How would I do it?

   I'd start with his passive. Eternal Thirst makes attacks successively steal more health the more he hits you. But this is capped pretty low. This could easily start low at 1% and scale all the way up to 50%. Or the flat amount could start low and get really high. However, stunning him or not taking damage from him in a short period of time (as low as a second) would reset this counter. Doubling the bonus on bloodied targets is another good start to solidify him as someone who hunts you down and finishes you off.

Next there's his Q. A big chunk of life steal. I'd try some minor tweaks like making his Q successively steal more HP or have the cooldown be zero on CC'd targets. Really again pushes him towards that guy who can just wreck a helpless target. Combining the Q and the current passive is a possibility as well. Just keep biting your target stealing more and more health as you do.

And then his W. The howl is currently a spam on cooldown button to make you attack faster. Give it more opportunity for interesting playmaking. It could terrify nearby targets so you're not just pressing it on CD. It could have a longer cooldown and a shorter uptime with a greater effect to make for more "WW is powerful NOW" when his howl is up vs "now is the time to counterattack WW" moments.

His R as I've suggested earlier could be tuned to last much longer. Like a lot longer. Say 5-10 seconds of CC but do significantly reduced damage over time. This creates a moment of terror. Where you're helpless and yelling at your team to save you. He could spend all his mana using Q (reduced CD on CC'd targets) to increase the damage he deals. Warwick taking damage from an ally could force him off you. This could be really terrifying and make Warwick stand out as a unique champion. And if you're bloodied, you could be finished off this way.

And then his E needs a complete rework. Combining the effect E currently gives with his W could make it so you have an entirely new slot for an ability. The idea of champions being bloodied and hunted is currently a thing only Warwick does. The current E could be moved to passive where he gets bonuses against bloodied targets. Moves faster running towards a bloodied target, doing more damage, stealing more life. Whatever works. Numbers can be tweaked.

So presently, it's a powerup on his R to really increase the terror of him using it on you, an alteration to his W to make for interesting choices on when to use or not use his W and a combination of his Q and passive, giving his Q a shorter cooldown so he can keep biting away and stealing more life from his targets.  His current E becoming his passive and room for an entirely new ability.

So what should Warwick's new E be?  Possibilities might include a burst of speed but that's already in his W.  Another possibility could be reducing the vision of a target as Nocturne does.  Whatever the new ability is, it should do these things:

a. Reinforce the werewolf archetype, he hunts you down and feasts on you. b. It needs to have good play AND counterplay.

Currently as modified, every one of these abilities now has a way to make plays and be outplayed. The Q creates a minigame of needing to stick on an opponent and emphasizes wanting to attack CC'd targets. A Q that gets stronger the more you use it (hell it could even be a toggle like Ashe's frost arrow) but that falls off if you fail to consecutively use it - a tough task for a melee ability.

We have a W that creates a shields up/shields down type of moment with a burst of power for his 'pack' making it interesting to decide to engage or not engage based on when it's up or down. and an R that really spells "you're fucked" if Warwick jumps on you and pins you down alone when you're already low.

And we freed up room to create an entirely new Warwick ability. What ability should Warwick have?