Cassiopeia, the Serpent’s Embrace [Champion Rework]
Passive: Aspect of the Serpent
Cassiopeia gains a stack of Aspect of the Serpent for each nearby enemy champion inflicted with Poison.
Each stack of Aspect of the Serpent grants Cassiopeia 7% increased total Ability Power, increases the heal from Noxious Fumes by 10%, and reduces her cooldowns by 5% (this is applied after Cooldown Reduction and is not treated as such, thus can bypass the cap of 40% CDR).
This passive is similar to the current one, but of course completely different. I have been frequently critical of the old Aspect of the Serpent as an arbitrary power boost that forces Cassiopeia’s power curve artificially towards the late game. This is more interactive in that it forces Cassiopeia to actually tag multiple enemies with poison at the start of a fight before being as brutally powerful, but rewards her immensely for doing so. It also provides a natural curve towards the late-game, playing on the natural tendency of early-game skirmishes as opposed to late-game teamfights to adjust her power curve.
Q: Noxious Blast
ACTIVE: Cassiopeia spits poison at the target area. Enemies struck by the projectile are poisoned, taking magic damage over 3 seconds. Enemy units are also tagged with Noxious Fumes while poisoned.
Noxious Fumes: Cassiopeia gains 20% movement speed near champions with Noxious Fumes. If Twin Fang strikes a unit with Noxious Fumes, Cassiopeia consumes the debuff, gaining a charge of Twin Fang and healing for a small amount, as well as applying a massively decaying slow for 0.2 seconds.
Now given travel time: This allows her to deal with melee more effectively, allowing her to at least fight back against assassins, while reducing her long-range oppressiveness as it is more difficult to hit at longer ranges due to travel time. The travel time will be similar to 0.4 seconds around 550 range. Noxious Fumes is similar to her old bonuses on Q but are granted immediately instead of at 100 stacks.
Damage: 75/115/155/195/235 (+ 70% AP) Cooldown: 4 Cost: 40/45/50/55/60 Range: 850/80 Speed: 1300 Noxious Fumes Heal: 5/8/11/14/17 + (10% AP) Noxious Fumes Slow: 80%
W: Miasma
ACTIVE: Cassiopeia spits a poison gas at the target area, after a delay creating a rapidly expanding gas cloud for 5 seconds. Enemies within the gas cloud are poisoned for 1 second, and while poisoned, also tagged with Venomous Spite: continual exposure renews the poison as well as Venomous Spite.
Venomous Spite: Enemies are slowed by a moderate amount while afflicted with Venomous Spite. If Twin Fang strikes a unit with Venomous Spite, Cassiopeia consumes the debuff, gaining a charge of Twin Fang and dealing bonus magic damage in an area of effect around the target.
Miasma is supposed to be threatening, not just another poison that is used to tag targets reliably when she misses Q. Cassiopeia can now E-spam very reliably on targets tagged with Miasma. Consequently, Miasma becomes an incredibly potent ability that forces enemies to evacuate its area lest they get completely destroyed by Twin Fangs. The additional AoE damage is further employed to make sure that Miasma keeps its role as an ability that forces enemy teams to split up. It should be utilized somewhat like Viktor’s Gravity Field, Orianna’s Shockwave, or Bard’s Tempered Fate: as a threat of complete slaughter in chokepoints, not necessarily a consistent and reliable damage ability. If Cassiopeia manages to tag enemies with Petrifying Gaze and then drop Miasma onto them, she becomes brutally powerful as well.
Damage: 12/19/26/33/40 + (15% AP) Cooldown: 14/13/12/11/10 Cost: 40/50/60/70/80 Range: 850/125-250 Speed: 2500 Slow: 25/30/35/40/45% Venomous Spite Damage: 10/15/20/25/30 + (15% AP) Venomous Spite Range: 0/150
E: Twin Fang
PASSIVE: Cassiopeia stores a charge of Twin Fang every 5 seconds, up to a maximum of 2 charges.
ACTIVE: Cassiopeia fires fangs at an enemy, dealing magic damage. If Twin Fang kills its target, its mana cost is refunded and Cassiopeia regains an additional 1.5% of her maximum mana.
Twin Fang has not undergone any significant changes except a stacking mechanism that is meant to kind of smoothen out some of her aberrations as well as provide a fallback. Current Cassiopeia is brutally punished if missing even a single fang and this proposed rework is less punishing, but it is easier to “miss” Twin Fang: since Cassiopeia’s E reset has been made less reliable due to it not resetting continuously on Q anymore, I have given some leeway to splash in additional casts of Twin Fang. This also adds extra decision paths for Cassiopeia players.
Damage: 55/80/105/130/155 (+60% AP) Cooldown: 0.5 Cost: 50/60/70/80/90 Range: 700
R: Petrifying Gaze
ACTIVE: After a brief delay, Cassiopeia blasts enemies in a cone in the target direction, dealing magic damage and slowing them by 60% for 2 seconds. Enemies facing her directly are instead stunned for the same duration.
Petrifying Gaze is mostly unchanged, however, its role is slightly different in that it is more offensive due to the other changes in Cassiopeia’s playstyle. Its function to lock enemies in Miasma has been made more important due to the changes in her Twin Fang resets, and serves less as a defensive disengage tool (though of course that is still a function.)
Damage: 120/250/350 (+ 60% AP) Cooldown: 120/110/100 Cost: 100 Range: 825/80deg
OVERALL RATIONALE: Twin Fang is no longer a machine-gun. It can be used sporadically on targets tagged with Q, or machine-gunned onto enemies foolish enough to stick around in her W. This shifts her playstyle more towards a poison-mage which casts puffs of gas, while retaining high DPS in niche situations.
