[Gameplay Discussion] - A proposal on Taric
Hi summoners! Chatting with a friend about an eventual upcoming Taric rework i conceived what looks like an intresting course of action for his kit, the less invasive possible. I am aware that Riot has varius proposal under their hood and probably are working on that, but i still want to propose this stuff because i belive creation and discussion can greatly help the designers around what to do. Plus i love doing that :D Constructive criticism is welcome! Less constructive criticism is allowed. Toxicity... meh, i get what i get. This is quite long, if you are in an hurry/allergic to walltexts you can skip the quoted areas!
THE IDEA I like to work on this stuff knowing who i have in front of me. While i don' t know how will be interpretated Taric by Riot i followed up these points: he is a defender, of ideals and man, but he is also a fighter even if not a violent one; most of times he is intended as fabulous because his only precence radiates in the fight, winning first with morale and then with arms; radiance, light and gems are core to his personality, while his not exploiting charisma ( different from Ahri one ) is a thing that the community got a lot attached to.
THE KIT -Remember that numbers are only indicative and i talk mostly about design-
-Gemcraft (Passive): Each time Taric casts a spell he empowers his next basic attack, generating a shield for 10s equal to 5% of his max hp. This shield can stack up to 15% for each consecutive passive proc that also refreshes duration when he attacks an enemy champion or big monsters. Plus, he passively generates the same shield but over time, up to 5% and nothing more, and this does not expire.
One of the current problems of Taric is, besides his passivity, that he gets too much punished going melee and most of the time players prefer to play in the backline. This shield removes a good deal of his peel, that will be added later in other forms, but allows him to be a more threatening and safe presence in melee. Also, it will be used as a resource system! Remember what i said about "his presence radiates in the fight" ? The shield ( given by his gems ) is the very show of his presence, power and ispiration making a resosurce system that scales with necessity ( it gets generated mostly in fight ) but that it is counterable by the enemy team by doing damage to Taric ( but doing so negating damage to other valuable members of the party). Also i want this passive to scale with health, because shield for armor is too much synergizing and most supp items give health. It also can have cool visual effects, like particles or ( let' s esagerate) model changes! It procs on big enemies of the jungle so he can contest better dragon and baron, but that can be removed eventually.
-Imbue(Q): Taric heals a friendly target of X health, plus he imbues the target with the gem power he holds and applies the same shield is in effet on him to the target. If he targets himself he heals of the half of the amount and applies to himself additional half shield. Remember this procs his passive and does not consume his shield!
One of the problems with heals is that not all champions must or are good at it. Taric' s heal is one of the many reasons he is played completely passive, with unsatisfactory success due to really low heals. I like the idea to be able to save people from distance, but increasing the heal in any way would not be balancable or satisfactory either. So here comes the concept of radiance, so as long he shows great feats of power so his allies are inspired and saved by his powers! This is however not only useful with a lot of shield, that remember is still generated passively in some quantity in order to have effect even while stomped, but is also useful for generating a lot!
-Shatter (W): Passively increases the ratio of passive shield generated, but not his cap limit. This passive side works while in cooldown! While activated he radiates gem light out of his weapons and armor, dealing damage to sorrounding enemies and reducing their armor as long as they are near him plus additional damage for how much shield he mantained.
One of the main problems of the live W is that it is binary in execution and effect: if you are far it works in a way, if you are near you most of times activate it to maximize carry damage. This changes a bit of this situation: the passive effect allows him to have an effective shield even while stomped ( making him less feast or famine ) while the active must be used with a clear tactic in mind: you use that to proc the passive and get the shield, or you get less useful effects from other spells first and then you deal damage? in few words it adds choice on the usage! Remember, the armor shred is flat.
-Dazzle(E): He fires a beam of light that deals few damage and stuns the enemy for xs, increased depending the amount of shield possessed by Taric.
I like to have single target skills in this game because i think that while sometimes oppressive if done properly they can add a lot of value to the game. The old Taric E was not that bad for itself, but summed up with the whole kit was a passive and annoying effect with not so much counterability. With these changes he mantains this oppressing form of power, of the single targeted cc of doom, but makes it counterable by the shield he possess: it can be done for example that without shield he does only a negligible stun, that steadly increases when you get more.
-Radiance(R): Taric raises his hammer infusing it with straordinary power, while from his very armor a wave of energy empowers his allies but makes him weaker. He loses all the shield gathered and, based on how much shield he had, increasing AD and AP for him and his allies in an area around him for a flat +% based on the shield lost for x seconds. This procs an empowered version of his passive, that overwrites past and successive procs until used or expired, that deals damage in an area and generates even more shield based on how much shield Taric did not have. This scaling is not linear, because if he had more than 75% of his maximum shield then the aura effect is increased by an additional 50% while if he had less than 25% he generates immediately all the shield possible and deal additional 50% damage. The aura effect persists after death in a increased radius from the point he died until the effect ends.
The magnificent good and the necessary evil! Taric' s awesomeness empowers his allies, winning first the morale and then the war with his power! If he dies an heroic death his very fall inspires his allies increasing their damage while near the place he fell! However, in times of need he is ready to show his more hard rock side, stomping faces with his hammer and raising itself from the enemy dark oppression ( depends, maybe the enemy has Lux). When the enemy targets Taric they are making a choice that negates most of his powers at a resource cost but never really cripples his, as long he has the ultimate!
Thanks for reading! I am sorry if i messed up grammar or some sentences as it' s not my language and tell me what do you think!