An idea regarding Critical Strike

TL;DR: Idea is crits mean subsequent autos get a guaranteed but moderate damage amp for consistent DPS, rather than the current RNG crit autos giving 100% more damage and making ADCs super bursty but luck-based.

I'm sure most people around these parts are readily aware of how critical strike works. I'm sure just about everyone on these boards is pretty sick of it too. Riot's made it readily apparent that they're not particularly satisfied with how critical strike works either. You right click and each attack you hope you're in that lucky percentage (whether it be 10% or 80%) that causes your next attack to deal 200% more damage- 250% with Infinite Edge, even more if you add on Statikk Shiv. If you're being attacked, you have no idea if the next three auto-attacks or going to rip out chunks of your health or be survivable. If you're attacking, you have no idea if your next three auto-attacks are going to be enough to kill your target, or if you're going to be the one looking at a grey screen. It's pure luck with no real involvement or counterplay on the part of either the attacking or attacked player beyond item build, and that sucks.

Now, I want to point your attention to the Runes Reforged system coming to us this upcoming preseason. Specifically, I want to point you to a rather contentious keystone rune in the precision tree- Press the Attack. For those unaware:

> Hitting an enemy champion with 3 consecutive basic attacks will deal 30 - 120 bonus adaptive damage (based on level) and expose them causing them to take 12% more damage from all sources for 6 seconds.

That is the current function of Press the Attack, currently available for testing on PBE. Whether those numbers will be changed or whether Press the Attack will be completely altered remains to be seen. But its current functionality is why I bring it up in a discussion about the crit chance system, because I think it's something Riot could take inspiration from. I think that by making crit chance functionally similar to Press the Attack, Riot can reach a level of "controlled RNG" that everyone can not only play around and react to, but also be satisfied with.

The idea starts with a similar foundation, where you have a % chance to critically strike with each given auto attack, retaining an element of chance. But rather than each auto-attack requiring its own self-contained critical hit, instead the attacker only needs one. Once they land that critical strike, the attacked target is rendered vulnerable. The attacker will subsequently deal amplified damage to the target with their auto-attacks (let's say... 10-20% for now, just spitballing) for the duration both parties remain in combat. If the attacker is forced away or the attacker manages to disengage, the amplification is lost and the attacker needs to land a crit again in order to restore it.

This gives both the attacker and the attacked opportunity to make decisions during gameplay, starting from the moment that crit is landed. Let's say a Marksman is fighting a Skirmisher, and manages to land a crit.

• For the Marksman, is the sudden damage amplification enough to turn the tide? Will it give them the power to eliminate the incoming player? Can they outmaneuver the Skirmisher and tear them down with a barrage of amplified autos?

• For the Skirmisher, does the sudden vulnerability mean the fight is too dangerous to continue pursuit? Do they have the sustain, damage, and/or durability to run down the fleeing Marksman? Or should they disengage lest they find the hunter becoming the hunted?

That lucky crit is still an element of chance, but it's something that both parties can react to. A Marksman doesn't need to hope they land X number of crits to outdamage the Skirmisher, and the Skirmisher doesn't have to seethe at the lucky crits turning a sure kill into a tilt-inducing death. But there are other benefits to this hypothetical alteration.

• For one, the balance of power between Assassins and Marksmen would be restored. Assassins would have delayed burst yes, but that burst is still enough that a Marksman would have to use their own skill to survive, rather than a single lucky crit.

• Marksmen would be restored to their proper role of sustained DPS, dolling out the damage throughout a fight rather than bursting down squishies with a couple of autos. They would also be able to retain their lategame scaling prowess by way of building up their critical strike chance.

• Much more innovative and intuitive applications of the hypothetical system. Ashe's passive is already a great example, but current and future champions could also benefit from it greatly. Yasuo could actually both feel and be balanced, who knows. Even oddballs like Jhin wouldn't need huge changes except perhaps in terminology and description.

This took me a while to write up so I hope it gets some attention and legitimate discussion. But more specifically, I hope people like the idea and consider it worthwhile. Who knows, maybe Riot would look at it too and like what they see. What do you guys think?