Cassiopeia – The Serpent's Embrace (My Own Semi-Rework) Warning: Wall of Text Incoming
So a lot of people have been complaining about Cass's problems for a while - and for good reason, too, I suppose - and I thought I'd try my hand at theorycrafting a rework for her.
This "rework" centers around the fact that right now, Cass is basically Poison enemy -> spam E till death.
I actually wanted to keep that playstyle somewhat (seriously, a pure AoE DoT mage would be absolute hell to balance) but change it up so that it's easier to kite divers and assassins while also upping her poisons. She's still gonna be centered around Twin Fangs for most of her lategame damage - it's just that the poisons will feel better if you hit them. If that makes sense.
I'd like to note, first of all, that I'm terrible at balancing things, so this is more of a concept creation than a full rework. As always, the numbers are arbitrary and are pulled out of my ass (though I did try my best to make them seem logical). Second of all, WALL OF TEXT INCOMING!
Passive: Aspect of the Serpent Cassiopeia's autoattacks and spells apply a crippling curse, dealing 2 + (Cassiopeia's level) magic damage per second and Slow to Champions by 4% for 3 seconds, stacking up to 3 times. Each tick of a Damage over Time spell refreshes the duration but does not add stacks.
Let's be honest, both the old and new passives had, like, nothing to do with being a poison mage or a snake (other than maybe some sort of skin shedding for the new one, but that's a huge stretch). I tried adding some sort of snake venom theme, where autos and spells apply a small DoT and slow. I basically modeled it after GP's old passive (nerfed to compensate for Cass being ranged). I do feel like this is abusable in lane, but I think it'll work out.
Q: Snake Pit Range: 825 (AoE: 75) | Mana: 40/50/60/70/80 | Cooldown: 4.5 seconds
Cassiopeia commands snakes to strike at the target area after a 0.4 second delay. All enemies within the area are Poisoned, taking magic damage over 3 seconds.
After a 0.25 second delay, the snakes will chase Poisoned units within 250 units for up to 2 seconds at 400 + Cassiopeia's bonus movement speed (including this spell's buff), dealing reduced damage over another 3 seconds if they hit (enemies hit a second time are not considered Poisoned). The snakes can hit any non-Poisoned units that are in the way. If the snakes do not reach a target, they simply dissipate. Snakes can go through terrain.
「 MAGIC DAMAGE PER SECOND: 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 (+ 12% AP) 」 「 SECONDARY MAGIC DAMAGE PER SECOND: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 (+ 6% AP) 」
「 TOTAL MAGIC DAMAGE PER SECOND: 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 (+ 18% AP) 」 「 TOTAL MAGIC DAMAGE: 90 / 135 / 180 / 225 / 270 (+ 54% AP) 」
Cassiopeia gains 30% bonus movement speed for 1.5 seconds if Snake Pit damages an enemy champion, and regains half the speed buff if the snakes hit a second time for another 1.5 seconds.
For comparison, current Cass: 「 MAGIC DAMAGE PER SECOND: 25 / 38.33 / 51.67 / 65 / 78.33 (+ 15% AP) 」 「 TOTAL MAGIC DAMAGE: 75 / 115 / 155 / 195 / 235 (+ 45% AP) 」
So I changed it from a poison bomb (It was so... random) to a sort of snake charm skill. It's still basically the same thing. However, it does deal significantly more damage, with the caveat that the skill must hit twice (think Maokai sapling). I modeled this one after a sort of AoE Malzahar E+Voidling but to a much lesser degree. While the snakes do chase Poisoned targets, they will attack anyone in the way (including minions and monsters).
Note that the second hit does NOT reapply the Poisoned debuff and that they CAN chase you even if you Flash over a wall (though if you do you're probably out of the leash range anyway).
W: Miasma Range: 525 - 925 (Cloud & Trail AoE: 200) | Mana: 50/60/70/80/90 | Cooldown: 15/14/13/12/11 seconds
Cassiopeia throws out a cloud of poison in a line. The cloud travels over 3 seconds, granting Sight wherever it goes. Enemies in the area are Poisoned, slowed, take magic damage per second for 2 seconds, and leave a trail of Miasma that lasts an additional 2 seconds, afflicting any units that walk on it (enemies cannot be affected by their own trail). Continual exposure renews the poison. Damage is capped on each unit hit.
「 MAGIC DAMAGE PER SECOND: 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 (+ 22.5% AP) 」 「 TOTAL MAGIC DAMAGE: 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+ 45% AP) 」 「 MAX. POSSIBLE DAMAGE: 120 / 180 / 240 / 300 / 360 (+ 90% AP) 」 「 SLOW: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30% 」
You want zone control? I'll give you zone control.
This spell becomes extremely powerful because of it's AoE potential. While the cloud itself is small (it's smaller than current max AoE Miasma, which is 250), it does have a decent starting range on it (525) and it travels relatively quickly to max range of 925 (to compare, live Miasma's range is 825). The main draw of this is its use in teamfights - while it does a lot less damage and slow than the current Miasma, if ANY unit (including minions!) are hit, they leave a trail of poison that will refresh the duration on any unit that comes across it. Enemies can be hit by the initial cloud, though it has low starting range to compensate. I had to add a damage cap, though, since otherwise, the poison could potentially be reapplied a broken number of times depending on the number of minions xD
What I like about this Miasma (over the live one) is that it's potential damage is a lot more realistic to reach (NO ONE will stand a full 7 seconds over live Miasma, let's be honest) while it's a lot easier to counterplay (dodge it and you can basically ignore it, there's no "keep out" zone that you have to think about). While it's probably harder to land (and harder to zone with), I prefer how this one works. And you can still farm with it, which is cool.
I modeled the casting after Lissandra's E - I've always liked how the spell worked, so I wanted to use it in more of a damage role.
E: Twin Fang Range: 700 | Mana: 40/45/50/55/60 | Cooldown: 10/9/8/7/6 seconds
Passive: Every time Cassiopeia strikes a target with Twin Fang, she amplifies any Poison damage they receive by 15%, stacking up to twice.
Active: Cassiopeia empowers her next autoattack, increasing its range to 700 and dealing [40/65/90/115/140] (+ 40% AP) bonus magic damage. If Cassiopeia hits a Poisoned target, her autoattack is entirely replaced by Twin Fang (600 Range), dealing 50% more damage on a static 0.65 second Cooldown. Lasts 4 seconds and is refreshed when hitting a Poisoned Champion. This bonus damage is unaffected by crit and other on-hit effects. However, it does apply spell vamp. If Twin Fang kills the target, it refunds its mana cost (+ 1.5% maximum mana).
「 ATTACK MAGIC DAMAGE: 60 / 97.5 / 135 / 172.5 / 210 (+ 60% AP) 」
Okay. Yeah, I know, I know, League of attack modifiers. Still, it's basically the same as live Twin Fang, except it's an autoattack. To compensate, it has a slightly longer Cooldown (1 more at each rank, and 0.65 static CD vs. live's 0.5 on Poisoned targets). I wanted to make it so you didn't ALWAYS have to target Poisoned Champions - as long as Twin Fangs hit them once, Cass can actually kite back against divers with her empowered autos (especially with Rylai's + WotA) while she waits for Q/W CDs to come back up. Note that since autos start from the edge of your character model (whereas spells start from the center), a 600 auto range is effectively around 700 spell range.
R: Petrifying Gaze Range: 825 / 80° COST: 100 MANA COOLDOWN: 120 / 110 / 100 ACTIVE: After a brief delay, Cassiopeia blasts all enemies in a cone in front of her with her gaze, dealing them magic damage. MAGIC DAMAGE: 150 / 250 / 350 (+ 50% AP) Enemies facing her when damaged are Stunned for 2 seconds, while enemies facing away are Slowed by 60% for 2 seconds instead.
Yeah, I didn't touch Cass's ult. It's pretty iconic, so I decided against it.
Thoughts and ideas? At the time of writing this I've been pretty much sleep deprived, so at some point I stopped caring about spelling. My ideas may have been corrupted by my tiredness, as well, so take it with a grain of salt.
And again, let me reiterate: NUMBERS ARE PULLED OUT OF MY ASS! So they may be broken/undertuned. Take that with a grain of salt, as well. xD
