Quous, the Droplet

Quous, the Droplet

(Bad title, yes. I couldn't think of anything better)

Role: Jungle Assassin

(He's thematically an assassin due to his lore, and he's a jungler due to the river water being manipulatable... this makes sense later.)

Lore:

O Holy Four-Step Water Cycle of Precipitation, Collection, Evaporation, and Condensation, you have sent for me to fall upon the center of the Plague Jungles.

Why has this task befallen me?

I have been faithful to you for all my near-eternal life. I have not sinned. I have carried out my tasks faithfully according to your almighty guidance. I have been your most faithful droplet of water, your most faithful collection of a multitude of water molecules. My very hydrogen and oxygen atoms praise your almighty name.

Why, then, am I chosen to fall upon the Plague Jungles? That twisted wood of dark magic I wished never to enter? I have heard. I have heard of those wicked unnatural forces in that forest, those that split my very molecules, destroying my very existence

wait, let me finish

no, don’t precipitate me yet, I’m not ready

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey, wait a second. This doesn’t look like the Plague Jungles. But I’m in the center of it. Why is an evergreen wood in the middle of the Plague Jungles?

Look, an armadillo. What’s an armadillo doing here?

A light! I’m falling towards a light! And it’s growing in brightness!

I wonder if it will be friends with me?

---

Oh, dear. This has never happened before.

I seem to have become self-aware.

Hm. I feel noticeably larger. The size of… a normal human, in fact. That’s strange. Apparently I’m now a much larger collection of water molecules. What happens when I -

Wait, I can change my state at will now?

Oh look, Institute summoners. They look nice. I wonder if they -

OW!

---

They captured me.

All I wanted to do was be their friend.

---

I will kill them for their transgression against the Holy Four-Step Water Cycle and their prevention of me from continuing to follow it.

---

For now, I shall fight in their laughable League. No one will notice me if summoners start… disappearing. They shall be punished for binding me away from the Holy Four-Step Water Cycle.

(This was a weird lore, yes. I had fun writing it though. So #worth.)

Stats:

Health: 561-1997 Health Regen: 6.8-20.0

Resource: Aqua (I explain this later) Aqua: 200 Aqua Regen: 0

Attack Range: 150 (base, can be increased in passive) Attack Damage: 57

Attack Speed: 0.658 (+0%-53.8%)

Move Speed: 345

Armor: 25.5 - 83.3

Magic Resist: 32.1 - 53.4

(Mostly standard. Aqua is like Energy, but you have to actively regenerate it instead of having passive regeneration and an active regeneration component. Aqua does fully refresh on the fountain, but there's no other way to passively regenerate it... it's easier to understand when I explain it in the abilities.)

Preface (in-game.. probably stated within passive tooltip, like Rengar and his Bonetooth Necklace, or Rumble and his Heat… or maybe his ultimate? or a buff?) Quous’s basic stances and abilities all manipulate the different forms of water. Manipulatable water can come from Quous’s ultimate or the River. River water is in the form of Water (durr). Water in the Baron pit, or in river bushes, is unmanipulatable. Quous cannot manipulate water/ice/steam in any form if it is created by champions that are not Quous.

Quous operates on a stance mechanic (sort of like Sona/Udyr), granting passive bonuses when he activates each of his basic abilities. There is a 1.5 second universal cooldown between stance switches that does not apply to Quous’s ultimate or the stance ability of the current stance. However, when Quous is in a stance, he can reactivate the stance’s corresponding ability to cast an ability unique to that stance. Quous’s ultimate is his only ability that can be cast in all three stances, is available at level 1, and creates water for manipulation. There is a 1.5 second universal cooldown between stance switches that does not apply to Quous’s ultimate or the stance ability of the current stance.

Quous has a unique resource system called Aqua. Each stance will affect Aqua differently.

(This was the basic concept of Quous, that he can manipulate the state of the River. Then I realized that a champion only effective in the river was useless, so I basically gave him a way to create water. This is also why he's a jungle assassin - he's most effective near the River where there's a large body of water for his abilities, and in lane he can't utilize that River nearly as well. So after that, I came up with the switching between different states of matter, and that gave him the stances. I'll explain that later too.)

Abilities:

Passive: River Flowing

While within any form of water (Ice, Water, or Steam), Quous leaps to his enemies upon autoattack, dealing bonus physical damage equal to 90% bonus AD, restoring 5 Aqua, and gaining 50 range (on leap). Each consecutive autoattack on the same target restores 5 additional Aqua and gains 50 additional range, stacking infinitely. Stacks persist for 4 seconds.

(This is almost Quous's entire damage output, the 90% bonus AD ratio when attacking in water. This forces Quous to rely on his water forms to do... anything, pretty much. This also adds a lot of threat level to him - don't let him catch you when there's a lot of water around, you are not getting away. Aqua regen because he really needs it and it can help him pull things off that you wouldn't expect him to by looking at his Aqua bar. Infinite stacking looks OP but in reality you need water to be there to keep chasing, and unless you set up a perfect path or they decide to keep running through the river, you'll drop all your stacks.)

Q: Iceform/Freeze

Transforms into Iceform, gaining 10/15/20/25/30 Armor Penetration. Passing over Water or Steam will turn the Water or Steam into Ice for 30 seconds before the Ice melts back into water. While in Iceform, Quous can reactivate Q to Freeze all enemies standing upon Ice (and only Ice), stunning them for 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 seconds and dealing 40/80/120/160/200 (+60% AP) magic damage. Iceform preserves Aqua - the act of staying in Iceform will neither regain nor deplete Aqua. Targeting: Self-buff / auto-target Ice-target multiple AoE Cooldown: 5 (Iceform) / 10/9/8/7/6 (Freeze) Range (Freeze): Global Aqua Cost: 0 (Iceform) / 80 (Freeze)

(Turns out he doesn't have quite enough damage, so here's some extra damage on squishies in the form of tons of armor penetration, which will allow him to deal nearly true damage to enemies with low armor. The basic idea of Iceform is zone control, strongly discouraging enemies from moving anywhere near Ice. If they do, just Freeze them and jump on them.)

W: Waterform/Phase

Transforms into Waterform, ignoring unit collision. Each time he passes over water, Quous gains 30% movement speed, decaying over 1 second. Passing over Ice or Steam in any other form will turn the Ice or Steam into Water. While in Waterform, Quous can reactivate W to Phase, sinking into a puddle (leaving behind Water at his current location) and reappearing at target location that has Water (and only Water) 0.5 seconds later. Any enemies standing upon his reappearing location are knocked up for 1 second. Any enemies that walk in Water while Quous is in Waterform track water for 2 seconds after leaving the water puddle or River. Phase's cooldown is reduced by 2 seconds for each enemy champion hit by Obscure (E). Waterform replenishes Aqua and Health - for each second that Quous spends in Waterform within Water, Quous gains 40 Aqua and 5/10/15/20/25 (+10% Bonus AD) Health. Targeting: Self-buff / target Water blink Cooldown: 5 (Waterform) / 16/14/12/10/8 (Phase) Range (Phase): 700 Aqua Cost: 0 (Waterform) / 80 (Phase)

(Waterform is more of a mobility and sustain ability. Phase is your engage/disengage/map mobility tool. The Aqua replenish is to help balance out his very high Aqua costs - in combat, you might want to Phase out, sit on some Water, get some Aqua back and reengage. The heal is to help his jungle - he's most effective in that role because of River synergy, but he does need a method to survive jungle camps.)

E: Steamform/Obscure

Transforms into Steamform, ignoring unit collision and becoming invisible. While in Steamform, Quous’s basic attacks deal no damage and do not reveal him, but he can still utilize River Flowing’s leap and Aqua regen stacks will continue to increase despite not dealing damage. However, the Aqua replenish on River Flowing will not apply. Quous is not invulnerable in Steamform and can still use Watertoss, which will reveal him for 1 second. Passing over Ice or Water will turn the Ice or Water into Steam. While in Steamform, Quous can reactivate E to Obscure all enemies standing upon Steam (and only Steam), causing them to have drastically reduced vision range (250), lose ally vision for 2 seconds, and take 50/100/150/200/250 (+60% AP) magic damage. Phase (W)'s cooldown is reduced by 2 seconds for each enemy champion hit by Obscure. Steamform expends Aqua - for each second that Quous spends in Steamform, Quous loses 40 Aqua. Targeting: Self-buff / auto-target Steam-target multiple AoE Cooldown: 5 (Steamform) / 10 (Obscure) Range (Obscure): Global Aqua Cost: 0 (Steamform, upon cast) / 80 (Obscure)

(Steamform is his in-combat slippery (geddit) ability. This lets him build up his passive stacks with relative safety (watch out for Madlife!). Obscure makes his even slipperier, hiding his entire team. However, this does have a massive Aqua cost, so you can't just sit in Steamform. You have to come out to use your River Flowing stacks or Phase out and replenish in Waterform.)

R: Watertoss

Lobs a piece of himself at target location. In midair, the form of the piece snaps to its liquid form of Water. The Water then remains on the ground for 3 minutes, granting vision of its radius, and can be manipulated by Quous’s forms. Watertoss is automatically available at level 1 and can be leveled up 3 more times at levels 6, 11, and 16 for a total of 4 ranks in the ability. Watertoss uses a stack system to cast. Quous gains a Watertoss stack every 15 seconds and can hold up to 1/2/3/4 stacks at a time.

Targeting: Delayed PBAoE Range: 1000 Projectile Speed: 1000 Water Radius: 250 Cooldown: 1 Aqua Cost: 40 + 1 Watertoss stack

(This is Quous's bread and butter ability, and is what makes him actually viable when not near a River. It basically makes him a zone control champion - stay away from his puddles and you'll be fine, probably, but if you get near a puddle he just might Phase in and kill you. Watertoss automatically is in Water form rather than Ice or Steam because I thought a ranged instant Freeze was too strong - now you have to actually run over the water to get that Freeze off - and I did like the instant-mobility Watertoss-Phase. It does have a fairly slow travel time, too, and its Aqua cost is reasonably punishing. I wanted to use the stack system because otherwise it would be extremely difficult to chase down a target in a single fight, but at the same time I didn't want too much vision consistently. I was debating whether to make water destructible, but I ultimately decided that Quous is useless without Water and destroyable Water would make him terribly underwhelming.)

Ability Combos + Tricks:

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Watertoss-Waterform-Phase

This is his all-purpose near-instant blink. Use it to engage, escape, or anything, really.

Watertoss-Waterform-Phase-Iceform-Freeze

Ganking or catching an enemy out, assuming you hit the Phase's knockup. This grants you a 1 second knockup and an additional 1-2 second stun, allowing you or your team to follow up and hopefully obliterate them.

Watertoss-Waterform-Phase-AA(leap)-Watertoss(point-blank)-Iceform-Freeze

Same idea - if you miss your Phase, don't fret, you've still got more tricks in your bag. This takes a bit longer to pull off as you need to wait for a second to get 40 Aqua on the Waterform regen to finish off the combo, but all the same, it's a strong ganking or catching tool.

Steamform-Watertoss(point-blank)-Obscure-Waterform-Steamform

Running out of Aqua for Steamform in a 1v1? No problem! Obscure your enemy, switch to Waterform, regen for a bit, then switch back into Steamform.

Steamform-AA Scuttle Crab

Duel in the river? Don't want to switch out of Steamform? Have lots of attack speed? No problem, just start autoattacking the Scuttle Crab. You won't do any damage and initially you'll start losing a lot of Aqua, but eventually, with enough attack speed, you'll start evening out and you'll basically get permanent invisibility! Then again, that's a Teemo passive with forced movement instead of no movement at all, and it only works in the River and could be really bad if their team shows up and kills the crab, so it's not as strong as you might have thought. But still!

Steamform-AA

Actually, this technically works for anyone you meet in a River, not just a Scuttle Crab. You can use this to build up a very long leap range. Just make sure they never notice, and remember that once you step out of water, no more passive for you.

There's probably a lot more, but that's all I can think of for now.

For purposes of CCOS, here is my review: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/skin-champion-concepts/34sAXkoM-champion-concept-li-mei-the-dual-sentinel-art-design-included?comment=0006

Changelog;

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2/17/15 Changelog created; Combos + Tricks created; Waterform MS changed from 10% MS flat passive to 30% MS decaying over 1 second each time he passes over water; Waterform heal-on-water **changed **from 20/25/30/35/40 to 5/10/15/20/25 (+10% Bonus AD); Freeze now has 40/80/120/160/200 (+60% AP) magic damage and Obscure now has 50/100/150/200/250 (+60% AP) magic damage (reasoning behind this is to make Triforce AP not be completely wasted and to basically round his damage out a bit, NOT to support anything weird like an AP off-build); Phase cooldown reduction upon attacking with 4 River Flowing stacks removed; Phase cooldown is now reduced by 2 seconds per enemy champion hit by Obscure; River Flowing's damage changed from 30% bonus AD stacking up to 4 times to 90% bonus AD flat; River Flowing's leap range changed from 150 stacking up to 4 times to 50 infinitely stacking; River Flowing's Aqua regen changed from 10 stacking up to 4 times to 5 infinitely stacking; Aqua now refreshes within the Fountain (whoops)

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2/18/15 Ice now has a 30 second time span before it melts back into water, avoiding absurd things like spamming the entire river with Ice and then auto-winning a fight while back at base.