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The Dullahan (Champion Concept)

TwiliZoe·12/21/2019, 10:42:17 PM·2 votes·2,302 views

I'm sure this has been done already, but the idea just came to me. No real reason to work on things like appearance and lore at the moment, but wanted to get the concept out now before I forgot it.

Basic attack and its range- The dullahan attacks with a short-ranged whip, a little further out than other melee champions.

Passive- Wayfarer- May target an ally minion with a specific item to pacify the minion and itself. While like this, turret will not target the dullahan or the minion until it attacks or the minion is killed. During this time, the minion will not attack. Specific item- deadman’s carriage. Trap a friendly minion inside the carriage for up to five minutes. During this time, the minion will not be able to attack, gains 10 extra armor, and will always be within a certain distance of the dullahan when being drawn. When the dullahan attacks, it releases the carriage, but may retrieve it by standing near it and channeling for a few seconds.

Q- Look from above- The dullahan tosses its head into the air, immobilizing itself temporarily to grant itself and allies vision around it. The range can be increased each rank. W- Rider’s march- Passive- gain tenacity, resistance to stunning, immobilization, slowing, charm, fear, etc. Active- break crowd control effects, including knock-up, and deal a small area of effect damaging slam that scales with ability power. E- Blinding blood, or Lashing whip- when not mounted, this attack deals ability damage and blinds the target for .5 seconds (up to 2.5 seconds) while dealing 1% (up to 5%) damage to the dullahan. When mounted, this attack applies the blind and deals increased damage, but does not damage the dullahan. R- Spectral mount- begins the game with 1 rank in this, but affect lasts for 5 seconds; every rank increases the duration by 10 seconds. The dullahan summons its mount, gaining a small bonus to movement speed, the ability to attack while moving but at a slower rate, increased armor and magic resistance, and cleansing itself of fears and charms.

A negative concept idea. Dullahan’s fear gold. What if the passive generation of gold was disabled on this character to keep in line with that?

1 Comments

TwiliZoe12/22/2019, 8:54:22 PM1 votes

Back to this and a little insight into the play style I have in mind for this kind of champion. I know the abilities may be reworked, the wording changed, or maybe completely overhauled.

Insight- Dullahan's in folklore and to my understanding, are like caretakers of the dead, transporting them from where they died to where they will be buried, as well as being mounted on a loyal steed and a decapitated undead; a fae in their origins.

Going along with this, we have its mount able to be summoned at level 1 and it's specific item to transport a friendly minion. The immunity to turret attacks while bringing along the carriage goes along the myth that gates and locks do not stop them and even open themselves as one passes by; although enemy minions and champions can destroy the carriage and receive the reward for killing the minion like normal. This is not intended to block or stop a turret from attacking the dullahan, so it will still take at least one hit if tower diving.

This immunity to roadblocks also comes into play with its crowd control defenses, allowing it to not be hampered by foes and keep on with its march. Even being attacked does not force it to release its ward, but attacking, since it uses its whip to pull the carriage, does.

The mount was a tough one for me. To me, a dullahan without one is lacking, but it can't be too powerful without being an ultimate, and so that is what it is. I thought making it an active ability would be fun, as well as giving the option to attack while moving but with a slower attack speed. The cleanse is another part of that, restoring the dullahan's resolve from fears and charms, but not cleansing other effects such as stunning or immobilization.

The change of its W for mounted or not is also something inspired from the folklore I found, splashing blood on onlookers to blind them. When not mounted, it must hurt itself, the palm of the hand, and splash blood onto a foe. While mounted, it has the advantage of height and can more easily reach its foe's face with its whip.

Play style- Having only 1 attacking ability, the other one being to break control and dealing minor damage, I imaged this champion to be more of a scout or counter jungler. Carriage a friendly minion when your lane opponent is missing, move past the enemy turret, and dispatch a jungle monster before retrieving your carriage and returning to safety. Alternatively, move past a turret to assist an ally in a gank or to steal a jungle buff.

Revealing part of the map by throwing its head into the air was inspired by shows and my own previous sessions of Dungeons and Dragons. It just seemed like a fun and unique ability to use, even if it leaves the dullahan vulnerable to an attack. Its own ability to remove the effect would likely have its own animation, similar to Tahm Kench's when he flings his tongue out and swallows a minion, but the dullahan would bind its own head with its whip and break the effect early.