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High Skill Marksman Concept

Reksee·12/23/2019, 1:56:03 AM·7 votes·6,031 views

With the release of Aphelios, it was clear almost right away that he did not require all too much skill to master. So, I want to try and make a champion gameplay concept that would have a skyhigh skill floor without being just a plain weak champion.

My only goal for this concept is for it to have a high skill floor and to still be a balanced, not overloaded champion.

I'm going to call this champion "Skillshot man" for the sake of the concept. Think of him as just an ordinary mage (person who uses magic not the mage class) who is an adc.

Passive: Artillery Skillshot Man's basic attacks do not function normally. Instead of right clicking on an enemy to attack, Skillshot man's auto attacks are an ability that starts on a 1.5 second cooldown (reduced with attack speed) that is a line skillshot that moves slightly slower than an Ezreal q. These skillshot auto attacks deal (115% total attack damage)+(45% ability power) physical damage. These skillshot autos apply on hit affects including crit (crit deals double damage or 225% damage as normal.) You can use this "ability" by left clicking anywhere, this ability will then trigger in that direction. range: 625 cooldown: 1.5 (reduced with attack speed) travel speed: Slightly slower than Ezreal's q

Q: Binding Bolt Skillshot Man fires binding magic in a line. Upon hitting an enemy it deals 40/70/110/140/170+(85% bonus attack damage) physical damage and grounds them for 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 seconds. range: 650 cooldown: 11/11/11/11/10

W: Magical Fireup Skillshot man dashes, which then empowers his next 'auto attack'. His next auto attack applies grevious wounds for 2 seconds and also applies a burn to the enemy it hits. This burn deals 60/100/140/180/220+(60% ability power) magic damage over 2 seconds. If he misses an enemy with this empowered 'basic attack' he loses the bonus. This cannot be used to dash through terrain. dash range: 350 cooldown: 15

E: Voltage Skillshot Man electrifies a target enemy with magic, dealing 30/50/70/90/110+(40% ability power) damage. This marks an enemy for 3 seconds. If an enemy marked by this ability is hit by Binding Bolt they are rooted instead of grounded. range: 450 cooldown: 13/12.5/12/11.5/11

R: Distant Barrage Skillshot Man channels for 1 second, during which he fires a barrage of magic at a target location, regardless of distance, this barrage takes 2 seconds to reach its destination. It then falls upon its target location over a period of 1 second, dealing 60/80/100+(30% bonus attack damage)+(35% ability power) physical damage every 0.25 seconds (ie this effect happens 4 times) to all enemies in the target location. Enemies will know of the target location 0.75 seconds before the barrage lands. target location radius: 275 range: 2500 cooldown: 140/125/110

Pros: High Damage Decent escape potential

Cons Extremely skillshot based High Early game cooldowns

Please leave your thoughts on the concept, thank you!

14 Comments

NelsieLisnen12/23/2019, 10:13:50 AM2 votes

This design disregards one of the basic mechs of the game. Farming. It actually destroys the charaster's ability to farm adequately. If klepto was still here it might be less of a problem. But having to position in very specific spots just to get a cs is not just a "skill" element. It is a major disadvantage

PzyXo12/23/2019, 6:19:36 AM1 votes

Well, I didn't expect him to be hard. ADCs cannot be hard lol

Blue Shift12/23/2019, 7:13:39 AM1 votes

The auto attacks dealing 115% + 45% AP is a lot of damage on just an auto attack. If anything you would need to make this another Graves/Jhin type champion that can't use attack speed efficiently, or else this champion's auto attacks alone would be insane. Either this or you would have to make his auto attacks cost some sort of limited resource. Also, it doesn't specify but does the auto attack travel speed get higher as he gains attack speed?

Q - The cooldowns are a little messed up, but other than that it sounds pretty fair, since it wouldn't slow, it would pretty much just be like a Poppy W with a lot more counterplay.

W - The grevious wounds sounds kind of strong for a ranged champion to have, also the flat 15 second cooldown sounds quite rough.

E - Sounds very intersting, I am not quite sure how this champion would be an ADC because his kit sounds extremely abusable top lane and even in the jungle due to his good ganking ability. It might depend on how his autos work, mainly how fast he can move when auto attacking, whether he can always move like Kalista or if he is forced to stand still while he autos. Also, does this ability deal magic, physical, or true damage?

R - From the sounds of it it's like a Xerath ult, but you can't choose where the other 3 go. Honestly sounds pretty cool and somewhat fair. Cooldown sounds WAY too long for how little it does.

All in all, I don't think this champion idea would necessarily work in game due to the fact that it is extremely situational on how well it works. Playing something like Udyr or Volibear where you need to run straight at them to do something would suck to play against skillshot man, but at the same time playing something like an Akali or Kha Zix would suck for the person playing skillshot man.

Also it might just be personal preference but I think it would be nice to not have the W as the only magic damage on skillshot man, as another hybrid marksman like Kog Maw would be nice.

LightswornLance12/23/2019, 10:54:02 AM1 votes

Yes it sounds perfect all you have to do is make sure he is a blond young man and you got my new main, I'm playing him mid though.

Sir Saltarin12/23/2019, 12:59:09 PM1 votes

You created a Smite ADC on Lol.

Except farm works different on both games.

It's quite simple but it's as a reworked Graves: if you can't farm you can't be played on lane as a carry, either support or jungler.

Anyway, I honestly think you have a pretty simplistic idea of what makes a high skill champ. Adding more skillshots doesn't make a champ more hard to play just for that.

Champs as Lux or Xerath have all their power gated by skillshots and yet they are waaay easier to play than champs as Vayne or Kalista.

Mr Voidling12/23/2019, 5:51:21 PM1 votes

Should be a new challenge "make an ACTUAL complicated ADC champion, like they teased Aphelios to be". Would be cool to see different concepts centered around high skill floor, yet balanced, champions.

Though being reliant only on skill-shots would make him almost perma-banned, since you wouldn't want an inexperienced person to choose him and cost you the game by being literally useless. But it'd be cool to avoid the "good job right clicking" treatment ADC's always get.

Chubby Platypus12/23/2019, 5:58:01 AM1 votes

Exciting! I've read over your champion creation and I have a couple of questions and some suggestions that might clarify his stance as a traditional marksman. First and foremost,

Passive: Artillery Skillshot Man's basic attacks do not function normally. Instead of right clicking on an enemy to attack, Skillshot man's auto attacks are an ability that starts on a 1.5 second cooldown (reduced with attack speed) that is a line skillshot that moves slightly slower than an q. These skillshot auto attacks deal (115% total attack damage)+(45% ability power) physical damage. These skillshot autos apply on hit affects including crit (crit deals double damage or 225% damage as normal.) You can use this "ability" by left clicking anywhere, this ability will then trigger in that direction. range: 625 cooldown: 1.5 (reduced with attack speed) travel speed: Slightly slower than Ezreal's q

Skillshot Man is an ADC right? And when I first read his passive I was very interested in it... until I had Graves rework PTSD flashabacks. Graves' passive functions in a similar matter, believe it or not, in that his basic attacks are basically an ability... a skill shot ability. Skillshot Man's basic attacks sound like they can be blocked by minions which would be SOOOOO frustrating to anyone who tries to play as him. The way you worded his passive means that the skillshot originates from where ever Skillshot Man is positioned and will fly in a linear path to it's intended target... but it's a skillshot lol, it has no choice but to stop at the first enemy hit. This means that minions and even some other champions can position themselves between you and your intended target and mitigate a huge chunk of your DPS (this is exactly the same mechanic that Graves has in his passive). Let's see what could be done to add some more 'umph' to this passive!

  • Artillery (Passive): Skillshot Man's basic attacks do not function normally. Instead of right clicking on an enemy to attack, Skillshot Man's auto attacks are a ground-targeted ability that start on a 1.5 second cooldown (reduced with attack speed) and have a 0.25 second delay. These ground-targeted auto attacks deal 80-115% total attack damage (+45% bonus AP) physical damage (based on level). These auto attacks apply on-hit affects including critical damage (critical damage deals double damage or 225% damage as normal.) You can use this "ability" by left clicking anywhere, this ability will then trigger in the center of the targeted area. (Think of this being like Karthu's Q) TARGET RANGE: 625 EFFECT RADIUS: 150

Bare with me, as you've probably read by now the major change which I suggest to decrease player frustration. Changing Skillshot Man's passive to be a ground target ability kind of makes his name obsolete lol. Let me explain! The main reason why Graves was forced into the jungle was because they made his laning HORRIBLE. Period. Graves will likely never find success in a lane due to his poor ability to last hit efficiently. We don't want Skillshot Man to suffer the same fate, so this minor suggestion should fix that while giving Skillshot Man a very clear and unique identity as a marksman. This idea has never been done before so why not just go all out and introduce some ideas that, on paper seen pretty broken, but in practice will actually be rather lack luster. Skillshot Man's passive basically lowers his DPS output by a significant amount, which is why I did touch the overall attack damage ratio (although I did make it so that it scales into the late game), because... he's going to need it lol. ADC's will eventually need to auto attack something to death and right now Skillshot Man would be lucky if he even managed to drop someone down to 50% health. I'm keeping the passive as close to the original as I can but there is very little that could be done to compensate for this. The main change would be to make him a mage and you've made it very clear you want him to be an ADC so we'll have to look at the rest of his kit for compensation.

Q: Binding Bolt Skillshot Man fires binding magic in a line. Upon hitting an enemy it deals 40/70/110/140/170+(85% bonus attack damage) physical damage and grounds them for 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 seconds. range: 650 cooldown: 11/11/11/11/10

We run into a similar issue with this first ability as we did the passive. Because of the nature of skillshots, and the way this ability is worded, it would stop upon reaching the first unit it hits (even if that unit is a minion). The intended usage of this ability, I assume, is to provide a form of crowd control for the team but right now, if we consider his passive which is already handicapped, we need to beef up this ability since it will be his bread-and-butter ability. But it begs the question... How?

For starters we can dissect the entire kit of Skillshot Man before we go any further. His W is his escape and leaving it as his W is well advised, but let's take a look at his E which works in conjunction with his Q.

E: Voltage Skillshot Man electrifies a target enemy with magic, dealing 30/50/70/90/110+(40% ability power) damage. This marks an enemy for 3 seconds. If an enemy marked by this ability is hit by Binding Bolt they are rooted instead of grounded. range: 450 cooldown: 13/12.5/12/11.5/11

I believe the best way to save Skillshot Man's core kit is to simply do a switch-a-roo with his current Q and his E. Let me explain. Voltage, Skillshot Man's E, is very clear, and cohesive. It's a point-click abi... wait... Skillshot Man has a point-click ability? Sorry, ADHD... anyways. His E is very simple and would function as his bread-and-butter ability better than his current Q. I would also lower the cooldown by a lot! Overall this dude has high cooldowns and on some champions I agree that high cooldowns will keep them in check, but Skillshot Man isn't one of them lol. So let's address some numbers!

  • Voltage (Q): Skillshot Man electrifies a target enemy with magic, dealing 30/50/70/90/110 (+40% bonus AP) physical damage. This marks an enemy for 2 seconds. If an enemy marked by this ability is hit by Binding Bolt they are rooted instead of grounded. TARGET RANGE: 925 SPEED: 1500 COST: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 MANA COOLDOWN: 7/6/5/4/3

I'm not too sure why this has AP scaling, but considering that it's actually quite spam-able I'm ok leaving it in its current AP scaling state. This is a solution to something that we would have had a lot of trouble trying to fix if we had kept his old Q. Now lets take a look at his W:

W: Magical Fireup Skillshot man dashes, which then empowers his next 'auto attack'. His next auto attack applies grevious wounds for 2 seconds and also applies a burn to the enemy it hits. This burn deals 60/100/140/180/220+(60% ability power) magic damage over 2 seconds. If he misses an enemy with this empowered 'basic attack' he loses the bonus. This cannot be used to dash through terrain. dash range: 350 cooldown: 15

I really like the grievous wounds portion of this ability! We need more access to grievous wounds outside of items so I am DOWN to seeing this in another ADC with Varus being the only other ADC that has an answer to healers. If you take into consideration the changes I suggested for his passive there is a small change we can make to this ability to make it line up with his passive:

  • Magical Fireup (W): Skillshot man dashes a short distance, empowering his next auto attack. His next auto attack crates a scorching zone for 4 seconds that applies grievous wounds for 2 seconds to enemy champions that pass over the affected area. This zone deals 60/100/140/180/220 (+60% bonus AP) magic damage over 2 seconds to enemy units that pass over the affected area. TARGET RANGE: 400 COST: 50 MANA COOLDOWN: 18 / 16 / 14 / 12 / 10

Again... I'm not too sure why this ability has AP scaling... but if that floats your boat then let's go with it! The main suggestion from me is to create a zone where your "auto attack" would land. This is only if you would consider the suggestion change I made for his passive. I feel like Skillshot Man is going to need to be able to cross over terrain given that he's basically a sitting duck while he's waiting for his auto attack cooldown lol. Aside from this, I really like the overall concept of this skill! I like this one a lot!

Q: Binding Bolt Skillshot Man fires binding magic in a line. Upon hitting an enemy it deals 40/70/110/140/170+(85% bonus attack damage) physical damage and grounds them for 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 seconds. range: 650 cooldown: 11/11/11/11/10

We briefly went over this ability earlier so let's jump into the suggestions!

  • Binding Bolt (E): Skillshot Man fires a pass through linear skillshot, dealing 40/70/110/140/170+(85% bonus attack damage) physical damage to the first target struck (reduced to 80% to subsequent targets) and grounds them for 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 seconds. TARGET RANGE: 1000 SPEED: 1200 COST: 60 / 62 / 64 / 68 / 70 MANA COOLDOWN: 10

Making this a pass through skillshot (like Lulu's Q) means that Skillshot Man will have a form of wave management which is important for an ADC to have if they won't be auto attacking as much to maintain the wave. Over all I feel like this doesn't need to be added to the ability but I feel like the player base would really appreciate it <3

R: Distant Barrage Skillshot Man channels for 1 second, during which he fires a barrage of magic at a target location, regardless of distance, this barrage takes 2 seconds to reach its destination. It then falls upon its target location over a period of 1 second, dealing 60/80/100+(30% bonus attack damage)+(35% ability power) physical damage every 0.25 seconds (ie this effect happens 4 times) to all enemies in the target location. Enemies will know of the target location 0.75 seconds before the barrage lands. target location radius: 275 range: 2500 cooldown: 140/125/110

Alas... I reach the end of my limits. Stay tuned for the continuation of this review!

Ginger97612/23/2019, 8:13:57 PM1 votes

Left click selects the thing you're hovering. What happens with this guy? Does he throw an auto out across the map because you clicked someone/thing in top lane? Or like if you want to see how much health scuttle has?