Nova, The Mechanical Bulwark

Theme: Nova is a large tanky, mele AP champion designed specifically to counter burst & assassins. He is an unstoppable juggernaut, but he lacks in damage and mobility in his normal form.

Appearance: In his normal form, without any passive stacks, Nova wears a large, black suit of armor which has a seam down the middle. The armor is large and bulky on all of his limbs, and attached to each of his forearms he holds one half of a tall, triangular shield which he can use to block by stabbing the tip into the ground, or to take a stab/swipe/bash at his enemies. On his left side, the armor has purple accents which glow ever more brightly with each magic passive stack; and on his right, the armor has red accents which glow more brightly based on armor passive stacks.

When he breaks cover and goes into ultimate form, his armor turns into a huge hammer that glows somewhere between green/yellow/orange/red depending on his selection. His body is muscular, and strong, but covered in scars and deformation from spending so much time in the void and dealing with dark magics.

Passive: Reactive armor

When Nova is hit by an enemy champion's spell that deals magic damage (greater than 1% of his HP, or 125 damage), he instantly gains 30% reduction in magic damage for the next 10 seconds (not including the magic damage that just hit him). A second stack grants a total of 45% reduction, then 3rd is 65%, then a 4th stack of 85%, then a 5th stack grants a 2-second invulnerability to magic damage, then magic stacks reset. When Nova is hit by an enemy auto attack or AD spell (greater than 1% of his HP, or 125 damage), he instantly gains 5% reduction in physical damage for the next 10 seconds. These stack by 5% per auto attack, or 10% per spell until also reaching a 100% which procs a 2-second invulnerability to physical damage, then physical stacks reset.

This passive does not proc on DOT effects like cinderhulk or brand's passive for example because each individual damage event is too small to proc it, but 's R will trigger several stacks in less than a second because of how much damage it puts out. The MR side of his armor glows purple when the magic passive procs, and the armor side of his armor glows red when his physical passive procs so his opponents can see when they've triggered it.

Q: Magic Bulwark

Nova summons a large ball/shield of void/light(depending on his theme) around him over 2 seconds, that he can then project a part of, a moderate distance forward in a straight line, slowing and muting opponents that he hits for 1 second, dealing (MR X 0.2) + (AP X 0.2) magic damage. Afterwards, Nova is left with a spell shield that absorbs (MR + AP) damage. Has a 25-second cooldown, if the full shield is used before it wears off, the cooldown is reduced by 15 seconds.

Passive: Every 250/200/150/100 magic damage absorbed by enemy spells while this shield is active increases Nova's permanent MR bonus by 1.

W: Armored thrust

Nova jumps in a given direction after a short delay and upon landing, kicks up a large amount of dust and debris, dealing small magic damage & blinding anything near the landing zone for 1 second. Damage is based on (armor X 0.3) + (AP X 0.3). Then nova gains an AD shield that absorbs (Armor + AP) damage. Has a 25-second cooldown, if the full shield is used before it wears off, the cooldown is reduced by 15 seconds.

Passive: Every 250/200/150/100 physical damage absorbed by enemy auto attacks or AD spells while this shield is active increases Nova's permanent armor bonus by 1.

E: Worthy sacrifice

Can consume ANY(including allied) minion or neutral monster to instantly recover 4%/6%/8%/10% of his missing HP. This can be used to deny the enemy farm by eating one of your own minions, to steal an important neutral objective, or just to heal.

Passive: Consuming a caster minion grants a permanent +0.1 HP/Sec regen. Consuming a mele minion grants a permanent +1/+2/+3/+4 maximum HP. Consuming a neutral monster grants a permanent +1 AP. Consuming an enemy pet-type unit grants a permanent +5 maximum Mana.

Has a 30 second CD (even with max CDR, taking it first, and consuming something as soon as it is up which is unrealistic for 60 minutes straight), max he could acquire EITHER 24HP/Sec regen, ~720 HP, 270 AP, or 1,200 mana. The 270 AP may seem like a lot, but remember, his damage ratios barely scale with it at all. Even with 1500 AP, his highest ratio ability (W) would still only deal 450 damage, and he would be impossibly squishy if you built him for that much AP.

R: BREAK COVER!!!

Nova bursts out of his armor and quickly transforms it into a massive hammer for several seconds. During the short transform delay, nova must press R again while a small indicator bounces back and forth between a green/yellow/orange/red bar over his head to select a power level.

He then gains bonus AP equal to a percentage of his MR, and bonus AD equal to a percentage of his armor based on how close to the red he selected (up to 100% if skilled at timing it). All converted MR and armor are temporarily removed, and he gains a small movement speed buff closer to the red side giving him decent chase potential.

If nova selects closer to the green side however, only a small percentage of his MR and Armor are converted (down to 0% if skilled at timing it), and he is given a massive movement speed buff. His hammer will glow more green/yellow/orange/red depending on where he picked.

His passive is no longer activated in this mode, but his jump has a longer range and shorter cast delay (not shorter cooldown), his E heals double what it normally would, and the ball he forms with his Q, he now hits with his hammer instead of simply projecting it making it go significantly further.

Counter pick theory: Nova counters bursty mages and assassins that rely on keyboard facerolling with his passive. After he takes damage from them, he instantly builds a large resistance to a second attack for several seconds, forcing them to have to poke him down considerably before deciding to go in on him. If he is quick enough to activate his MR or physical shield when they go in for a poke, he can even absorb the energy into his armor and reduce the damage even further. When an assassin goes all-in on Nova, he will wait until the assassin has exhausted all of his/her bursty abilities, then enable his ultimate, consume a minion, and burst/chase back.

Also, any champion with extremely predictable damage or ground/DOT effects that will allow Nova to simply turn his shield on and always soak damage with it are going to have a tough time. These abilities include heimer's turrets, zyra's plants, maybe annie's tibbers AOE, cassiopia's poisons (though she scales off of the poison time so hmm... worth?), brand's burn passive, gangplank's ulti, Miss Fortune's make it rain and bullet time, Karthus' defile and reqium, morgana's tormented soil, Zilean bombs, and rumble's Equalizer. Also, items that burn him like Cinderhulk and Liandry's are just going to give him more predictable damage, so watch it.

Even picks: Even picks are going to be champions that are normally bursty, but they could also use their abilities in a pokey way without having to go all-in. Lux for example can use her Q, E, and R and auto attack weaving all together and barely scratch Nova, or, she can use the abilities one by one, bait out his Q or force him to use Q for farm. Also, having a root or stun is critical when he goes into ultimate form.

Counter picks: Champions with high damage on a single spell like veigar's ultimate that won't trigger his passive, or constantly ready poke abilities like Xerath or ziggs are going to be able to poke him out very easily. Especially if the spells are mixed damage such as Ezreal, kayle, or varus. In addition, if you have an AP mid, having an AD jungler will be important, and if you have an AD mid, having an AP jungler will also be important so they won't both proc his passive with the same damage type when the jungler ganks. Also, none of his abilities can do anything about true damage.

Also, baiting him into breaking cover for a gank is a great way to kill him as he will drop most of his armor/resists and expend his gap closer to kill you, making him a very easy target for a mobile opposite damage type jungler like Lee Sin, Elise, or Hecarim to swoop in for a fairly easy kill.