[Champion Concept] Phobos, the Paragon of Dread

Phobos The Paragon of Dread

Story Phobos is a nocturnal, giant bat-like vastayan. He is the last of his kind, which has been hunted to near extinction for their characterization as terrifying monsters. Unlike his progenitors, Phobos grew up alone in a cage and was presented as a traveling circus attraction titled "the Paragon of Repulsion." The children that came to see him would throw garbage at him and insult his "repulsive" appearance. In the cage beside him was a giant demonic rat creature called "the Paragon of Dread." Most children wouldn't even dare look at it, let alone throw things at it. The Paragon of Dread's violent nocturnal behavior would cause Phobos to fear the dark of the night.

Because he was caged and underfed, Phobos grew very little and was unable to fly. He was also frequently mistreated by the cruel circus master. "The Paragon of Misery" would've been a better title for him. One day, Phobos found himself being stared at by a curious old man in formal Noxian dress. Even the circus master came to see what he was up to, because most visitors would spend more time looking at other "more interesting" attractions. The old man complained about how Phobos' kind should not be put in a cage, and should be allowed to hunt large game. This only annoyed the circus master, until the old man began telling about how Phobos could have the potential to grow into the most dreadful creature in all of Runeterra. This caught the master's interest, and eventually the two men came to an agreement. The old man would adopt Phobos for ten years, train and feed him "properly" before returning him to the circus, and receive a portion of the profit made from his attraction.

Phobos came to know the old man as Jev. When Jev was a young and bold Noxian man, he hunted "dreadful beasts" like Phobos' kind for profit; it was a very deadly and daring profession. As time past, the population of Phobos' kind dwindled as bounty hunters like Jev were replaced by armed militias that hunted them in their cavern homes. Soon, they seemed to have been hunted to extinction. When Jev searched the massive abandoned caverns for more "challenges," he discovered that Phobos' kind were more than just monsters, that they once had a proud warrior society as shown by their intricate cave carvings, armor, and weapons. He shared these things with Phobos, to make him proud of himself.

Jev trained Phobos not just to fight and hunt, but also to speak. Phobos rediscovered the power of flight, which set him free. He also found the power of echolocation, allowing him to see in the dark, and thus he no longer feared it. After years of feeding off large game, Phobos grew massively in strength and size. He also made a friend in Jev.

Ten years went by and Phobos would have to return to the traveling circus, which had arrived to large crowds in the Noxian capital. Again, Phobos carried his initial title, the Paragon of Repulsion; again he would lie in the shadow of the demonic rat, the Paragon of Dread. But Phobos had a drape cover his iron cage so none could see him; in order to free himself from the circus, he would need to prove to the Noxian people that he was indeed the most dreadful creature in all of Runeterra.

As the circus master pulled down the drapes, all of the crowd saw the whole of Phobos. The crowd compared his appearance, lit up by a thousand stage candles, to the giant rat, chained beside him, and they drowned in tedium. So Phobos bent the bars of his iron cage until it snapped open. He burst out and stood up, towering over the giant rat. Then he lifted the Paragon of Dread and crushed its neck between his jaws.

In a state of half terror and half bewilderment over the fact that his primary attraction had just been killed, the circus master ordered that Phobos be executed. Unfortunately for him, Draven was having the time of his life. Phobos unleashed a thundering screech, cracking wineglasses and blowing out all of the candles, and suddenly all was dark and silent. Even the Noxian crowd began to feel dread. The circus master was petrified, and he look up to see Phobos' glowing eyes, staring into his soul like a wolf to a lamb. Phobos grabbed the circus master, spread his wings, and took flight, bursting out of the main tent and into the night sky, and neither of them would be seen again.

The circus master name faded into oblivion, but Phobos, the Paragon of Dread, would live on in the nightmares of Noxian children.

Stats Damage - 3 Toughness - 1 Control - 2 Mobility - 2 Utility - 1 ** Class** Assassin Secondary Attributes Melee

Gender Male Race Vastayan Resource None

Base Statistics Health: 570 +85 HP/s: 5.5 +0.75 AD: 57 +3 AS: 0.658 (+0 - 42.5%) Armor: 28 +3 MR: 32 +1.25 MS: 345 Range: 150

Passive Dread

NEARSIGHTED - INNATE: Phobos' sight radius is shorter than normal. (Normal champion sight radius is 1200) SIGHT RADIUS: 800

DREAD: Phobos is resourceless. Instead, Phobos’ presence creates Dread among enemy champions. Each enemy champion receives an indicator that measures their individual Dread level, which caps at 100 Dread. Damage dealt by Phobos’ basic attacks and damaging abilities on enemy champions is increased by a percentage equal to the amount of Dread they have. (So his damage is basically doubled against enemy champions with 100 Dread)

Enemy champions will gain Dread as long as Phobos remains unseen and/or takes down enemy champions. While Phobos is unseen, all enemy champions gain 1 Dread every 2 seconds. When Phobos takes down an enemy champion (kills and assists) it causes all enemy champions to gain 20 Dread.
Enemy champions will lose Dread as long as Phobos remains visible or is slain by an enemy champion. While Phobos is visible or dead, all enemy champions lose 1 Dread every 2 seconds. When Phobos is visible, enemy champions that have more than 50 Dread will lose 1 Dread every 1 second, until they have 50 Dread. Enemy champions that takedown Phobos (kill and assists) each lose 30 Dread, and enemy champions that did not participate in the takedown lose only 20 Dread. Hitting an enemy champion with an ability increases their Dread by 5. Getting hit by an enemy champion’s ability decreases their Dread by 5. All enemy champions start off with 0 Dread.

[Q] Chomp

EFFECT RADIUS: 600 ANGLE: 60 COOLDOWN: 6

ACTIVE: Phobos empowers his next basic attack in the form of a chomp. The empowered attack also deals bonus physical damage in a cone extending behind the initial target. Chomp deals only a fraction of its full damage to enemy champions depending on the number of enemy champions hit by the ability. Chomp’s cooldown is also lowered by 1 second per enemy champion hit.

1 ENEMY CHAMPION - PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 50 / 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 (+120% bonus AD) (x 100 + 1% per 1 Dread) 2 ENEMY CHAMPIONS - PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 25 / 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 (+60% bonus AD) (x 100 + 1% per 1 Dread) 3 ENEMY CHAMPIONS - PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 17 / 33 / 50 / 66 / 83 (+40% bonus AD) (x 100 + 1% per 1 Dread) 4 ENEMY CHAMPIONS - PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 13 / 25 / 38 / 50 / 63 (+30% bonus AD) (x 100 + 1% per 1 Dread) 5 ENEMY CHAMPIONS - PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 (+24% bonus AD) (x 100 + 1% per 1 Dread)

[W] The Sound of Dread

EFFECT RADIUS: 800 COOLDOWN: 18

ROOST - PASSIVE: Phobos roosts and becomes camouflaged if he stands still next to terrain or structures for 2 seconds, and will remain camouflaged as long as he acts or is acted upon. Phobos cannot roost within brush. Phobos gains 500% bonus health regeneration if he roosts while below 25% health, until he reaches 25% health. Phobos will not use Echolocation while Roosted.

ACTIVE - FIRST CAST: 1 second after the cast, Phobos camouflages for up to 3 / 3.5 / 4 / 4.5 / 5 seconds, gaining 15% bonus movement speed while camouflaged.

SECOND CAST: Upon becoming revealed, casting any ability, recasting this ability, using an item active, auto-attacking, being interrupted, or reaching the end of the camouflage duration, Phobos will leave stealth and release a dreadful scream that deals magic damage to surrounding enemies and silence them for 1.25 seconds.

MAGIC DAMAGE: 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 (+60% AP) (x 100 + 1% per 1 Dread)

[E] Horrific Echo / Shadow Rush

TARGET RANGE: 1400 / 400 COLLISION RADIUS: 90 COOLDOWN: 16 / 15 / 14 / 13 / 12

ECHOLOCATION - PASSIVE: Every 3 (based on level) seconds, Phobos clicks/releases a pulse that provides bonus sight around him, lasting for 2 seconds. Within its fixed radius, the pulse will also cause enemy champions and monsters that are behind terrain or within to shimmer. However, it does not detect stealthed enemies and enemies in brush.

Phobos cannot use Echolocation while under the effect of hard crowd control, or while Roosted.

SIGHT RADIUS: 1200

FIRST CAST - HORRIFIC ECHO: After a delay, Phobos shrieks, releasing a sonic echo in a line that deals magic damage, slowing them for 1.5 seconds, and marks all enemy champions and large/epic monsters it passes through across its channeled path with Horror. Phobos has vision of marked enemies, except for Invisible units. Horror marks last for up to 2 seconds. This timer is refreshed if marked targets are hit by Echolocation. For each enemy champion, large monster, or epic monster hit by Horrific Echo, Phobos gains one extra stack of Shadow Rush.

SLOW: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40% MAGIC DAMAGE: 40 / 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 (+30% AD) (+70% AP) (x 100 + 1% per 1 Dread)

SECOND CAST - SHADOW RUSH: Phobos dashes in the target direction, dealing physical damage to all enemies he passes through. If Phobos dashes through an enemy champion, large or epic monster marked by Horror, it consumes the mark to deal bonus physical damage equal to 10 / 12.5 / 15 / 17.5 / 20% of their maximum health, or 200 / 300 / 400 (based on level) true damage to monsters. After 8 seconds, all available stacks of Shadow Rush will disappear, and Horrific Echo will start its cooldown.

PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 (+20% bonus AD) (x 100 + 1% per 1 Dread)

[R] Fiendish Flight

TARGET RANGE: 1200 COOLDOWN: 120 / 100 / 80

ACTIVE - FIRST CAST: Phobos channels for 2.5 / 2 / 1.5 seconds before leaping forward in the target direction, knocking aside all units in his path until he hits the first enemy champion. If Phobos hits an enemy champion, he will then grab and suppress the enemy champion before taking flight. If the channel is interrupted (by any damaging ability, crowd control, or self-cancel), Phobos will have to wait 50% of its current full cooldown before using it again. While in flight, Phobos travels in the direction of the cast at double his movement speed, gains unobstructed sight, and ignores terrain and unit collision. Phobos also cannot gain or lose Dread and cannot cast other abilities (Q, W, and E) while in flight. Additionally, the suppressed enemy champion is untargetable during the flight.

SECOND CAST: Either after 3 seconds, hitting the edge of the Rift, being interrupted by hard crowd control, being interrupted by disables, or upon recast, Phobos will end his flight and descend to the ground for additional distance of 375 in front of him. Upon hitting the ground, Phobos and the suppressed enemy champion are both stunned for 1 second.

PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 80 / 120 / 240 (+80% bonus AD) (x 100 + 1% per 1 Dread)

Kit Summary Not only does it respect his lore, Phobos' kit makes him a very solid high-damage fighter combining elements from diver, assassin, and skirmisher classes. In a teamfight situation, hitting multiple enemy champions with [E] Horrific Echo will provide Phobos with extra Shadow Rush stacks, dashes that can be used for gap closing, escaping, and sidestepping, as well as waveclear. With one default stack (he gets one free dash if Horrific Echo hits nothing), hitting all 5 enemy champions with one Horrific Echo will provide Phobos with 6 free dashes to be used within 8 seconds (even more if he happens to hit an epic monster too). Of course, opportunities like this will be rare (best way I can think of is to use it right after a five-man ult from Orianna).

[Q] Chomp's cone AoE and damage distribution system against multiple enemy champions will require Phobos to find good positioning in order to auto-attack at the right angle in order to pull off the maximum damage on the desired target, which will be difficult in a crowded situation. Say should Phobos positions incorrectly against an enemy carry and a tank, and ends up hitting them both within the cone, the potential damage to the desired target, the squishy carry, will be halved; this makes positioning very important for Phobos. Fortunately, if his dashes (Shadow Rush) are used correctly this shouldn't be a problem. Also, Chomp has a relatively low cooldown, which is further reduced if Phobos hits enemy champions in the cone (1 second per champion).

[W] The Sound of Dread is essentially a shorter version of Twitch's Ambush, and will be Phobos' primary tool for setting up ganks, though it can also be saved for potential escapes. It has a bit of magic damage to it but the most notable feature is its short AoE silence.

Phobos' multiple passives will force him into the jungler role. It will be of utmost important for Phobos to remain unseen when not ganking, so that he can allow the enemy team to gain more Dread. Keep in mind that Dread amplifies Phobos' basic and ability damage against each individual enemy champion, up to double damage to enemies with 100 Dread. Phobos' nearsightedness may be a weakness but his Echolocation passive makes up for it. With Echolocation, Phobos will only stay nearsighted for 1 second after every 2 seconds of normal sight, including the ability to detect (shimmer) champions in fog of war behind terrain.

Phobos' Roost passive allows him to stay somewhat healthy in jungle by providing him with 500% health regeneration when he is below 25% health. It is also great for launching potential surprise attacks against enemies with the camouflage mechanic.

Phobos' [R] Fiendish Flight is a pretty sweet ultimate. It does have a lousy 2 second channel (that can be easily interrupted) and, depending on the purpose of its use, requires good positioning. But like many great ultimate abilities, if pulled off correctly it can have a significant effect. Given its description, it's like a hybrid of Warwick's Infinite Duress and Poppy's Keeper's Verdict, and holds similar purposes: to suppress a target and keep them out of a fight. If positioned properly, it can also be used to literally deliver a desired target into your allies hands. Those squishy mid lane APC's will fear being flown into the allied tower. Another use is to separate an enemy champion from his team into a 1v1 situation. Fiendish Flight can be countered if Phobos is effected by hard CC or disables during the Flight part of the ultimate, but due to his engage and Flight speed, fast and accurate reactions from the enemy team will be required to stop him this way.

Counterplay Counterplay against Phobos can be generalized in two points:

1. Getting vision on Phobos in the jungle will allow you and your teammates to decrease in Dread, meaning you are minimizing Phobos' upcoming damage to them. This adds more beef to the vision game. Perhaps this will teach low ELO players to ward more.

2. Like any squishy assassin or skirmisher, catching them off guard or focusing them in a teamfight before they can deal enough damage. (Shout out to tank meta for not having to deal with this)

Other forms of counterplay is to have Poppy on your team sidestep his [E] Horrific Echoes/Shadow Rush (like dodging a fatter version of Jhin's Deadly Flourish/Renekton's Slice & Dice), use pink wards to expose his [W] camouflage, and stand next to your carries in order to reduce his [Q] Damage. Also when he uses [R] on your ally, use your hard CC on him when he takes Flight. Buy QSS in case he ults you.

> Any feedback you have about this champion concept is appreciated.