Recycling CeeCee Into A New Champion

During Braum's development he was in fact at one point a she: CeeCee, the Hextech Engineer, with this concept provided by IronStylus:

I was recently reminded of this awesome image by a video on Youtube and a Boards Post, and one or both of those posed the question 'Which discarded concept would you like to see Riot bring back into the game?', and without hesitation I say this one. Now, Braum has been released, and I don't propose he have the largest VU ever to return him to this concept; instead I propose a new champion (admittedly with a similar role and playstyle): CeeCee, the Piltovan Protector.

Bio: CeeCee was always a troublesome student: on the one hand a gifted hextech engineer and possessing a generous spirit; on the other hand, also possessing a low capacity for boredom and an overly smart mouth. Her biggest issue though was always getting into fights; whilst not the target of bullies herself, she would always rush in to defend others, with no regards for the fact she was a scrawny scrap of a girl (and usually less physically able to defend herself even than the person she sought to protect). Any fights that were verbal soon devolved into physical brawls when she opened her mouth one too many times. The staff at the Academy of Techmaturgy had a running bet as to whether she would graduate or be expelled first.

Unbeknownst to any of her mentors, her family or even her friends, CeeCee had one goal; to be like her idol, Jayce, the Defender of Tomorrow, protecting Piltover and it's people from any threat. He had shown that with enough brains, brawn becomes a non-issue, as even the mightiest Zaunite thug or quickest Noxian infiltrator quakes in fear of the Mercury Hammer when it is brought to bear on them. So, taking inspiration from his example, CeeCee's project for her thesis was a gigantic combination weapon, both shield and cannon, to protect her city and then deliver retribution from a safe, unpunchable distance (she did learn from her beatings, just maybe not the right lessons...). The only problem was, like the Mercury Hammer, her project required a huge amount of power; more than any standard Hex Crystal could bear. So she reached out to Jayce; surely he'd help a kindred soul sharing his goals?

The answer she got dashed any hope she had. Admiring Jayce from afar is one thing, but as anyone who'd actually worked with him could have told her, being near him is something else. The letter she received told her that she was better off just focusing her studies elsewhere, as the Mercury Hammer's power source was both secret and unique, as well as far too complex for her to understand and anyway, why did he need a sidekick? If she really wanted to defend Piltover that badly, she could always join the Piltover Wardens, and since she was an engineer, maybe the armoury was a good place to start applying. Despondent, her grades began to drop, she stopped going out with her friends, she even got into fewer fights, which was when the staff really began to worry; dropping grades shows distraction, but losing the core of what made her stand out showed something eating away at her soul.

Her plight was not without witness though, for anything involving Jayce, and particularly centred around what resides within the Mercury Hammer will always interest at least one party; the only other person to behold such power in the twinned cities, Viktor. Viktor's goals had always been to improve the lives and welfare of the people around him, and though many (very, very many) disagreed with his methods, his intentions had not changed. He saw this girl through reports from his acolytes, and what he saw gave him a glimmer of hope; she may not have reached the obvious conclusion that was the Glorious Evolution, but she had potential none the less.

A few weeks after receiving Jayce's reply another package arrived at CeeCee's family home, addressed to her. A small, simple steel box, inscribed with a V, containing a note, a red pillow, and a tiny fragment of crystal, about the size of a rice grain. The note said that whilst that fragment was not powerful enough for her needs, she might find another use for it, so long as she suspended it in a liquid metal alloy and passed voltaic current through it. CeeCee followed the guidance of the letter, and the crystal sang to her with power, as it's ancestor had others, but this song was quiet, almost silent. Remembering some geology lessons she had mostly slept through a few years earlier, CeeCee returned to her project with renewed vigour. She purchased as many of the highest grade Hex Crystals as she could, and (making sure no one who knew exactly how valuable the Crystals were was watching) ground them into the finest powder and dissolved them in a weak acid. She then carefully suspended the tiny fragment from her mysterious benefactor by a metal wire until it was halfway submerged in her solution, all held in a metal crucible. CeeCee closed the circuit, flowing voltaic power into the solution, and the crystal began to glow in a weak blue light, slowly growing stronger as the crystal grew. After making sure nothing was going to immediately explode or catch fire, CeeCee retired to bed; she returned in the early afternoon (for no real student has anything to do with mornings if they can avoid it) to find a large crystal mostly submerged in the crucible, the solution purified down to water. Ecstatic, CeeCee disconnected the crystal from he growing apparatus, removed the suspension wire, and introduced it to the liquid metal alloy bath she'd prepared for the last test. She flipped the switch, but the crystal remained silent, what little song it had once performed gone. Panicking, she increased the voltaic power, all the way up to the maximum, but the crystal remained mute. In a rage, she shut off the power (because she wasn't quite angry enough to risk electrocution), picked up the largest wrench she could heave, and brought it down on the crystal with all the force she could muster. With a blinding flash and a deafening bang CeeCee was hurled across her lab, and the voltaic power bank exploded in a shower of sparks; though off, it was still connected to the crystal when CeeCee smacked it. When CeeCee woke up, slightly singed and bruised from her trip to the far wall, but otherwise unharmed, she began to conduct test, then more and more tests.

She had not succeeded in growing a Brackern Crystal (not that she knew at the time what one of those was); however, she had effectively grown it's opposite: instead of providing force when given voltaic power, it provided voltaic power when given force. When she hit the crystal in her fit of pique, it had generated enough voltaic power to overload the testing setup she'd made for the initial sliver. Instead of her weapon, she submitted her crystal and the method of its production as her thesis, and whilst the grading board were displeased at the murky origins of the seed crystal, the student had told the truth, and what had followed was good science, so CeeCee earned herself diploma in Hextechmaturgy, with Honours (and Heimerdinger took the whole sweep, as the only one betting on her both making it to graduation AND achieving that grade).

With her schooling now behind her, CeeCee had to determine the next step, and something in Jayce's inflammatory letter still rang true to her; she did love her city and its people that much, so she was going to join the Wardens. But CeeCee was never one to just settle for a normal application; she was gonna apply in style! She returned to her lab and began modifying her weapon, part shield and part cannon; if the crystal couldn't hold the power for the cannon, maybe it could still generate it, with a few force-feedback linkages to the front shield! It was still incredibly unwieldy though, so she also installed a few Hextech propulsors and hooked their inputs into the crystal's power system. New weapon in tow, she headed down to the Warden's Headquarters, intending to sign on to the armoury, with her prototype Hextech Siege Ram as her CV.

The Wardens however were facing a crisis; the Ecliptic Vault, the most secure room in the twinned cities, had recently been not just breached, but completely demolished. What was worse, the perpetrator had given plenty of warning, and two of the Wardens' best had been on the scene, with backup. Neither a well laid out defence of traps and sniper overwatch nor an abundance of brute force and sheer bloody-mindedness had protected the Vault. So when a potential recruit with a protective attitude and an enormous shield appeared asking about a position in the armoury, she was instead directed to the patrol section as Piltover's newest 'unconventional' officer. Now a lance corporal in the Wardens, in charge of a squad of riot police, CeeCee is often seen protecting important individuals or locations, ready to take any harm that might befall her ward with her Siege Ram. In her spare time, she continues to search for more Brackern Crystal shards, as, like the Mercury Hammer that was its inspiration, the Siege Ram's power source has proved impossible to duplicate without risking its destruction.

Stats Too long to do manually, should be similar to Leona.

Abilities:

• Passive - Hextech Pietzocapacitor: When CeeCee mitigates damage, she regenerates 1% of her missing mana. 5s reactivation delay. _A nice simple passive that makes playing a Warden/Vanguad Support less miserable; CeeCee relies on mitigation to survive, but that mitigation is not always free. _

• Passive - Seige Ram: CeeCee's autoattacks deal true damage to structures. Since CeeCee has to choose between defending and attacking, she needs to have a motive to actually attack an enemy Turret rather than just sit point blank on it tanking for her teammates; plus she is carrying a huge ram....

• Q - Pietzoverload: 20/19/18/17/16 s CD, 50/55/60/65/70 mana. Channel Hold The Line in a chosen direction for up to 2s, fully block all melee attacks and increase projectile damage mitigation to 30/335/40/45/50%, and begin storing charges. This ability starts with one charge, and accumulates another charge whenever an attack or ability from a champion or large/epic monster is blocked/mitigated, up to a maximum of 4. At the end of the channel or when it is released, fire a projectile that hits the first target within 900 units and inflicts 20/30/40/50/60 (+0.3 AP) magic damage and a 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2s 25% slow per charge; at 4 charges the slow becomes a root. After the channel Hold The Line remains active in the chosen direction. This is CeeCee's main high mitigation, poke and CC spell; this is her main mana expenditure in lane. The idea is to have a very powerful defensive ability, but give it counterplay: most of that comes from Hold The Line mechanics (more on that in a moment), but also give the CC and damage counterplay; they are punishing if the enemy is dumb, and fairly lacklustre if the enemy are smart. It still works as a quickfire slow when chasing, and shouldn't be too powervful even if stacked fully quickly in a teamfight. Notably, this ability does not destroy projectiles, the only projectiles affected are those that damage CeeCee; we do not need another god damn Windwall fiasco....

• W - Hold The Line!: Toggle, 3/2.5/2/1.5/1s reactivation delay. CeeCee braces her shield in a direction, reducing all damage taken in a 90 degree cone by 5/10/15/20/25% (+1% per 25 bonus armour, +1% per 25 bonus magic resist) and slowing herself by 20%. She can freely move with Hold The Line active, but the direction of the shield will not change until the ability is reactivated, and she cannot attack. Damage from outside the cone and damage over time effects are not mitigated. All of CeeCee's other abilities activate Hold The Line and modify it in some way, so this ability is automatically ranked up at Level 1. Hold The Line cannot be disabled by interrupts or silences, but can be disabled by stuns and displacements. This is CeeCee's main mechanic; her job is to be the front line, to take the damage. To offset the power of this ability, especially given the CD and lack of mana cost, it needs a lot of counterplay built in; this is not a complete mitigation like Leona W, it ONLY works from the desired direction, and any damage from outside that will be dealt in full. To stop her just being an unkillable tank the whole time, she has to choose between attack and defend, and she also has to think about which direction she wants defence from the most. And to stop her just becoming a moving wall for her team to push from behind, she's slowed, and risks being left behind by a moving teamfight.

• E - Open Up!: 14/13/12/11/10s, 70/75/80/85/90 mana. CeeCee activates Hold The Line and charges 900 units in a target direction, knocking aside any enemies hit for 0.25s and dealing 10/20/30/40/50 (+0.5 bAD) physical damage. This ability cannot cross terrain, however if it hits a structure it will deal 10% of the structure's missing HP as True Damage. Hold The Line is deactivated at the end of the charge. Because CeeCee is all about directional defence, she needs a repositioning tool, hence the targetless dash. It also provides minor hard CC, interupting but not locking down multiple targets. Having it able to cross terrain seemed too powerful as well as not fitting the theme. The demolish aspect however is entirely on theme, and Ziggs having the only one is kinda strange.

• R - Bulwark Bulldozer: 180/150/120s, 100 mana. CeeCee activates Hold The Line and charges 1000 units in a chosen direction, stunning and dealing 150/200/250 (+0.75 tAD) physical damage to any enemy champions hit and carrying them along with her to the end of the charge. If she and her targets hit terrain, all are stunned for 1.5/2/2.5s, enemies take the initial damage again, and CeeCee gains a shield for 20% of her bonus health. Hold The Line can be queued up in any direction during this stun, but will not activate until the stun ends. A toll to begin, alter or end teamfights, used well it can be devastating, used badly it's useless. The main inspiration for this is a combination of Sion and Mega Gnar ults, and it can be used offensively to pile an enemy group into a wall, or defensively by charging through your own backline to get the assassins and divers out of it. The self-stun on success is to stop her from repositioning and continuing a CC chain, as well as maintaining the choice between attack and denend. The shield is because she is almost never going to land a 5-man ult, so she needs to be able to survive 1-2 enemies hitting her in the back whilst she's stunned, but not 3-4 enemies going for her after she dove a single target.

Obviously, I'm not a game designer (I'm a biochemist), so the balance here is probably not perfect, with numbers subject to change. I wanted her to be the exact middle ground between a Vanguard and a Warden, as well as being a mostly AD scaler (because Pauldrons are now a thing). I intended for her to be a support, since that's what the original concept was for (and it's what I Main), but I'm not averse to her being a viable solo laner. This was an idea that sat festering in my mind since a few days ago when I saw that video and Boards post, and this was the best way I could think of to make it go away.