[Champion Concept] Wulfric, The Warden of the Dark

To preface, this is all based on an idea that came to me in a dream last night. I tried to flesh it out and give some thought to it, and I think it's presentable right now.

Aesthetically, Wulfric runs in a vein similar to Vayne. Dark, Victorian/Gothic inspiration is here. Think Van Helsing, along with a heavy influence of lupine traits. I haven’t yet worked out the lore, but I see him as being flirtatious with the dark magic that Vayne has made her life’s duty to eradicate. However, I see him being one who uses it for good, himself having been exposed to tragedy at the hands of dark magic. He and Vayne simply took different paths when faced with tragedy, she wanted revenge and he wanted to use it against itself. I guess in that way he’s similar to Kassadin, who has been using the Void against itself as well. His lore and backstory would cross with Vayne’s, which would be a great opportunity to expand hers as well. They wouldn’t necessarily be partners or even friends, more like friendly rivals, occasionally crossing paths and sharing a quip or two at the other’s expense before moving on.

When the concept first came to me, I envisioned a werewolf, but that’s pretty much Warwick’s shtick, so I moved that away from him and gave him a companion, a dire wolf named Lobo who fights alongside him and would make him a pet-based character. In Warwick’s lore it mentions that he needed the fang specifically from a Balefire dire wolf, something I don’t think has ever been seen or referenced outside of Warwick’s lore, so I think a nice nod can be exploited if Lobo is that species. Maybe he’s even crossed paths with Warwick. I see Wulfric and Lobo as being lifelong companions; although Wulfric may not have been raised by wolves he was raised alongside one. Like I said I haven’t worked out the lore too much yet, so the details with Lobo aren’t too fleshed out, but I see potential.

His gameplay was designed as a compliment to Vayne’s. They’re both ADCs and he wields a crossbow, but while Vayne dives in and out almost freely, committing to fights on her terms, Wulfric must be patient, waiting for the best time to strike and then exploit that window or risk missing it. Under normal conditions, Wulfric has below average attack damage and speed, so he must play carefully to find a moment when he can break through this limitation. (Note that I know nothing about number balancing, so all numbers here are just general ideas)

Passive: Leader of the Pack Lobo is a persistent pet who automatically follows Wulfric around. When an enemy champion is in range, Lobo will automatically pursue the nearest enemy champion as long as they are in range. Lobo’s attack speed scales with Wulfric’s, but he deals no damage, instead Lobo’s attacks apply Shred. At three stacks of Shred, the enemy becomes Marked For Death and takes dramatically increased damage from Wulfric’s basic attacks and Skewer. Multiple enemies can have Marked For Death, depending on how quickly Lobo moves around and attacks enemies. If Wulfric attacks an enemy with Shred before it is fully stacked, it will reset. (details: Lobo uses “ward health”, so it takes a set number of basic attacks to kill him. However, Lobo will never truly die; when his health runs out he runs back to Wulfric before healing back to full, then running back to attack. If an enemy steps out of range or becomes Marked For Death Lobo will either search for another enemy in range of Wulfric, or return to Wulfric if there are no viable targets. The mark persists for a very short window of time, let’s say 2 seconds. If the target with the mark is attacked while the mark is up, the duration is reset. However, there is a max total time for which the mark can persist, regardless of how many times it is reset, let’s say 10 seconds.)

Q: Skewer Passive: Wulfric regenerates ammo for Skewer over time. Active: Consumes ammo to fire a skillshot in a line, dealing damage to the first enemy struck. If it strikes an enemy champion, Lobo will begin to attack them if they are not already his target. If it strikes an enemy who has been Marked For Death, the projectile deals extra damage and continues until it hits another target or end of its range. Unlike basic attacks, it may be used against enemies with Shred without resetting Shred’s stacks. (details: has a maximum ammo count, let’s say six for now. Also has an exceedingly low cooldown, less than a second, but is also incredibly weak against enemies who have not been Marked For Death. Range would exceed Wulfric’s basic attack range. Player’s only way of directly controlling who Lobo targets)

W: Caltrops Wulfric leaves a circular area of caltrops. Enemies are slowed and receive constant damage while in the area. Lobo cannot attack enemies while they are in Caltrops. (details: nothing else to say. Pretty basic ability. Damage does not benefit from Marked For Death)

E: Through The Shadows Wulfric blinks to a targeted area around Lobo’s location. Temporarily receives increased armor and magic resistance after cast. (details: I imagine the range based around Lobo and cooldown would be similar to Ezreal’s Phase Shift)

R: Lunar Cry Passive: Increases Wulfric’s basic attack speed and maximum charges for Skewer. Also increases Lobo’s max health. Active: For the duration, Lobo deals damage scaled with Wulfric’s bonus attack damage, may attack enemies standing in Caltrops, and Wulfric and Lobo may attack the same enemy without resetting stacks of Shred. Lobo will not disengage from an enemy when they become Marked For Death, but can still be redirected with Skewer. (details: again, a pretty basic ability on the surface)

Playstyle: Wulfric is all about patience and looking for opportunities. His primary damage comes from making full use of his passive. Without Marked For Death, Wulfric deals pitiful damage, but when Marked For Death is on his foe he’ll be a fearsome opponent that should be avoided at all costs. Typical play will have Wulfric hang back while Lobo goes in and builds up to Marked For Death. When the enemy becomes Marked, Wulfric then has a choice: does he dive in with Through The Shadows and hope he can finish the enemy in time, or does he keep waiting until the enemy is even weaker, peppering them with Skewer for now? The fact that basic attacks normally reset Shred is an intentional interaction. Wulfric’s window of opportunity needs to be deliberate, where he chooses to not attack an enemy for a moment so he can deal even more damage later. Lunar Cry removes this restriction for its duration and allows Lobo to deal damage too, because sometimes you just can’t wait to ramp up for damage. Skewer is meant to be a harassing tool to whittle the enemy down for later opportunities. Unlike basic attacks it won’t reset Shred, but it does deal really low damage without Marked For Death. This is meant to be a fall-back pattern; in case Wulfric is having a bad lane or game he can still use the barrage of his rapid Skewer to safely dealt SOME damage, as well as psyche enemies out, and once an enemy becomes Marked For Death it becomes a real threat. Some counterplay here is that even if an enemy becomes Marked For Death, they can hide behind an ally or minion wave to protect themselves from the onslaught of Skewer. Of course, Wulfric could risk it all and slip Through The Shadows to get behind the enemy line… Caltrops’ use is Wulfric’s main way of protecting himself. If an enemy tries to move in on Wulfric, he can just lay down some Caltrops to get them to back off. The interaction with Lobo is again intentional, as the damage would otherwise make it a good harassment tool along with getting free Shred stacks for Lobo as the enemy will have a harder time to escape. Caltrops can still be used freely on an enemy Marked For Death to secure the kill, though, and again the duration of Lunar Cry lets Lobo act freely. Through The Shadows is Wulfric’s only reliable mobility, and it’s meant to be used for repositioning. The fact that it can only be used near Lobo means it can’t reliably be used as an escape, because Lobo will either be near Wulfric when out of combat, or right next to an enemy during combat (although, if an enemy is standing right next to a wall…). The added defensive stats is just to give Wulfric some love since most of the time he’ll be using it to get right up next to an enemy, and he’s a squishy ADC, so….yeah. The passive on Lunar Cry is meant to help Wulfric scale throughout the game. The active part effectively takes Lobo off the leash, and is meant to at least temporarily remove Wulfric’s waiting game when a team fight starts or he really needs an upperhand. He’ll still need to wait for Shred to reach full stacks, but at least now he can fight back while he’s waiting for that. A very basic set-up in lane would be to wait for Marked For Death to pop up, then throw out a few Skewers to chunk enemy health down. When the enemy gets low, wait for Marked For Death then use Through The Shadows to land right on top of the enemy. Throw down Caltrops and then unload with basic attacks and Skewer to finish the enemy off. That might sound overwhelming if you’re on the receiving end, but there is counterplay here. Wulfric’s main weakness is that he can’t frontload with damage. A good dive will leave him helpless with only some Caltrops to maybe slow the enemy down. Of course, prevention is the best option, and that comes from stopping Lobo from stacking Shred in the first place. The easy way is to just walk out of range, as that will make Lobo back off, but not everybody likes to be shut out of lane like that. The alternative is to just fight back and kill Lobo. He’ll be back shortly, but the important thing is you stopped you or somebody else from being Marked For Death, and without that Wulfric can’t do much. Of course, focusing on Lobo also distracts you from last-hitting, avoiding Skewer and other skillshots, as well as harassing with abilities of your own, so you have to decide if letting yourself get Marked For Death might be worth it to use your own offensive capabilities to attack Wulfric directly.

I’ll try to come up with more coherent lore later. Let me know what you think, especially if there is some broken ability interaction I haven't considered.