Gryndan, the Forgotten (A true melee carry concept)

Gryndan, the Forgotten

Gryndan is a melee carry designed to function in place of a ranged carry. He has tools that lend him the powers of marksmen in times of need and other powerful melee carry style abilities as well. If you came here from my post about the current state of melee carries, thanks for reading my post and coming to take your time to check out my concept.

Corianther (Passive): A translucent training post hovers in front of Gryndan, in the direction he is facing, updating itself at three second intervals; however, the training post will automatically shift its position around Gryndan towards the direction of the nearest enemy champion or low-health unit if either are present. Gryndan’s basic attacks only target the image, causing him to strike at the memory of his training post with his anti-magic sword, Corianther, dealing damage as a splashing melee attack to all units within his swing range, each time he basic attacks. These basic attacks also destroy ranged basic attack projectiles if the swing is timed properly.

*Gryndan’s passive is Corianther. Corianther is his powerful anti-magic blade crafted by his mentor from long ago. Gryndan’s memory of his grueling training is so vivid that he can still see the masterful training post also crafted by his mentor today. The spectral training post hovers in front of Gryndan, changing its position to hover in the direction of the closest enemy champion or low-health unit

**Triple Assault (Q): **Gryndan channels for 0.75 seconds before projecting his training post at a target location (enemies can see where the training post is about to be projected). Gryndan then teleports and strikes thrice at the training post from three different directions in the air with immense strength and vigor, dealing physical damage in an AoE radius around the training post. Gryndan is immune to spells while in the air.

****Triple Assault is Gryndan’s primary mobility tool. It packs quite a punch, but Gryndan will have to be conscious of whether he is to save it for an escape, use it for harass and combat potential, or even time it properly to effectively render his opponent’s spells ineffective (ex. Annie’s ultimate and Fiddlestick’s Fear). Triple Assault does have a cast/channel time, however, so it can be interrupted and won’t immediately block spells until Gryndan is in the air. In the end, it is up to the player to make a best judgment on how to use triple assault most effectively.

Wind Assault (W): Gryndan recalls his training post and turns his basic attack into single-target ranged projectiles of air for four seconds (these attacks will not destroy ranged basic attacks). Activating this ability renders Gryndan immune to disables for 0.75 seconds upon cast.

*Melee carries are designed to rampage through combat quickly to decimate their enemies before they have a chance to make up for their mistakes. Wind Assault accomplishes precisely that by empowering Gryndan with a ranged basic attack that also blocks disables for a short duration upon activation. Think of it as a built-in kiting mechanic that also rewards the proper timing of its activation. The immunity duration is quite short though, and so is the ranged attack duration. This makes wind assault most effective when Gryndan needs to make a clean escape without a mobility spell or when he needs to kite powerful opponents (think Zed or Nunu) who otherwise either outduel him or disable him repeatedly to prevent his escape, respectively. This also lets him effectively negate the ranged advantage that marksmen have over melee carries when they normally try to disengage or escape after a trade (specifically extra poke and punishment on the melee carry for going “all-in”). *

Counter Assault (E): Gryndan stands in place in a defensive stance for 0.75 seconds. Upon being struck by any champion basic attack or ability (summoner spells do not count), the attack or ability is nullified and Gryndan immediately teleports behind the champion it came from and gains movement and attack speed for six seconds.

*Counter Assault should be Gryndan’s primary defensive ability and gap closer. It works by rendering him immune to the next instance of damage or crowd control put forth by his opponent while he blinks behind them. Gryndan should have no problem using this as a gap closer against marksmen whose attacks have a significant travel time, but he’s rewarded the most when he can use this to effectively negate an enemy champion’s attempt to set up a play and in turn punish them heavily for failing (think Thresh hook, etc.). *

Tribute to the past (R): Gryndan’s training post flashes brilliantly as energy is re-absorbed from the training post to Corianther. This refreshes the cooldown of all Gryndan’s basic abilities. Then, he gains 1% bonus tenacity and magic resistance for each basic attack that damages an enemy champion within fifteen seconds (stacking up to 8/16/24 stacks).

Gryndan doesn’t have an ultimate ability that makes him immune to death, untargetable by the enemy team, or super-fast and immune to slows. He doesn’t need any of that, because his basic abilities are all he needs to make amazing plays and destroy enemy teams. The catch is that most, if not all, of his basic abilities must be used properly, timed perfectly, or cast reactively in order for him to really shine as a melee carry. This means he has more counterplay than your regular melee carry because he doesn’t deal damage that opponents can’t stop (Fiora, Tryndamere, Master Yi’s Q, etc.). With this in mind, I proudly present a refresh on his basic abilities that also grants him a magic-resistance buff if he’s attacking a lot (his blade is anti-magic, after all) as his ultimate ability.

Summary

Gryndan's design addresses the two biggest qualms I have with playing melee carries in place of ranged carries in both bot lane and late-game fights. The first is a melee carry's inability to poke, harass, or trade effectively in bot lane. This is because ranged carries have the advantage of kiting and poking when melee carries disengage. Gryndan's ranged attack effectively balances some of the unfair trading potential marksmen have by allowing him to disengage like a marksman while remaining a melee carry. As an added bonus, proper use of his passive allows him to even out-trade and block his ranged opponent's harass. The second is the lack of proper survival tools in late-game fights. Because melee carries must sacrifice their safety at a distance, they shouldn't be punished for it. Instead, Gryndan has short windows of opportunity from which he can severely outplay his opponents (and a reset on those windows of opportunities if he should need it in critical situations). His Q allows him to negate magic; his W allows him to kite his opponents and avoid being disabled; his E allows him to (if timed properly) effectively act as a gap closer and spell shield, but all three of his abilities have a short window of action that must be fulfilled to function to their maximum. All of this combined with his passive's ability to block ranged basic attacks allows for both interesting and meaningful play and counterplay to arise for both himself and his opponents, respectively.