[Champion] Pilf the Bandle City Bandit
Name: Pilf the Bandle City Bandit Explanation: "Pilf" is a play on "pilfer" and seems suitable for a rat-like yordle.
Lore: Pilf admires and steals fine yordle technology. Some suspect that she is trying to unite the great yordle minds by a common enemy. Pilf joins the league to gain access to more cool stuff (to steal). Explanation: She fits into the Heimerdinger-Rumble rivalry and has a very natural motivation for joining the League.
Appearance: Pilf is a yordle carrying a sack of stolen items, which she swings to melee attack, and perhaps wearing trinkets stolen from other yordle champions. Explanation: Her weapon is unlike that of any other champion and is suitable for a thief. I imagine that she is scraggly like Twitch.
Abilities: Pilf's QWE are all mid ranged(~400), ground targeted(~200 aoe). Explanation: The range allows for skilled kiting, and the targeting allows for skilled dodging. Her design is inspired by champions like Vladimir and Ryze who are outranged mid but can do well in top lane, although her skillshots can be balanced with more power (and more viability in high ELO play) than Vladimir and Ryze's targeted spells.
Passive: Life Steal Each tick of each of Pilf's spells increases spell vamp from that cast by 7%. Explanation: There are 119 champions, and every new champion should fill a role that is lacking in selection. Melee bruisers are played almost exclusively in top lane, partly because spell vamp is hard to buy. Each of Pilf's QWE can tick a maximum of 6 times, giving an average of 21% spell vamp. This is in line with Morgana's passive, since the average drops on any less than 6 ticks. This passive also encourages skilled play, since later ticks have more spell vamp. The name may be confusing, but it goes well with her theme.
Q: Flame Spitter Pilf continuously sprays flames at the target area, dealing magic damage per 0.5 second for 3 seconds. The target area keeps its position relative to Pilf. Explanation: The difference between this ability and Rumble's Q is that this ability attacks in a circular area of effect rather than a cone but does not depend on the direction she is facing. This allows her to kite and disengage on melee champions.
W: Micro Rockets Pilf flings 6 rockets at the target area, each dealing magic damage. Rockets will home in on but distribute evenly among enemy champions. Explanation: This is a better choice than Q against champions with which extended trades are impractical, such as Teemo. It should deal less overall damage than Q but should always land 6 ticks, maximizing spell vamp from her passive. The damage sharing makes it strong in lane but allows for counterplay in team fights.
E: Mine Field Pilf scatters 6 mines in the target area, each slowing and dealing magic damage. Mines are arranged in a hexagon. Explanation: With fewer mines and looser spacing than Ziggs's E, more skill is involved in maneuvering the mine field rather than it being a patch of uncrossable land. While using her R, the mines should make a nice ring around the champion she is clinging to.
R: Pick Pock Pilf leaps to the target area and clings to the nearest allied or enemy champion not yet hit by Pick Pock. Pick Pock's cooldown is reduced by half if no champion is hit on the first cast. While clinging: Pilf automatically targets the champion she is clinging to when her QWE are activated. Pilf can be targeted and takes damage as normal, and she can be knocked off by hard crowd control. Pilf can cast Pick Pock again, and QWE's cooldown is reduced by half if a champion is hit. Explanation: This ability is inspired by Lee Sin's kit, which is very popular because it is fun. Balance is an important goal in game design, but fun is just as important. Unlike typical assassins, Pilf does not approach her targets by stealthing or blinking; instead, she uses champions as stepping stones. This mechanism, similar in implementation to Fiora's R, allows for interesting possibilities and varied gameplay.