Brain"STORM"ing an AP Carry/Marksman
I'm starting to work on an image for this concept I had, and I figured while I do that work I can also get some advice on fleshing out his kit.
As AD mids continue to grow in popularity (at least in my ELO) I find that we have team comps completely lacking in magic damage. When I'm playing ADC and I see an AD bruiser top, an AD assassin mid, and a tanky-AD jungler, it makes me really question playing a normal lane. But few of the marksman class champions can really benefit from AP ratios (Teemo, Tristana, and Kog'Maw come to mind). Even doing so requires some very specific items, which means that finding a fun or unique way to play APC is difficult and problematic. So, what if there were a marksman class champion, someone designed to auto-attack continuously and use spells to escape, pursue, and focus damage, that easily made use of both marksman items and AP items. Obviously items like "Bloodthirster" and "Last Whisper" don't really fit the mold, because we're looking for an AP theme, but crit and on-hit items like "Runaan's Hurricane" and "Phantom Dancer" can work just fine. An AP Crit / On-Hit champion.
So here are the abilities I imagine he or she could possess. I'll use the tentative placeholder "Stormthrower" as the abilities are themed around javelins and thunderstorms (with the Greek god "Zeus" / Roman god "Jupiter" as obvious inspiration).
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Passive - Tempered Bolts
> Stormthrower's javelins are enchanted with the power of lightning. His auto-attacks deal bonus Magic damage equal to 60% of his AP. This damage is multiplied on a Critical Hit.
> Additionally, his auto-attacks against enemy champions mark them for 0.4 seconds (stacks up to 5 times / 2 seconds). This duration is halved while the champion would be stealthed. Marked creatures are revealed and Stormthrower gains 5% per stack Critical Strike chance against them.
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> 
Q - Smiting Strike
> (medium-low mana cost, low cooldown, auto-attack reset)
> Stormthrower gathers energy from the clouds around him to empower his next attack.
> Stormthrower's next basic-attack applies maximum stacks of Tempered Bolts and deals bonus magic damage (20/22/25/27/30% AP), increased with the time spent since Smiting Strike came off cooldown.
> If Smiting Strike kills the target, it leaves behind a nebula of energy that refunds half the mana cost if Stormthrower steps over it before it expires.
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> 
W - Thundering Squall
> (moderate mana cost, long cooldown, close-range cone skillshot)
> Stormthrower claps his hands creating a deafening roar of thunder that knocks foes away.
> Enemies in the area take minor magical damage (15% AP), are silenced for 0.6 seconds, and knocked back 100-250 units (nearer units are knocked farther away).
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> 
E - Voltaic Rush
> (above average mana cost, long cooldown, short range dash (650 units))
> Stormthrower dashes in target direction, dealing magic damage (25% AP) and applying 2 stacks of Tempered Bolts to all units near his path.
> If he dashes into the central area of his Conquering Tempest, he gains 15% damage reduction for 1.5 seconds and refunds 30% of the mana cost.
> If he dashes from within the central area of his Conquering Tempest, the mana cost and remaining cooldown are reduced by 50%.
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> 
R - Conquering Tempest
> (high mana cost, long cooldown, medium range circular AoE with a smaller zone in the center)
> Stormthrower conjures a wide stormcloud that slowly grows in area after it is cast. Conquering Tempest moves slowly (100 move speed) and attempts to center itself over the champion with the largest number of Tempered Bolt stacks (in the event of a tie, prioritizes the champion with the most recent stack).
> Conquering Tempest deals minor magical damage (6/12.5/21% AP) to all enemies in its area over (3/5/7 seconds (2/2.5/3% AP per second)).
> Additionally, your basic attacks against creatures in the cloud's area cause lightning bolts to strike at those targets. These lightning bolts can critically strike, and deal magic damage (30% AP) to the target.
Synergies
Continuous slows - He deals drastically increased damage while opponents are in his Conquering Tempest. Keeping them from moving away from it quickly can drastically increase his damage output.
Guinsoo's Rage - When fully charged, GR should apply 2 stacks of Tempered Bolts per hit, and will provoke 2 lighting bolts from Conquering Tempest.
Infinity Edge - Despite being AP based, Stormthrower's spells benefit from critical strike chance and critical strike damage, and he still deals physical damage with each attack.
Wind's Fury - The additional arrows should deal AP damage, apply stacks of Tempered Bolts, and provoke lightning bolts from Conquering Tempest.
Other Recommendations
Hextech (any) - Any variant of Hextech would be useful in this build, though the specific version chosen is situational.
Spellblade (any) - Any variant of Spellblade would proc on his Q, Voltaic Wrath. Obviously Lichbane and Trinity Force are preferred, but the armor and slow from Iceborn Gauntlet might be useful as well.
Attack speed with on-hit effects - Provoking more lightning bolts from Conquering Tempest and dealing more damage to targets of Guinsoo's Rage or Wind's Fury would be useful.
Questions and Clarifications
- **Passive **- Regarding the reveal vs stealth equation... If you get 5 stacks on someone but they flash out of range, they are revealed for 2 seconds. If they enter a bush or (Akali / Twitch) become invisible exactly at the 1 second mark, they would be revealed for only 0.5 seconds more, for a total of 1.5 seconds.
- Q, Smiting Strike - The damage should scale as follows: low (20-30% AP) coming off cooldown, average (40-60%) at double its cooldown, and high (60-80%) at triple its cooldown. Cast it quickly as it comes off cooldown for the resets and extra auto-attacks, but by consuming mana quickly. Wait and cast it when fully charged for the better damage : mana ratio.
- R, Conquering Tempest - There is a slight delay on the thunderstorm's lightning bolts, like the delay on the second hits from Luden's Echo.
