An Oracle Champion - One Who Exemplifies The Vision Game

DrugsForRobots··3 votes·535 views
league of legends oracle the world s witness by drugsforrobots-da0mlpz

Or, Why I Wish Riot Would Open Their Eyes

Oracle, The World's Witness @ LoL Wiki (Click Here For The Best Presentation!)


--- Preamble --- This is my custom champion concept that, like every concept creator, I desperately wish Riot would adopt. Why? Because we're halfway into season 6, and Riot seemingly has no intention of addressing stealth, sight, detection, or denial. Tell me why, in a game with hundreds of abilities, and over 50+ 'legendary' or 'mythic' tier items with cool actives and neat passives, the number of those things that interact with stealth barely get into the double digits?

I love League, and it's amazing to see the amount of polish that's gone into this game. It is soul crushing, though, to see that the vision game has barely progressed at all. At a time when 'diversity' is the buzzword of the day, the stealth crew gets no love - indeed, they only get the shaft time and time again. ;c

Personally, rather than Riot moving numbers around, I'd like to see them embrace the vision game. I mean, they should, IMO, double-down on the champions using stealth, giving them other forms of psuedo-stealth (such as the relatively new 'nearsight' mechanic) and / or ways of gaining information (i.e. detection-type effects). Did you know Shaco has three ways inherent to his kit that he can play with vision? It's true.


--- About Oracle --- Oracle is my attempt to fulfill the archetype of a 'psychic' in League. She was inspired by Averdrian, and originally appeared very alien-ish, with an oversized head and long limbs and a literal 'third eye' in the center of her forehead.

I gradually moved away from this, opting for a symbolic 'eye' (in the form of her headpiece) and began incorporating elements that would make it plausible for her to be one of the Watchers. With this in mind, I gave her an additional pair of arms, which also indicated that she was something other than human, and is also an implicit reference to the Hindi gods and goddesses.

That brought other design elements to mind. I began to think of her as a 'priestess' of sorts, which created some neat word-play with her name, and her headpiece also made sense as a sort of tiara, coronet, and / or halo, mirroring the dress of religious officials of high renown.

I really liked this mix of 'sci-fi psychic' and the 'prescient saint', and I'd like to think Riot would approve. I also thought about how her silhouette and color scheme would make her stand-out, so I opted for making her the tallest female in League (nearly Sion's height) and a soft pink-and-white color palette. I also thought it would be cute if she had blue-within-blue eyes, to contrast with her main colors, while also being a reference to a notable work of fiction...

Really digging the 'Watcher' possibility, I began to think about her relationship to League's other characters, notably Lissandra. I deliberately wanted her headpiece to contrast with 's, which is horizontal with sharp edges (notice how Oracle's is rounded and more vertically oriented). Similar to how Riot designed Diana to be a foil of Leona, I wanted Oracle to be a foil for Liss, which adds a lot of interesting layers to their lore, IMO.

Consider the symbolism of Oracle, who has both of her eyes intact and a 'third eye' versus Lissandra who has both of her eyes covered and worships the Watchers - beings always depicted as having one eye. Also, Liss is said to be the Frozen Watcher's mouthpiece and she has her mouth uncovered, where as Oracle, by no coincidence, has her mouth veiled...

Basically, I tried to think like a Riot designer, and mixed and matched elements trying to create a thematically cohesive, interesting champion. Everything from her name, to her art, to her ability icons, their names and their functions, should come together and give a certain impression to the player. Hopefully, it's one of enormous possibilities for the vision game. How did I do?

2 Comments

FloRaider422 votes

Theme: Psychic Watcher Niche: Vision control

Passive: I think it's a very interesting approach to a vision champion and the interaction with her abilities seem nice. How does this interact with Evelynn and champions in a brush though ?

Q-Ability: It's basically an AOE Paranoias Nocturne effect. I don't know how effective this really is, but on paper it sounds very powerfull, since it can have a lot of impact in TF and gank scenarios. Might need tweaks.

W-Ability: The first part is very interesting, but the second part seems a bit confusing. From what I get: AA spawn a clone that deals damage on contact. Since it causes a slow the succesive hits will be easier, but how exactly is the first hit supposed to land ?

E-Ability: Since this ability should be able to hit enemies with the vision from W that is a potentially global true damage stun. Since she has true sight the only way to escape this effect would be to outrun her vision, which is kinda hard in lane.

Ultimate: I don't think this ability is balanced as is, since you can potentially turn your entire team invisible you have an incredibly powerfull engage and disengage.

Overall: The concept is very interesting and creative, but I feel like she lacks counterplay. In good hands she can be an insanely powerfull threat without any real balance. Another concern is that she feels very feast or famine with her lack of damage and surviveability.

FloRaider out summoner 31

Edit: don't have a wiki account xD

DrugsForRobots1 votes

Thank you for the constructive criticism!

P - I suppose it would not grant vision of what was in the brush until the center of her FoS entered the brush. And despite her name, her FoS isn't true sight, so it wouldn't grant vision of Eve.

Q - True, it does share some similarities with Nocturne's Paranoia (also Graves' Smoke Screen). To make it fair, I imagine that allies inside the obfuscated area would not be able to see enemies outside of it, and allies outside of it can't see enemies inside it. However, rather than true 'invisibility' I image something like what red trinket would give an indication of where the enemies are (but not provide targetability).

W - You don't really 'land' the first 'hit', rather, the enemy, if that aren't quick to react, will run into their 'clone'. Similar to how Draven's Spinning Axes work (with the icon where they will land based on his movement), the 'clone' that Oracle creates is based on the movement and direction of her target. Of course, landing her E, or channeling W right before one of your allies hard engages, would be best.

E - True, it is global, but if she, for example, W'ed top lane (to help an ally) she suddenly find that her ability to maneuver her FoS is practically non-existent (because its travel speed is exponentially slower the further it gets from her). Her opponent should have plenty of time to get out of her FoS, or possibly even kill her ally before she finishes channeling the stun.

In a 2v2 scenario in the bot lane, I imagine that her E would have tons of counterplay. Even when it's near her, it's travel speed is only ever as fast as she is (and she has a low base movespeed), so it's not like she can really 'chase' with FoS. Also, she can be harassed while channeling, and / or CC'ed. The enemy will always know when it's being channeled on them, of course, because they will have True Sight of her.

R - I won't argue here. It is probably very strong in a lot of scenarios, but, like the rest of her abilities, using it without good foresight / timing will probably be disastrous for her.

I was hoping that, even when behind she would have enough utility to still be relevant. Also, I don't think she lacks damage, rather, it has so much counterplay as to almost be unreliable (which might not be a good thing...)

Thanks again for the feedback! I was hoping she would start a discussion about sight, stealth, detection, and denial, and the potential of vision based champions, but I can appreciate just putting her kit through the crucible of people's opinions. Time for more polish!

GL;HF ~DFR / LBP

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