[Champion Concept] Samantha, the Master Puppeteer

This is one my favorite champion ideas, so I felt like sharing it! Constructive criticism is welcome. Please enjoy:

*Looks: She wears an ornate black and purple dress with long sleeves. She has long, straight black hair that is often wildly floating around her. Even while standing still, she is always moving her hands and fingers. Strings come out of her fingers at her will and can extend to great lengths.

Her personality is calm, yet devious and menacing.

Samantha the Master Puppeteer

Stats: Attack Style: Ranged Attack Damage: 50 + (3.2 per level). 104.4 at level 18 Attack Range: 525 Health: 515 + (78 per level). 1841 at level 18 Movement Speed: 340 Magic Resist: 30 Armor: 20.5 + (3.5 per level). 80 at level 18

Abilities: Passive: Strings of Life: Samantha uses strings to cast her spells, rather than mana. She is limited to 3/5/7/9 strings (Levels 1/6/11/16) and regains a string every 10/8/6/4 seconds (Levels 1/6/11/16), or on a kill or assist.

Q: Possess Minion: Samantha takes control of an ally minion, giving it bonus stats. A string is formed between Samantha and the minion for the duration of her control (affected by destiny knot). Its attacks and movements can be controlled with [ctrl + click]. She retains control of this minion until it dies, it goes further than 1500 units away from Samantha, or she assumes control of more minions than she can control (in which case control is swapped from this minion to the latest casted minion). She can control up to 1/2/3/4/5 minions. Controlled minions will gather gold on killing blows. Melee: Gains 50 movement speed, 50% attack speed, 5/10/15/20/25 + (5% AP) attack damage, 50/75/100/125/150 + (10% AP) health. Caster: Gains 25 movement speed, 20% attack speed, 8/16/24/32/40 + (5% AP) attack damage, 25/40/55/70/85 + (10% AP) health. Siege: Gains 25 movement speed, 10/20/30/40/50 + (5% AP) attack damage, 75/120/165/210/255 + (10% AP) health. Super: She cannot control super minions (That would be OP)

If a possessed minion walks through a phantom string or parasite string, its bonus stats (besides health) become doubled as long as it stays in the string, or until 3 seconds after it leaves the string. Possessed minions with phantom strings anchored to them do not count as being in the string. Cooldown: 9/8/7/6/5 seconds Cost: 1 String

W: Phantom String: Samantha creates a phantom string between two objects (placement range is 2500 units). The string can be no longer than 1500 units long and can be attached to units, champions, and terrain (affected by destiny knot). All enemy units that pass through the string are slowed by 20%, and take 80/120/160/200/240 + (60% AP) magic damage. Units can only take damage from the string once, but can be slowed indefinitely. Lasts for 10/12/14/16/18 + (1% AP) seconds, or until an anchor point of the string is destroyed or it is stretched longer than 1500 units in length. Cooldown: 10/9/8/7/6 seconds Cost: 1 String

E: Destiny Knot: Passive: Any units that come in contact with 2 different types of string (Possess Minion String, Phantom string, Parasite String) at the same time take 60/100/140/180/220 + (50% AP) magic damage and are stunned for 1 second (This AOE has a 50 unit radius, starting from the center point where 2 strings cross). This works with strings from her Q, W, and R. Cannot stun the same unit more than once every 8 seconds. (Areas where strings cross should glow slightly, to show where destiny knot takes effect). Active: Samantha pulls all strings connected to or touching her (within 100 units), destroying the strings and dealing 60/100/140/180/220 + (50% AP) magic damage and slowing all units touching the strings by 20%/30%/40%/50%/60% for 2 seconds. Cooldown: 1/1/1/1/1 Cost: 0 String

I attached 2 pictures that may help show how Destiny Knot's passive works

R: Parasite String: Samantha takes control of a stunned enemy champion for 6/8/10 seconds (Range: 3000 units to activate, but infinite after activation). A string is strung between Samantha and the champion being controlled (affected by destiny knot), and lasts for the duration of parasite string. While using parasite string, Samantha is suppressed and can only control the enemy champion and previously controlled minions. She gains full use and control of that champion, allowing her to use abilities and attack enemies with that champion (Can’t use their summoner spells). However, the champion loses 100/75/50 movement speed and 75%/50%/25% of its total ability power and attack damage. No towers will attack the controlled champion (Even enemy towers). If Samantha or the controlled champion is killed, parasite string will end. Neither Samantha nor the controlled champion can be cleansed from this effect by any means. Cooldown: 150/125/100 seconds Cost: 1 String

Quotes: Champ select: “We are all mere puppets, some of us just don’t realize it.” Joke:

1. “What do you get when you cross a puppet with a marionette? I don’t know, but it’s knot my problem.” (Shows her crossing the two, and her trying to pull them apart, but they knot together. And yes… that is a lousy pun). Taunt:
2. “Enjoy being able to control yourself now, for it may be the last time you can.”
3. “You fool, no puppet can fight its master.” Dance: She controls a bunch of puppets to dance in circles around her, while she does a slow dance by herself. Laugh: Maniacal laugh

Samantha’s Kit: Placement is key for Samantha. All of her strings are very versatile in function. They can be used to zone enemies or initiate team fights. Destiny knot’s passive is a HUGE part of how she deals damage and trades well. Destiny knot’s active is a very powerful ability, but it also removes a lot of Samantha’s strings, leaving her venerable.

Key items: Because Samantha doesn’t use mana, CDR and AP are the main things you want on her. Banner of Command is a key item for Samantha, because it grants CDR, AP, and MR, as well as a very powerful active for her kit. It is a very good first item to rush against AP laners. Zhonya’s Hourglass is another key item. It allows her to control her minions while being invulnerable (You can’t use it during parasite string though).

Problems/limitations: I really like this champion concept, but I do acknowledge there will be some problems with it. Her ultimate is probably her most problematic ability (as much as I love the idea of it). The ability to change an opponent’s team seems like it would cause a whole lot of bugs and issues, as well as confusion for players. Maybe it won’t be too messy though, since Mordekaiser has a similar ability. Some questions I pose are:

1. What happens when you use a channeled ability while controlling the enemy champion, and your time in control runs out?
2. What happens if you control Shaco, or a champion with clones? (The chaos!!!)
3. Would skill shots fired by the controlled champion still damage the correct enemies if control is lost?

Inspiration: I was inspired by a couple of existing champions and a few other things. I have always enjoyed playing champions that control multiple things at once, such as Orianna, Annie, and Shaco. I am also a One Piece fan, and it would be a complete lie if I didn’t say Doflamingo was an inspiration for this champion. I wanted Samantha to be a very difficult champion that utilized placement and multiple controlled objects to make her viable.

Thanks for taking the time to read this! - Hectorlph