Rourke, the Blaze of the Sword

Here's a champion concept for a fighter whose gameplay is based solely around charging his abilities to maximize their effectiveness. He wields a short sword engulfed with flames. As a swordsman of the blaze, he can cast fireballs at his opponents and knock them away or catch up to them with his fiery hot abilities. When he's in a pinch, he's even capable of becoming invulnerable (think Poppy's ultimate) to everything for half a second. A great Rourke player can make for heated gameplay filled with intense burning action.

Rourke, the Blaze of the Sword

Kindling (Passive) All of Rourke’s abilities can be charged for up to two seconds. Each 0.25 second charged causes Rourke to consume 5 energy and increase the effectiveness of the ability by a certain amount. Rourke moves 2.5% slower per 0.25 seconds charged while charging and cannot use basic attacks. He may, however, use another ability without charging while in the middle of charging a different ability. Most of Rourke’s abilities deal magic damage and scale with his bonus AD (except for his ultimate, which scales on the target’s missing health).

Miniblaze (Q) Rourke sends forth a blaze in a line, dealing magic damage to the first target struck and marking them for six seconds (basic attacks on a marked target consume the mark and return 15 energy). Miniblaze has a short cooldown, travels relatively slowly, and has a very narrow width. Charging miniblaze further increases its travel speed in the air by 7.5% per 0.25 seconds charged.

Vortex Flame (W) Rourke sweeps the area with his short sword, dealing magic damage in an AoE around him and knocking enemies back. Charging Vortex Flame increases the knockback by 12.5% per 0.25 seconds charged.

Sword Flare (E) Rourke dashes forward in a line, decreasing the armor of enemies he passes through and gaining the ability to ignore unit collision for four seconds. His next basic attack within two seconds will cause him to dash in a line a fixed distance at his target and deal 100% of his AD in damage to all enemies he passes through. Charging sword flare increases the damage dealt by the basic attack dash by 10% per 0.25 seconds charged.

Spontaneous Combustion (R) Rourke projects a blaze that travels extremely quickly as he disappears in an eruption of flame and blinks to the first enemy champion struck by the blaze. Upon blinking to his target, he slashes furiously at the champion with his burning short sword from the air, while becoming invulnerable in the process. The entire ability only lasts a total of 0.5 second, and deals 50% of its damage in an AoE on the location Rourke blinked from and 100% of its damage to the target Rourke slashes at. Self-casting spontaneous combustion while Rourke is in the air will cause him to return to his original location instead of appearing next to his target after it completes. Charging spontaneous combustion will cause its damage to ignore 5% of the target’s magic resistance per 0.25 seconds charged.

Summary

Rourke is a melee fighter who can charge his abilities, and his gameplay is focused around minimizing the downtime of his DPS caused by the charging while maximizing the effects of his abilities. For example, miniblaze travels quite slowly (think Morgana’s Q) without being charged, and makes for an easy dodge by his opponents. Charging it increases its reliability, but also increases its energy cost. Rourke players will have to learn to strike a good balance between reliability and energy cost in order to maximize the effectiveness of the champion.

Tips for playing as Rourke

• Miniblaze’s short cooldown and low energy cost makes it a great tool for last-hitting.

• Charge Vortex Flame first to knock away your opponents before dashing with Sword Flare to make clean escapes.

• Because Spontaneous Combustion’s projectile travels extremely quickly and deals magic damage based on the target’s missing health, charging the ability will maximize its damage output. However, charging it may not always be the best option, as Rourke can avoid taking heavy damage or being disabled with good use of its blink and invulnerability frame.

Tips for playing against Rourke

• -Miniblaze has a very narrow width. Try to make your movements unpredictable when you see Rourke charging an ability to avoid being hit.

• -Rourke has amazing gap closing and escape potential with his sword flare. Punish Rourke from afar when his sword flare is down, as his ultimate is his only other gap closer.

• -Be alert when you’re low on health – with quick reactions, dodging Rourke’s spontaneous combustion may save your life.

Yours Truly. And as always, thanks for reading.