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My First Concept Champion on the New Forums

The Red Goat·12/7/2014, 7:31:30 AM·5 votes·1,173 views

Dear reader,

This champion was initially created for the 2014 December MCCC. However this champion is also heavily based on my original killer Yordle concept called Aramon, the Shadow of Ionia and will continue to grow beyond both its origins and its initial reason for creation. You can search for the original in the forum archive under the given name if you wish to do so. Moving on, the champion proper:

Pico, The Gemini Blade

Tags: Assassin

Weaponry: 2 identical blades

Origins: Pico is a veritable demon to the Void, having fought hundreds of their ranks. But her goal in exterminating them is not fueled by any vengeance or hatred. It is fueled by her conviction that it is her role in life to hunt them down.

With Yordles having lost much of their vigor and happy-go-lucky attitude, they have also been prone to being more anti-social and lethargic. This was very true of Pico when she was young whom, being small even to other yordles, was constantly frustrated with difficulties in finding her place in the world and asserting her age and intelligence to others, especially given her talents lied not in matters of science or technology, but in those of hunting and battle. Few ever disputed Pico's strength of endurance and speed, but Pico rarely tried to use those talents either. I wasn't until after she recovered from nearly being crushed under a building in an attack by void creatures that she truly tested her limits. But the hidden truth behind her recovery from that event was not Pico's tough body, but in her finding her true calling.

When the monsters attacked, Pico did not run in fear like most would have expected of her, but instead took up arms and fought back with a zeal not seen in a yordle since Ziggs used his first Mega Inferno Bomb. Upon entering that battle Pico felt nothing but the rush of adrenaline while fighting, and the sheer exhilaration from seeing the monsters fall. The stragglers clumsily crashing through buildings in their retreat is what actually nearly killed Pico in the first place, and in the short time it took for Pico to recover, she had a visitor. Saying he was a scout from Noxus, he mentioned he had seen her fight, and wanted to know if she would not only help track down the beasts who had fled, but to come on as part of an elite Noxian group that was charged with eradicating any other Void creatures they came across. Instead of answering him, she asked him a question in return,

"If you saw me fight, why would you think I'll say no?".

July 2015 MCCC section: (this MCCC requires Pico to have a vision that gives her reason to join one of the sides in the contest)(for now I'm only putting a note in of what the vision will be of)

rough draft: Pico is a full member of the Crimson Elite now but she has been consistently having a waking dream of her being introduced as Noxus' savior and is being cheered at by the crowd. but rather in adoration this time it is in anger. A yordle she can't see starts making cries of "traitor!" and as Pico begins to search for who is called her out she finds the crowd advancing on her but a huge flash in the distance marks the approach of a blast wave that shatters everything. (this is where I'll have to drop this for now but I should be able to finish this later on)

Abilities/Kit: Meant to reflect Pico's prowess at "monster hunting" but also highlight her unique dual-wielding playstyle.

Innate- "Zeal" Being away from a fight gets Pico anxious to get back into one, and even more eager to dish out the pain once there. While out of combat Pico gains stacks of "Zeal" that increase movement speed, which upon entering combat changes to increase attack speed for a few seconds until the effect wears off. Wait time--> 3 sec to start gaining stacks, 4 sec to gain each successive stack, 0 sec to convert bonus effects Movement speed bonus--> 1.5/2/2.5% per stack ~~bonus cap--> (10 stacks max) 15/20/25% Attack speed bonus--> 2/3.5/5% per stack ~~bonus cap--> (from 10 stacks) 20/35/50% Duration--> 5 sec for the attack speed bonus (all stacks fall off at that point) Buff applies to--> levels 1-6/7-13/14-18

Gameplay notes: The ability is great for both engage and disengage, but is better used for engaging on the enemy from the attack speed buff. The synergy with all of the basic abilities is the key to this power as each ability can benefit from either part of the buff given the right items.

Q- "Driven Blade" Pico attacks with purpose, always trying to aim for her opponent's weak point. Pico can also send forth one weapon with such force it lodges into enemies, crippling them and reduces their ability to heal. Critical strike chance gain--> 2/4/6/8/10% bonus per stack (additive amount) ~~bonus cap--> (max 5 stacks on any single target) 10/20/30/40/50% Buff duration--> 3 sec (not per stack)(resets on hit) Physical damage--> Base attack damage (+100% bonus AD) (this can critically strike) Skillshot range--> 800 units length, 160 width Slow amount--> 20% Grievous wounds/slow duration--> 3 sec Cost--> 70/65/60/55/50 energy Cooldown--> 7 sec (passive effect disabled while on CD)

Gameplay notes: While the active obviously can't be used on towers, the passive effect works nicely in getting high damage in for just a few hits. This also is combo-ed well with the Innate and with spellblade from Trinity Force or Iceborn Gauntlet, especially if you have built at least 50% critical strike chance from other items as the main passive can quickly get you to max stacks and then casting this spell can set up a nice "one-two" KO on weak targets.

W- "Steadfast Will" Pico creates a shield around her that while active also allows her attacks to restore her. Killing enemies while the shield is active also restores a portion of the shield. Shield strength--> 70/105/140/175/210 (+80% AP) Shield return on kill--> 20/30/40/50/60 (half on minion/monster kill) (does not restore above max shield strength) Life steal bonus--> 15/17/21/23/25% Energy return on hit--> 20 Buff duration--> 5 sec (regardless of shield amount) Cost--> 60 energy Cooldown--> 17/15.5/14/12.5/11 sec

Gameplay notes: A balancing tool to Pico's arsenal, whether it is used to assault or just sustain is dependent on your build and the situation you are faced with. Again items like Iceborn Gauntlets or Trinity Force work well with this ability as the AP helps to increase the shields strength while the activating of the spellblade effect helps to keep the shield amount high while laning/camp clearing. However building items like Infinity Edge can also keep the shield strength high just by aiding in taking down champions when dueling them or in teamfights.

E- "Double Spin" Given a few seconds to build up strength, Pico can then whirl her swords around and send a wave of force out, dealing physical damage and knocking up any enemy hit by the attack. At full charge, Pico will swing her swords twice, dealing double the base damage but increasing the CD. Damage--> base 75/100/125/150/175 (+50% bonus AD) ~~full charge damage--> 150/200/250/300/350 (+100% bonus AD) AoE--> 0 to 400 unit radius, increases 100 units each second for 4 sec Knock-up time--> 1 second Channel time--> 5, 4 sec to channel and the last sec to hold full charge (channel cannot be cancelled, only ended early) Speed reduction while channeling--> 25% Cost--> 90 energy (taken when channel is broken from casting) Cooldown--> 20/18/16/14/12 sec (+1/2/3/4/5 sec if used at full charge) (extra time unaffected by CD reduction)

Gameplay notes: A very high reward ability it is great for charging up to clear waves or camps out but doing so puts you at risk of being ganked or counter jungled while you have no hard cc. At the same time a well played Deviant can be a perfect tool to add to a "wombo combo" by using your passive and ult to rush into a grouped up enemy team and just devastate them. There is a difficulty however in effectively using the ability if your opponent has better positioning or can kite easily. A useful tactic in countering this is if you go to duel someone, and you don't use quick cast, you can simply double tap the spell to start and stop the channel just long enough to get the minimum range out and knock them up while you then use your Q and W to out sustain them. The damage may be less for this playstyle, but with high CD reduction you will be able to spam the hard CC more often and get more damage in overall because of it (though this is still less effective on high range opponents).

R- "Phantom Pain" Pico draws both swords together, fades into the shadows and readies to deal a deadly final blow. If the blow really does kill, then Pico will fade back into the shadows afterwards, for a few seconds. Damage increase of next auto attack--> 100/150/200% (applied before critical strike damage) Duration of buff--> 1/1.5/2 sec initial invisibility, empowered attack has 3 sec duration to land, 5/6/7 sec of secondary invisibility if empowered attack kills Cost--> o energy Cooldown--> 120/105/90 sec (half time if attack isn't used)

Gameplay notes: Pico's ultimate finisher. The idea is that with this ability you can strike an enemy from the behind and take them down before the even knew what hit them. While this power can only be used on a champion, it does pose an incredibly threat to anyone who tries to 1v1 you, because if you proc your Driven Blade passive to max on a person this ability means instant death from that 6th attack. Personally I'd want the ability to fully reset on kill (which I would reduce the damage buff if I did that) but then it would be too similar to Darius' own R. At least I've been told that before. Regardless the ability is perfect for momentarily disengaging from a fight to re-position and then rush back in for a surprise attack. This is especially true if you bait the enemy into wasting damage on Steadfast Will", then when that breaks you use your ult to sneak up into the middle of the enemy and double tap "Deviant" to disable the carries before you use the attack buff to finish them off. A note that you should have your "Driven Blade" off CD and already stacked on your chosen target for maximum execution. That way if they somehow survive and flash away you have a way to catch up to/re-attempt to execute them. If you are using your ult to pick off a lone enemy, you should make sure to note whether they can get any back-up. Because while your main passive can help you chase them down lane, it will not help if you lose the speed to a minion wave or your hard cc be on CD when the teleporting top laner or adc comes knocking.

Champion Stats:

Health--> 574.5 (+77 per level) (max 1883.5 at lvl 18) ~~regen--> 7.06 (+0.63 per level) (max 17.77 at lvl 18) Energy--> 200 ~~regen--> 50 Attack damage--> 59.5 (+3.5 per level) (max 119 at lvl 18) Attack speed--> 0.678 (+3% per level) (max 1.024 at lvl 18 with +51%) Attack range--> 125 Movement speed--> 335 Armor--> 24.5 (+3.5 per level) (max 84 at lvl 18) Magic resist--> 32.1 (+1.25 per level) (max 53.4 at lvl 18)

Timeline: 12/06-->12/07 (way too late in the evening now morning technically) Post of the champ made. Yaaaaazzzzzz............zzzzzzz........zzzzzzz.......zzzzzzz 12/07 Arranged placeholders for champion and ability stats. (for those wanting to vote please bear with me, I'm very methodical about this stuff) 12/09 Added names and numbers to abilities, all of which are pending much change (especially the names). Also adjusted lore to be ore in depth, still needs work though. 12/14 Again with the being up too late to be doing this thing. But abilities have been revised both in name and stats. And lore may have a final iteration, depending on feedback. 12/15 Before midnight but still fairly late update. Champion stats and some ability stats have been added according to energy cost basis. Additionally small changes have been made to ultimate for clarification and to W, which was completely redone last update, to have energy return. 12/21 Surprisingly at a decent time in the afternoon. Full stats have now been given to all abilities, with a rework given to "Deviant" (now temporarily renamed "double spin") to put a greater focus on ad builds and allow for more synergy to the rest of the kit. (now if I can just put this much effort into the lore...) (now in 2015) 07/11 Finally coming back to the boards and looked at my champion to know I need to update it. Plus I'm adding Pico to the 2015 July MCCC. Specifically I've got a new section devoted to Pico's joining of the "good guys" in the lore of the contest.

20 Comments

Vbunnie12/14/2014, 6:03:52 AM2 votes

I also have changed my opinion on the passive and like it and approve of it.

Vbunnie12/12/2014, 8:49:20 AM2 votes

Ok review on:

Lore: I would suggest clarifying it to make it fit the current contest standards. Not saying it is bad but it does need some more detail and stuff....so yeah.....

Passive: Interesting I like how this passive builds into the rest of your kit. This is like amazing the combos are awesome

Q: Interesting skill. Now I am assuming this champion is ranged as the name suggests it but since all I get is "weapon" I do not know. I would suggest the name be changed or that you specify what a "weapon" is. Now the skill itself are the stacks gained on basic attack per basic attack or by some other method. Again not specified. If you are in fact a ranged champion I would suggest doing one of two things. taking the first part of the ability and turning it into a passive that upon a certain amount of stacks the ability can be reactivated and turned into an ability which the passive is lost while it is on cooldown, or the ability feed into the passive stacks. Or route number two would provide for it to be two active abilities. For a duration allow basic attacks to increase in crit chance in the form of stacks and then allow for a second activation to releive these stats at the end of the first abilities cooldown. Allowing for a constant (either increased crit chance (for a cost) or free cast ability). This would provide for a lot better skillset and would help clarify the issue you have with the current ability which is a lack of specification as to how it works.

W: Cool I dont hate sounds like a good ability to me. I just want those numbers. You know me I love me some numbers.

E: I would suggest renaming this ability as it sounds dumb. It works but how is it different then Vi's ability where she jumps in doing almost the exact same thing? Not saying it doesnt work it does I would just do something to clarify how the two are different.

R: Seven seconds is a lot of invisibility but I would say this works pretty well with the rest of the kit and seems appropriate.

Tannhäuser Gate12/15/2014, 11:35:59 PM2 votes

This might just be me, but i feel as though pico should use energy instead of mana as pico feels very ninja-esque

KasroctheGreat12/16/2014, 1:29:55 AM2 votes

I'm really feeling this concept!

Usually when I see people make champion concepts they always overload the kit and you didn't do that, good job! His passive synergies well with how some assassins are played, like Katarina I can see him waiting outside the fight until his passive stacks build up then going in and taking out a target, ulting, then doing it again and I like it. My only issue is the range on his E. It might not seem like it but 500 is a very long range. Overall good job.

If you could, please check out my champion concept http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/skin-champion-concepts/oy9AABB2-champion-concept-kasroc-the-great

Have a nice day :D

Raptamei12/13/2014, 3:17:44 PM2 votes

Review:

Passive:

Fun, fun, fun. Reminds me of Sera's Back Alleys thing, except that was poison instead of AS. The ability to run between lanes quickly is still a ton of fun. The attack speed bonus could stand to be a little more effective, because 35% isn't really all that powerful, more like a nice bonus instead of something you actually care about; whereas 35% movement speed is actually very good, especially if you add boots of mobility.

Recommendation: Increase the AS bonus until the ability is good enough to define his playstyle. Nerf the movement speed if you must.

Q:

Passive is fine. It has some impact on itemisation and people hate crit, but they should just STFU. It's a valid passive. Active is Parrrley without the flat damage and a shorter range. Be very careful about the mana cost, because Parrrley is good enough to be Gangplank's entire laning proposition. The mana cost must be significant so you can't just gradually grind down someone's health in lane with no counterplay.

Recommendation: Add some depth to the active so you can't just derp on your Q key every time the opposing laner attempts to last hit. Perhaps it deals less damage if it travels through a minion, or doesn't travel through a minion, or at close range, etc.

W:

YOLO420SmokeGrenadeEveryDay. This is almost exactly the same as the Graves skill aside from not being ranged. By the way, the radius of a 300 unit AoE is 150 units, so I hope that was a typo because Xin's spear is 175 units.

Reducing sight range is largely useless for a melee champion, so this is mostly good for the slow - and it doesn't slow by that much because it's dropped at your feet so they are at least 125 units off centre to begin with and take about 0.5 seconds of slow before they are out of range.

Recommendation: Replace it for being an unoriginal copy.

E:

Well... this is almost exactly the same as Vi's dash except it takes longer to charge and has minimally different stats.

Recommendation: Play Vi.

R:

You can use this in the following ways:

  1. Use it in a 1v1 to evade damage and deliver a powerful burst followed by 3 seconds of invisibility.
  2. Run away for 7 seconds.
  3. Circle the battle for 7 seconds doing nothing and then killsteal someone for 3 seconds of invisibility.
  4. Sneak into a lane and burst someone's face off.

The balance between desirable and undesirable use is way off due to the massive 7 second invisibility. The healthy use case (1.) barely makes use of the 7 seconds at all and the 7 seconds only serve as reward for toxic play patterns: running away, stealing kills while preventing you from contributing in any other way, or being a super-pre-nerf-Rengar with heavy burst from invisibility and an additional gap closer.

There's also a clarity issue in that breaking stealth does not remove the damage buff. (As well as a counterplay issue. Can you kite for 7 seconds?)

Recommendation: Reduce 7 seconds to 1.5, increase 3 seconds to 7.

Gameplay:

W isn't ranged and doesn't do anything useful for a melee champion anyway. This leaves you with a strong if counterplay-less poke in lane, should you choose to not roam. If you do roam, forget the R reset and just press it when you come in to gank.

Those ganks, by the way, bypass sight wards, come in at 600+ speed with mobility boots and consist of a huge burst followed by a (minor) slow, a flurry of attacks, a dash, more attacks, and a ranged shot for good measure. No other champions can gank with this level of surprise and firepower; Eve and Rengar came closest but have been nerfed to oblivion for it.

He isn't really good at anything else, being melee dps with no defensive tools that aren't nullified by Just Pink Ward. All he does is gank and gank and gank and gank until the enemy team goes afk. This is why Shaco can't be buffed, and he's a much worse ganker than Pico.

Recommendation: Remove YOLO420SmokeGrenadeEveryDay and give him a defensive (or preferably evasive) tool. This 1. gets rid of his only cc so his ganks are less likely to succeed and 2. gives him a point beyond the laning phase.

The Red Goat12/21/2014, 9:40:57 PM1 votes

@Raptamei: Thanks for the feedback but I would ask what you mean when you reference PRNG?

@everyone: Voting is up for grabs. I can't seem to change the original poll so it is just stuck saying to "wait if not finished".

Raptamei12/21/2014, 9:46:43 PM1 votes

Pseudo-RNG. Starts out low, each time you fail your roll, it goes up. Increases the skill cap because you can charge it up on creeps and after a streeak of no crits, attack the enemy hero.

The Red Goat12/29/2014, 3:58:23 PM1 votes

@Raptamei: Not sure if it matters by now, but I should have stated a while back that the passive of "Driven Blade" works like Warwick's Innate. It will only stack on the target Pico is attacking, not on her. If she switches targets then she loses all stacks on that target and starts to build them on another one. Like she is building focus on analyzing where her opponent's weaknesses are but if she changes whom she is focusing on then she has to start over.

Like having ADHD and going either tunnel vision on your target or else you are constantly watching everything at once everywhere to see an opening for a kill.

Tamur12/29/2014, 4:24:39 PM1 votes

Review trade http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/skin-champion-concepts/Iybn7OHF-adan-the-devoted-defender I get to your after I finish waking up.

Tamur12/29/2014, 5:41:03 PM1 votes

I really like her as a whole. Good lore & interesting kit

The Red Goat1/3/2015, 5:05:48 AM1 votes

This is just a mention on my own thread for the sake of the contest connected to it that I have reviewed VBunnie's Heidi the Wrangler and Raptamei's Kra the Historian.

Kamiroo Wolf7/1/2015, 4:42:52 PM1 votes

Yo, bro!

Just wanted to let you know that, for the MCCC, it'd be appreciated if you could clean up the thread just a bit(a few bolds here and a couple “>boxes" there) as well as include the 2015 July lore challenge.

Kamiroo Wolf7/22/2015, 2:36:49 AM1 votes

Yo Goat!

The MCCC lore challenge is up! You'll be fighting against Messala, Shadow Of The Emporer in the Kumungu Jungle!

Vbunnie12/7/2014, 8:02:42 AM1 votes

I might be able to accept this passive but I need numbers before I decide for sure..... So put me down as a maybe....

Kamiroo Wolf7/30/2015, 9:52:12 PM1 votes

Sup, Goat!

Here are the results of your champion's judgements:

Lore: 14/20 points Theme: 10/15 points LAS(Lore Ability Synergy): 8/15 points Abilities/Kit: 15/20 points Creativity: 8/15 Kit Cohesion Synergy: 10/10

+0 From secret lore challenge! ;-;

Overall Score: 65/95 points!

Great effort! Just wished you would be more involved and flesh out the lore a bit more! The Yordle killer concept is, unfortunately, not very original these days, but it's still a pretty good take on a blade wielding Yordle.

Vbunnie12/9/2014, 3:10:36 AM1 votes

The first concept was much better this new concept doesnt really work and as it is now written i dont think i am ok with the passive on this very different champion

Dis The Chris12/15/2014, 11:31:57 PM1 votes

So for a quick review!

Zeal - Personally I love this as a tool in both engaging and disengaging ability for Pico, personally - basing on what I read, it basically means after attacking someone, Pico can gain a charge of Zeal for not attacking. This passive itself might need a bit more introduction on how it actually works as a Jungler/Ganker-type of Champion, Pico can deal devastating DPS/Burst Damage whenever roaming. I would personally suggest that after attacking, Zeal has a 8 second timer that allows Pico to gain up to 2 charges of Zeal if she does not attack for a duration OR if you wish to go another route, I would suggest allowing that once Zeal DOES activate (converting movement speed bonus to attack speed) decays overtime instead of a flat 5 second of a possible 100% attackspeed.

Driven Blade - I like how this works but the fact it can critically strike while at the same time, inflicts Grievous Wounds and a Slow makes it that enemy players having difficulty to retaliate when repeatedly assaulted. Given the cooldown, it is good enough to balance it out so no problems here.

Steadfast Will - Personally love this ability (yet again), it is a unique Barrier mechanic that encourages either killing / kiting or simply for defensive purposes. Although without numbers, I cannot tell if this is good or bad, but I would assume killing an enemy champion grants a higher shield recovery than that of a minion. Also provides a decent amount of shield when defending your base. Love it.

Deviant - Can't say much but a unique mechanic as well incorporating both magic and physical damage in one while dividing the areas of effect into two. A decent crowd control as well so +1 here.

Phantom Pain - Right now, I'm rather iffy about this ability, with the lack or limited availability of Invisible-granting Items/Potions. But I do have a bit of clarification, by you mean Initial Stealth is the time they need to become fully stealth? and for Re-Stealth, does that mean they have that X seconds before going to stealth or is that the entire duration? If not, I would suggest placing an actual Stealth Duration and a flat second before entering stealth and a note that states that entering Phantom Pain once more extends the duration for X seconds (or continues with the remaining duration).

So far, personally - I just looked on the abilities, Lore might be next but so far I'm good with the champion, works best as a Jungler/Assassin/Burst/demon-thingy champion.

If you have time, please give a review for my entry as well! Kaosu the Ionia's Harbinger

The Red Goat12/16/2014, 5:29:34 AM1 votes

Thank you all thus far for your wonderful feedback! While I cannot guarantee any specific time to get back to you on reviews I will do so when I can get the time.

Incidentally, if Pico feels "very ninja-esque", it is because she is based of a ninja character, but the energy resource idea was also very helpful.

Raptamei12/21/2014, 10:47:17 AM1 votes

Ok, the forums are broken in half. The first post is now a giant block of unformatted text and no replies show up. Sigh.

Oh well.

Q The crit change to Dota style PRNG is perfect, and the change to a skillshot needed to happen, but the skillshot may be a wee bit too short ranged. 600 range on a skillshot is actually not the same as 600 auto attack range, but more like 500. Caitlyn Annie Tristana Jinx are already out of range, while about 20 champions may or may not be out of range depending on the size of their hitbox. For comparison's sake, 600 range is Talon W.

W I'm not sure why this would be used "offensively or defensively". It's a shield with lifesteal and the shield goes before the lifesteal does, so you waste more than half of the ability if you don't go ham. It's an offensive skill 100%.

The shield return on kill is dubious: in a teamfight this is hard to plan around (will someone die within the next 5 seconds?), but in lane you can just kill tons of creeps to fuel your shield and turtle Morde style. Perhaps make it only trigger when you get a kill or assist on an enemy champion?

E Great tank ability. I don't think using it for initiation purposes is going to fly though, all they have to do is hit you once and you're slowed by 25% instead of sped up by 25%. You could always go ER...E though.

R I hope "restealth time" means the duration of the second stealth and not how long it takes before it kicks in (Twitch). Other than that, the numbers are much better now!

Gameplay He is no longer an assassin, but a dps bruiser. High uptime slow, shield, lifesteal, free damage steroid and AoE knockup from stealth for initiation purposes. He has exactly the same health as Azir, but roughly the same armor as Wukong, so he'll be fine. His stats and kit remind me of Sion actually.

I'm fine with this, because Riot is incapable of balancing invisible assassins, but perhaps it is not the original intention.

Do get rid of his dual scaling. At best, this suggests Nashor/Lichbane; alternatively and much less preferably, the player may decide that spending tons of money on split items just to buff abilities while getting free AA damage from the Q passive anyway is less useful than getting CDR tank items and using more abilities while not dying as quickly.