Al'Thir, The Time-Lost

Short description Al'Thir is meant to be a very versatile champion that can function either as a mage or an assassin. Of course, he is not a top-tier mage OR assassin. His strength comes from his ability to switch roles at the click of a button. Al'Thir uses a unique resource called Sands of Time, which depletes rapidly but also regenerates quickly after a few moments of inactivity. This means that Al'Thir always has to be very mindful of how he uses his abilities, especially during the later stages of the game. The player has to really plan ahead and devise ways to make use of Al'Thir's opportunistic nature.

Visual Al'Thir is a human man of medium height with short black hair, blue eyes and a tan complexion. He wears very light armor and baggy clothes. His only weapon is a long dagger with a golden hilt. Think Prince of Persia (as you'll see he's very inspired by the main character). For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about http://www.petshopboxstudio.com/blog-upload/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Prince-of-Persia-by-Foster.jpg Source : http://petshopboxstudio.com/blog/inspiration/best-prince-of-persia-illustrations/

Lore Haven't really fleshed out his lore yet, which is quite unusual for me. I like the kit but nothing inspires me. At first I wanted him to have a very tenuous link to Zilean, but that doesn't really fit his desert-dweller or sand thematics. Right now I'm trying to find a story behind how he got hold of his dagger. Maybe he's Sivir's brother/cousin and he encountered Azir and because he's from Azir's bloodline the emperor gave him something? I dunno. Would appreciate the help :D

Abilities

If you just want to read his abilities and not my own thoughts on them, just read the text that's in quotation boxes (or whatever the hell you call those).

Al'Thir sort of has 2 kits in one. His normal one is played more like a mage with medium-long range. His secondary kit works more like an assassin's. You can temporarily access the secondary kit by using his signature ability, Alter Time. Also, something very important : using an ability in one mode puts its equivalent on cooldown. Ex : Using Q2 (which has a 6 seconds cooldown) puts Q1 (1 second cooldown) on cooldown for 6 seconds.

Note that all numbers are just there to give a general idea of the power of each ability

Passive - The Sands of Time Al’Thir’s dagger holds up to 100 sands of time. The sands only regenerate if Al’Thir has not used a spell in the last 6/4/2 seconds (values at level 1/6/11). They regenerate at a rate of 35 per second.

So his passive is a short explanation of his resource. What he gets from his passive is the change in how quickly the sands start regenerating. His resource is fairly simple : he can cast a few spells (more if he uses his signature ability correctly), but he then needs to be inactive for a while to regain some Sands. I'll be honest, I'm a bit worried about how strong this would make his laning phase. However, I think during team fights this creates very interesting decision points.

Q - Blazing Sands Cost: 15 sands of time Cooldown: 1 second Range: 800 Width: 60 Missile Speed: 1300 Al’Thir slashes the air with his dagger, sending forward a wave of burning sands that deals 40/75/110/145/180 (+50% ability power) magic damage to all enemies it passes through and leaving a Scalding Wound for up to 3 seconds. Enemies affected by Scalding Wound take 25% bonus damage from Blazing Sands. This effect stacks up to 2 times.

This is what might be problematic with his kit. Free harass/pushing all day. I created Scalding Wounds mainly to counteract that. Hitting one Q on an enemy champion didn't cost you much in terms of resources or efforts, so it should not be very rewarding. However, landing several Qs in a short window of time does require some skill and commitment so you're rewarded for it. IMO the damage and damage amplification of Scalding Wounds are great way to tune his damage to be good but not overwhelming.

Point of reference for the width of the skill : It's as large as Mundo's Q (the nerfed width, not the old one)

Altered Q - Time’s Decaying Gaze Cost: 20 sands of time Cooldown: 6 seconds Range: 400 Al’Thir accelerates the degeneration of his target, dealing 90/135/180/225/270 (+75% ability power) magic damage over 3 seconds. Each stack of Scalding Wound reduces the duration of Time’s Decaying Gaze by 1 second.

Not sure about the CC or Scalding Wound interaction. Thoughts? At first this ability used to do damage based on current health so it wouldn't combo well with his normal Q, which is used mostly for poking. The goal was to really differentiate both kits, but well skills that deal damage based on health have a history of being annoying and I've decided I want both kits to work well together.

W - Quicksand Cost: 20 sands of time Cooldown: 10/9/8/7/6 seconds Range: 600 Area of Effect: 400 Al’Thir gathers the sands of time in an area. Enemies in the area are slowed by 20%/25%/30%/35%/40%. After 1 second, the sands ignite, dealing 60/100/140/180/220 (+60% ability power) magic damage. Enemies farther away from the center take up to 40% more damage. All enemies hit are silenced for 1.5 second.

This is the main's kit only source of CC and I've decided to give this ability an interesting twist. Al'Thir is all about decision making... What about forcing his enemies to think too? If you know you can't get out of the area quickly enough do you move towards the center to lower the damage you'll take and compromise your positioning or do you run away from Al'Thir and take increased damage?

Altered W - Aftermath Cost: 20 sands of time Cooldown: 8 seconds Range: 400 Area of Effect: 400 Al’Thir twists the time stream to turn his target’s power against it. If the target has used an ability within the last 2/2.5/3/3.5/4 seconds the energy explodes around it, dealing 60/100/140/180/220 (+60% ability power) magic damage. For every ability beyond the first used within 2/2.5/3/3.5/4 seconds the damage is increased by 20/30/40/50/60 (+20% ability power) magic damage.

When I say Al'Thir should be played as an opportunist I really mean it. His mage kit is designed to allow him to sit back and poke at decent but not overwhelming range. Then, when you see an occasion to shine, you pop Alter Time and go in as an assassin. If you see your enemy has just spammed many abilities, it's the perfect time to go in, avoid retaliation AND deal damage.

E - Alter Time Cost: 10 sands of time + 5 sands of time per second Cooldown: 12/11/10/9/8 seconds Leash Range: 1500 Al’Thir alters his own time flow for a short period. When he reactivates this ability or when he runs out of sands of time, he is transported back to where he was when he first used Alter Time. His health and sands of time are also reset to what they were. If Al’Thir moves too far away from his initial position, Alter Time ends without repositioning him or resetting his health and sands of time. While Alter Time is active, Al’Thir gains 60%/70%/80%/90%/100% bonus movement speed, ignores unit collision and gains a new set of abilities.

This is Al'Thir's most important ability, obviously. When Al'Thir uses it, it leaves behind a sand effect on the ground that is visible to both teams (like LeBlanc's W) and he becomes shrouded in sands. Bonus movement speed is probably too high, but then again he is very very weak to targeted CC due to the short-ranged nature of his assassin kit. Also, this ability is NOT meant to be used as an escape tool when YOU are being ganked but considering how fast he can go I think it might be too easy to outrun the range where Alter Time breaks and just get away. Should I just make it so when he goes too far Alter Time ends and he is put back to his initial position, maybe without resetting his HP and sands of time?

R - Shape Fate Cost: 50 sands of time Cooldown: 120/100/80 seconds Range: 600 Area of Effect: 400 Delay: 0.5 second Al’Thir ensures the demise of his enemies. Enemies are cursed for the next 3 seconds. Each second, they take magic damage equal to 10%/15%/20% (+1% per 100 ability power) of the damage they have taken since being cursed.

Not sure about this ability. It's probably too powerful, but it's meant as kind of a fall-back option if he's behind. Most mages have some utility that makes them much less feast and famine than other classes. This is what his R is supposed to accomplish. If you have any other idea for another ulti throw 'em at me. Oh and btw, the damage taken from Shape Fate's earlier ticks does increase the damage taken by latter ones. The delay means the amount of time the ability takes to activate once you use it. It's not the cast time. Imagine Cho'Gath's Q. He casts the ability and you see a red circle for a while before the spikes actually pop up. Same thing here. As a point of reference. Karthus' Q has a 0.6 delay.

Altered R - Time-Lost Cost: 50 sands of time Cooldown: 120/100/80 seconds Range: 400 Al’Thir rips the target champion from its time line and displaces it to where he was when he first cast Alter Time. This immediately ends Alter Time. If the target is an enemy, it takes 150/225/300 (+60% ability power) magic damage.

Again, this ability favors a very opportunistic playstyle. Is the enemy carry within reach and the enemy team just wasted CC? Go in, snatch their carry and murder it. You even get a ride back into your own team! Note the very high cost on it. If you use E and you want to use Q, W and R you need to be right next to your target and combo them very quickly. More than likely, you'll need to choose between Q and W or even just cast R. Finally, yes, this ability can be used on allies.

Base stats

Al'Thir is a ranged champion, but he has 100 less range than most ranged champions. In case you're wondering, his attack animation would be him throwing his dagger. Of course, it's always back in his hand the moment he throws it ;)

Health: 425 (+84 per level) Health regen: 5.5 (+0.65 per level) Sands of Time: 100 Attack Range: 450 Attack Damage: 50.5 (+2.75 per level) Attack Speed: 0.625 (+2.6% per level) Armor: 20.5 (+3.25 per level) Magic Resistance: 30 Movement Speed: 335

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. The main goal was to create a champion whose kit would feel very unique and fun to play as and against. Also trying to make it not too hard to balance lol

EDIT: Removed the stun on Q2, didn't realize it was still there :|