Orianna = The Lady of Clockwork?

This is a re-post from the original post on General Discussion.

Okay so Orianna is my main and I wanted to talk about her for a bit here. I wanted to specifically talk about Orianna's identity and what sorts of things are weak with it right now. I also wanted to offer ideas for how she can have more development as a character. When I look at a champion like Jhin, it is easy to compare the two from a design standpoint.

Jhin -- the Virtuoso , you can almost see his kit based off of just the title he was given. The reason I bring him up is because I think Jhin is one of the best designed champions in all of League of Legends, there is just so much synergy behind the character himself(backstory) and his kit. Virtuoso means one who is a master in an art such at music or theater, so one would think maybe his kit is methodical or slow and relies on setting up kills almost like a "performance", maybe his abilities being rhythmic in nature. He has a four shot auto attack almost like 4 beats in a measure when it comes to music-playing, and it suits Jhin's character in that the last note hits the hardest, almost like trying to give the listener goosebumps. His E works to set up the stage and his Q bounces onto 4 targets, again adding to the rhythmic nature of the abilities. His W works to set up kills from a long distance and his ultimate is literally Curtain Call, making a stage of the rift itself for him. There is just so much synergy, playing him makes you FEEL like a virtuoso.

Now for Orianna -- The Lady of Clockwork , what about her makes her clockwork? She is made of clockwork...okay...fine, definitely not as cool but alright. You can just tell me she is made of clockwork but nothing about her kit has to do with clockwork or clocks? Zyra is the Rise of the Thorns because it really does feel like she has a garden of plants growing around her, it feels involved. I look at Orianna and her passive is just a three-hit rising damage passive called Clockwork Windup. It does not give me the idea of her being "The Lady of Clockwork" at all. Do any of her abilities follow the clockwork pattern? W is the only thing I can think of, with a loophole being she slows down time for enemies and speeds up time for allies (not literally but movement speed). Just those two abilities don't really set her up as a champion very much, not to the extent of some of the other mages or even champions.

I wanted to look at Orianna to give her more of an identity, to make her even MORE fun to play. At first, I thought why not give her a treatment like reverse Kalista? Well Kalista has a jumping mechanic after every auto attack, so why doesn't Orianna do a ballet hop in a specific direction after every ability used? Orianna is, according to lore, a dancer. It makes sense she could have that be a part of her kit, you may have to play with numbers a bit to make it balanced, but a small hop after every ability used could be nice for her identity.

That still does not address the clockwork problem. First off, I don't think she should be the lady of clockwork anyway, I think "The Singularity" is a better title for her. She is two champions combined into one, a combination of two with a robotic twist. The term singularity is usually associated with a combination of biology and technology, so it cannot be an uncanny idea to have Orianna's title be "The Singularity". She is both two champions made into one and a recreation of her former self (Orianna Reveck when she was alive).

Putting the dancing change and the title change to "The Singularity" in place, I think she does not need more changes beyond that, her identity is then consistent. Now, if you insist on keeping her as "The Lady of Clockwork", then she may need a couple more changes or just scrap both of those ideas and here is a new one.

Why not make the passive a little bit more complex? There could be a passive like clockwork windup where after the auto attacks have been stacking on the same target, she uses a specific ability, and the windup stacks are consumed to give an added effect on that auto attack. For example, after she stacks up her auto attacks, then uses Q, the next auto attack on a target deals an extra burst of damage. After the windup stacks are consumed, it needs to rewind again (cooldown). Perhaps consuming stacks using a W + auto attack will provide an extra slow to the enemy on that auto attack. Consuming stacks using a E + AA will prolong the shield given to Orianna. Lastly, consuming stacks using R + AA will maybe tug the enemy towards Orianna kind of like a Kled Q.

Now why do I think the above change is really nice? It adds a ton of complexity behind her as a champion, and now she requires a ton of timing to make sure the correct auto attack goes off at the right time. It now encourages usage of the full kit of the champion that is Orianna, being one that weaves auto attacks with abilities. It teaches you how to use the champion, because the way to utilize her to her fullest is to use her auto attacks with her abilities. Like I said, she is two champions put into one. Again you would have to play with values to make it balanced, but I think these changes are good for her identity.

At first, I thought about maybe she needs a new mechanic with her ball. Perhaps her position relative to the ball can work sort of like a clock face and at a specific time with that position, she does extra auto attack damage or gets empowered somehow. I figured this would be a bit too complex a mechanic to implement and learn, so I don't think she really needs this change.

Orianna doesn't need changes right now, there are way more champions that need reworks more than her. There is a rework schedule for champions right now and every champion is slowly getting more and more of an identity added to them and their lore which is super nice. I just wanted to put forth some ideas for when Orianna's time would come. I love Orianna's kit and mechanics, hell that's why I main her, but I just feel like her character isn't being fully utilized. She is such a cool concept and definitely deserves more development, in my opinion. This was not meant to be a talk about her not having unique mechanics, I know she does, this was a talk more about identity.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it! :)