[Champion Concept] Tricky, The Trap Master

SulkingKING··10 votes·1,230 views

Name: Laurence "Tricky" Nix Role: Melee Support/Assassin, Jungler Origin: Bandle City

Laurence Nix is a yordle who traps bountied targets to sell live for profit across Runeterra. He'll hunt for targets from Poros of unusual size, to escaped prisoners, to the creatures of the void. He has an entire arsenal of different traps for different situations.

Passive - Trick: Every two skills used by Tricky causes his next basic attack to taunt an enemy for 1(+0.08 per level) seconds, causing them to follow him and basic attack him (for reduced damage) for the duration.

Q - Elemental Trap: Upon first activation, four markers will appear over Tricky's head. Each marker represents a different element and effect for the trap he will place upon second activation. The trap is placed where he is standing upon second activation. All traps do some damage and are fully visible. Fire: A fire trap will cause enemy champions or jungle monsters who step on it to burn, dealing [X] magic damage per second to the enemy for a few seconds. Ice: An ice trap will cause enemy champions or jungle monsters who step on it to freeze in place, stunning them and slowing them after the stun ends. Lightning: A shock trap will cause any enemy who steps on it to take damage that chains up to 6 times to nearby enemies. Wind: A gust trap will cause any enemy who steps on it to be knocked up. The effect can hit enemies close to the trap as well as the enemy who triggers it.

W - Repellant/Lure: Allows Tricky to place a lure onto any trap (including allied traps, and enemy traps), which charms enemy champions and jungle monsters who come close to the trap. Placing a second lure onto a trap will cause it to become repellant, fearing enemies who come close instead. (Enemy traps will still hurt allies, and do not hurt enemies, only cause charm/fear effect)Enemies who have been affected by Lure recently cannot be reaffected by a second Lure, but can be affected by Repellant-- the same goes in reverse. If two separate Tricky players use this ability on one trap, it turns into a repellant for the one who used the ability last on the same trap. Additionally Tricky's traps now have trackers on them, granting vision of targets who trigger his traps. (Does not affect allied traps)

E - Auto Snare: Tricky plants a trap at a target location within range which, after a two second delay, arms itself and charges at enemies who come near it. On hit, the trap will deal physical damage and snare the target hit. If this trap is stepped on before it arms itself, it will be disarmed and have no effect.

R - Elaborate Setup: Tricky links nearby traps together using a rope trap. If an enemy steps over the rope, or triggers one of the traps, the traps linked will all fly towards the target and trigger, dealing all of their effects. Tricky can link up to three separate traps this way. The rope used is stealthed, but the traps are still visible. If tricky links an Auto Snare trap with a non-mobile trap and it moves out of range of the linked trap, the link will be broken (the link will move with the trap until it breaks or is triggered). Tricky can only select two targets per use to link, so a triple linked trap requires two uses of Elaborate Setup to do. Elaborate Setup can be used on allied traps, as well as his own.

Tricky's traps are normally not considered projectiles, but when Elaborate Setup is triggered, traps flying towards a target ARE considered projectiles and can be blocked by abilities that do so. None of Tricky's traps stealth themselves. Each trap type has a separate look: Fire traps have a red gem in the center, Ice traps have a blue gem in the center, Shock traps have a yellow gem in the center, Gust traps have a green gem in the center, Auto Snare traps have a blinking purple light in the center. Enemy Tricky traps can be determined by a slight red tint.

Utilizing your position between your enemy, you, and your traps is critical. If you do it wrong you're going to have a bad time. However, if you do this correctly and are able to lead enemies into stepping over your traps with well placed repellants and lures, your taunt, and general baiting, it'll be a swell game for you. Unlike most melee champions, tricky doesn't do well if he just charges in without a second thought and requires planning. If you can set up a grouping of traps in a place where your enemy may run to during a gank, even out of your own lane, you'll have assisted or even gotten yourself a kill as doing so blocks off a path for the enemy to pass through. Tricky can be used effectively as both a support for his teammates, and a solo champion as he can lock down even multiple opponents by himself if he plans correctly.

Combinations utilizing Elaborate Setup: (assuming all traps hit the target) Fire and Ice- Using a single Fire trap and a single Ice trap together causes the target to be stunned for a shorter duration than a single ice trap on its own, burn, and be slowed after the stun ends. Fire and Fire- Using two Fire traps causes double the burning damage. Ice and Ice- Using two Ice traps extends the stun, but does not extend the slow. Shock and Shock- Using two Shock trap still chains to 6 targets per trap (potential 12 targets), and essentially does double damage. Gust and Gust- Same effect as one trap, increased width of knock up effect to increase possible amount of targets hit. Ice and Gust- Using one Ice trap and a Gust trap causes the targets affected by the Gust trap to be frozen and slowed. Gust and Fire- Causes the targets affected by the Gust trap to burn. Gust and Shock- Causes all targets affected by the Gust trap to shock each target once and each shock bounces once to another target. Shock and Ice- All targets affected by Shock are frozen and slowed. Shock and Fire- All targets affected by Shock also burn. Shock, Shock, Shock- Hits up to 18 targets, can bounce between targets already hit. Fire, Fire, Fire- Does 3x the burn to a single target. Ice, Ice, Ice- Freezes for "Ice+Ice" amount, and has increased slow. Gust, Gust, Gust- Has enough width to fill a lane from side to side, increasing possible targets hit. Gust, Gust, Fire/Ice/Shock- Does normal burn/freeze/shock + Gust and Gust width. Fire, Fire, Gust/Ice/Shock- Does normal knockup/freeze/shock + 2x burn damage to targets affected. Ice, Ice, Gust/Fire/Shock- Does normal knockup/burn/shock + increased stun to targets affected. Shock, Shock, Fire- Does normal burn damage + Hits up to 12 targets. Shock, Shock, Ice- Does normal freeze and slow + Hits up to 12 targets. Shock, Shock, Gust- Normal knockup width + bounces twice to targets affected by Gust and can bounce between targets already hit. Gust, Fire, Ice- Freezes all affected by Gust for reduced duration and slows after stun, as well burning all targets affected. Fire, Ice, Shock- Freezes all effected by Shock for a reduced duration and slows after stun, as well burning all targets affected. Fire, Shock, Gust- Burns all targets ONCE affected by both Shock and Gust, shock bounces between targets once who are affected by Gust. Ice, Shock, Gust- Freezes all targets ONCE affected by both Shock and Gust, Shock bounces between targets one who are affected by Gust, slows after Freeze ends. Auto Snare/Allied traps- There are no bonuses for Auto Snares, or Allied Traps, only elemental mixes.

13 Comments

gyzmotech1 votes

i love the idea of this we need more trap setting champions but i think he will need at least 1 basic ability that isn't a trap so he's doesn't rely fully on them stepping/getting near the trap. unless some of them activate on champions themselves with no wait period then this would be perfect.

SulkingKING1 votes

The Elemental Traps have no delay like Auto Snare does. The idea of him is to be a difficult champion which has a weakness towards poor planning and direct encounters with champions who have a range advantage on him. The range advantage can be countered with smart usage of Lure/Repellant, as well as wise use of Auto Snares (being an ability similar to Caitlyn's Yordle trap but with mobility.)

Say you're in top lane as him for some reason versus someone like Ashe, since you're a melee champion with no direct way to attack a range, you'll want to either stay back, or out of sight. By utilizing the three top bushes, you can set up one man ambushes with auto snares and Elemental traps: setting up one Lure on either an ice trap or a gust trap in the middle bush and one to two auto snares in the bushes beside it will cause the Ashe to be knocked up/stunned+slowed and snared, disabling their movement and allowing you to deal a few basic attacks on them-- which your first would be a taunt due to his passive. This is a simple three ability use combo that simply required you to wait for the perfect moment. If the autosnare just so happens to want to hit her before she comes into the middle bush and gets frozen/knocked up, you could always force bait her with your taunt passive after the snare ends, forcing her to be lead into the lure, and essentially your trap.

There's lots of ways a champion like this could be utilized, and just placing traps into bushes wouldn't be the only way. Since Fire traps and Ice traps do not affect minions and only affect jungle monsters/champions, you could litter a lane with traps, forcing them to eventurally step on one.

If this were ever accepted and made into a full champion, I'm sure they'd add an amount of time before a trap disappears, or a limit on how many traps you could have out at one time for balance.

TheFirstGokun1 votes

This is an interesting champ with a very unique playstyle, taking the power of Teemo shrooms and expanding on them one thousand fold. I can see him being used in a pick comp, but depending on the ratios and cc timers some traps will be legendary and some traps will be pretty useless. In a pick comp, for example, the Ice trap would be most prevalent, chained with more ice and the lightning trap or something. Because we don't have the numbers yet, and I'm not really a numbers kind of guy, I'd call this champ pretty well balanced and unique. One thing I'd like to whine about, why do you think a 4.6 SECOND TAUNT IS VIABLE. ON EVERY SECOND ABILITY CAST. 2. This guy's gonna be the new Teemo, I can tell... well, I guess it makes sense, since he doesn't really cast much during the fight. And wait, Tricky players can interact with each other's traps? What? Also, does his Q function like TF's Pick a Card? If so, can the enemy see when you are picking a trap? Sorry for barraging you with questions. Cool concept! I'd love to play this!

SulkingKING1 votes

Guess I did jump the gun on how long it would be for the taunt, but hey. If I were to alter it, It'd be a +0.1 sec scaling, halving that number. Any lower and it's basically a useless effect that doesn't help him or his teammates in any way other than stopping someone for just over a second or two.

As for him being able to interact with other champion traps, he wouldn't have bonus effects with them, just their regular effects. This way he has versatility with some champions over others. Such as if you were to link two Teemo shrooms together and someone stepped on the rope, both shrooms would hit the enemy, but do the same as normal shooms, not stacking and basically making one useless; however if you were to link a Caitlyn trap and a nidalee trap, you just snared an enemy, granted vision of them, and gave nidalee her passive bonus on that target.

Again, you'd actually have to prepare things like this in advance. I don't expect people to just plant three separate traps and link them all together within 5 seconds, 10 seconds, or even 20 seconds. It's named Elaborate Setup for a reason.

The Q I would assume would work exactly like Twisted Fate's "Pick a Card" effect, where the marker above your head is visible by both teams, and the effect of the trap placed can be discerned by color even if they didn't see you place it.

People love Teemo, and hate Teemo. Riot loves Teemo, so if Tricky would basically be the next Teemo, I'd be proud.

Shroom Junkie1 votes

Passive seems a bit OP. 4.4 second taunt at level 18 just for 2 abilities? Dang. That's long. Maybe just make it one second at all levels?

SulkingKING1 votes

EDIT: Based on what people have said, a 4+ second taunt just for two abilities? Yeah, that is insane. The reason he has this effect in the first place is to pull people towards him so he can force bait them into his lures/repellants, or traps themselves. He should start with 1 second, and it should raise up, but not that much. I personally think 2.5 seconds-ish is fine for reaching level 18, as at that point people will be much more prepared for you to be landing this taunt, and it won't be a gamebreaker either.

If anyone's got suggestions for the concept of this champion, feel free to spew them in the comment boxes, I'll read it if you write it.

TheFirstGokun1 votes

The change that you've implemented to the passive does make it more interesting, but maybe higher scaling would be better for his purposes. That or a longer taunt at level 1 (considering his lack of power outside of traps). I do see how this ability might be incredibly important to his kit, as it's not much fun setting up the perfect trap only to have absolutely no one walk into them. That being said, maybe giving him a speed boost if he procs the taunt might be a good idea. It enables him to kite more efficiently without having to build movement speed (who said they need to hit you when they're taunted) and kind of ties into his theme of being one step ahead and infuriatingly slippery. Even when you have no choice but to hit Tricky, you still can't hit Tricky. A brief burst of speed for activating his taunt would also let him control where the enemy follows him better, BUT there is one problem. If you hit a ranged enemy, they'll stand still and attack you for the full duration since Tricky is melee. Is this intentional? Or would it be better for his playstyle if he gave them greatly reduced range as well as taunting them, so that they would have no option but to follow? I'm just throwing ideas around. The concept is awesome outside of the kinda iffy passive. Tune that right and you'll have an epicly trolly, epicly kitey guy who's legitimately fun to play :) Seriously, this should be a champ.

SulkingKING1 votes

I didn't really think of it like that, the whole "But wait, ranged champions would just sit there and shoot you anyways."

Perhaps just change the taunt to a charm, or a new effect altogether like you said, a taunt without the basics? (Basically charm, but less in love with the target) The movement effect might be nice too. I wouldn't change the scaling too much higher than what I've tuned it to be though, since after you get W, your main focus would be to get enemies in range of a lure or repellant.

Also, thanks for the questions and the positive support on my concept! I appreciate it.

SulkingKING1 votes

He seems like Zigg's long lost, non-yordle cousin who would rather have his enemies come to him then his bombs to them. It's a neat concept.

TaoistMaster1 votes

This is a really cool concept.

Would make playing support so awesome with a kit like that.

I really hope rito sees this

SulkingKING1 votes

Thanks!

Rito senpai, please notice me.

Tangsooyook1 votes

hes kinda like Invoker from Dota 2?

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