Mandrake Trinket & Camouflage Trinket
I'm completely willing to accept different names for either or both of these.
Mandrake Trinket The Mandrake Trinket would essentially be the Mandrake ward, that was tested on the PBE, that I really think needs to be a part of the game, but of course a trinket/upgrade alternative.
As I mentioned, this was not my idea originally. It was tested on the PBE and for some reason scrapped. I personally think it was a great idea and I am certainly not alone on this.
For those of you who do know know what the Mandrake ward was, it was a ward that does not provide vision, but pings the map when an enemy passes through that area. So it is essentially a trip wire with tin cans tied to it.
Again, I am not completely sure why Riot decided to scrap it, but this is my theory for the way it should work.
This trinket would have a lower cooldown than vision wards. (1/2 to 3/4 cooldown) More of them can be on the map than vision wards. (4, maybe 5) They have the same placement radius. They have a smaller 'trigger' radius than the vision radius of a vision ward. (3/4 to 1/2 radius, or smaller depending on balance consideration) When an enemy unit (including pets) move into the 'trigger radius', an automatic and visually and/or audibly distinct ping (so it is clearly not a player ping) will be shown on the mini map, and heard by all allies. Immediately after the ping, the ward is destroyed. When triggered, a visual destruction of the ward is visible to all who have vision of that area, including enemies.
These are 1 ping use wards that only tell you that an enemy unit has moved into that area. They also alert the enemy that they have been detected. This means, without further vision, you do not know if they have continued through this area or if they decided to turn back. Also, without vision, they do not provide any indication as to who or what unit is moving through that area.
Camouflage Trinket
Have you ever known that there was a ward along your gank/roam/invade path? What do you do? You can try to find a new path around, but that is not always possible, and not always feasible. You could walk up and clear it, but you will no doubt be spotted, and potentially waste your time.
This trinket would not make you invisible, but would potentially cause your champion icon/token to not show on the mini map, even when you are in enemy vision. I like to think of this as the opposite of the Oracle Augmentation. Instead of being a mobile sweeper, granting you true vision so you can clear wards. This temporarily counters wards without making you invisible. To reiterate, you can still be seen if enemy players have their camera over that region of the map, but you will not show on the mini map.
With this you could walk up to a pink ward and quickly clear it, or you can bring a pink ward and clear out stealth wards, before you get spotted on the mini map. Alternatively, you could simply pass by the wards completely and continue on your path.
This trinket would have a longer cooldown than other trinkets because it is a pretty strong counter.
I would imagine this could be a good decision for junglers and roam heavy champions.
Anyways, these are just two things I have been thinking about recently.
I am more confident about the Mandrake Trinket being more popular than the Camouflage Trinket.
I had also considered these being Unique Active effects for items, or even a new or reworked champion specific ability.
Let me know what you think. What is potentially too strong/weak about them, and how could those issues be fixed?
Constructive criticism is valued