Stance Switch Healer Mage Concept

This is an idea for a champion that I've been brewing on for a while, and I think I've finally come up with a kit I am satisfied with.

The idea for this champion is that they are a stance switching mage. Similar to how Jayce, Nidalee and Elise are able to use their ultimates to change the way their kits work, this champion would swap between a support stance, dedicated to healing and protecting their allies, and a mage stance, who rains down bursts of damage on their enemies and hinders their ability to fight back. This may sound familiar to those who have played "Smite: Battleground of the Gods" as this champion is largely inspired by Hel, Goddess of the Underworld. It was my aim when designing this kit to make a champion with the same concept as Hel, while not straight up ripping off her kit and abilities, and I believe I have done a good job at that. This champion would bring new mechanical challenges to the design staff and players alike, but also a new level of enjoyment to those who rise to the challenge.

As for the character side of things, I had a few thoughts regarding who this mage would be. The first was that they were the leader of a cult made up of exiled Demacian mages, who would be known for his kindness and generosity as a devoted leader all could look up to, but was also known to inflict harsh and brutal punishments upon those who would dare act against his teachings. This character was meant to show the darker side of Demacia, and expand upon their distrust of mages and what they did to the ones they could fine. Of course, this was all thrown out the window as soon as Sylas was announced, so that idea was scrapped.

The second idea for the character was a member of the Ruined King's court, who has been away during the events of the Ruination and came back to find the kingdom in shambles and only rumors of the King's whereabouts. She would set off on a journey, trying to find what had become of him when she hears rumors of a great ruler being secretly hurried to the Shadow Isles. This would actually be Mordekaiser's followers trying to resurrect him and she would end up on the Isles, protected only by her mastery of life magic, but even that would begin to fail her as she is possessed by a spirit on the Isles and the two become fused in her body. The stance switch aspect would be the two fighting for control, though neither is destined to get the upper hand. This lore was a bit of a stretch, and I'm not totally familiar with the timeline regarding the Ruination and Morde's death.

Now with all of that out of the way, here is the kit that I propose. Note that in the case of spells that change with the stance, Light (Healing) stance will be listed before the Dark (Damage) stance.

Passive: Polarity Light and Dark matter cannot occupy the same space simultaneously. Whenever a Light spell is cast over a Dark Spell, and vice versa, the existing spell effect will instantly change to its counterpart, applying its creation effects and refreshing its duration.

The way this works is that some spells will have lasting effects, in this case a wall or an area of effect. If you were to cast any of your spells in Light Stance over say, your Dark wall, the wall will turn into the Light wall instantly and refresh the duration. All of this champions spells have the same shape in either stance, with the effect changing depending on the stance it was cast in. So by casting a Light spell over a Dark circle, now it become a Light circle. I think this will give people a lot to think about when playing as, against, or near this champion, because not only does the enemy need to be aware of suddenly changing zones, but the player must also be aware of where their spells are in case they don't want to change it.

Q: Bless/Curse Fires a projectile forward in a straight line. Bless: The projectile heals all allies it passes through. Curse: The projectile deals magic damage to all enemies it passes through. **Skill rank: Increases mana cost, healing and damage. Decreases cooldown.

This is a very simple ability. Straight line skill shot that deals damage or heals. There is no lasting effect on this one, so it cannot be changed by the passive, but it CAN change other spells. I'd imagine this would be on a medium length cooldown.

W: Light Wall/Dark Crystals Creates a wall at the target location for 4 seconds. Shooting Q through the wall creates the Q effect in a cone on the other side of the wall and consumes the projectile. If the Q projectile is not the same stance as the wall, it will not cause the cone effect, or consume the projectile. Light Wall: The wall blocks projectiles and can be walked through. Dark Crystals: The wall acts as terrain and deals magic damage over time to all enemies near the wall. Enemies who dash or are knocked over the wall are slowed significantly. Casting Curse over the wall destroys it. **Skill rank: Increases mana cost and damage. Decreases cooldown.

This spell is a little complicated to explain. Essentially, you create either a Yasuo Windwall, or Anivia's wall of ice. By firing your Q in the same stance as the wall, you change the Q's area of effect from a line to a cone on the opposite side of the wall, and by consuming the projectile when doing this, you are either shortening its range by standing close to the wall, or extending it, but standing far away. Notably, you cannot heal yourself with your q at all, unless you can flash onto the opposite side of the wall before the projectile hits it. If the Q is Polarized (not in the same stance as the wall), it will still change the wall, but it wont have any extra effect. The size of this wall would be about the size of Yasuo's rank 1 Windwall, and will not grow any larger. However, by placing both walls next to each other, you can make the wall twice as long (at twice the mana cost). How about walling off the opening of Dragon and Baron with scuttle crab giving you vision of the other side? The slow is an added effect, designed to make it harder for enemies to a) escape if the wall in in their way or b) chase you down over the wall. Blinks like Flash do not suffer this debuff.

E: Sanctuary/Sacrifice Creates a circular area of effect at the target location for 4 seconds. Sanctuary: Heals all allies in the area upon creation. Afterwards, allies in the area are granted increased Armor and Magic Resist, and are immune to slows. Sacrifice: Deals magic damage to all enemies in the area upon creation. Afterwards, enemies in the area have reduced magic resist and attack speed. **Skill rank: Increases healing, armor, magic resist, damage, magic resist shred and attack speed reduction. Decreases cooldown.

I cannot decide if I want this to be like Soraka's Equinox, where the effect is instant cast, or like her Starcall, where its a projectile that takes longer to cast the further away you cast it. Regardless, the Light form of this spell is meant to be used to aid your allies in combat, making them tankier and giving them a bit more freedom to move around and kite some. The Dark form weakens the enemies ability to fight in a number of ways, letting you deal increased damage by reducing their resistance, and making it harder for them to fight back with reduced attack speed. Given that this character has strong supportive capabilities, and would likely spend a lot of time in botlane against adc's with a reliance on attack speed, a reduction in that would be rather detrimental to their enemies. Combining this with the W, and you have a pretty lethal combo.

R: Restoration/Ruination Changes stances between Light and Dark. Once a skill point is put into the ability, casting spells and moving builds stacks. Casting the ability consumes stacks to effect nearby units for 6 seconds. Does not trigger Polarity. Restoration: Nearby allies benefit from increased healing for the duration. Ruination: Enemies in the area protected by shields have their shield destroyed. If they are not protected by a shield, they receive reduced healing for the duration. **Skill rank: Increases effectiveness of stacks.

Possible edit to the way this works would be having the duration start lower and increase with skill rank. The ultimate ability, being a stance switch, would be on a very short cooldown and as such, shouldn't be particularly impactful on its own, but still bring an edge. By increasing allies' healing, their own strengths in Light form would shine through even more. Ruination on the other hand further disadvantages the enemy in a fight. Most shields that are not a passive ability like Malphite or Rakan only last about 2.5 seconds, so switching between forms rapidly to break shields would mostly just be a waste of time. Additionally, the stack system helps to discourage spam swapping by making switching weaker the sooner its recast.

Overall, I think this would be a fun champion to play, and add a unique mechanic into the game with the passive. Manipulating the fight to give your team an upperhand, or hindering the progress of your enemies. Of course, with only one reliable manner of healing yourself, no reliable crowd control and no mobility, you would pop like a balloon when jumped upon. Please let me know if you have any suggestions. Thanks for reading my mad ramblings.

-archersInferno