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[Champion Concept] Taric, The Gem Knight

Dicerson·11/22/2015, 3:15:26 AM·2 votes·1,157 views

Wrote this one up just for you Djinn! Its been an idea I've been brewing for awhile!

Taric is an outrageous Gem, but he has seen better days. Riot hasn't been doing good maintenance and Taric is one Gem that needs a good polishing.

So here's a concept write-up to get out some of the Ideas I had!

I am bad with balancing numbers, so I opt to use descriptive words, such as light, moderate, and heavy to describe damage. Some effects, like stuns or durations, are likely to have numbers as they are typically easier to work with.

Passive- Prism Armor: Taric's Prism armor refracts the light around him, creating a colorful aura. The color of the aura will change whenever he casts a spell, giving his next spell a bonus effect.

Q- Gem Dust: Taric Imbues either himself or a target ally with enchanted Emerald dust, healing them for a moderate amount and changing Taric's aura to Emerald.

Emerald: If Taric's aura is already Emerald, the healed target will gain 15% of Taric's MR and armor for a short duration. Ruby: If Taric's aura is Ruby, the target's next auto attack will deal extra damage equal to Taric's armor. Sapphire: If Taric's aura is Sapphire, the Target will gain 30% movement speed for a short duration.

Cooldown: 14/13/12/11/10 seconds Mana Cost: 80/90/100/110/120 mana

W- Enchanted Gems: Taric's Rubies are naturally imbued with powerful magic. Granting him and nearby allies bonus armor equal to a small base amount + 10% of Taric's armor. (The armor this ability gives him does not count towards the aura amount). He can activate this ability to release this magic in a burst of explosive energy, dealing moderate damage to nearby enemies and Changing the color of his aura to Ruby. The passive of this ability will be disabled for 5 seconds, while the Gems recharge their natural energy.

Emerald: If the color of his aura is Emerald, the Target's will have their Armor and MR reduced by 15% for a few seconds. Ruby: If the color of his aura is already Ruby, Taric will also grant himself and nearby allies a small amount bonus AD and AP for a few seconds. Sapphire: If the color of his aura is Sapphire, Taric will leave behind a slow-field for a few seconds, slowing enemies in it by 30%.

Cooldown: 12 seconds Mana Cost: 120/110/100/90/80 mana

E- Bedazzle: Taric focuses an intense ray of light through his Sapphire Hammer and stuns a target enemy champion for 1.5/1.75/2/2.25/2.5 seconds. (.5 second windup, short range, instant hit) This changes the color of his aura to Sapphire.

Emerald: If the color of his aura is Emerald, the cooldown of Imbue is refreshed. Ruby: If the color is Ruby, this ability will now deal the same damage as Taric's Enchanted Gems. Sapphire: If the color of his aura is already Sapphire, enemies immediately beside the target are also stunned.

Cooldown: 14/13/12/11/10 seconds Mana Cost: 100 mana

R- Diamond Shatter: Taric infuses a powerful Diamond with magic and smashes his hammer into it with enough force to shatter it. This deals a large amount of damage (with moderate AP scaling) to all nearby enemies and leaving behind a cloud of Gem Dust with an effect dependant on the color of his armor at the time of the cast. This ability does not change his armor's aura.

Emerald: The Cloud of Dust flows into his nearby allies, granting them shields equal to this abilities damage. (Not the amount dealt, just the value) Ruby: The Cloud of Dust shreds Taric's Enemies, dealing another round of this abilities damage over 5 seconds. Sapphire: The Cloud of Dust forms Super-Hard Diamonds around his enemies, snaring them for 2 seconds.

Cooldown: 120/110/100 seconds Mana Cost: 200 mana

So what do ya think?

Changelog- _ 11/22/15- Thanks to PyschoStabile for the great suggestion for a better aura rotation mechanic. Never thought of on-cast! 11/22/15- Edited many of the special effects to make each color more consistent. Green is generally defensive, Blue generally Utility, and Red is offensive. 11/24/15- Huge edits to every single ability in response to a detailed post by TheDjinn, his whole kit should seem more controllable, and have more immediately impactful effects that you can chain together to make epic combos. Also changed some wording around to make everything more outrageous. _

8 Comments

Chaotic Sage11/22/2015, 5:20:40 AM3 votes

We do know Riot already has a Taric rework mostly ready, right?

Farmcow013911/22/2015, 5:15:50 AM1 votes

yes

psychostabile11/22/2015, 5:47:34 AM1 votes

i like the idea of the passive but rather then make him gradually shift make it so his color changes when he casts spells. make it so taric players can think out their combos and utilize their spells rather then having to wait for a spell to be in the right form. while many champs lack control over changes (specificly gnar) they still can utilize their play styles to atleast semi control it. making taric change over time litterally gives up all control players have over his abilities and forces taric to either wait for proper spells or try to preform with less then awsome spells. but having it so that he changes colors every time he uses a spell you can also theme each color making red offensive, blue defensive, and green utility meaning lvl 3 taric gets 1 of each in a spell rotation. if its change over time then it either has to cycle quickly (which can lead to alot of furstration for people that play him) or simply locking out 2/3s of his kit for X amount of time. really need that heal to save your carry from a gank? well the enemies waited till u cycled out of it and now their is nothing u can do but wait for it to come back up... and ur dead....

one other thing the Q is a little weak. the only single target stuns either have good range or short cast times as they are not that powerful in the late game. i like the idea of keeping it short range but having that massive wind up time makes things rather awkward.

i would also rather then give taric damage give his red q a damage buff by increasing ally damage against the stunned target. taric shouldnt play as a one man show and i feel all his red should give varying degrees of damage buff so...

red Q.20% increased damage to the one target W. 10% increased damage by all allys in aoe E. 15% increased damage to enemies around you as an aura kind of thing

green Q. the target deals less damage after the stun for a short duration W. heal as u said E. cleanse as you said

blue Q. trigger a small aoe off the hit target that slows nearby enemies W. mitigating damage dealt to you and allies in an area 5-10% kind of thing E. give taric a sheild based off his armor

this means that if taric only has one target he uses that red cast he is sitting on for the q. if he is surrounded by allies and cant realisticly get to the middle of the emey team then red w, or if a bad blitz pulls you in you can red E penalizing their team for letting the slow mobility less taric into the middle of their team.

comboing with the shifting colors based on spell use means taric normally gets one green, one red, and one blue spell to be used. then you could even go as far as to make his ult turn him purple or white and make his next 3 spells use all color abilities

sorry if it seemed i pick alot of it away but that passive is awsome, the idea of changing all of your spells is great but if its not controlable (atleast indirectly) then if can feel like you have to wait until the character decides what your allowed to do.

for instance rumble and gnar change drasticly in play style becuse they both build up bar, but good players utilize that fact and ride the line and manage their resorces properly to make those champs power spike when they need them to. hell you could even make it a bar system like rumble wear each spell changes your color and after 3 you get a armor based spell sheild but cant cast spells for a few seconds, makeing it so his first spell is blue 2nd is green and 3rd is red giving him many possible combinations of buffs and debuffs.

and now im rambling on to much so im gonna go back to waiting for poppy rework while my lol account collects dust.

dark100dark10011/22/2015, 5:57:22 AM1 votes

It is interesting that people shares their designs but I don't think rito can take them because of copyright laws. If they would, they would need to pay you, and that is complicated. It is easier to ignore people.

Dicerson11/22/2015, 3:41:16 PM1 votes

I like the idea of swapping on spellcast. I never thought of that, and it makes lots of sense too!

I will definitely use that.

I will try and see if I can make the effects of the colored aura a little more Consistent with themselves XD.

ModThe Djinn11/24/2015, 3:30:34 AM1 votes

{quoted}Wrote this one up just for you Djinn!

And, as requested, here I am! :D

Passive- Prism Armor: Taric's Prism armor refracts the light around him, creating a colorful aura. The color of the aura will change from Blue>Green>Red>Blue every time he casts a spell, and his spells gain bonus effects based on his armor's current color. (So if he casts his Stun while his armor is green, his stun gets the green effect and his aura changes to Red)

So this has potential, but I think it might actually work better if each SPELL created a certain aura, as it would let you plan out sequences better. I'll discuss that momentarily.

Q- Bedazzle: Taric focuses an intense ray a light through his Gem Hammer to stun an Opponent (Targeted near-instant hit, but has a short range and a windup, it will essentially take the roughly the same amount of time as it does now, what with his current stuns super slow projectile) for a short period of time (Probably something like 1.5-2 seconds) and dealing a moderate amount of damage (Scaling lightly with AP). The color of his armor will also add a special effect.

Green- The target will deal reduced damage for a short period of time. Blue- The Target will emit a slow field for a short period of time. Red- The Target will take moderately increased damage for a short period of time.

The green effect is relatively unnecessary, since the stun already accomplishes reducing the enemy's damage by just denying them the ability to attack. The blue and red effects are perfectly fine. All in all there isn't much of a major change here, so no real complaints.

W- Enchanted Gems: Taric's collection of Gems are enchanted with powerful magic, enhancing the power of his and nearby allies armor based on his armor's strength, increasing their armor by a low percentage of Taric's armor(Does not include the armor bonus provided by this ability). He can activate this ability to gain an immediate bonus to him and his nearby allies, but after a short duration, the armor aura will turn off until the cooldown completes (maybe like 3 or 4 seconds?). This ability is determined by his armor's color.

Green- Him and his allies heal for an amount equivalent to his armor (Maybe it should be a percentage?). Blue- Him and his allies attacks and damaging abilities will slow enemies. Red- Him and his allies will deal 10% increased damage for a short duration.

This I don't like. Having a powerful AoE effect that CHANGES based on the number of spells you've cast is awkward at best, especially since his other spells all have fairly long cooldowns. It's hard to keep up the effect you want, let alone have it available when you need it. Additionally, Green is mediocre at best and rather uninteresting and Red is a lot of invisible power. Blue is potentially interesting, but at that point it may as well just be an AoE slow with massive range.

E- Gem Shatter: Taric pulls out one of his Magic Gems and shatters it to create a Magical effect. The Gem he pulls out is dependant on his Armors Aura.

Green- The Gemdust surrounds Taric and dispels bad magics, removing all debuffs currently on him (Note, this ability cannot be cast if stunned or suppressed, but can be cast if being knocked up back or away). Blue- The Gemdust surrounds Taric and grants him a shield equal to a small percent of his current HP. Red- Taric releases the Gemdust, which bursts outwards and deals a light amount of damage to nearby enemies (scaling lightly with AP). These enemies will take slightly increased damage from all sources for a short period of time.

Same problem as above. The effects are too vastly different, and you have no good way of making sure you have the one you need when you need it. You -- let alone your allies and enemies -- will find it very difficult to predict your capabilities at any one time. Blue is just more tankiness without a lot of utility of any kind, Green is incredibly circumstantial and unlikely to be up at the time you really need it, and Red is almost always the right choice in any teamfight.

R- Diamond Star: Taric infuses a powerful Diamond with magic and smashes his hammer into it with enough force to shatter it. This deals a large amount of damage (with moderate AP scaling) to all nearby enemies and leaves a cloud of residual gem dust that follows Taric. It changes color with Taric's aura and has different effects based on its color.

Green- Taric and his allies receive bonus Armor, MR, and healing per 5 seconds equivalent to the armor bonus his Enchanted Gems normally provide. Blue- Taric and his allies are sped up, and his enemies are slowed down. Red- Taric's enemies take damage per second equal to the armor bonus of his Enchanted Gems.

Same problem as before. Taric now has THREE abilities that aren't able to always have the effect he needs when he needs them.

So few things I personally notice right off the bat is OH MY GOD POWERFUL. Like, alot of the effects seem a bit much! But I think that makes it good, they rotate out and Though taric can activate his abilities whenever, he has to be careful to get the effect he wants. But all of them are powerful, so he has high cooldowns and mana costs to gate that power.

This isn't really the case. The effects aren't super powerful -- they're just hard to appreciate, since a lot of them are aura-based effects or circumstantial utility. That's problematic. A greater concern is that his ability to control his aura color is determined on spell-casts, but his cooldowns are incredibly long and only one of the two shorter cooldowns can really be used without a target, meaning you have no real control over what colors you have at any given time. While this might mean you've got a cool combo character if you designed it right, this kit doesn't really fit with that. The end result is, to me, a kit without any real focus or any real character -- it has the gimmick of changing colors, but doesn't really bring home the fantasy and sell it with mechanics that support it.

#But Wait, There's More!

Negativity aside, I really think the issue here was that you created a really cool mechanic in the color-changing auras, and just didn't deliver it in a fashion that really fit the character. There's HUGE potential with gem-infused abilities, and I love the concept.

Thinking out loud...what if each of Taric's basic abilities created a SPECIFIC color, that interacted with the others, giving them effects that created natural decision points, where you had to specifically plan what ability to use next to get the most out of it, but always had your basic kit available at all times?

For example...if we were to use Taric's current kit, his Q is a heal, his W is a nuke with passive protection, and his E is a ranged stun. So we could create some cool gameplay patterns by doing something like, where each ability use triggers an aura, which is consumed and replaced by the next ability used, granting a bonus effect to the ability in question. The ideas below are examples -- obviously numbers and power would have to be adjusted as appropriate.

Q: Imbue Taric embraces the power of Emeralds, and his armor shines with a Green Aura. --Emerald: Targets are healed for an additional X over 5 seconds (scaling on Taric's level). --Ruby: The next auto-attack from the targets deals X bonus magic damage (scaling on Taric's level). --Sapphire: Targets gain +30% bonus movement speed for 2 seconds.

W: Shatter Taric embraces the power of Rubies, and his armor shines with a Red Aura. --Emerald: Targets deal 15% reduced damage for 2.5 seconds. --Ruby: Targets are stunned for .75 seconds. --Sapphire: Leaves an AoE slow field behind that lasts for 3 seconds and slows enemies in it by 35% for 1.5 seconds.

E: Dazzle Taric embraces the power of Sapphires, and his armor shines with a Blue Aura. --Emerald: Taric's Imbue cooldown is refreshed. --Ruby: Enemies near the target take 50% damage and are stunned for half the duration. --Sapphire: Target is revealed for 5 seconds.

Every ability now has some incentive to use another ability before it...even if it's saving the same ability twice. Some good combos off the top of my head:

Imbue - Dazzle - Imbue - Shatter: Lets you heal up, stun the target, engage on them with the movement speed while healing to full, then reduce their damage slightly while you fight them.

Dazzle - Shatter - Imbue: Stuns the target, walk behind them, drop the Shatter slow field to prevent their escape, Imbue yourself and your ally, and fight them with the bonus damage.

Imbue / Imbue: Heals very efficiently.

Dazzle / Dazzle: Good for harass with a long-range carry, as they can't run into the bush.

And so forth.

Thoughts? I think it's similar to what you were intending, but gives more power to the player, as they will rarely feel like they're lacking the proper ability because of the inability to use enough spells.