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[Champion Concept] Kahina, the Cursed Knight

darkdill··2 votes·1,602 views

I was reading up on Lux's lore and after seeing mentions of the character Kahina, I felt like I'd give her a unique kit.

#Kahina, the Cursed Knight

Reference Artworks http://imgur.com/ilayzHF
http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=29301404
http://imgur.com/6fqE1Hi
http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=37784365
http://imgur.com/8ZEyEQH
http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=46694200
(Artworks are for reference, and do not represent a final product; credit goes to the original artists)

General Concept

Kahina is a melee juggernaut who becomes deadlier as she approaches death, coupled with excellent sustain and dueling power. All this is counterbalanced by Kahina being slow and easily punished if she misses with her abilities or uses them poorly, as her cooldowns and mana costs are unforgiving. She also, unlike other juggernauts, has a small amount of crowd control via her Entomb ability, though this ability is slow to trigger and gives her opponent plenty of time to react. All this aside, however, Kahina can be very tough to kill, and is easily capable of baiting enemies who think they can finish her off.

Last Update: Feb. 27, 2018

Statistics (subject to change)

HP: 601 – 2131
HPR/5: 8.9 – 23.4
MP: 263 – 901
MPR/5: 6.59 – 12.5
Damage: 59 – 131
Range: 175 (melee)
Armor: 27.5 – 90.5 Magic Resistance: 32.1 – 53.4
Attack Speed: 0.550 (+0% – 18%)
Movement Speed: 330

#Abilities

(EXPECT CHANGES)

P - Dark Resolve

When Kahina is reduced below 30% of her maximum health, she takes 35% less damage from physical and magical attacks for 4/6/8 seconds. This effect has a 120/100/80-second static cooldown. (improves at levels 7 and 13 respectively)

Additionally, Kahina innately starts with +20% bonus attack speed. (this is just for last-hitting)

Q - Malefic Strike

Kahina's next basic attack within 6 seconds releases dark power from her blade, having increased range (350 total range), causing her to dash to her target, and dealing 40/60/80/100/120 (+1.0 total AD) to 60/90/120/150/180 (+1.5 total AD) physical damage, increasing based on Kahina's missing health. Resets attack timer; applies on-hit effects. Cannot crit.

9/8/7/6/5 second cooldown. Costs 30/35/40/45/50 mana.

W - Drain Spirit

Kahina sends out a skillshot that tethers to the first enemy Champion or large Monster it hits. While tethered, Kahina deals 4/4.5/5/5.5/6% (+1% per 100 AP) of the target's current health per second as magic damage (capped against monsters), and Kahina is healed for 6/6.5/7/7.5/8% (+1% per 100 AP) of her missing health per second (healing is halved versus monsters). Lasts up to 5 seconds.

14 second cooldown. Costs 80/90/100/110/120 mana. 500 casting range. 600 tether range.

E - Entomb

Kahina marks a target enemy Champion for 2.5 seconds. If Kahina hits a marked enemy Champion with a basic attack, she roots it for 1.25/1.5/1.75/2/2.25 seconds. If the mark expires without her landing a hit, it roots the target for 0.5 seconds.

18/17/16/15/14 second cooldown. Costs 75 mana. 500 casting range.

R - Demacian Onslaught

Kahina becomes Unstoppable as she advances in a target direction and performs three devastating swings of her blade as she advances, hitting enemies in a wide arc with each blow. Each strike deals 150/250/350 (+2.0 bonus AD) physical damage and restores 8/10/12% of Kahina's missing health for each enemy Champion she hits.

140/120/100 second cooldown. Costs 100 mana. Kahina cannot cancel this ability or use Flash while using Demacian Onslaught.

#Champion Matchups

Champions who synergize with Kahina Lux - Along with being good friends in-story, these two make a great combat pair. Lux's crowd controls and shields help Kahina in numerous ways, while Kahina's Entomb lets Lux easily land her skillshots on targets that might otherwise dodge them. Light and Dark really do go together.

Thresh - One of Kahina's biggest weaknesses is her lack of mobility, something Thresh can help a lot with. Dark Passage is great for either pulling Kahina into position to attack or for pulling her out if she overextends. Thresh's multitude of crowd controls also make it much easier for Kahina to land Demacian Onslaught in team fights.

Orianna - Orianna provides both mobility and defenses to Kahina, while her Shockwave can be used on her team's initiators to set Kahina up for Demacian Onslaught. Command: Protect can be invaluable to Kahina when she's low on health.

Champions who Kahina struggles against Anivia - Kahina is slow and easily kited, something that makes Anivia an enormous pain to deal with. Between her slows, stuns, and walls, it can be hard for Kahina to get close enough to hit anything. It doesn't help that Kahina can't go through Crystallize with Demacian Onslaught.

Darius - Darius shows no mercy to Demacians, and in Kahina's case that's a bad thing. Darius can match your sustain and damage with his own, but he excels in extended fights even more than Kahina does. In particular, once he gets Noxian Guillotine, he can completely bypass Kahina's Dark Resolve, decapitating her when she's supposed to be at her most dangerous.

Caitlyn - The long arm of Piltover's law will make Kahina's job very difficult, as Kahina will have a hard time getting past Caitlyn's traps, nets, and long range. Caitlyn's high degree of safety simply amplifies Kahina's high level of risk, taking it to suicidal levels.

The numbers are probably off, so try to judge the functions of the abilities first before you go into number-crunching.

13 Comments

KestrelGirl2 votes

The only issue I find with this is that her Q is basically Illaoi's W without any tentacles to make it better, and her W is just a more powerful Fiddle drain. Her E is a little more unique, though, and I like the idea of having to attack or use a combo to really get mileage out of an ability. Her ult's simple, but also something we haven't really seen before, as it's not too similar to its closest analogue (Sion or Kled ult).

So I'd recommend doing something different with her Q - I like the direction it's going in, but it might need a little more oomph. Her W basically makes Fiddle obsolete so I'd recommend a different kind of soul link that also doesn't mimic Illaoi or Swain.

EDIT: Also, she's one of the Radiant Ones and probably should not really have dark powers (but maybe not light either.)

darkdill1 votes

Unlike Fiddle's Drain, Kahina's W can miss, and is heavily punishable if it misses. But I'll assume that's not good enough for you and is still "too Fiddle".

As for her Q, I think it's pretty good, all things considered. Just because it gives her a dash like Illaoi doesn't mean it's bad.

Final Spark Lux2 votes

Tbh, I agree with KestrelGirl's edited comment at the end. I don't find it thematically fitting that someone with dark powers would somehow end up being the leader of a Demacian warrior order, regardless of how good of a person they are. (Also saying light and dark go together doesn't really make any sense either. Darkness cannot exist in light's presence.)

I really like the kit (Her ult especially, it's almost identical to Amaterasu's ult from Smite which you may or may not know, but it's a really fun mechanic) but from a purely thematic standpoint I gotta say I'm not a fan : (. I'd imagine she'd be like the female counterpart of Garen without such a strong hate for magic. It's a warrior order after all. While there might be a place for magic in the Illuminators (don't tell Garen) I don't think it fits her, especially not when it's dark magic.

darkdill1 votes

Here's how I'd have her story go: Kahina was formerly a user of holy powers but ended up knowingly taking on a dark curse. In doing so, her own powers changed, but she found a way to start using those dark powers for good purposes.

That'd moreorless be the gist of it. Kinda like Arthas from Warcraft when he found the Frostmourne, but without becoming an undead regicidal maniac.

As for the kit, quite a bit of it is inspired by Leoric in Heroes of the Storm, the W and R in particular, with a bit from Xul as well (the E).

Final Spark Lux1 votes

I think that confuses things further in a sense. Someone who's holy knowingly taking on a dark curse? Why would she do this if she was holy and already used her powers for good? Regardless, it still doesn't make sense that anyone who used magic in any form wouldn't be exiled, nevermind somehow winding up being the leader of a Warrior Order for Demacia. Demacia is -very- strict when it comes to magic. I suspect had I not been a Crownguard, I'd have been exiled immediately for my use of magic.

That's not to say that any part of your idea is bad. I think it's pretty interesting tbh, and it could make for a really good character / story, and could potentially have some interesting interactions as well. I just don't think the theme is a good fit for Kahina specifically given the position she's in as a Demacian.

darkdill1 votes

Could be that she faced a foe that couldn't be beaten through holy means and thus she had to take on dark powers to achieve victory. The story's just a rough idea.

darkdill1 votes

I figured out how Kahina being a Dark Knight could work.

Sometime after inducting you (Lux) into the Illuminators, Kahina led a group of Radiant Ones to a village that was being plagued by a necromancer, who had afflicted the people with a terrible curse. Kahina kills the necromancer, but the unique nature of the curse requires that someone willingly take it upon themselves to lift it from the townsfolk. Kahina accepts the burden, and so the magic of the curse is channeled into her, giving her dark powers.

Following this, Kahina goes into self-imposed exile to avoid bringing the Illuminators any trouble, but she opts to stay at an old keep just outside Demacia's borders. From here, she continues to serve Demacia in her own way, including escorting you (Lux) whenever you're out of the country on Illuminator business.

Would that work?

Final Spark Lux1 votes

Generally curses harm, not provide additional powers. If it's a curse, what was it doing to the villagers before it was lifted, and how did it provide her with powers instead of harming her? If the curse wasn't harming the villagers, why would it need to be lifted? Why was she required to absorb it when the caster of the curse was slain? Was there no other way for them to figure out a solution? There's no way to cleanse her, but it doesn't harm her, so she's stuck with this curse forever which forces her to remain exiled and be excluded from any Illuminator business forever?

I might be biased, but imo It sounds really unrealistic for someone in her position. who was once a prestigious leader of the Illuminators' Warrior Order with a ridiculous amount of training and knowledge, (and lets not forget the full suit of Demacian steel armor she's probably wearing, which has anti-magical properties) to suddenly wind up being in a position where she's forced to absorb a "curse" that gives her powers which don't actually harm her, but she's now exiled. I just really don't see it happening.

I'm not sure why you don't just remove the dark / magic aspect from the theme tbh. Removing it would make it fit thematically with lore, and it wouldn't really detract anything from the kit. The only thing that even benefits from this dark power you speak of is her Q, which to me feels like it was added as an afterthought. There are a lot of different options that a warrior might have to achieve the same effect without being cursed.

Again, not saying this idea is bad at all. I actually like it, and I think it could make for a really good character / story / art. I just really don't see it being a fitting theme for Kahina specifically.

darkdill1 votes

Yeah, I know, it's hard to get a story that'll work perfectly. The issue is that I can't quite make her a holy character or she'd tread on Garen and Leona's niches. And we all know Riot hates that.

Though maybe you're right about it not fitting Kahina specifically. Maybe another unnamed (as of now) member of the Radiant Ones?

Forhonor3211 votes

So briefly looked over your concept and here's my critique:

  • Stats overall are ok i guess. I didn't really compare them to other champs at the moment, but overall I think they're decent. Armor may be a bit too low early on though, as well as attack speed but you do gain the bonus from the passive so... I guess numbers help overall?

  • Passive overall I don't find that interesting. Yes, damage reduction is a huge thing and the CD I can find to be respective for the durations but it alone just doesn't feel like a whole lot.

  • Q ... I have issues with. Granted, the range isn't that large, but this is a gap closer on a 5 second CD maxed, lowed to 3 seconds with 40% CDR, and a fairly low mana cost. For juggernauts, to my philosophy, I don't ever think this is a good idea. It's fairly powerful to have sticking power no matter what, and a juggernaut that hits hard and you can't really get away from a lot doesn't sound like a good concept. I do like how it does a bit more damage with the lower health you have, and how it doesn't crit to try and balance that out, but I will still argue that a constant sticking Jugg is not what players want to face against a whole lot.

  • W for the most part I like. It's not like a binding spell like Morg's ult or LeBlanc E, but it does still insist that you move away as it's her main form of damage and way of sustain. CORRECTION: I misread the ability! It's literally a mobile version of Fiddle's W and is basically Leoric's W from HotS. I'd recommend making it more or less that when you hit them it does the damage and heals your rather than

  • E as far as I can tell is point and click AND I HIGHLY ADVISE AGAINST THAT! People already have an issue with certain forms of point and click abilities, say Malz ult for example, so having an ability that just auto roots you after a delay doesn't sound fun. I do like the idea of having to do a combo to proc the root, but I'd probably advise only having it proc off of Q f& a brief slow when it expires normally.

  • Ult...it's literal Leoric's ult. Here's the thing, I'm not against the idea of taking abilities from other games, so long as they are different enough. Here I feel like she should be allowed to move and the direction she goes dictates the swing, but also make it so she instead does more damage at low health and on kills or assists she heals herself. Maybe throw in a bit more damage reduction in there as well, say proc the passive again or something separate.

  • Storywise I know this is based off of Lux's friend but I don't fully see how a dark cursed knight would work in Demacia (then again I haven't read the lore about her so I may be judging too quickly of her character).

Overall, I don't want to say this is a bad concept, but it needs work. If you want to sell the concept of a close to death strong juggernaut, you're going to have to make more abilities powerful as she loses health, maybe even have health costs to help with that a bit. Also, the theme of a dark knight in Demacia is just off putting. Being a bit of a lore nerd at this point, I can almost "Garen-tee" (kill me) that they wouldn't allow her near there, unless she's like Taric and exiled. But again, I haven't gotten to reading about her so I don't fully know.

It's far from the worst thing I'm seen on C&C, which is a very god complement, but it really needs work gameplay-wise, theme-wise and story-wise.

darkdill1 votes

I've been away from LoL Champion Concepting for a while. I've been mostly devoting to Overwatch Hero concepts, so I'm a little rusty on this front.

I'm trying to preserve a considerable amount of Leoric's kit in Kahina's, but is Leoric's Drain Hope simply not allowed because of Fiddlesticks? I don't think this should be the case; if it were, Gul'dan wouldn't have Drain Life. I could change it to deal %-current health rather than %-max so that Fiddle has a damage advantage against squishier enemies. (Oh, and you didn't finish your thought on her W)

For her Q, it's her only source of mobility, much like Illaoi. Should I still remove the dash and simply have her with no mobility tools at all?

As for her E, it's meant to be Xul's Bone Prison, but I can see why you'd hate point-and-click CC (thanks a lot, Ryze). I'll have it be that it only roots for 0.5-0.75 seconds if you don't land a Q.

And as for the ult, I'm not intending to give her the ability to change direction while swinging. The whole point is that she has to aim carefully, but gets a huge amount of power from it if she uses it right. This makes it fair due to having meaningful counterplay. But I do like the idea of changing the healing to %-missing health.

As for the lore, still working out the details. The bottom line would be that she ends up willingly taking on a dark curse some time after inducting Lux into the Radiant Ones. Said curse gives her dark powers, but she's able to use them for good purposes. And while people know she was cursed, they don't know the curse gave her dark powers.

Now, I know some people would want me to make her a holy-based warrior, but that would tread into both Garen and Leona's niches. As such, she needs to be a darkness-based warrior. Besides, if Lux can keep her magic a secret from everyone, Kahina wouldn't have too much trouble keeping her curse powers hidden.

Forhonor3211 votes

I didn't say Leoric's Drain Hope wasn't allowed, nor is his ultimate, but the fact that these abilities are practically the same can really cause some people to think that you just copied the character a bit too much, or at worse just stole them. Current health may also be a good change as there is a lot of % max health being put into the game and it's getting out of hand. But I still recommend that you tie the damage and heal to her auto attacks. Maybe do an initial heal and damage if you land the ability but focus on the autos, make it so it isn't another Fiddle drain and even maybe take advantage of the Q's Auto reset.

Q is more or less just a personal issue with my design philosophy of Juggernauts. I typically don't like thinking of them having a lot of mobility, especially when heavily armored, with some exceptions of Garen of just gaining movement speed and not a full blown dash. Illaoi also is a special case as her W is more or less suppose to help proc her tentacles to attack and thus why she needs a quick dash to her target. Here, it's mainly more just as a sticking tool without outside help of damage and more or less relying on low health for that damage. I'm not fully saying, "get rid of dash" as I can see why it can help and work with the kit, and again it's just against my philosophy but other will have different ones as well, but maybe increase the mana cost as you level up, like 30/35/40/45/50 and try to encourage building up some items with mana to help keep up with it in the long run.

E isn't bad when you pair it with the combo of Q as I said. But as you're taking reference from other games, you also have to remember League has it's own standards nowadays when it comes to targeting abilities. Most of the time, it's going to be AoE or a skillshot, very few exceptions of point and click, especially hard CC. A shorter root may work out, but I still would keep in mind of the slow if you still get negative feedback.

Ult, again, a bit too similar but I see where you're coming with it. Maybe make it like at the last swing she can direct the damage a bit similar to Sion's ult though where the aim is slow to move. Like she casts in target direction but as she does the animation she can start planning to do a final slash downwards and deal a bunch of damage to enemies in the area, and heal for a % of damage then while also doing damage based on her missing health.

Storywise, again, haven't read up on it, but I'd be very careful on how you handle this. Not saying you shouldn't do it because it won't work, I feel like you can somehow make it work, but it needs to be done carefully. We're already getting a champ that has a similar situation of getting some unnatural power and trying to use it for good, in fact we also have Yorick as well and maybe a few more if I really think about it. If anything, you may have to go the Taric route and possibly make her exiled or something like that, cause even with a curse I feel people may not be willing to accept that near them, especially in Demacia.

Also, if she's going for a darkness based warrior, it feels contradictory to Demaica's light-blessed look. Not to mention her appearance is polar opposite. If you are going this route, going the exile path and making her more of a anti-paladin that's Chaotic good or even chaotic neutral might be the case.

Not saying to go do these things, just advice & feedback that you can take or leave.

darkdill1 votes

Having Kahina in self-imposed exile sounds like it could fit, though unlike Taric she'd be sticking around near Demacia (i.e. just outside Demacia's borders). It'd also give her an added benefit of being able to escort Lux whenever the Light Mage travels. ;)

I've given Kahina a few tweaks for now. Her Q costs more as it goes up in level, her W now deals %-current HP instead of %-max, and her E only roots if you hit someone while they are marked, slowing them if you don't. But again, I want to keep the ultimate as something that once you've started it up, there's no takebacks or redirecting it. This is an intentional weakness of the ultimate to allow it to have massive power, kinda like Kled's ult. I know you want to be able to change its course, but that would require reducing its power budget.

As for the W, I still want it to be like Leoric's Drain Hope. I know it sounds like it'd be really strong that way, but I gave it meaningful drawbacks in that it's a skillshot, it has a bad cooldown, and it costs a lot of mana (and unlike Fiddlesticks she doesn't have huge amounts of hard CC). One needs to also consider that Kahina has a hard time forcing an enemy to fight her. If she moves hard at them, there's nothing stopping the enemy from kiting her.

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