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[Champion Concept] Huilang - the Eternal Cycle

Raxistaicho·8/24/2016, 2:11:41 AM·17 votes·2,828 views

CCOS Reviews

Lenore - the Dreamweaver http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/skin-champion-concepts/ve60AEko-champion-concept-lenore-the-dreamweaver?comment=001b

Crypt - Curse of the Black-Edged Claymore http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/skin-champion-concepts/bwOanZdf-experiemental-cc-crypt-curse-of-the-black-edged-claymore?comment=0002

Alto - the High Flyer http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/skin-champion-concepts/bTf85zWo-champion-concept-alto-the-high-flyer-revised?comment=0012

Champion Type

Mage/Tank

Champion Concept

A short-ranged mage who survives on the front lines to take attention off of her allies by being a persistent threat for enemies that are within her range. Her control of the five elements grants her a variety of ways to keep herself in a fight while weakening enemies and keeping herself alive. Compared to others of her class, her strong sides are that she can be difficult to kill despite not being a drain tank, and she's much more mobile than nearly all other battle mages, but due to the cycling nature of her elements, she has to know when she has the advantage and when to size it.

Careful management of her abilities will reward her controller with a mage who is difficult to kill and deals very respectable sustained damage to many enemies at once, but reckless spamming will render Huilang out of mana in short order. Space management is a must with Huilang; she's short range and must carefully keep herself close enough and yet not so close that she attracts the wrath of enemy melee champions.

Short Lore

A myth during times of peace and an ill omen during times of war, Huilang spends most of her days drifting through the forests of Ionia, asleep but ever watchful. Her name appears sporadically throughout Ionia's history, inevitably defending the people of the country from some peril, be it internal or external, though nobody is certain how accurate these reports are. Though she's revered across the continent as the creator and protector of the Ionian people, she's viewed as a harbinger of woe just as she is a symbol of hope, for the myth goes that she always appears in the mortal plane just before calamity is about to strike.

What could have roused her once again from her slumber?

Gender: Female Birthplace: Ancient Ionia Residence: Ionia Occupation: Spiritual protector of Ionia Faction: Ionia

Friends: Soraka, Anivia Allies: Karma, Irelia Rivals: Kindred Enemies: Jhin, Malzahar, Swain

Appearance

A large white snake, with amber eyes. Her back is ridged with delicate-looking spines, as is the tip of her tail. Wrapped around her body just before her head and resting on her back is a lattice of gold chain, into which are set five rough-hewn stones, each glowing a different color. The amber stone is set at the center of the others, and glows brightly when her passive is ready. The others, blue, white, green, and red, are set around it and glow in sequence to show which of her elements is prepared.

During her attack animation, she swings her head horizontally, a small bolt of energy flying from her mouth to strike her target.

During her normal movement animation she slithers on the ground with her front half upright. While fast-running she lowers her whole body closer to the ground. While spawning, a large clay figure in the shape of her body forms quickly and a dusty light descends into it, at which point the statue takes on her actual detailed features and begins moving. During her death animation she falls over and her body reverts to clay before crumbling into a pile of dust, her spirit escaping and ascending. While recalling, she rises into the air and begins to twirl in a ball, as if swimming in the air. Upon completion she rises rapidly into the air and lands back at her base.

Character Theme

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tBFhD0zKjQ

Statistics

Health: 530 (+82) Health Regen: 5.45 (+0.55) Mana: 380 (+60) Mana Regen: 7.0 (+0.8) Ranged: 550

Attack Damage: 54 (+3) Attack Speed: 0.625 (+2%) Armor: 22 (+3) Magic Resistance: 30 (+0) Movement Speed: 340

__ __

Abilities

Innate: Earthen Shedding

Periodically and every time Huilang applies one of the bonus effects of Elemental Forge, she generates a stack of Clay Shedding that stacks up to 5 times. If Huilang takes damage from an enemy non-minion while at 5 stacks of Clay Shedding, she shields herself for a short duration. After the shield breaks, Huilang cleanses herself of slows and gains movement speed that decays over 2 seconds.

Static Delay per stack: 10 seconds, halved while out of battle. Shielded Amount: 60-250 based on level + 60% AP Shield duration: ([2/3/4] at levels [1/9/16]) seconds Movement speed: ([30/35/40/45/50] at levels [1/5/9/13/17])%

Huilang cannot gain more than one stack of Clay Shedding per individual cast of Elemental Forge

Q: Elemental Forge

Cost: 40/55/70/85/100 Mana Cast Range: 750 Cooldown: 6/5.25/4.5/3.75/3 seconds

Passive: Huilang’s elemental stones activate in sequence over time, forming a Cycle that follows through Water, Metal, Wood, Fire, and back to Water. The Cycle resets its current element’s duration whenever Huilang casts Elemental Forge, and then freezes until Elemental Forge comes off cooldown.

Active: Huilang casts a bolt of elemental energy in the target direction which deals magic damage to the first enemy it hits and applies a bonus effect depending on which element is active in the Cycle.

Water: Huilang gains mana. Metal: Huilang slows the enemy's movement speed, rapidly decaying over 3 seconds. Wood: Huilang heals herself. Fire: The damaged enemy takes Elemental Forge’s damage again over 3 seconds.

Magic Damage: 60/80/100/120/140 + 50% AP Delay before the Cycle changes: 6/5.25/4.5/3.75/3 seconds, modified by cooldown reduction.

Mana Restoration: 50/75/100/125/150 Slow: 30/35/40/45/50% Heal: 15/30/45/60/75 + 30% AP Empowered Magic Damage: 120/160/200/240/280 + 100% AP

W: Focal Point

Cost: 40/45/50/55/60 Mana + 1 Charge Cast Range: 650 Static Cooldown: 1.5 seconds

Passive: Huilang stores a charge of Focal Pointperiodically, up to a maximum of 3 stored at once. Huilang also immediately stores a charge of Focal Point whenever one mark of Focus is detonated by the detonation of another.

Active: Huilang infuses the target enemy with elemental energy, dealing magic damage and marking them with Focus for 3 seconds. If Huilang damages an enemy marked with *Focus * with one of her basic abilities, the mark detonates, dealing additional magic damage to nearby enemies and detonating any marks of Focus on them.

An enemy can only be damaged by one Focus detonation at a time, and an enemy cannot be marked by Focal Point more than once every few seconds.

If Elemental Forge was used to detonate the mark, the current effect in the Cycle is applied to all damaged enemies. Healing and Mana restoration is reduced for each effected enemy after the first, down to 30% for enemy champions and 10% for minions and monsters.

Recharge time: 18/16/14/12/10 modified by cooldown reduction On-target cooldown: 10/9/8/7/6 seconds

Magic Damage: 20/40/60/80/100 + 10% AP Explosion Magic Damage: 60/80/100/120/140 + 30% AP Combined Magic Damage: 80/120/160/200/240 + 40% AP

Area of effect: 300

E: Slithering Strike

Cost: 30/35/40/45/50 Mana Dash Range: 450 Cooldown: 12 seconds

Active: Huilang dashes in the target direction, dealing magic damage to enemies she passes through. If Huilang damages an enemy marked with Focus, the cooldown of Slithering Strike reduces to a flat amount.

Magic Damage: 50/80/110/140/170 + 50% AP Static Cooldown Floor: 4/3.25/2.5/1.75/1 seconds

R: Eternality

Cost: 100 Mana Range: 650 (Initial cast range)/750 (Projectile range) Cooldown: 140/120/100 seconds

Active: Huilang briefly shatters her physical form, placing Clay Dust on nearby enemy champions, allowing her to ignore unit collision, and gaining the ability to castElemental Stream up to 4 times, but preventing her from attacking. The ability ends after 10 seconds or once Huilang has cast Elemental Stream 4 times.

If Huilang would take lethal damage, she remains alive until the ability ends but her health cannot be increased above 0 except through the final effect of Eternality.

Elemental Stream - Active: Huilang exhales a blast of energy in a line, dealing magic damage to all enemies hit and marking her with Elemental Life if at least one damaged enemy had Clay Dust on them, stacking up to 4 times. At the end of the ability, if Huilang has 4 stacks of Elemental Life, she heals herself to a set amount of health if she has less and gains 5 stacks of Clay Shedding.

Magic damage: 75/125/175 + 30% AP Total magic Damage: 300/500/700 + 120% AP Static cooldown between casts: 1 second Health: 400/600/800 + 150% AP

Recommended builds:

Summoner's Rift:

-Starting: Sapphire Crystal, Refillable Potion, Warding Totem

-Early: Boots of Speed, Tear of the Goddess, Catalyst of Aeons

-Essential: Sorcerer’s Shoes, Archangel’s Staff, Rod of Ages

-Offensive: Morellonomicon, Rabadon's Deathcap, Void Staff

-Defensive: Abyssal Scepter, Zhonya’s Hourglass, Rylai’s Crystal Scepter

-Consumables: Health Potion, Vision Ward, Elixir of Sorcery

Twisted Treeline:

-Starting: Boots of Speed, Sapphire Crystal, Refillable Potion

-Essential: Sorcerer’s Shoes, Archangel’s Staff, Rod of Ages

-Offensive: Morellonomicon, Wooglet’s Witchcap, Void Staff

-Defensive: Abyssal Scepter, Moonflair Spellblade, Rylai’s Crystal Scepter

-Consumables: Health Potion, Elixir of Sorcery

*Howling Abyss *:

-Starting: Boots of Speed, Guardian’s Orb, Refillable Potion

-Essential: Sorcerer’s Shoes, Archangel’s Staff, Rod of Ages

-Offensive: Morellonomicon, Rabadon's Deathcap, Void Staff

-Defensive: Abyssal Scepter, Zhonya’s Hourglass, Rylai’s Crystal Scepter

-Consumables: Oracle’s Extract, Health Potion, Elixir of Sorcery

Long Lore:

Born in ancient times, Huilang was a singular white snake, known for her great wisdom, long life, and ability to speak the human language. In those times, the Ionians believed they were all that existed in the world, and Huilang was much the same. Within that secluded sphere of influence, there was little she did not know, but one thing that eluded her great mind was what her role was to be in life. Surely, she existed for a reason? As she slithered through the forests of Ionian in silent contemplation, other animals would balk at her immense size and flee before her, but the few humans that crossed her path sank in silent and fearful reverence. Curious – and somewhat embarrassed – she found herself watching the ancient Ionians as they multiplied and forged their civilizations. Huilang decided to make use of her knowledge for the betterment of the curious beings.

Knowing that approaching civilizations would not bring about the results she wanted, Huilang instead aided what humans she could find that were lost or isolated from others of their kind, allowing them to spread word of her. As the years rolled by, legends of the great white snake in the forests that would spare gentle words of comfort and bestow wise counsel began to grow, and Huilang was content to provide what help that she could. The thanks of the humans she had come to love was reward enough for her.

Unfortunately, just as Huilang’s reputation grew, so did the needs of the humans that came to her for aid. Within time, Huilang’s own legend had grown beyond her ability to live up to it, and the humans began to misinterpret her words and lose their way. Some even began to curse her as a capricious, spiteful being.

Seeing her dreams unraveling before her, Huilang began to isolate herself from humans more and more, aiding only those in the direst of needs, until eventually a group of human hunters attacked her, hoping to take her back with them by force. It was within her great strength to crush them all, but she chose to flee into the mountaintops.

Huilang dwelt in peace for a time, but her thoughts would inevitably stray back to the Ionians, and she grieved in her heart for abandoning them to their fates. Still, she concluded it was for the best, lest she begin to ruin as many lives as she might save. All of that changed when a young human woman, exhausted and starving, trudged up the mountain where Huilang had made her refuge. Huilang tried to come to the human's aid, but she was already beyond saving. With the last of her strength, the woman told Huilang that she had come to beg the great snake for help, and that the small Ionian province in which she made her home was threatened by a warlord who had carved a path of conquest and destruction from the northern reaches of the continent.

Unable to stand aside, Huilang descended the mountain, and saw for herself the devastation that had been wrought. Villages set to the flame, farmlands salted, lives cut down. A fury awoke within her. Pouring forth all her knowledge, Huilang crafted five mystic stones with the power to control the elements that comprised the world, and slithered forth to bring justice.

She entered the fray just as the warlord's armies came to the city walls of the besieged people, cutting through his armies like a white flash. Fire seared the soldiers, churning waves and the roiling earth swallowed divisions, their own blades turned on them, and the forests begin to move to cut off both attack and retreat. But Huilang's enemies were too many, and as her power waned, their weapons began to find their mark. Her white scales were broken, pierced, and bloodied, and she struggled to draw breath. Finally her gaze fell upon the warlord himself, and with the last of her strength, she lunged forward and swallowed him whole.

With their commander gone, the battered remains of the invading army soon found themselves beset by the people they had come to conquer. Moved by Huilang's sacrifice, they struck down the warlord's armies and safeguarded Huilang's corpse from desecration. When the battle was finally ended, Huilang was laid to rest near the heart of the small country, and the people passed down tales of Huilang's heroism to their children.

In time, the community that Huilang had saved flourished, laying the foundation for the Ionian of today. Respect for her sacrifice turned to deification, and the tales of her sacrifice turned to a belief that she had personally created the people of Ionia. The love of the Ionian people and the nobility of her demise granted Huilang an immortal soul and the ability to return to the land of the living. She took it upon herself to continue her charge of protecting the Ionian people in their time of greatest need. Her eternal gift would become an everlasting charge, but she didn't balk at the burden laid before.

The people of Ionian were near to her as children, and she was pleased for the chance to watch them for all of time.

Quotes:

Champion Selection "Salvation or... destruction... lie before us."

Match Start "I return. Ionia will endure." "Once again, the people of Ionia need my help. I must protect them." "Fear not, I will always be there when I'm needed most." "Ionia will remain in balance, I will see to it."

In the Howling Abyss "Feeling sleepy... Let's finish this quickly..." "I hate the cold."

In the Twisted Treeline "This place makes my scales crawl." "My crystals are shaking... something is very wrong here.

In the Crystal Scar "This land bears harsh wounds." "This is the senseless destruction I strive to avert."

Attacking

Attacking an enemy structure "Bring this down quickly!" "Smash their crude structures!"

Attacking the Dragon "Snakes and dragons are equal in Ionia!" "Mindless beast, you fly but you're beneath me!"

Attacking Baron Nashor "I'll squeeze you too, Baron!" "You've corrupted this land for too long, Nashor!"

Casting Eternality "I am Ionia!" "I am no ordinary snake!" "Death will never touch me again!" "I shed my skin!" "Behold my true form!"

Moving

Entering the river "I learned to swim a long time ago." "Into neutral territory." "The enemy could be upon me here."

Entering the enemy jungle "Watch every shadow closely." "I'd better not overstay my welcome." "The air tastes foul here."

Entering the enemy base "Destroy the last of their defenses!" "Victory is upon us, do not waver!" "We're here at last!"

Taunts "I think I like you, I could squeeze you to death." "Be careful, I'm a slippery one." "Don't try to corner me unless you want to get bit." "It used to be that I thought Ionia was all that existed in this world. I liked it better that way." "Only my voice is gentle."

Taunting an allied Ahri "No matter what your shape, your heart is truly Ionian."

Taunting an enemy Ahri "Snakes eat foxes you know."

Taunting an enemy Aurelion Sol "Snakes are held as high as dragons in Ionia." "All that knowledge, all that power, and yet you're still in Targon's chains." "Stars are nothing more than fireballs spread through an endless void. Here dwells meaning."

Taunting an allied Anivia "We all have our tribes that we must protect, don't we?" "Don't fly too close, you're making me tired..."

Taunting an enemy Anivia "We're equals, Anivia, even if I wasn't born into my standing. I'll prove it to you." "I never could stand how cold you were, it's time I did something about it."

Taunting an allied or enemy Annie "No, I will not let you touch my scales, and no of course I'm not slimy!"

Taunting an allied Bard "What brings you here again?" "If both of us are here, I fear for the future."

Taunting an enemy Bard "I've always wondered, could I pop you if I squeeze hard enough?" "No, I do not find your music charming!"

Taunting an enemy Brand "Just fire? Nothing else? Shame."

Taunting an enemy Cassiopeia "You give a bad name to snakes..." "Other countries view snakes as vile creatures - perfect for you." "You're awfully slow for a snake, aren't you?"

Taunting an allied Ionian "Fear not, I'll protect you." "Trust in me, we will not fail." "Together, we shall renew balance." "We'll need each other in the battles ahead."

Taunting an allied Irelia "Irelia, it is an honor." "Your devotion is a true symbol of what it means to be Ionian."

Taunting an enemy Jhin "Ionia doesn't need art like yours." "Your final masterpiece will be your own."

Taunting an allied Karma "Ionia's future lies with you, Karma." "They're lucky to be led by you."

Taunting an enemy Kindred "Lamb shoots, Wolf bites, but I'll forever slip away." "The love of my people set me forever beyond your reach, hunters!" "You took me once, you won't have me twice."

Taunting an enemy Lissandra "All those years, and you can only control ice?"

Taunting an enemy Malphite "Rock solid? I can do that too."

Taunting an enemy Malzahar "You're the root of this evil, I must destroy you." "I can feel you hiding in that human puppet!" "You won't escape from me, demon!"

Taunting an enemy Maokai "I can control trees too. Among other things."

Taunting an allied Master Yi "The ones we lose never really leave us, Yi." "Your pupils will become your new family, Yi."

Taunting an enemy Noxian "Noxus will pay for their transgressions." "A thousand lifetimes won't be enough to punish Noxus for what it's done." "Your strength is a lie." "Your people do nothing but destroy!"

Taunting an enemy Ryze "Dear, the world is always doomed, you can't fix it yourself." "Those runes were better off scattered and hidden, Ryze!" "You're only hastening destruction by gathering those runes, Ryze!"

Taunting an enemy Shadow Isles Champion "It's time you went back to where you belong." "You've lingered for far too long." "The dead should rest."

Taunting an allied Soraka "Never doubt your decisions, Soraka." "Keep me alive, and I'll protect you."

Taunting an enemy Soraka "I'm sorry it came to this." "Your allies need you, but mine need you out of the way. Please forgive."

Taunting an allied Syndra "Unleash your power on them, Syndra!"

Taunting an enemy Syndra "You'll never understand, petulant child."

Taunting an enemy Swain "You... you aren't even human..." "This is one bird that I must devour." "You would consume us all, wouldn't you..."

Taunting an enemy Taliyah "You weave rocks? There's more things to sew in this world than just rocks, little sparrow."

Taunting an allied Varus "You can still be saved, never lose hope."

Taunting an enemy Varus "You will never find redemption until you let go of your hate!"

Taunting an enemy Voidborn "You don't belong in this world, monster!" "I will send you back to the vile realm you crawled out of!" "Ionia will not be fouled by your footsteps!"

Taunting an allied Zed "Do you still serve Ionia in your own way?"

Taunting an enemy Zed "The shadows fade, Zed."

Responding to an enemy taunt "Bark all you want." "I guess words are the only weapons still left to you." "Cute tongue - mind if I bite it?" "Only the weak fight with words." (Sharp hiss)

Purchasing an item "Ah, trade, something even older than me!" "It always used to confuse me, the way humans traded shiny stones for things." "I don't actually know how much these shiny coins are worth, is this the right amount?" "Even I could use a bauble or two."

Purchasing Sapphire Crystal or Amplifying Tome "A building block to something more." "A humble start for greater things"

Purchasing Tear of the Goddess "Could this be my own?" "Would that I could create a world with no tears."

Purchasing Archangel's Staff "Power is welling within it." "Its power grows."

Completing Archangel's Staff into Seraph's Embrace "I can barely contain the power!" "Its hunger for mana is sated!"

Purchasing Rod of the Ages "All things improve with age." "We both grow stronger."

Rod of the Ages becomes fully stacked "It was worth the wait." "The ages roll by no longer."

Purchasing Morellonomicon "A ghastly book, but useful." "It was written before I shed my first skin."

Purchasing Void Staff "I'll not allow anything to stand against me." "Their resistances offer them no protection."

Purchasing Rabadon's Deathcap "A charming bonnet of power." "Powerful and fashionable!"

Purchasing Abyssal Scepter "A crude thing, but undeniably useful." "I always did like to keep my prey close."

Purchasing Zhonya's Hourglass "Time answers to me." "I unlocked time's secrets long ago."

Purchasing Spirit Visage "Lively spirits join me." "I can feel the life welling up within me."

Purchasing Boots of Speed "Just... slip it on my tail, please." "Don't ask questions."

Purchasing Tier Two Boots "Yes, these help me. No, I won't explain how." "I know Cassiopeia doesn't wear shoes anymore, Nami still does and so do I!"

Purchasing a Vision Ward "Never forget to pick one up." "Can't go without one."

Purchasing a Trinket "Invaluable to our victory." "An instrumental tool."

Purchasing a consumable "This should tide me over." "This'll be good to have around."

Joke "I bet you're all expecting some hissterical pun." "Of course I'm balanced, I have my own scales!" "So what would you call me if I worked for Ionia's government? A civil serpent!" "Wanna know how long my tail is? A lot of inches - I don't have feet."

Killing an enemy champion "For Ionia's safety, I fight on." "My people need me." "I won't ask for your forgiveness." "Balance sometimes demands viciousness."

Drawing First Blood "My first strike is swiftest!" "Did you take me for a gentler snake?"

On a killing spree "Such persistent creatures, but misguided." "Perhaps you should try a different approach?"

Scoring a pentakill "Balance will be restored!" "None on Runeterra can stand before me!"

Scoring an ace "My work is nearly at an end." "Well done, they're no match for us!

Killing an epic monster "The spoils are ours!" "A mighty foe falls."

Destroying an enemy structure "Their defenses fall, well done!" "Move on to the next!"

Dying "The cycle turns forever..." "I will return..." "Don't worry about me, fight on!" "Only a brief farewell."

Respawning or reviving through Eternality "I am an eternal being!" "I will forever be reborn!" "Until Ionia is free of enemies, I will return!" "I can protect Ionia once more!"

Recalling "It's time I rested." "The fighting is done for now." "A brief reprieve." "I will return when the time is right."

Completing Recall "I mustn't linger long." "As always, I'll return soon." "I cannot remain idle for long." "I'll rest when I sleep once more, I need to depart."

Design principles:

Anybody who's either played Smite or is a Chinese mythology buff will probably have figure out what I've been going for with Huilang quite some time ago, but if you're neither of those things, she's essentially a representation of the Chinese goddess Nüwa (or Nu Wa), who is best known for creating mankind and repairing the pillar of heaven. Comparisons to her are scattered throughout Huilang's design and lore, most notably in her being a snake (Nüwa was variably represented as being part snake and part human) and her possession of five colored stones, meant to represent the Wu Xing, or a cycle of five types of chi that the Chinese believed dominated at various times.

In game, however, Huilang shares very little in common with Nu Wa from Smite, the latter being an immobile burst/utility squishy mage with her five elements spread through her innate ability, her three basic abilities, and her ultimate ability, while Huilang is a short-ranged mobile sustained damage bruiser mage with her own five elements centered on her innate and first ability.

Huilang is intended to function in top lane. She doesn't have tools necessary to clear the jungle without burning through her mana pool, and she has a gold dependency that would keep her out of the support role. She could theoretically manage against shorter ranged mages or mid-lane assassins, but mages like Lux, Syndra, or even Ahri could poke her down from outside her range, especially when you remember that minions will block Elemental Forge.

Against melee champions, however, Huilang can function much better, with Elemental Forge and Earth Shell allowing her to deal damage without endangering herself too badly, and can use Slithering Strike to escape if an enemy jumps onto her.

Earthen Shedding is a simple defensive tool that allows Huilang a brief window in which to control a fight before retreating. It also represents the element of earth. The reason earth is set apart from the other four (in Huilang's design the stone representing earth is even set at the center of the other four) harkens back to Nüwa's myth in which she created humans from clay from the bed of a river. For Huilang this act is reversed, with her creating her own shell that she acts in the mortal plane with from clay. Due to Huilang's high early mana costs, relatively short range, and low damage, maximizing use of Earthen Shedding is crucial to winning early trades. When the passive is ready, close in - with a Slithering Strike chain or without - lay some damage down, and then use the movement speed increase at the end to quickly retreat. Enemies should be ready for Huilang's attack once her passive is stacked. If you have some way to cut off her retreat, you should wait for the shield to decay and then force the fight to continue.

Elemental Forge is largely her signature ability, allowing her to respond to different situations through carefully paying attention to which element is active in her cycle. Elemental Forge does not actually follow the cycle of Wu Xing properly, which goes Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, but this was a sacrifice I deemed necessary, as I didn't want Huilang's sustained elements (Wood and Water) clustered away from her combat elements (Metal and Fire).

The process of Huilang's elements was arranged to be fairest to both herself and her enemy. Fire is the element in which she's at her most dangerous, but during the laning phase she's likely to spend most of her time in Water so as to keep her mana pool up. This gives her laning opponent a good opportunity to force trades that she won't be able to win unless she's significantly better than them. However, in keeping with this, Metal (her key kiting ability) is directly after Water, allowing her the option of escaping danger. Wood comes before Fire, and after Metal, allowing Huilang the options of recovering after escaping with Metal and topping her health bar off while waiting to deal some damage with Fire. However, as Huilang is most likely to try trades while Fire is active, she'll most likely NEED Wood directly after using it, and will have to be careful not to take too much abuse, lest she be forced to wait for the Cycle to make an almost complete revolution before she can heal. After Fire comes Water, allowing Huilang to build her mana pool back up after making a trade.

Focal Point's original version was an aoe that spread the damage and elemental bonus from Elemental Forge to enemies standing inside it while also dealing some aoe damage on-cast, but had a longish cooldown. This provided Huilang a clear window to deal some multi-target damage, but it also restricted her ability to participate in team fights, especially if the enemy simply clears out of the area. Its new iteration as a stock-using skill keeps the concept of being a window for Huilang to multi-target her abilities, but allows that "area" to move with her enemies. It also works better with Slithering Strike, allowing Huilang to create a "path" through enemies to reach a destination if she pleases.

So, Slithering Strike. Sorry, Cassiopeia, snakes aren't immobile. Some snake especially are capable of moving quite fast when they want to. Guess Huilang's just one of them :p Low cost, moderate aoe damage and a relatively short-range pass-through dash with an unusually high cooldown attached to it. Slithering Strike has an effect similar to Kindred's Q in which it reduces its cooldown to a low floor of 1 second at rank 5 if Huilang detonates a Focal Point with it. This lets her do hit and runs or strike through enemy groups, but if she's not dashing offensively, she's not dashing often.

As a side note, I once played around with the notion of Huilang having a short-duration suppress attached to her E, most likely one that would stop her dash and have her constrict an enemy she dashes through that has a Focal Point on them. Unfortunately, Huilang's not the sort of battle mage that keeps herself alive while making passive actions (such as Swain's ult, Vlad's general healing or Karthus' revenge after death shenanigans), so an ability that forced her to stop in place would be a poor fit for her playstyle. It's a real shame I couldn't find a way to work in a constriction-based ability into her kit, as she makes several references to constricting enemies in her quotes and since she's not venomous, she'd be a constrictor.

With the stacking nature of Focal Point and the cycling elements of Elemental Forge, Huilang is all about seizing narrow opportune moments to strike, hence her ability to quickly dart from point A to B while briefly shielding herself from harm, before slithering back to her safe places to do it again.

Huilang's ultimate is merely an extreme variant on her concept as an eternal self-reviving being while also allowing herself the option to engage enemies a little more recklessly than you might otherwise. Eternality allows Huilang the option of diving into enemy teams, surviving while surrounded in a large fight, or even getting revenge on an enemy who slew her, but with the delay involved both between shots, prediction of enemy movements and good aim is essential to get the most out of it. Remember that Huilang can be fought and placed under crowd control during her ultimate, so don't hesitate to fight back if you think you can avoid at least one of her shots. Eternality allows Huilang to make some risky plays, but using it carelessly will just cause her to throw her life away in vain. Junglers should also keep in mind that this makes Huilang very good at 2v2 fights, so be careful for counterganks if you're going after her. Also, remember that Huilang revives if killed during Eternality with Earthen Shedding ready for use. Huilang and her enemies should be aware of that.

Personality-wise, Huilang is both encouraging and protective of the Ionian people, but that doesn't mean she's overly gentle. She's more than willing to be, well, a mean old snake, when she has to be. It's also important to note that she's very much a tribal "goddess". She cares about most humans in a general way, but the Ionians come first to her. If Demacia or Piltover became interested in invading Ionia, you would see a lot more contempt for those nations coming from her.

Revision History

9/16

Reworked Ultimate ability

Previous Version:

R: The Snake’s Blessing

Cost: 100 Mana Range: 500 (Cast and blessing range) Cooldown: 150/120/90 seconds

Passive: While the ability is off cooldown, Huilang can see dead allied champions illuminated against the battlefield where they died and interact with them using this ability, regardless of whether or not that champion leaves a visible corpse in their death animation.

Active: Huilang blesses the ground around a target dead allied champion for a duration. After 3 seconds, all dead allies in the blessed area are provided a 3-second window in which to select an area to respawn within the blessed area with a set amount of health and whatever mana or energy they had upon death, which occurs after a 2 second delay. Huilang can move, attack, and cast abilities freely during this time, but the early respawn is cancelled for all still-dead allies if she leaves the area or dies before they completely finish respawning.

If none of Huilang’s allies select an area in which to respawn or their natural death timers ends at any point before the ability has completed, The Snake’s Blessing refunds its mana cost and goes on a 60-second cooldown.

Blessing duration: 8 seconds Health Regained: 600/800/1000 + 200% AP

9/15

Reworked Innate ability

Previous Version:

Innate: Earth Shell

Huilang periodically generates an outer layer of clay armor that greatly reduces the next incoming instance of damage from an enemy Champion, Large Monster, or Epic Monster, and then all further non-turret damage for .5 seconds. Earth Shell’s cooldown is reduced every time Huilang applies one of the bonus effects of Elemental Forge.

Static Cooldown: 30 seconds Cooldown Reduction: ([2/2.5/3/3.5/4] at levels [1/5/9/13/17]) seconds Damage Reduction: ([40/45/50/55/60] at levels [1/5/9/13/17])%

8/23

Added

25 Comments

Vorazun9/12/2016, 3:00:20 PM2 votes

CCOS Review

Name translates roughly to Moon in chinese - I see what you did there :)

Passive: It feels like a weaker version of Malzahar's passive. I'm not sure whether it really fits Huilang as a character though because she shouldn't really be getting hit in the first place (similar issue with the E), but Malzahar at least has the excuse that he has a channeled ability that he wants uninterrupted. Here, Huilang has more of a dip-in, dip-out kind of playstyle, where an actual shield itself would be far more effective than damage resistance on such a long cooldown even if it is reduced.

Q: I like this idea. Minor point is that even with Focal Point the heal is Sona level. For 1 person. It feels very underwhelming.

W: Mostly good again with the exception of the radius which is huge, For reference Ekko's W also has the radius of 400, and might make it too easy to encompass entire minion waves or even somewhat clustered teams within.

E: This perplexes me. While it is good for any champ to have mobility, this incentivises a melee playstyle. Why? It's not even that, because you have to dash through an enemy in the first place. it's an ability that belongs on a melee skirmisher, not on a battle-mage such as Huilang. It's initial range is shorter than her autoattack range too especially since it's meant to be a combat tool, not a utility one. Might want to rethink this.

R: I dislike this ability, but not because of it's design. Instead, it's because of its implications, something I like to call the Guardian Angel dilemma. GA is useful, but in any fight you would have won, you would have won without dying, thus rendering the item moot in favor of some other semi defensive item like a BT or a Scimitar. This, imo exemplifies the issue. It is most effective when multiple allies have died, but a fight where multiple allies have died is most likely a fight lost already, and one where the enemy team camps on top of their bodies barring some godlike play. But those are too few and far between imo to warrant so much relative power. The theme also feels a little off in my opinion.

My concept: Lenore, the Dreamweaver

redfeenix8/24/2016, 2:54:35 PM2 votes

Really like this post. Thanks for creating this

Mootie8/24/2016, 2:51:06 PM2 votes

I like the idea for this champion. Especially the ult, however it could use some work on the mechanics because all the restrictions/limitations make it seem too...faulty, and it would not work very well in a team fight from the way it sounds with the cast times.

An alternative idea for the ult is you could cast it and all the defeated allies within an area around you are revived with full health and mana but have 30-50% less armor and magic resistance, and maybe reduced damage/attack speed, until they are defeated or the duration of the ult expires. While a revived ally is active, the death timer continues to count down but freezes at 1 second until the ally's phantom is defeated/ultimate expires. Another idea to consider is the area of the ultimate moves with Huilang, allowing the players' phantoms to move freely with Huilang as long as they remain inside the circle. If an ally wants to resurrect at the fountain, he can just step out of the circle. This would be a very interesting and unique ultimate. I would hope it would have a long duration because it could be fun traversing the Rift in phantom form while the screen is grayed.

Friendly Ram9/16/2016, 6:46:58 PM1 votes

I like the idea and execution just have a couple of questions. Passive: seems kinda weak but i was wondering on the 1/2 delay while out of combat. how could she benefit from this? Q:really cool W: cool but seems kinda strong E: neat dashing combo mechanic. R: strange but doesn't seem overpowered.

FlameHalbrdOkido9/17/2016, 1:26:21 AM1 votes

New passive: clap clap clap, much better, it holds homage to the older version while tying in some snake aspects, and it overall seems to flow much better on many levels now

So automatically every 10 (or 5) sec She gains a stack and every time she casts Q she gets a stack and at 5 stacks the next time she is hit by a champ she shields her self and gains MS when the shield breaks. Nice.

"Cute tongue - mind if I bite it?" 0.0 dang!!

Candurill9/17/2016, 9:19:52 AM1 votes

Hey Raxistaicho!! I still owed you a review from when you reviewed my champion last CCOS. I apologies that i didn't do it THEN...I was really demotivated with my champion concept and i was on holiday...and all in all I just gave up on it. But now I'm back :D and im giving you a review ^^

First of all I'd like to say...Dang what a long concept...You know I do have other things I have to do in my day, but now i have to spend it ALL reading you concept...Not cool man (Jk ofcourse ;D). I really love that you add a theme to your champion concept. I've seen other do it aswel but I rarely listen to it. This one is very pretty though and I am listening to it as i write this :D

As for her kit:

Her passive reminds me a lot of Malphite. Its a nice idea :) I must add that it took me a while to realise that this was actually the earth element and that that is the reason why that element is not incorporated into her Q...I was going to make a comment on that, but now that i know this i say...well done...well done...

Her Q is a bit complicated. So the elements switch whenever she uses the ability? Or do they just go through the cycle every 5 minutes or so? Or a shorter duration? If this is the case then I would say its just a tad too uncontrollable. I REALLY like the idea, but control over what you do when is very important in the game, especially in the high elo's and LCS. Gnar's passive is stretching this, but an elemental cycle that just constantly goes on (unless you use the ability) might be a little to unreliable. Then again, the effects aren't really THAT note-worthy to have to be relied upon. (The Fire one just does the normal damage but over time? I don't really see the use in that other then that it could be cleansed early, evading the damage....I say give it EXTRA damage over time...not too much, just a little). The numbers are good for as far as i can tell.

Her W is really nice and offers a good combo with her Q. I like it when people bring together abilities inside one kit ^^ I do have a few points though...I'd like to know hoe large the area of effect is that the explosion is in. That will really determine how OP this healing is. The mana recovery is already pretty OP. Its really unfair to have such a source of mana early on in the game, and with the Q/W combo, this is just an infinite pool of mana that you can drain. I'd also like to know how fast this heal and mana recovery is reduced per enemy...all in all a good idea...but it could be balanced a bit.

E is a nice ability. Nothing special but perfect for her kit :) Nice work on the cooldown reduction idea.

Her R is interesting. Its a bit complicated though...So she fires a beam of some sort in a target direction after shedding her mortal form...which applies a stack on enemies if they were previously hit by her shedding her mortal body...and if she gets 4 stacks on them she will be healed to a certain amount if she's dead...I like the idea but the condition for getting stacks and her lack of CC is a bit problematic. It will be very hard to hit all four of these shots and gain the heal. Still a nice idea though, and i think that if you rework it a bit it could be a solid part of the kit :)

Lastly, her lore. I LOVE IT!! Its such a nice story and it made my heart pound x.x I love the way you made it sound like some Chincese/Japanese folktale and still made it fitting for Runeterra. I've always had a soft spot for Ionia...so that might also help XD But very good writing and the quotes are incredible (and numerous) too ^^ I love the one taunt towards Anivia "Don't fly too close, you're making me tired..." As a biology student I really appreciate the nod to a snake's cold blooddedness XD

Anyway, thank you for your amazing concept :) I really wish you the best in the CCOS (as if I could compete with this). And as a disclaimer, anything i say should be taken with a grain of salt. She is your concept and you should keep her the way you want her to be. These are our children in a way and I'd never want to be responsible for her wandering too far from her original idea :)

Villainous10/28/2016, 6:17:28 AM1 votes

This is my usual format for reviews; I’ll probably be less nitpicky/horrifically critical when I get around to doing a proper rubric’d version. This is more the 'here's everything I can think of off the top of my head to improve' bit.

First thoughts For a champion who’s fairly simple when you isolate what she actually does (passive shield, spammy skill shot, point and click AOE, dash, cool ult that’s harder to summarise), there’s a lot of words here. I find it happens a lot to ‘elementalist’ characters.

Passive – Earthen Shedding If I may, allow me to reword this so that it doesn’t sprawl quite so much (and so there’s only two kinds of ‘level scaling’ instead of three).

“Huilang periodically gains a shield that blocks 60 – 250 (based on level) (+60% AP) damage for 2 / 3 / 4 seconds upon receiving non-minion damage. When the shield breaks, Huilang cleanses all slows and gains 30% / 40% / 50% bonus movement speed that decays over 2 seconds. Cools down twice as quickly when out of combat.

Static Cooldown: 50 seconds”

Then, add this to the bottom of her Q.

“If Elemental Forge successfully hits an enemy, reduce the cooldown of Earthen Shedding by 10 Seconds”

There. Virtually nothing has changed, but the ability is easier to parse. The stacking mechanic doesn't really serve a purpose unless you want to make the shield scale with stacks or something. As for the ability itself... It's fine, I guess. It captures the flavour of shedding skin/a layer of rock quite well, but I feel like it has too much in common with the shield/speed boost on Ryze (though perhaps even more so with his old passive). It could also probably have a shorter cooldown (naturally, reducing the cdr effect on her Q); 50 seconds (even if it’s 25 seconds out of combat) is a long time.

Q – Elemental Forge I have a number of issues with this ability.

Firstly, there's the healing mode, which I’m pretty sure is far and away the best of the four (as someone who once played Top Lane Nami on a semi-regular basis and has, at different points in time, mained Renekton, Nasus, Trundle, Illaoi, Aatrox, Swain, Zac (long after he stopped being a meta top laner), Cassiopeia, Garen, Irelia, Lissandra, Morgana, Udyr and Warwick all in the top lane… I may be a little biased). Cassiopeia already demonstrated how potent sustained healing is on a battle mage and I believe the wood version of Elemental Forge outdoes Cass's E in terms of healing/second. In fact, I think it even out heals Vlad's Q for a good portion of the game (up until the missing health portion of the third hit starts healing for 300+). On the other hand, once you start getting CDR and it’s late in the game, there comes a point where the Fire version starts losing DPS since the CD becomes lower than the DoT duration and is, overall, probably the weakest (despite how desperate she is for damage).

Next, there's the curious issue with levelling this. As you level the ability, the mana efficiency per point of damage actually drops slightly and the 'window' for sticking with the same mode decreases. Ideally, you want to keep spamming this ability in order to stack your passive, but levelling it makes that difficult due to the cost (even though it also reduces the CD). Despite everything, it feels like it's entirely possible that you want to actively avoid levelling this till late game due to its prohibitive cost and the loss of control; I’d say level 2-3 is probably the sweet spot.

Finally, there's weird feeling I get when looking this ability and thinking about how, despite ostensibly being an 'elementalist' style character, Huilang will likely only use one element for the most part. With how slowly it rotates early in the game, it isn't as though you can swap easily during the laning phase, so it seems like she probably just stays on the one element and abuses it. I’ll talk about how I’d change this a little later.

W – Focal Point I’m immediately reminded of Ryze’s E; the same kind of ‘press button to make abilities better and/or waveclear’. Though a fine ability as a concept (I was going to say ‘in and of itself’, but with how it works, I don’t think this ability can every really be considered in a vacuum), I can’t shake the feeling that the abilities around it don’t support it that well. Elemental Forge’s more useful effects (Heal/Mana regen) are mostly neutered when combo’d with this.

E – Slithering Strike It’s not a bad skill, per say, but again, it feels out of place. The reset effect requires you to pass through an enemy, which means you’re within 450 range of them, and moving through them. I don’t know about you, but if an enemy champion has let me get within 450 range as Huilang, I’m pretty sure moving closer is the last thing I want to do. I don’t foresee the reset being used very much, unless you’re desperate for the burst damage or using it to ‘cheat’ with your ultimate (AKA I don’t need to aim if I’m right next to my target!). It could probably do with a different reset condition.

R – Eternality

Well. This is an odd one. Though she obviously doesn’t have the same ‘1v5 Penta-kill OMG HARD CARRY’ potential Tryndamere has without the ability to auto-attack during Eternality, and her damage isn’t amazing, this is still… pretty over powered. It’s basically a double duration Tryndamere ult. Sure, she automatically dies if she doesn’t hit all four attacks, but Trynd usually has a similar problem if he doesn’t win the battle by the time his ult’s run out.

It also doesn’t really work with the rest of her kit.

Though she reminds me of Ryze in terms of her specific abilities, Huilang’s role is closest to that of Vlad or Swain. She’s a super-sustained, tanky mage who builds durability plus AP, sponges damage and is generally annoying. Her ultimate, however, espouses a glass cannon hyper carry playstyle similar to Suicide Karthus. However, Huilang’s greatest benefit from AP is to her durability; her abilities have middling AP ratios for damage, but she has three different abilities that give her effective health (Wood Forge, Earthen Shedding and Eternality itself), each with pretty decent ratios. Which means the strongest part of Eternality, the 10 seconds of not dying, feels like something of a waste. You can pop it after sponging a bunch of damage, in order to… sponge a bunch more damage.

I guess Eternality feels like overkill. It’s possibly the best ‘carry’ survivability spell in the game on a champion who already has an embarrassment of survivability.

Overview It took me a while to figure out what was bothering me about Huilang, but I think I’ve figured it out.

Huilang has too many ‘gimmicks’; so many that they all feel underdeveloped.

Thematically, she takes ‘snake’ (E), ‘elementalist’ (P & Q) and ‘eternal god-like being’ (R), and her W doesn’t seem to innately match any of those. Mechanically, she has the multiple elements on her Q, the ability interactions with her W, the ability interactions with her passive and her ult does its own thing in a way that honestly goes against the rest of her kit; she looks and feels incohesive, even though her playstyle is pretty similar to a number of champions that already exist (most closely resembling Vlad’s).

Beyond that, she’s also probably too lopsided in the damage v durability department. She can solo dive turrets for 20+ seconds at level 6, but good luck killing anyone while you’re there; at that level your maximum damage (not including auto-attacks which, I’ll be frank, make up maybe 50%-60% of her damage early in the game) is, I believe, about 1570 + 830% AP (3 level 3 Qs (Fire), 4 level 1 Ws, 3 level 1 Es and your ultimate), which amounts to about 79 + 41% AP DPS. And it isn’t like that’s all burst damage.

She’s immortal in lane if she’s allowed to get blue buff. If she gets behind, her damage falls off a cliff and her only utility is the slow on her Q.

Suggestions

I usually do these more inside the ability section, but my advice here is perhaps a little more radical.

I would personally move the elemental effects from her Q to her passive and apply it to all her abilities. You could keep it in its current state (i.e. time based rotation), but I think making it rotate with spell use would be the best way of demonstrating that specific theme of ‘I command ALL the elements; let me show you all of them!’ Of the three main themes Huilang uses, I feel like ‘Elementalist’ is the one with the most to give (since Cassiopeia does ‘snake’ and ‘PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWER’ is a dime a dozen). It’s not like you need to drop the other two, but I think one of them needs more focus. Doing this would also let Focal Point fit in with her kit more, since you could separate which element you use with Focal Point and what you detonate it with, letting you (for instance) drop a Metal based Focal Point, plus a Fire based Focal Point, then pop them with Water Forge to keep your mana up, while applying an AOE slow and burn.

Beyond that, I think it’d probably be best to invert the way Eternality works; build up a ‘charge’ by hitting enemies with the projectile and, if you take lethal damage, it depletes the charges you’ve built up and heals you (or, if you still have charges when the time runs out, it heals you based on the remainder). That way, your ult actually scales with the durability you’re already building, rather than making you feel like you’re wasting part of your kit.

And, y’know, you don’t feel like an idiot if you miss one of your abilities.

Christian Fright11/19/2016, 11:17:05 AM1 votes

I really adore this concept.

As not the most mechanically adept person, I am afraid I can't offer much critique on her skills, though I must admit they all sound immensely intriguing.

As for her lore, it was a true delight to read. It would be a great development to the world mythos of the lore. Having more "ancient beings" to tell the tale of Runeterra's past and the way they seek to build its future is a charming prospect, which I most dearly hope Riot takes into account.

The special interactions were also quite enjoyable, though I would reccon Huilang would also have some ties to Ivern. Perhaps an addition to consider? :)

All in all, stunning concept, which would be interesting to have in the game.

P.S. SNEKS~!!!! <3

ShadeAzure8/25/2016, 12:51:42 AM1 votes

cool idea

FlameHalbrdOkido9/16/2016, 4:08:07 AM1 votes

This is not anything against you or your concept, but I kinda gots a stigma against theme along the lines of "they have control over all the elements" and stuff like that, its like lady! Just pick one!

Passive seems good, i wonder about its reason, is she supposed to be a jungler? a tank? and tanky mage? Actually Verizon got it perfect here

Q: so the player has no control over which element is used? It just goes through the cycle changing to the next one constantly unit one is cast cast? then once one is cast it freezes for a bit then it starts passively cycling again? So its like an ongoing version of Pick A Card? got it. all their effects seem balanced i guess

Focal Point boasts a pretty darn cool effect in conjuction with Q, but its name could probably better... I honestly can't put my finger on the correct word at the moment, but I honestly was mislead the first time I read Focal Point's name, I thought about an ability along a different set of lines.

While I know not every ability has to be 10/10, could u pls explain why E is a simple dash, it doesn't seem like it goes as well with Q and W. Same here Verizon also got it perfect. Both Passive and E don't seem to fit the kit... I mean I am open to an explanation

"E and passive: You have a point. Do you think her passive would suit her better then if her E involved her wrapping around an enemy and constricting them in some conditions?"

Response: wrapping around the target and constricting them, this still doesn't seem to work with her kit. QW and R all work for a mage kit, the E and P seem to work better for a figher... Are you trying to fit in some of the aspects of a snake... i would suggest finding another aspect of snakes to incorporate into her kit, such as: Shedding - perhaps she gains MS, or reduces CC duration Smelling/Thermal Sight - ... Others? - ...

"R: I did mention in my write-up at the bottom that it was most useful after winning a fight rather than during one. To make an extreme example, if Huilang was the sole survivor of a fight in which her team aced the enemy, her ult would easily allow them to pursue an objective directly after."

I see ur rationale, but can you see that the conditions to use this ult are still pretty limiting? The ult's not bad, but I still think you can do better

(also I took ur critique to heart and made a ton of changes)