Sootya, Hag of the Northern Briars - Yordle Juggernaut Jungler

HEAVY WIP!!!

UPDATED! BIG CHANGES! W now gives brief INVISIBILITY!

UPDATED 1.02! W now only targets one minion or monster, but has an additional effect! More thematic expression included for the W and Ultimate, meant to play up Sootya as being this intimidating horror movie villain lurking in the jungle...but a Yordle!

UPDATED 1.03! Changed the recommended items, added some gameplay tips!

UPDATED 1.04! Added some sample voice lines! Sootya actively plays up her image as the Hag of the Briar, for reasons that will likely be explained in the eventual lore..

UPDATED 1.05! (W) Briar Haunt now has a passive that causes Sootya's CC inflicted by her abilities to also lower the target's Armor by a flat amount for the duration! Ultimate passive is no longer tied to the Hag's Hovel, but in exchange now requires 2 extra seconds to activate! Q is returned to an AD ratio. Youmuu's Ghostblade added to the recommended items!

UPDATED 1.06! Recommended items and runes changed. Updated her stat spread. Added more voice lines. Short lore added!

UPDATED 1.07! No more mental gymnastics to try to justify her as a Juggernaut! She is a 'Specialist' now!

A concept for a rather unconventional female Yordle champion, whose main thing is basically bullying the enemy jungler and making their life hell by literally camping and stalking them during the early game, and pulling off ambush picks in the jungle or making / helping set up map plays toward late game.

Name: Sootya, Hag of the Briars
Role: AD Jungler (Specialist -- doesn’t clearly fit under any standard class archetype.) Primary Resource: Mana Gameplay: Counter-jungling, ambushes, map plays and flank maneuvers. Appearance: A bitter, thick-accented female Yordle trying really hard to look and act scary, with long droopy ears, the general demeanor of a surly Eastern European grandmother, fighting with her bare fist and various cooking utensils while going around lugging a huge cauldron and various stuffed satchels on her back. Residence: Black Briars, Voodoo Lands Fantasy: Baba Yaga type hag (only an unconsciously cute Yordle!) who stalks the jungle, jumping out and killing intruders.

--- Power Scale --- Damage ◼◼◼ Toughness ◼◻◻ Control ◼◼◻ Mobility ◼◻◻ Utility ◼◼◻ Difficulty ◼◼◻

Base attack range: 150 units

SHORT LORE In the Voodoo Lands -- that purgatorial waste north of the Noxian heartland, a specter looms. Sootya stalks the prickly brambles of the Black Briars, eking out a meager living off the land where she strikes fear into the hearts of even the most brazen souls who have caught a glimpse of her, or her macabre residence. Although her true nature and the extent of her magical powers remains a mystery, it’s no secret that she doesn't like visitors!

Passive - Hag’s Hovel Channel for 2.5s by standing still in a cleared jungle grove while out of combat to create a Hag’s Hovel that persists until the jungle mob respawns.

The Hovel grants vision, and the Sootya player or her allies can click on the cooking spit to consume a Hag’s Broth, regenerating 8 - 25 (scaling with Sootya’s level) HP per half-second for 15 seconds, but cannot be stacked. Only one Hag’s Hovel can exist per Sootya player on the map at any given time.

The cooking spit can be used as a Teleport target by allies.

Q - Boil Over Sootya rears back her cauldron for a 1s delay, then swings it in an upward vertical arc to spray its boiling contents upward, and after a 0.25s delay it rains down in the targeted direction up to as far as 750 range.

those caught in the circular area of the spray are dealt a 45% 1s slow and magic damage. those units close enough to be hit by the swing of the cauldron itself are knocked back 300 units and dealt physical damage.

MAGIC DAMAGE: 22 / 44 / 66 / 88 / 110 / 132 (+ 25% AP) PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 60 / 95 / 130 / 165 / 200 (+ 150% Sootya's AD) COST: 80 / 85 / 90 / 95 / 100 MANA COOLDOWN: 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 / 8

W - Briar Haunt / Briar Hunt Active: Sootya executes a minion or small monster within 150 range by pulling them into her boiling cauldron to create an elixir that grants her Invisibility, for up to 5s. Attacking or casting an ability will prematurely end the effect.

The initial activation effect does not count as entering into combat.

COOLDOWN: 20 / 18 / 16 / 14 / 12 ACTIVE COST: 80

Passive: Sootya's CC effects inflicted by her abilities reduce the target's Armor for the duration. Does not stack.

FLAT ARMOR REDUCTION: 3 / 6 / 9 / 12 / 15

E - Fend Off A conical counter-clockwise sideways smack with the frying pan that collides with enemy champions and large monsters, dealing physical damage to all those struck and applying a 0.5s stun unto the collided target.

Landing the stun puts this ability on half cooldown.

COOLDOWN: 8 COST: 50 MANA PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 / 105 (+ 100 / 105 / 110 / 115 / 120% AD)

R - Gasp in the Briars Passive: Sootya’s first physical damaging ability dealt to an enemy champion within 1.5s of revealing herself to the enemy team applies Briar Betrayal.

Briar Betrayal's mark persists for 5s, granting True Sight for the duration, but only ticks down if the enemy loses sight of the Sootya who applied it. Once the mark expires, if the target is standing in a part of the jungle (the mark will glow if they are) a patch of briars will form in a 250 radius around them for 2.5s, that Snares not only the target but also any of their allies who walk into it for the rest of its duration.

Active: Teleports Sootya and her Hag’s Hovel to any other cleared jungle grove on the map and grants her bonus out of combat movement speed for 8s.

Note: enemies marked with Briar Betrayal hear a horror movie violin trill if the Sootya who applied it is not visible on the map when the Snare portion activates.

BONUS OUT OF COMBAT MOVEMENT SPEED: 100 / 125 / 150% COOLDOWN: 180 / 160 / 140 COST: 100 MANA

Build Paths Item builds generally favor AD, lethality, and certain other items with synergizing effects:

Warrior Enchant, Duskblade, Youmuu's Ghostblade, Death’s Dance, Edge of Night, Boots.

A standard squishy-nuking build. Duskblade, because it synergies well with your W Invisibility and ultimate passive. Youmuu’s Ghostblade increases the power of your ambushes revolving around ult flanks, and its active component is good for salvaging kills on targets snared at a distance by Briar Curse. Edge of Night for magic resistance / negating otherwise problematic CC and more AD and Lethality. Death’s Dance I would consider core since it allows you to heal from your two attacking abilities in addition to scaling their damage, while also providing valuable CDR and artificial tankiness with its damage staggering effect.

**Other considerations for a more Bruiser-y build: **

• Triforce for the CDR, stats, phage effect which is good for chasing and sheen procs off your E.
• Black Cleaver for the armor shred to empower your Lethality effects if you’re against a tanky team.
• Guardian Angel / Deadman’s Plate are good choices for Armor items. Note that while you’re reviving with Angel’s, passive the enemy who killed you might be chased off into the jungle by your teammates where your ultimate passive can activate!
• Spirit Visage’s effect applies to Hag Broth’s heal.
• Banshee’s Veil if your team is siege-heavy, since the AP isn’t totally wasted (Q magic damage portion) it gives decent MR, and the effect prevents you being engaged on.

Runes: Predator, Electrocute, Phase Rush. If playing more as an Assassin, I would say Predator is the best choice on her with Inspiration secondary, since Approach Velocity increases movespeed toward CCed targets and Biscuit Delivery (yes, biscuits OP) gives you even stronger sustain early on in tandem with your Hag's Brew which is great if you're playing aggressively into the enemy jungle.

Gameplay Tip: Damage is REALLY high on the Q if you can land the physical hit, which has a brief delay smart foes should be wary of ( you can try to negate by slowing, snaring, or stunning your target first ;) ), but obviously it also comes with the drawback of knocking your opponent away, so try your best to have them land in the slowing field of the magic damage portion, and if possible align its usage with your Ult passive if you intend to finish them off. Otherwise, it's a great peeling tool in general, especially if you're doing counter jungling shenanigans in the early game and suddenly find yourself needing to make an escape. Also, if say you're trying to get a pick on the enemy ADC in a jungle and they're fully aware of your sneaky ways so they never wander without their support, you can use your Q to knock their support over a nearby wall to force a 1v1 with the adc! Or, knock your target over the wall into the jungle so your ultimate passive can activate!

Basic Survival Tip: Combine the brief Stun on your E with your Q knockback and you have reliable ways to stall the enemy throughout the fight, while your Hag's Brew effect replenishes some lost HP! Generally, you're at your strongest while Hag's Brew is in effect (at level 18 it heals up to 750 HP, being Sootya's form of self-heal in tune with most other Juggernauts, which pairs well with the healing on physical abilities + and damage staggering effect of Death's Dance) so even toward late game you're best offering aide within the vicinity of your hovel (i.e. in the jungle) which your W can be used to slip away to when needed, so long as there's at least one small minion or monster nearby.

Jungle Clearing Tip: since your main early clearing tool, your E, stops at the first large monster it collides with, that will sometimes result in some small monsters i.e. raptors, wolf, krugs, not being finished as fast, at which point you can just target them with your W for the execute. For those with blood on their minds, this is especially useful when counterjungling, as the Invisibility it then also provides can help ensure either your escape or an engage opportunity on the enemy jungler (but keep in mind, not both!!) after clearing one of their small camps. However, it is also useful for responding to an enemy counterjungle attempt (which is probably just not a good idea on their part to begin with.)

Ganking Tip: Pre-6 your ganks are typically dependent on you landing the ranged portion of your Q for the slow then closing in with your allies. However, if the enemy champions are pushing too far in and losing track of you, draw up behind them with your W after executing a lane minion then Q melee range for the knockback -- turning your 'Knockback' into a highly lethal 'Knock-forward,' essentially. Sootya is generally very good at responding to enemy ganks as 1. she'll most likely be at higher HP than the enemy jungler thanks to Hag's Broth, 2. her knockback, 3. spammable combo-breaking brief stun on her E, 4. her Hag’s Hovel vision can help telegraph enemy jungler ganks, and 5. her ult, once she has it. In essence, Sooty’s forte is in defensive rather than aggressive ganks. Go play Kayn or Kha'Zix or something if you’d prefer the former. ;d Post-6, however, you are given an ultimate that lets you teleport directly into the enemy’s jungle, with added movespeed to potentially make a play or coordinate a quick dive in the nearest lane, which when paired with your ability to knock the perhaps unsuspecting target out of their safe zone under their turret back into the loving arms of your ally or allies with your Q, you can make quite an impact.

Weaknesses: Tanks and ranged CC.

Example Voiceline Quotes: (in a strong Russian accent) Attacking: Life is not precious -- it is something to be fought for tooth and nail! Da! Survival of the fittest. Your goose is as good as cooked! Yes, please struggle...that will tenderize the meat! I do what I must to survive. Suffering breeds…sigh more suffering. Nothing will be wasted. Not meat, nor bone. The loser dies, and the winner...will feed. If you can’t take the heat...die! Hear my cauldron bubble! Upon Casting Boil Over: Begone! Go away! Get away from me! Leave this place! Take it! Upon Casting Briar Hunt: Into the cauldron! inhales sighs Melts from the bone… coughs Reeks of death... **Moving in Blue Jungle: ** I think I step in frog...mmm... Blue, the color of spirit...my favorite! **Moving in Red Jungle: ** The soil here is rich from Raptor leavings! Red, the color of passion...my favorite! Moving for the first time near enemy Ivern: (while visible) Gah!? No! Go away with your foolishness! Man and nature living together? laughs Nonsense… I thought I heard you creaking about... Moving near an enemy champion in the jungle: (while visible) Out! Out! Out! hiss angry hiss Intruder, begone! angry growl Get out! First time an enemy Champion walks into the player’s Hag’s Hovel: evil laugh I am always watching... Tread carefully in my domain! If you touch anything, I will boil your fingers into stew! The threshold...between your world, and the divine.

Upon Casting Gasp in the Briar: All is prickly. All is vile. All is my briar! I will put an end to your incursions! creepy laugh

Upon Buying an Item: My back is not as strong as it once was, but so be it. Da, I guess this will come in handy. Let us see if I have any space left in my bags… All the better to strike fear into their hearts!

Upon buying a Boots of Speed: None can escape the Hag! Upon buying Tier 2 Boots: This time, they won’t get away… Upon Buying an Item that grants AP: Err...sorry to disappoint, but I am not actually a witch. Upon Buying a Deadman’s Plate: Da! Now they will think I am a necromancer. Upon Buying a Spirit Visage: Overly dramatic: Yes, yes! Now I truly am at one with nature! laughs Upon Buying a Frozen Mallet: Da! Good for crushing beets and skulls. Upon Buying a Trinity Force: Three special ingredients fused together to make the ultimate dish! Upon Buying a Edge of Night: Let them try to stop me now! Upon Buying a Youmuu's Ghostblade: Ghosts are plenty scary.

Upon Death: No...I’m scared! Ah, so now I have become...the monster… Lamb…laughs get out...of my...