Rework to Annie Molten Shield (E) Proposal

So I've been thinking about this for a while, and I think an update to Annie's molten shield will definitely go a long way.

Before you continue reading, I want to make an important point. I have no intention of making Annie a broken champion or even better. I don't actually care if she gets worse. My goal here is to make her both fun to play as and against, while keeping her as a mechanically simple champion (which is important for the game).

Why? Most of the time, E is just used as a stun charger. That's a pretty sad way to waste a whole ability slot. When it actually is used to prevent damage, it falls under one of two categories:

• It's early game, it does a measly 16% damage reduction, and does next to no damage.

• It's like game, it blocks 40% (wow!) of damage, but it's a team fight so you get blown up anyway.

However Annie's E ability is pretty important to her lore. She 'uses' it when she's scared after catching her parents arguing, and ends up setting the house of fire. So, we can't completely get rid of the ability, otherwise the lore falls apart. But, it's pretty obvious in the cinematic the she didn't mean to set the house on fire, she was just scared and she couldn't control it. There's actually a perfect way we can integrate this into her kit:

Passive Change My first proposal is to add a new section to her passive (sorry the text isn't in Riotspeak, but the idea is there): When Annie's health drops below 20%, she and tibbers get [molten shield] with a 20% damage reduction, and deals 20% of all damage taken back to the source. No, I don't want this to be broken, or particularly game changing at all really, if you're below 20% health, you're probably gonna die anyway (apart from maybe a level 4 1v1 all in). It isn't there to break the game, it's there for lore.

Now what do we do with E? Annie's biggest weaknesses are range and waveclear. I have absolutely no intention of fixing these problems, because I do NOT want Annie to be broken, or even an A tier champ. I just want something that will make her a bit more fun, interactive, and most of all, something that makes sense with the rest of her kit.

Drop Bear (yes this name sucks lmao) So... this is what I'm thinking, I'll back myself up after:

First cast: --> No mana cost [dropping something shouldn't cost mana], high CDR --> Annie drops tibbers (in teddy bear form). --> Cannot be cast if Tibbers is currently active.

Second cast: --> Costs a bunch of mana --> Annie teleports instantly to Tibbers location, and reunites herself with her bear. --> While Tibbers is on the ground (as teddy bear form), Annie cannot move more than 1500 (or so, maybe less, I don't really know distances in league) units away from that location. --> After a two second delay from first cast, Annie is able to walk back to Tibbers and collect him free of cost.

Also, Summon: Tibbers: If Summon: Tibbers is cast while Tibbers is on the ground, Tibbers is summoned at that location.

Explanation

Lore: Tibbers and Annie are a pretty iconic duo. It's her only friend, and this idea is already explored in her ult (i.e. when Tibbers is active and is too far away, he teleports back to Annie). I feel like this connection between the two should still exist while Tibbers is a cute stuffed toy. Also, I like the interaction that it is impossible for them to be separated, Annie cannot move out of Tibbers range without going to collect him.

Gameplay Changes:

• It gives her an out, while making her a non-threat. Basically, she can drop her bear under tower, and then farm safely in the lane. If she gets ganked, a simple click of E will save her. But, she is now a pointless threat. She can't use ult, because Tibbers will spawn at the tower. I really like this interaction, because, while it's hard to kill her, there is almost no way she can kill you.

• It gives her a super long range AOE stun. This is true, that would work. You can drop your bear in a bush, hide in a different bush, and either: --> Summon Tibbers from very long range, then E to him and finish them off. --> E to Tibbers, then do whatever you feel like.

While giving her a super long range stun, it also completely locks her in. Let's say you and your team are playing against Annie. You come across the dropped bear sitting around. There is now no way for Annie to escape. If you have someone guard the bear, and someone else search for her, it is literally impossible for her to run away. She can't back, she can't teleport, she can't be eaten by a friend on enemy Tahm Kench and walked out, she can't Ryze ult. Nothing can separate her from Tibbers. The only things she can do is either walk over to Tibbers and pick him up, or E to him.

So, to sum up, this change does three things:

• Gives her a much needed escape, while turning her into a potato who can't do anything (i.e. no ult for her unless you wanna ult under tower lmao).

• Giving her a very potent long range stun champ, while requiring serious set up, and also completely locking her down.

• Makes her lore more awesome.

I can back this up more if anyone sees any problems, but I'm tired now :).

Tell my what you guys think <3 Thanks for reading!

Btw, I'm not super high Elo or anything, I've only been playing for a bit less than two years. But I do have about 450k mastery on her, so I do know the champ pretty well and understand the intricacies of her kit. I also almost exclusively play her (I have a lvl 6 malz, and then no other champ at level 5), so changes for Annie is something that I do understand needs to be done with caution.

Ye