Nikolai - The Corrupted Acolyte [Tank/Support Concept]
Theme and Intent
As one of Viktor’s acolytes, Nikolai was as obsessed in the Glorious Evolution as his mentor, but not quite in the same way. While Viktor is focused on his work being the future of humankind, Nikolai saw it as a way to escape death (which he greatly feared) and incorrectly assumes that Viktor is working towards this same goal even now.
Deep in his own research, Nikolai was eventually drawn to the Shadow Isles, having heard whispers that, despite the horrors of the place, it held the secrets to eternal life. Some time later, he returned successful… in a way.
This champ is a bit of a rewrite of one I made a long time ago. He’s meant to be a bit of a foil to Viktor’s story in a different way from Jayce. In his now-demented mind, Nikolai is merely furthering Viktor’s goal of rendering death obsolete (or, perhaps more accurately, using it as a gateway to greater things). From Viktor’s point of view, this would likely be an abominable perversion of his efforts. Sure, he does terrible things from time to time, but taken completely at face value, Viktor’s goals are fairly noble ones: The betterment of mankind! This is… less so.
https://soundcloud.com/uberphish/nikolai-speech-test-with-music
The above sound test was made more or less to see if I could make a cool soundbyte for a character (Conclusion: No), and to sort of get his goals and aspirations across. My terrible ‘Russian’ accent aside, it was a fun little experiment and I think not entirely a failure.
At this point, Nikolai is little more than an animated, humanoid machine that is lugging around his original, festering corpse and leaking the putrid gases that it lets off in great quantities thanks to equal parts mad science and vile magics from the Shadow Isles.
Mechanically, Nikolai is designed to be a Tank, most likely filling a role in top or as a very niche support. His abilities lend him some neat tricks at a distance, but his real place is in the thick of combat, making a nuisance of himself and resisting efforts to kill him off.
Passive - Pressure
In place of mana or energy, Nikolai’s abilities are fueled by the necromantic gases that fill the chassis around his undead body. It accumulates over time, stacking faster when attacked by champions and large monsters and when attacking.
If he reaches and remains at full pressure for X seconds, his defenses will be temporarily lowered and his system will vent automatically, resetting his pressure gauge back to 0 and filling the area with a putrid cloud that will deal damage over time to enemies standing inside.
Even if you're a rotting corpse inside of a robot, stagnation is nobody's friend. The emergency venting mechanic is meant to prevent players from just wandering around at max pressure, just waiting to unload everything when the time is right. It should be a careful dance to keep pressure high so as not to run out at a critical moment while not actually reaching critical levels. Of course, some might consider the AoE DoT worth the risk, but that really depends on the situation...
Q - Drain Valve
Nikolai diverts a small amount of his internal gases into reservoirs on his wrists. His next basic attack gains X range and deals Y bonus damage. This effect can be stacked up to Z times on a single attack.
As on otherwise melee character, this seemed like a thematically appropriate way to give Nikolai a ranged poke option, as well as an easy way for players to quickly vent off small chunks of the building passive pressure while still hanging on to stronger abilities in the case of ganks/teamfights/etc.
W - Virulent Fumes
Passive: Nikolai’s abilities infect a target with disease for X seconds, dealing ticks of damage for the duration. Units that die while infected will spread this disease to nearby units.
Active: Nikolai becomes wreathed in a thick, choking fog of fumes. He gains X/Y Phys/Magic damage reduction and automatically infects all enemies within Z range with disease.
(This ability can be toggled off after a minimum of Q seconds of being activated. Otherwise, it will automatically end once all Pressure is released)
It’s hard to be a tank without some way to mitigate damage on the way into battle! Alternatively, players who manage to get into the thick of things without using it first might find the ability useful mid-fight, where the constant cloud of DoT death will incentivize targeting him first, wasting CC to get rid of him, or breaking off of the fight in a hurry.
E - Vent
Nikolai slams a fist into the ground, dealing X damage and slowing nearby enemies for Y seconds.
If Nikolai has any Drain Valve charges primed, these will be expended to fire a series of geysers in a line starting from the target location. Each of these will deal Drain Valve’s damage, knock the target up briefly, and apply Vent’s slow.
It’s important for someone in Nikolai’s position to have engage tools that can assist his team without completely punishing the enemy for being nearby. Theoretically, this tool is that.
In a fight, Nikolai can provide the CC to keep them there while assisting in the damage department. To begin a fight, he has a variable-length, variable-strength option with which to engage on distant targets even before popping his Fumes and jogging into the fray.
R - Emergency Release
Nikolai vents his entire system, dealing X (+Bonus based on consumed Pressure) damage with the initial blast and flooding a large area with a vision-limiting cloud that deals damage over time to enemies within its radius.
Nikolai has a Y second window in which to activate this ability upon dying.
If you’ve got a giant, beastly machine just overflowing with noxious gases, it just wouldn’t be right to rob the player of the option of just dumping them all at once. In this case, it also felt appropriate to give the player the chance to dump their remaining reserves on enemies that may have clustered around them to secure the kill, or in teamfights where particularly foolish enemies decided to take down the tank first.
Animations, Emotes, and Quotes
Selection - "Life… Death… I offer an alternative path."
Joke - Nikolai angs proudly on his chest before erupting into a fit of coughing.
"I bring a greater life, free of fear, weakness, and disea-HACK COUGH “Okay, maybe not that last one…”
"You could say, I bring enBLIGHTenment! Hahaha-!”COUGH “Hooo, that was a good one…”
Taunt - Nikolai slams one fist into the other as he is surrounded by a hissing cloud of green gas.
"I am beyond life, beyond death, and far beyond you!”
"Submit, or your evolution shall be a messy one…”
“Do not fear death. I shall remake you.”
Champion Taunts/Interactions
"My Mentor! Aaaah, why did it have to come to this..."
"Feh. You are but a facsimile of what I have become!"
"Finally! Another who understands!"
"You would rob the dead of their freedom?! Treacherous snake!"
"Dead without first having lived. How unfortunate..."
"Those souls are not yet ready for evolution. Let them lie!"
Walking/Attacking Examples
“I do not tire.” “Time means little, now…” “Ever onward.” “For the Glorious Evolution!” “I walk on, eternal.” “All will convert, or else be purged.” “Into the unknown once more.”
“Die, and be reforged.” “Your evolution comes soon.” “Death comes for you…” “Submit to the plague!” “Your bones are so… brittle.” “Breathe deep.” “Enjoy that breath of fresh air. It will be your last.” “There is no cure for you.” ”All must fall, so that they might rise.” ”I’ll show you the power death provides!”
Release Skin Concepts
Scorched Earth/[Counterpart to Sad Robot Amumu] Nikolai
More or less a walking Smelter, Nikolai's effects are shifted from choking gas to smoke, steam, and roiling flames. 'Diseased' targets may not be able to be lit on fire, just because of how many flame effects already exist...
Q - Steam hisses as more pressure is funneled to the forefront, to be unleashes as gouts of liquid metal.
W - Nikolai is surrounded in a thick cloud of smoke and boiling, bubbling sounds emerge from within.
E - The initial slam creates glowing cracks in the earth, and each geyser is a fountain of molten steel.
R - The ground is coated in molten metal that fills the area above it with a cloud of steam and smoke.
