Champion Concept: Xenith, The Charred Brother
Lore: Left to the Shojin Monastery as an infant, Xenith was raised an Ionian monk; devoted to prayer, meditation, and contemplation of nature's oneness. His was a life of order and reason, until the Noxian invasion. With the invasion came the Desolates: wave after wave of battle-worn and defeated Ionians seeking refuge in the remote Shojin stronghold. Xenith saw their pain and anguish as they told the monks of the horrors of the war and the unspeakable desecration of their once peaceful world. Sickened by his own isolation from their suffering, Xenith resolved to venture forth from the mountains and see for himself the state of his homeland.
It was not long before he was set upon by Noxian forces. The Noxian general set Xenith to die in a pillar of sorcerous flames, but as the blaze engulfed him, his captors were set upon by an Ionian scouting party led by Lee Sin. The Blind Monk, no stranger to flame, was able to shield Xenith from much of the inferno, but Xenith was left charred. He was returned to the Monastery, where he was revived and healed to the best of the monks' abilities. But even the best of healers could not heal him of his anguish. He set out once again– disfigured but resolved–to return his people to their rightful peace and order by any means necessary.
Xenith is a Primary melee AD carry, with AD fighter and potential AP Fighter qualities. His Lore is inspired by recent events in the real world, Aang/Zuko/Iroh from Avatar: Last Airbender, and Illidan from WCIII. He wields a double edged spear that can disconnect at the middle to become twin blades. I wanted to create a champion that is capable of dealing great swaths of damage at an extremely high risk, while not leaving him in a feast/famine state that Yi or Tryndamere currently occupies. His niche is one of a character that builds up a huge battery of physical damage at the cost of vulnerability. Timing windows of opportunity, self inflicted grievous wounds, and subpar/tiny gap closers and lack of CC work to balance Xenith and provide counterplay.
Abilities:
Passive: Every third basic attack gains bonus attack range.
Q: Brothers’ Strike: Xenith channels for a half second, detaches his blades, and crumbles into smoke, ash, and fire. He is untargetable for 1 second and dashes a short (Vayne tumble) distance and deals moderate physical damage (AD ratio) and slows anyone in the path of the dash. He then reintegrates at the end of the dash.
Think Lucario from SSBB. This gives him a means to skillfully time and dodge CC when trying to get up close to do his damage, as well as stick to a target. This is as much a utility spell as it is a damage spell.
W: Embittered Soul: Deals himself damage (1% current HP + 10% current AD) and gains (small amount of) AD. This effect can stack and applies grevious wounds to himself. If stacks expire, He loses the AD and Grevious Wounds effect he gained and regenerates half of heath lost +(40AP%) over 5 seconds.
This ability offers high risk for high reward, and introduces the counter play to Xenith’s kit. Xenith builds up a power spike at the cost of health. If he fails to use the power spike, he is punished a little for it and is open for a counter attack. The grevious wounds also offers counter play: Xenith HAS to be weak during the power build up. This ability also offers lots of variability in builds: He can build armor items to itemize partially against the AD damage he deals to himself, and/or he can itemize AP items to increase his sustain. Or he can build glass cannon, receive more damage, but deal an insane amount of damage at high risk.
E: Hallowed Storm: Swings his dual blade in an arc round him, releasing incense creating a smoke screen lasting for 5-8 seconds. The screen also arcs out in a targeted direction (like Diana Q). While he is inside screen, he is invisible unless he attacks and ignores unit collision. Enemies have their sight reduced if they enter the smoke.
This is intended to act as a slowish gap closer so that Xenith can get in to do his incredible damage, as well as hide or escape when he is not doing well.
R: Altered State: Xenith channels for .5 seconds, entering into an intense state of meditation. When leaves this state he sends out a thin shockwave that deals moderate-low aoe damage (low AD scale, Highish AP scale) and slows all units around him in a huge radius (trundle frozen domain area). For the next 15 seconds, each ability gains an additional effect.
**Passive:** increased attack range scales further with amount of health lost
**Q:** double slow, resets Cooldown on kill or assist.
**W**: Current stacks before entering Altered state remain: Activate during Altered State to deal an extra 15% damage to all targets, while taking an extra 15% damage from enemies.
**E:** Gains 20% movement speed when in Hallowed Storm.
Playstyle:
As Xenith, use your passive and E to farm safely. Build up AD with your W; this is a double-edged sword as you are simultaneously weak AND scary. Use your E and Q to gap close and confuse enemy, then land your autoattack hits. Once you hit 6, you gain significant team fighting abilities with your aoe slow and your reset.
Against Xenith, try to keep him well harassed. He can't build up damage if he doesn't have health. Also time your attacks/ganks to punish him during his build up, or else keep out of reach so he builds up for nothing. In team fights, keep in mind his Q can dodge skill shots, but that once he emerges he is vulnerable and easily focused.
