Garish Mercer, The Brazen Grenadier (Marksman Jungler)
Note: None of the pictures attached in this post are mine. Credit to original artist(s). I also avoid using exact numbers not essential to ability concepts because I want to portray the concept without diluting it with over-complication. Lastly, my goal when creating a new kit concept is to include at least 1 mechanic that either innovates an existing mechanic, or introduces something entirely new to the game.
Lore Blurb: A noxian mercenary whose business is his pleasure. He will capture his bounties dead or alive, as long as they can be identified for his reward. The only thing he loves more than a good chase is someone else getting in his way -- he's quite fond of collateral damage.
Name: The word Garish means obtrusively showy, gaudy, arrogantly extravagant. The word Mercer comes from a french root that means trader. Faction: Noxus Race: Human Weapon: Grenade Launcher (not rocket propelled) Type: Marksman Role: Jungle/AD Carry
Wanted: Dead or Alive (P): After casting an ability, Mercer's next basic attack will also damage enemies near his target for 80% of his AD.
Cornershot (Q): Mercer fires a ricochet grenade in a vector (same aiming system as Rumble ult and Viktor's Death Ray). It will bounce from his location to point A of the vector, and then bounce to point B. While travelling along the vector, the grenade will explode upon hitting an enemy to deal physical damage to all nearby enemies.
Danger Zone (W): Mercer points his weapon at the ground and fires a grenade, causing a point-blank AoE blast. It deals physical damage to all surrounding enemies and knocks them back to the edge of the ability radius (similar to Janna's Monsoon). (Ability Radius: 375 units)
Flash Bang (E): Mercer fires a flash grenade at a target location to deal magic damage and blind enemies for 1.5 seconds (double duration for minions and monsters). Enemies within the center of impact are slowed for 2 seconds.
Notorious (R): Mercer marks a target enemy champion as Notorious for 8 seconds, causing them to draw the highest threat priority from all nearby minions, monsters, and turrets for the duration. If the target dies while Notorious, Mercer gets 40% increased participation gold. Additionally, Mercer gains the ability to cast Ballistic Net once.
Ballistic Net (R Secondary): Mercer fires a short-range net in a target direction, dealing magic damage and rooting the first enemy champion hit for 1.5/1.75/2 seconds.
Gameplay: Garish Mercer accels at AoE damage, which means he is perfectly suited for clearing jungle camps or shoving waves of minions. The fact that he has no mobility combined with a difficulty restraining his pushing power in lane means that he prefers the jungle, since his primary escape is a small knockback on Danger Zone (W) that proves ineffective unless the enemy is already on top of you. On the other hand, Mercer's poke and trading power is exceptional, especially if the enemy team is bunched up, so it's easy to keep up the pressure on your opponent.
His Cornershot (Q) is the epitome of his personality, being the first skillshot in the game capable of playing its own mind games on an enemy. When used in lane, it can bounce around a wave of minions to hit the opponent hiding behind it; it can also be used to fake-out an enemy by bouncing away from them only to come shooting back. When used in the jungle, it provides a means to attack an enemy from afar without them ever knowing where Mercer shot it from. The beauty of this skill's unique bouncing animation (Rumble ult goes from point A to point B, while Cornershot goes from Mercer to point A to point B) means that the enemy doesn't know which direction you're sending it until after it bounces the first time.
Flash Bang (E) is at the core of Mercer's ability to jungle. Even with all the AoE damage his kit boasts, this ability is what keeps him from taking too much damage without having to manipulate the monsters' leash ranges. The fact that it can blind minions and monsters for a whopping 3 seconds at rank 1 makes this an incredible 1-point wonder ability, leaving you free to level up your damaging abilities first.
