Erayne, the Resourceful Noxian Warmason

Introduction:

           After the release of new artwork and lore on Noxus earlier this year, I became interested in the Warmasons. I liked the idea that Noxus’ strength isn’t all about massive brutal warriors like Darius and Sion or even manipulative sorcerers like Leblanc and Swain. The Warmasons show a very different side of Noxus’ strength: its resourcefulness. Warmasons are adept at employing materials, animal resources, terrain, and technologies to fuel the Noxian war machine. After reading about the Warmasons and seeing some of the art designs, I began to think about how a Warmason would play in the game. Immediately, I started to think about a champion that could manipulate the battlefield by adding temporary terrain like Anivia, Taliyah, Ornn, and Trundle. Then I started to think about the various beasts depicted in the Noxus artwork and realized that many of them could be included as pets. When designing the champion, I didn’t want it to just become another pet-user like Annie or Ivern who can direct their pets wherever they want. I wanted this champ to have less ability to control their pets--I wanted it to unleash them instead of directing them. Finally, I wanted to incorporate some of the awesome Noxian weapon designs without shifting the identity of the character into just another Noxian warrior. I wanted a weapon that would be delicate, stylistic, multi-functional, and somewhat less effective than other Noxian weapons. With that in mind, I came up with the idea of the blast-staff, which would be useable as a quarterstaff in melee but also would expand on Noxian use of blackpowder weapons. I felt that a Warmason would fit best in the support role, enabling the combat abilities of more capable brawlers and marksmen. 

                                                                                           Erayne, the Resourceful Noxian Warmason

Lore:

    	Erayne is a Noxian Warmason, renowned for her tactical genius and her powerful connections. She has been serving the Noxian Empire for most of her life, and experience has made her adaptable, ruthless, and resourceful. She will use anything to fuel the advance of the Noxian warmachine, from new blackpowder weapons to exotic warbeasts from the far corners of the Empire. She is armed with a Noxian blast-staff, a quarterstaff equipped with a blackpowder cannon at each end. While her hands are more comfortable with tools than weapons, her understanding of the battlefield dwarfs that of even the most decorated frontline veterans. The principles of strength: vision, might, and guile have shaped Elayne into a warmason respected by allies and enemies alike. She uses her favor with the Noxian Trifarix to provide an edge to her allies with explosive technologies, rare beasts, and ample stronghold building materials. But underneath her gruff exterior and her apparent loyalty to Noxus, Erayne is a deeply conflicted woman. She fights for the prospect of a peaceful and unified future, where her daughter and her newborn grandson will be safe and free. Her faith in Noxus is wavering, especially in light of the recent clandestine political upheaval. Surrounded by bloodthirsty warriors, cunning generals, and savage beasts, her thoughts often turn to the family that she has shielded from the horrors of the Noxian front... a family she has fought, bled, and aged for... a family whose future hangs in precarious uncertainty.
Most who work with Erayne would consider her cold, distrustful, and excessively formal. She is very thorough in her planning and execution and does not have much patience for the foolish and the brash. She is known to be a vocal critic of Draven’s extravagance, but her respect for Darius averts her outright condemnation of the lethal showman. Erayne and Swain have a mutual distrust, but they both pantomime respect for one another in public. Erayne questions the swiftness of Swain’s rise to power and the mysterious circumstances surrounding the untimely end of his predecessor, with whom she had curried a great deal of favor. Erayne's connections to the Noxian Trifarix make her a feared and respected member of the Noxian elite.
Her family and a few select companions know a different side of Erayne. She is protective, but she is also warm and kind in the right circumstances. She has a soft spot for young people and hopes to create a future of peace and prosperity for them. She feels that Noxian propaganda has not delivered on its promise to bring unity and peace. She resents what war has done to young Noxians like Katarina and hopes to protect future generations from becoming killers or casualties in a seemingly endless conflict. She tells her grandson whimsical tales of Kled, who she feels represents the unrestrainable freedom and spirit Noxus. One can only speculate as to how she would react to meeting the addled, mushroom-juice addicted ruffian in person.
Erayne believes in the ideals of Noxus but she is not nationalistic and is concerned that Noxus is not upholding its values. She finds other lands and peoples fascinating, but she also believes that they would be better off if they joined the Noxian Empire. She has business relationships with many powerful figures in Piltover and Zuan.

Gameplay:

    	Erayne is designed a melee support champion who uses an array of resources to empower her allies and control the battlefield. Erayne uses mana as a resource to use her abilities. Her base resistances and hp are low and her attack damage is low. She functions as a utility support, using her abilities and pets to shield allies and crowd control enemies. She excels at controlling the battlefield (especially in-lane) with her ability to manipulate terrain. She is vulnerable to focus fire and is very immobile. She ramps up throughout the game, gaining access to upgraded abilities over time. Her abilities would have slight AP scaling, but not enough to motivate full AP builds. As an off-role, I could see Erayne's kit working for a support jungler with strong ganks but very weak 1v1s against other junglers and a difficult clear.

Abilities:

Passive- Warmason’s Ledger: Erayne spawns with an unsellable item called “Warmason’s Ledger” which improves over the course of the game. Every 5 minutes the item gains a stack of Trifarix Funds and its stats improve. While in the shop, Erayne can trade Trifarix Funds stacks to upgrade her abilities or purchase the "Banner of Noxus" buff. Trifarix Funds will continue to stack throughout the game, but the Ledger's stats will cap out after the first 5 stacks. Once Erayne has fully upgraded her abilities, the Banner of Noxus buff will be the only thing she can spend Trifarix Funds on. At max rank (25 minutes), Warmason’s Ledger will grant 15 armor, 15 magic resistance, 500 health, and 150 mana. -Surplus Munitions: Erayne can trade 1 stack of Trifarix Funds to upgrade her Q to empower 3 auto attacks instead of 2. -Drakehound Breeder: Erayne can trade 1 stack of Trifarix Funds to upgrade her W to grant access to Syroth the Drakehound. -Basilisk Wrangler: Erayne can trade 1 stack of Trifarix Funds to upgrade her W to grant access to Ananoxl the Basilisk. -Noxian Granite: Erayne can trade 1 stack of Trifarix Funds to upgrade her R to provide a temporary shield allies near the Trifarian Parapet. -Banner of Noxus (becomes available at level 11): Erayne can trade 1 stack of Trifarix Funds to gain the Banner of Noxus buff. This buff grants nearby allies bonus movement speed, armor, magic resist, and attack damage (attack damage only applies to melee champions). Banner of Noxus lasts for 3 minutes after each purchase.

Q- Blackpowder Rounds (8 second cooldown) (upgraded by purchasing “Surplus Munitions”): Erayne’s next two auto attacks become ranged, deal bonus magic damage, and knockback targets a short distance. Q is intended as a light peeling and zoning ability that also provides extra damage. Erayne can use Q to knock enemy champions away from her teammates, but it will not keep them at bay for long. Animation Ideas: Erayne aims her blast-staff and fires the first shot. She spins the rod with finesse and fires the second shot from the other side of the blast-staff. If Q is upgraded, Erayne spins the staff a final time before firing the third shot. Damage increases with Ability Power.

W- Unleash Warbeast (15 seconds cooldown): Erayne summons one of her pets to aid her. Initially, Erayne can only summon Boris, but she can upgrade her W using supplies from her passive to gain access to Syroth and Ananoxl. Pressing W activates a selector similar to Twisted Fate’s Pick a Card. Pressing W again selects the pet and engages the targeting system. -Boris the Mastiff: Summons Boris the faithful Noxian mastiff to aid target ally. Upon arrival, he shields the ally and lets out of fearsome bark, briefly fearing nearby enemies. Boris then attacks the nearest enemy champion. Boris fights for 10 seconds after being summoned. Boris has medium health, low attack speed, and low attack damage. Shield increases with Ability Power. -Syroth the Drakehound (upgraded by purchasing “Drakehound Breeder”): Summons Syroth the fierce drakehound to seek out and attack enemy champions. Syroth pounces from Erayne to target location, damaging and slowing enemies in an area before targeting the nearest enemy champion. Syroth grants true sight in the area around her and grants vision of bushes near her. Syroth fights for 10 seconds after being summoned. Syroth has medium health, high attack speed, and medium attack damage. Damage increases with ability power. -Ananoxl the Basilisk (upgraded by purchasing “Basilisk Wrangler”): Summons Ananoxl the mighty basilisk to stun enemy champions. Ananoxl charges from Erayne to target location, damaging and stunning enemies in an area before attacking the nearest enemy champion. Ananoxl fights for 10 seconds after being summoned. Ananoxl has high health, low attack speed, and high attack damage. Damage increases with Ability Power.

E- Noxtoraa (15 second cooldown): Erayne constructs a barrier which slowly extends from target turret hub (can target Erayne’s Trifarian Parapet as well as enemy turret hubs). This barrier blocks enemies from moving through it unless they dash over it or flash through it, but it can be passed through normally by allied champions. Allies who pass through the barrier receive a small amount of healing. After a few seconds the wall falls. Leveling up Noxtoraa increases the length of the wall and slightly increases the healing it provides. Noxtoraa is a versatile ability which can be used to defend against enemy turret dives or even set up your team’s turret dives. Healing is increased by Ability Power.

R- Trifarian Parapet (120 second cooldown) (upgraded by purchasing “Noxian Granite”): Erayne constructs a turret at target location. The Parapet fires ballista bolts at enemies in its range, slowing them. The Parapet automatically targets the enemy with the highest maximum health in its range, dealing physical damage equal 6% of the targets maximum health. The Parapet is impassable terrain. The Parapet is untargetable. After 6/9/12 seconds the Parapet crumbles. If upgraded, the Parapet provides a temporary shield to allies nearby it. Upgraded shield only scales by level, not AP.

Synergistic Items: - All three support items seem like they would be viable, depending on composition and match-up. - Resistances and/or ability to protect allies. - Rylai's would give Erayne some extra damage and additional CC to her Q attacks. - AP and utility - AP, resistances, and ability to protect herself from dives.

Let me know what ya'll think. This is my first post of a full champion idea, but I've played around with other ideas before.

Brauminator