[Rework Concept] Xin Zhao, the Seneschal of Demacia

#Background

There's not too much to say about a rework concept. I've got plenty of new champion concepts whirling around in my head, but most don't make it through drafts (they don't fit League) or are in a constant update process until I'm sure that they're the best I can possibly make with the limited feedback I have (pretty much just friends of mine) while I design them. Everyone once in awhile, though, I'll get obsessed with something in particular that I think League is lacking or could be doing better.

My obsession for this concept is that the League has a lack of spearmen with some flourish. Sure, we've got Kalista, but all she does is hop around; nothing she does strikes me as particularly flashy or impressive, save for perhaps her ult. That isn't to speak ill of Kalista as a champion, mind you, but her only spear-wielding rival is Xin Zhao who is sorely lacking in flavor as a warrior and martial artist. Most of that is a result of his dated kit that (in my opinion) is in dire need of an update, and perhaps some visual love could be thrown his way. Regardless, this concept was made with a singular goal in mind: turn Xin Zhao into a master spearman worthy of his lore, one that doesn't seem to just stab things until they die.

#Goals

Speaking of his lore: for those of you who aren't familiar with Xin Zhao's background, feel free to read up on the full story (it isn't long), but if you can't be bothered, allow me to give you a small excerpt that is the driving force of this rework:

"Prior to the formation of the League, Noxus was renowned for a spectacle called The Fleshing. It was a gladiatorial event with a cruel twist: as a fighter won matches, his number of opponents (generally prisoners of war) fought simultaneously would increase. This meant eventual death for every contender, but with unparalleled glory. Xin Zhao, known then as Viscero, was slated to face 300 soldiers, nearly six times the previous record."

Read it again for good measure. Let it sink in. This guy (then known as Viscero) was set to face three hundred men at the same time. And to get there, he presumably went through a series of fights that had him facing down dozens, possibly even into the early hundreds, of men at the same time. Three hundred is just what he got to before Jarvan II bailed him out. He was pretty much the undisputed king of the arena (he did six times better than his predecessor).

With that in mind, I really don't think his kit reflects just how good of a warrior he's supposed to be. He stabs things and knocks them up. He rushes things quickly... and stabs them. He yells while stabbing things and heals. He's got one ability (his ultimate) that could perhaps be considered relevant to his nature, but even that could use some work.

Going hand-in-hand with the flavor of the kit is how it works, which is where we get to the nitty-gritty stuff. So, what do I intend to do? Well, if I were to list basic goals:

• Give his attack pattern something fitting of a gladiatorial master. You don't face down three hundred men at once without a strategy or technique going for you. The name of his current Q, Three Talon Strike, is what I used as a basis for this.

• Rework his Challenge mechanic. It just strikes me as... well, lame. Only being able to affect one enemy with it really doesn't jive with how good he seems at taking on multiple enemies at once, and other than that it just seems like a secondary tack-on to the kit. It's an armor shred that prevents his ult from knocking you back. Woo. Seems like a pretty halfhearted challenge coming from a lord of the arena.

• Reflect his ability to take on more enemies at once. As is, his kit is heavily single-target; his Q is tied to his auto attacks, and his E is targeted with a small AoE. His ult is the only one that reflects what you would expect of someone who lived on fighting more than a few enemies at the same time. Let's give him some more ways of handling multiple enemies and picking and choosing his fights, shall we?

• Last but not least, give him some flourish! Just as gladiators are expected to do, he lived off the glory he gained from entertaining the masses. Surely he wasn't just pointing his spear at people, right? He had to have some some style going for him! Watching him should be a spectacle.

With these goals in mind, let's examine the kit I came up with, shall we?

http://i.imgur.com/6JgodKb.jpg (Chinese Xin Zhao splash art)

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#Kit and Abilities

##As ever, I avoid numbers in the kit because they clog the text up and are unnecessary. Scalings/ratios are not within my power to balance and can always be changed, they do not define the kit!

##Passive | Three Talon Style Xin Zhao's auto attacks occur in sequences of three. His base auto attacks deal reduced damage, but apply additional effects.

First Strike: Briefly shreds a portion of the target's armor. Further First Strikes refresh the shred. Second Strike: Deals bonus damage. Third Strike: Knocks the target up and Challenges them for a short time. Further Third Strikes do not refresh Challenge, and if the target is already Challenged, they are not knocked up.

Attacking a new target restarts the cycle at the First Strike. Three Talon Style increases in effectiveness with ranks in Xin Zhao's ultimate.

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##Q | Crescent Sweep Xin Zhao sweeps his spear in the target direction, dealing damage to enemies in a wide arc and applying Three Talon Style's next Strike to all enemies hit.

For every Challenged enemy champion or large monster hit by Crescent Sweep, Xin Zhao basic ability cooldowns are reduced slightly.

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##W | Invigorating Cry Xin Zhao lets out a mighty shout, slowing and dealing damage to nearby enemies and granting Xin Zhao attack speed. If an enemy champion or large monster is hit, Xin Zhao gains attack speed.

While Invigorating Cry is active, if Xin Zhao hits a Challenged enemy with his Three Talon Style's Third Strike, he is healed for a portion of his health.

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##E | Audacious Advance Xin Zhao dashes a short distance and briefly loses bonus armor and magic resistance. For a short time afterward, he can recast Audacious Advance to thrust his spear in a targeted direction, dealing damage to all enemies in a line.

If Audacious Advance hits a Challenged enemy, Xin Zhao instead gains armor and magic resistance.

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##R | Mercy of the Arena Xin Zhao becomes untargetable as he thrusts his spear into the ground and swings around it in a circle, jumping into the air. On the way down, he pulls the spear out of the ground and swings his spear viciously, dealing damage to enemies in the surrounding area and knocking back all enemies that are not Challenged.

If Mercy of the Arena kills a Challenged enemy, Xin Zhao heals a portion of the damage the ability dealt.

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#Ability Rundown

So, let's give a brief overview of what happened here:

##His current Q was more or less moved to his passive, and Challenge as a mechanic was reworked.

• This Xin Zhao fights with style (quite literally). What was his Three Talon Strike (a fancy name for what amounted to a series of stabs with a knockup) has become the backbone of his combat pattern. Depending on where he is in his combo and who he's attacking, he can slow, shred armor, and knock people up.

More importantly, the Challenge mechanic is tied to his Three Talon Style. As he unleashes his flurry of blows, he finds those worthy of his full attention as a gladiator, a point that becomes central to his kit and making the most out of his abilities. Unlike his old Challenge, there aren't any frontloaded bonuses (like armor reduction, which comes from elsewhere); rather, he gains bonuses for exploiting the Challenge when possible.

##The reworked Q is similar to his current ultimate, but retains some key features of the old Q.

• The Q itself is fairly simple: an arc-based skillshot that does damage in a direction. Where it gets interesting, though, is how it interacts with his passive and Challenge.

  Applying the next Strike of Three Talon Style to affected targets means that, depending on when and who it's used on, Crescent Sweep can be an AoE armor shred, a damage nuke, or an AoE knockup (also applying Challenge to everyone that gets hit). This is huge, and combines with the next point to further the fantasy of how Xin Zhao thrives in heated fights with more than a few combatants.

  Additionally, any time you hit a Challenged target with Q, your cooldowns get reduced. This is a hand-me-down from the way his current Q works, where it reduces his cooldowns by 1 second for each auto attack. Instead of frontloading the CDR into just using the ability, however, now it becomes important to manage your Challenges and target focus properly to make the most out of the reduction. Also, a relevant side note: his reworked Q only reduces the cooldowns of his basic abilities, unlike his current Q, which reduces everything (including his ultimate). This makes his ultimate easier to balance with the fact it won't be up so often in mind.

##The reworked W is still much the same as his old W, with a few shifts in focus.

• First of all, it actually affects your enemies by dealing damage and slowing. I don't imagine it to deal much damage or slow too terribly much, but the way it works now just feels lackluster; it doesn't feel impactful. Same as ever, however, it gives you some attack speed.

Where the real shift in focus comes up is how it interacts with Challenge. The passive heal on every third auto was removed and exchanged for an interaction with the Third Strike from his passive that can only be procced while under Invigorating Cry's effects. He retains his strength in duels (as a gladiator should), but it makes focus of Challenged targets (and using his Q to proc Third Strikes for more healing) critical to his survival in sustained fights.

##His E has moved away from being targeted to a generic mobility spell with some additional benefits and interactions.

• It feels odd to me that Xin Zhao's sole mobility was defined by being able rush at the enemy. Surely a gladiator capable of fighting hundreds of men at once would have to have more up his sleeve than just charging at people; he's got to be nimble, acrobatic... able to move around and place himself where he needs to be. That's the goal of this change.

  Otherwise, the name itself says it: it's an audacious move. The loss of resistances make him vulnerable if he goes in without a plan, but if he wants to abuse his new position, he's given the option to do so. Yes, quite audacious. However, as a reward for his audacity, if he hits a Challenged enemy, he gains the resistances instead! A toast to successful gambits.

His ultimate is much the same, but feels and looks better; the sort of ultimate technique you'd expect from a renowned gladiator.

• If you're gawking at the description of the ultimate, I'm not surprised; it's pretty hard to put what I imagined into words. To give you an idea, here's a gif from Dynasty Warriors 8 that features a move very similar to what I picture:

http://i.imgur.com/yp00Zqz.gifv

(Warring Kingdoms relevant; too bad it's not Zhao Yun.)

It's flashy, it's fancy, and it's exactly the kind of badass move someone like Xin Zhao should have. The untargetability is a very strong addition, but keep in mind that not only is he losing the resistances the current ult provides, it also means his ultimate is quite telegraphed and takes time to deal its damage, meaning that there's a chance to dodge it, unlike the current ultimate which activates nearly instantly.

The only other change is the bonus upon killing a Challenged enemy. This just makes sense to me: in the arena, Xin Zhao no doubt made the crowd go wild by performing this sort of move as the coup de grace on his opponent. The exact bonuses are up for debate; I considered a burst of movement speed, a damage buff, a basic ability cooldown reset, and others in lieu of the current effect, but it's by no means set in stone. The heal feels the most natural to me.

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#Analysis and Thoughts

Overall, here's what I'd say each skill rework accomplished:

• Style and Impact. His passive gives him a unique fighting style. His auto attacks deal less damage in favor of techniques you might expect of someone in the arena (expose their defense, strike, and then finish while they're weak). There's also less auto attacking for the sake of auto attacking; they stack his passive, which introduces interactions with the rest of his abilities and especially how he chooses to use his Q. In the same vein, his Challenge actually feels important; once the gladiator's gaze falls upon someone, they should feel the heat.

• Multi-Target Capability. His Q and W fulfill the fantasy of a character capable of taking on a swath of opponents at once. Depending on how his Q is used, he can accomplish some different things with it, and its usefulness is constantly evolving over a fight. His W feels more impactful now that it's not merely a self-buff, and it fits the theme of a gladiator entering his battle trance, so to speak.

• Flourish. His E and R give him a nimble and acrobatic feeling, something that I would expect of someone like Xin Zhao. His E has a give-and-take power associated with it and isn't a frontloaded, targeted dash-slow and promotes some forethought and planning, or, at worst, a YOLO that pays off. His R preserves its current theme (which works well for Xin Zhao) while also being a spectacle fitting to a lord of the arena.

Now, of course, I don't make any claims of perfection. In my zeal of giving Xin Zhao flavor worthy of a gladiator, I may have overloaded his kit, and I am completely willing to accept criticism. However, do realize that much of what I've done that may seem overloaded (some of the Challenge effects and the bonuses associated with them) are merely me breaking up Xin Zhao's current kit into pieces to place a importance on his Challenge above all else. For example,

1. His current passive already provides an armor shred. He already has a knock-up that functions in much the same way (third strike of a series of attacks).
2. His Q already reduces his cooldowns; in fact, it reduces all of them including his ultimate, unlike my iteration which only reduces basic ability cooldowns.
3. His W already gives attack speed and always heals on every third auto attack, regardless of whether he has his W active or Challenge up.
4. His E is already a dash, just a targeted one. They're quite different, but I mention this to point out that the mobility didn't come from nowhere.
5. His ult is already a pretty big AoE, and it already knocks back non-Challenged enemies.

Much of the frontloaded bonuses from Xin Zhao's old kit were preserved, but in different ways that rely more on how he uses his abilities rather than just whether he uses them. Other bonuses are new (his E's resistances and ult heal, for example) but, in my opinion, not unwarranted, and he gives up some areas of power in return for others. His auto attacks deal less upfront damage, and he's far more reliant on W uptime, E planning, and focusing Challenged enemies.

Again, however, I'm not saying the concept is immune to criticism or flawless. I just ask you to consider his old kit and keep my reworked concept in context.

I imagine a rework of this magnitude would also warrant a visual update and some new quotes, but the visuals are far beyond my abilities and the quotes, while fun to make, aren't something I'm too concerned about with this concept because we already know more or less what Xin Zhao's supposed to be like.

So... that's about it for the concept! If you read through it all, thanks, and feel free to leave your thoughts! Otherwise, until next time, when I either attempt a rework on another champion I find falling short (stares angrily at Nunu) or a new concept entirely.

#Changelog

Just for a record of what suggestions have made me consider.

• Made W grant Attack Speed regardless of what it hits.