Taric Rework Concept (In Depth, TLDR at bottom)

TLDR at the bottom

Disclaimer I'm not very good at math. As such, there are no numbers in here. If you think you are a good theorycrafter or mathematician then by all means throw out some numbers.

Let's talk about Taric. Visually he isn't very pleasing. He doesn't seem to have a clear cut personality or dynamic, outside of what the community has created for him (which makes him the butt of one big joke) and his kit is ancient and not very well rounded at all. His real power is mostly invisible to the player, making him a champion that seems to stand around and not do much outside of stun one person, or throw out a heal now and then. He has real strengths, they just aren't communicated well in a match. On top of that, his strengths seem to be easily surpassed by almost every other champion in his role.

The following is my idea for Taric's rework, and while I'm sure Riot already has something coming down the pipeline, I'd like to lay down the disclaimer that by posting this idea to the forums I am making it public for Riot or anyone else to use. I do not seek credit or reimbursement for the implementation of any part of this. With that out of the way, I'll get started.

Most Champion spotlights would start with a passive however, for my idea, the kit centers around Tarics W. My idea for this ability came about because while sitting there and thinking on Taric's abilities, and how I would change them, I couldn't for the life of me remember what his W does. That's a problem, because I can tell you at least to some degree what abilities every champion has, and what they do. Tarics biggest problem as stated previously, is that so much of his strength is hidden, as in it doesn't do anything outside of raise a bunch of numbers. While there's nothing wrong with higher numbers (see any MMO ever) it doesn't really create exciting gameplay for Taric players, and makes it hard for his team to see the impact he's having on the game. So here we are, in case you didn't know

Live Taric: W-Shatter

AURA: Taric and all nearby allied champions gain 12% of his total armor as bonus armor. PASSIVE: While Shatter is not on cooldown, Taric gains bonus armor. ACTIVE: Taric shatters his gemstones, dealing magic damage to all nearby enemies and reducing their armor for 4 seconds.

Rework W-Flawless Prism PASSIVE: Taric gains Bonus Armor when there are no Flawless Prisms on the field ACTIVE: Taric spawns a Flawless Prism at a target location. Prisms have __Health and last 120 seconds. When Taric or a nearby ally takes damage, (Thank you to Kaeblen for the great suggestion below) a portion of that damage is absorbed by the Prism and stored. When the prism is destroyed it explodes and deals stored damage to all nearby enemies. Flawless Prism has 3 charges

In this Rework, Taric spawns Prisms at about the distance a player can drop a ward. The prisms act kind of like Teemo mushrooms, except they don't just explode when you walk over them, instead whenever Taric takes damage, they absorb part of that damage. When they absorb so much damage that they are destroyed, they detonate and deal that damage to nearby enemies. Unlike Wards and Teemo shrooms, they are visible at all times. They can also be targeted and killed by enemy champions, which will still cause them to explode, but lose their other effects, which we'll get to with Tarics other abilities.

Now let's move on to Tarics Q, which is one of his two visibly helpful abilities. In other words, when you use it, your team, and your enemies know. I like the idea of Taric having a heal, but I think it should offer more utility and higher cost than it does currently.

Live Taric Q-Imbue

ACTIVE: Taric heals the target ally or himself. If he targets an ally, he heals himself for the same amount, and if he targets himself, the heal is increased by 40%.

Rework W-Resonating Strike ACTIVE: Taric strikes an enemy with his great hammer, healing himself and a nearby Ally for the same amount. If used on a Flawless Prism, Taric will instead heal the prism. When the prism is destroyed a portion of the total healing done will be spread to all nearby Allies.

This Q works similarly to Face of the Mountain, except it of course has a mana cost and cool down. Here we've created an interesting choice for the Taric player to make. Do I strike my prism, and store this heal in the event that we need it later, or do I heal myself and my Ally for a more immediate reward. In parallel this also heals the prism, which delays the detonation, but means it will also stack up more damage for when it inevitably does explode. If an enemy player were to destroy the prism Taric and his allies wouldn't be healed, but the extra damage it's built up would still apply. Making this a melee ability means Taric would need to put himself in danger to strike his prism, but ultimately reward him if his prism is taking because of that.

Now for a look at E, which is the most memorable of Tarics abilities. Dazzle is arguably what makes Taric so fabulous, and brings his counter engage kit some real humph. That being said, a point and click stun can be frustrating to play against, especially when stacked with other CC. For this not too much is changing, except again an extra layer thanks to Flawless Prism, some dazzling opportunities for Taric if he lands it just right, and some counter play on the enemy team as long as they stay footloose.

Live Taric E-Dazzle ACTIVE: Taric fires a prismatic sphere at the target enemy which stuns them and deals magic damage, which increases with the target's proximity to him.

Rework E- Dazzle ACTIVE: Taric fires a blinding sphere in a lined skillshot. The sphere detonates at the end of it's trajectory blinding all enemies within its explosion radius. If the sphere connects with an enemy champion it detonates prematurely and stuns it's target. All enemy targets around the initial target are blinded. If Dazzle strikes a Flawless Prism, enemies near the prism are slowed

So Dazzle is now a skillshot, which works similarly to Bard's cosmic binding. Taric fires it off and when it reaches the end of the line it explodes and blinds people (because it's dazzling duh) If it hits a champion at any point during its flight then that champion is stunned, and blinds other champions nearby. Imagine an amumu Ult that hits half your team in the face just as vayne is tumbling in to clean them up. Bam Amumu takes a dazzle to the forehead, and suddenly Vayne cant see well enough to basically one shot your team. Now imagine a scenario where you're in lane and that pesky Caitlyn keeps poking at you from super far. Well you can throw out a prism, and then Dazzle it for a slow, so your jungle jarvan can engage without whiffing his flag and drag. Again this kit is all about creating dynamic choices for the player. Do I stun just one guy and blind the rest, or do I throw out a team wide slow so my team can get in (or out) of there in time.

**Moving on to the precious Ult. Your ultimate should be the ability that defines your champion. It is, after all, called an Ultimate. ** Currently Taric's ultimate has a weird case of seen but not felt. He slams down, and you see this stuff coming off of him, but without looking at his attack damage or ability power, you don't really feel it. Furthermore, he's Taric, he doesn't do damage, who cares if he gets buffed. I understand that it effects his team mates with half of that, but half of a garbage sandwich is still garbage.

Live Taric R-Radiance ACTIVE: Taric slams the ground with his hammer, dealing magic damage to all nearby enemies. For the next 10 seconds, he also gains bonus attack damage and ability power, while also generating an aura that grants half of those bonuses to nearby allied champions.

Rework R-Radiant Refraction

ACTIVE: Taric immediately detonates all active Flawless Prisms If all 3 Flawless Prisms are on the field, when activated, Taric is refunded all three charges of Flaweless Prism upon detonation.

So this one is pretty basic. Taric blows up all of his Flawless Prisms immediately releasing all of their stored damage/healing, and if all three are out, he gets three more charges. Obviously with something this strong it would need a decently long cool down that winds down as the game gets longer.

Lastly we'll talk Passives At current, Taric's passive is actually a damage tool. After he uses an ability his next basic deals 20% of his armor. Boring. As stated above, Taric is a support. Taric shouldn't be focused on putting out damage. It would be one thing if he were a ranged support wherein he could poke from safety, but Taric has to sit on you to deal damage in the first place, which is much more hazardous than helpful in almost every situation for him. He's not trying to chase you down and beat you up, he's trying to create opportunities for his team to engage, or disengage. So here's my passive idea

Rework Passive- Rock Hound

Taric gains passive movement speed when near a Flawless Prism. Taric gains a movement speed buff if a prism detonates nearby

This is basically a passive movement speed buff that lets him put down prisms and hit them with Resonating Strike without coming out really bad on a trade. The second part works just like Jinxs passive, except on enemy deaths and assists, he gets a short steroid if he's right next to a prism when it explodes.

So there you have it. This is my Taric Rework idea. If you've made it this far, thanks for sticking it out, and if you don't mind I'd like to continue just a little while longer and get into the vision behind this concept, as well as some more in depth explanation.

So in my first Disclaimer I stated that I'm not very good at math, so I'll make sure to punctuate that here. I'm terrible at math, and I don't pretend to know what goes into balancing a champion numbers-wise. The idea behind this rework is to give Taric some characterization within the game, as well as make dynamic opportunities for players who choose to play him.

In this rendition of Taric he is played with dual purpose depending on the team comp, as well as the point of the game. Early on he is a zone control tank. He puts down a prism and then front lines for his ADC so they can farm without too much fear of poke. If any enemy chooses to poke down Taric then his prism will help him tank some of the damage, as well as zone his opponents away from wherever he happens to place it. Keep in mind that like Shrooms the Prisms do grant vision of their immediate area, so one could ostensibly be placed in the river brush to get that split second look at an oncoming gank. In the early game Prisms will have a pretty big presence in Tarics lane, because they will have a decent amount of health to start, and Taric can choose to heal them to build up their detonation damage. However if a Taric player wants to hold on to those charges for a more immediate gameplay style, he will benefit from the passive armor bonus, and still have the utility of his regular spells.

In the late game Taric retains his identity of disengage heavy Support, holds on to some of his zoning power, and gains a lot of tankiness. In the late game your enemies will be doing enough damage to destroy those prisms even if you just placed them, but he can use that to his advantage by placing them strategically to either start or disengage a team fight. Above I laid out an example of this by showing what Taric might do in the case of a huge Amumu Ult, to help his team disengage. On the other hand, if Taric were to place a prism within his team and then jump into the front line, a well placed Dazzle can put him there and with a Resonating strike to his prism, a team wide heal is issued which can help put his team into play. Now imagine Taric drops a prism, dazzles it for a team wide slow, and then detonates it on top of his enemies using his ult.

The point I'm trying to get at is that this rework creates a TON of options for Taric players, outside of the old, run up and dazzle, heal, and hope my team mates stay alive long enough to benefit from my ult buff and W. In this rendition Taric is still very tanky, but he brings more utility to his team, as well as a strong zoning tool that will allow him to dictate the fight.

Now there isn't a champion without weaknesses, and this isn't any different. As with any champion, a player that gets put down early will almost always stay down, especially as a support. Enemies can counter play this Taric by destroying his prisms quickly, instead of targeting the big man, or being wary of his zoning techniques and engaging only when it's favorable for them. If Taric's Allies don't capitalize on a prism explosion then a big opportunity will be missed that wont necessarily come around again, and as stated above, Taric will need to decide when, where, and how to buff his prisms, or use his abilities on allies.

"Wow" you might say: "These prisms sound really strong, and it doesn't seem like a good idea to leave them up, or destroy them. Where is the counter-play?"

Well good question. I have an answer. Prisms, like most other player made minions, would be worth gold for destroying, and they have a decent recharge rate if all three are used. Furthermore, keep in mind they lose their beneficial effects if they are destroyed by enemies, so Taric and his allies wont be getting any heals if they're broken by a player. Last, but also most importantly: A target can only be affected by one detonation at a time so while they do have a pretty big range, and Taric can put out multiple prisms, if a player is caught in the explosion of more than one, they wont take multiple instances of damage. Furthermore, an ally surrounded by prisms isn't going to suddenly heal to full (unless you've gone and let Taric stack 2k worth of Resonating Strikes on a prism) Also keep in mind that a prism will only share damage with Taric if he's close to it. IE if Taric places on at Baron and then goes for dragon, the one at baron isn't going to suddenly explode; however, if Taric places Prisms close together, they'll share one health bar. In other words, if Taric hits one with Resonating Strike, the nearby prism will also gain a healing charge. If Taric takes damage, then all nearby prisms will share that damage.

Now let me explain that with math (which i'm bad at) These are some arbitrary numbers, so dont take them literally. Lets say Prisms have 350 health, and absorb 50% of Taric's damage taken. Taric drops two nearby prisms, and then takes 350 damage from a stupid BS nidalee spear that he couldn't even see. Taric will take 150 damage, and both prisms will take 150 damage each. Lets say Nidalee pounces out of the brush and hits Taric for another 350 damage. Taric will take 150 more damage, and both prisms will also take 150 damage. Since they've taken 150 damage, both prisms will explode, and Nidalee will also take 350 Damage because she's standing on top of one. Hopefully that makes sense.

If you've read this entire thing then I just want to thank you for allowing me to take up your time. Hopefully you like my Rework idea, if you have any questions comments or complaints, or would like to make your own ideas, feel free to do so. Hopefully Taric gets an update soon. I recently saw that Fiora may be getting an update soon, and that makes me really sad. Taric has one of the oldest and ugliest models and kits in the game, and could definitely use some love.

TLDR Rework

** Passive: Rock Hound**- Taric gains passive movement speed when in range of a Flawless Prism. If a prism explodes in range of Taric he gains a movement speed buff that falls off after a short amount of time.

Q: Resonating Strike- Taric strikes an enemy, healing himself and a nearby ally for part of the damage dealt.

If used on a Flawless prism, restore health to the Flawless Prism and store a portion of the heal. When a Flawless Prism detonates, releases the stored heal to all nearby Allies.

W: Flawless Prism- PASSIVE: Taric gains Bonus Armor when there are no Flawless Prisms on the field

ACTIVE: Taric spawns a Flawless Prism at a target location. Prisms have __Health and last 120 seconds. When Taric takes damage a portion of that damage is absorbed by the Prism and stored. When the prism is destroyed it explodes and deals stored damage to all nearby enemies.

Flawless Prism has 3 charges

E: Dazzle- Taric fires a blinding sphere in a lined skillshot. The sphere detonates at the end of it's trajectory blinding all enemies within its explosion radius. If the sphere connects with an enemy champion it detonates prematurely and stuns it's target. All enemy targets around the initial target are blinded.

If Dazzle strikes a Flawless Prism, enemies near the prism are slowed

R: Radiant Refraction- ACTIVE: Taric immediately detonates all active Flawless Prisms

If all 3 Flawless Prisms are on the field, when activated, Taric is refunded all three charges of Flaweless Prism upon detonation