[CHAMPION] Artorias, the Hesitant Hero

The names of the champion and his abilities are merely placeholders, better options may exist. He was named Artorias as a reference to King Arthur.

LORE concepts- Artorias in any lore would start out as a treasure hunter and grave-robber of the pyramid variety who then becomes a champion of light. In my mind, he starts out as a resident of Noxus and raids an ancient Demacian ruin, where he finds a Sword-in-the-Stone situation. He attempts to pull the sword out so he can sell it, but is unsuccessful. He takes what he can and leaves. However, his sudden wealth catches Swain's attention somehow and Swain forces him to lead the bird-general and a force of soldiers to the ruin. Along the way, the Noxian soldiers kill Demacian soldiers and innocents alike to clear the way while Artorias could only watch in horror. Once they arrived at the temple and Swain was reaching for the sword, Artorias's anger overcame him. He fired a grappling hook towards Swain who dodged out of the way as the hook caught on the sword instead. Artorias pulled on his rope, expecting to launch himself at Swain, but instead easily pulled the sword from the stone and into his hand, when he was suddenly filled with holy power. He slew all of Swain's soldiers, but when he turned to face the general, he was gone.

GAMEPLAY

Artorias has two fighting styles depending on whether he's using his sword or his bow. The sword-wielder takes on the form of a Fighter class, while the bow serves more as an Assassin or Marksman. This also plays off his personality. With a bow he is a coward, keeping out of danger's way and even punishing enemies for endangering him, while with the sword becomes heroic, charging in to lead the fight. Depending on the style of the player, he should conceivably work well as a top-laner, jungler, or ADC.

PASSIVE- Battle Preparations

• When Artorias is wielding his sword, he takes 10% reduced damage. When he is wielding his bow, he has 10% increased lifesteal.

[This ability contributes to his combat style. With the sword, Artorias is more capable of rushing into combat. While he's using his bow, he has better ability to sustain himself in lane or in the jungle.]

Q- Sword in the Stone/Bird in the Hand *Sword Form- Artorias channels for 2 seconds while he plunges his sword into the ground where he's standing. This sword is permanent and possesses 60% of Artorias's Health, Armor, and Magic resist. While the sword is in the ground, each minion or neutral monster killed by Artorias gives it 1/2/3/4 stacks. Each super minion, large monster, or turret killed gives 2/4/6/8 stacks. Each champion killed gives 5/10/15/20 stacks. Max 100 stacks. If Artorias dies while holding his sword, it plunges into the ground where he died. If the sword is destroyed, it loses all its stacks. At any time, Artorias can click on the sword to channel for 2 seconds and pull it out of the ground. For each stack the sword gained, Artorias's AD increases by 1%.

*Bow Form- Artorias's next basic attack within 5 seconds fires a grappling hook that snares the target for 1 second, dealing increased damage only if the target is in brush. Within that time, he can still move and can reactivate the ability to pull himself to the target's location and knock it back, dealing bonus Physical Damage to both the target and any enemies it collides with.

[Because the passive part of Artorias's Sword Form has the potential to double his damage output for possibly the entire game, he has no combat ability on his Q to offset that. Instead, he uses it to switch to Bow Form. Since there's no range limit on how far he can walk from his buried sword, he can safely leave it in the fountain while he gains stacks in lane or jungle. However, if he encounters an enemy, he can't quickly grab it from there. Alternatively, he could bring it to lane and drop it somewhere nearby, but that leaves it prone to enemies destroying it, and all his stacks along with it, and the sword can't gain stacks while he's wielding it and isn't very useful without the stacks, so he shouldn't simply hold onto it at all times.

On the other hand, his Bow Form capitalizes on teamfights and lack of enemy vision control. He can't target an enemy he can't see, yet the ability does extra damage to enemies in brush, meaning wards are your best friend. If the whole enemy team is gathered in one bush, he can potentially deal a massive amount of damage to start a teamfight, then quickly drop his E to run back to a safe distance. It also helps to deter junglers ganking your lane who think they haven't been spotted, or when used at the right angles it could knock enemies into teams or help you catch stragglers. Wards on the other side of terrain can even let you pull yourself to enemies over walls. Of course, you can also use it on enemy minions to close or to escape. (Bird in the Hand refers to the saying, a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush.)]

W- Courageous Charge/Coward's Shot *Sword Form- Artorias summons a shield and dashes forward, pressing through terrain. For 3/4/5/6 seconds, half of his swords stacks are converted and divided between armor and magic resist (for example, with 100 stacks you have 100% increased AD. After using this ability, you would have 50% increased attack damage, and 25% increases to Armor and Magic Resist.) After this time, his stacks return to their normal allocation.

*Bow Form- Artorias stops to draw his bow for at least 1 second, and can hold that pull for as long as he likes. He then fires a shot with great range in a direction he chooses, dealing damage and applying a slow and bleed for 1.5 seconds, or 3 seconds if Artorias was in brush when he fired. Canceling the shot before firing greatly increases the cooldown.

[Both of these abilities were thought up as ways of starting fights, but they can also less effectively be used for escapes when paired with Artorias's E. Courageous Charge can pass through natural terrain or Champion-created walls such as those of Yorick or Azir, but it doesn't neutralize crowd control in any way, so running away isn't very effective. His bonus AD from the sword stacks is reduced in exchange for a slight increase in defense, so building him tanky will help here. Players will have to be decisive with their use and leveling of this skill, as it's the duration of the stat changes that is affected by leveling. If you don't want to lose half of your offensive stacks for 6 seconds, you'll have to be careful with how you use this.

The Coward's Shot ability is a jungler's primary ganking ability. It would have enough range to sit in the river bush and strike a target from range. Once you activate the ability, you just set up camp in the bush and wait for the perfect shot to snipe the enemy, after which you can rush in to Q the enemy, pull yourself to them (hopefully knocking them into a wall or other allied champions rather than out of danger) and then drop your E on them so that while they're slowed and bleeding, you're speeding past them. It would have a pretty long cooldown that would be at least cut in half if you moved to cancel the ability. The max cooldown would maybe be between 8-12 seconds, depending on levels and CDR. Since the ability takes a second to charge, it's not ideal for escapes, but if you can see the enemy coming from a far enough distance you can get that slow off before running away, and even if they catch you you can drop your E. Of course, this ability can also be used by laners to harass or set up ganks from lane bushes.]

E- Clear the Field/Smoke Screen

• Sword Form- Artorias swings his blade in a circle, knocking enemies away from him and dealing a set amount of damage plus 120/130/140/150% of his total AD.

*Bow Form-_ Artorias drops a smoke bomb at his location, obscuring the vision of enemies and camouflaging himself within the smoke. If an enemy is within range when he uses this ability, he also gains a boost to movement speed._

[These are your true self-preservation skills. Clear the Field is a simple sword swing which at 100 stacks is dealing tons of damage all on its own. This will have a decently long cooldown, but still gives the enemy team some incentive to destroy your sword at every opportunity. Assuming this doesn't finish off any enemies foolish enough to crowd you, it will knock them away, giving you either a chance to escape or to allow your team to pick off one or two of them.

Smoke Screen is obviously a placeholder name as its so generic, but it's basically graves's smoke shot plus Akali's concealment zone. One-on-one, it's mainly used for ganking or escapes, but in the proper use in a teamfight can put the whole team at a disadvantage as they suddenly lose all ability to see anything. Pull yourself into the team with Q, get that team damage off, then drop your E, run out to kite the enemy, and let your team rush in for the rest.]

R- Holy Light/Vengeance Shot *Sword Form- Artorias heals a nearby champion for a percentage of their missing health equal to the number of stacks in his sword and makes the target immune to crowd control for 1.5/3/4.5 second. At 100 stacks, they are also immune to damage during this time. Artorias cannot use this ability on himself.

*Bow Form- Artorias charges a shot for 1.5 seconds, slowing his movement speed in the meantime, then fires a shot charged with his righteous fury at a champion (this shot passes through Yasuo's windwall but not Braum's shield). This deals a set amount of damage plus a percentage of the target's maximum health. A small portion of the max health damage is dealt to each enemy champion the shot passes through instead of the target, but it is doubled if the target is the enemy champion who has killed Artorias the most.

[Of all of this champion's abilities, his W and the Ult most exemplify his character. In his heroic Sword Form, he can use the power of his sword to save an allied champion from the brink of death and gives them the cc immunity so they can escape from danger if the fight is lost, or to keep fighting to turn the tide. Best used on tanks giving them a whole second health bar for the enemy to muscle its way through.

Vengeance Shot, however, gives the enemy team a conflicted decision to make, since it punishes whoever has killed him the most, but if they see him running around with his sword, are they supposed to let him keep his stacks just because of his ult? Is the sword more threatening? Plus they can't tell how many stacks the sword currently has. Most people would go ahead and try to kill him anyway, I'm sure, but if that kill meant becoming the new victim of his Ult, the less confident players may hesitate long enough for him to escape. The enemy team can also attempt to split up the percent health damage by jumping in the way, but a portion of it will always reach the target, and the flat damage won't be affected by those extra collisions.]

BUILD ideas Obviously, this champion can conceivably be played in pretty much any lane or role. The three I named only are only some suggestions. Similarly, pretty much anything besides AP items could be a good item for Artorias, but here are just some suggestions.

All of your abilities are essentially single-target except for Clear the Field. Building Tanky, Sunfire Cape and Thornmail give you great defensive damage options while your sword only hits one target. As Sword focus, Titanic or Ravenous Hydras can spread the damage you deal. As a Bow focus, Runaan's Hurricane is useful.

You can also benefit from items that slow enemies, especially as a jungler. Frozen Mallet is perfect for kiting your enemies, and whether you're in Sword or Bow Form you can use a Randuin's Omen to use Courageous Charge or Bird in the Hand before slowing the enemy further.

Other than that, you've got plenty of options. Only thing he can't manage is magic. I mean, not without a Nashor's Tooth or something.