Nox, Mistress of Shadows

I have always been fascinated by the stealth aspect of this game, and one of my greatest passions has been vampires, since reading Bram Stoker's Dracula as a young man. Bringing these two together, I have created Nox, Mistress of Shadows. Nox is an assassin allied with Noxus, and something of a nightmarish role model to their assassins. Talon, inevitably, knows her, and she is the only one he fears in all the world. A hunter of unparalleled brutality, she holds the "common" understanding of vampires as sexual temptresses in utter disdain, instead relying on the strength and poise of her vampiric nature to victimize and destroy her opponents. Nox refuses to accept surrender; no victim has ever escaped her. Noxus, realizing the value of their huntress on the field of battle, has finally put her forth as one of their champions on the field of justice, rather than using her for political assassinations. It is whispered, of course, that this is not because of their own choice, as the government of Noxus found her invaluable in destroying the center of their opponents' governments, but because she had become bored of how easy assassination had become, and a bored Nox spells disaster for anyone involved.

Of course, telling you all this isn't nearly the same as showing it, so I've written out her lore, or at least what would be included in her profile.

Nightmares are real, and terror is the least of her weapons. ~Talon

Lily panted softly, pushing herself against the wall, terror coursing through her veins like fire. She looked back and forth rapidly; if she could only see where the creature was coming from next, perhaps, perhaps she could stop her from...

But she knew that was a fantasy. She had been a guard for many years, and had never once lost a charge. None to date had passed her steel will and excellent guard. She was unstoppable, and everyone knew it. Her resolve had provided many a Demacian merchant or prince with the privilege of passing through great danger with their heads still on their shoulders.

Tonight, she would lose her first charge, and she knew it.

The young man was stupid, but his father was wealthy. She had assumed it would be an easy job, but she hadn't known that the young man was next in line to be married off to form a fortuitous and momentous alliance between powerful families in Zaun and Demacia, perhaps setting the ground for a national policy. She wished she had, now, for perhaps she would not have taken the job.

There was a whisper to her left, and she brought her sword to bear, slashing out desperately. She was messy, she was clumsy, and her blade met only mist, a soft laugh filling the air. She had not known fear for more than a decade, but now? Now, she was terrified.

The young man grimaced. "What's wrong? I'm tired of this. Why can't we get back on the..." Suddenly, his eyes widened, and a gurgling gasp escaped him as he was lifted off the floor, his limbs shaking, body convulsing in agony as the life slipped from him before her eyes. A soft sound of flesh tearing was all Lily could hear, even with the adrenaline coursing through her sharpening her senses to a razor's edge. The body fell to the floor, and Lily saw the creature, the nightmare that had killed him, and fell to her knees, her very soul quaking.

"Please... please let me live."

The nightmare before her turned to Lily, tilting its head. Wordlessly, shadows swept up, and it was gone. Lily realized she could breath, and gasped, her body collapsing to the floor, spent entirely from the shaking panic she had endured.

She was lifted up by a hand at her throat. Lily had no strength to even feel afraid, anymore, simply resignation. A whisper, a privilege reserved for the dead, filled her ears.

"It will be quick."

Nox, rather than being innately strong, relies on her abilities to keep her alive. She is a difficult champion to master, but mastery comes with profound rewards. That said, her early game survivability is not low, per se, simply skill based. As a result, her defensive stats are minimal. Nox is from a time before magic; in essence, rather than using mystical energy, she herself is magic. As a result, she is gated by cooldowns, rather than mana. As a manaless champion, she instead has charges of Agony that regain over time and on kills or assists. These aren't necessary to use her abilities, but they provide significant bonuses to them which are invaluable in filling her role as a nightmarish assassin. Health: 515 (+80 per level) Attack Damage: 65 (+4.1 per level) Attack Speed: 0.6 (+2.4% per level) Movement Speed: 350 Health Regen: 6.5 (+0.67 per level) Armor: 28.4 (+3.9 per level) Magic Resist: 34.1 (+1.3 per level) Melee RANGE: 100

PASSIVE: Agony: After not damaging or being damaged by another champion for six seconds, Nox gains one charge of Agony every 14 seconds. Nox can store 2/3/4 charges of Agony. Agony gives a special effect to each of Nox's abilities. A charge of Agony is also gained on kill or assist within 2 seconds of Nox last damaging the target.

Q: Impaler's Thrust RANGE: 500 Cooldown: 12 ACTIVE: Nox dashes forward and strikes her target, dealing 60/80/100/120/140 (+40% AD) (+60% AP) Magic Damage to her target and healing for 15% of damage dealt this way. AGONY: A charge of Agony makes the target stunned for 1 second on hit, during which Nox channels behind the target. When the channel ends, the target suffers 20/40/60/80/100 (+15% AD) (+20% AP) Magic Damage over 4 seconds.

W: Embrace of Night Cooldown: 19/18/17/16/15 ACTIVE: Nox gains 50/55/60/65/70% movement speed increasing over 6 seconds. Her next three attacks within 6 seconds deal 60/70/80/90/100 (+10/12.5/15/17.5/20% AD) (+20/27.5/35/42.5/50% AP) additional Magic Damage to her target and Nox heals for 15% of the damage dealt by this ability. AGONY: Nox deals an additional 10/15/20/25/30% AP Magic Damage to her target on attack and, after 1 second (3 seconds while being damaged), stealths for the duration of Embrace of Night, or until using another ability or dealing damage to a target.

E: Slake the Thirst Cooldown: 10/9/8/7/6 RANGE: 200 ACTIVE: Nox drives a poisoned blade into her target, dealing them 70/80/90/100/110 (+45% AD) (+65% AP) and 50/55/60/65/70 (+50% AD) (+75% AP) over 4 seconds. Nox heals for 15% of the damage dealt by this ability. AGONY: Nox slows the target by 50%, and doubles the health restored by this ability.

R: Dark Sacrament: COOLDOWN: 130 / 100 / 70 RANGE: 400 Nox is surrounded by shadow, gaining the ability to pass through minions and champions for up to 6 seconds. Activating this ability a second time causes Nox to dash towards a target, suppressing them for 1 second, dealing them 100/150/200 (+50/75/100% AP) Magic Damage and healing Nox for 30% of the damage dealt by this ability. Following this, the target's AD and AP are lowered by 15/20/25%, and Nox gains a bonus equal to the amount of each attribute lowered in this way. This persists for 6 seconds. AGONY: A charge of Agony empowers Dark Sacrament, increasing the amount drained to 25/30/35% and the length of the effect by 2 seconds. During this time, Nox gains 5% spell vamp and lifesteal.

I believe Nox could add some truly interesting variation in the League of Legends roster, and really make for a fascinating return to some of the old League ideals that made some of the coolest champions we have today. Her kit is specialized towards a very particular playstyle, and she has significant tradeoffs that require smart play, rather than simply the ability to mash buttons in the proper order. I hope you guys liked reading about Nox as much as I liked making her!

So what do you guys think? Let me know in the comments! I really want to hear your opinions. (Illustration of Nox coming soon!)