Avkorion, the Elemental Archmage

If there is one thing I can respect about DotA 2, it’s their heroes (or at least some of them). While I may find the game itself far less enticing than League, there are two heroes that I always love watching highlights/games of; Pudge and Invoker. Invoker is by-far my favorite MOBA character gameplay-wise and one of my favorites lore-wise. So why am I rambling about this on the League boards? Well I love making new champions/reworks that push some of the limits of League and see what wacky, yet still plausible things I can cook up. One of the things I’ve always wished for League was to have a champion that works similarly to the way Invoker does. Avkorion the Elemental Archmage is my interpretation of an Invoker-style champion.

NOTE:

1. Since this champion is based on Invoker, it will not be 100% original (should be obvious, but I feel like I should make it clear). The base mechanics of the champion will be essentially identical to Invoker, while most of the actual spells/elements used are more fit to a League champion. Basically, striking similarities WILL exist, and that’s the point.

2. As much as I wish for it, I acknowledge that nothing like this will probably ever exist in the game, primarily because he requires two additional ability keys beyond QWER and that it'd look pretty shady to make something so similar. I have no idea how these would be handled IF his style of champion ever made it into League. Invoker is not made for League, but we’re giving it our best shot.

3. I am not a game designer and I do not have access to play-testing, development experience, etc. I just play a lot and like to experiment.

4. I highly recommend checking this page out if you’re confused, or watch a video explaining/showing how Invoker works. At first glance he seems nightmarishly confusing, but he’s not all too complicated.

http://dota2.gamepedia.com/Invoker

After reading all of his abilities, I will be describing his role, usefulness, playstyle, builds, etc. See you at the end!

THE CHAMPION HIMSELF

Avkorion’s basic spells are his “reagents”  that determine what spell he will create when he casts Recombine. These are the “spells” that are enhanced with skill points. Any combination of three reagents can be active at any time. They have no cooldown, no mana cost, and do little by themselves. Avkorion’s actual spells are accessed by casting Recombine. Certain parts of each spell are enhanced based on how many points Avkorion has put into each element.

Base Stats

Health: 490.72 (+72.4 per level) Attack Damage: 60 (+4 per level) Attack Speed: 0.645 (+2.36% per level) Movement Speed: 335 Attack Range: 575 Health Regen: 6.02 (+2.9 per level) Mana: 398 (+63.27 per level) Mana Regen: 6 (+.76 per level) Armor: 19.72 (+4 per level) Magic Resist: 30 (+.5 per level)

Passive: Energy Well- Upon casting Recombine, Avkorion’s next basic attack restores 2/4/6/8/10/12/14% (levels 1/3/6/9/12/15/18) of his missing mana. Attacks against minions grant half of that amount. Recombine’s cooldown is not affected by Cooldown Reduction. His spell cooldowns and mana costs scale with the spell’s primary element.

Q: Quake- Passively grants +1/2/3/4/5 bonus health regen. Calls forth elements of stone, giving Avkorion 15/30/60/90/180 bonus health per Quake Aspect.

W: Whirlwind- Passively grants bonus 3/5/7/9/11% bonus attack speed. Calls forth elements of wind, giving Avkorion 5/15/25/35/45 movement speed per Whirlwind Aspect.

E: Enflame- Passively gains +1/2/3/4/5 bonus mana regeneration. Calls forth elements of fire, giving Avkorion 5/15/25/35/45 bonus AP per Enflame Aspect.

R: Recombine- 22/16/10/4 second cooldown, 60/45/30/0 mana. Avkorion recombines the elements being summoned to create a new spell. Can have up to two spells active.

QQQ: Earthsplint- 15/14/13/12/11 second cooldown, 80/90/100/110/120 mana. Causes the ground to split in an area, dealing 50/70/90/110/130 (based on Quake)(+30% AP magic damage) and stunning targets hit for.5/.65/.75/.85/1 second (based on Quake). A ring of earth remains for 2 seconds to block enemy movement                                                                                                                                    QQW: Dust Storm- 20/19/18/17/16 second cooldown, 60/70/80/90/100 mana. After a 1.25 second delay, a vicious duststorm blows in target direction for 5 seconds, dealing 12/24/36/48/60 (based on Quake) (+10% AP) magic damage per second and slows enemies by 35/45/55/65/75% (based on Whirlwind) when moving against the storm.

QQE: Volcanic Meteor- 18/17/16/15/14 second cooldown, 90/95/100/105/110 mana. A volcanic rock hurtles from a faraway eruption, dealing 100/130/160/190/220 (based on Quake)(+35% AP) magic damage in a line and carries enemies struck with it. The rock leaves behind a scorching fire that deals 15/25/35/45/55 (+15% AP) (based on Enflame) magic damage each second for 4 seconds.

WWW: Arcane Twister- 20/18/16/14/12 second cooldown, 40/55/60/75/90 mana. Sends forth a powerful tornado in a line, dealing 6/8/10/12/14% (based on Whirlwind)  magic damage to all enemies hit and knocks them to the side. Allies in the wind move 20/30/40/50/60% (based on Whirlwind) faster.

WWQ: Sand Rush- 25/23/21/19/17 second cooldown, 120/100/80/60/40 mana. Avkorion propels himself forward a distance of 200/300/400/500/600 units (based on Whirlwind) and unleashes a blast of sand in an area to deal 80/100/130/170/220 (based on Quake) magic damage and causing all enemies hit to miss their next basic attack within 3 seconds.

WWE: Rising Heat- 30/26/22/18/14 second cooldown, 70/80/90/100/110 mana. Avkorion grants himself or an ally 15/25/35/45/55% (based on Whirlwind) bonus movement speed and allows them to travel over terrain for 2/3/4/5/6 (based on Enflame) seconds.

EEE: Fireblast- 18/16/14/12/10 second cooldown, 100 mana. Blasts an area at a range of 3000/3500/4000/4500/5000 (based on Enflame) units after a 1.5 second delay with deadly fire, dealing 120/160/200/240/280 (based on Enflame) magic damage (+50% AP).

EEQ: Molten Cyst- 24/22/20/18/16, 90/95/100/105/110 mana After a 1 second delay, a magma explosion deals 120/160/210/270/340 (based on Enflame)(+50% AP) magic damage over 4 seconds. The diameter increased by 25/45/65/85/100% based on Quake. Enemies at the center of the explosion take 50% extra damage.

EEW: Solar Wind- 20/19/17/15/12 second cooldown, 110 mana. Sends forth a cone of hot wind, dealing 80/110/140/170/200 (based on Enflame)(+20% AP) and knocking back units hit. The heat remains and deals 3/4/5/6/7% (based on Whirlwind) max health magic damage for 5 seconds.

QWE: Disastrous Cataclysm- 75/60/45/30 second cooldown, 200 mana. After a 1 second channel, sends forth a shockwave that travels across the map, dealing 11/22/33/44/55 (levels 1, 5, 9, 13, 16) (per point of Quake, Whirlwind, and Enflame)(+50% AP) true damage to all enemies. Deals 10% less per enemy struck, down to 30% damage.

So what is Avkorion?

Avkorion is meant to throwback to more traditional fantasy mages. His gameplay and thematics take this to the extreme to revive a near-dead archetype in League. His massive arsenal of high-cost, high-cooldown spells are balanced by the sheer variety and versatility that Avkorion can bring to the game. Each game may require a different focus in power for Avkorion, and the player must make key decisions that include…

-Knowing what two spells to have ready, and what is the next one they should queue up? Most of Avkorion’s kit focuses around area of effect, so many of them synergize and de-synergize, so it’s up to the player to understand what combos of spells would be best. Avkorion gets a maximum rotation of 3 spells every 4 seconds, and those who have ever eaten a Dark Binding know that 3 seconds is long enough.

-Knowing what element to focus on. Each of the elements has a different focus, and maxing them to either augment your team’s strengths or cover the weaknesses is critical to optimizing the champion.

The elements...

Quake/Earth: Quake-focused spells are all about control. With fairly low damage and high cooldowns, Quake spells make up for it with heavy AoE disabling capabilities. Earthsplint is essentially a mini J4 ult that can be accessed at level 1. With a Quake-focused build, you won’t be dealing as much damage or have as much mobility until late-game, but you’ll be much bulkier and be able to set up other high-damage champions on your team with deadly disables.

Whirlwind/Wind: Whirlwind-focused spells are about mobility. Enemies can’t kill what they can’t catch, and they can’t avoid being killed by something that can catch them. Whirlwind still retains a crucial damage and disabling spell, but is primarily used to give yourself or your team the edge in mobility and maneuverability in combat. Classic Sivir comp? Arcane Twister and Rising Heat can help rocket your Olaf straight to the backline. While your CC and damage are weaker than focusing on Quake or Enflame, your mid-game roaming and mobility creep will rocket you to late-game where you can recover more damage and CC.

Enflame/Fire: Enflame-focused spells are all about damage. If you need to melt your enemies near and afar, Enflame has everything covered. Fireblast is perhaps one of Avkorion’s most powerful spells, being a more League-friendly Sun Strike. For any of those who know Invoker, you’ll know the fun, frustration, and unforgettableness of Sun Strike. While this version isn’t quite global (still pretty close), it functions in a similar manner to Karthus/GP ult in that it is used to snipe kills provide pressure and damage support to turn the tides of a fight for your team. A combination of Molten Cyst and Earthsplint creates a devastating combo for anyone trapped in it. You’ll have very little CC and be rather immobile, but with proper setup you will be able to burn your enemies to the ground and snipe off your ADC’s kills.

On the topic of “overloaded kits”

This is a much larger problem that League has faced that it should certainly be addressed. After all, if release ’s kit or tank /'s or or or 's (I could go on forever tbh) kits seem overloaded, how the heck is a champion with no less than 10 spells not going to put those examples to shame? The answer is, it’s going to. It’s going to be an “overloaded” kit, but it will be overloaded for a reason and is balanced accordingly. With 10 spells comes 10 mana costs, and many of Avkorion’s spells have very high mana costs. In fact, he is limited to 4-6 spells in the pre-first back laning phase without extensive mana regeneration or very long intervals between spells. He does not have a spammable spell by any means, and that is how it is meant. Long ago, mages in League had very long cooldowns compared to now, since CDR was only on select items. Essentially, Avkorion must worry much more about bygone #MageStruggles than most of his modern peers. Misused spells can open up HUGE opportunities in the early game. Additionally, as mentioned before, Recombine lowers to a minimum 4 second cooldown, and Avkorion can only carry two spells active at once. All of these concerns gate him from being able to simply unload his kit without a care, and require Avkorion to make conscious decisions about mana and cooldown usage. This is the exchange he makes for having such a wide and versatile kit.

As far as builds go, I imagine it would lean heavily towards your element focus. While I cannot say for certain, these are what I initially see as potential builds for each element.

Quake: Whirlwind/Enflame:

Nothing for sure since I'm awful at predicting optimal itemizations, and we can't actually play the guy. Mana and CDR would be very important, though.

Conclusion

Do I think an Invoker-style champion truly belongs in League? No, I really don’t. As much as I’d love it (and absolutely main the ever-living Mongolian cluster-f*cks out of it), I don’t think something like it will ever be possible. Despite this, I genuinely enjoyed trying to see how I could fit such a fun DotA hero into the League formula.

I’d love discussions and thoughts, but please remember: This is for fun. Probably never would be balanced. Based on something else. My style of limit-pushing champion may not be appealing to all (especially since y'all can't even handle 's existence :P Kappa)

Cheers!