[Fan rework] Amumu the Sad Mummy
Another one, sure; I'm not aiming to radically change him, though. I looked at Warwick months back, how his champion update kept the essence of his kit and merely updated it. Q is still a point-and-click AD-based attack that drains life, W still has ASPD increase, ult is still a single-target suppression. I think that was neat, and I felt like Amumu could use something similar.
Also posting this before any of the alleged Amumu changes promised hit PBE.
Thematically, Amumu is sad and lonely, and wants to be friends. Except no one wants to be near him. His current kit reflects that in Q (clinginess), his W driving people away, his ult trying to keep them close (but driving them away) and his E... well, I guess it also makes people try to stay away from him.
Gameplay-wise, Amumu hurtles into the enemy lines, ults, and then proceeds to provide ambient damage with an occasional Q stun high moment.
For this theoretical rework, I wanted to preserve the thematics, and build on the gameplay.
Passive ; Curse of Loneliness
Amumu desires friends. While there are no enemy champions near Amumu, Amumu builds stacks of Loneliness over time. When Amumu spots an enemy champion, Amumu consumes his Loneliness over a short period. While Amumu is consuming his Loneliness, he becomes Clingy and generates increasingly higher movement speed the closer he is to an enemy champion.
Reasoning: His current Passive is what you'd call 'unnoticeable power': it's there, but it can be hard to appreciate. Reducing his enemy's MR felt like the least cohesive bit of his kit. As a tank, he wants to remain in the frontlines, which the Curse of Loneliness will be able to help him achieve.
Alternate ideas I explored were movement speed that decreased naturally over time, or movement speed that decreased the closer he was to his target! The latter would probably feel bad, but thematically it'd be like Amumu had difficulty sticking close to people even though he tries so hard. It wouldn't really help him stick to his targets, though.
Q ; Bandage Toss
Amumu throws a bandage in a straight line. When it connects with an enemy unit, it briefly stuns the enemy and does magic damage, then pulls Amumu towards the enemy.
Reasoning: Same as on live. Feels like a pretty good skill to have, and is one of the things you wind up using a lot as Amumu. Helps him get in, too. I don't feel as though his Q needs a gameplay update.
Alternate idea involved giving him two charges every time it's up, so he can swing around like Tarzan... probably too forgiving/gives him too much mobility, though.
W ; Despair
After a short wind-up, Amumu begins crying, leaving behind a trail of tears. Enemies in close proximity to Amumu suffer magic damage based on their maximum health for a brief time. Enemies that stand in the trail of tears are slowed and take magic damage based on their maximum health for a brief time.
Taking damage refreshes (part of) the duration of Amumu crying. If Amumu stands in the same spot for a brief moment, he will leave behind a puddle of tears. Enemies in the puddle of tears take increased damage from Despair while in the puddle.
Reasoning: Current Despair is tap W and forget about it. Its effect is strong, but sometimes hard to appreciate. With a proper cooldown and small wind-up, the damage can now be better appreciated, but it's also a further deterrent not to be close to Amumu or stand in his trail of tears. Adding a slow helps Amumu be stickier, and if he has Curse of Loneliness active he should be able to leave a trail of tears behind that'll make the enemy team cry. The refresh on duration helps him keep it running, as well as make it his main jungling tool since jungle camps'd refresh it infinitely (until he runs to the next).
Alternate idea involved Amumu also getting movement speed briefly (if full duration is 5s, Amumu has move speed for 2s for example), but that may be overbearing when he already gets movespeed from his Passive.
E ; Gimme a Hug
Amumu tosses a cluster of bandages to the target location. After a short delay, Amumu pulls back his bandages, knocking enemies in its path closer to him and dealing magic damage. Enemies that were in the cluster of bandages are pulled back all the way adjacent to Amumu and take increased magic damage.
Reasoning: Stickiness, AoE damage, and something that helps Amumu get those all-important hugs from his targets. Amumu's all about sticking close to his enemies, and this helps them stick close to him. Also useful to clear the jungle with the AoE. Since he lacks the damage reduction from his E, it makes sense his base stats should just have some extra armour to make up for it (what a weird Passive anyway).
Alternate idea: attacking Amumu gives you stacks of Sadness. Amumu can activate Gimme a Hug to charm every enemy with a stack. But that's mega powerful, moved the "attacking Amumu gives Amumu benefits" Passive to his W instead.
Double alternate: Can also be used on allies. But Amumu isn't a support.
R ; Curse of the Sad Mummy
Amumu violently throws out his bandages in a wide area around him. Enemies within the zone take magic damage, are very briefly stunned, then massively slowed. The slow deteriorates over its duration.
Reasoning: Currently, Amumu's all about hitting his R. It's his high moment. He'll probably need to have it weakened somewhat to justify the strength put into his basic abilities. This is my take on that: it very briefly stuns (maybe 0.5s?) to provide that initiation high moment, then slows enemies. Something like a 90% slow that deteriorates over 3 seconds, for example, is still an incredibly potent tool for setting up wombos or generally being a large pain.
Alternate idea involved only stunning people in a close circle around Amumu, but that's probably too much (though it'd reward Amumu for really getting close!).
Thoughts and criticism are welcome! If you do dislike it, I'd be happy to hear what about the idea doesn't appeal; if it's just "Amumu doesn't need an update", I'd feel sad since I know that, I just wanted to take a stab at what a modernised Amumu could look like.