[Champion Concept] Yajadek, the Living Terror
I'm entering this for the November CCOS.
The Idea --The main idea here is that Yajadek is basically the Boogeyman. It is the type of thing parents tell their children about to scare them into following the rules. "If you don't eat your broccoli, the Yajadek will come and eat YOU!" Stuff like that. It's believed to be an urban myth. I was kind of inspired by the Babadook. --I picture people referring to this champion not by "Yajadek", but rather "The Yajadek", like "The Boogeyman". I didn't write The Yajadek every time, but just know that is what I was thinking. --Probably pronounced "YAH-hah-deek" ( The J makes an H sound.) --Most League of Legends characters generally are referred to as "He" or "She", but seeing as the Yajadek is neither and is a mysterious unnamed monster, I refer to it as "it". -- Here is an idea of what I picture when I think of The Yajadek. The picture is of a Boneclaw from the Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual. http://i.imgur.com/iv4EZLn.png?noredirect
In Game --Yajadek is a melee assasin-type figure, slightly tankier than other assassins. It is best suited for top lane due to It's immense 1 on 1 fighting abilities. --Early game, Yajadek is pretty good, due to It's abilities to scare the enemy into not engaging in early 1 on 1's. --Late game, Yajadek can be a formidable foe when under pressure. If you are in an all out 5v5 fight, then Yajadek can be a nuisance, doing tons of damage when It's passive is procked.
Passive: Aura of Terror. --When Yajadek is damaged by an enemy champion, it gains a stack of Terror. Stacks last for 4 or 5 seconds. DPS abilities, naturally, cannot give him more than one stack. Upon reaching 5 stacks, Yajadek activates Aura of Terror, lasting for 6 seconds or so. As long as Aura of Terror is active, it has empowered abilities. --After Aura of Terror is activated, his passive goes on a short cooldown, during which it cannot gain any stacks of Terror.
The whole idea here is that Yajadek is a terrifying being, so naturally, other people are afraid to approach him. This should be emulated in his gameplay through his kit. People either have to poke him down very slowly, or be absolutely confident they are going to win against him in a trade to go in.
Q: Violent Nightmare. --After a very short channeling period, Yajadek sends out a could of Violent Nightmares in a skillshot, stopping and damaging the first enemy hit. --This ability has a very long cooldown, but whenever it gains stacks of Terror, it lowers the cooldown. The cooldown is also lowered when it performs basic attacks against enemy champions, kills an enemy unit, or casts another spell. If Violent Nightmares either kills an enemy unit or hits an enemy Champion, then the cooldown will be lower than normal. --Aura of Terror bonus: Violent Nightmare will make the target Feared for a short duration. It also can hit multiple enemies.
This ability is It's standard poke ability, but it has to be very active in order to keep using it and poking with it. If you can afford to be very aggressive during laning phase, then the ability can snowball the pressure put on the enemy laner. The Fear is also a great crowd control effect because when enemies realize their blunder and are trying to run away from an engage, you can fear them for longer than a normal ability might allow. This highly encourages people to just turn away and flee.
W: Monstrous Markings --Yajadek creates a fiendish rune on the ground near him. After a second or two, the rune becomes invisible. The rune can last for 1 minute or somewhere around there. Yajadek can only have one rune at a time, so if it casts this ability again, his previous rune is destroyed. The rune does NOT grant vision, and you can't place it near turrets. --If Yajadek clicks on the rune before it casts a spell, Yajadek can cast it as if the rune was himself, even if it is nowhere near it. Unlike Zed's shadow, only one ability is cast here. --Once you cast a spell from the rune, it lasts a few more seconds, in which you can cast more spells from it, but then the rune is destroyed. It kind of is a one-time use scenario. Leveling this ability probably increases the range at which you can cast it and decreases the mana cost, and possibly the number of seconds the rune persists before it is destroyed after you use it. --Aura of Terror: Any spell cast using the rune will deal a certain percentage more damage, possibly even as much as 100% more.
This ability is all about mind games with your opponents. If you strategically place your rune, you can last hit them if they are low, even when they thought they were safe. This also makes terror capacitor extra scary because they could end up taking a bunch more damage if they head in the wrong place. Mainly, this can be very effective if you strategically place your rune, and it also adds to the whole "your opponent is scared" style that this Champion's play style is built around. It also combos phenomenally with his ultimate. Make sure, if your rune is in the fog of war, to ward near it, because it will be pretty useless if you don't.
E: Torture's Embrace --Yajadek lashes out with his claws in a cone in front of him. Enemies struck are damaged and Rended for a short duration. Yajadek's basic attacks and Q will deal more damage to Rended targets, as well as slow them. --Aura of Terror: When Aura of Terror is active, all Rended targets will take some pretty heavy DPS.
I see this as his main source of Crowd Control. The Fear on his Q is great and all, but that is only if enemies are actively attacking him. To chase people down, this is the ability it will use. You can also get some pretty heavy damage with your E-Q combo, which can be used to secure kills when people who are very low walk near your fiendish rune. The animation may be a bit strange when cast using the rune, because it will seemingly be claws appearing out of nowhere. It could, however, also be a cool animation.
R: Call of the Boogeyman. --Yajadek marks a target near him. After a period of time, maybe 3-4 seconds, it will leap to his marked target, dealing heavy damage. (During the 3 second channel, it is free to move, attack, etc). You CANNOT cancel this ability once you have marked a target. --Aura of Terror: No special bonus, but when Aura of Terror is activated when Call of the Boogeyman is on cooldown, then the cooldown is significantly lowered.
This ability has the potential to be insanely terrifying and really good. If a target ghosts to get away from you, or you are predicting that they will flash over a wall, you can mark them to ensure that they will not escape those three seconds later. The downside is if you mark an enemy, they can run toward a tower or a safe place, and there is nothing you can do about the fact that you will jump to them. This ability can have pretty much a global range when paired with your W, as you can imagine. The lowered cooldown on his ultimate is the most effective incentive here not to trigger his Aura of Terror.
Lore Runeterra is home to many diverse cultures and beliefs, with many different lifestyles, architecture, and language. The diversity in religion leads to many different fascinating legends about life after death, a higher power, and the origins of life. Many fascinating ones, but none of them thought to be true. Such was the case for the old Nursery Rhyme about the Yajadek, a monster that hid in the shadows and kidnapped naughty children. that was sung to children in many small towns in order to keep them on their toes and to try and keep them from causing too much trouble. The rhyme goes like this:
The windows are shut, the dog doth snore The fire is out, shut firm is the door. The house was all quiet at this time of night, Yet dangers are lurking just out of sight. For young Sammie, the child, restless is he, And decides to exit his bed and be free. The mischievous child, how would he know? Night creatures are lurking outside in the snow. A scrape 'gainst the door, a whoosh of cold air, Of putrid flesh doth the air reek, And a voice can be heard: Yajadek! Yajadek! Yajadek!
Many other verses are written, each ending with the scrape "'gainst the door" passage. Some families recite it to their children nightly to keep them from waking them up at midnight, so they can finally get some good rest. Yet there are always rebellious children, aren't there? Such was the case of a young boy named Lansel. Unbeknownst to Lancel's parents, he was tainted from birth with a powerful magic few have. Had he been more careful, he could have grown up to be a great sorcerer. However, he wanted nothing more for his father to stop harrasing him with stories of strange monsters in the dark. Every night he wished for his father's stories to backfire: for this monster to come after his Dad and not him.
One of the nights, after his father had whipped him, he got more mad than he had ever been in his life. This anger unleashed the magical power he had inside of him, and little did he know, his wish was about to come true. That night, while he was asleep, the door creaked open, smelling of putrid flesh, and in stepped the live incarnation of The Yajadek. Yet the Yajadek did not turn to kill the father, no, he did what he did best, he went after the naughty child.
That night, Lancel was awoken by an eerie sound above him. He looked up to see a twisted symbol of a monster with long claws, with a toddler in its mouth, yet it quickly dissappeared, and Lancel thought he must have been dreaming. Yet then he heard a strange sound again, an eerie sound that seemed to be originating from his own ears. Just as he heard it, right from where Lancel had thought he had seen a strange image, The Yajadek emerged, and slaughered Lancel.
Now, The Yajadek is very much alive, unbeknownst to most of Runeterra. Not thinking, not feeling. It's only purpose is to cull out the children it believes deserve to die.
Thanks for reading folks!!!
