Hudd, the Masterhand
Hey folks, Cardi here. I post champion concepts here from time to time. Here's a champion concept that I worked on for a while; thoughts and feedback would be mighty appreciated. The inspiration for Hudd came from a desire to play a bowman that doesn't point and click at all in order to deal damage. The main obstacle was making Hudd dynamic enough that he actually feels both difficult and different, as opposed to just plain old vanilla artillery (
), which simply adding skillshots wouldn't necessarily achieve. Archery is not easy, and skillshot champions are as plentiful as the roster itself. That's where Archer's Paradox, Hudd's passive, comes in. It adds a degree of complexity to all his abilities - they're not just skillshots, they're skillshots that don't always travel the way you want them to travel because of time sensitivity. This creates an avenue of meaningful interaction between just this single champion alone and the player trying to master him, as well as one between the player and the perils of the game (think "oh shit" moments where you're face to face with an assassin, have to outplay the assassin, while timing your draws correctly). An archer should also be stealthy and and quiet to blend in with his/her surroundings. Since Hudd's attacks are entirely skillshots (again, due to Archer's Paradox), he gets an advantage other marksman simply don't bring to the table - stealth. Shooting opponents and dealing consistent DPS from afar in brush or from fog of war is Hudd's specialty. Hudd doesn't need any special magic or hextech gadgets - he's good at shooting arrows. Real damn good. Enjoy and hunt well, my fellow archers!
Hudd, the Masterhand
Role: Marksman Secondary: Assassin
Archer’s Paradox (Passive): Hudd’s basic attack is his Q ability – he cannot point and click targets to auto attack them. All of Hudd’s damaging abilities (are skillshots) and require that he draw his bow – it takes half a second to fully draw the bow and the bow can be fully drawn and held for another second once fully drawn (Hudd can move freely while drawing his bow; interrupts refund the cooldown of the interrupted ability). None of his abilities reveal him from brush or fog of war. The projectile shot from Hudd’s bow follows the following hidden mechanics…
Range increase of the ability per 0.05 second draw time (max 0.5): 10% 0 – 0.15 second: veers left or right a random small to medium distance 0.15 second – 0.225 second: veers left a set small distance 0.225 second – 0.3 second: flies straight ahead 0.3 – 0.4 second: veers right a set small distance 0.4 – 0.5 second: veers left or right a random small distance 0.5+ second draw: veers left or right a set small distance
Hudd's passive is central to his kit: his entire existence revolves around aiming his arrows properly to hit the mark on his targets. He's also balanced around this difficult mechanic. The arrows fly extremely quickly - they can be dodged, but probably not reactively. A dash like Katarina's new Shunpo would definitely be able to dodge them, but when they're shot from fog of war, you wouldn't expect even Faker to be able to dodge them reactively without an instant dash. Reactively is the key word here - players can still dodge the arrows, but only when they predict that they're coming, and even then only with a dash of sorts. Hudd's barrage of arrows from stealth (brush or fog of war) can induce fear in his enemies when played right - you don't know what's shooting at you unless you're paying close attention to the arrows whizzing by and striking your champion square in the chest.
Successive Fire (Q): Hudd stores up to five charges of Successive Fire over time (the ability itself has no cooldown, apart from the "cooldown" of having to draw the bow each time). Each shot deals his total AD in physical damage to the first target struck and applies critical strike modifiers and on-hit effects exactly as a regular basic attack would. Attack speed items decrease the amount of time it takes for Hudd to store new charges. If his arrows encounter structure or terrain, they stop at the piece of terrain (damaging it in the process if possible), allowing Hudd to instantly gain a charge of Successive Fire and a small boost to his movement speed if he retrieves them.
Marksman’s Aim (W): This shot has increased range and also slows for a large amount briefly upon impact compared to Successive Fire, but does not store charges and has a longer cooldown. Always deals critical damage to targets with less than 50% of their maximum health.
Sprint/Track (E): Activating this ability the first time causes Hudd to sprint for four seconds with increased movement speed and slow resistance. Activating this a second time while sprint is active causes it to become Track, which cuts the speed bonus in half, removes the slow resistance, but doubles the remaining duration and reveals the nearest enemy champion.
Fatal Shot (R): Hudd takes quite a bit longer to fully draw this shot, but it has as much range as Marksman’s Aim and deals TONS of damage over a long period of time. During this time, the target is also grievously wounded and slowed by a small amount.
Summary - I won't be going over each ability this time because of the sheer simplicity of this champion. However, that is precisely what League lacks - an archer champion that feels "archery" because of the draw motions of the bow and stealth due to hiding in brush. Mastery of the champion would entail mastering the passive, which is quite hard to control because of the small margins of error. Of course, in worst case scenarios the arrow would simply lose accuracy over long distances while keeping Hudd's ability to shoot instantly (as if he had a targeted auto attack) and consistently at closer targets relatively intact. Let me know what you guys think and thanks for reading! :^)
