Champion Idea: Ulysses, Vanguard of the Crazed

Billcurme here. Once again, new champion idea. I wanted to try my hands at a Juggernaut champion concept, while adding in an idea that some may recognise as one of my more common character tropes: insanity! I hope you all enjoy the idea, comments and criticisms are always appreciated!

Ulysses, Vanguard of the Crazed A Billcurme Champ Idea

Statistics: Health: 600 (+100/level) Health Regen: 9 (+0.9/level) Mana: 200 (+30/level) Mana Regen: 5 (+0.4/level) Attack Damage: 62 (+5/level) Attack Speed: 0.625 (+1.12%/level) Armour: 30 (+4/level) Magic Resist: 32.1 (+1.25/level) Move Speed: 325 Range: 175

Through Fire, with Flames (innate): Ulysses twisted determination will not let anything stop him from achieving his goal. While above 80% of his max health, Ulysses will take 10% less damage from all Area of Effect abilities, and 5% less damage from other sources. This bonus does not apply to Epic Monsters, and becomes disabled for 2 seconds if Ulysses becomes effected by hard crowd control.

In addition, whenever Ulysses is below 20% of his max health, his auto-attacks deal an additional 2% of his max health as physical damage.

If Ulysses if above 80% of his max health, he will emit a dark aura. If he is below 20% of his max health, his Lance will be crackle with dark fire.

Code of the Strong (q): CD: 12/11/10/9/8s Mana Cost: 70/75/80/85/90 Range: 550 (Width: 100) After a brief delay, Ulysses lashes out in a line in target direction, dealing 80/110/140/170/200 (+55% ad) physical damage to the first enemy he hits and applying on-hit effects. This attack deals an additional 8/8.5/9/9.5/10% of the targets max health as bonus physical damage if Ulysses’ current health is higher than his target’s max health. If this attack kills a unit, Ulysses regains 2.5% of his max health. If this ability kills an enemy champion, Ulysses instead regains 5% of his max health. The area of effect of this ability will be highlighted before the ability is launched.

Laugh at Pain (w): CD: 28/27/26/25/24s Mana Cost: 95 Whenever Ulysses takes non-minion damage, he gains a stack of ‘Love of Pain’ for 12 seconds. At 10 stacks, whenever Ulysses takes damage, he gains an additional 20/22.5/25/27.5/30% movement speed when moving towards enemy champions who dealt damage to him in the last 2 seconds, and becomes immune to knock-back and knock-up effects. This bonus effect cannot occur more than once every 15 seconds. Ulysses cannot gain more than 1 stack every second, and losses stacks 1 at a time, with subsequent stacks falling off twice as fast.

Ulysses can activate this ability to laugh away the pain, healing for 5/7.5/10/12.5/15% of his max health, plus an additional 0.5/0.75/1/1.25/1.5% for each stack of ‘Love of Pain’ and consuming the stacks. Ulysses will not gain stacks of Love of Pain while this ability is on cooldown.

Life’s Abomination (e): CD: 60s Mana Cost: 80 Range: 350 radius (centered on Ulysses) Ulysses lets out a horrendous laugh, dealing 40/60/80/100/120 (+5% of his max health) physical damage, fearing nearby enemies and slowing them for 15% for 1 second.

Every time Ulysses takes damage from an enemy champion, this abilities cooldown is reduced by 1/1.5/2/2.5/3 seconds. If Ulysses has stacks of Love of Pain, the mana cost of this ability is reduced by 1/1.5/2/2.5/3 for each stack.

Beautiful Hatred (r): CD: 160/140/120 Mana Cost: 100 Range: 60 degree cone, 1000 range Ulysses desire to end all life becomes manifest. Nearby enemy champions are slowed by 2.5/5/7.5% every second they are near him, up to a maximum of 75%. This effect is disabled for 4 seconds if Ulysses becomes effected by hard crowd control. This has a radius of 350 units.

Ulysses may activate this ability to launch a spear of crimson light in front of him after a brief delay, dealing 150/225/300 (+70% ad) physical damage to all enemies hit and rooting them in place, before pulling them to him after 1.5 seconds. Enemies that manage to move out of the area before Ulysses finishes the cast avoid being pulled back. The area of effect for this ability will be highlighted before it is launched.

The spear of light starts out wide, and narrows towards the end. Ulysses may activate this ability while preparing to use Code of the Strong, causing this ability to launch instead. This will not refresh the cooldown or mana cost of Code of the Strong.

Lore: In the years directly following the Rune Wars, many strange things occured within the world. The rampent magics that had been unleashed into the world had changed the very fabric of reality, and many lives were changed by the magics that had seeped into the land. One such life was that of a young boy named Colt.

Colt had been born a quite, peaceful child in a long-forgotten village. A naturally gifted mage, Colt eagerly devored all of the arcane knowledge he could find, eager to prove himself worthy to the people he loved. He was loved and admired by many, and was even preparing to be taught by one of the lead arch mages of the world.

But then, the Rune Wars happened. The terrible magics that were released into the world sought out those in tune with their power, seeking to destroy all. Desperately fighting to hold on to his life, Colt absorbed the magic around him and sealed it within a portion of his mind.

When next he awoke, the boy that had once been Colt was lost and alone. His memories gone, he wandered the land, searching for answers to who he was. Eventually, he began to hear something whispering to him. A voice, much like his own, but twisted, and powerful. The voice identified itself as Colt.

The boy and Colt began to speak, unaware that they were one and the same. The boy began to see Colt as some great and powerful diety, and Colt in turn began to believe this wild tale. Deciding that he was some god that lived through this boy, Colt used his magic to bless the child with great power, naming him his Champion.

Years passed, and Colt and his champion’s insanity grew. Seeing the world around them as unclean, Colt ordered his champion to begin a purge of all intelligent life, seeking to return the world to that which it once was. Using his magic to build a lance of corrupted metal, Colt and his champion set out upon the world, slaying all that got in their path, and laying waste to countless lives. Eventually being dubbed Ulysses by those that he slew, this champion still follows his god and his dark crusade against all life, unaware of who he once was.

The Dark Crusade “My village is gone. My people are gone. Everything I have ever known is gone. By the time this scroll is found, I’ll probably be dead to. I’m writing this now so that my village won’t fade from memory. So that the world will have some record of Yukikono. And to warn the world of what is to come.

We were a peaceful village. We lived in harmony with the world around us, here on the edge of liveable lands. We practised the arts. We orchestrated songs that would move the soul, painted art that would bring a sombre man to tears, and wove tapestries that could bring a smile to any ones face. We worked the land with hand and spell, never taking more than it could give us. We lived in peace, away from war, away from politics and pain. I’ve hidden some of our art in the mouth of a great dying tree on the edge of the Kumungu jungle. I urge any explorer to find it there, so that my village can live on in spirit. And now I beseech you to prepare for the horror that comes for you.

At first he seemed to be like any other man. Tall and imposing, but not monstrous. Clad in mottled grey armour, with the gaps filled in with red rags. And carrying a horrendous lance that seemed to be made out of black steel and bone!

We were a peaceful village, but our hunters were skilled, and even the youngest child could cast some defensive spells. We had repelled bandit’s and beasts alike with next to no trouble. But this--thing--swatted us away like flies. Our blades broke against his crude armour, and our spells barely managed to slow him down. The man walked through pillars of fire without a moments hesitation, and stabbed his lance through a wall of conjured steel like it wasn’t even there! All the while, we heard his laughter,gnawing at our very sanity. Eventually, I grabbed what I could of our legacy and made for the hills.

When I had made it as far as my constitution would allow me, I looked back to see my precious village in flames. The monster was still there, bleeding, burnt, and laughing. All who got in his path were slain without fail. Men, women, children, pets. But snuffing out our lives didn’t seem to be enough. When he ran out of bodies to kill, he began to destroy the buildings, sending structures that had stood for generations crashing into the dust. It was at that point that I followed the rest of the survivors and ran.

But that was not the last we saw of him. A week later, he found our camps, and began the slaughter anew. Three days following that, he found us again. And again four days after that. No matter how hard we try, we can’t seem to escape him. I’m all that's left now. I tried to find one of the great city-states that I’ve heard of, but I believe I’m still weeks off of the nearest one. What food I had has run out, and soon I won’t have the strength to flee him. And so I’m spending what time I have left writing this scroll. Hopefully someone else will find it, and not that monster.

My village was called Yukikono. We did nothing wrong. And we were all killed by that crazed monster. We grant it the name Ulysses: He who Hates."

-Last relic of Yukikono, first recorded sighting of Ulysses.

Relics of the Past, Omen’s of the Future “Being an explorer often brought me to some of the most dangerous, thrilling and insane places of the world, where one wrong step would mean painful death. But that was only half of the journey. A lot of it is research, travel, and dead-ends. And sometimes, even finding the place I’m looking for just brings disappointment. That’s the easy way to describe my discovery to the village of Yukikono.

After one of my more daring escapes from a collapsing Kumungu temple, I had rested in a nearby cave on the edge of civilised land. Inside, I found an old campsite, and bones. Searching around, I noticed a discoloured stone, obviously not indigenous to the area. Within the hallowed stone, I found a scroll.

A vague description in an old scroll usually would be considered an impossible lead, but not for me. Returning to Piltover, I dug up all the old history texts that I could, deciphering every hint left in the text: the style of writing, the choice of words, even the subtle shifts in language.

Finding the hallowed tree was of course a great victory for the ages. People celebrated my find for weeks, saying that the contribution of old art and music greatly aided in our understanding of lost civilisations. But I wanted more. I wanted to find the source.I thought for sure that it would be the find of the century.

Not often I get to say this, but I was wrong.

The remains were barely even recognisable as a village. No building was left standing. The area was thick with vegetation, and any semblance of what was once a civilisation was lost. The only thing that allowed me to even identify this as the place I was looking for was the barest hints of building foundations, and a covered hole that I believe was once a well.

The whole area emanated a certain sadness. As if the land itself understood what had been lost here.

I resigned myself to a failed excavation. The unique foundations and the design of the well would be something the scholars back home would enjoy, but this wasn’t the big score I had hoped it would be. Just some old ruin, that had obviously been destroyed a long time ago.

Gathering up my equipment, I felt a chill run up my spine. When I had first arrived here, it had been a constant cacophony of sound: insects and birds, and a strong wind. But suddenly, everything was silent. I allowed energy to pour into the gem out of instinct.

Garbing my travel bag, I ran to the nearest tree, allowing the gem to warp me into the tallest branches, well out of sight from the world below. That’s when I started to hear the rhythmic clanking of metal.

The seconds seemed to drag on as I waited within that tree, the warm hum of the amulet against my arm a small comfort as the sound of scraping metal came closer and closer,until at last, I saw him.

He was tall and muscular, just as the scroll had implied. His armour was a mottled grey, splattered with dirt and dried-blood. Red rags stuck out from the joints, trailing slightly behind him as he moved. The top of his head was covered in a rusted helmet with four curved horns--three of them broken. Beneath the helm, silvery-white hair trailed down to reveal a cruel, bearded face with cold, purple eyes. And in his hand was a gigantic lance of jagged black metal and cracked white bone.

He moved below me at a steady pace, his metal boots clanking into the ground in a steady rhythm. I found myself holding my breath, my gauntlet ready to pull me away at a moments notice. But the man simply walked below, never stopping in his endless march.

I remained motion-less in that tree until the sound of his march had long-passed. How was he alive? Was the scroll not as old as I thought it was? Or was he somehow still going, unaffected by the ravages of time?

Whatever was going on, I knew I had to get out of there. I had to go and warn everyone.

Ulysses was alive."

-Ezreal, autobiographical encounter with Ulysses

Quotes:

Selection: Life is a disease that plauges this world.

Ban: You delay the end.

Movement: None escape. Ever onward. Marching. Forward. Don’t stop. Never stop.

Attacking: You will be cleansed! Death to all! The End! *Laughing Blood for my lance! You are an obstacle! Die! Die die die die die! Kill, kill, KILL! Killing you will be fun! Killing you is necessary. Hehehehehahahahaha! Nothing left! Not even bones will remain!

Destroying an enemy turret: Nothing shall remain. Your towers fall! No trace! Wipe their stench from the land! Brick by brick, it all falls down! Crumbling stone! Crumbling hope!

Getting a Pentakill: YES!!! Oooh, yeeeessss! *insane laughter In Colt’s name!

Gaining max stack of Love of Pain: Yes! *Evil laughter *More evil laughter *Insane laughter *Menacing laughter Does this please you, Colt?!

Using Beautiful Hatred: Let the cleansing, begin! Grant me the strength to wipe them out! I call upon you, my master! Aid me, Colt!

Killing an enemy Illaoi: Your god is motion. My is the end of motion. You will never be in motion again.

I really need more quotes :P I also acknowledge that his kit probably needs some of his numbers checked. Once again, please feel free to comment your thoughts! I always appreciated any criticisms that can help me make this into a proper champ idea!