[Champion Concept] Mal'Plx - The Void Hive

Concept: A hive creature from the Void, Mal'Plx is made up of several small, independent, insectoid Hivlings. These horrors act in concert to sow chaos and destruction throughout Runeterra.

Mal'Plx starts the game as five separate Hivlings. The player controls a single Hivling at any one time. The remaining hive members arrange themselves around the central player-controlled Hivling in a geometric pattern and move in tandem with the master. For example, when five Hivlings are active, four of them will arrange themselves in a square pattern around the player-controlled central Hivling. If a Hivling is lost, then three Hivlings will arrange themselves in a triangle around the central player-controlled Hivling, and so on. This occurs when moving or attacking; at rest, the Hivlings should move randomly about, reflecting their chaotic origins.

A player can change which Hivling they control by ALT+clicking any Hivling on the map. The non-player controlled Hivlings will then move towards that master and arrange themselves around it as previously described. Opponents can target an individual Hivling as if it were a separate enemy. Area-of-effect skills can hit more than one Hivling, though.

If the Hivling the player is controlling is killed, control is passed to the next nearest Hivling (assuming any are left).

Innate Ability: Divide and Conquer Every X seconds Mal'Plx divides, giving rise to a new hive member. Health is shared equally among all members. Maximum of 5 Hivlings.

Each Hivling has its own Health bar which is a fraction of the total Health pool. For example, if Mal'Plx's total Health is 2,000 points and there are five Hivlings, then each Hivling has 400 Health. If a Hivling's Health bar is reduced to zero, it dies but has no spill over effect to the other Hivlings. In other words, if an opponent uses a single target skill that deals 1,000 damage to a 400 Health Hivling , that Hivling dies but none of the other Hivlings take damage. The remaining four Hivlings now share the 2,000 point Health pool; eventually their individual Health bars will grow to 500 Health each once they've regenerated or been healed.

When a new hive member is birthed, the Health pool is equally redistributed among all members of the hive. To illustrate:

1. Assume Mal'Plx has a current Health pool of 2,000.
2. There are four Hivlings extant, with two of the Hivlings having taken damage, reducing their Health to 100 and 200 respectively. The other two Hivlings are at full Health of 500 points each.
3. Therefore, Mal'Plx's current Health is 1,300 (100 + 200 + 500 + 500).
4. Mal'Plx's "Divide and Conquer" Innate Ability triggers, giving rise to a new Hivling.
5. The available Health of 1,300 points is equally redistributed among all five Hivlings; 1,300 / 5 = 260 Health for each Hivling.
6. The five Hivlings won't reach their full potential of 400 Health each until they've been healed or had a chance to regenerate to full Health.

Newly birthed Hivlings split off from and appear at the location of the current player-controlled Hivling (animation akin to cellular division). Hivlings have the lowest Health Regeneration of any champion in the game; but see "Split/Swarm" below. This balances out the fact they are able to absorb so much damage due to the lack of spillover from single-target attacks. It may even be the case that Hivlings have NO innate Health Regeneration if necessary for balancing.

Returning to base either voluntarily or on the death of the last remaining Hivling on the map will resurrect all five Hivlings and return them to full Health just like any other champion respawning.

Q: Leech / Void Blast Leech: When in Hivling form, all non-Sentinel Hivlings attach themselves to a target enemy, become untargetable for 2 seconds, and Slow the target for 1 second for each Hivling attached. Each Hivling then drains Health from the target, transferring it to themselves. If already at max Health, this siphoned Health overheals Mal'Plx for a short time. Activating Leech a second time will end it early.

Void Blast: When Swarming, Mal'Plx can focus its collective energy into a directed single-target attack with collateral AOE damage which diminishes with distance from the point of impact. Void Blast draws on Mal'Plx's Health to power it, using the overhealed Health from Leech first, if available.

Leech's Slow duration remains constant based on the number of Hivlings attached, but the Health draining will scale with the number of Hivlings attached, Mal'Plx's level, and Ability Power. Perhaps the percentage of slowing also scales with level and/or Ability Power. Leech can be ended early by reactivating it to prevent Mal'Plx from taking too much damage; it can still be hurt while attached to an opponent after the initial 2 seconds of non-targeting elapses or if caught in an AoE, for example.

Void Blast's damage scales with level, Attack Damage, and with the number of Hivlings in the Swarm. The Health sacrifice used to power Void Blast is deducted from the Health of the Swarm; Sentinels will not lose Health (not directly, anyway; when "Divide and Conquer" triggers, all Hivlings' Health - including Sentinels' - is equally redistributed).

W: Split / Swarm While in Hivling form, activating this skill will cause all non-Sentinel Hivlings to assemble into a single, vaguely humanoid-shaped Swarm, gaining new stats and abilities. While in Swarm form, activating this skill will revert Mal'Plx back into multiple Hivling forms.

Split Notes (Hivling Form): Hivlings are ranged champions which spit, fling, or otherwise fire a Void-infused projectile at a single target as a basic attack. Individually weak, the attack's power comes from multiple Hivlings firing in concert.

• Hivlings inflict Magic Damage (low per hit, but multiple hits per basic attack).
• Hivlings have greater Attack Speed compared to their Swarm form.
• Hivlings have higher Magic Resistance and lower Armor compared to their Swarm form.
• Hivlings have the lowest Health Regeneration of any Champion in League of Legends (or even NO Health Regeneration at all).

Swarm Notes (Single Form): The Swarm is a melee champion which forms itself into a vaguely battering ram shape to deliver a single target punch as a basic attack. Though a potent hit, the attack is slow.

• The Swarm inflicts Physical Damage (high per hit, but only a single hit per basic attack).
• The Swarm has lower Attack Speed compared to its Hivlings form.
• The Swarm has higher Armor and lower Magic Resistance compared to its Hivlings form.
• The Swarm has moderate to high Health Regeneration.

Unlike the Hivlings, the Swarm is treated as a single Champion for the purposes of targeting, Health, and damage taken. The Swarm's Health is equal to the Health of all of Mal'Plx's Hivlings composing that Swarm. Any damage sustained while in Swarm form is equally distributed among all the Swarm's Hivlings when Split is activated. To illustrate:

1. Assume Mal'Plx has 2,000 Health.
2. There are four Hivlings on the map; three regular Hivlings traveling as a group and one Sentinel elsewhere.
3. All Hivlings and Sentinels are at full individual Health; 500 points each (2,000 / 4 = 500).
4. The player activates Swarm; the three regular Hivlings form the collective creature (Sentinels do not participate in Swarming).
5. The Swarm collective has 1,500 total Health; 500 points contributed by each of the three Hivlings.
6. The Swarm engages in a fight and sustains 300 points of damage, reducing its Health to 1,200.
7. The player activates Split, reverting the Swarm back to the individual Hivlings.
8. The three Hivlings that had composed the Swarm now have 400 Health apiece (1,200 / 3 = 400).
9. The Sentinel's Health - not having been a part of the Swarm - is unaffected; it remains at 500 Health.
10. Mal'Plx's innate "Divide and Conquer" reaches its timer trigger, spawning a new Hivling.
11. The total available Health is 1,700 (three Hivlings at 400 each = 1,200 + 500 contributed by the lone Sentinel).
12. Due to the triggering of "Divide and Conquer", Mal'Plx's Health is equally redistributed among **ALL **Hivlings (including Sentinels).
13. Four previously existing Hivlings (three regular Hivlings + one Sentinel) plus the newly birthed Hivling from "Divide and Conquer" equals five Hivlings.
14. Each Hivling/Sentinel now has 340 Health (1,700 / 5 = 340).

When the player activates Swarm, player control is automatically switched to this collective creature. While Swarming, ALT+clicking any Sentinel on the map will cause it to unroot and automatically path towards the Swarm by the shortest route possible. This is an exception to the normal behavior of ALT+clicking a Sentinel whereby control would have passed to that Sentinel; while Swarming, control remains with the Swarm.

Unrooted Sentinels will be absorbed into the Swarm when they close to within melee range of it. This will add their Health to the Swarm's and add their number to the Hivlings composing the Swarm for the purposes of calculating skill effects dependent on the number of Hivlings in the Swarm.

Likewise, if "Divide and Conquer" triggers while in Swarm mode, the new Hivling is automatically added to the Swarm. This will not affect the Swarm's Health but it does increase the number of Hivlings composing the Swarm for the purposes of calculating skill effects that are number dependent.

E: Sentinel / Defend the Hive While in Hivling form, activating this skill and clicking on any non-Sentinel Hivling will cause that Hivling to root itself and attack at range any nearby enemies. Sentinels have no Health Regeneration and reduced vision range, but gain increased Armor and Magic Resistance. They do not follow a master, do not respond to the call to Swarm, nor contribute to Hive Mind / Hive Horror.

While in Swarm form, activating this skill and clicking a Sentinel within range will teleport Mal'Plx's Swarm to that Sentinel.

Sentinel Notes: The number of Hivlings which can be converted to Sentinels will scale will level. Initially, only one Hivling can be pressed into service as a Sentinel. Eventually, as Mal'Plx levels, a maximum of three Hivlings can be converted to Sentinels. Sentinels count as Hivlings for the purposes of spawning new Hivlings through the Innate Ability "Divide and Conquer"; there can not be more than five Hivlings, Sentinels, or combination of the two on the map at any one time.

A Sentinel can be converted back to a Hivling by taking control of it with an ALT+click. This unroots the Sentinel, returning it to service as a normal Hivling (losing its bonus Sentinel Armor and Magic Resistance). All non-player controlled Hivlings will then congregate around the newly selected player-controlled Hivling. The exception is when Swarming, unrooted Sentinels will instead move towards the Swarm to add themselves to it. See the notes under Split/Swarm.

Sentinels share in the same Health pool as all other Hivlings.

Defend the Hive Notes: This is NOT a global teleport nor fast map travel à la Rek'Sai. It is limited in range; perhaps to the distance between two turrets. Cool down decreases with increasing level.

R: Hive Mind / Hive Horror (ultimate) While in Hivling form, all non-Sentinel Hivlings channel their collective power to open a rift to the Void. From the rift pour forth a host of Hivlings in a chaotic maelstrom of destruction, pulling in and damaging all enemies caught in its wake.

While in Swarm form, it channels its Void energy to empower itself, transforming into a Hive Horror.

The animation of Hive Mind could have the Hivlings channeling beams of magenta Void energy between them to open the rift. Once the rift is open, the effect would be similar to Fiddlestick's "Crowstorm" combined with Viktor's "Gravity Field". However, unlike Viktor's field, it won't slow nor stun; it will only apply an initial pull, after which opponents can move freely. It would deal less damage than Fiddlestick's "Crowstorm" on account of the pull. The power of Hive Mind will depend on level, stats, and the number of Hivlings participating in the channel. Damage would be Magic Damage.

Hive Horror would see Mal'Plx transforming into a Void monstrosity. Whereas "Hive Mind" is a large AoE that inflicts less damage per target, Hive Horror empowers the Swarm to inflict high single target damage. The animation effect might be similar to Nasus "Fury of the Sands"; Mal'Plx's Swarm mode would grow much larger and gain significant increases to its stats. The power of Hive Horror will depend on level, stats, and the number of Hivlings participating in the Swarm. Damage would be Physical Damage.