Pretaa, the Darkin shield (overshield support)
Welcome to my champion concept for a darkin style support. I was inspired by the lore direction Varus took and some bits of dialogue between Aatrox and Varus
INTRO
to paraphrase, it was "to think there are only 5 of us left", or something similar. It got me wondering "Who are the others?". Well we see Rhaast and Aatrox and now Varus all being linked and fuifill 3 of those slots. The last two darkin are pretty unknown but are expected to reside in objects (weapons) as well. each champion seems to fit a particular lane pretty well, although they probably wouldn't work amazingly all together in a comp.
- Aatrox is top/jg and has a sword
- Kayn is mostly jg and has a scythe
- Varus is mostly adc and has a bow
So that seems to leave mid and support roles left open for exploration.
- a darkin mid might have a stave, crossbow, or other ranged weapon (though they waged a war against magic users on Runeterra, so who knows what they'd use...)
I happen to enjoy the role of support a lot, so I decided to try to create what I believed would not only fit the themes of Darkin, but also to create a viable support character.
A couple of key questions were sitting at the back of my mind in figuring out what was going to have to be different about our support. If she was trapped in a weapon, why has it been so long since she's been detected? Do people not know of her because she kills those who observe? or maybe she resides in some remote place? what if she was a bit ethereal? maybe stuck in between two places at once?
Additionally, what kind of equipment should she have in her kit. To go along with darkness, wars against magic, supporting, and being evasive? I decided that it sounded like she had to be some kind of shadow knight type thing. Sounds kind of like the opposite of Leona to be honest. But She'd have to fit a new niche for supports.
I decided that I wanted her to be a tanky support that feels mobile and has some way to feel stealthy to reflect her character being unknown by the world. Her people were warriors, so I needed her to be able to take a hit.
So without further ado, let's get into what her kit actually is.
[slayer-pantheon-popcorn]
Welcome to the League of legends spotlight for:
Pretaa, the Darkin Shield
or alternatively
Pretaa, the Darkin Shade
- Passive: Mana shield:
- 10% of all damage dealt to Preta burns her mana supply instead (before damage reduction). 10% of all damage Preta deals recovers mana (includes executions and smites).
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Q: Shroud
- Pretaa projects a dark cloud around her for 5 seconds. enemies outside of her shroud cannot see in, and enemies inside cannot see out. While inside, enemies take damage over time. If Q is reactivated, pretaa will drop the dark cloud at her current location.
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W: dark bond
- Pretaa becomes etheral, dashes to and shields an ally. During the duration of dark bond, Pretaa cannot be targeted by enemies attacks and abilities but is locked/tethered to her ally's location (or a small radius near them). All damage directed at her ally will be redirected to her instead. while dark bond is active, all abilities are cast from bonded ally's location. If W is reactivated, Pretaa will re-materialize at a nearby target location (blink distance)
- E: Shadow binding:
- Pretaa throws out chains in a line hurting all enemies in it's path and restoring a small % of the initial damage. The first enemy champion will be slowed and tethered to Pretaa. while the tether is not broken, Pretaa will sap health from her tethered target. If Pretaa hits an ally champion instead, pretaa will sap her own health to heal her ally. (passive applies). If Pretaa cassts this ability while tethered, the old tether breaks.
- if shadow binding hits an enemy while dark bond is active, the ally heals for a % of the damage.
- R: Darkin catastrophe
- Pretaa channels for a couple seconds before launching an orb that explodes and fears enemies in the radius.
Pretaa is an odd mix between tank, enchanter, and poke type supports, sharing many similarities with Rakan and Taric in terms of goals and play patterns.
During the laning phase, Pretaa's kit suffers from a lack of mobilility and range. Instead what she provides is a unique kit that should assist your adc for making much more effective trades and to heal them up in between trades over time. Her heals are not as bursty as a soraka or Sona heal, but aren't as mana intensive or health instensive.
Her abilities are also very helpful for disrupting fights and coordination of enemy teams while providing peeling and heals for your backline.
I'd like some feedback about this design if you're interested enough in her. so please leave your thoughts comments and concerns. If you can't think of anything, here's some questions that might help you answer.
Do you think her kit fits the Darkin theme well enough?
What abilities do you take issue with?
What sounds weak about her?
What sounds strong about her?
Should there even be an additional Darkin champion?
does she feel like she's actually a support in the support role?
What should she look like?
