Champion Concept - Malisto, the Puppet Master (long)

I: INTRODUCTION AND GOALS II: LORE SUMMARY III: SHORT STORY IV: VISUAL AIDS V: ABILITIES AND GAME PLAY VI: GAME PLAY INSIGHTS VII: CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION AND GOALS:

So league is a game where every kind of character trope and archetype can be explored and Ive been anxiously waiting for the "puppet master" archetype to be explored in my idle anticipation i decided i would take a crack at creating a character to the best of league of legends design standards while trying to accomplish some other goals. Those goals are:

-A champion with meepo level of micro play: i think it was ZenonTheStoic who touched on the subject as to why multi body champions do not, and potentially will not exist in league of legends, he said-

"...When we made League, we looked at the obvious inspiration, Dota, and made some baseline changes to the game that Dota, being a War3 mod, couldn't make. One of them is the "stickiness" of self selection. In League, you cannot "unselect" yourself as a unit, and this has a lot of positive implications, but it also means that RTS-like controls are out of scope. This is the most intuitive control scheme for multiple units. 

So if we wanted to make a champ that was two independently controllable units, we would need to do a LOT of work on the UI / input side. Additionally, many skills learned on this champion would not be transferable to other champions and no other champions would prepare you for this dual champion. And finally, because brain cycles are a finite resource, there is only so much complexity we could put into the champion's actual kit--most of its complexity budget would be eaten up already by the mere fact that you're controlling two independent units."

SO, the goal was to make a 2-in-1 champion without breaking the way the game is played on every other champion. i went a step beyond and made a 3-in-1 champ and i think my method for doing so was pretty smart.

-Create a champion that was more then one trope- a champion with a number of character qualities and themes. A really deep champion.

-A kit that links story and game effectively, while making the player feel like they are a puppet MASTER, as learning to multi task your puppets will unlock your full potential while playing Maristo.

LORE SUMMARY: We all have moments in our life's we wish could just go on forever, moments we wish to relive. Men past their prime recapturing their youth, loving and settled couples wishing to regain that passion, those perfect getaways with those held close to you. There are also moments we wish we could do over, moments where if we had hind sights perfect vision we would've done differently, Maristo is a creature that offers those who hunger for it most, a chance to relive the moments they most desire- forever.

A Demon, A fiend, and above all else, A manipulator, Maristo takes the most desperate of the desperate souls in Runeterra, offers them a chance to relive the events of their life they desire most, and brings them into the act of his traveling show. Most believe the puppet masters influence can only be opted into, and that he is a fate for fools. Smart men however, know that all mortal beings have strings that can be pulled.

SHORT STORY:

Honestly im not a great writer, so if you're digging this character then by all means please write a story about him if you're feeling inspired, ill be happy to post it alongside my drafts c:

"Goodbye Adem" the women said, hovering over a cold and still body. The man had been sick for quite some time. This was to expected, they both knew this day would come. His body laid there, in the bed where the two had shared many nights, He looked so peaceful, it was the 1st time she had seen him without pain in over a year. As the mans warmth escaped his body, a anguish of a whole other beast began to take hold of the woman, this wasn't a sickness of health, but a sickness of the heart.

She had given up everything to be with the man. Her family, both noble and affluent didn't look at the common man any differently then they would a horse for a carriage, they had a purpose but they certainly were not equals. This way of viewing their fellow man never sat well with her, and when she met the man -Adem, both kind and warm but very poor, She knew this man could bring her a world of love and joy. She gave up everything, her wealth, her family connections, even her family name, so she could escape. So she could run away with the humble man and bask in his warmth. now he's gone. cold. and she's all alone in this world.

In her moments of grieving she takes herself back, back before the sickness, back before the sleepless nights and feelings of powerless as the man cried out in pain, she brought herself to her wedding. Her wedding was small, her family had condemned her and the mans family was gone, but they had each other, and that was all the world the two of them needed. They held the ceremony in a little church in cozy town, the town goers joined them in their celebration- there was free food after all. They danced, they drank, and they were in love. It was the happiest day of her life.

"a lovely performance" a voice said.

The woman snapped out of her fantasy and looked up, and then around, the source of the voice wasn't immediately clear in the darkness of her bedroom. her eyes finally fixated on a man standing at the feet of the bed where her late husbands body lays. The man was shrouded in the night and was completely still, her eyes had glanced passed him a number of times before realizing this figure was the source of the voice.

"Your dress was beautiful" he said turning his neck and eyes to look at her. His words did not match his lips, and his motions were stiff and mechanical.

The woman chose to remain silent, her mind was racing but still, she felt like she was falling apart on the inside, her entire life had just fallen apart in these past few moments and now, she is being conversed by something... uncanny feeling.

It motioned towards her, offering a hand; something that would have looked empathetic and caring from something that didn't move quite so unnatural.

"You are in a lot of pain right now," the creature said. "please lemme take you back, back to before all of this sickness and death, back to your wedding. maybe things can turn out differently with what you know now, we can relive this story again. We can find the happy ending."

The creature no longer looked so soulless, the room glowed with a light, there was warmth all around her a warmth that reminded her of Adem, tears began to stream down her face. The woman had been touched by an angel. She had regained hope in a long and happy life with her Adem.

"tell me your name." the womans angel said. it took her hand into his. "all i need from you now is your name"

"it's Lileth!" the woman screamed in excitement. "it's Lileth! Lileth!"

And then, darkness. cold.

VISUAL AIDS:

http://pre05.deviantart.net/0149/th/pre/i/2012/136/2/5/puppet_by_lmerlo72-d501s68.jpg

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/b5/0c/dd/b50cdd294cd4717445bc699604cb7eb3.jpg

and the ORIGINAL concept was based off a character that already exists in canon LoL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2FFGBPXNeU

the narrator of the tale of the black mist, is a traveling puppet master from the shadow isles, this is the core source to me that Became Maristo.

ABILITIES AND GAME PLAY

Ok so this is where things are going to get CONVOLUTED as all hell but heres the TL:DR

-passive rewards swapping back and fourth between your 2 puppets -Q ability summons a melee offensive ghost, while controlling this ghost your Q becomes an AOE damaging ability around the puppet -W is a dash for whichever puppet you're controlling -E summons a ranged utility puppet, while controlling this puppet your E becomes a defensive AOE ability (thats super cool) -R combines your 2 puppets into a SUPER puppet

ok heres the extended versions so you can get a grasp at actually how it all flows together and how you switch control between 3 units without using an RTS style unselect function, its more like "rotating stickyness" if that makes sense.

PASSIVE: MARIONETTE- Maristo can summon and command 2 puppets. The Bride and the The Groom. Maristo's puppets gain bonuses when both are out and have been active within 5 seconds of each other.

The Groom- When empowered by Marionette, The Groom gains increased movement speed, attack speed, and bonus magic damage on hit The Bride- When empowered by Marionette, The Bride gains increased movement speed and an aura that grants Allie units a shield for (sheild can only be applied to the same target every 7 seconds)

NOTE: this is to encourage 2 things; it encourages Maristo players to swap control and micro play with the 2 puppets as well as have the puppets fight together, leaving the Maristo vulnerable.

Q ABILITY: SUMMON GROOM- Maristo summons The Groom; a melee range offensive puppet. The Groom ignores unit collision, has health that scales with Maristo's level and and his auto attacks deal magic damage equal to a percentage of Maristo's AP

After casting your Q ability, Maristo becomes stationary and your control shifts to The Groom, LEFT CLICKING breaks Maristo's focus and you revert back to controlling him. Casting E while controlling The Groom switches your control to The Bride. switching between The Groom and The Bride has a .2 second cool down

While controlling The Bride/Maristo, The Groom becomes motionless and invulnerable (think azir soldiers), if you damage Maristo while he's controlling his puppets it breaks his focus and they return to him on a reduced cool down. If The Groom will disappear for the spells full cool down if he has been inactive for 6 seconds or has been destroyed.

While controlling The Groom you can cast SOUL REAVER

NOTE: TOOL TIP HELL I KNOW. this is primarily the core of Maristo's mechanics and is the simplest way for me to word it (the original draft was 2x this long) this ability is also majority or Maristo's damage as he himself is squishy and a melee champion, He relies on controlling his puppets for zone control in lane

THE GROOMS Q ABILITY: SOUL REAVER- Deals magic damage in a circle around The Groom and slows enemy units hit, the slow is increased by X% for every enemy champion hit.

NOTE: this is a really simple spell, this champion is complicated but the puppets abilities are fairly simple. self centric AOE abilities. the puppets abilities are also automatically on smart cast (since left clicking breaks their control)

W: HARROWING WALTZ- Can only be cast while controlling a puppet, the puppet you're currently controlling dashes towards your cursor, switching between the Bride and Groom reduce this spells cooldown by X seconds (only once per cast)

NOTE: while Maristo himself is really immobile, his puppets are the opposite, bonus movement speed while passive is running and dashes on W, he's gonna have the ability to make sure his puppets can get to where he needs them to be.

E ABILITY: SUMMON BRIDE- Maristo summons The Bride; a ranged utility based puppet. The Bride ignores unit collision, has HP that scales with Maristo's level, and her Auto attacks apply a debuff that allow The Groom to ignore a percentage of the targets Magic Resist

After casting your E ability, Maristo becomes stationary and your control shifts to The Bride, LEFT CLICKING breaks Maristo's focus and you revert back to controlling him. Casting Q while controlling The Bride switches your control to The Groom. switching between The Groom and The Bride has a .2 second cool down

While controlling The Groom/Maristo, The Bride becomes motionless and invulnerable (think azir soldiers), if you damage Maristo while he's controlling his puppets it breaks his focus and they return to him on a reduced cool down. The Bride will disappear for the spells full cool down if she has been inactive for 6 seconds or has been destroyed.

While controlling The Bride you can cast BANSHEES BARRIER

NOTE: controls fundamentally the same as the Groom, but more focused on increasing the grooms DPS instead of just applying her own, i wanted to avoid a situation where a champion would control a ranged champion from under his tower and harass endlessly with auto's, if you wanna do damage you do gotta use the melee puppet.

THE BRIDES E ABILITY: BANSHEES BARRIER- The Bride creates an AOE field around her, preventing all damage from sources OUTSIDE the field, in addition this ability blocks projectiles.

NOTE: you know what one of my favorite game elements ever is? the bubble shield from halo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_5s24d8_3o

this video shows its strength and its clear weakness, Maristo by design has to have something to deter poke/stray AOE so he can function in teamfights, but he has one very clear weakness, getting dived by assassins, champions who can get into melee range/ within the barriers AOE will destroy him if they don't get ripped apart by The Groom 1st.

I also wanna point out the parallel design between the 2 puppets, while you're controlling 2 different characters with 2 different purposes, they both mechanically feel the same, so your brain won't get too jumbled when bouncing between the 2 puppets, they both have an AOE button, a dash, and a swap button.

R ABILITY: MATRIMONY- Can only be activated if both the Bride and Groom are summoned. The bride and groom fly towards each other, converging at the center point between the 2 of them, damaging and fearing everything caught in the path, the farther the 2 travel the more damage is dealt. when they come together they fuse, creating the Super puppet WEDDING BELLS (lasting 30 seconds)

While controlling WEDDING BELLS, your puppet gains empowered versions of The Bride and the Grooms bonuses from Marionette, as well as being able to cast SOUL REAVER, HARROWING WALTS, and BANSHEES BARRIER.

when WEDDING BELLS is summoned, Maristo gains a large shield, if the shield is broken then WEDDING BELLS splits back into The Bride and The Groom.

NOTE: so wedding bells mechanically controls the same as Maristos over 2 puppets, just with 3 abilities instead of 2, LEFT CLICKING reverts control to Maristo. Maristos shield on cast is there to make sure WEDDING BELLS can make an impact without immediately getting removed but it might not be needed. especially since the Matrimony fear is a great fall back pattern for a behind Maristo.

GAME PLAY INSIGHTS: Micro managing 3 different characters is going to be tough, but god will it be rewarding. the challenge with this concept was to make a multi body champion without removing that "stickyness" that every other league of legends champion has, most multi body champions in other moba's rely on a style of micro positioning, making sure your 4 characters are able to perform their task while not getting killed, this requires you to be able to unselect your character and thats not really a thing in league. so i had to look for a different approach and thats when i thought up "alternating stickyness" where instead of controlling a 2nd champion by holding down a key (leblanc, shaco, annie) i wanted to go for an approach where you could literally feel your interface cycle between 3 different characters making 1 champion.

another challenge was making this champion not overloaded as all hell, with champions with multiple models (elise, jayce, gnar) they alternate between 2 forms with 2 separate kits, this makes them really hard to balance, i wanted to make a champion who instead of feeling like 2 champions in 1, i wanted to make 1 champion spread across 3 characters. Maristo's official Class is a mage with melee carry/assassin attributes.

IN LANE:

I imagine Malisto would function best as a solo laner. in lane Malisto wants to alternate between his 2 puppets to maintain his passive so he can control the space of the lane, but he must be careful using his puppets as they do not regenerate health and if they die the cool down is not very forgiving. malisto does well against ranged mages who don't want to deal with the Groom, and can't damage malisto's body while inside BANSHEES BARRIER. malisto on the other hand gets crushed by melee assassins who will dive right past his puppets and turn his barrier into a bubble of pain.

IN TEAMFIGHTS: in teamfights Malisto has 4 goals in mind, find a position where he won't get jumped, slash peoples heads off with the Groom, protect his team from harmful abilities with the Bride, and hit as many people as possible with Matrimony so he can wreak havoc with WEDDING BELLS

SYNNERGIZES WELL WITH:

what better place to put your real characters body while your busy doing puppet master stuff, then in the belly of the fish tank?

janna is really good at peeling away assassins, which is what Malisto needs most.

Gnars full lockdown gives Malisto plenty of time to set up big Matrimony on the enemy team.

STRUGGLES AGAINST:

Zeds early game aggression, and strong diving potential makes Malisto a sad ghost puppet thing. as well as his all in power really spikes while he's in melee range, something that makes Malisto's primary defensive tool- BANSHEES BARRIER almost completely useless

See Zed above.

Gragas's early game jungle pressure really crushes Malistos' low mobility, in the early game, as well as Gragas' ulti being able to do 2 devestating things to Malisto, knock him AWAY from his turret, into the enemies arms. and knock him away from his puppets, breaking the range limit, rendering them both inactive.

CONCLUSION:

so thats the rough draft for Malisto, the puppet master, i spent about 3 nights working on the concept and finished writing the stories just tonight, i worked on this particular forum post all night so any feedback is definitely appreciated, Ive never really taken a crack at a champ design this... weird. but i wanna work in game design, and this is just what i do to get a better grasp at what makes a champion good, fun, and interesting to play/play with. something i definitely believe this guy is.

ALSO @ZENONTHESTOIC THIS ONES FOR YOUUUUUUU.