[Champion Concept] Berthilda, The Mirror Maiden
Name: Berthilda, the Mirror Maiden (Her name translates to Shining Warrior Maid in old English)
Roles: Tank, fighter.
General Concept: A frontline tank who is made to be standing at the front, always. As many of her abilities and her passive gain substantial bonuses under attack and her ult requires her to be hit first. But that can, with some luck and foresight, potentially allow for some serious wombo combos.
Appearance/history of Mirror: (The Mirror may make some noises of its own during her taunt or joke - as its magical) A tall woman clad in heavy armor, similar to Sejuani, armed with a four pronged mace and a large shield that is very shiny. This shield is actually a so far indestructible mirror, an old relic of the Freljord, that the three clans have all tried to claim is theirs since it was exhumed. Berthilda has however kept a very tight hold of it and only let the Ministry of War get an in-depth look at it as well as Ashe. Much to their surprise when examined more closely they found it to not belong to just one Clan. It seemed to be something that passed through all the clans at least once during the early eons of the Freljord.
It was most closely related to the Avarosen for construction of the base mirror. But it was then in Winter Claw hands for reinforcement and attachment of a hand guard to hold. And finally the Frostguard took it and infused it with magic. It is said that if you stare at the shield for too long you can see shapes moving inside it, behind you, as you watch. Ranging from warriors, to archers, to animals, and dark shadows around the edges of the mirror.
Despite the various hands its passed through Berthilda decided to keep it, and was not only allowed but encouraged by Ashe as they started to experiment with it. She doesn't seem any worse for wear despite the possible Watcher touch. No matter what strongman smashed the mirror with a hammer or mace only small shards would break off, and then when looked at ahead it would appear unharmed. It also seemed to be able to not reflect but absorb the small spells they threw at the mirror. And when held in both hands it was able to shove the faitly swirling glow in the mirror out at quiet some force.
Since those early days Berthilda has got at least a handle on some of the powers of this relic. And joined Ashe on the Fields of Justice, after having the relic cleared by the Summoners, to learn what else it can do in a more controller environment that the war ravaged Freljord.
A good idea of her appearance, taken from Guild Wars 2 promotional material, copyright ArenaNet; https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/1/14/Guardian_02_concept_art.jpg
Brief History: Born in the Freljord and the Avarosa clan Berthilda spent most of her life training to be a warrior in the clan. But while on patrol one day, when Berthilda was now considered an adult, several of her squad fell when the snow they were on collapsed. Working fast Berthilda and the other man who were lucky enough to be standing on the solid ground went to work setting up a rope anchor so they could get down and get their comrades out.
It was soon revealed that an ice cave had cracked and collapsed, their comrades trapped below now. As the lighter of the two even in her armor Berthilda was the one that was slowly lowered down into the cave to assess the state of her comrades. While being lowered down she spotted herself in the wall, but dismissed it as a peice of clear ice as she kept descending and finally found the floor. Her allies were injured, one of them fatally, but by days end the two that could were out. Once they were all back at camp Berthilda couldn't stop thinking about that shiny surface she saw, and the next day went back with her squad to check it out again.
Descending with a torch this time she soon found herself again, and after some delicate tapping with her mace as she hung there had found the edges of this very shiny piece of ice. A good thirty feet off the floor. But trying to get it out with a mace wasn't ever going to be percise and one poorly aimed strike broke the ice surrounding the item and it fell all the way down to the floor with a thankfully snow muffled clang. Rappelling down to check it out Berthilda was astonished to find this ice still in one piece...and there was a hand hold on the back, as if it was some type of shield. Setting her shield aside she hefted the larger ice and found it to be surprisingly light, and after turning it over and looking at it from the side seemed to be finding herself holding a mirror. Putting aside her confusion for now she double pulled on the rope after securing herself to it and was soon back on the surface with the prize.
It was looked at by everyone in the clan, including the Elders, and none of them had seen or heard of anything like this. Even Ashe when she was found was at a loss. So Berthilda went with Ashe on her next trip to The Instiute of War.
Soon she was joining Ashe on the Rift to find out the limits of this old multi-clan Relic as the Mirror Maiden, under the watchful eyes of the League scholars as they checked over old records and tales for this item.
Stats: Generally around the same stats as Leona. But should have a low base health regen as Poke should be really hurtful for her as she is best at all ins.
Passive: Seven years bad luck Every attack or ability that strikes Berthilda will place a stacking debuff on the enemy that struck her. Increasing with intensity for each attack. The debuff lasts three seconds and subsequent attacks will add a stack and refresh the duration. The lower level debuffs persist when the debuff grows in size, except the blind, which will only be applied once per rotation. If max stacks are scored on an enemy the count starts again at the first stack.
Multi-hit abilities will only gain one stack per cast, so Anivia won't be instantly blinded and stunned with her ult. But abilities that can hit with additional casts, like Annivia Q, will gain two stacks.
1st attack: Critical chance reduced by 7% 2nd attack: Attack speed reduced by 7% 3rd attack: Attack damage and Ability Power reduced by 7% 4th attack: The enemy is blinded. 5th attack: Movement speed reduced by 14% 6th attack: Armor and Magic resist lowered by 14% 7th attack: Stunned for one and a half seconds.
Q: Shards Charge based, every so often Berthilda will gain a sliver of glass attached to her back from her Mirror shield, these can be hurled at enemies to slow them and damage them. The amount she can passively have is low, but when attacked she will gain additional charges up to a cap. When hit by a shard an enemy will be damaged and slowed for 1.5 seconds and have a 'Gleaming' debuff placed on them for four seconds. If hit again by a shard the damage will be cut down to 1/4 but the slow duration will be reapplied and 'Gleaming' will reset its duration as well.
Recharge time: 18/16/14/12/10 Seconds. Passive stack cap: 2 at all ranks. Max stacks: 3/4/5/6/7 Charges. Cooldown between throws: 1.5/1.3/1.1/.9/.7 Seconds. Damage: 100/125/150/175/200 (+40% AP) Magic damage Gleaming targets damage: 25/31.25/37.5/43.75/50 (+10% AP) Magic damage Slow: 30/35/40/45/50%
W: Polished surface. For four seconds Berthilda has increased armor and magic resist, if they are attacked the power of her passive will be increased and the enemy will get an extra stack per attack. This doesn't increase the power of debuffs already applied, just the ones applied while W is active. The increased passive power includes the stun duration but the blind cannot turn into a double blind. Cooldown begins when the bonus MR and armor expires.
CD: 14 Seconds all ranks. Bonus MR/Armor: 10/20/30/40/50 (+30% bonus Armor/MR) Passive intensity increase: 60/70/80/90/100%
E: Its you. Briefly channeling for half a second, during which Berthilda holsters her mace and takes her mirror shield in both hands, the E is prepared. She can hold the prepared ability for three seconds before the ability goes on cooldown. While holding she can move and re-aim but not auto attack or cast her Q, and when activated again a bright beam of light will fire from her shield. If this strikes an enemy champion they will be taunted. Cooldown begins when the beam is fired.
CD: 12 Seconds all ranks. Damage: 80/100/120/140/160 (+5% of max health) Magic damage Taunt: 1.2/1.4/1.6/1.8/2 Seconds
R: Lives in the mirror Berthilda immediately roots herself in place and raises her shield up as she crouches down. While in this state she cannot move or use any abilities besides her W, but may cast the ability again to get up with a reduced cooldown. While crouched down however the next ability that comes into contact with her, even ults, will be caught be her. **This is true for both ally and enemy abilities. **
She takes a percentage of the caught abilities damage when it hits her. While crouched down ally's can target her with targeted abilities. Does not catch summoner spells.
She will then have that ability in her ultimate slot. Once an ability is caught she can keep it as long as she wants, but if she is killed she will lose it. Activating her ultimate again will have her hold the shield high in the air above her as she channels (both shield and herself glowing brightly) - normal abilities will be for one second and an ultimate for three. She can move when channeling but a loud humming noise will let allies and enemies know she is charging. After those seconds are up she will use the ultimate or ability at the full power that it was fired at her, as if she had the AD or AP the enemy/ally had.
For skillshots and targeted abilities her body will act like Braums shield, and intercept the move even if it was targeted at allies behind her but with a smaller hitbox.
Some important notes about the Ult's and abilities she can catch. If the Ult or ability is an AoE move Berthilda will only be able to catch it, and stop it continuing past her, if it hits her first. If an ally gets hit first she cannot catch that AoE Ult or ability. Some examples of this would be; Lux Ult(laser will not continue past her), Cassio Ult(only she will be damaged and stunned), Ashe Ult(She has to be the first target and the only one hit by the AoE), Ezreal Ult(She must be hit first), Malphite ult(See Ashe), Rumble Ult(She has to be the first hit of her team), Gangplank ult(See Ashe). Also if it is a dash ult, like Malphite, she will charge forward just as he would. If she happens to catch a Cassio ult it will damage and stun/slow just as Cassio's would. Her ult will inherit all of the properties of the original ability.
If she activates her ult and then gets hooked or pulled she will not move, and will be able to shoot a glowing Blitz hand/Thresh hook from her shield after the one second channel. Besides not being moved by a push or pull ability she will take all the CC of the ability if it had any; knock up, stun, root, fear, and otherwise. And once the CC wears off she will have a new ult ready to unleash assuming she is still alive.
A ground targeted ability like Karthus Q will be activated at her cursor location when the channel time is finished. But because Karthus's ult hits everyone at once Berthilda cannot catch it.
Cooldown begins after the caught ability is used. This cannot catch auto attacks. And ultimate's or moves that do no damage (shields, dash's, and the like) cannot be caught or stored unless the shield is casted on her to store - but something like Janna shield may not be the best use of Berthilda's ult.
While she is channeling her ult the Champions portrait who ability she is about to use will appear by her health bar. Giving enemies who didn't see her catch a move, or if your team did it in base, a warning for what move could be sent their way soon.
CD: 160/140/120 Seconds Damage from caught move (Ally moves damage her as well): 50/40/30% of ability damage.
Synergies: Ezreal: If your ADC buddy is willing to spend his ult in base you would be able to potentially have two Ezreal ultimate's in bot lane. For the ultimate across map sniping.
Ashe: Same with Ezreal, but it will be more of a gamble because Ashe doesn't have a way to speed up the cooldown of her ult like Ezreal. But two Ashe stuns would be devastating.
- Anyone will a real devastating team fight ultimate would be a good friend for Berthilda, as long as you can predict when a teamfight would be so you could both have your ult's ready.
Struggles against: Vayne: Vayne's basic combo won't allow for Berthilda passive to stack up enough, as even with her W on Vayne would only have 6 stacks after 3 attacks and Vayne can use her Condemn to pop the silver bolts even if blinded. And the knockback and tumble Vayne has would keep Berthilda far away from her and make the taunt nearly impossible to land. Her true damage would also slice through Berthilda's bonus armor and MR in addition to the health she would be building. Vayne also only has one move Berthilda can catch, her condem, as all of her other moves are auto attacks.
Xerath: Has plenty of range to make the stacking of her passive only trouble him a little and maybe of his moves just hit once so it wouldn't stack much anyway. He could also counter her stun if it was about to hit him with his own stun.
- Anyone that does a lot of damage in only one or two moves, AP burst assassins or most AP mages for example, would be hard for Berthilda to stop as she relies on being hit a lot for her passive to help her and Q to stack. She also has no easy way to clear minions so hard pushers would force her back as well as no gap closer besides her taunt.
My own questions/comments:
Long cooldowns will mean she only has her Q and passive if she wiffs her taunt and W isn't used well. Her passive also only really gets scary after 4 attacks or abilities (assuming she doesn't use her W) so people like Vayne and Varus would be able to do their combo mostly unhindered - assuming Berthilda doesn't use her W at the right time. But the stun will need at least four attacks even if she has her W active, which will be hard to force unless you land a perfectly timed taunt. Her ult could also be the best thing in the game if you have the perfect ability ready - but getting that and predicting the game will be extremely challenging. For most of her moves to hit she also has to be hit, which will make it dangerous to stay at the front for too long no matter how tanky you are.
Passive: A very strong passive but nearly all of her kit is focused around it and without it she only has one hard cc, her E. She also has to take damage for it to do anything, putting her in harms way.
But should each part of the passive only stack once? I.E should each debuff only be applied for three seconds and then fall off even if more are applied?
Q: If used at full tilt and as often as she is attacked this will drain her mana's like no-ones business. Thats how I would imagine it would be balanced along with the debuff to its damage if you are rapid firing it.
W: While very similar to Leona's W she can't extend the duration of the move and it does no damage by itself. She has to be hit for it to have any effect. It also has a slightly lower base bonus to tankiness but better scaling.
E: The scaling on her E is better that Braums scaling but her ability has a much longer cooldown. It is also the only ranged taunt besides Gallio - but is only single target.
R: An ability that can turn the entire game around if you can predict when the next fight will be and store an appropriate ultimate for it. But having the foresight to do that will be very challenging and if an ally or enemy fires a crap ability into you when you are trying to catch a critical ult your long cooldown ult will be wasted. But keep in mind the ult does nothing by itself and you take damage, even from allies, when you catch.
Thinking of maybe making the % damage Berthilda takes higher and end at 50% rather than start, but considering she has to take damage for most of her other moves she should probably have a bit of help for the ult.
