[Champion Concept] Satoru, the Slumbering Dragon

I want to preface this by saying this Champion Concept was heavily inspired by Hanzo from the upcoming Blizzard game, Overwatch. Ever since his gameplay preview, I couldn't help but imagine him (or some variation of him) in League. I actually started out by pretty much purely transferring his kit in Overwatch into the form of a Champion (and had no intentions of posting it as a concept due to its glaring similarities with how he was in Overwatch), but over multiple iterations he lost more and more of his Overwatch-based identity. With that came a different name, Satoru (his working name was Hanzo, unsurprisingly), and a far more fleshed-out idea of a potential League champion. I won't link you to anything Hanzo-related lest it be misconstrued as Overwatch fanboying, but I encourage you to look him up if you're wondering what the basic inspiration for this concept was.

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#Satoru, the Slumbering Dragon

http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/054/1/5/the_bowman_of_esgaroth_by_romantiquated-d5w02w0.jpg (ok, no more Hanzo picture, too many misunderstandings. This, albeit vague and minimalistic, is probably a better representation of what I'm going for--he looks older, taller, and just generally like the sort of guy you'd expect to be a bowmaster. Better, folks?)

Satoru is a warrior and a teacher in the art of wielding a bow and arrow. Formerly a soldier in the Ionian army that achieved a reputation as a peerless archer as "The Dragon of Ionia", he retired from a life of conflict to seek a more peaceful path, in the mountains as a secluded teacher. With his reputation preceding him, the school he established soon teemed with prospective students, with him watching carefully among them to pass on his ways to the next generation. Those who seek to disrupt the peace of Ionia, however, have come to colloquially refer to as "The Slumbering Dragon", for though he stays his hand on the surface, there is no telling what hell he may unleash if he, or his people, is threatened.

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In-game, he serves the purpose of a ranged AD champion as another AD carry. He thrives on the edge of fights, constantly unleashing a barrage of arrows on his enemies, interspersing well-timed abilities to either increase his damage output or escape from dangerous assassins. There are many hills and valleys inherent to his playstyle, especially in drawn-out fights, and proper usage of his windows of strength will separate the good Satorus from the great Satorus™.

#Note: I purposely avoid numbers in this concept because they're not for me to balance. This is all in general terms.

Passive - Pristine Grace For every auto attack against an enemy champion, Satoru gains a stack of Pristine Grace. Each stack of Pristine Grace gives Satoru additional Attack Speed, and at maximum stacks, Satoru's next ability gains an additional effect and resets his Pristine Grace stacks back to 0.

• This is Satoru's primary contribution to his "hill/valley" playstyle. The longer he attacks, the more attack speed he gets, so he ramps up over the course of an extended fight. Conversely, when he's at maximum stacks, he has to juggle between retaining his stacks (for DPS) or using his empowered abilities, whether they be for burst or escape purposes. Once he uses his ability, the cycle resets and he enters his ramp-up period again, leading to a methodical playstyle with peaks and troughs that a good Satoru player can abuse but a good opponent can also use to their advantage.

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Q | Dragon's Fang Satoru nocks an arrow and fires it in the target direction after a brief windup (he cannot move during this windup). The arrow explodes into splinters upon hitting a target or after reaching its maximum range, dealing physical damage to all enemies hit. Generating a stack of Pristine Grace reduces Dragon's Fang's cooldown. Pristine Grace: Satoru fires Dragon's Fang instantly, with no windup.

• And here you have it, his main damage spell (surprised it's his Q? /s). Ideally, it'd be a pretty fast-moving projectile, with the trade-off being that it has a short wind-up time that renders him immobile and will telegraph where he's firing it. This is also why its Pristine Grace bonus seems trivial (it doesn't increase its outright damage, just makes it easier to use), since it does multiple things at once: circumvents the inherent immobility of the ability, while also allowing him to fire it toward his enemies without telegraphing it with a wind-up. The trade-off here is the same with any other ability empowered by his passive: he loses his Attack Speed bonus after using it this way. Peaks and troughs is the name of the game here.
• Also up for debate is the cooldown reduction with Pristine Grace stack generation. With how his passive works, Satoru will inevitably run into a problem where his abilities are on cooldown and he's at maximum stacks, leaving him with no real choice but to use his stacks for the Attack Speed. Since it's no fun to be forced into that situation, tying his stack generation to the cooldown of his main damaging ability (even if it's only a small reduction) will mean he has more strategic options with generating and using his stacks rather than the typical "ADC right click things to death."

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W | Serpent's Wrath (Passive) Auto attacks against enemy champions apply Serpent's Wrath for a short time, which can only be applied once to the same target in a given time frame. If one of Satoru's abilities hits an enemy affected with Serpent's Wrath, the ability consumes the debuff and deals additional damage, as well as grants Satoru additional Pristine Grace stacks.

• I want to immediately say that this "additional damage" was not % health damage (as has become so popular) in theory. In my head, I imagined it as "the ability you procced Serpent's Wrath with does X% additional damage", rather than proccing a % health damage like, say, Varus or Gnar. This retains some meaningful counter-itemization to Satoru, as his abilities will still be doing physical damage, just perhaps a bit more of it, avoiding the Varus situation where a tank has trouble building Armor or Health because of how his W works. Oh, and I'll also take this opportunity to say that, themetically, Satoru is quite similar to Varus. Hazard a guess as to why after reading the lore and his quotes, eh?
• I also chose to tie his procs with his passive because it has no meaningful tie-in otherwise due to not being an activated ability. This is also why I didn't make his Q cooldown reduced by auto attacking, but rather by generating passive stacks--ideally, you can generate multiple stacks by proccing his W and reduce his Q cooldown by a significant amount all at once.

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E | Wyrm's Cunning Satoru fires an arrow in the targeted direction, hitting the ground a set distance away from him with such force that it creates a shockwave, dealing physical damage to all enemies in the area of effect. Satoru rides the edge of the shockwave, vaulting backwards a distance. Pristine Grace: Satoru's adrenaline surges after vaulting, granting him additional movement speed for a duration afterwards.

• "MOBILITY CREEP #BIGSORRY". No, but seriously, with the hyper-mobility meta of the current day and his inherent immobility outside of a Pristine Grace empowered Q, I felt Satoru was really lacking in the mobility department so I gave him a little boost. The idea is that it gives him a small amount of mobility and playmaking potential, whether it be for catching up to someone or running away from an assassin, but the brunt of its mobility boost will be tied to whether he empowers it with his passive for the extra movement speed afterward. If he does, he loses his attack speed and loses his opportunity to use the stacks for more damage abilities, but also gets himself to safety. Meaningful trade-off, I'd say.

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R | Heavens' Verdict After a brief windup, Satoru fires a unique arrow with such force that it creates a shockwave in the shape of a dragon, dealing physical damage to everything in its path. Pristine Grace: Satoru puts so much force behind firing the arrow that it stuns all enemies it hits.

• This is, admittedly, one part of Overwatch Hanzo I just couldn't let go. Come on, summoning a MASSIVE AIR SHOCKWAVE DRAGON? I'd be remiss if that didn't become an integral part of Satoru's identity. In my head, I'm visualizing a non-global Ezreal ult (channel time included). Its passive-empowered effect is the only CC in Satoru's kit, and it's tied to his ultimate meaning it won't always be up to save him. That said, it does massive area of effect damage, which, tied with Satoru's Q AoE, makes Satoru a pretty damn mean teamfighter when his passive is used correctly. Also, did I mention MASSIVE AIR SHOCKWAVE DRAGON?

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#Strengths and Weaknesses

So, with all that said, what are the strengths and weaknesses I foresee a champion like Satoru having?

Some of you may read this and think, "well, what can't he do?" Well, aside from tank (which should be a given), I think it's important to realize that I designed Satoru to be good at quite a few things, but only under specific circumstances. His passive is integral to his playstyle and plays a massive role in not only what Satoru decides to do, but what his opponents try to do to counter him. He has great mobility, but only if he uses his passive-empowered E. He has good on-the-spot burst AoE damage, but largely is only reliable with it using his empowered Q. His teamfight potential is pretty insane, but that assumes he can remain safe and secure enough to use an empowered R for the stun, much less hit people with it due to its obvious, telegraphed nature. And keep in mind that, after using one of the above things, he cannot use any others until he ramps up again.

Remember how I said peaks and troughs were key to playing as, and against, Satoru? Monitoring his passive stacks is crucial to get a read on what he's capable of at any given moment. If you're going through the pokefest before a teamfight worried about a potential Satoru ult stunning your whole team but you suddenly see him use his empowered Q, then voila: he's weak on both the escape and the teamfight front and perhaps it'd be an advantageous time to engage.

All this is to say that yes, Satoru has strengths--a lot of them. But they all hinge on not only how the Satoru player chooses to use his passive, but also how his opponents choose to force him to use it. His passive is unforgiving in the sense that, at maximum stacks, your next ability is forced to proc it, and that's not because I hate quality of life changes, it's because it encourages smart play both as and against Satoru based on how he uses his passive. Counterplay, yay!

It goes without saying that this is all theory-based. I could be entirely wrong and this, if it was ever actually made a champion, could very well be the most overpowered champion in the game. I designed him to be fun and balanced, but without numbers like mana costs, cooldowns, and damage, it's hard to foresee exactly what the repercussions of these ability and passive mechanics would be.

With that in mind, and the actual champion concept out of the way, feel free to read on for the various Satoru lore and quote shenanigans I spent way too much time on.

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#Lore and Quotes

I feel as if putting the 3 page lore story I wrote would be too much (the post is already quite long counting the quotes, which are next), so I'll link you the google doc I wrote that has the entire champion concept in it, including lore and quotes. And while the quotes are in there as well, I do want to put some here just to give you a glimpse of the personality of the Satoru I envision. The google doc in question starts with lore, goes into the abilities (which you can skip, of course, given that I trust you've read them already) and then goes into quotes and whatnot. It's not comprehensive since there's only so much you can do with a champion concept done purely for fun, but hey, I was probably a lot more thorough than I really should have been.

Aforementioned google doc with everything in it, albeit not with pretty LoL Board formatting nor my dull personal commentary on everything (pending, Google Docs hates me) (ok Dropbox it is) https://www.dropbox.com/s/wrsu2ix4bknzk6r/satoru.docx?dl=0

Selection

• "Leave yourself behind... become the arrow in flight."

Starting the game

• "Even a teacher must learn."
• "My quiver is full. Let us fix that."
• "My bow stands ready."

Movement

• "As the arrow flies."
• "Without hesitation."
• "Ease your mind and focus."
• "Cast aside all else."
• "Clear mind and vision."
• "The bow is an extension of oneself."
• "With every arrow, a burden."
• "Never allow your aim to falter."
• "The wise man is he who accepts his ignorance."
• "Only those who do not wish to improve seek perfection."
• "Observe and reflect."
• "There is always more to learn."

Attacking

• "They will learn their folly."
• "I will educate them."
• "Miss? Hmph."
• "Hah! Perfect."
• "Watch... and learn."
• "At the slightest movement, I strike."
• "They will hear only the arrow's cry."
• "Victory comes to those who act."
• "Seek them out."
• "The dragon strikes only when ready."
• "Vision unerring."
• "All else fades away."
• "Only the target."

Joke Satoru removes the arrow from his bow and spins it between his fingers.

• "Do not turn your back, or my arrow great... discomfort."
• "Let us play a game. Do you have any apples on hand?"
• "Arrows do not kill people--I do."

Near enemy Jinx, Caitlyn, Miss Fortune, Lucian, or Tristana:

• "Pulling a trigger must be so difficult."
• "It is hard to imagine claiming 'skill' with those weapons."
• "Do those weapons aim for you as well?"

Near an enemy Twitch, Quinn, or Vayne:

• "Crossbows are acceptable... if you enjoy having no style."
• "If I am being honest, crossbows are cheating."

Near an enemy Kog'Maw:

• "That is so wrong in so very many ways."

Near an enemy Teemo:

• "A blowpipe? I hate you already."

Near an enemy Ezreal:

• "A bow... glove? Close enough, I suppose."

Near an enemy Sivir:

• "How does that even work?"

Near an enemy Draven:

• "Come now... that is just unnecessary."

Near an enemy Kalista:

• "That must get quite tiresome."

Near an enemy Varus or Ashe:

• "Finally! A fine choice of weaponry!"

Taunt Satoru shoots an arrow into the sky, then catches it as it comes back down and returns it to his bow.

• "Come. I will educate you in the meaning of battle."
• "Worry not about pain. You will be dead before you can feel it."
• "Suffer not the will to live, for I will see to it that you are disappointed."

Near an enemy Varus:

• "This is not as I taught you, Varus."
• "Varus... how far you have fallen."
• "Your skills pale in comparison to your selfishness, Varus."

Ability Usage Satoru's quotes on using his various abilities.

Using Dragon's Fang:

• "Lash out!"
• "Strike!"
• "End them."

Triggering Serpent's Wrath:

• "The dragon hungers."
• "I see through the dragon's eyes."
• "The eyes of the sky are upon you."

Using Wyrm's Cunning:

• "I have tricks of my own."
• "I am not that easy."
• "More than meets the eye."

Using Heavens' Verdict:

• "You have been judged!"
• "Pass into the maw!"
• "The punishment is death!"

Again, that's not all the quotes. If you're really curious about lore and the rest of what he says, scroll up and look at the google doc I linked.

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#Criticisms

I'm quite self-critical, so here are the criticisms I came up with of my own kit before submitting it that I'll cover before anyone mentions them:

• Overloaded kit. I tried to cover this to the best of my ability in the "Strengths and Weaknesses" section, but even from the brief conversations I've had with friends who also play say they see a few problems with his kit. The largest and most consistent problem I heard raised is his ult stun: an AoE stun on top of his massive damage could be pretty stupid, and it may force Satoru into a "hold-passive-stacks-for-ult-at-all-times" playstyle, which is hardly fun and ends up being quite oppressive. There are a few potential ways to balance this, not the least of which being to make the stun fairly short or to cut down on the ult's damage itself (though I think that would be a poor way to balance it and essentially force him to using into using it with his passive to make it worthwhile). I justify such strength thusly: every usage of his passive is an opportunity cost in a lot of ways, and being that it's his ultimate, it won't always be up to break the game. But hey, I'm just putting the concerns out there to acknowledge that they do exist and I don't claim that this champion is anywhere near perfect.
• Dragon motif. Dragons have a fair bit of representation in League, and it may occur to you that I might've overplayed the "dragon" theme a bit (without him actually being a dragon). This is for a few reasons: the most important one being that I wanted his signature ability to involve MASSIVE AIR SHOCKWAVE DRAGONS. Given the immense flavor of such a spell, I thought it only fair to center his identity around it, through both his ability names and lore. I would also like to mention that League has yet to have a dragon-themed champion or ability that conforms to the Asian dragon mythos, which is quite a different take on the dragonkin we're familiar with, like Shyvana and... well... Dragon. And while Ao Shin may become a thing sooner or later, perhaps that could just be another way Satoru ties in, since he quite likes his dragons, as it were. Suffice it to say that I played and concentrated on the dragon motif for a specific reason: I wanted Satoru to have an unmistakable identity and flavor about him.
• Stereotypical. "Wise Japanese man with bow giving vague and esoteric advice on how to become a master" didn't have a nice ring to it as a name, but I'm sure it's not lost on many of you that Satoru conforms to a lot of stereotypes (this sort of connects with the above point). Putting aside that this shouldn't be a problem given that at least half of the champions on League are based on stereotypes and common lore throughout the world, I do want to mention that I chose Satoru to follow this stereotype largely because I don't think I could've given him as much flavor elsewhere. While he is based off Overwatch Hanzo, his lore is significantly different (actually, Hanzo from Overwatch is more similar to Yasuo lore- and personality-wise), and that's due to my attempts to give him a flavor that hadn't yet been filled in League. Now we have our very own Japanese sensei, though. No, Master Yi doesn't count because he has swordboots.

And probably ten other problems I'm not thinking of. But that's for you guys to decide. Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed reading my far too in-depth commentary on literally everything, and let 'er rip with criticsms.