Boards›Concepts & Creations

[Champion Concept] Imoen, An Honest Thief (Yordle Support / Marksman)

DrugsForRobots··11 votes·3,156 views

http://pre09.deviantart.net/46bc/th/pre/i/2016/306/a/9/imoen___an_honest_thief_by_drugsforrobots-dan3a84.png

This is some preliminary work of what is to be my gift to Riot. She's an adorable yordle thief who plays with vision and wields a giant magical key. She's intended to be League's premier Support / Marksman. Check out her page on the LoL Wiki!

Imoen is part of the October 2016 CCOS!

#TABLE OF CONTENTS

  1. OVERVIEW
  • ABILITIES
  • CONCEPT ART
  • PERSONALITY & LORE
  • ITEM BUILDS
  • GAMEPLAY & STRATEGY
  • DESIGN PROCESS & NOTES
  • FAQs

#OVERVIEW

Attack
Defense
Ability
Difficulty

Imoen is a Support-Marksman and a crafty thief. Wielding her magical key, she is capable of picking locks and opening doors from a distance, letting her travel unseen down dark and mysterious corridors. She can also spy on enemies from afar through special keyholes and stealing potent spells http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/a/a2/Dark_Binding.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/20?cb=20160608032328 en route to your allies or those aimed at her. She is adept at hiding, capable of attacking without being revealed - although her attacks give away her position - and very lucky. Always seeking to have fun, she can find treasures deep in enemy territory, rewarding both her and her allies, and hide secrets to bamboozle the bad guys!

#ABILITIES

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/5/5f/LivesByProxy_Whisper_AltColor2.png/revision/latest?cb=20160719174756 P: Unlocked & Loaded Imoen's gun is a giant magical key! With it (and a little luck) she can open any door or lock opponents in place for a short while!

  • Imoen requires time to fire and must reload after every shot. However, her basic attacks don't utilize projectiles, nor do they break her stealth or reveal her from cover!
  • Imoen cannot critically strike unless she has 100% critical chance. Each of her attacks grants her bonus critical strike chance for a moment, with this bonus being dramatically increased if the enemy doesn't have sight of her. Upon reaching 100% critical strike chance, her next attack will strike critically for modified magic damage and lock her opponent in stasis for a moment.

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/6/64/LivesByProxy_DoorToNothingness.png/revision/latest?cb=20160425200742 Q: Rogue's Passage Imoen opens a magical door at a distance. Beyond the door is a dark hallway - units that pass through the door and enter the hallway are invisible to enemies, but cannot see beyond its walls!

  • Imoen fires her key in the target direction, opening a door and creating a one-way-in corridor that turns all units (including enemies) inside invisible and nearsights them. Anyone can leave the corridor at any time, with allies retaining their stealth for .75 seconds, and Imoen remaining stealthed for 1.5 seconds.

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/a/af/LivesByProxy_Netrunner_Keyhole.png/revision/latest?cb=20160331230522 W: Keyhole Imoen uses her gun to make a keyhole. She'll then crouch to peek through it, letting her spy all sorts of things!

  • Imoen nearsights and roots herself as she channels her sight into a far reaching, but narrow line of True Sight in the target direction, that follows the cursor but is bound within a cone in front of her. Taking any action will end the effects, leaving behind a Keyhole that remains for a long while for future use. (She can R-Click a Keyhole to look through it!)
  • If Imoen uses Rogue's Passage on a Keyhole its cooldown is reduced significantly, but the direction of the corridor is restricted to the direction of the Keyhole.

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/b/ba/LivesByProxy_Chronobreak_Pink.png/revision/latest?cb=20160408025730 E: Spelljack! Imoen is pretty slick and quick on her feet, capable of stealing spells with impeccable timing for her friends and at the most inopportune moments for her foes!

  • Imoen dashes forward, gaining a burst of movement speed and a special shield that decays over the next second or so. The shield is special in that it blocks damage AND crowd control effects. Any enemy ability that damages her shield will briefly silence the ability's caster.

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/b/b0/LivesByProxy_DibsE.png/revision/latest?cb=20160901014127 / http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/c/c2/LivesByProxy_MTG_VoidmageHusher.png/revision/latest?cb=20160410064507 R: Treasure! / Secrets! Imoen has a knack for finding all sorts of hidden treasures! She also enjoys hiding secrets to surprise those who find them!

  • Passively, Imoen can find Treasure! Spheres randomly scattered throughout the enemy side of the map, with four Treasure! Spheres always being located inside the enemy base in the same positions. Only Imoen can open a Treasure! Sphere and only by critically striking it. Upon opening a Treasure! Sphere Imoen gains bonus experience, a permanent increase to her critical strike chance, and a sum of gold that she divides evenly amongst her nearby allies.
  • Actively, Imoen hides a Secret! Cache at the target location, to be accessed at a later time. She can critically strike these Secrets!, activating and consuming them for an AoE heal for herself and her allies.

#CONCEPT ART

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/6/68/LivesByProxy_YordleImoenNewest.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/480?cb=20160724030810 http://pre08.deviantart.net/743d/th/pre/i/2016/252/8/1/imoen__an_honest_thief_by_drugsforrobots-dah12w2.png http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/a/a1/LivesByProxy_Imoen_KeyholeConceptArt.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/480?cb=20160906001024 http://img05.deviantart.net/d159/i/2016/280/d/9/imoen_clothing_concepts_by_drugsforrobots-dak7bxk.png http://pre15.deviantart.net/dcbd/th/pre/i/2016/290/f/2/imoen___key_design_explorations_by_drugsforrobots-daldh7a.png http://img00.deviantart.net/8628/i/2016/293/b/2/imoen_sketch_collection_by_drugsforrobots-dalob9y.png http://img08.deviantart.net/fdc2/i/2016/343/0/9/imoen_and_sauna_by_drugsforrobots-dar2tcu.png

#PERSONALITY & LORE

Imoen is still very young by yordle standards. In her century of life, she's gone on many, many adventures and seen a great deal of the world. Unlike other yordles, she prefers to stay in the Bilgewater archipelago, since the humans there are so much fun!

She's this brazen little yordle who is equal parts cutely naive and cruelly clever when she needs to be, but one of League's most light-hearted champions. Let me put it this way: if Braum is the champion who jovially jumps in front of that Morgana Q to save you, laughing it off with ease, this girl is the champion who jumps in front of Braum - stealing Morg's Q - just so she could see the look on their faces. To quote Riot Wrekz (talking about Braum, who she shares a lot with) she is 'causally invincible... not a reckless disregard for person safety, but a complete non-acknowledgement that other things are threatening.' She is still very innocent, and her world is viewed through a lens of child-like wonder.

Legend has it that:

  • TwistedFate once wagered his deck for Imoen's key. Imoen accepted the bet, not realizing TF for the swinder he was. The challenge was to race up Gulligan's Lighthouse, which Imoen did exceptionally quick. However, TF was already there waiting for her, and, having won, took her key. The gambler unfortunately found himself unable to use her key, which Imoen stole back from him later that day. The story goes that the two had quite the friendly rivalry from then on out, each trying to one-up the other in the grandiosity of their heists. Imoen has since made it a habit to steal as many of TF's http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/8/8d/Gold_Card.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/20?cb=20150312021301 as she can, with the hope of stacking her own deck one day.

  • Imoen tried to convince Graves not to smoke, since tobacco is bad for you. Graves reassured her that it wasn't tobacco. Imoen, not happy with this answer, made it her mission to steal Graves' cigar any time she caught him with one. The story goes that Graves hasn't been able to smoke since.

  • Imoen, much to the ire of Gangplank, routinely rescues any Ocklepods caught by goons and brigands, preventing them from being sold on the Black Market. The Ocklepods, forever indebted to her, offered to keep a lookout for her as she liberates Bilgewater's wealthier denizens of their secrets and treasures. She gladly accepted. Imoen then went undetected for 2 months as a stowaway on The Dead Pool and consumed most of GP's citrus fruits and rum, even stealing some http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/9/9c/Remove_Scurvy.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/20?cb=20150707190028 right out from under his nose! The pirates were forced to return to port sooner than expected, as scurvy and sobriety threatened the entire crew!

  • Caitlyn and MissFortune both spent some years trying to catch Imoen, in Piltover and the Bilgewater, respectively. After 23.8K worth of treasure from Bilgewater went missing, the bounty on Imoen's head was the highest in the land and MF couldn't resist the chase! Cait, after investigating how the 1st Bank of Piltover could've been emptied without any sign of forced entry, decided she would lay a trap for the elusive thief. Imoen thought these two ladies were silly, and that it would be fun (and delicious!) to replace the cupcakes in Cait's traps with various sums of gold, relics, and artifacts from the Bilgewater. She then took the loot from Piltover and made it rain on MF's ship! Over the course of the next year, she had returned over 50K in valuables to both cities and consumed 1,851 cupcakes.

#ITEM BUILDS

item 2301 item 3100 item 3087 item 3190 item 3050 item 3009 Hybrid (Recommended)

item 2045 item 3092 item 3157 item 3222 item 3152 item 3158 Actives4Dayz

item 3031 item 3100 item 3001 item 3087 item 3146 item 3020 Mega-Magic Crit

item 2301 item 3115 item 3504 item 3222 item 3030 item 3047 Big Shields, Big Heals

item 3031 item 3508 item 3046 item 3094 item 3139 item 3006 Psuedo-Carry

#DESIGN PROCESS & NOTES

I said this was a gift to Riot, and it is. I really want to see a thief champion in game, but the concepts I've seen put forward fall into the trap of making the would-be thief into just another assassin. I wanted something different, something that escaped the generic leather-clad, dual-dagger-wielding, hooded, back-stab-y rogue archetype that we've seen a million times in WoW and DnD and other media. At the same time, I've been itching for Riot to develop the vision game and give us more cool ways of getting sight and info on our enemies.

With these things in mind, I knew she had to be a support. In the classic dungeon-delving parties of DnD, the thief was always a supporting character, one that rounded out any adventuring group. She was there for her utility: the ability to find and disarm traps, pick locks, pick pockets, scout the surroundings, and occasionally be a distraction. And intrinsic to being a thief was a lack of combat ability. She's not a fighter, or a mage, or an assassin. A thief shouldn't go toe-to-toe with her enemies, or even fight them at all if possible. But League is ostensibly a game about dealing damage, so how can we have a thief work in this context?

My solution, thanks to inspiration from Willbachbakal on LoL Wiki, was to give her a passive that rewarded her for remaining out of sight and undetected, for actively trying to have a hit-and-run play-style. It's like a game of tag to her, a game of hide and seek. She's not your typical marksman - she'll never reach the DPS of a Vayne, Cait, or Ashe. In fact, her overall damage is lackluster unless you're actively trying to proc her crit, which means hiding, avoiding detection, and being conscientious of where the enemy was, is, and could be.

But why is she a marksman? Most thief concepts put forth here and elsewhere make the thief in question melee. Nothing wrong with this, but somehow I got the idea in my head that our thief needs to use a giant key as her weapon. That idea had already been done though, in the form of a melee weapon. But wait! What if the key was a mystical fire-arm? What if she pointed and fired it like a gun? I like metaphors and there is no rule that states a champion's firearm must be feasible in the real world. And besides, what better tool could a thief have than a key that opened any door, fit any lock, broke any seal?

I had it in my head that this thief was a girl, but after a random encounter with LoL Player MouseGirl, it dawned on me: our thief should be a yordle! The idea of a mousey yordle thief was too good to pass up. There was also some precedent for yordles with tails such as Rin and Gnar. The yordle-fication of Imoen made her even more thematically resonant in my mind, as now she was even more playful, even more light-hearted. She didn't steal because she was greedy, or because she needed to, she stole things because it was a game to her - because it was fun!

I also designed her Rogue's Passage and Keyhole to deliberately invoke the feeling of being in the dark. THIEF started it. The use of darkness was critical to making a thief feel like a thief, and League had the perfect mechanic for it - nearsight. Her Q creates the feeling of running down a dark corridor, and her W again gives her this feeling of being in the dark, while also working as a 'drawback' for an incredibly powerful vision tool. With her E, I was trying to capture the feeling of her being quick and agile, able to snag spells flying through the air.

Her Ultimate ability was the last I designed, and it didn't come to me at first. Yet, I had to go back and evaluate what it was that made thieves feel like thieves. It's not just the act of stealing, it's the act of being somewhere you're not suppose to be and the vulnerability that comes from that. The guys at Extra Credits did a wonderful vid about stealth games that's pretty insightful. So, gradually, I came up with her current ultimate that requires her to go into enemy territory, and gives her mini-objectives to find and unlock. My hope is that this reward the player, and captures the feel of exploration and danger associated with being a thief.

One thing remained though, and that was her title. Her name (which is a placeholder) was already a homage to the character Imoen from the Baldur's Gate trilogy. Initially I just called her 'the yordle thief'. But as I watched CertainlyT talking about stealth, and rewatching, and rewatching, I realized the perfect title had been staring me in the face the whole time. AnHonestThief, I owe you one. ;)

I could go on and on about stealth and vision in video games, and I've tried to elaborate on how, over many months, I made this champ. I'm still not done. I'd like to do a mock 'champion reveal' to practice my PS skills and art. Until then, I can only hope Riot gives the stealth crew some much needed love.

Until next time, GL;HF Shaco

20 Comments

Villainous3 votes

As I'm not much for criticising lore, I'll focus more on the mechanical abilities here. I will make two points, however. First, from the "Legend Has It" part, my immediate reaction is that Imoen's title is meant to either be ironic or self-awarded, since the picture I immediately get in my head is that Imoen's the one who's spreading these 'legends' and she's a self-aggrandising liar. Second, if her gun isn't powered by Zhonya's Ring, I will be sorely disappointed :P.

First Thoughts She immediately reminds me of Bard. Her passive/ult echo his meeps + chimes, she does stasis like him, she does heal drops like him, she primarily provides strict utility plus AP-powered Autos like him, etc. She's interesting, I'll give her that, but I think I need a bit longer to wrap my head around whether I like her or not.

Passive - Unlocked & Loaded I feel like this should have its own resource/stat instead of using critical strike; like a tertiary resource metre (similar to Statikk Shiv's passive) that fills up with each auto-attack, and applies the effect when it reaches 100. Using crit just feels...Wrong, since it gives the wrong impression of her as a champion; I'm assuming that Zeke's Harbinger is meant to be her only 'crit' item and everything else is meant to come from her ult passive Just saw her recommended items. If she's required to build crit on a support's budget, with the expectation that she's going to provide the normal utility items... Also, you haven't mentioned how much she generates with consecutive auto-attacks in any case.

Q - Thief's Passage It's kinda unfortunate that Imoen's biggest selling point (?) is the thing I like about her the least, though I suppose my biggest problem with her is actually reasonably easily fixed. Dealing damage should disrupt the effect of the passage on a champion. I assume it's meant to be like Magical Journey but with enemy vision instead of terrain, so this shouldn't be too great a loss of the ability in general. The ability for, for instance, Morgana to ult while invisible is kinda silly. I know she's basically the only champion who can do it without a 'spotter', but there's plenty of champions who'd be borked when they do have a spotter (The unseen Crowstorm is the deadliest). Basically, the cheese potential for this is kinda absurd.

W - Keyhole Probably my favourite ability on her kit. Keyhole has this great feel to it in my head, where it feels exactly like trying to spy what's going on through a tiny crack in a wall. Not much to say otherwise.

E - Spelljack! Though not necessarily a terrible ability on its own (though a reactive silence is a bit iffy; Fiddles would be very sad), I feel it's not entirely appropriate on Imoen. Even though it kinda has the thief theme, Spelljack feels like a Bruiser/Tank ability and doesn't gel with what the rest of her kit feels like it wants (high AP ratios on your shield don't necessarily mean you build glass cannon AP; just ask Ekko). Honestly, when I hear the name, it sounds more like an ability that involves dashing into your opponent, rather than intercepting a spell, though that's probably also not the place that a squishy support like Imoen wants to be.

R - Treasure! / Secrets! The passive is interesting; it's like Bard's Chimes (as mentioned previously), but they all spawn at the start (?). I'll voice the same issue with her passive; I feel like she should have a tertiary resource instead of relying on critical strike chance. Aside from that, I do like the effect. That said, as it stands, it's incredibly feast or famine. If you're winning heavily, you can go into the enemy jungle and raid all the spheres. If you're losing, you can go into the enemy jungle and either instantly die or lose half your base.

The active portion is missing a bunch of numbers. Most importantly, how long does it take to arm (if at all), how many can you have and/or how long do they last. During the early game, this feels barely strong enough to be a basic ability, let alone an ultimate; long cooldown for its effect, minuscule base heal and, to top it all off, she can't open them reliably until she has decent crit.

Overview Most of her kit feels thematic and synergistic, even if some of it feels a bit wonky on its own. The one exception, however, is Spelljack, which feels more out of place than Cryptic Gaze did on old Sion. She also feels like she has something of old Karma's problem; between her passive, her low base numbers and her high ratios, she feels like she wants lots of AP, but can't afford it on a support's budget. Unlike other support-ish characters that need gold like her fellow Yordle support, she doesn't feel like she can stand up to a solo lane. Actually, her laning phase seems pretty abysmal in general; lots of utility, but no offensive power whatsoever until mid-late game, and that's assuming she's been allowed to roam into the enemy jungle to pick up chests. If she's losing/lost lane (which is pretty likely, what with 2/3 of her basic skills having no direct effect on combat), she won't be able to invade, which then cripples her ability to open chests.

Suggestions As I've already mentioned, I'd replace the crit scaling with a unique tertiary resource ("Luck"?) that acts like item 2015 and the items that build from it (but without the movement effect, natch), to let her go for the normal AP-Support build. Add a 'breaks on dealing damage' clause to her Q to at least make an attempt to avoid cheese. I'd also personally either replace Spelljack's shield with something like Fiora's W or rework the ability altogether. Make Treasures Sphere spawn over time (if they don't already), and vary their spawn locations based on what turrets are dead (if your opponent's are dead, they spawn closer to enemy base, if yours are dead, they can spawn near your base).

DrugsForRobots1 votes

About her title and her being the one spreading these legends about herself: I hadn't even intended for it to be that way, but that makes a ton of sense for her character / personality (not that she's a braggart / arrogant, but that she has fun seeing her face on wanted posters / hearing people talk about her / having people trying to catch her!)

I think Bard's a pretty cool champ, so I don't mind the comparison. I will say it bothers me that his shrines don't grant sight around them, and I think there is a desperate need for supports who play into the vision game with their abilities. I hope you can look past the faults in her kit and be excited for her art / theme / idea of a mousey yordle thief with a giant key-gun in League. :)

Her passive and Ulti are the weakest parts of her kit in my mind, and I wouldn't mind them changing if something more appropriate was pitched, though I like the stasis effect (its a metaphor for 'gold' and 'locks'). I think her Q and W are her strongest abilities, and really capture the feel of being a thief (nearsight creating the feeling of being in the dark!)

About her Q, I don't think such an ability can exist as is without more anti-stealth and vision options. I tried getting some of these ideas to Riot because I want them to explore sight and invis and make League more hospitable to the vision game.

Oddly, I originally had her E silence enemies she passed through, but people said this encouraged diving into the enemy team. IDK what to do about it, but I think the idea of her being a fast / dashy thief makes sense. The shield is suppose to be her 'absorbing' or catching enemy magic (stealing spells) briefly. About her R, I intended for it to spawn a set number of Treasures! but the locations are random. This is to give the feeling of constantly moving toward a goal (getting all the treasure as the game progresses), with the ultimate prize of getting the treasures in the enemy base.

I also intended for her to be a heavy scout champ (obviously) but also be very hard to gank as she can disengage easily thanks to her Q.

Thanks for your feedback! I'll be tweaking her over the next week or so.

Villainous1 votes

{quoted} Her passive and Ulti are the weakest parts of her kit in my mind, and I wouldn't mind them changing if something more appropriate was pitched, though I like the stasis effect (its a metaphor for 'gold' and 'locks'). I think her Q and W are her strongest abilities, and really capture the feel of being a thief (nearsight creating the feeling of being in the dark!)

About her Q, I don't think such an ability can exist as is without more anti-stealth and vision options. I tried getting some of these ideas to Riot because I want them to explore sight and invis and make League more hospitable to the vision game.

Oddly, I originally had her E silence enemies she passed through, but people said this encouraged diving into the enemy team. IDK what to do about it, but I think the idea of her being a fast / dashy thief makes sense. The shield is suppose to be her 'absorbing' or catching enemy magic (stealing spells) briefly. About her R, I intended for it to spawn a set number of Treasures! but the locations are random. This is to give the feeling of constantly moving toward a goal (getting all the treasure as the game progresses), with the ultimate prize of getting the treasures in the enemy base.

I also intended for her to be a heavy scout champ (obviously) but also be very hard to gank as she can disengage easily thanks to her Q.

Thanks for your feedback! I'll be tweaking her over the next week or so.

Hmm... Back when I was spit-balling my own thief character some time ago, I gave him an AOE stealth that had the added drawback of silencing and disarming any ally inside the AOE, plus a short duration afterwards (to prevent them from instantly popping out and gibbing an opponent). That'd be my suggestion for Thief's Passage as well, since it looks like Riot is going to be making it harder to detect invisible champions, rather than easier (assuming you don't want to switch this to camouflage). As a bit of a QOL buff, you might also want to let her W benefit allies in the passage (since I assume that's the main reason you'd want to use it anyway).

As mentioned, I'd go for a 'parry' style move over a shield for her E. Perhaps one that grants her an AP buff depending on how powerful the spell is?

Don't have any immediate additional ideas for changing her passive or ult, aside from the already mentioned switching of her passive to function off a unique resource.

As a bonus suggestion, if you want to give her W a little more 'oomph' for people who don't like pure utility abilities, how about making any ward you spot with it turn into either Treasure or a Secret?

DrugsForRobots1 votes

! The silence effect in her corridor would make a ton of sense! Ugggh. Now this is a predicament, because thematically it's beautiful and I'm ashamed I hadn't thought of it sooner, but it leaves me wondering what I should do with her E. Her E is suppose the be the quick, "dart in, grab the thing" theify thing. And it silences the mages because she steals their magic (just for a sec!) Is two silences OP? She already has two forms of nearsight, though one is only on herself (her W). I'm also wondering whether that would cut out gameplay possibilities in her corridor.

I'm having difficulty imagining how the parry effect would look on her. Fiora's is a weird angular invulnerability that also has a hitbox in front of her or something... I'm not sure. I originally has this as a spellshield, but then I wanted her to be able to dodge projectiles as well (thematically she's quick and lucky) and my options were 1) spellshield, 2) spellshield plus 'dodge' (think Jax and Shen), 3) total invulnerability (not as much opportunity for the opponent.) One suggestion I got from An Honest Thief was a shield, and I could see it working since the opponents could break through it if they had the damage and chain CC her easier. I imagine her shield, like Tahm's Gray Health, would be special - colored gold to make it stand out from both regular shields and magic damage shields. It also reinforces her theme and color scheme - gold is the color of stasis, invulnerability (think the recent UI update), and gold!

I was thinking about her passive, and some advice I was given by Willbachbakal on the LoL Wiki was to not use crit, since crit is likely to change in the future. That may be true, but I think crit as 'luck' thematically has value, despite the fact that her crit isn't chance at all - she will only ever crit if she gets 100% (which she can do by attacking unseen and getting the buffs from her Treasures!) In that sense, it's kinda like Ashe's Passive or Jhin's.

While she's using her W (looking through a Keyhole) her allies see what she sees, even if they're in the corridor with her. They can also attack enemies in her Line of Sight, but they will be revealed (as though they were attacking from brush. Remember: Imoen's attacks don't break her stealth or reveal her from cover!) I kinda like the idea of Wards becoming Secrets if she spots them. This also gives her the interesting gameplay of letting her destroy wards to get the Secret! AoE heal, and even when the ward dies (and leaves behind the ward debris) it also leaves behind a Secret! (Which I imagine to look like different color gems or semi-spherical little objects / artifacts.

I need to do more artwork!

Thanks for this feedback!

FloRaider422 votes

Visuals: Since her key looks like a Gun having her do a “unlock” motion after every AA might look weird. Can’t go wrong with Yordles though.

Passive: I kinda dislike the “reload” mechanic as it doesn’t really add anything to her playstyle (since she has no ammo). Having her lockpick animation scale with AS would fix that (like Thresh her AA wouldn’t benefit as much from AS since the Animation has to finish each time). AA not breaking stealth seems kinda powerful, but it mainly depends on her kit how strong this really is.

For clarity I would add the “Can’t critically strike unless…” to the second part of the passive. I don’t understand why her Crits put enemies into stasis (as that can accidently save them in TF etc.) What happens if you build 100% crit can you perma CC an enemy champion?

Overall needs some tweaks and maybe some clarity changes, but the general idea is interesting.

Q-Ability: It is very confusing and I think it might help to clarify the differences and similarities with “Magical Journey”. (Length, passing through terrain etc.)

W-Ability: A nice anti stealth tool, but combined with Q recast it really makes entering the passage a non-option for enemies. Does QW consume the keyhole, or can you still use it?

E-Ability: Sounds like a better “Black Shield”, but the silence feels out of place. A good safety tool, but doesn’t feel as connected to her kit as her other abilities.

Ultimate: The passive has no real counterplay and feels very packed (extra XP, stacking buff, global gold and a AOE heal) How does the “luck” bonus look like? Does the active buff an existing sphere, generate a new sphere or simply refresh an emptied Sphere?

I feel like this should be more interactive for the enemy as to make it more engaging (Enemies get the global gold if you were unable to obtain the treasure after X min etc.) I also don't think this feels like a powerful ultimate and actually could works as a normal passive (shame you already have 2)

Overall: I know that you picked her role, because real thieves don’t fight, but having an Ult that requires her to leave lane and invade the enemy base and offering very little utility in lane (short stealth, True vision and stasis as CC) make her a really lackluster support. Her kit makes me think of a counterjungler (stealing creeps with charged crits, using her W to control vision around objectives and in the jungle and having a race against the enemy jungler for the treasue, all without engaging in prolonged combat and employing a hit and run style).

FloRaider out summoner 31

DrugsForRobots1 votes

Thanks for this feedback! It really did help, since it pointed out some things I hadn't considered! :D

FloRaider421 votes

Glad to help If anything is unclear or you have further questions, just comment :D

ModEchoing2 votes

Just a friendly reminder that I can't accept this in the CCOS without a lore section. If you're still interested in participating, I'd recommend adding it soon just in case more people decide to join, so there's still room for you.

DrugsForRobots1 votes

Understood. Lore and touch-ups in progress.

FloRaider422 votes

Might want to change the lore a bit, as taking champions out of character or including them for no reason can be bad for your CCOS score:

Her interaction with Vi, Ekko and Jinx are questionable, since A) They aren’t canonically part of the same gang and B) their weapons are a big part of their character (Ekko is a genius for inventing the Z-drive / Vi is smarter than she acts, being able to repurpose mining tools into her gauntlets) and simply handing them those feels wrong.

Ezreal is shown capable of exploring alone and Imoen accompanying him doesn’t make much sense for a thief. I feel like she should interact with Braum somewhat, instead of just becoming his friend (maybe she tried to steal his shield or his poro snacks ?) GPs interaction is the best IMHO, as it shows she is a good thief, but doesn’t put GP in a situation where he is out of character.

DrugsForRobots1 votes

Feedback heard! Edits in progress!

Cloak and Sword2 votes

Cuute! Has my vote!

THE RlVER KlNG2 votes

I promised some insight, here we go!

(oh and P.S. I'm a big fan of your work on Shaco and the Vision rework, beautifully done. I also really liked that other champion you had linked me too, Oracle.)

The passive I think should operate on a separate resource, as some have said, such as Luck, which builds up like a Jhin or Annie passive rather than by critical strike. If you want her to be a support, then making crit a big purchase on her is just wonky. I can see some awesome synergy with Zeke's, but otherwise having each auto-attack granting her a stack of 'Luck' or something of that nature, with the fifth or so stack triggering the critical strike and stasis, would be much more efficient and healthy for her role.

I think the Q is an awesome concept, some excellent utility.

W should have a damage component, or at least CC. Allowing her to slow or damage enemies she spies in her Keyhole would be really cool and allow her to make more of an impact. Currently, I feel, Imoen doesn't really do much of anything at all. She's a wicked concept with loads of utility and personality, but with no damage, CC, or ways to meaninfully contribute to a fight or lane. She has massive amounts of ways to interact with vision and such, but no real way to actually fight people or apply pressure in lane, outside of some sort of gimmicky attack speed AP build top lane or something. W is already very cool and I can picture it in my mind, but perhaps adding ways to allow her to exert pressure or combat enemies would be appropriate - perhaps a mini-Jhin ult of projectiles shot through the keyhole (perhaps a guaranteed crit-shot that allows her to proc her passve from afar?)

E is very creative, but again, shares the same concerns as W. Imoen just doesn't offer anything to her team outside of her situation crit shenanigans and vision. Adding a damage component to the dash, or in the very least some stronger, more relaible disruption, would go a long way in helping her as a champion. Maybe having it stealth her (as the passive mentions synergy with stealth, but outside of her Q I see none) would be appropriate.

Her R is very creative, but again, I just think all this wierd, situational utility is not making of a good champion. having the eggs interact somehow in other ways with other abilities (perhaps she can move them around, and they interact with keyholes and passages somehow?) would help allay some of the serious problems with her kit.

I'm sorry if I was critical. I love the concept but the kit just seems creative at the cost of functionality, when the two should synergize. Good night, and best of luck in the CCOS!

DrugsForRobots1 votes

Haha, thanks! I really just want justice for him, and all the champions, and I thinking giving us diverse, interesting, unique forms of vision (including invis, detection, and nearsight) would be great for the game! (Riot, please!)

I haven't written the gameplay and strategy sections yet, but this is most of it:

I imagine her play pattern to consist of making Keyholes, lots of them, in various directions. For example, if I was supporting with her, I'd probably take Keyhole 1st, to be on the lookout for those early invades. The Keyholes last a long time, and you'll be able to put multiples in your lane (and river) facing different directions and angles. (I'd def have one facing back towards my tower so I can Q run away the sec they try to gank us.) Imoen has exception range at 625 (the most of any support!) and could easily tag the opps with basic attacks, all the while darting in and out of the brush whenever she has to reload. Hell, I would even take red trinket 1st to deny the other support his vision. Nope, you're not getting vision of my brush. (Your review here made me realize this about her, I hadn't realized it before now!)

One good tactic would be to place a Keyhole in your brush facing the river (~perpendicular to the brush). Once you get Q, you can use that Keyhole to make a corridor, then put a Keyhole facing your opps, down their lane. You can R-Click to see thru a Keyhole, but notice the fine print: attacking will end the effects of Keyhole (because it's channeled and you're breaking the channel), but it doesn't stop her from attacking. If you get someone in her sights, she can attack, building her crit, as she goes through her reload you walk out of / off the corridor, she has a lingering second of invis, so she attacks again, now she's darting into the brush while she reloads, or making another Keyhole, or using her Q to open a door. She's constantly moving, and because her Q and W are both skillshots, theirs a ton of possibility for creative uses and outplays!

Remember that her E shield grants her CC immunity, this allows her to body block for her allies (thematically, she dashes out of nowhere and steals the spell!) and the shield scales with her AP and crit chance! It's also just a really good movement spell that'll get her over thin walls.

The result is that she can apply pressure by being an invisible presence in lane! She can mind game the opponents (is she in the bush? in that corridor? is she even in lane right now???), and harass really well (spellthief ftw).

I agree with you about the R, and I'm going to keep thinking on it, but allow me to explain what I had in mind:

  • the Treasure! Spheres do a couple of things. The help sell her thematically, they give her a goal (steal all the treasures of the course of the game), and they will max out her Crit Chance if she gets all of them, even giving her over 100%. They reward her for roaming, invading, they're like a mini-objective that the opponent's can contest! Her critical strike damage scales with her AP and her total bonus Critical Chance, so she can really hit hard later in the game if she gets all the treasures. Something I just thought of: the time in Stasis could be based on her total bonus Critical Chance!

  • the Secrets! are actually more important to her moment to moment gameplay, as they are effectively reverse Teemo Shrooms. They're invisible, and, if she can trigger one via an attack, heals in an AoE. You're right about her doing more with them, I'm not sure what I could add to make them awesome. i think they do interact with her Q and W, and even her E, as her Q and E help her position around them, and her W (i'm just brainstorming) should be able to 'create' a secret whenever she spots a ward or trap (without destroying or replacing that object.)

I don't mean to ramble, but I'm trying to convey this idea in my head and TBH I'm not sure it works! And now I'm tired. X.X I hope I've helped you see what I see, and that it's fun and functional like I hope. I know it's not perfect, but it doesn't have to be. It just needs to be good enough to get Riot's attention!

Your feedback has helped me realize some things and think about her gameplay more than I would have without it! She'll continue to evolve, hopefully becoming tighter, more cohesive, more resonant!

THE RlVER KlNG2 votes

I'm just wondering where it mentions that she has perpetual stealth, or are you referring to her just staying in a corridor for a really long time? Because the passive mentions her auto's interactions with stealth and not breaking it.

(BTW glad to hear she's ranged, her being melee would be dreadfully bad)

DrugsForRobots1 votes

Check the LoL Wiki! It has a lot of the finer details. Her corridors last for 5~ seconds (numbers can be adjusted) and are 1250 units long (length scales with ability rank, and it's a skillshot, but it has to be this long, as she can gank her own lane by sneaking up on the enemy!)

Whenever she walks into the corridor, through the door she's immediately invisible to the enemy. (Which I imagine to be like Karthus wall sorta, you just pass thru it and you're in the corridor. Another example is Akali shroud, since the corridor is a persistant AoE that grants invis and nearsights, but you only get the effects of it if you pass through the door.) Besides using a Keyhole to spot an enemy, she can also just leave the corridor, as she and allies retain the invis the corridor grants for a brief moment. (1.5s for her, .75s for allies.) You can do this over and over again. You can run through the door, and into the corridor multiple times during the fight, as can allies and enemies. You can step in and immediately leave, lead them on a merry chase, juke around! And even after your invis runs out, enemies inside the corridor are still denied vision, so it's a pretty neat escape tool. You can use them to roam unseen and zone out enemies. Imagine placing a Keyhole facing the enemies in your lane. Q for a corridor you can run toward them, getting range on them, and then step out (you would have to orient yourself, since they've likely moved as you didn't have sight of them whilst in the corridor), and then attack them once or twice as you retreat back to your minions and friends. :)

Alternatively, like you mention, she can set up shop in a corridor, as can her marksman. (Though your ally will be revealed if they attack, as they currently are when attacking from bushes or behind terrain.) Use Keyhole to spot for them and take some shots yourself, or you guys can leave the corridor for the split second of stealth as you regain sight on them and attack.

And remember, thanks to her passive, she can attack from bushes, or over terrain without being revealed!

That's what I'm imagining. CertainlyT even hits at it! Do you see what I see?

THE RlVER KlNG1 votes

I've worked on a Midas-esque champion for a while who can put champions into brief stasis (aka 'golden touch') with his autos, so I like how your passive works, even if it is a bit complex. I think I get how the Q works and I think that's a really cool ability, sounds super fun. The rest of her kit is pretty zany but I think it's overall a pretty neat concept, definitely has a lot of potential. Good luck in the CCOS, I hope you can check my concept out too! (btw it says q does damage if you collapse it but I don't see damage numbers on the wiki)

EDIT: (I have some suggestions, I'll get back to you in a sec, by the way, here's my concept, Viatus, the Celestial Waymaker, feedback is appreciated)

Raxistaicho1 votes

Could you explain how you handled the formatting on your blog post for this concept? I'd love to move some of my concepts to the wiki like that.

DrugsForRobots1 votes

If you join the Wiki, when you go to your 'My Blogs' and click 'Create Blog' one of the options you should see is 'Custom Champion'. It sets you up with most of the formatting (just take note of what code is used for each effect!) Beyond that, you'll have the privilege of editing the Wiki, meaning you can see how a certain champion's page is coded and mimic it to get the results you want. Me and the others there would be happy to assist should you have any problems. It will take time though - Imoen was polished over the course of many, many days spanning many months.

Raxistaicho1 votes

Hey there, here to review for you :) In return could you do me a super awesome favor? :D Please help by showing me how I could html a champion page like the one you did for Imoen :)

That would be for: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/skin-champion-concepts/J5EQmfzX-champion-concept-huilang-the-eternal-cycle

If you're super cool enough to be up for doing that, please email the html to [email protected]

Anyways, on to the review!

Passive: Hmm, basically she doesn't get much from attack speed, and after enough attacks she'll be critting every time but for reduced damage. It's an interesting concept, but it doesn't strike me as very useful. Other adcs and burst mages are just going to kill you before you can actually start critting, and it's not reliable as self-peel either because it requires a target-specific buildup. It's also bad in chaotic teamfights because the free crit is, again, target-specific, meaning she has to start all over if she tries to fight a new enemy. The fact that her attack speed gains are gimped means she really can't ever fight another adc openly, either.

Lastly, stasis is the worst cc to put on an adc, since it also stops you from attacking them while they're controlled.

Q: It's interesting, definitely. I'm actually unfond of the idea of not being able to see outside, since allies within it could be unable to know where they're needed.

Then again, if this ability ever got made we'd be seeing a scene on one of Kshaway's videos of a bunch of characters floundering around inside and out of it trying to get to each other and failing, preferably to the tune of Yakity Sax, and that would make it all better.

I don't think this should be her Q though. Q's are primary abilities, and a marksman's primary ability should do damage and a support's primary ability should be poke and/or cc.

W: Another neat ability. This would be really useful for more organized teams, and Imoen would be amazing at ward sweeping.

The lack of damage or cc on her abilities is starting to worry me, though :/

E: As a mage main, fack this one : I So she gets a shield that also blocks crowd control. This would be really broken if she were capable of... doing damage, but so far she has no damaging abilities and her basic attacks are gimped until she's built up to 100% crit, so I guess it's balanced?

R: oohhh, okay, so she can potentially hit 100% critical chance. In a long enough game this could be a big problem, but the issues with her passive remain that her actual crit damage is pretty gimped and stasis isn't a useful cc for an adc. I still think most mages or adcs can outburst her since her actual attack speed is low.

You had some REALLY interesting ideas on Imoen, but most of them aren't terribly useful. She tries to be both an adc and a support, and doesn't really manage to be either. Her passive inhibits her ability to do what an adc should, and she doesn't provide any of the tools you actually want from an adc (poke, cc, shields or reliable heals for her team).

If you wanted to make her work, I'd really have to have you scrap her Q, W, and E entirely, sorry :/ Her Q and W are interesting skills, but they crowd out room in her kit for damage and control, and her E is both unfitting for a support (helping only herself) and insanely broken on an adc (prevents you from actually stopping her for a short while while also punishing you for trying).

Sorry for the less than glowing review ^^;

Lore: I actually love her character, even though details on her lore itself are a bit lacking. I'd have REALLY loved to see more of her thing about naively blundering into danger and getting out through equal parts skill and blind luck put into her kit a bit more, but that'd be a bit tough to actually do, granted.

Her ridiculous exploits started off charmingly cute (hey, if Gangplank can get away with pissing off both Swain and Zed, surely Imoen can get away with pissing off him) but eventually you tried to tie her into too many different champs from different locations. Probably should just stick to Bilgewater champions.

Why no Fizz or MF? D:

My biggest problem with her lore is that it's more about who she is, and not really a story about her.

More from Concepts & Creations

A completely serious, totally legit question for Riot.
Concepts & Creations183 comments
2,280
votes
[Champion Concept] DhaMa, The Force of Balance
Concepts & Creations931 comments
1,424
votes
Elderwood Kindred
Concepts & Creations176 comments
1,062
votes
Bring Urgot's Nipple Back!
Concepts & Creations94 comments
985
votes
Petition To Have An Old Lady Champion
Concepts & Creations481 comments
947
votes
When Tahm Kench eats Lulu, he should say that it tasted purple!
Concepts & Creations109 comments
826
votes

More by DrugsForRobots

@Riot: Can we get Shaco's Jack-in-the-Box to trigger Spellthief?
Gameplay44 comments
94
votes
[Mega-Post] Stealth And Vision In League (Includes An Infographic & Essay)
Gameplay68 comments
84
votes
Petition to have Shaco's enemy play their Laugh sound bite if he kills them
Gameplay32 comments
84
votes
Infographic about Stealth and how Riot has been secretly preparing for a Stealth Update
Gameplay99 comments
69
votes
What CertainlyT Feared? (The Vision Paradox)
Gameplay23 comments
53
votes
Anyone else think the state of vision and stealth needs another look or update?
Gameplay59 comments
36
votes