Taric Champion Update (Ideas and Discussion from a Concerned Taric Fan)
Now Taric has been in discussion for an entire kit reconstruction for a long time now, I came into this game at the start of S2, and I remember when playing against Bots was a hard thing for me, and Taric was beyond frustrating to fight because he just got so tanky and would save his heal until you've almost killed him and then just walk away looking fabulous.
It was on that day on my level 14ish account that I would purchase Taric from the store, because hey, if you can't beat em' join em. I love Taric's still fairly unique champion kit concept, revolving around not only tanking /peeling for the carry like braum, but having that nuke heal, and the most unique part, huge team auras, a concept that really hasn't been touched by any other champion in the game, (until windspeakers blessing came along). All the while being decked out in the most pimping armor this side of Runeterra.
GEMS
Excuse me, but anyway to my point: With Taric being from my understanding under development for a long long time, (I recall the most recent mention of him was during the Sion re-release?), anyhow, with my opinion being my opinion, Sion was a great conceptual rework but I still feel he is just too slow to operate at a high level of play, where everything is just a flash/dash/blink away nowadays. Some people may disagree, but with many champions getting reworked nowadays and having a lot of varying success (ex comparison: Sion<Fiora) I want to make sure Taric, MY BOY, gets reworked, again in my opinion, properly, and so I have come to a place I have never really been to in all of my time on League of Legends, (To reference I could have bought the Championship Riven skin, but I thought the sword was a nasty burnt carrot so I didn't and what do you know it's the only exclusive championship skin -.-).
GEMS
So how do we make this happen, how do we keep Taric intact but still better? Well in the end it is up to the Riot balancing crew I guess, but here are some of my ideas and I'd love to hear other ideas from any Taric players out there. FIrst I will go over the potential issues, then list all of the solutions together.
1: Don't let him get outshined by Braum or Poppy. Braum has a shield and peels very well, Poppy has a hammer and peels very well. Taric has a shield and hammer and has one stun before he has to walk at people and force them to flee in terror just from GEMS and looking GREAT IN HIS OUTFIT.
2: Soraka is a much much better cleric in this meta, and in any meta tbh. Windspeakers set her over the top, now she is overall just better than Taric at any point, she pumps out more heals than Taric, as well as a group heal, and Windspeakers allows her to buff more MR and AR to allies more consistently, and from a further ranger, globally if needed. Sure, she is squishier, but that is really just what keeps her from being broken, and still doesn't keep her from being 10 times better than Taric.
3: His auras -aren't too bad overall, but the concept of a small passive aura permanently (with a range restriction), is not nearly as good as a burst of a lot of resistances, or just an increase to his passive bonus, because perhaps it is just too small. Taric's armor passive really can only be felt when you pick him into a full AD team, and even then, look at this double/triple carry meta right now, and they still won't pick him. Sure Janna has a passive movement speed bonus, but dragon gives a passive stack that synergizes perfectly with it, as well as the meta being still shifted toward swifties.
4: His Burst I mean, as a support when he pings level 6 its pretty solid, but late game does 0 damage-which is probably on purpose, but when your passive is focused on gaining bonus damage for your empowered autos and resetting cooldowns, AND YOU STILL DON'T HURT, even if that doesn't matter at the support level it takes out his ability to top lane like poppy, and sure he doesn't die in the jungle but it takes him nearly a century to clear anyway.
5: Flat armor shred Has no noticeable impact after level 14ish, it has no impact on these massive hyper tanks in the top lane, and squishies die instantly lategame anyway, and will never be standing close to Taric with his terrible movespeed, and as I mentioned with Sion, they just blink/dash away. Mobility is almost a requirement for a champion in the LCS these days, look at Jhin. Immobile with 1/16 the attack speed immobile kogmaw has.
Solutions during rework:
1: Keep the Hammer and Shield. I want Taric to stay Taric, so keep the bedazzled armor, keep the big shiny shield, and the Dazzling hammer (fix his pizza feet though Fl*sh that) I think you could work something unique from Poppy and Braum into his ult with these items, which I will touch on... NOW
2:HEALS, AURAS, AND STUNS BABY Passive: Taric has a Gem that detects wards built into his armor. When spotted by a ward, the gem will glow a unique color, and Taric will receive a "!", for a few seconds before disappearing, even if remaining in the area, (the gem color will remain but he would have to leave ward vision and re enter to reset the "!") He will not however, be able to spot the ward and clear it without the assistance of truesight from any source. (sweeper/pinkward/etc.) Q: Taric throws his shield down to a target location on the ground around him, the shield emits 2%/4%/6%/8%/10% ( DO NOT ASK ME IF THIS IS BALANCED Notice: I am not even attempting cooldowns) of Taric's Maximum health over the next 10 seconds to all allied champions around the location of the shield. The shield can be picked up early by Taric but cannot be disrupted by allies or enemies. The shield is considered an obstacle on the map. Shield must be deployed to activate Taric's ultimate. *note: Taric must retrieve his shield it will not return to him. He will not receive any bonuses until he retrieves his shield. The heal is on a cooldown, but cannot be triggered again unless the shield is picked up and redeployed, but will go on cooldown even if the shield has not yet been picked up by Taric. W: Taric's shield radiates with energy from numerous rare imbued gems, and sends out an aura of armor (scaling based on armor) to allies within radius around the shield. When TOGGLED, the aura is swapped (5 second swap time) to provide an aura of magic resist (scaling based on mr) When the shield is placed on the ground Taric expends extra energy to provide the bonus at a distance to allies around the shield, thus disabling the bonus aura from himself for a duration. (until the shield is picked up). The shield cannot be toggled to swap between resistances when deployed. E: Taric empowers his next auto attack, grabbing his hammer with both hands ( range bonus 150 or something) and knocking an enemy back a small distance, disorienting (stunning) them for 1/1.2/1.4/1.6/2 seconds. Think stunning Jayce hammer. R: Taric channels the inner core gem (super shiny blinky gem) of his armor and lets out a heroic cry, (1 second sync time), and syncs it with the inner core gem (super shiny blinky gem) of his shield (must be deployed, duration left on the deploy is irrelevant). He then enlarges in size, and jumps onto his shield location, sending out a shockwave knocking back all enemy units away from Taric and his shields location, and lodging the shield into the ground for the duration (to prevent Taric from picking it up). Taric then gains (movespeed) and gains a passive 0.5/0.75/1s stun (WITHIN RADIUS OF HIS SHIELD) on all auto attacks (4 second cooldown on same units struck), the shields deployment time resets to 10 seconds remaining from whatever duration it was previously at (allowing for 20 seconds maximum channel if properly managed), and heal and aura bonus is doubled for the duration within the zone (zone size around shield may or may not increase). Shield cannot be picked up during this time and still cannot be toggled at this time. Taric does not gain his passive armor/mr bonus at this time. Taric's only ability able to be used during his ultimate is his E, and is empowered with bonus knockback distance, and damage based on % Taric's Maximum Health. Stun remains based on skill level, and will override ultimate passive stun, and passive stun will be available to proc on a target struck by E immediately after. Ex. E empowers auto for 2s stun, and then after waiting 2 seconds (ideally just for maimum stun duration, or just immediately) Taric can choose to auto again for the ultimate stun of 0.5/0.75/1s stun additionally. Once the channel is done the shield reverts to a normal deployed Q state, and can be picked up again. It will not release a healing aura after channeling is complete.
This to me feels like Taric, but much more impactful and noticeable. He still gives auras, and must manage those zones properly, can still heal but will impact the whole team more functionally than 150hp every 15 seconds on a single target, but he also has a bit more cc to help peel defensively (or flash aggressively?). His shield and hammer function uniquely when compared to the other champions who wield similar weapons. His shield being considered an obstacle on the map could make for some crazy interactions/synergies. With his ultimate the increase in his buffs will make his zone feel formidable to enemies, and actually worth standing in for allies, great for objective fights with the 10 second timer, allows you to hold your ground while you finish off dragon or baron, or hold the line on a turret. Not to mention Taric can now properly avenge Ezreal and lay the smackdown with passive stuns on his hammer when hes in the zone. His passive gives him excellent vision control options in any zone he is trying to influence. Obviously this is not balanced at all, just some concept designs that I think would be great for a revamp'd Taric on the rift. As I said before I would love to hear comments/suggestions/any relevant input from the rest of the community on Taric.
Thank you for your time summoners!
GEMS
ahem..Sorry..
