Boards›Concepts & Creations

[Champion Concept] Khurdan, the Tomb Desecrator

Madanach··9 votes·1,528 views

| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| | http://i.imgur.com/NUiRffA.jpg | | |:---:|:---:|:---:|

##Abilities I have done the ability explanations in the same style as on the League of Legends wikia so it's easier to understand and nicer to look at.

| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| | http://i.imgur.com/tzNV2pj.png | | |:---:|:---:|:---:|

##Lore I haven’t written a proper lore as any interactions I suggest may not fit with Riot's vision for Runeterra and I don't want it to impede on a current champion's lore. For example, I may suggest Khurdan has fought with Rek'Sai and made it out alive with one of her fangs, but this wouldn't fit in with the "no man has escaped Rek'Sai" idea. Especially if it turns out Rek'Sai still has all her fangs intact.

So instead here is an abridged version of his lore where his interactions within the world don't have as much as an impact:

Khurdan is a tomb raider who operates around the Shuriman Wastes. He makes ends by selling knick-knacks he acquires to merchants in the nearby villages. He is a man of muscular build who has grown to endure the harsh environment of Shurima, feeling little exhaustion from the ire of the sun; an ideal trait for someone in his line of work.

When he began raiding he found his current weapon in a tomb; a wooden staff with two ejectable blades on either end. Over the years he has honed his skills with the weapon but is by no means a master. When travelling, Khurdan removes the blades and uses the staff as a walking stick to help cross the desert.

Khurdan has had some close encounters with Xer’Sai in the Sai Kahleek which has left some permanent scars on his body, but he has never encountered Rek’Sai herself.

##Lore in Contrast to Abilities With a lot of the recent lore for champions their abilities often tie in thematically with the character, this is usually shown through promotional videos or short stories. For example, the short story written for Rek’Sai details her as being a giant void creature that lurks around the Sai Kahleek desert, hunting any who trespass. The desert is dotted with tunnels belonging to her species; this is just like her in-game ability to burrow underground and create tunnels. In the story she snaps someone’s spine with her fangs, similar to her Furious Bite ability. She also unborrows at one point, knocking a boy into the air, just like she can in game.

As mentioned before, Khurdan is a tomb raider. So here is what I envision a reveal video to look like for him:

A man in a tattered cloak presumed to be Khurdan is looking down at a scroll which has the etchings of a map denoting his current location. Using the scroll he navigates through an almost buried, cyclopean ruin deep within the Shuriman desert. The ruin is revealed to be a tomb which has been abandoned for a very long time.

Once inside, the man removes his mask, confirming that it is indeed Khurdan. Once he reaches the inner sanctum he notices a rival of his taking trinkets from a sarcophagus. Khurdan isn’t a stealthy character so the robber hears him lurking in the shadows. After exchanging words, Khurdan gives him a challenge: A first-blood duel using only staffs to settle who takes the loot, to which the robber accepts.

The two engage in combat. At first the fight is dead even but soon Khurdan begins losing; similar to how in game he is weak whilst using only his staff. Khurdan is winded and takes refuge behind a pillar, using this time to attach the blades to his staff. With the blades now in place he starts winning, but it reveals a dishonest side to his character. Once his rival is weak, Khurdan sunders through him, slashing the robber with his hidden elbow blade. With the robber bleeding profusely from his abdomen, Khurdan identifies this as a weakpoint. He makes use of this by lacerating the small gash; knocking the robber to his knees.

By now the man is too hurt to continue fighting so uses a smoke bomb to give him time to flee Khurdan and the maze-like tomb. Just as it looks like the robber has made it to an exit and his awaiting camel, Khurdan dashes down from an overhead ledge and ejects the blades from his staff. The robber falls dead. With no witnesses Khurdan loots what the robber took, which Goes to show there is no such thing as friendly Competition. He mounts the man's camel and makes off into the horizon.

##Using the Abilities I designed Khurdan to be a mix between fighter and assassin. He is primarily intended to be a solo laner usually top, but can also be played as a jungler. Khurdan is very vulnerable early game as he is a melee champion with no form of defence. He is also not particularly good at trading as Sunder requires the enemy champion to be below a certain health threshold to use and without it he can't get the bonus damage on Barbarous Laceration. With this in mind he takes some items and levels to become useful.

https://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/wow.gamepedia.com/c/c4/Inv_misc_coin_02.png?version=fe35f469c1fc17fabfbbe31e9bd0bc36 Passive - Unfriendly Competition A very good snowball tool that rewards you for securing kills. The downside being that it requires your opponent to be carrying some gold for it to be useful. It may be worth not trying to kill support champions before your 4th kill as you don't want your 8% gold steal to be on a champion with little current gold. Once you are full build this passive offers very little aside stealing gold from your opponents.

https://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/wow.gamepedia.com/d/d4/Ability_paladin_speedoflight.png?version=8a8e39727b181a1739bbc042f455f2f9 Q - Deadly Gyration This ability offers quite a bit of utility. You can use it to damage champions and minions. It can be used as an escape or form of engage. It can even be used to ignore hard CC. The problem being its high cooldown as well how weakened you are until your staff comes back to you.

https://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/wow.gamepedia.com/0/01/Ability_warrior_bloodbath.png?version=470258921c3ef0cefba7f3a352f5ab1d W - Sunder In my opinion this is his signature ability as it has several interactions with the rest of the kit. I particularly like the whole recharge mechanic and how having fewer charges increases your lethiality when your ultimate is levelled. Bare in mind that the charges have a static cooldown so aren't reduced by cooldown reduction; this was done so it doesn't effect the lethiality duration you get from your ultimate.

The recharge time of Sunder is reduced for every current charge he has so I would try to wait until I gain my fourth charge before using the ability so the next charge has only a 4 second cooldown. Spamming the ability will leave you with no charges and a very long recharge time. You do not want to cast Sunder when you are about to gain a charge as the cooldown will refresh immediately, and as you’re a charge down the cooldown will be even longer. To help explain this:

4 current charges --- 0 second cooldown (can't have more than 4 charges) 3 current charges --- 4 second cooldown 2 current charges --- 8 second cooldown 1 current charges --- 12 second cooldown 0 current charges --- 16 second cooldown

If you have 2 current charges you have an 8 second cooldown on your third charge. Let's say you cast Sunder when you are 2 seconds off you third charge. You now have 1 charge of Sunder and the recharge cooldown has been refreshed to the recharge time for having 1 charge which is 12 seconds. As you can see it is a lot more efficient to wait for your third charge to come up, then casting Sunder. That will still have 2 charges and the cooldown for the next one is 8 seconds.

With this is mind it is usually best to always be on a high amount of charges early and try not to go below 2 unless it is absolutely necessary.

https://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/wow.gamepedia.com/3/3f/Ability_gouge.png?version=e458c9d3a9cc78447b2e6a2763421348 E - Barbarous Laceration I like to think of this as a close-range execute. If you manage to use Sunder before using this you can do a tonne of damage. This ability would work really well with items such as Trinity Force due to the on-hit effect.

https://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/wow.gamepedia.com/6/68/Ability_monk_blackoutstrike.png?version=06e2e5f3427822e98a7e366eb0c22da0 R - No Witnesses A way of finishing off weakened opponents, the downside being it is a skillshot and does reduced damage over long distances. Late game it makes Khurdan a lot weaker until it comes off cooldown. This ability has a very high potential of securing Baron due to its percent missing health damage up to a cap and the increased damage it can do if Baron is marked with Weakpoint. Coupled with smite, very few champions can steal Baron from Khurdan.

##Skill Maxing I would start with a point in Barbarous Laceration so I have some way of trading with my opponent and a way of last-hitting if need be. Sunder would be ideal level 2 as then you have the potential of going all in on your opponent. I would take Deadly Gyration level 3 so I have another form of damage and a potential engage too.

Maxing Sunder first would be standard as it has a short cooldown at 3 charges and it does a substantial amount of damage. Maxing it also allows for dashing through targets with a higher health threshold.

Deadly Gyration would need to be maxed last as its main benefit is its utility. Which leaves Barbarous Laceration which will usually be maxed by level 13.

##Example Full Build item 3078 item 3053 item 3047 item 3742 item 3814 item 3026

Any tank or attack damage item is viable on him but the above items are my suggested build. I think Khurdan would fit a niche currently no champion has as very few champions itemise like this and no champion has the same kit as him.

Trinity Force is a core item as it gives the stats he needs and helps him stick onto champions with the Rage passive. The Spellblade passive synergises well with his empowered E as it applies with on-hit effects. Khurdan also has fairly high base AD so Spellblade will hit harder.

Sterak's Gage is also a core item. The reason for this is that his W and E scales with base AD and Sterak's gives increased base AD; not to mention this synergises really well with Spellblade.

The other suggested items are more flex items which will be situational depending on the composition of the teams.

[NOTE: This champion and the suggested build were created as of patch 7.14]

##Change Log

  • Innate has been streamlined so it isn't an all or nothing effect that has the potential to set an opponent really far back and Khurdan really far ahead.
  • Adjusted descriptions for all of the abilities.
  • Scaling buffs to most of the basic abilities.

10 Comments

Candurill2 votes

Hey there :D Cool concept!!! Lemme give you my thoughts :)

First off, it is very clear that you put A LOT of effort into this concept. The abilities are intricately woven together and thought out. I also like the way you formatted it, makes it very clear and nice to read.

However....As I started reading it, I've found one (maybe fatal) point of concern...The passive...I REALLY get why you went for a gold stealing passive. Its cool, new, and fits the theme and lore very well...It's just not something you would EVER see in league...The only bonus gold mechanics in the game are Twisted Fate's random bonus gold he gets from killing minions (but thats still like 1 to 6 gold per minion), Draven (and then he needs to catch all his axes and get a kill) and Gangplank (also 2 to 6 bonus gold upon killing units with his Q). There is a reason that there are no gold stelaing mechanics in the game (cus I'm pretty sure that riot's champion designers have thought of it already) and that is that its very hard to balance...I know that Khurdan can be countered by killing him, but its still stealing gold, not just giving him extra gold, but leaving the other with less gold...thats TWICE the downside and thus a harder snowball....Its just unfair.

Other then that, I don't feel like it fits in his kit. Its a nice snowballing mechanic I guess, which is good for an assassin, but it has no interaction whatsoever with the rest of his kit, which is a shame because the rest of your kit DOES interact. I just think that the passive is not a good idea...

Then his Q: I love it :D Very nice and innovative movability mechanic!! It fits the assassin part of him very well!! The only downside is see in this has to do with his ultimate...but ill touch up on that later.

Then his W: Very interesting. The static recharge of the passive is a conscious choice? Cus I'd love for him to have some kind of minigame mechanic to gain the stacks...But thats just me, the recharge is nice and simple, which is actually a good thing in this ability cus the rest can get a bit complicated i feel....but that might just be me :) I never play assassins... The active is also nice. The health threshold doesn't really make sense to me since it goes from 40% to 80%....I'd expect this ability to be some kind of executing ability, so why 80%. Either make the starting threshold higher or the ending lower, but don't make the range this wide.

Then his E: The names dude...where d'you get these...I had to read it twice just to get what it said.... I don't get this ability....so it does normal attack damage...plus 50% AD...(so thats 150% AD, they usually note it like that)...but it only applies on hit effects on targets with the "Weakpoint" debuff?...Or is the bonus damage only on Weakpoint-ed enemies too? Either way I think its a bit underwhelming...maybe add some extra effect, like armor penetration or partial true damage...

Then the R: So he gains lethality while not having stacks? I was doubtful at first, but now that i think about it, I believe its pretty genius :D He's an assassin and his sunder ability causes him to jump to his target, immediately allowing to deal damage. Good thinkin, good thinkin... The active however, is less clear...What exactly do you mean by "opposite lines"? Is that behind and in front of him? Either way, the ability itself DOES NOT weigh out the backlash!! Really!! Why did you add the reduction in damage and stuff? I know it makes thematic sense, but gameplay wise it really discourages actually using the ult...It leaves you less powerful and easy to gank....So I say, take away the drawback, and if you think that the ability is too powerful then (which I think it isn't) lower the numbers a bit... Cus its not done for an assassin to lose his damage by using an ability...

Anyway, I hope my insight has been helpful. As a disclaimer, I always give feedback from my own experience and the way I see things. This also means that you may take my thoughts with a kernel of salt. We all make concepts because we like being creative. They are our creations and I'd hate for my words to make Khurdan stray from what you want him to be :) I wish you the best of luck in the CCOS ^^

Madanach1 votes

Thank you for your reply and insight!

The only bonus gold mechanics in the game are Twisted Fate's random bonus gold he gets from killing minions (but thats still like 1 to 6 gold per minion), Draven (and then he needs to catch all his axes and get a kill) and Gangplank (also 2 to 6 bonus gold upon killing units with his Q). There is a reason that there are no gold stelaing mechanics in the game (cus I'm pretty sure that riot's champion designers have thought of it already) and that is that its very hard to balance...I know that Khurdan can be countered by killing him, but its still stealing gold, not just giving him extra gold, but leaving the other with less gold...thats TWICE the downside and thus a harder snowball....Its just unfair.

I see how it can be viewed as unfair which is why I was hesitant on setting the gold steal value as high as 10%. To balance it out I gave the possibility for it to be played around. I've done this by suggesting no gold is stolen whilst Khurdan is dead and dying before returning to base refunds the gold. Khurdan is also pretty weak early game so the enemy has to play really carelessly for Khurdan to get an importunity to even kill them. Once everyone is full build it's not like the passive gives any utility or damage so late game it doesn't offer anything.

This makes Khurdan a feast or famine champion. With kills he will pop off, without he will be really far behind.

I don't particularly view it as unfair I just feel like it is something the enemy players needs to play around, pretty similar to how you have to play around Draven when he has his Adoration stacks. The same can be said for Sion passive, by killing him you put yourself in danger. If you're playing against a Sion support it may be optimal not to kill him when he is low as he will most likely get a double kill on you once he dies.

The passive is not even that powerful in the first 5 minutes of the game. When you leave base you will have 0 gold so getting first blood won't do anything. So unless your laner has been hoarding gold for 10 minutes you're not going to steal much. Even if they have 1000 gold you take 100, assuming their jungler doesn't come and kill you or their ignite finishes you off.

Draven gets 50 gold alone for a kill without any Adoration stacks and he doesn't have to worry about dying before returning to base. Twisted Fate gets 200 gold just from farming 50 minions. With 200 CS he gets 800 gold. It is also important to note that the rest of these champion's kits are balanced around these gold generating passives.

Then his Q: I love it :D Very nice and innovative movability mechanic!! It fits the assassin part of him very well!! The only downside is see in this has to do with his ultimate...but ill touch up on that later.

I'm not sure if I made it clear but Khurdan can't cast his ultimate or E whilst his Q is in the air. Reactivating the ability will bring him closer to his weapon so he will be able to cast these abilities sooner.

Then his W: Very interesting. The static recharge of the passive is a conscious choice? Cus I'd love for him to have some kind of minigame mechanic to gain the stacks...But thats just me, the recharge is nice and simple, which is actually a good thing in this ability cus the rest can get a bit complicated i feel....but that might just be me :) I never play assassins... The active is also nice. The health threshold doesn't really make sense to me since it goes from 40% to 80%....I'd expect this ability to be some kind of executing ability, so why 80%. Either make the starting threshold higher or the ending lower, but don't make the range this wide.

With the health threshold, let's say you have a rank 1 W:

If a Fizz has 90% current health. You can't cast W on him. Fizz needs to be below 40% of his max health for Khurdan to cast W on him.

So by raising the health threshold it is better for Khurdan. The ability is not an execute but you can use it for last hitting minions, which is why I gave the mana refund upon killing units.

Then his E: The names dude...where d'you get these...I had to read it twice just to get what it said.... I don't get this ability....so it does normal attack damage...plus 50% AD...(so thats 150% AD, they usually note it like that)...but it only applies on hit effects on targets with the "Weakpoint" debuff?...Or is the bonus damage only on Weakpoint-ed enemies too? Either way I think its a bit underwhelming...maybe add some extra effect, like armor penetration or partial true damage...

Without any Weakpoint marks, it does the regular damage listed on the right. But with the Weakpoint mark it applies on-hit effects and it does 50% increased damage. This is 50% of the base damage, and 50% of the scaling damage. Let's say you have a rank 1 E:

If the target has Weakpoint on them, your E will do 75 (+150% bonus AD).

As it is bonus AD it is not as broken as it seems but it is certainly not that weak. Level 1 you are going to have roughly 14 bonus AD depending on your runes, items and masteries. So the ability will do 75 (+21) pre-mitigated damage. Many champions have similar abilities to this. For example, Kha'Zix Q works in a very similar way.

Applying on-hit effects with an ability like this is actually really good especially with its range. If you have items like Trinity Force you will be doing a lot of damage and it will apply a Fervor of Battle stack.

Then the R: So he gains lethality while not having stacks? I was doubtful at first, but now that i think about it, I believe its pretty genius :D He's an assassin and his sunder ability causes him to jump to his target, immediately allowing to deal damage. Good thinkin, good thinkin... The active however, is less clear...What exactly do you mean by "opposite lines"? Is that behind and in front of him? Either way, the ability itself DOES NOT weigh out the backlash!! Really!! Why did you add the reduction in damage and stuff? I know it makes thematic sense, but gameplay wise it really discourages actually using the ult...It leaves you less powerful and easy to gank....So I say, take away the drawback, and if you think that the ability is too powerful then (which I think it isn't) lower the numbers a bit... Cus its not done for an assassin to lose his damage by using an ability...

The ability is a pretty big burst of damage, it's something you are going to use when you are trying to finish your opponent off.

Yes the ability fires two blades forward and backwards depending on where you fire from, bare in mind it is a skill shot so forwards and backwards depend on which way you are facing when you cast. If you still don't understand what I mean, imagine a Nidalee spear but another one going in the opposite direction.

The drawback isn't that big, especially early game. -35% bonus AD isn't going to do much. You're probably going to have like 30 bonus AD at level 6 so instead you have 20 bonus AD if you ult. But assuming it killed your laner, there won't be much of a threat to you anymore.

Late game the bonus damage reduction is going to be a lot more noticeable but with cooldown reduction it's not going to be that much of a drawback as your ultimate will be back pretty soon. Also if you go tanky, the difference isn't going to do much as you won't be building attack damage anyway.

Arakadia1 votes

Feast or Famine champions are something Riot has been trying to fix and in general are very extreme in how they play League. Either they suck for the player and they feel bad or they get fed and monster stomp the game and the enemy team feels bad. Either way someone feels bad.

Assassins and other champions are supposed to have risk, some feast or famine in their play style, but not to this extent.

Madanach1 votes

Feast or Famine champions are something Riot has been trying to fix

Although this is true to an extent, the fact that Riot gives bonus gold for first tower and can make 3 infernal drakes spawn in a row sort of goes against this idea and makes the winning team snowball even harder.

And now they've added Rift Herald which allows for even harder snowballing.

Candurill1 votes

{quoted}

You are welcome :)

I was simply pointing out that the passive MIGHT be a bit of concern. I do indeed see that you thought really really hard on it and I really think its cool and it works...But I assure you that some of the judges of the CCOS will find it a concern... Then again, my concept works with moving clouds of fog that act like brushes....don't think I'm one to complain XD

Anyway, you explained some of my concerns away :) the ultimate's drawback I think is still...lackluster...It doesn't really seem serve a purpose (to me at least). But it fits thematically so its ok ^^

Overall I really think you have a good chance of getting high in the CCOS, so good job and keep the good ideas coming :)

Madanach1 votes

Now that I think about it, the passive may be slightly overtuned but it's hard to test without actually testing in game. If I have the time I will make it not as game changing.

Candurill1 votes

{quoted}

Now that I think about it, the passive may be slightly overtuned but it's hard to test without actually testing in game. If I have the time I will make it not as game changing.

Yea thats the problem we all face as concept creators ^^' What I always do is imagine playing AGAINST my champion...will I be Yasuo level tilted, or just annoyed...Usually gives a good indication of how "OP" something is :)

Arakadia1 votes

I'm very concerned about the passive.

It's not only snowbally af, as if gaining gold wasn't enough of an advantage your taking gold from them too, but it also rewards selfish play due to only working on kills.

Madanach1 votes

Thank you for your comment!

However, I do not agree with this. In lane before 5 minutes the enemy laner will have around 500 gold. So killing them will steal very little gold; little in comparison to the 400 gold granted from first blood. Khurdan has an awful early laning phase so a miracle has to happen for him to get a kill and it's not like it's a hidden passive, the enemy knows he will get far ahead if he gets kills so they have to play accordingly.

The passive almost forces you to return to base as unlike someone like Draven, you can't just sit in lane with the gold you get from a kill. You will be public enemy number 1 until you cash it in. Don't forget, if you and your laner kill each other you get no reward.

Let's say the enemy backs with 1200 gold and returns to lane with a Tiamat, and you kill them. Well congrats you got almost no gold from your passive as they had no gold when they returned to lane. Compare this to a 50 stack Draven. He gets 150 bonus gold from the kill

I also do not agree with it rewarding selfish play, if anything it encourages teamplay. A jungler will probably focus Khurdan's lane so he gets far ahead and doesn't get camped by the enemy jungler. Also a team will do everything to protect their Khurdan so he gets to cash in his gold.

Bare in mind he gets no other innate passive. He doesn't get bonus damage or utility from his passive and once everyone is full build it is almost useless. Compare this to a passive which grants damage such as Orianna's passive. This passive is useful throughout the game: early/mid/late.

The 10% is more of a placeholder. It's one of those things you'd actually have to see in-game and adjust accordingly to find the sweet spot between broken and useless. One part of the passive I forgot to add as it would require me to edit the original image is that consecutive kills on the same champion reduce the gold stolen by 2% down to a minimum of 2%, the percentage is reset when a different champion is killed. (This was more to reduce the impact of intentional feeders).

Madanach1 votes

Well I changed the passive if anyone is interested. At least now way it won't be too snowbally.

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 Madanach

[Champion Concept] Khurdan, Profligate of the Desert
Concepts & Creations20 comments
5
votes
Option to turn off ability casting using the minimap
Gameplay0 comments
3
votes