Top Lane Bard/Minstrel Champion?
Bards/Musicians are some of my favorite characters when it comes to RPGs and I know that we have Sona who fits a support role with this concept, but I wanted to throw out an idea for a potential AoE Top Lane Caster/Harass Champion with a unique mechanic to go with their abilities. Visually speaking, the Bards from earlier Fire Emblem games come to mind... Nils specifically for a younger more energetic personality and Elphin for an older and wiser character. Here's their pictures and info if anyone's interested:
http://fireemblem.wikia.com/wiki/Nils http://fireemblem.wikia.com/wiki/Elphin
As for what abilities they use, here's what I was thinking... The Bard would be a short ranged Energy Champion, which would have the basics - 200 Energy and restores 50 per 5 seconds. The Bard has all toggle abilities. Only 1 toggle ability can be active at a time and Energy restoration is negated while toggle abilities are active. Passive: Musical Style - The Bard has access to 2 special consumable items in the shop The Flute and The Harp (They are both 0 gold). Consuming one gives you its effects and you cannot have the effects of both at the same time. Using the opposite item will remove the effects of the one you had in effect. You can only have 1 instrument in your inventory at a time. You cannot have 1 of both. They are always accessible in the shop which means you actually can change which one you're using when you return to the shop. You can even hold onto the one you aren't using and consume it in the middle of lane or during the game, but this will not reset any cool downs. Flute Passive: The Bard gains Bonus AP while an ability is active. 10 AP per second max 3/4/5 stacks (4 max at level 11, and 5 at level 16) This effect lasts 1 second after The Bard cancel's an ability. Harp Passive: The Bard gains Bonus Defense and Resistance while an ability is active. 7 Defense and Resistance per second max 3/4/5 stacks (4 max at level 11, sand 5 at level 16) This effect lasts 2 seconds after The Bard cancel's an ability.
Q: Vampire's Song - Toggle: The Bard deals magic damage to nearby enemies per second, this damage is converted to a shield. Damage: 15/25/35/45/55 (+30% AP) (+10% AP with Flute as passive) magic damage Shield: The Bard is shielded by 50% of the damage dealt (The Bard is shielded by 65% of damage dealt with Harp as passive) . The damage returned as shield decays by 10% per second to a minimum of 10% damage returned as a shield (Minimum 15% damage returned as shield with Harp as passive) (The shield effect is halved against monsters and there is no damage returned as shield against minions.) The shield lasts 2 seconds no enemy champions or monsters are in range (Note that losing the shield will not reset the damage return as shield if the toggle has not been switched off) Cooldown: 10/9.5/9/8.5/8 seconds. Energy Cost: 10 per second/15 per second after 5 seconds. Range: 600
W: Raining Lament - Toggle: The Bard slows enemies in range, as well as adds other effects depending on the current passive. Slow: 7/7.5/8/8.5/9% (+0.5% per 100 AP) slow per second (Max 5 stacks) This effect lasts 1 second if the Enemy Champion is out of range. Flute Passive: Reduces healing effects on enemies by 25%/33%/50% in range (increase at levels 11 and 16) This effect lasts 3 seconds when the enemy is out of range. Harp Passive: Enemies in range lose 3/4/5 (Increase at levels 11 and 16) AD and AP per second (Max 5 stacks) (Values cannot be negative) This effect lasts 1.5 seconds when the enemy is out of range. Cooldown: 10/9.5/9/8.5/8 seconds. Energy Cost: 10 per second/15 per second after 5 seconds. Range: 600
E: Slicing Elegy - Toggle: The Bard deals magic damage to nearby enemies with other effects depending on the current passive. Damage: 60/70/80/90/100 (+50% AP) per 2 seconds. Flute Passive: Enemies hit are marked for 2 seconds, if the Bard auto attacks them the mark detonates dealing 10/20/30 (increase at levels 11 and 16) (+100% AP) magic damage. Harp Passive: The Bard gains 15%/20%/25% (Increases at levels 11 and 16) Spell Vamp while this ability is toggled and lasts 3 seconds when this ability is toggled off. Cooldown: 10/9.5/9/8.5/8 seconds. Energy Cost: 10 per second/15 per second after 5 seconds. Range: 600
R: Hero's Finale - Active: The Bard cancels their currently active toggle ability and performs an effect based on which ability it is. Q (Vampire's Song) - Detonate's the shield on the Bard, removing it and granting a bonus effect. (Flute Passive Restores the Bard's Energy to full and grants them a 40%/50%/60% move speed boost for 3.5 seconds) (Harp Passive returns 30%/40%/50% of the current shield as health and doubles the defense and resistance stacked by the Harp Passive for 5 seconds) W (Raining Lament) - All enemies in range have their current slow value doubled and decays over 2/3/4 (3/4/5 With Flute Passive) seconds. (With Harp Passive this also reduces attack speed by 30%/40%/50% for 3 seconds) E (Slicing Elegy) - Deals 200/250/300 (+60% AP) (+15% AP with Flute Passive) magic damage to enemies in range. (With Harp Passive this also stuns all enemies for 1 second) Cooldown: 180/160/140
Other important things to note... Base move speed would be 335 to help the Bard keep up with their AoE Toggles. Because the Bard is often playing in Melee range and wants some bulk, their range is short: 400.
Also note that I'm by no means a game designer so I can't say I know how balanced these numbers are. It would really need to be tested since the Bard could be really powerful if he's in range for long enough. Thats the thing to remember, they can't do things that well instantly, since you'd normally need to get all 5 seconds going to maximize some of the ultimate effects and toggle effects. I'm fairly certain that these numbers would need some kind of tweaking in some way if the Bard were to actually become a champion.
