Champion and Story Idea: Reverb

I saw that Hex-tech was coming out soon and it was interesting to me so I looked into it and learned about some of the Hex-tech skin line lore. Apparently, the skin line takes place in the distant future where hextech has advanced to a point of incredible power... This inspired a story and a champion idea that I think is very cool and I really wanted to share.

The three things I thought of after reading this was how this relates to; Ekko , because he is by far my favorite and my most played champion and detests Piltover; Camille , because she is part hex-tech and part human, an assassin, and from Piltover; what Piltover might do with this newfound technology; and what it means for these two champions.

I'm not exactly an experienced writer, so you can expect this story to be dry and essentially a list of details and events. I'm scared of dialogue. I apologize in advance, you'll have to bear with me. If you are not interested in, or get bored, of the story you can skip to the next section where I briefly summarize the story. STORY:

It starts with Camille, accompanied by a humanoid hex-tech automaton or two, forcing an entry into a large chamber that serves as Ekko's laboratory. The chamber contains a large spherical contraption at its center and, between that contraption and the entrance that Camille and her goons see an adult Ekko who stands alone, seemingly in an attempt to block Camille's path to the contraption. He stands as a silhouette, backed by the light of his Z-Drive, so details are not immediately visible.

However, two things become obvious as they approach, first: that Ekko is significantly and prematurely aged by both the toxic environment of Zaun and the consistent use of his Z-Drive, and second: that he and his clothes are covered in deep lacerations and he is only standing with the last of his strength.

Camille lowers her guard at the sight and takes on an amused tone as she gestures to his injuries and asks him how many times they've already fought.

Ekko responds with 42 (because memes and Heimerdinger).

Camille asks him tauntingly how many of those fights she won, stating that she wants to hear him say it. Ekko retorts with something along the lines of, 'the fight hasn't ended yet' or something.

Camille lunges at Ekko who, without the necessary strength, fails to dodge the assault and is pinned face down on the ground as Camille's leg pierces his shoulder. Ekko's luck has finally run out and it is obvious that he has lost, so a conversation between the two champions begins.

Camille goes on to boast about her victory, belittle Ekko for imperfections like she does with everyone, as per her character, then goes on to praise him for his remarkable ability to avoid or recover from his mistakes, and finally concluding her little monologue with how, despite this impressive ability, it was all futile because hex-tech doesn't make mistakes in the first place and how its a shame that a mind like his wasn't on her side.

Ekko surprises Camille with a reflective and insightful analysis of his fighting style over the years. He believes that when he was young his technology and fighting style were crude.
His Z-Drive would, on occasion, give off the excess energy of a chrono-fracture in explosive emission of energy (thus tying the in game functionality of his ult in to his lore) because of what he now realizes was a flaw in the device's design. When he was young, he believed back then that his greatest asset was the ability to undo and recover from mistakes and not make them in the future, but through the war/rebellion against Piltover he acknowledged and accepted that his greatest asset was actually his ability to learn about the enemy in what was effectively an instant, and to apply that newfound knowledge to overcome and exploit the enemy's weakness. Every time he encountered a new hex-tech war machine** he would use the fight as an opportunity to learn how it worked so that he may find and exploit its weaknesses** (just like he does in the Ekko cinematic 'Seconds' when he's fighting the street goon) and over the course of a combat he could anticipate the enemy's strategic movements and use it against them. Every time he would make a mistake and got injured it would just diminish his ability to continue learning by making him less and less able to continue engaging with the enemy. He remarks that it was unfortunate that mistakes played such a detrimental yet necessary role in the way he fought and this was ultimately his downfall. while fighting Camille, he learned how she fought and what she intended to do, but as he figured out what he needed to do to defeat her he became too injured to actually preform the necessary strategy, at which point he had realized he had lost.

Camille, curious about Ekko's analysis of her weaknesses and fighting style, asks him what he would have done to defeat her if he could.

Ekko then looks up at the spherical object at the center of his lab, observing he's stalled for enough time for the machine to ready itself and says something along the lines of, 'I would have needed to act long before the fight actually began.'

At this point the spherical object begins to whir and glow, casting the pale blue light that is a signature Ekko's technology into a previously shadowy and unlit corner of the lab, from which a humanoid with a brass sheen darts in a direct path to the object.

The automatons that accompanied Camille unhesitatingly open fire on the mysterious brass person but their attacks fail to penetrate it. Camille releases her pin on Ekko and begins her Hex-tech ultimatum but all too late, as the brass man disappears into the light of the luminescent machine. The machine grows brighter and begins to release energy and force that threatens the integrity of the building forcing Camille to flee or risk death or grievous injury.

If we're being cinematic, this is the point where the light would grow ever brighter until it fades to white and transitions to the current Zaun.

The young Ekko sits on a beam above a street named 'clock street' and enjoys the view and on the other side of this beam a hooded man does the same. Ekko pulls out his journal and writes, 'Should I ever invent long term time travel and face a grave danger in the future, I will send a sign back in time to [insert date and time here] at clock street.' (We know Ekko has a journal because whenever he respawns he face-palms, pulls out a book, writes in it, and then puts it away.)

He leans back and continues enjoying the view for a few seconds before the hooded figure from across the beam stands up and approaches him. He pulls off his hood and says something like, 'Hi... Dad. We have work to do.'

CHAMPION AND ABILITIES:

As Ekko's name is a play on the word 'echo', I thought it would be fitting for his creation to be named Reverb, short for 'reverberation'.

Reverb is a hex-tech automaton created and sent back in time by Ekko with the task of finding the younger version of himself so that they can put their heads together and begin planning for Piltover's attempt to bring 'order' to Zaun. The relationship between the two characters would be a father-son relationship where Reverb treats and refers to Ekko as his father despite obviously being the more adult and mature of the two. He is intended to be an initiation tank and/or a fighter

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Passive: I didn't come up with a Passive

Q: I didn't come up with a Q ability

W: Chrono-Pierce

• Passive: Creates a hologram of where Reverb was both 2 and 4 seconds ago, that only his team can see.
• Active: This ability had two charges, like Aatrox's E. When activated It uses up one of those charges to return him to were he was 2 seconds ago, healing him for percent of the damage he had taken within those two seconds (percent probably based on overall level or something) and removing 1-2 seconds (based of level or rank) off of each of his cool-downs (not including Chrono-Pierce). (Think Zilean W but instead of 10 seconds its 2 max)

E: I didn't come up with an E ability

Ultimate: Chronostatic Convergence

• Range: Global
• Active: On activation, Reverb creates a quasi-real hologram of himself that launches a hex-tech time device from his chest. Once it lands, it creates a bubble that reveals and slows everything within it. Unlike Ekko's W, which always takes 3 seconds, the time it takes for the ult to reach its destination is relative to the distance it has to travel in the same way that bard's ult works. Should he enter this bubble it will detonate and freeze time within its radius in the same way Ekko's W does.

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CONSIDERATIONS AND CONCERNS:

Overcrowding a character niche. On Tahm Kench's release, I was concerned that the gluttony theme they were going for would overlap and fill a character niche that had already been filled by Kog'Maw . Thankfully, the characters had unique enough perspectives and play-styles that they didn't seem cause problems.
Reverb, on the otherhand, steps on Ekko's toes like this but in a really really ambitious way.
I think the solutions to this problem lies in a combination of the ideas discussed below.

Reverb as an abstract solution to tank Ekko. The idea I was going for was a character that utilized refined versions of Ekko's technology to accomplish and fill a different role in the team dynamic. People played Ekko for two reasons, first because it was extremely powerful and unhealthy, and second is because it was fun for the person playing it (not necessarily anyone else) to play. Reverb could potentially satisfy the players that enjoyed the tank Ekko playstlye. Furthermore, a champion like this could prevent the return of tank Ekko, because why would you play Ekko as a tank when a tank Ekko exists?

Reverb and expression of character. The existence of Reverb would enhance the character expression of Ekko and the existence of Ekko would enhance the character expression of Reverb because of their contrast. Let's consider Ekko's visuals for a minute. His technology and clothes all look 'patchwork'. As in, all of his things are pieced together from things he found around him. As for his animations, when he hits people he wildly beats them with his bat and kicks them. When he uses his W, he tosses his time device up into the air and hits it like a baseball. It all kind of screams rebellious, carefree troublemaker.

The particles and animations of Reverb could all take a more measured, geometric, and mechanical/hex-tech approach such that when Ekko and Reverb were next to each other it would draw major attention to their differences in approach and personality despite using the same tools. Ekko is taking the louder 'I'm going to smack you around' approach while the other is under their hood and cloak and providing the tools the other needs to do what they do.

Playing as one with the other as a teammate. I love love love the idea of playing this with a friend. If the animations are done so that their personality differences are obvious I think I would have a blast. You and your friend could both activate the convergences at the same time so your holograms go off simultaneously, one provides the initiation the other needs while the other provides the damage, and then the fight goes wrong so you both rewind out of the mess you made and walk way together while your teammates get dunked without you. The situations you get yourself into would be a relatable experience for whoever you're playing with.

It would feel like you're both a time traveling dynamic-duo.

Playstyle considerations. The way Reverb would use the Rewind and Convergence is different enough, I think, to feel like they aren't just the same abilities copy and pasted onto a different champion as you're playing it, despite that being exactly what it is. A Reverb would use the Convergence as an initiation stun bomb and long range assistance, while the Ekko would use it as a tool for predictive play and survivibility. The Rewind will be used the same way by both of them (excluding damage, Reverb's doesn't do damage) but the mechanics of the two are different enough that they will feel very different to play. Furthermore, the difference in their roles on a team might drastically change how the ability is perceived as a tool by the players.

CONCLUSION I believe that if a character like this is designed properly, it could actually serve to enhance the experience that the character it is based off of provides by serving as a nuanced contrast. It could make them each feel distinctly unique in personality and functionality.

Also, I like Ekko to an unhealthy extent. That's the ultimate conclusion here.