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[Champion Concept] Gwendolyn the Minion Maven

K O pischke·8/11/2014, 10:06:16 PM·5 votes·1,734 views

Hi everyone! I'm a newcomer to the champion/skin concept boards, but I’ve had an idea for a champ for a while now, so I’m going to take a shot at posting her. This is obviously my first champ concept, and it still needs some work in some areas.

I could use some help with the lore. I have an idea about what I want it to be, which I will post here, but it needs some fleshing out and a good writer to jot it all down. The following story I have written is not as much the lore, but just describing some of the things about the champion. If some has to be taken out or changed to make the lore work that would be fine. I am also not 100% sure if I have the existing lore correct when it comes to how Summoners are trained. Please leave a comment about what I can fix or what needs improvement.

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Gwendolyn the Minion Maven

Gwendolyn was always an awkward child. Growing up she didn’t have many friends. Some of the children laughed at how tall she was, and others were scared she might hurt them, but Gwendolyn was a gentle giant. Even though she was not the most attractive or graceful, she always saw herself as a delicate flower. She loved the name Gwendolyn, but everyone always called her Lenny instead. She hated that name. Lenny’s father was a powerful politician (I'm thinking he might be Noxian) and had her sent to hall of justice to study magic to get her away from the family so as not to embarrass him. While at the hall of justice, Lenny had the same problems she had at home; few friends and little respect. That is until she was able to start summoning. Lenny was able to do things with summoned minions that no one was able to do before; however, when it came to summoning champions, she just couldn’t do it. She failed every time. Lenny loved to summon minions and even asked if she could keep some of them in her room. She had an odd relationship with the minions. Even though she was controlling them, she seemed to be friends with them. It’s like they were her toys, but they seemed so much more alive when Lenny was controlling them. While in the Hall of justice, Lenny’s father was gaining more traction in his power. He had been threatened many times to back down but refused. Another official had a hit called on some of his family members to try to persuade him to stop. While sleeping in her room one night, a figure crept in Lenny’s window; however, he never had a chance to draw his weapon because the minions in Lenny’s room sprang into action to defend her. Word quickly spread through the Halls of justice of Lenny’s prowess with minions. Because of how minions acted on the fields of justice, she could never control minions of the fields as a Summoner, but she would have her chance as a Champion.

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So, as you can see, the lore needs a lot of work. The biggest things are who gave her the chance as a champion of the field, and since her father is (possibly) Noxian, where does her allegiance fall?
These are some of the things I want to keep/add: things that make Gwendolyn the champ she is today, such as being socially awkward, almost childlike, being a very large woman (think a bit smaller than Braum) and always wanting to be dainty. She never liked fighting, and hated the name Lenny. I also think it would be interesting to incorporate the fact that the purple minions will no longer be used in the new Summoners Rift. Perhaps those are the minions she “saved” from being used for parts. When it comes to physical appearance, since Gwendolyn befriended the minions, she has taken on their likeness. She wears a purple robe with yellow trim. The robe is hooded, but she doesn’t use it. I see her as blonde and trying to be cute by wearing pigtails all the time; however, put against her large size, it does not look great. In game, she never performs an attack. Instead, she carries a caster minion with her that attacks for her. She carries a staff resembling the caster minions, but never uses it for offense.

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Now about the game play. Again, this is still a work in progress, there are some things that still need work, and I don’t have any numbers to go with the abilities. I only have a general idea of power. I’m not the best with the numbers game, so if something seems off let me know. I want her to have average stats all around, but with a key difference being attack range and attack damage. Since she carries a caster minion with her to attack, she will have 600 range but only 23 attack damage. I know that that is the lowest in the game by far, but she is meant to gain a great deal through levels, and with her passive she is still able to last hit. Her abilities are still a work in progress, but I ordered them the way I like them best right now. I’ve gone through the power levels, and I think everything is in check, but, since I’m new to this, something could be very off.

<><><><><><><><> Base Stats: Health: 450 (+80 per level)
Health Regen: 5.5 (+0.6 Per Level) Mana: 225 (+40 Per Level) Mana Regen: 5.5 (+0.65 Per Level) Range: 600 Attack Damage: 23 (+4.75 Per Level) Attack Speed: 0.670 (+3.5% Per Level) Armor: 18.5 (+3 Per Level) Magic Resistance: 30 (+0 Per Level) Movement Speed: 325

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Passive: Know Their Weakness Gwendolyn has a bonus 50 ad while attacking minions. (Does not work on neutral monsters)

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Q: Friends, Help! Range: 600 Cooldown: 10/9/8/7/6 Mana cost:20/30/40/50/60

Single Target Enemy Cast: Target acquires minion agro from all minions in range for 1/2/3/4/5 seconds. Target takes 1/2/3/4/5 (+1%AD) damage per minion hit.

Single Target Ally Cast: Target cannot be targeted by enemy minions for 1/2/3/4/5 seconds.

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W: Playtime! Range: Self Cast Cooldown: 15 Mana cost: 50

Summons a melee minion to Gwendolyn’s side with a max 5 minions. When summoned, the minion will stay within 150 range units of its position next to Gwendolyn. When all 5 minions are summoned, they will stay in a circle around Gwendolyn. While the ability is on cooldown, Gwendolyn may reactivate the ability to shift the position of the minions around her, or hold alt and self-cast to shift minions if the ability is not on cooldown. Minions will also intercept skill shots for Gwendolyn. Each minion summoned will give Gwendolyn 3 armor and 3 magic resist. Summoning minions strains Gwendolyn. Each minion summoned reduces Gwendolyn’s Mana Regen by 15% to a max of 75%.

Minion stats: Health: 250/300/350/400/450 (+10% Bonus Health) Health Regen: Equal to Gwendolyn Attack: 20/25/30/35/40 (+10%AD) Attack Speed: 6.7 Armor: 30 (+50% bonus Armor) Magic Resist: 30 (+50% bonus MR) Movement Speed: Equal to Gwendolyn Reduced AOE damage 20%

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E: My Best Friend Range: 750 Cooldown: 15/13/11/9/7 Mana Cost: 80/85/90/95/100

Summon a Cannon minion on target location. The Cannon minion will stay at the target location and grants vision for 10 seconds or until directed to attack. Once directed to attack, the Cannon minion will fire an oversized cannon ball with 500 range towards target location striking the first target hit dealing 100/150/200/250/300 (+70%AP) magic damage. Targets within a small area of target receive 25% damage. After firing the cannon minion stays for 2 seconds before disappearing. (Thank you too Coolh4x0r for making this clearer) Depending on which direction fired, the target will either be slowed or stunned. If the Cannon minion is facing Gwendolyn the target will be stunned for .5/.75/1/1.25/1.50 seconds. If the Cannon minion is facing away from Gwendolyn the target will instead be slowed by 50% for 1/1.5/2/2.5/3 seconds. Regardless of which way the cannon minion is facing, targets hit by splash damage are always slowed for half the effect. <><><><><><><><>

R: DON’T CALL ME LENNY! Range: Self Cast Cooldown: 150/125/100 Mana Cost: 100 Duration 15/20/25

When cast, Gwendolyn receives bonus stats depending on how many minions are near her. For each minion Gwendolyn receives 1/2/3% bonus Health Armor and Magic Resist. While active Playtime has a 5 second cooldown and is free to cast. All friendly minions around Gwendolyn also receive buffs. Every minion gains a bonus 10/20/30 AD (+1/2/3% bonus AD) and gains 50/100/150 (+5/10/15% bonus Health) Health and 50% of Gwendolyn’s Health Regen.

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Gwendolyn’s role:

Gwendolyn will be a top lane bruiser. She can be built as full AD or full tank, but the best path would be a mix of both. She can even grab some AP items as her E scales from AP. I’m thinking of adding a few more AP elements into the abilities to make AP seem like a better path. Gwendolyn will be a terror in lane. At early levels, she will be at her weakest; however after level 6, if she is left in lane alone, she will have a tower in no time. Her main role mid game will be pushing lanes. She has little presence in the jungle unless all 5 of her minions are summoned, but even then she will not be at her strongest. In late game she will continue to try for objectives; however she does much better on the offensive than defensive., since while sieging she would have a strong minion wave to help boost her stats when she ults.

<><><><><><><><> Things that could possibly change:

  • More abilities scaling off AP.
  • The minions summoned by Playtime could benefit from lifesteal/give Gwendolyn some Health on hit. I’m just not sure how powerful she is already.
  • She might be too under powered early levels, but something needs to offset her late game pushing power.
  • The minions she summons could possibly take tower agro before she does making her dives deadly. If this were the case, towers would one shot her minions no matter how much health they had.

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Playing as Gwendolyn: Depending on your lane matchup you could take any of your 3 abilities to start. If you are against an aggressive lane and need an early escape, take E. If you can escape but would like to pressure, take Q. If you are vs an easy lane and can all in early, take W and start to summon minions in base. Be careful not to get too low on mana with 3-5 minions summoned because it will be very difficult for you to gain mana back. After six, decide if you should shove the lane or not. If your opponent can easily farm under tower or the enemy jungler can secure a kill if they ganked, try to freeze the lane or let the enemy push so you can start building a better minion wave under your tower. Unless you are being camped by the enemy jungler, you should take tower before your opponent. If this is the case, decide if you can start working on the next tower. If you are putting massive pressure on top lane, the enemy jungler will almost have to camp top which will allow your jungler to have free ganks bottom and mid. Late game your only job should be pushing. You will have such pressure on towers that the enemy will have to keep 1 or 2 champions at tower just to hold you back. At this point try not to be at a tower unless your team is at a different tower as well. Its called split-pushing, not ‘run in alone and complain you died’ pushing. When you are deciding which lane to push, ask your team to let you push the lane with the best minion wave, or the wave that is starting closest to your base so the wave can grow.

  • Counter play:
    • Champions with large wave clear really hurt her ability to gain big bonuses from her ult.
    • At early levels try to kill the minions she summons as soon as she summons them, With a 15 second cooldown it will be difficult for her to gain a full 5 minions.
    • Mid game try to keep tabs on where Gwendolyn is relative to your towers. Even if you cannot kill her with help from the jungler, you might have to get your jungler to help clear a wave if she has ulted.
    • Late game never let Gwendolyn near your base alone. With a wave or two of minions, towers are like butter to her.

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Skins: Gwendolyn would be very easy to brainstorm ideas for skins. Here are a few that I have created. <><> Druid Gwendolyn She would wear a green robe with leaves and such. Her summoned minions would be wolves, the cannon minion would be a boar that charges. <><> Puppet master Gwendolyn She would wear a tux and hold a puppet champion (one of the adc’s would be best). Her minions would be random puppet champions. The cannon minion would be Puppet Dr.mundo throwing his cleaver. <><>

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Thats all I have so far for Gwendolyn. I hope everyone takes the time to read and post a comment about what they liked/what I could improve on. I had fun creating my first champ, so hopefully this will be the start of a long line of champ creations!

9 Comments

nonamewarrior8/12/2014, 12:05:55 AM2 votes

Quite the novel, but I like the idea.

Metal Machina8/12/2014, 3:55:00 AM2 votes

i love the idea of a minion buffing champ, I do. I just don't see an easy way to make them balanced. The early pushing power is guaranteed to make the jungler need to gank top early. And when i jungle I hate knowing right off the bat who is going to need ganking first. I like having open options. That might just be me. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea and want it to work, But the minion champ ideas are just too strong. I think you have to either have good engage and a weaker push or vice versa.

Possible options i see include:

  1. Take away summoned minions or don't let them have the same presence as a regular minion

  2. Rethink the passive a bit [make it scale based on how many enemy minions are around her , that way she has good clear power thats a little less terrifying than and extra 50 ad every auto attack against enemy minions]

  3. Extend the cooldown on the ult [again too much push]

  4. Make her a melee to lower her lane presence.

TL:DR- Too Op Insta-ban

P.S.- I appreciate how much effort you put into this and hope you continue to come up with custom champs like this. Thanks for the good read. :)

Kaisa Feeder8/12/2014, 2:56:23 PM2 votes

Contrary to what Metal Machina has said, i actually think she's a bit UP and will never be played for the same reason as yorick: overwhelming early game, underwhelming lategame. Especially in ranked, the top may pick someone who is content to farm under turret and outscale, such as Nasus or Jax. They may even give up the turret, as the tier 1 turrets aren't really worth that much anymore (Riot made the change to counter the lvl 2 pushes for 6 minute outer turrets in competitive play). Meanwhile, in a meta where the mid currently possess good waveclear, a champion relying on minions has their lategame strength greatly reduced. Lets say the enemy team has a ziggs:

  1. He instant clears minion waves, rendering your q effectively useless
  2. it also greatly weakens your ult because there are less minions
  3. He can q>e you to kill all of your playtime minions, and his q>e cd is way smaller than 15x5=75
  4. he can't really do much about your e

So basically, if the enemy champ has long range waveclear, you effectively lose 3 of your 4 abilities, and become essentially a meatshield with very weak cc compared to other meatshields. That's why I think this champion is frankly quite underwhelming in my opinion.

I would say its a great concept, but right now she is way too dependent on minions for the majority of her power. Perhaps give her ult a flat boost with or without minions, buff her w to increase the aoe mitigation on your playtime minions and change the damage to scaling with AP as opposed to AD to reinforce her role as an AP tank (for reference, elise spiderlings have 25% dmg reduction and they do 40+10%AP dmg at lvl 16, and its a passive ability). Also, your description of e is a bit hard to understand. Is the cannon only able to fire once, or does it repeatedly fire like a heimer turret?