Bhuil - The Mad Strategist
This was an idea I had a while back, and it's still in the formative stages. Seeing a bunch of people voice complaints about Jhin made me think of this concept, and some of the more interesting abilities I'd come up with. If this gets any kind of headway, I'll make a sketch and clean up the abilities drafted here. And yes, that placeholder image is Nicholas Cage from Ghost Rider. Primary inspirations for this character were Gnar and Sheogorath (from the Elder Scrolls games).
Bhuil (name and title subject to change) is intended as a support / mid champ, with a variety of useful abilities for a few different situations. I imagine him being from the same region as Annie, or perhaps Noxus. He could also be an escaped ward patient from Piltover. Thoughts? He's a psychic, possibly often restrained in a straight-jacket, and perhaps accompanied by an imp or other familiar.
Passive - Maddening Echoes Bhuil has 2 modes, each based on one of his moods. Rather than mana, he has a gauge to track his mood as it progresses from one state to the other. Bhuil's mood gauge fills slowly over time, switching moods after about 60 seconds, as well as filling quickly under certain circumstances. Mania: Bhuil has increased movement speed, health regen, and tenacity. His mood gauge fills slightly each time he takes damage (1 or 2 percent from minion hits, 5 percent from champion spells and attacks). Fury: Bhuil has increased attack speed, ability power, and attack damage. His mood guage fills twice as fast while he is out of combat. When Bhuil shifts from one mood to the other, he enters a state of Hysteria for a few seconds, during which time he has all the passive benefits of both moods, and an additional benefit to most of his abilities.
Bhuil's appearance and sound effects, as well as the decoration of the imp and the color of his auto-attack projectiles, would change with his mood. Taunts and other animations should change as well.
I'm not sure if the "Hysteria" benefit should apply to ALL spells cast during its time, or only the first. Thoughts?
Q - Fickle Dreams Bhuil releases a slow blast of psychic power as a linear skillshot. This projectile does moderate magic damage (AP scaling) to the first enemy champion hit, and causes one of the following effects, depending on Bhuil's mood. Mania: The enemy is charmed for a short time (.5 / .7 / .9 / 1.1 / 1.3 seconds) Fury: The enemy is frightened for a short time (.5 / .75 / 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 seconds) Hysteria: The enemy is also slowed for the duration of the charm or fear. Minions the projectile passes over take half damage and are stunned for .75 seconds.
The icon for this would be a face, either smitten or terrified depending on his mood.
W - Heed the Voices Bhuil takes a moment to collect his thoughts, channeling for up to 3 seconds. While he channels, he rapidly fills up a portion (1/4) of his mood gauge and his other abilities' cooldowns are reduced twice as quickly. During this time, he also gains one of the following effects, depending on his mood. Mania: Bhuil gains a spell shield that blocks a small amount of magic damage (AP scaling) and prevents disables. The shield begins when the channel does and lasts for twice as long as the channel afterward. Fury: Bhuil's attacks and offensive spells deal (108 / 111 / 114 / 117 / 120%) damage for a short time. This benefit begins when the channel ends and lasts for twice as long as the channel. Hysteria: At the end of the channel, Bhuil also gains a burst of speed that lasts as long as the channel.
So if he has 10 seconds remaining on his Q when he begins the channel, he will have 4 seconds remaining at the end of the channel, if he is not interrupted (10 minus 3 seconds of real time, minus 3 more seconds from this ability). A full 3-second channel at max ranks while Furious would increase all of Bhuil's damage by 20% for 6 seconds.
E - Concussion Spark Bhuil creates an orb of psychic energy at a point nearby, which begins building power. After a few seconds, or when cast again, the orb will explode in a circle, dealing moderate magic damage (AP scaling) and knocking enemies away from its point of origin. The damage and knockback increase as the orb charges. Mania: The orb's area of effect is blanketed in psychic energy for several seconds, doubling Bhuil's passive benefits and granting him bonus AP and Cooldown Reduction while he is in that zone. Fury: The orb knocks opponents into the air, causing them to take physical damage upon landing equal to a portion of their maximum health. Hysteria: If Bhuil right-clicks on the orb, he will dash to it and it will immediately detonate at maximum power.
A little trap/mobility/zone-control here. I know this ability seems rather "loaded" with perks, but each of them is fairly minor.
R - Psychic Scrying After a brief cast time, Bhuil forms a tether to a nearby enemy champion. This stuns them briefly, before obscuring their vision for several seconds. During this time, Bhuil can see through the fog of war as though he were on the enemy team. Mania: The enemy champion is also snared for the duration of the effect, and Bhuil laughs constantly. The obscuring effect is bright and colorful for the enemy player. Fury: The enemy champion takes a moderate amount of magic damage (AP scaling) over the duration, and Bhuil taunts them. The obscuring effect is dark and sinister for the enemy player. Hysteria: The vision gained is shared with Bhuil's team-mates, and fades away slowly when the tether ends or is broken.
Ultimate is purely map awareness and single-target CC. The enemy champion is either snared or taking damage from the spell, but not both. Regardless of the graphics of the obscuring effect, it functions almost exactly like Graves' smokescreen. Note that if he's not in a Frenzy when he casts it, he'll have to relay the information he gains through the extra vision to his team-mates manually.
In general, his Manic benefits should be stronger or more useful than his Furious ones for team-fights, but his Furious ones should be stronger for duels and such.
passive, with certain effects occurring depending on how much the Mood Gauge has filled up. For instance, your Q could charm enemies when the Mood Gauge is low, but fear enemies when it's high. Something like that would clear up the kit a lot.