WIP Champion Concept - Support/Assassin (Help and Constructive Criticism wanted!)
A while ago (maybe a month or two ago?? Can't quite remember), there was a discussion about Champion gameplay, and when the discussion went to Champion roles, a Rioter had mentioned different combinations they'd like to try out, and one of those that really got my attention was "Support/Assassin". Right away a million different questions flew through my mind. How could a support also be an assassin? How could they help their team get kills/objectives, and keep them from getting killed or losing objectives? Supports normally burst down their squishy opponents as quickly as possible, so how can one normally designed to kill as fast as possible instead be geared to NOT kill, but instead to "enable"?
Well, those are exactly the questions I tried to answer, and I think I got it. However, I don't think this kit is perfect, but it's a start. I haven't shown anyone this yet, and I would like some thoughts on it. As the title says, help and constructive criticism are welcomed!
I dont have a name, picture, gender, or even a race yet for the Champion, but I would like to eventually have you all help with all of that as well. If this all goes well, then I will make this a community project, letting things be taken to a vote by you all. :)
So without further ado, the kit:
Support through superior positioning and enabling. That is the key here.
**Passive: ** Stealthed while not moving in brush.
Dealing damage with an ability or auto attack to an enemy Champion while not in their vision will mark them as vulnerable. The next allied Champion to deal damage to the marked enemy with an auto attack will deal bonus magic damage.
Q: Throws a small shuriken(?) in a skillshot, slowing enemies it hits by 20%. The slow can stack up to 3 times, slowing for a maximum of 60%. Holds up to 3 charges. The cooldown time between shuriken throws is halved if a shuriken hits an enemy champion.
W: Next auto attack will stun. If the stunned enemy is an enemy champion, it will mark them as vulnerable.
E: Places a small lantern at a target location, giving a small amount of vision. When an enemy Champion approaches the lantern, a small bell rings, and after a short time, the lantern explodes, igniting a small area around the lantern and dealing magic damage to enemies in range.
Up to two lanterns can be out at once. If two are out and a third one is placed, the oldest lantern will automatically be destroyed. If a lantern is placed near another lantern, they will connect to each other with a short zipline. An ally can right-click on a lantern that is connected to another lantern to quickly slide down the zipline to the location of the other lantern. This will destroy both lanterns. If a lantern is destroyed, so too is the zipline.
R: Makes self and a nearby target non-stealthed ally stealthed for X seconds and gain a small MS boost. Cannot be cast if you are within vision of the enemy.
"Support through superior positioning and enabling" is the sort of "theme" I tried to stick too when designing this.
Let's break them down, starting from the role. Taking into account what a "support" is, how they help the team and in what ways they do, and taking into account what an "assassin" is, how they're the ones who look for the small openings that allow them certain opportunities, and then strike when the time is right, I thought "a champion who could position themselves perfectly to enable their teammates to score a kill or objective is what I want to make". Their passive is what helps them do that the most, I feel.
Their passive, while immobile and while in a brush, causes them to go stealthed, kinda like 
. But what's NOT like is what they can do while stealthed, and what the enemy can do to avoid it.
- Here's a gameplay example: The ADC pushes the lane up a bit towards the enemy tower. The support/assassin crawls his/her/its way into the brush closest to them, gets into a good position where they can potentially throw some Q's at the enemy without being blocked by minions, and waits. Stealth activated. Patience is key. When they havent been seen for a while, the other duo gets a little anxious, so they decide to ward the brush. Nothing (unless it's a pink ward, in which case throw some Q's and fall back). If they end up running into the brush themselves because their ward's been giving them vision of it for a while, even though you're still sitting there hiding, that's when you activate your W and attack, stunning them and marking them as vulnerable for your ADC to follow up on and do some damage.
Their Q, the 3 shuriken(?) that apply a small stacking slow, is a tool for them to use in multiple situations to help their team either disengage from a dangerous pursuing target, catch up to and engage on a weak target, or to mark a target as vulnerable from afar, hidden somewhere the enemy cannot see.
Their E, the lanterns, is a very interesting and unique, and possibly a bit too powerful, ability of theirs. They double as both mini-wards to give some small amount of vision, as well as providing some mobility to an allied Champion. Think of it as a sort of mini 
lantern where you can designate where they go instead of pulling them to you.
- An example of how this can be used: The support/assassin can use it to allow someone to quickly dash through a wall, placing one on their side and another on the other side, giving both vision and a small one-way escape from danger. It can also act as a sort of mini-dash in open areas, such as lanes. Say you and your ADC are being chased down your lane. You're closer to safety than your ADC is however, and the enemy is fast approaching, and will soon get to your ADC for an easy kill. You can place a lantern down behind you, move up a bit, and place another one further down the lane so when your ADC reaches that point, they can widen the gap between them and danger quickly, like you're granting them their own dash. This would be especially helpful for those champs with very little or no built-in mobility themselves, such as
, 
, 
, or 
.
Now their R, this is an ult I've been very interested in seeing on a champion for a while now. We have ults that make Champions humongous, ults that make Champs invincible, ults that make Champs come back after dying, ults that can heal you from anywhere on the map, and ults that can give you half a Baron buff, but there's yet to be an ult that can make another Champion invisible, and probably for good reason, because invisibility is damn powerful. So, I would imagine a spell that makes another Champ invisible (as well as the support/assassin) AND move a bit quicker would be on a pretty high cooldown (probably at least 120 seconds or so). The main drawback is the fact that you can only use it if you are out of vision range, so you have to be careful and actually have a plan of attack before using it. Hint: When disengaging from the enemy team, try and slow them any way you can (such as with your Q, or even 
), and make your way quickly into the nearest brush. Once you do, you're given a short window to stealth you and possibly a nearby ally, and hopefully soon after make your daring escape through the jungle.
- It's easy to find ways for their R to work. You can use it as an escape for your ADC or another teammate, or even yourself. You can use it to get you and/or another teammate into the perfect position to flank the enemy team. Depending on the speed boost given, it could even be used to get around quicker (though that could possibly be a bit of a waste of a super powerful ult).
There's probably some glaring problems with this kit that I keep glossing over, which is why I'm posting this here as a WIP, and not a complete kit. :) I don't have any numbers yet for abilities or stats like armor, MR, HP, MS, etc etc, but I think it would be best if they were relatively squishy, and with a decent to high movement speed, to help with better positioning. As for a resource for their spells, I was thinking of just sticking with mana. This wasn't really designed with other resource types in mind, though it's not set in stone.
I would definitely like for others to read through this kit, and tell me what they think of it. What are some of the gameplay possibilities you like most with this kit? What are some of the weaker points to it? Does the kit seem like it all "fits" together well? Does anything feel out of place, under powered, or even over powered? What do you suggest should change to help fix these problems?
Even if you don't have any ideas on how to "fix" it, any criticism is welcome. :)
passive. What do you guys think?