Axel and Pinwheel, the Bandle City Bandits

Role: Marksmen

Inspiration: I wanted to create a "duo" champion where both characters operated a sidecar motorcycle

General Design Philosophy: Axel and Pinwheel are a dynamic comedy duo with a large emphasis on clever voicework, exaggerated animations and a generally over-the-top demeanor. Their abilities are somewhat relaxed and not overly complicated so that their visual fidelity and personalities can take more of the spotlight.

Mechanically these two offer some interesting ability synergy and have modest mobility and crowd control for a Marksman. They rely slightly more on abilities than most Marksmen do, as a large portion of their damage comes from a spammable line nuke. Their Ultimate acts as a massive attack speed steroid which compensates for their otherwise subpar ability and auto attack scaling.

Risk Analysis: High. Axel and Pinwheel are a screwball duo and have a lot of unique and novel mechanics and themes, working both for and against them due to their untested nature.

Appearance: A human named Axel pilots the motorcycle while a yordle named Pinwheel operates the weapons systems from the sidecar. Both characters are male and have heavy Italian mafia influences. They basically look like a cross between this...

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag47/Lutzburg/AxelandPinwheel_zpsaaa696e1.jpg

...and this.

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag47/Lutzburg/AxelandPinwheel2_zps92577827.jpg

Lore: Axel and Pinwheel have been thick as thieves their entire lives. They think of each other as brothers and love using humor and pranks to show affection. They are very silly characters with a strong rapport between each other, which should be communicated through powerful VO work.

Strengths: No need to stack attack speed, strong poke in lane, massive attack speed steroid

Weaknesses: no instant gap closers, limited escape tools, skillshot dependent, reliant on perfect timing of Ultimate to deal optimal damage

Plays most like...:

Auto Attack: Pinwheel fires a mini gun shot from the sidecar's turret at 600 range.

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag47/Lutzburg/icons_7186_pas_zps721e53c3.jpg Passive- Runaway Sidecar: When Axel and Pinwheel are brought to 0 health, the main bike explodes, leaving the sidecar on its own. For the next 5 seconds, the player can control the sidecar, firing Spitfire Missiles with no mana cost and a constant .5 second cooldown (The sidecar is untargetable for the duration and the player only has access to Spitfire Missiles). However, the sidecar is difficult to control and causes the character to wobble, making the skillshots difficult to land. After 5 seconds, the sidecar also explodes, though this deals no damage. Design Philosophy: This is a silly and thematically interesting passive ability that leverages the duo’s whackiness, as well as their inability to operate without their partner in crime. Being able to spam missiles that otherwise require skillful build-up also supplies a burst of fun in the otherwise unfun situation of dying.

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag47/Lutzburg/icons_13291_btn_zps5aa5f804.jpg Q- Spitfire Missiles (3 sec (baseline)): Pinwheel fires a line skillshot in the form of a missile from his sidecar's turret, similar to Corki's Ultimate. Each missile fired reduces the spell's cooldown by .5 seconds, but only if the ability strikes a target. The effect is doubled when striking an enemy champion. Missing a missile increases the cooldown of the next by .5 seconds instead. This spell has a minimum 1 second cooldown and is not affected by cooldown reduction. Axel and Pinwheel receive a buff called "Hot Streak" to denote how many consecutive missiles they've landed. This buff lasts 6 seconds before the effect resets, and refreshes the duration for each successful strike. Rank-ups increase damage and lower mana cost. Design Philosophy: Since Axel and Pinwheel don’t have any damage steroids outside of their Ultimate, they instead rely on constant poke damage from this spammable skillshot. The decreasing cooldown on hit promotes skillful aim instead of blindly firing them at anything that moves.

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag47/Lutzburg/icons_9797_pas_zps86a42abd.jpg W- Burnin’ Rubber (10 sec): Passive: Pinwheel's Spitfire Missiles become supercharged, dealing 1/1.5/2/2.5/3% of the target's max health in addition to their regular damage. This effect is lost when Burnin' Rubber is on cooldown. Active: A small flame is jetted from the bike's exhaust, increasing Axel and Pinwheel's movement speed by 25/28/32/36/40% for 2.5 seconds. Rank-ups increase damage and movement speed, as well as lower cooldown. Design Philosophy: The max health element of this ability gives Axel and Pinwheel a fighting chance against tanks and bruisers that can rather easily reach them. This also helps the bandits scale into the late game, as this ability will likely be ranked second or third over Spitfire Missiles. This again helps cover their lack of true hyper carry scaling that is traditional with most Marksmen. However, players must choose between fight or flight in these situations, as the damage buff is lost if they choose to flee. This creates an interesting decision point for the player to make every time the enemy top laner tries to dive them in a team fight.

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag47/Lutzburg/icons_11930_pas_zps62e76ffd.jpg E- Oil Slick (16 sec): A compartment opens up on the bike, revealing a nozzle which sprays slippery oil on the ground for 2 seconds. Axel and Pinwheel can continue driving while this happens to create trails of oil. These patches slow enemies by 40/45/50/55/60%. If Axel and Pinwheel activate Burnin' Rubber while standing on the oil, the entire slick will burst into flames. The slow component remains and also creates a powerful magic damage over time effect, similar to Corki's Valkyrie or Rumble's Ultimate. Certain fire effects from allied Champions can also trigger the oil slick (including Rumble's Flamespitter and Shyvana's Burnout). This trail lasts 3 seconds. If Burnin' Rubber is already active when Oil Slick is cast, the fire effect takes place immediately. Rank-ups increase slow amount and damage of the flames, as well as reduce cooldown. Design Philosophy: This is a mild disengagement tool against assassins or bruisers, though it’s not nearly as effective as most other Marksmen escape tools; especially against divers with instant gap closers. Instead, this ability offers a very fun synergy between Burnin’ Rubber, allowing players to damage their aggressor while simultaneously slowing them and hasting themselves. As a general purpose utility ability with several advantageous components, its cooldown is relatively long.

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag47/Lutzburg/icons_12154_pas_zps508faf94.jpg R- Take the Wheel! (55 sec): Pinwheel takes the wheel while Axel pulls out a pair of tommy guns. For the next 3/4/5 seconds, Axel gains massive bonus attack speed and applies a stacking armor shred of 5/7.5/10 armor with each attack. Spitfire Missiles are disabled for the duration, as Pinwheel must steer the motorcycle. Sample Dialogue: "Take over!" "Take the wheel!" "Cover me!" "Take over, Pinhead!" Rank-ups increase the duration of the effect and the armor shred, as well as lower cooldown. Design Philosophy: There is a lot of strategy regarding the best time to use this ultimate. Typically players will attempt to stack as many Spitfire Missiles into their targets as possible. Once they start missing and the CDR effect is no longer viable, Axel and Pinwheel can fall back on good old fashioned machine gun violence. Thematically the inability to fire Spitfire Missiles makes sense, given that Pinwheel is driving the bike for the duration of the ability. The insane attack speed steroid of this ability provides an emotional high moment for players on both teams, and is the primary reason why other scaling tools are nowhere to be found on Axel and Pinwheel’s kit.

If you liked this Champion, you can find over 70 more of my original concepts HERE!