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Ronin, the Shadow Soldier

RiotRiot Lutzburg·5/12/2016, 9:21:46 AM·15 votes·4,292 views

Role: Fighter, AD Caster

Inspiration: Direct inspiration came from Titus, the Law of Zuan. All credit goes to Torshun for the original concept and the primary reference image. Please go check out their concept!

Additional inspiration came from Tracer (Overwatch). The goal was to design a flashy, playmaking kit that revolved entirely around a Passive Ability that provided short but frequent bursts of mobility to an AD Fighter.

General Design Philosophy: Ronin is a highly mobile fighter who utilizes short ranged dashes to execute a hit-and-run combat style. His evasiveness allows him to poke enemies safely, while a limited but effective set of defenses and contextual crowd control make Ronin an excellent skirmisher. The Shadow Soldier is designed to be flashy, so his kit was infused with multiple avenues for both mental and mechanical outplays. This, of course, includes a reset mechanic when killing enemy Champions, as well as an “I dare you” Ability that can divide an enemy team when under pressure.

Risk Analysis: Moderate. Ronin is intended to be flashy, which puts an even greater emphasis on kit flow and synergies than normal. His futuristic and military themes might also prove to be too serious or high tech for the world of Runeterra.

Appearance: Ronin is a somewhat bulky but nimble soldier, dressed in a futuristic power suit. He wears a practical cape, which accentuates his flashy and highly mobile kit. Most importantly, Ronin dual wields two powerful arm cannons. Each cannon has a burst rifle outfitted to one end, with a type of energy-based propulsion system mounted to the other. These cannons can be pointed behind Ronin and used as boost jets to dash across the battlefield. He can then quickly flip the cannons back around and fire short bursts of energy bullets at his enemies.

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag47/Lutzburg/Bjorn-Hurri-illustrations-12_zpson48ftgz.jpg

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag47/Lutzburg/140603_AB_landing-659x1024_zpskazhz4tg.jpg

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag47/Lutzburg/35th_zpscozbw9fj.jpg Ronin unleashing a torrent of excess energy via his Endothermic Vents, knocking back enemies around him

Lore: Missing.

Strengths: Excellent at kiting other melee characters, powerful hit-and-run harassment, safe poke, huge playmaking potential

Weaknesses: Has trouble sticking to targets, limited and contextual CC, limited burst damage, high skill ceiling

Plays Most Like...: Yasuo Riven Lucian

Auto Attack: Ronin uses slow but brutal melee strikes, attacking with the butt of his twin arm cannons.

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag47/Lutzburg/icons_18320_pas_zpsbewt3bhu.jpg http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag47/Lutzburg/icons_12158_pas_zps9ayuhni7.jpg Passive- Boost Jets: While any basic Ability is on cooldown, it is replaced by Boost Jets. Activating Boost Jets causes Ronin to dash a fixed distance of 300 units in the direction of the player’s cursor, and empowers his next auto attack within 3 seconds. This empowerment deals +50% base AD and adds a burn effect to the target, dealing minor physical damage over the next 2.5 seconds. Boost Jets can be used independently across multiple Abilities, but only once in between casts of an individual Ability. Design Philosophy: This is what Ronin’s entire kit is built around. It offers short bursts of limited but frequent mobility. It’s important to remember that each basic Ability houses its own instance of Boost Jets. In practice, this means that Ronin can cast Q/W/E to use three basic abilities, then use Q/W/E again to dash three times in a row. However, Boost Jets cost mana just like the rest of Ronin's Abilities, meaning that players can't simply spam Boost Jets without eventually succumbing to the consequences.

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag47/Lutzburg/icons_7814_pas_zpsgxekikfi.jpg Q- Burst Rifle (4 seconds): Ronin fires a line of bullets as a channeled skillshot with a 500 unit range. This barrage lasts 1.2 seconds and deals physical damage every .1 second. During the channel, Ronin can adjust his aim up to 45 degrees from the Ability’s point of origin. Ronin can cancel the channel by moving or activating another Ability, and it is susceptible to interruption from crowd control effects. Design Philosophy: This ability is similar to Pantheon’s E, but its zone of effectiveness is a thin line, rather than a cone. It allows Ronin to CS safely in lane, as the effect goes through targets. It also acts as the primary harassment tool in Ronin’s standard combo- Pulse Bomb towards an enemy, Boost Jet in, Q, Boost Jet out.

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag47/Lutzburg/icons_5578_pas_zpsz6plsqfu.jpg W- Endothermic Vents (18 seconds): Passive- Ronin gains an overshield each time he uses Boost Jets. This overshield lasts for 2 seconds and absorbs (20/40/60/80/100 + 5 per level) damage.

Active- While in combat, if Ronin suffers damage greater than 15% of his maximum health, he can activate his Endothermic Vents. This causes a powerful blast of steam to shoot around him in a 300 radius aura, knocking enemies back a fixed distance and dealing physical damage that increases based on how much damage Ronin suffered before activating the Ability. Design Philosophy: The knockback can be used both as a self-peeling tool, as well as a way to strategically push squishy targets into closer proximity of Pulse Bombs that are about to explode. The scaling damage component encourages Ronin players to endure as much punishment as possible before popping their Vents, mimicking a game of Chicken with their opponents and acting like a pseudo Execute.

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag47/Lutzburg/icons_10329_pas_zps1lzcgrao.jpg E- Pulse Bomb (10 seconds): Ronin tosses a pulse bomb at a target location up to 900 units away, which explodes after 1.5 seconds and deals scaling physical damage based on an enemy’s proximity to the center of the blast. The bomb has an explosion radius of 250 units. If Pulse Bomb kills an enemy Champion, its cooldown is set to 1.5 seconds. Design Philosophy: Pulse Bomb is intended to be Ronin’s highest damage Ability. By refreshing its cooldown on kills, players can make incredibly flashy plays, swapping between Boost Jets and Pulse Bombs multiple times in order to clean up late game team fights.

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag47/Lutzburg/icons_12858_pas_zpsjjqlyphj.jpg R- Critical Mass (90 seconds): Ronin supercharges his arm cannons for the next 6/8/10 seconds. During this time, Boost Jet’s range is increased by 150 units. In addition, Ronin gains 30/40/50% attack speed and the ability to auto attack from 450 range. Design Philosophy: It was important to both mechanically and thematically tie Ronin’s Ultimate back to his Passive, which was the primary inspiration from which the rest of his kit was built around. This turns Ronin into an even more agile, evasive skirmisher, exemplifying his core mechanics and granting him the ability to make flashy plays.

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

30 Comments

IamTheTable5/13/2016, 5:43:50 AM2 votes

The first photo alone makes me want this to become a thing so unbelievably bad. This is one hell of a concept and I want it to become more than that so much! Such a fun idea for a champ, and all i have left to say is Riot plz.

LilStacey875/12/2016, 9:16:09 PM2 votes

Whats up Lutz! This is "The creator of Titus". Just wanna say that you actually did a heavy improvement on reworking and rewording the passive. Actually, I think most of your KIT has mine beat. This guy has a great mix-up of range, defense and mobility. Well played! However I do like Titus' Ultimate ability because of it's Tahm Kench-like ability to deal damage based off building health. I also like my Double Impact (W) move too, but maybe that should have been saved for another champ. Thanks for reviewing my concept, +1

RiotRiot Lutzburg5/12/2016, 10:33:11 AM2 votes

Welp, it's almost 4am and I'm exhausted. It's crazy how fast Ronin came together. Guess I'm not rusty even after not releasing a new champion concept in almost a year.

It's good to be back!

TonyTonyMordecai5/12/2016, 5:20:49 PM1 votes

I don't see anything about shadows in his kit. Just seems like Jayce in the way he uses his technology in combat.

RiotRiot Lutzburg5/12/2016, 5:59:43 PM1 votes

Thanks for the comments, guys. Honestly "Shadow Soldier" was just meant to be a placeholder until I could come back and tackle his lore. I never meant 'shadows' in the literal sense... the idea was more to capture a kind of vigilante or someone with military training who wasn't actively working with a government force.

Clearly this didn't come across very well so I will definitely be changing it in the final version.

RiotRiot Lutzburg5/13/2016, 12:20:55 AM1 votes

Damn, I really wish these boards would let you edit a thread title. Kinda kickin' myself in the ass for that title.

Zok725/13/2016, 5:24:30 AM1 votes

This concept is really strong. Pretty much the only thing I don't like is the reset on pulse bomb. For a champion with what looks like a pretty jax-like combat profile I think kill resets are excessive and run the risk of being pretty broken. With iceborn and a 195 damage shield every 2.4 seconds lategame he seems like a scaling monster even without free pulse bombs. I'm thinking about the current ekko/poppy type builds and imagining this guy just rampaging all over the rift (which I see as a good thing).

Still, kudos on the cool idea.

RiotRiot Lutzburg5/13/2016, 11:21:46 PM1 votes

I think it's time for Ronin to come out from the shadows of the second page. >_>

RiotRiot Lutzburg5/14/2016, 5:49:15 AM1 votes

Rooting for CLG tonight!

Lonely Flame5/14/2016, 7:39:46 PM1 votes

Hey dude! Before I get started I want to say that the comments I make are purely my opinion, and that at the end of the day they're your champ and not my champ, so make them however you want :)

{quoted} Passive- Boost Jets: While any basic Ability is on cooldown, it is replaced by Boost Jets. Activating Boost Jets causes Ronin to dash a fixed distance of 300 units in the direction of the player’s cursor, and empowers his next auto attack within 3 seconds. This empowerment deals +50% base AD and adds a burn effect to the target, dealing minor physical damage over the next 2.5 seconds. Boost Jets can be used independently across multiple Abilities, but only once in between casts of an individual Ability. Design Philosophy: This is what Ronin’s entire kit is built around. It offers short bursts of limited but frequent mobility. It’s important to remember that each basic Ability houses its own instance of Boost Jets. In practice, this means that Ronin can cast Q/W/E to use three basic abilities, then use Q/W/E again to dash three times in a row. However, Boost Jets cost mana just like the rest of Ronin's Abilities, meaning that players can't simply spam Boost Jets without eventually succumbing to the consequences.

This is a cool idea for a passive. I like the idea of not being completely stranded when your spells are on cool down. That said, it feels like a variation on Lee Sin's kit, albeit a bit striped back (ie rather than each ability having its own secondary active, they all share the same ability). This isn't necessarily bad, but just worth noting.

Q- Burst Rifle (4 seconds): Ronin fires a line of bullets as a channeled skillshot with a 500 unit range. This barrage lasts 1.2 seconds and deals physical damage every .1 second. During the channel, Ronin can adjust his aim up to 45 degrees from the Ability’s point of origin. Ronin can cancel the channel by moving or activating another Ability, and it is susceptible to interruption from crowd control effects. Design Philosophy: This ability is similar to Pantheon’s E, but its zone of effectiveness is a thin line, rather than a cone. It allows Ronin to CS safely in lane, as the effect goes through targets. It also acts as the primary harassment tool in Ronin’s standard combo- Pulse Bomb towards an enemy, Boost Jet in, Q, Boost Jet out.

Very simple and straight forward. Nothing great, nothing terrible. Just sort of middle ground. See if you can come up with a little extra to this some how. Maybe if you have your shield active something different happens? I dunno.

W- Endothermic Vents (18 seconds): Passive- Ronin gains an overshield each time he uses Boost Jets. This overshield lasts for 2 seconds and absorbs (20/40/60/80/100 + 5 per level) damage.

Active- While in combat, if Ronin suffers damage greater than 15% of his maximum health, he can activate his Endothermic Vents. This causes a powerful blast of steam to shoot around him in a 300 radius aura, knocking enemies back a fixed distance and dealing physical damage that increases based on how much damage Ronin suffered before activating the Ability. Design Philosophy: The knockback can be used both as a self-peeling tool, as well as a way to strategically push squishy targets into closer proximity of Pulse Bombs that are about to explode. The scaling damage component encourages Ronin players to endure as much punishment as possible before popping their Vents, mimicking a game of Chicken with their opponents and acting like a pseudo Execute.

I actually like this idea quite a bit, but feel it could be improved. For the passive, maybe have it so the effect could stack in either strength, duration or both. That way if you quickly cast your kit, you can follow it up with your passive on your Q W and E for a beasty shield.

For his active, clarify the condition of the 15%. It is 15% off one ability? Or 15% in the last X seconds?

E- Pulse Bomb (10 seconds): Ronin tosses a pulse bomb at a target location up to 900 units away, which explodes after 1.5 seconds and deals scaling physical damage based on an enemy’s proximity to the center of the blast. The bomb has an explosion radius of 250 units. If Pulse Bomb kills an enemy Champion, its cooldown is set to 1.5 seconds. Design Philosophy: Pulse Bomb is intended to be Ronin’s highest damage Ability. By refreshing its cooldown on kills, players can make incredibly flashy plays, swapping between Boost Jets and Pulse Bombs multiple times in order to clean up late game team fights.

Again, the ability itself is pretty straight forward. I do like the reset on kill aspect and the interaction that has with his passive is actually really well thought out. Other than that, again consider how you could make this a little more special.

R- Critical Mass (90 seconds): Ronin supercharges his arm cannons for the next 6/8/10 seconds. During this time, Boost Jet’s range is increased by 150 units. In addition, Ronin gains 30/40/50% attack speed and the ability to auto attack from 450 range. Design Philosophy: It was important to both mechanically and thematically tie Ronin’s Ultimate back to his Passive, which was the primary inspiration from which the rest of his kit was built around. This turns Ronin into an even more agile, evasive skirmisher, exemplifying his core mechanics and granting him the ability to make flashy plays.

Seems alright, but again very simple. I would actually much rather prefer increased cooldown on his abilities in some way rather than the attack speed buff. His kit is around utilizing the dash from his passive, and you want to be able to spam that as much as possible. Something extreme like "Ronin's cooldowns are reduced by 50% for the duration".

Overall, there are some cool ideas here, and I like how you have worked this into your own from the original. My advice would be to think about your minigame. Riot have put a strong emphasis on each champ having some sort of 'minigame' now, Sol has his orbit, Jihn counts to 4, Illaoi has her tentacles and so on. Even the reworked champs get something minor added. My suggestion would be using the 'Booster Jets' as yours. The shield is cool, try to push that more. Maybe if you Booster Jet off your Q it could provide a damage buff instead of a shield, giving you the choice of damage over defense. Managing your abilities and getting the best you can from your Boosts. I dunno I'm just spit balling. Again these are my opinions so they don't need to mean a thing haha. Nice work dude, look forward to seeing this develop.

Earthlord Jazz5/15/2016, 9:37:24 PM1 votes

Not much for me to say about this class, it's very cool. What I like is that while he has the mobility of Ekko, he has very limited and conditional CC, making him more like a more mechanically advanced Akali where he can use his dashes as for either gap closing or dodging skillshots. Very cool.

Passive: A unique passive. Would you consider the mana cost starting off low, but if he uses them it rapid succession they have increased mana cost? I'm not saying he needs it or anything, was just curious. Sorry but I'm very poor at judging unit of distance with only numbers. Is it like a item 3152 dash? Or is it a little longer?

Q: Fantastic ability. I was toying with allowing Ronin to still dash while channeling, but I think you're correct in limiting his mobility in while channeling this ability

W: Passive: To keep him from just gaining a MASSIVE shield with 4 back-to-back dashes, maybe have an internal cooldown on it (maybe 1.5 seconds, the classic spellblade passive for item 3100 item 3078 item 3025 ). It could have a visual similar to Vi 's passive where the circle on her back lights up the next time she uses an ability. I'm suggesting this as a) Without this limitation on the shields, the W passive alone would blow Vi passive out of the water and b) It punish Ronin players that cannot chain together their combo correctly, very similar to Ryze

Active: Love the active, can be used both defensively (a la Jayce E) or as a mini Gragas to knock back the enemy a little closer to your team via your passive dashes to get in such a position. Awesome

E: As someone who wants to make flashy plays and clean up via kills for resets, you could make the bomb scale with missing % health damage (a la Elise ) or have the damage increase in intensity BASED on their missing health (a la Nidalee cougar q) . For example, an enemy on the edge of the blast takes no additional damage. This would encourage Ronin to use this as a combo finisher, allowing you with your passive to reposition for the next kill with another bomb after bringing them close to 25% health or so.

R: Idea-wise seems fine to me. 450 range sounds like a lot to me, but again, I'm a poor judge of distance by units. Is that range similar to Kayle's E

Very nice job, though I personally do not find mobile champions appealing, you've certainly made a cool looking champion. Congrats to Torshun for making the original! That concept art looks crazy awesome!

Haxten5/12/2016, 12:52:02 PM1 votes

Two questions: 1 why the shadow soldier? He doesn't look like much of a shadow in fact, I think it would be hard to miss him. 2. Where the hell do people get these pictures? Do you draw them? Why can't I draw like that?! And also how do you even post pictures? Lol any ways looks like a pretty cool champion.

pasta zugotini5/12/2016, 3:06:15 PM1 votes

doesn't really look like shadow fits his concept as a whole. his kit doesn't represent that in any way. I don't think you should change the kit though, it's really cool and very interactive.