Vates, the Prophet of Blood
Vates, the Prophet of Blood Primary: Marksman Secondary: Assassin
Health: 446 (+84) Health Regen: 6 (+0.55) Blood Collection: 100 Blood Depletion: 5 (+1 at 6/11/16) Range: 500 (Ranged)
Attack Damage: 50 (+3.6) Attack Speed: 0.630 (+3.6%) Armor: 20(+3.5) Magic Res.: 30 Mov. Speed: 335
Passive: Blood Offerings
There is no greater service than offering yourself to the Goddess. You nor Vates have a choice in the matter...
Vates's Secondary Resource shows his Blood Collection. Basic Attacks add 5/6/7/8 (at Levels 6/11/16) points to his Blood Collection and casting Abilities also add a certain amount. When his Blood Collection is maxed out, Vates's Health Regeneration becomes Health Depletion, draining him of 1/2/3/4% of his Current Health over the next 8 seconds.
The bar begins to deplete slowly after 4 seconds of either not attacking and casting or after suffering through Health Depletion. Health Depletion stops taking effect at 1 Health, so Vates cannot be killed by this Ability.
Q – Vile Rupturing
Vates fires an empowered bolt at his foes, making another sacrifice for the Goddess.
Vates fires an empowered shot that passes through minions, dealing 40/75/110/145/180 (+100% AD) to the first Champion or Neutral Monster in its path.
Maxed Blood Offering: Vile Rupturing passes through all enemies and deals 40/75/110/145/180 (+200% AD). The damage is reduced by 15% per enemies hit, up to a maximum damage decrease of 40%.
Cooldown: 14/13/10/8/6 seconds Range: 1300 Units Cost: +30/35/40/45/50 to his Blood Collection
W – Seeker of Red
To bathe himself in your blood is his only goal. It's pointless to run.
Vates dashes in a targeted direction, dealing 35/70/105/140/175 (+60% AD) Physical Damage to the first target he comes in contact with and stunning them for 1.25 seconds.
This Ability may be cast on an enemy marked with Bleeding, allowing him to blink instantly to that target and apply the stun.
Maxed Blood Offering: Upon colliding with or blinking to an enemy, Vates deals 35/70/105/140/175 (+120% AD) Physical Damage and is granted a shield equal to 6/7/8/9/10% of his Maximum Health.
Cooldown: 20/18/16/14/12 seconds Cost: +50/55/60/65/70 to his Blood Collection Range: 500 Units
E – Bleed to Death
His point has been made. The open wound signals that there is nothing left for you but to give yourself to the Goddess.
Vates's next basic attack deals 30/45/60/75/90 (+50% AD) bonus damage and marks an enemy with Bleeding for 6 seconds. Attacks and Abilities against a Bleeding target will refresh the mark, increasing his Attack Speed by 10% and his Movement Speed by 5 each time he attacks that target. After 3 seconds of not attacking the target, he loses the buff.
Maxed Blood Offering: Vates's next basic attack deals 30/45/60/75/90 (+100% AD) and he also drinks the blood of his enemies, gaining 2/4/6/8/10% Life-Steal when he attacks a bleeding target.
Cooldown: 9/8/7/6/5 seconds Cost: +32/34/36/38/40 to his Blood Collection Range: 500 Units Auto-Attack Reset
R – Bloody Tidings
He laughs at the pain, for he knows it pleases the Goddess. The blood he has collected, roaring at him in vengeance for his treachery, now becomes his weapon to ruin his foes.
Passive: Vates gains +50/100/150 extra Blood Storage.
Active: Vates consumes all of the available Blood gathered from Blood Offerings and uses it to empower his next Basic Attack. His next attack deals bonus damage equal to the amount of Blood he has stored. He can also empower his Abilities based on the percentage of his Blood Collection to increase the scaling of his Abilities. When maxed, his Abilities also have an additional effect.
After using this Ability, it deals the amount he has stored in his Blood Collection back onto him as True Damage. If he will die from this ability, It replaces his Blood Collection with his current Health and deal damage equal to his current percentage of Health minus 1. Only 1 Health will remain.
This Ability is unaffected by Cooldown Reduction.
Cooldown: 25/20/15 Seconds
Lore:
He could feel it... It was embracing and caressing his neck softly. Flowing underneath his spine, slipping across his lower back... He reached his hand out for it, digging his fingertips deep into this divine color, staining his nails with red. He held onto it tightly, afraid to let go... Afraid of being carried away from this safe haven.
He could smell it... Like roses, the crimson red vengeance burning under the sun. Overriding his nose of anything else, and that was the way he wanted it to be. Another inhale, and his eyes closed in delight. He never knew when he had gotten so poetic, but...he's different than he was before...
If he turned his head at just the right angle... Yes, his tongue could barely tip the surface of it... It tasted just as it smelled to him. He indulged in it with a brief moment of insane laughter. Maybe he should turn just a little bit more, just to rest his head on its bosom...
...And listen to the soft whispers as he pressed his ear against it. Cooing softly in his ear, filling it with promises of a better world. Flicking at his ear, telling him that it will all be alright... That there was no reason for him to worry because it would take care of him...
He giggled... Uncharacteristic of him, but it was all he could do in this state. His body was filled with giddy excitement, and all he could do was laugh... Embrace the death warmly as his own blood seeped beneath him alongside the blood of the thousand other corpses planted around him. The sword embedded into his stomach kept him from fully enjoying his experience, but even her whispers were enough to soothe him...
...Telling him that everything will be alright.
Above the clouds on top of Mount Targon reside a tribe of battle-hardened warriors. This tribe lives, breathes, and dreams of battle and are trained in the most sacred art forms of war. They fight with each other, shedding blood for the sake of proving themselves worthy of the name Rakkor. Before their sixteenth year, the teenaged warriors do gruesome battle with each other.
A heartbreaking and tragic event... To be forced to fight their closest friends, or even relatives, to the death for the right to wield a powerful weapon and ascend to a status befitting the Rakkor. This Rite of Kor encourages you to defeat your opponent, for you are punished if you refuse. It is only a small tragedy in the grand scheme of life, but it was necessary. Despite its horrors, many came out with a hardened-sense of battle and managed to hold on to their humanity for a while longer.
This Rite was never questioned until the child known as Vates was to undergo it.
His style of fighting wasn't ideal, they all said... Standing away and firing weapons like a coward, they claimed. Vates had never tasted victory in his training before his Rite of Kor. They all mocked him, labeling him as one who disgraced the art of war. All of them except one.
She...never said a word about him. Even after she had defeated him many times in spars, she only offered advice and consolation. She offered encouraging words that eased his worries and strengthened him. It was this girl who taught him to stand on his own two feet and rise against those who mocked him relentlessly... But their lives would take a turn for the worst when he was selected to do battle against the one woman he respected more than anything. He panicked at the thought; he couldn't raise arms against the one who trained him...
“Don't be afraid, Vates. Stand and fight me like a man wanting to prove himself... I won't forgive you if you'd rather die a coward.”
That was the last thing his closest friend and lover ever said to him before they did battle... Before he would be forced to fire a javelin into her abdomen to prevent her attack... Before he was staring into her blank eyes with his own solemn gaze. Many would have thought that he would be unable to hold a weapon against his beloved but he proved them wrong.
But what had burned deep in their memories and what shocked the Elder Rakkor more than anything was the way he handle her corpse... As he cried tears...of what seemed like joy? As he laughed madly while holding his beloved in his arms and pressing her body against his own, staining himself with her blood. The Rakkor always trained themselves to enjoy the art of war, but never before did one ever adore it in such a gruesome manner.
Then, he changed... He heard voices that no one else could see... He'd laugh madly to some himself before battle. His obsession with the blood of his enemies reached to maddening levels. To drown himself in it, to lavish it as an expensive drink. His practices bothered those around him, but he never cared. The only thing that had mattered to him was that one person who could never return...
There was but one battle that had really solidified his lack of sanity; A battle bordering the edge of Noxus. Those around him watched as he hefted his large crossbow and fired his powerful, javelin-sized bolts, raining death on all of the Noxian forces. None of them could live under the hail of steel, coating his javelins in red liquid.
His allies, if he could call them that, knew that he preferred them that way. He always reused the bolts that were stained the most.
But he didn't get a chance to retrieve them. Before any other Rakkor could continue their fight, a demonic, white-haired woman stood between them and the Noxian army with a stained javelin in her hand... One that quite possibly belonged to Vates. She had white, grayish skin and pupil-less eyes that gleamed with the promise of madness. With a brief flick of her hand, she threw his ammunition back towards Vates.
A similar crazed expression crossed his own face, and he caught it before it could pierce him. The woman, in response, raised her own weapon...a blood-red blade that seemed eager to collect more of its color.
“Don't be afraid, Vates...”
Even though the battle with the Noxians had not ended, the few that had finished their opponents were compelled to watch the ensuing fight between the woman and the blood maniac. The onlookers viewed it was as if it was a battle between two crazed Rakkor, both laughing maniacally at the wounds they received as they continued to inflict them on the other. It was a marvelous, but frightening dance of blood and steel.
“...Stand and fight me like a man wanting to prove himself...”
Even though his defeat was imminent, he could do nothing but laugh. She reminded him...so much of her! The way she moved and danced with her blade, the way she chided him with every mistake he made...! This battle...was way too riveting!
“...I won't forgive you if you'd rather die a coward...”
He was too caught up in the nostalgia. He barely witnessed her blade sliding across his skin and down his chest, slashing him and his crossbow in two. The gash exploded into blood and he fell backwards with his eyes rolling into his head.
His vision fading into darkness, marred only by a tint of red.
It was after that battle that no other Rakkor could look at him the same. From his lips poured only preaches of the 'Goddess' that fought him. Chuckling madly to himself about the 'promises' of a new world. There were times when no one could ever find him. When he'd disappear from Mount Targon randomly at hours before returning. No one ever knew where he would go, as his answer when questioned was always;
“To a better place... We all will arrive...at a better place in time.”
His answer hadn't become clear until he walked into the village as if he had survived another fight. It was then that the Rakkor Elders finally attempted to question him once and for all, believing somewhere in their minds that they had cornered him. But they were wrong.
They didn't corner him at all, but gathered in one place and made it easier for him. He simply laughed aloud and turned his crossbow against the Rakkor leaders, killing many of them in cold blood. He then turned to the shocked crowd and fired at them, claiming that the “sacrifices made were precious gifts to the 'Goddess' above”. Their battle against him lasted for days and nights, and many of the Rakkor had fallen to the hands of brother whom they had lost their faith in a long time ago.
In the end, not even the remaining Rakkor could halt Vates's massacre. The ever-peaceful Solari were forced to dip their hands in blood to rid themselves of such a troublesome man, and to his surprise, another woman
was forced to raise her blade against him. He was once again reminded of what it had felt like to fight the “Goddess”. That battle ended when the valiant Solari finally stabbed her blade into his abdomen and into the ground before she turned away from him, guiding the surviving Rakkors away from the site. They left him bleeding on the ruins of Old Rakkor, and the others were forced to recover elsewhere.
On the ruins of Old Rakkor, his broken and battered body rested in pain. He giggled... Uncharacteristic of him, but it was all he could do in this state. His body was filled with giddy excitement, and all he could do was laugh... Embrace the death warmly as his own blood seeped beneath him alongside the blood of the thousand other corpses planted around him. The sword embedded into his stomach kept him from fully enjoying his experience, but even her whispers were enough to soothe him...
...Telling him that everything will be alright. He could feel the wounds of his body being flooded with the blood around him, some belonging to him and others not. He lay there with a smile on his face as a pale shadow of a woman loomed over him and the lavishing, promising prayers of the 'Mother of Destruction' led him to a deep slumber filled with dreams of red.
Quotes:
Selection: “I won't forgive you if you'd rather die a coward!”
Attacking: “Mark these hollowed grounds with the essence of your life!” “I can drink to that...!” “Don't waste a single drop!” “The Goddess requires a sacrifice! Are you up for the task!?” “Rejoice, for you have been chosen for this sacred ceremony!” “Only sacrifice can bring clarity!” “Don't be stingy, now...! Just let it flow!” “Let the Goddess's love flow onto the surface!” “Bleed out and die like a warrior!” “Do not deny the Goddess's blessing!” “Promise yourself to an eternity of red!” “A moment of prayer for the bloodshed!” “Embrace the red anguish!” “Don't panic! We all bleed the same!” “Don't rip that one out just yet! Let it soak some more!” “Fight me like a man trying to prove something!” “Don't be afraid, now! The Goddess will take care of you!"
Moving: “She's growing restless...!” “Follow the blood trail...!” “To the stained battlefield...!” “Come on! Someone make me bleed!” “I'm always searching for...new blood for the cause!” “The fresher it is, the better!” “Don't you hear it!? The tormented calling for their Goddess!?” “It's not such a scary thing...! We're all going to a better place!” “I cannot resist the shrill cries when they are in so much pain...!” “To reach a higher existence...! Isn't that what we all want!?” “Together, we can reach for something greater...!” “I can smell it! Let's keep in this direction!” “This smell...is quite nostalgic...! I love it!” “Can we have a moment of prayer...!? The slaughtering is about to begin!” “I hear battle cries! Let's hurry up!” “Let's paint this river red! Such a lovely color!”
Taunts: “Sure, it takes two to make an accident, but it only takes one to clean it up!” “I'm not a heretic, I'm just a business man...! It's not my fault that blood is a big expense!” “Love and battle are but the same in theory: Drowned in red!” “We may walk different paths, but the deaths brought upon us are the same!”
“The art of war is written in blood, little Kor!” “Do not fight it, little Kor...! Relish the bloodshed! Embrace the red!” “The Rakkor disgrace the art of war! The stained, crimson fields are art!”
“The rays of the sun are but a false prophet! Only in the fields of red will you find truth!” “You are but a false goddess, Leona...! Fall to the crimson madness and let it flow!” “You can't protect all from the truth, Leona! We must embrace the slaughter and accept it!”
“Only the true prophets will rise to a higher place, wretched spider!” “A queen of lies who forms webs of deceit...!” “You cannot shed your mortality, Elise! All of us bleed and die the same!”
“The answer to all of your troubles lie in the Goddess, Varus...!” “Heed her call, Varus...! She can extend your vengeance forever!” “Don't you want to ascend to a higher existence beyond this pitiful curse, Varus!?”
“You...remind me of someone...of her! I like the sound of that!” “It seems...that blood ties us together...! Can you bleed like she does!?” “It is through the blood that we connect somehow! Can't you feel it, Aatrox!?”
“Surely you believe in sharing, my friend!?” “May I have a refill? My cup is half full!” “Don't we all wish to bathe in the red tides!?”
Joke: “I'll take all of your blood...and DRINK IT!” “I'm dying of blood loss! Are you up for a donation!?"
Acquiring Items:
“Rip and tear their flesh apart! The blood underneath is all that matters!”
or
“Where has this been all of my life...!?” “The Goddess's essence will protect me... It always does!” “To devour the blood of our enemies!” “The Goddess's blade! Now I too can bathe in the sweet red!"
“To cleanse their bodies of their life!” “The red essence...will pour from their veins like a waterfall!” “Take everything from them...! Fight, and make them bleed!”
Using Abilities:
Using Bloody Tidings: “I have been awakened...!” “Mistakes were made, boys!” “Flow through me and become slaughter!” “Blood, become my weapon!” “Bow down for the Goddess!” “Rise and face the bloody skies!”
Death: “A higher existence...awaits...” “...A most...rewarding death... No...?” “She's calling...for me to return...”
Playstyle and Development
A former Rakkor warrior, Vates took the adoration of battle a little too far and took a large dip in his sanity upon defeating his lover at his Rite of Kor. Upon meeting a creature of a woman who allowed him to relish the feeling of nearly dying, he found his calling in the stained battlefield and devotes his life to the “Goddess”. He now seeks to encourage the world to embrace the bloodshed as the Prophet of Blood.
“Rage against the dying of the light”. A poem and one of quotes. It's because of his fighting style: Don't go down without a fight, and you keep swinging until you do. In his case, he's rewarded for that with his sustain. But what if you're not a Fighter? What if you're a fragile Marksman? Do you stop fighting because of that? Maybe you should play safer, and stay in the backline like a coward-
Not.
I wouldn't if I were you. If you'd rather fight until you die, then Vates is a character to sink your teeth into. A rather short-ranged Marksman, Vates allows his inner monster to burst free when he is allowed smaller duels and skirmishes. This allows him to freely cast his abilities without worry of being attacked by another Champion as it's difficult for him to Team-Fight properly when he's fighting against the enemy and his own Passive and Ultimate.
His Passive and Resource Bar might remind you slightly of 
, whom his fighting style was inspired by. In a similar fashion, constant Abilities alongside his Auto-Attacks fill up his 'Blood Collection'. He gains significant power when it fills up thanks to his Ultimate but when it maxes, it begins draining him of his health over the next few seconds.. Using his Bloody Tidings allows him to deal bonus damage at the cost of his own health. A mixed balance of playing conservatively and aggressively is the key to victory with him. However, over-usage of his abilities and constantly attacking can lead to an early grave.
Vates is an absolute bully when it comes to Mid-Game dueling thanks to his damage and his stun. Thanks to the low numbers of his Passive, however, he's quite weak early in the game as he is limited on the number of abilities he can cast before he maxes out. If he manages to land his abilities and do enough damage, it might not matter. His low range makes that quite difficult, however. Building life-steal on him early might be a good idea. Loading him with Attack Speed is ill-advised thanks to his Passive and his Range, and blowing his enemies up as fast as possible is his goal.
Thanks to his punishing play-style, sustain is his best friend so he works well with Heal-and-Peel-based Supports. Aggressive-and-Engage Supports are decent and can aid in his aggression, but the lack of real sustain can actually make his laning phase difficult.
Heavy burst from characters like 
and 
can ruin him in the early game if his sustain isn't high enough, and he has problems against longer ranged carries like 
, 
, and 
. While he can duel Assassins properly, its more of a skill-based match-up than an outright victory. As stated earlier, he isn't the character who wants to team fight unless he has lots of shielding and peel. He'd rather split-push and duel those who comes to him, making him good for Solo-Lanes as well the team's Bottom Lane Marksman.
Blood Offerings: This has already been explained, but simply put; As he harms his enemies and uses his Abilities, he adds their blood to his Blood Collection to offer to his 'Goddess'. While he doesn't have to worry for Mana, over usage of his Abilties and too much trading early can allow his Blood Bar to fill up. An overflow of blood causes him to lose his sanity, and his life is depleted for a short duration.
Similar to Rumble, maintaining your usage of Abilities and attacks is key to keep yourself from falling apart.
Vile Rupturing: This is his main damaging tool and the longest ranged Ability he has. As powerful as the scaling is, using this Ability too much in the early game may set you behind in lane. In the later stages after you've built significant Life-Steal, the Maxed-Blood Collection damage is insane and his dueling potential rises to the point where he isn't too concerned about the damage to himself.
The Maxed-Blood Collection is also his only AOE, so its useful for Team-Fights. If he is being targeted though, l'd avoid using it.
Seeker of Red: This is his main escape tool, but it has a heavy emphasis on engaging. Charging into an enemy that you're dueling to get the Stun out and allow you seconds of dealing more damage is pretty valuable. Landing Bleed to Death and using the blink is also great as you still have precious seconds while the enemy is stunned to attack them multiple times thanks to the Attack Speed and Movement Speed.
Bleed to Death: While the extra damage is nice, the key feature for this ability is the Attack and Movement Speed that you gain On-Hit, along with the Life-Steal after you've Maxed-Out your Blood Collection. If you haven't built any Life-Steal yet, this is your sole companion until then but even then its not much. During a duel, this is great when combined with Seeker of Red.
Bloody Tidings:
Very similar to 
Mantra, this is an Ultimate that empowers your Abilities and your attacks. Unlike Karma's, it is only available at Level 6. The short Cooldown might encourage you to use it more, but taking too much True Damage from it is too harmful. This makes his team-fighting too risky without various shields and heals but if he gets the protection, using his Maxed-Out Abilities will allow him to utterly destroy enemies in his path.
The percentage increase of his abilities is increased by the percentage of his Blood Collection that he has filled, and isn't based on the actual number. His Ability Scaling is then increased by the equal percentage of his Base Scaling number.
Example: Seeker of Red has a scaling of 60% AD. With 25/50/75/100% of the Blood Collection filled, it increases his scaling to 75/90/105/120% AD. So being Maxed-Out doesn't increase the scaling by 100%, but increases it by 100% of the Base Scaling.
Things Subjected to Change:
-The Maximum Base Number on his passive. It's 100 now, but I was originally looking over 120 and 80. -The Maxed-Out effect of his W. As of right now, it's probably the more useless of his abilities though the shield might come in handy for dueling.
His Ultimate is the biggest concern, as the right balance of what is powerful enough beyond being too powerful or too weak and punishing is hard to find. Originally, it had no Cooldown so he could use it whenever. It might have made him too powerful, though, so I gave it a relatively short Cooldown.
I also briefly looked at requiring him to Max his Blood Offerings before he could use the ability, but I felt that the True Damage from the ability is enough rather than having to deal with the True Damage against yourself and the Health Drain.
Another big concern is whether he is too punishing. The low number on his passive is to limit his spell casting so that being Mana-less wouldn't be too big a deal, but maybe dealing 250 True Damage to himself is what ends up killing him in a duel.
Skin Ideas:
Vamp Hunter Vates
A Victorian-Era skin related to the stereotypical Vampire Hunter (or in his case, a Vampire who is a hunter). Changes his Crossbow into a Shotgun or Rifle, or a modernized bow.
Soul Devourer Vates
A skin that swaps his blood-hungry nature for a soul-stealing one. Designed to match the other natives of the Shadow Isles.
Aegis Warrior Vates
A skin of Vates of what he could have possibly become if he had not succumbed to madness and possibly became a Solari. His armor and cape is golden, and his Crossbow is decorated with the Aegis of the Legion to connect him with .
Trivia:
-Vates is Latin for “Prophet”. The name is pronounced as “Vay-tiz” or “Vei-Tease”. Of course, this references to his devotion to the Blood Goddess and him speaking as if he's a prophet of blood and war. His Latin name, which is closer to Rome than Greece, also separates him from the other Targon Characters. -His weapon is essentially a large crossbow, but it is also based on the Manuballista, or “Hand Ballista”. -His Passive is called Blood Offering, but the name of his Resource Bar is Blood Collection. That's why both terms are used. -The woman that he meets seems very suspicious. Aatrox seems to remind him of her. Whether she's a Darkin or quite possibly a Hemomancer from Noxus (it's worth noting that Vladimir travels South from Noxus as he leaves, and Mount Gargantuan [Targon] is South-West of Noxus), or even his former lover returned as a demon is left up to you. -Her (The Demonic Woman) description is essentially the canceled character, Avasha. -Vates is much older than the other characters from Mount Targon by at least a decade (Assuming Leona, Diana, and Pantheon are around the same age), hence his referring to some of them as 'little'. -In Pantheon's lore it states that each warrior is bred to be a vicious warrior. From Leona's Lore, that is probably since they were children. Vates's lost of sanity from his Rite of Kor is what leads to the Rakkor breeding them for combat to prevent another such as him. -Diana is the one who defeats Vates, hence his taunt to her. Defeating him after what he's done is what encourages her to slaughter the Solari Elders to prove the power of the Moon and her own beliefs, and is what connects the two as heretics and defectors. -It's worth noting that Vates doesn't actually use blood until his Ultimate. When he attacks enemies, he gathers their blood. The more he has gathered, the more excited he is and the more powerful his techniques are (Bloody Tidings). However, his sanity begins to decline and the decrease in Health is relative to that. -Unlike Vladimir, he does drink blood. -Vates is friends with Vladimir because of his Hemomancy and Aatrox because of his love for battle and war, along with his familiarity to his 'Goddess'. -He has a one-sided relationship with Diana; As she was the one who defeated him, he longs to fight her again. She also reminds him of his 'Goddess', so he likes her a lot. On Diana's end, she was disgusted by him when she defeated him the first time. While she did slay the Elder Solari, she doesn't embrace bloodshed like he does. Even now, he still disgusts her. -He wants Pantheon to follow the same path as he, making him an enemy of Pantheon. He also wishes to tarnish the image of Leona and the other Solari. -His creation was inspired by the lack of ADC/Marksman from Rakkor, and his blood obsession was to differentiate him from the other Rakkor characters. His upfront dueling style and short range was to kept him relative to the aggressive fighters of Mount Targon. -For his sketch, I took some glances at Bloodborne and Dark Souls, the games that inspired his creation. His bow was based on Marvelous Chester from Dark Souls. -His inspirational theme song was also taken from this (Dark Souls) game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbTI_Bzy29I