Support, Vision, Balance: Hopes and Dreams.
So with the coming rework of Poppy (OMG Someone found her?!?!), you've probably been getting floods of responses like "About time." "What about X champion?" "Awesome!" And I have to say, with her rework, I am thoroughly impressed. She looks amazing and you really are taking the time to give EVERYONE their own unique feel to the game. I would hope, that next on your list (While I feel Yorick needs it more) is Taric, one of my favorite champions. At some point, I think Riot asked how we'd feel if they released an openly gay champion (Although no champion in the game is open about their sexuality except maybe Shaco with that interview and "Both ways" but that can be construed as a joke). And it was discussed among the community how they'd felt and there was a lot of a backlash as people argued that no one had any forced sexuality...except maybe Nidalee, and they were comfortable with the fact it's mating season. Honestly, though... As a homo-sexual, you can make a great gay character without all the "Pelvic Thrusting" or anything. Just need context. That survivor guy in The Last of Us was a great example. With Taric, just make a few of his lines show his inclinations, or maybe his tone or mannerisms. Like, taunting an enemy Ezreal "Such a pretty face...shame it will shatter like glass." or a general taunt "You are quite the gem, but you are only quartz to my diamond, sweetheart." Relevant Picture
So, I wanted to throw out an idea for a mechanic that would make Taric as a support unique and interesting. It's kinda like a Kalista passive, where he binds himself to an allied champion and gains bonus spell effects when near him. This plays up his role as a support, but he can still go solo and bind to the jungler for extra potent ganks.
> Passive: Gemcraft Taric starts with a piece of jewelry he can give to someone on his team, binding them to him. While bound, they gain passive armor. In addition, Taric abilities have unique interactions with those he is bound with. In addition, whenever Taric's bound ally is involved in any of his abilities, the CD of the abilities cast are reduced. _BUY ME MOAR JEWELRY _ : Taric can buy another piece of jewelry as the game progresses, unbinding himself from his currently ally and allowing him to rebind to another allied Champion.
He loses his ability to reduce his cooldowns by hitting an enemy every time he casts a spell, but he will still function relatively the same.
> Q - Imbue Taric channels the healing power of his gems, healing targeted ally over a few seconds, during which time he can still move but attacking, casting other spells, moving out of range, or getting stunned will end Imbue. At the end of the duration, the target and Taric are healed for a flat amount plus half of the health gained over time. If Taric targets himself, the heal is instant, with a slight bonus. Ruby, for Vigor : If the Target is Taric's bound ally, they are also cleansed of slows, taunts, and fears (But not hard CC like stuns, snares, and suppressions) with the final heal.
The heal isn't instant anymore but you can heal a lot more than you used to if you take the time to let the heal set in, you get a better pay off. If your ally is desperate, you can press Q again to end it, giving the flat heal and half of whatever heal you accumulated, and cleansing them of minor CC if they are bound. Items like Ardent Censor will become staple since your heal is over time, meaning you can grant them a longer period of Attack Speed Buffs than most champions.
> W - Shatter
Passive : Taric's attacks and spells deal ?% of his armor as bonus magic damage while this ability isn't on cooldown.
Taric smashes a gemstone, dealing damage in an shock wave around him. Crystals form on enemies hit by Shatter and release a lesser burst of damage around them when basic attacked.
Opal, for Harmony : Taric's bound ally also sends a shock wave, dealing the same damage. Enemies hit by both Taric and his bound allies Shatter
will be encased in crystal, stunned for a short duration.
This generates some interesting mechanics and counterplay for Taric. He still has to get close for this to be effective but it no longer buffs his allies. At the same time, in teamfights this means he can be devastating if he and his bound ally are close by when he uses W. Enemies will learn to focus Taric or his bound ally, like Kalista, to keep him at half strength.
> E - Dazzle Taric channels for half a second, firing a beam of prismatic energy from his gem at about the range of a thresh hook towards his cursor. It will pass through minions and monsters, dealing half damage to them, and stopping on the first enemy champion hit. All enemies hit will be slowed and deal reduced damage for a short time. (Maybe also revealing hit enemies?) Brilliantly : Taric's bound ally also fires a beam towards Taric's cursor. If both beams hit the same champion, the champion takes increased damage and is blinded instead of having their damage reduced.
This is Taric's poke. it doesn't deal a lot of damage by itself, because its about as equivalent as shining light in someones eyes, but it can mess up your last hitting, or prevent you from being effective for the start of an engage. At the same time, it can be used to bush check so noone is at risk of getting pounced on. Because it passes through minions and monsters, it can be used anywhere in the lane, or even to make jungling easier since it also reduces the damage of monsters and minions. Also, pair him with Lux for LAZOR SQUAD PEW PEW.
> R - Radiance Passive : While near each other, Taric and his bound ally gain magic resist equal to half of the passive armor bonus gained by Gemcraft. Taric slams his hammer on the ground, creating a gem monument for a few seconds. (It's considered impassable terrain like Trundle's pillar?) Allies gain armor and magic resist while near it. At the end of the duration, all enemies near it take damage and all allies gain bonus movement speed. When the monument detonates, Taric resonates the same power, giving nearby allies half of the bonus armor and magic resist the monument gave them for a few more seconds. Emerald, for Insight : Taric and his bound ally gain bonus Attack Damage and Ability Power while near the monument, and half that much after it detonates.
This is where teamfights get crazy. Taric right now can just spam W, R for some damage then pick out the adc and E to stun them, healing any low allies in the middle of the fight. With this kit, he needs to work better with his team to achieve their goals, and coupling with his adc or jungler makes him a powerful force in a teamfight because of his passive, and zoning the enemy team or separating them. This creates an interesting dynamic considering Taric's poke and heal have a bit of delay to them and all of his abilities require not only him but his team to work to make full use of it, and enemies will recognize that, hoping to shatter Taric's dynamic duo in hopes of crippling their power. It makes enemies WANT to target Taric, considering he can heal and cleanse his adc of lesser CC, grant them bonus resistances and deal damage through them, which is what Taric wants as a tanky support.
But enough about that, I also want to mention my thoughts on Vision.
As it stands, vision was greatly improved. There's more incentive and purpose to getting a vision item and they are easier to get, but the vision itself feels a little unbalanced. It can be done differently to a greater effect. Here's how I think it should go down.
These are GREAT. I love the implementation of sightstones into final tier support items. Since I used to play a fair amount of support (It's how I got to Silver 3 from unranked, and I like doing it), I know the value of these things. I never honestly used the frost queens active as much as I should have before the preseason, and would often times ditch the item in favor of other things once I got most of my build done. These items are great and offer many opportunities for a support to build better because they aren't using a slot for two support items that now go together.
The pink trinket was removed with the most recent patch, and for that I was kinda upset. When I built my sightstone I would always go for and upgrade my trinket to a pink when I had the chance, especially against a team with invisible enemies like Twitch, Shaco, or Evelynn. I am grateful though, as they are cheaper than they used to be, but it still feels like I'm contesting a dragon as I place a pink in my tri bush or in some imporant laning spot because almost every time I place a pink ward, the enemy support comes to try and break it, and I don't want to lose my 75g investment so soon. As with blue wards, they also have their own concerns. They don't reveal stealthed enemies, and I get that. I love the fact that while they are visible and have one health, but can be placed at such a huge range and you can place an infinite amount of them as you want with a relatively short cooldown. But I feel it could be better implemented, for example, into the tracker's knife. So here's what I think they should do.
: Now regain a charge after you return to fountain if you didn't have a charge already. (Considering their long cooldowns and short lifespans...)
: Should be replaced with and incur a longer cooldown with the same limitations of pink wards.
: Places , holding two charges with a 90 second cooldown before gaining another charge. Killing a large monster or scuttlecrab reduces the cooldown by 15 seconds. (A total waste if you aren't using them up as you gain cooldowns on it.)
The change to Tracker's knife makes it more valuable, the only at-range vision you can get. Considering you have to choose between a smite that slows, a smite that reduces damage, or a regular smite but you now get permanent (kinda) vision of an area at a range. This makes it valuable for both protecting your jungle, and counter jungling, filling that niche left behind by poachers knife for people who like invading enemy jungles,.
These are pretty useful, or rather, WERE useful, since they no longer reveal hidden champs like they used to(It's also kinda hard to notice that effect if you aren't looking specifically). They still do what they are intended, but there are clear benefits and drawbacks between choosing yellow or blue wards right now. With these...it's obvious if you are using red ward, you'd have to be stupid NOT to upgrade. I would like to see some clear differences between the two, like this:
: Disables revealed wards in a small area, and creates a sort of reddish-particle effect if there's a hidden enemy champion in the area. Shorter cooldown.
: Doesn't disable wards, larger area that follows you for longer time, and reveals hidden champions in the area. Longer cooldown.
There's an obvious reasoning to choose between the two. The first will be more useful counterjungling, the second will be more useful against champions that can become invisible, like Akali, Twitch, or Teemo. The first can be cast from outside the range of a ward, over a wall, but the second actually requires you walk up, like a raptor buff, with it on, meaning you are still visible.
Thanks for listening to me rant and suggest yet more champion ideas and stuff. If you have any ideas on how to make vision better, say something in the comments, though. Maybe some of it will go through.
