Rengar Update Idea: The PrideStalker's Hunting Ground
Qualities meritable to retain:
- Bush-Jumping passive is unique to Rengar – allows him to control zones around bushes in a distinct way, and allows for conditional windows of aggressive mobility – unique area for Rengar player to demonstrate skill.
- Kit is quite distinct from other Assassins – Kit (thinking of Q and W) grants power for extended skirmishing, while losing out on on-call mobility that others in the roster possess – reflects his brusque, forward way of killing.
- Ferocity resource is unique, and Rengar’s combat strength effectively alternates based on it.
Qualities that may be improved in:
- He instantly one-shots you. From stealth. So reasonable.
- His current ult grants a lot of all-around strength– it grants excellent stealth, mobility, a guaranteed leap that is no longer bush-conditional, a powerful cross-map reveal (more reliable than Rek’sai’s), and caps his Ferocity (meaning the player doesn’t need to conscientiously manage it). Whether he uses it to escape being punished for being out of position, or to loop around to one-shot his target, it can be very infuriating to play against.
- A fed Rengar is capable of making a game a permanent 5v4, while a weak one who can’t one-shot a target is merely a bad kitty. Feast-or-Famine in full effect (somewhat demonstrated by the old Bonetooth Necklace stacking).
Possible update direction:
Empowered Q: Does less initial damage and cannot crit, and instead grants more attack speed for a moment.
One thing that does need to be toned down is his up-front burst, which Rengar can dish out almost instantly thanks to his Q/auto resets. A simple change like this might extend his window of power so that he will have more leeway to finish a kill, while also giving his prey more time to react and extradite themselves.
Claim of the PrideStalker (R): Once every few minutes, Rengar can claim a wide (predetermined) area of the map (entire quadrant of Jungle or expanse of middle of lane - should not be able to be placed in enemy base?) as his ‘Hunting Ground’ / ‘Territory’. While Rengar is positioned on this zone and is out of combat, he gains ‘The Thrill of the Hunt’, which grants Rengar the following effects: > * Enemies in the Fog of War who are also on ‘Hunting Ground’ are revealed to Rengar’s team (enemy does not know they are spotted). > * After 1-3 Seconds, Rengar enters stealth and gains bonus movement speed, which are lost when he attacks, casts an ability, walks near an enemy champion (meaning he cannot jump out of stealth if not in bush – in my opinion a necessary removal, forces Rengar to land his Ebola?), or leaves his ‘Hunting Ground’. Additionally, his brush jump range is increased (reference to BoneTooth Necklace – sort of arbitrary).
> The zone is clearly marked by an untargetable ‘Pridestalker’s Totem’ which is visible to all champions. > Totem takes a short while to spawn, and enemies should be clearly notified when it is set, and when it becomes active.
The goal with this change is to retain Rengar’s ‘Hunting’, but make it conditional on being in a particular area. Unlike Skarner’s Spires which give x, y and z stats (and kind of turned out lame for that reason), Rengar’s (singular) zone of control grants both ‘intangible’ vision strength that Rengar can share with his team, and conditional actual and perceived threat.
Though he can choose to place his Totem in his target lane, this change will likely diminish his lane-ganking strength (since his quarry will be cautioned by the totem), but on the flip side gain invading, catching and point defending power – the reveal might serve as a powerful deterrent to an invading jungler.
Like Kindred’s passive, I reckon this could also add a further ‘prediction’ dynamic, where Rengar can choose to place his totem aggressively, prompting the enemy to play cautious, while he instead plays passive or shows up on the other side of the map.
However, I do worry that such a mechanic could prove problematic/toxic in its own way, particularly if it’s overtuned – the actual response necessitated if the enemy knows Rengar is in the area is simply to ‘stay away’, and might stagnate action instead of promote it – perhaps allow enemy to nullify its effect somehow?
The whole 'Large area of Control' design space which was touched with Skarner does have potential to be explored, and this might be a fine way to make Rengar stand out from the others in the Assassin roster while retaining his more original qualities.
Are there any glaring balance or quality-of-life flaws in this idea? Let me know what you think!
Other Original Gameplay Update Ideas
Kha'zix Evolutions: Pierce, Cripple, Finish, Eliminate
