[Champion Concept] Vytag, the Missionary of the Void

Knightcoreframe·11/25/2016, 11:15:24 AM·2 votes·453 views

This is my first champion concept, so I won't be doing much in the way of specific numbers. Originally, this champ was to be a sort of bridge between Runeterra and the Void. I really liked the idea of a support that focused more on positioning than healing and shields, so she was going to have abilities centered on portals and gateways. Then I came up with this concept and liked it more. Yes the background is a bit long, but I think it really describes who she is and where she comes from. It's not the full story by any means, yet it's a good summary of how she came to be.

Background: Vytag is the antithesis of Bard. Where Bard seeks to keep the structure of the universe from being destroyed, Vytag is the force that he opposes who seeks to spread the corruption of the Void to all things. She is commonly depicted as an elderly woman with a gnarled yew staff almost twice as tall as her hunched form. No matter the circumstance, she never parts with it and snaps at those who suggest she does. Don't let her wizened appearance fool you: she is as sprightly as a yordle with springs on their boots when she needs to be. Although human, the influence of powerful magicks has taken its toll on her body and shrunken her to about the size of a yordle. It's hard to define exactly what she is now, since her form shifts and shimmers when looked at directly. Her robes are covered in strange changing sigils, symbols of Void magic that change with each glance. She comes from a not so distant future, a timeline that Malzahar sees all the time (thanks to her influence), where Valoran is covered by Void creatures. Once a young beautiful druid, she turned nomad as Valoran began to fall and she looked far and wide for help for her country. No one she found had the courage to stand with her against the tide of darkness, too afraid of what they might become should they look upon the horrors of the Void. She finally came upon a great yew tree on a cliff overlooking the ocean, and sat at its roots to rest. As a druid, she understood when it asked what troubled her. After telling it of what was happening to her beloved Valoran, it dropped its oldest branch at her feet and told her to use it to focus her magic. It would grant her the might of the forest, and so long as she held it she would never die to age or sickness so she may fight as long as necessary. Staff in hand, she traveled back to the heart of the invasion and began to fight. Week after week she pushed back the hordes of Void monstrosities from the border, keeping them from spreading to the rest of the world. But during one fight, she was tripped and stumbled through a gateway to the Void. The conflicting magic aged her and her staff, twisting her mind over what felt like an eternity before shoving her violently back through the gateway. When she awoke, the Void creatures had encircled her but would not come near. Words of magic sprang to her lips, but to her brief surprise they were not that of druid magic and not of the voice she remembered having. The voice that spoke was old and cruel, and spoke of death as though it was her most cherished friend. She knew that it was the voice of the Void...and that she would be the one to speak its praise. She saw her arm and hand riddled with wrinkles and age spots, the hair hanging in front of her face grey and thin. As she finished her spell the earth quaked under her, with a large circle of plants around her withering and one of their Void terrors dying with it. Yes, that was it. Those Void monsters were theirs. They remembered Runeterra...a place of life. A place where none would help them with their old goal. They were treated so badly...no one cared about them. No matter...Runeterra will help them this time. They will see the power of the Void. But if anyone mentions the wrinkles or the hair...well, their pets always need more food.

As I said, I wouldn't be too focused on the numbers since this is my first concept, so some feedback would be appreciated. I'll at least give a range or an approximate amount, so that you can get the idea of what it should be. I do know some basics, like AoE abilities should naturally be less damaging than single target abilities. If you can help with the exact numbers I would appreciate it!

Health, Regen, and Health Growth: Moderate. She's absolutely not a tank, as she is an AP support/mage, but she is also built to get up in people's faces sometimes. Attack Damage and Speed: Moderately low. As a support/mage focused on her spells she won't be needing her attacks too often. Movement speed: Average. She's old but spry, so don't count her out. Armor/Magic Resist: Typical for mages. Lower armor but a higher magic resist than average. Secondary Limitation: Mana. As a support/mage, she will need to be limited in the long term. Tertiary Limitation: Health, her own or that of land around her in the form of creating Corrupted ground. Health is not a large one, but it will impact her casting when she's low. Corrupted ground will limit her first, however.

Passive: Corrupted Life Vytag's very presence allows the Void to draw closer, and she draws upon life itself to fuel her spells. As part of bringing the whispers of the Void to Runeterra, all of Vytag's basic abilities cost life, either her own or that of the land around her. In return for this sacrifice, the Void grants her a shield. When she expends life on her spells, she gains a shield equal to twice the amount of life used. This shield is permanent, however it is limited to 25 per level + 50% of her Ability Power. If there is excess, it is wasted. If she has shield and loses Health so that she would be at 0, such as from using an ability on Corrupted ground, she will die. (This means she can't have just shield to keep her alive, she still needs health.) When using a basic ability on ground that has not been Corrupted, the spell will Corrupt the ground in a radius around her equal to four times the amount of Health Vytag would otherwise use (unless noted otherwise). Overlapping Corruption zones do not change the effect, as long as Vytag herself is not on Corrupted ground when she casts the ability. Casting while on Corrupted ground causes the ability to draw from Vytag's own Health instead of from the world. Corrupted ground lasts 600 seconds, but is affected by cooldown reduction reversely (meaning it will last longer) It's similar to Taliyah's Worked Ground, if you wanted to compare it to something.

Q: Blood Rites Cost: 60 Mana, 50 Health Cooldown: 10/9/8/7/6 seconds Range: Point and click (single target), instant to minor travel delay, close (around Illaoi's W range), see text When cast, this ability deals 50/100/150/200/250 + 60% AP magic damage to target neutral/enemy creature. If this kills the target, Vytag gains a buff that enhances the next basic ability she uses: Blood Rites: Corrupted ground within a moderately large radius (between a Bard ultimate and a Pantheon ultimate) of the target (shown while targeting Blood Rites) burns in delight at the bountiful sacrifice for the Void, slowing all neutral and enemy creatures on the affected Corrupted ground by 20% and dealing 60% of her AP as magic damage over three seconds. Volatile Earth: After the knockback, the area is left unstable and will detonate for half damage (no knockback) one second after an enemy steps on it. Corrupted Gift: Greatly increases the boosts granted to champions, but decays over the duration to the original amounts. Decent increase to the boosts granted to minions.

This ability started with a component where you could execute a friendly minion too, still granting experience and gold as normal to nearby enemy champions (similar to a item 3302), but it would take CS from the enemy and I doubt Riot would be okay with any ability doing that. If you'd like, you can give me your thoughts on this part too.

W: Volatile Earth Cost: 80 Mana, 60 Health Cooldown: 14/12.5/11/9.5/8 seconds Range: Point and click (ground target), minor delay (maximum 0.5 seconds, likely half that), moderate (around Veigar's E range, which is 700 units for more exact numbers) Area of Effect: Moderate (about as big as a Bard ultimate) Volatile Earth Corrupts in a 300 radius. When cast, this ability causes the target area to begin slowing neutral and enemy creatures by 10% increasing to 40% over 2 seconds (2 second total duration). At the end of this time the earth erupts, knocking all neutral and enemy creatures to the edge of the area and dealing 65/105/145/185/225 + 40% AP magic damage to all affected targets. The targeted area is left Corrupted at the end of the duration. This knockback/knock up (like a blast cone plant, just weaker) is enough to push champions over walls, but usually only thin ones due to the size of the area. E: Corrupted Gift Cost: 100 Mana, 80 Health Cooldown: 60/55/50/45/40 seconds Range: Point and click, moderately close (around an Illaoi Tentacle Slam I'd say), 1 second channel (only breaks if the target moves outside twice the cast range) This ability may only be cast on another allied champion or minion (excluding siege minions). When cast, Corrupted Gift grants a buff to the target dependent on what the target is. Minions are morphed to represent their buffed status, and cannot be otherwise affected (such as by item 3060). This buff lasts indefinitely on minions, but lasts 20 seconds on a champion Ranged Minion: Slight Attack Damage and Attack Speed boost. Gains (some to several, I'd say 4 to 8) stacks of additional Attack Speed for each attack that hits. Stacks last 5 seconds. (Effectively a mini-item 3124 from before pre-season 7. It goes up a fair ways, but definitely not more than double.) Melee Minion: Slight Attack Damage boost, slight Health increase, granted a small Health regeneration. When it kills a minion, it gains a stack that grants a little more Attack Damage, Health, and regeneration (up to...maybe 4 stacks?). Stacks increase the size of the minion. (At full stacks the minion will be a bit larger than a cannon minion, but definitely smaller than a siege minion. The total health will be about double the base, with the regeneration being slight but enough to make sure the minion is pretty much back to full after fighting just other minions. The attack damage won't but a huge increase, maybe 50% more than base.) Cannon Minion: Slight Attack Damage boost. Attacks do additional damage in an AoE around the target, dealing 40% damage. The AoE is approximately three minions in diameter. (Like a mini-item 3077.) Champion: All damage dealt is increased by 8%. Armor and magic resist is increased by 10. Movement speed is increased by 5%. Attack Speed is increased by 15%. Size is increased by 15%.

I really liked the idea of the Void creating monsters each specialized for different tasks. Ranged combat, assassination, survivability...but I wondered what was responsible for that evolution. What caused the Void creatures to have such diverse paths? I figured there had to be some grand design, some being that was responsible for creating the diverse specialists. Vytag is my concept of a...I guess she's a "mad scientist" for the Void. She went back in time and created the special beasts that now fight in League of Legends. She knew that if she alone could turn back the tide of Voidlings, the Void needed more powerful units. Special forces to allow tactical movements instead of pure destruction. Kog'maw is a result of her experiments in ranged combat, Cho'gath is from her studies towards surviving a lot of damage, and so on with the rest of her pets. All adapted to perform specific tasks that Voidlings are too stupid or too simple to do even in a swarm. She went very far back after her trip to the Void, to the beginning of its existence, and nudged the evolution of the Voidborn in the right directions. Corrupted Gift is my interpretation of her meddling. Their eternal hunger is the primary result. She gave them her hunger for life.

This ability was originally supposed to be a serious CC ability I called Time Slide. It was about as slow as a Thresh hook, but only hits enemy champions. When it hits, it locks their speed and direction for two seconds (making them unable to do anything but continue that movement) as well as making them invisible and invulnerable. Like turning cruise control on in a car and locking the steering wheel, with some extra effects. In magic terms, it's knocking the enemy out of the time stream for a few seconds. Yeah, it's pretty troll and OP, thus why I scrapped it pretty early.

The second idea I had was about temptation. Vytag isn't about destruction, but rather transformation. Corruption. She doesn't want to kill everything, just make Runeterra into a Void nursery with humans as food. And to do that, she'd need allies. But that's backstory I'm not going into now. Give me some feedback and maybe I'll expand it! This idea I named Call of the Void. It's an AoE cone emanating from Vytag that's moderately wide (about 1/5th of a circle) that charms all enemies in the area for a short time (maybe one to two seconds), then grants a buff that lasts one to two seconds (AD and AP get a boost, like an inverse summoner 3 except just for the damaging stats) while doing damage over time (reckless power, something she uses but doesn't take as many penalties), and then they are slowed by 99% (like a Thresh ultimate) and take similar penalties to summoner 3 for one to two seconds. It was designed to "tempt" enemies, grant them the power for a moment, then take it all away and "show them how weak they really are" (something she takes pride in pointing out. Don't mention how frail or weak she looks, seriously). It's a little too complex, I think, and buffing enemies is probably not something most would want. I really liked the idea of an ability that reflected Vytag's desire of corrupting souls to advance her cause, not just life.

R: Void Shift Cost: 120 Mana Cooldown: 150/135/120 seconds Range: Self, instant When activated, Vytag becomes invulnerable and has her speed changed to 300 (a little under base speed) for 5/8/11 seconds. While using Void Shift, she cannot be affected by any form of crowd control, damage, or healing. She is unaffected by speed changes during this time. Durations continue while invulnerable (such as healing potions, poison, and other effects) and may expire. She also ignores all collision, including walls, while using Void Shift. If she is inside another unit when the duration ends or it is cancelled, she is shunted to the closest location without collision. If she is shunted from a wall, she is Stunned for 2 seconds after she is shunted out. While Void Shift is active, Vytag cannot attack and cannot use any abilities or items besides being able to cancel Void Shift.

If Void Shift is unclear at all, it's an escape button. It lets her move freely with a completely limited speed, and if it ends while she is inside a wall then she will take a severe penalty. It's easy to chase her down with highly mobile champions, or with anyone with enough speed to keep up with her.

As I write this, my computer is lagging somewhat (it sucks, I know, but it's a long post), so I won't be adding much else. Again, I state that all numbers or references I have provided are approximations of what I think the abilities should be like. If I didn't provide a scaling, such as for mana over the ranks of the ability, either I didn't think it needed one or I didn't know how to scale it properly. I designed her as a support/mage, but I think she could work alright in the jungle too. Feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thank you for reading all this.

2 Comments

Ninja Baby one11/25/2016, 2:46:30 PM3 votes

I'll start by saying that I'm not trying to bash this concept or say you're bad at design. I don't mean offense to you when saying these comments, I'm just trying to give my take on what I think could be improved.

Okay, so a quick overview tells me that you've got a lot more solid ideas about what should go into your champion than most. This however locks her into a singular playstyle that's not really represented in League, that of a pusher, and nothing else. What you've tried to do with the champion is interesting, but the execution is a bit lackluster. I'll go over the spells one by one and say my problems with them now and what works.

Passive: Whoa boy there's a lot to this passive. Okay, the shield for life cost is cool, though I don't think it should be permanent. Maybe let it run out after a few seconds out of combat? Would make it have basically the same interactions, but wouldn't allow you to stack it out of combat to run in. Secondly, characters are not supposed to be allowed to literally kill themselves. Denying is not a mechanic that has a place in League. Maybe when she just goes on 1 hp when she cast spells that would otherwise kill her? Or she's simply incapable of casting if she doesn't have the life required. And now, my biggest problem with the passive. The Corrupted ground. The idea is cool, but it doesn't really work well in its current itteration. First of all, I am unsure if it has an actual effect by itself without the abilities. This might just be the wording of the passive that confuses me. The zones aren't super big and won't become bigger as the game progresses. The Q always makes 200 radius zones, the W always makes 300 radius zones and the E always makes 320 radius zones. This could maybe be changed, but I think that's just a personal problem. The duration of the zones is way too long too. 10 minutes has the possibility of being as much as 50% of the match time. This is just ridiculous. Taliyah Taliyah's zones already last super long and seem to last an eternity, but with ten minutes duration you'll expect them to always be there and you'll be surprised when you actually lose the zones. The fact that you can place a zone every 6 seconds anyways means that even if you don't have a zone, you could easily just create one.

Q: I love the idea of this spell! It's a simple nuke on a low cooldown that if used correctly will give you bonus effects to all your basic spells. Its own boosted version has a small problem though. If she hasn't been where the enemy is standing, the effect will be wasted. This could be fixed any number of ways, maybe triggering the Zone when an enemy steps on it instead of when it hits? That is unless I've misunderstood the boosted effect.

W: This spell is fine, though I'd actually think the initial slow should be a bit higher to make sure it has a proper impact and an actual use if the enemy isn't hit by the knockback because they make it out of the zone before the 2 seconds are up. The Boosted version is not strong enough really. I'd say make it deal the same damage as the initial blast or give a new slow if it damages anyone as people already are out of the radius of the spell and are to be scared of moving into the area again.

E: First of all, wall of text. Maybe try and write notes that are not detriment to our understanting of hte spell at the end of the concept in the future? You give an alternate version of the spell which could've easily be kept until the end of the concept. Anyways, back to the actual spell. See, this is what I meant when the character is put into a pusher role. The spell is an item active in an ability, which isn't super good. The spell also isn't really interesting or strong as it just boosts a minion, making it worth the same as maybe 3 minions or boosts a champion for a bit more damage. The scaling of it is also just cooldown, yet not enough to be able to use it more than every 2 minion wave anyways. Even the boosted version doesn't award much for using it at the right time or on the right target. It's just a buff. I understand that you want the Void to grab a hold of minions, but this spell really doesn't work and I'd say you should rework it entirely. I don't see a way to make it impactful enough to be interesting.

R: See, the effect is interesting, but I honestly don't think there's anything to this ability. It's only a way to survive to do a play with your other spells, which once again really isn't that interesting. I don't know what could make this spell interesting either and as so, I think it should get a rework.

Overall: Half the kit is super, but the ulti and E are really problematic in their design. Another thing. A way to maybe fix the uninteresting size of the zones, maybe the spells cost could scale off her max HP or something different? The fact that they're all different already really invites a scaling size. I will also say, despite not being that interested in most fan-created void champions, the thematics of this champion actually gets me interested. The Void reaching through her into our world is really cool and the visuals that could be created could be super interesting.

Hope this review of the kit has helped a bit and I hope I didn't offend your creative side. :)