Champion Concept: Aefondel, Master of Seasons

Aefondel is a transform champion that has 4 forms, each distinct in their abilities and theme. However, the main idea in his kit that differentiates him from other transform champions (despite having more than 2 forms, and besides Gnar) is that he has to cycle through each of his forms sequentially, rather than being able to choose a form and stick with it for however long he likes. Like Nidalee/Jayce/Elise/Udyr, Aefondel has access to his R ability at level 1, being able to put 4 ranks in it at levels 1/6/11/16. Aefondel uses mana as his primary resource. With all that being said, here we go.

I'll start with his R (not really an ultimate, but still the defining feature of his kit).

• R: Procession of Nature - Mana cost: None - Cooldown: Special Aefondel embodies each of the 4 seasons individually, changing the rest of his kit to reflect that. Every 30 seconds, Aefondel automatically progresses to the next season along the progression of Summer -> Autumn -> Winter -> Spring. At the start of the game, Aefondel chooses which season he starts in (similar in mechanics to how Elementalist Lux chooses an element). He can activate his R to progress to the next season, with a 0.5 second cast time (changing season automatically does not interrupt his actions). He can only activate his R once he has spent 15/11/7/3 seconds in his current form, unaffected by cooldown reduction. His passive updates to provide a new buff, depending on which season he is currently embodying. Once Aefondel changes seasons, the next ability he casts within 15 seconds has no mana cost. Death does not stop the 30 second progression.

• While Aefondel is embodying Summer, his kit becomes more damage-based: Passive (Summer): Rage of the Midday Sun Aefondel's spells invoke the blinding power of the sun. Each spell he lands on an enemy champion adds a stack of radiance, lasting 6 seconds. If an enemy reaches 3 stacks of radiance, all stacks are expended and the target is blinded for 1/1.25/1.5/1.75 seconds (scaling with his ultimate rank) and dealing an amount of magic damage over the length of the blind equal to 30% of his ability power. Adding a stack of radiance refreshes the duration of all previously applied stacks. Plants within 2500 units of Aefondel have their effects multiplied by 125% (blast cones move units 25% further, honeyfruit restores 25% extra hp and mana, scryer's blooms revealing range extends 25% further).

Q (Summer): Sunbeam - Mana cost: 60 mana - Cooldown: 8 seconds (0.25 second cast time) Aefondel blasts his foes with a beam of light (think an uncharged Xerath laser) in a line, dealing 60/90/120/150/180 (+80% ability power) magic damage to all enemies struck and revealing them (unless invisible) for 3 seconds. Damaging an enemy champion with this ability reduces the base cooldown to 6/5.5/5/4.5/4 seconds.

W (Summer): Postpone Sunset - Mana cost: 100 mana - Cooldown: 30 seconds Aefondel channels for up to 5 seconds, delaying the forced progression of his R during the channel. During the channel, he heals for 15/25/35/45/55 (+10% ability power) hp per second. He is still able to cast both his Q and E during the channel, but is unable to move. Casting R or moving interrupts the channel.

E (Summer): Fiery Discorporation - Mana cost: 50/60/70/80/90 - Cooldown: 20/18/16/14/12 seconds - Range: 1000 (0.75 second cast time) Aefondel teleports, leaving behind a fiery burst at his previous location, dealing 70/120/170/220/270 (+70% ability power) magic damage to enemies within 300 units of his previous location. If Aefondel is channeling his W when he casts Fiery Discorporation, the base healing is doubled for the remainder of the channel.

• While Aefondel is embodying Autumn, his kit becomes more oriented towards tankiness and disruption: Passive (Autumn): The End Approaches All buffs on opposing champions within 750 units of Aefondel while he is embodying Autumn only last 90/80/70% as long as normal. When he first enters this form, Aefondel drains nearby enemies of life, dealing 10% (+1% for every 200 bonus hp) of their current hp over 2 seconds in magic damage to all units his passive effects, and granting him a shield equal to 40% of the damage dealt. Damage dealt to minions only grants him half shield value. The shield decays over 30 seconds, ending if he prematurely switches to Winter. Plants respawn at half the rate while within 2500 units of Aefondel.

Q (Autumn): Blustery Gale - Mana cost: 80/90/100/110/120 - Cooldown: 15 seconds - Range: 800 (0.75 second cast time) Aefondel invokes the power of the north wind for 5 seconds, checking all enemies walking against the wind, slowing them by 50/62.5/75/87.5/100% (forward movement is impossible, but pathfinding is not blocked, at rank 5). Dashes against the wind have their range cut by 10/20/30/40/50% (although travel time remains the same). The gale lasts for 5 seconds and remains in place.

W (Autumn): Tidings of Frost - Mana cost: 50 - Cooldown: 12/11/10/9/8 seconds - Range: 800 (0.3 second cast time) Aefondel marks an enemy with an Omen for 10 seconds. This deals 50/100/150/200/250 (+6% bonus hp) (+35% ability power) magic damage upon initial application, and 50% of that damage again if it is triggered. The Omen is triggered if the target is slowed by a non-passive ability used during his Winter form. Triggering the Omen results in the slow becoming a stun for 0.75/1/1.25/1.5/1.75 seconds. If the target is a champion that dies before the Omen is triggered, the Omen spreads to all nearby enemies (500 range).

E (Autumn): Reap the Harvest - Mana cost: 25/30/35/40/45 - Cooldown: 3 seconds (static) - Range: 300 Passive: Aefondel manifests a spectral scythe while embodying Autumn, changing his auto attacks to melee, and causing his attacks to drain 10% of the target's missing health as magic damage, adding it to his own. Aefondel gains 50% attack speed. Active: Aefondel lashes out with his scythe, dealing 40/80/120/160/200 (+5% bonus hp) magic damage to enemies in a small arc in front of him, slowing them by 40% for 1.5 seconds. Applies on-hit effects. Minions and non-buff/epic monsters are pulled into Aefondel.

• While Aefondel is embodying Winter, his kit becomes more oriented towards slowing and controlling opponents. Passive (Winter): Drifts of Snow When Aefondel damages an enemy champion with a spell, the champion is surrounded by a Snow Drift at their location, radius 100/150/200. Snow Drifts slow enemies standing on them by 20%. Snow drifts last until Aefondel switches to Spring form. Like Ivern's bushes, Drifts link with nearby Drifts to form larger banks of snow. If a Snow Drift spawns within a pre-existing Blustery Gale, the Snow Drift is blown to the edge of the Gale, dealing 75/125/175 (+50% ability power) magic damage over 1 second to enemies struck, triggering Omens. Aefondel may only have as many as 6/8/10 Snow Drifts at any one time. Exceeding this limit causes the oldest Snow Drift to dissipate. Plants do not respawn within 2500 units of Aefondel.

Q (Winter): Icy Whip - Mana cost: 50/55/60/65/70 - Cooldown: 12/11/10/9/8 seconds - Range: 750 Aefondel lashes out with a whip of ice in a vector that stops when it hits an enemy champion (like Rumble's R or Viktor's E). Any enemies struck by the whip take 60/110/160/210/260 (+60% ability power) magic damage, and embeds icy shards in the enemy for 4 seconds. Landing an auto attack on an enemy embedded with ice rips out the shards, dealing an additional 30/50/70/90/110 (+25% ability power) magic damage, and slowing them by 60% for 3 seconds. The auto attack does not drop a Snow Drift. If the whip does not strike an enemy champion, it leaves behind a Snow Drift at the end of its range.

W (Winter): Cold-Blooded Vengeance - Mana cost: 75/85/95/105/115 - Cooldown: 15 seconds - Range: 300 Aefondel radiates waves of frost for 10 seconds. Any enemy within range suffers 20/35/50/65/80 (+10% ability power) magic damage every second, doubled if that enemy has damaged Aefondel for more than 5% of his max hp since the previous tick (ticks of damage occur once per second). Receiving the double damage slows enemy champions by 40% for 0.5 seconds. Enemy champions who receive the doubled damage drop a Snow Drift at their location at the next tick. Once a champion has dropped a Snow Drift, they cannot drop another one to this effect for 5 seconds.

E (Winter): Monuments of Ice - Mana cost: 150 - Cooldown: N/A - Range: Global (0.5 second cast time) Aefondel commands all of his Snow Drifts to rise up and become pillars of ice, becoming blocking terrain and shunting all units to either side of the pillar. This ability can only be cast once each time Aefondel embodies Winter, and pillars last until he embodies Spring. Pillars within 300 units of each other link up and form icy walls, which can be broken with 3 auto attacks. Broken walls leave their pillars standing.

• While Aefondel is embodying Spring, his kit becomes more oriented towards renewed life and energy. Passive: The Great Thaw When Aefondel first enters his Spring form, all monuments of ice melt into pools of water with radius of 200/300/400. Allied champions and all enemies who step in a pool of water are marked as wet for 5 seconds. Pools of water last until he switches form to Summer, evaporating them. Aefondel gains 10% bonus movement speed while embodying Spring. Plants spawn twice as fast within 2500 units of Aefondel while he is embodying Spring.

Q (Spring): Chain Lightning - Mana cost: 60 - Cooldown: 12/11/10/9/8 seconds - Range: 1000 (0.5 second cast time) Aefondel shoots out a bolt of lightning in a line, damaging all enemies struck. The bolt strikes all allied champions and all enemies in the area, dealing 75/125/175/225/275 (+70% ability power) magic damage to enemies, and grants 50/60/70/80/90% bonus movement speed to allied champions for 1.5 seconds, decaying over the duration. Targets that are wet are also effected if they are within 300 meters of another affected target, friend or foe. Pools of water that are either directly in line with the bolt, or have an affected target standing on them, are charged for 4 seconds. Charged pools apply the effects of Chain Lightning to the target, depending if they're allies or enemies to Aefondel. All targets can only be affected once by Chain Lightning.

W (Spring): Drink of Life - Mana cost: 50/60/70/80/90 - Cooldown: 13 - Range: Global (0.5 second cast time) Aefondel blesses all pools of water for 5 seconds, healing all allies within the pools of water for 15/30/45/60/75 (+15% ability power) hp per second. Can only be cast if Aefondel is standing in a pool.

E (Spring): Green Thumb - Mana cost: 50 - Cooldown: 15/14/13/12/11 - Range: 1000 Aefondel cycles through the three plant choices (Blast cone, honeyfruit, scryer's bloom), selecting one, then placing it on the ground within range (selection works like Twisted Fate's Pick a Card). The plant becomes active 2 seconds after being planted, and are usable by either team. Plants last 10/15/20/25/30 seconds.

I feel like Aefondel is most suited for the mid lane, but I wouldn't be surprised if he could work in the bot lane as a support as well.

And... we're done. Kudos to you if you made it all the way through this, and I really hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed creating this. Please offer any thoughts or comments as to how this champion concept appears, and maybe people will like it. Who knows? :) Maybe my position on the champion design team starts today.