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Concept - Rockette, the Runaway Train

linkblade91·9/11/2015, 7:05:14 PM·2 votes·961 views

Hello again :) I have since returned with another champion idea! I really had fun coming up with this one, and she has quickly become my new favorite design. I hope you like it. Feel free to leave a comment below on what you think needs improving, what you love/hate about it, etc. Thank you in advance for reading it; it's another long one.

Table of Contents:

  1. Overview
  2. Appearance + Skin
  3. Abilities
  4. Strategy
  5. Suggested Items
  6. Lore

Overview Rockette is usually played in a solo-lane or the jungle, as a durable "Assassin-Tank" (don't worry; I'll explain). The niece of ace yordle pilot Corki, Rockette's playstyle accurately reflects her personality: unabashed, charging on toward adventure and discovery almost to the point of recklessness. "Get out of the way or get run over" is the name of the game, barreling down on her targets before enthusiastically dogging them until their death (or her own). Locomotives aren't exactly known for their turning ability, and as such Rockette knows better than to try: on the path to be the very best yordle engineer in all of Runeterra, the only way forward is...well, forward!

Appearance Rockette is an up-and-coming yordle inventor and engineer, and as such she shares much in common with her brethren in terms of appearance. Wearing her own version of a conductor hat, Rockette pilots the latest version of her "Prototype Assault, Navigation and Exploration" (P.A.N.E) Train, a formidable, almost tank-like combat vehicle. As her passive ranks up each upgrade includes with it a "visual enhancement", wherein Rockette's train becomes more physically imposing, powerful, and high-tech-looking, implying she is making constant improvements throughout the match. The attached picture is one of the "Jules Verne train" from Back to the Future 3; it showcases that combination of futuristic elements with a classic train that I was looking for.

Debut Skin - Superb "Villain" Rockette In line with the Veigar skin of the same name, Rockette trades her conductor hat for a top-hat and a fake moustache. Her train drops the armored/hextech appearance for a more traditional steam engine look. The splash art could have Teemo tied to the rails as she barrels in on him, laughing evilly ;)

Abilities Passive - Experimental Fuel Cell Rockette starts with the EFC as an item, much like Viktor, providing her stats and upgrading over the course of the game as she ranks her ultimate. When Rockette toggles the item on, each subsequent ability uses charges of Power in addition to mana, in exchange for Powered Up! effects. Each charge used in this way is drained from the EFC permanently, meaning that when Rockette's ETC is out of Power she'll maintain the stats but cannot enhance her skills for the rest of the game. She can conserve her charges for later by toggling the item off.

The Experimental Fuel Cell starts with a boon to health, with upgrades providing additional health and bonus movespeed. (Is this enough? Perhaps it should boost AD too?)

Q. Mounted Pyro Laser Rockette trains a beam on target enemy, continuously inflicting Magic damage on them. The laser tracks their movements and follows them until the duration ends or the enemy escapes the targeting-range. "Dramatic" movement abilities such as Flash, Teleport, blinks and the like can cause the laser to lose its target, ending the ability early. During the use of her Q, Rockette can continue to move and act as normal. Enemies activating Zhonya's Hourglass or Wooglet's Witchcap (or being hit by Bard's ultimate) will also end the Laser's targeting.

Powered Up! - Mounted Cryo Laser Rockette's laser acquires a continuous slowing effect. No additional damage, but the slowing effect increases the likelihood that Rockette can continue the chase against her target.

W. Anti-Personnel Blade A scythe blade shoots out from Rockette's train, harming those it passes through from left to right with Physical damage. The blade is very fast, but has a short range - almost directly around her.

Powered Up! - Whammer Mallets The scythe blade is switched out for a pair of cartoonishly-large hammers, coming from each side of Rockette's train toward the front. Enemies directly in front of Rockette are hit by both hammers, taking additional damage and being stunned.

E. Tow-Cable Launcher Rockette fires a wire in target direction, one that latches on to the first enemy champion it strikes for minor Physical damage. For the duration, said enemy is attached to Rockette and cannot move outside of a set distance from her. Both the enemy and Rockette may move and function normally (albeit the enemy can only move within the limitation), and Rockette can press E again to detach the cable prematurely. Rockette's movements are the "deciding factor" as to how far the enemy can move: as Rockette moves, the enemy can/will be dragged accordingly if they are at the max cable distance. However much like her Q, "dramatic" movement effects such as the Es of Ekko, Ezreal, and Lissandra can "cleanse" the wire off of themselves, as well as from Flash, Teleport, Zhonya's and the like.

Powered Up! - Retracting Cable Over the duration of Tow-Cable Launcher the attached wire slowly pulls in, further limiting the enemy's movement options as they are drawn toward Rockette.

R. Ramming Speed!! Rockette's train charges forward a set distance in target direction, plowing through any and all enemies, inflicting Physical damage that is increased in-part from her movespeed. Rockette is Unstoppable through the duration of the ability, and continues uninhibited in a straight line until she reaches the max distance, crashes into terrain, or is killed.

Powered Up! - Locomotive Missile Aerial Offensive Rockette's train reveals its hidden aero-wings, allowing her ultimate to ignore terrain. Flame trails are left behind as she moves, burning enemies for additional Magic damage.

Strategy As I've mentioned previously, Rockette can best be described as an "Assassin-Tank", which no doubt requires some explanation. Assassins excel at picking off specific targets, using movement abilities to seek prey before unloading their incredible damage upon them. Rockette is a Tank, so her damage potential is severely less than that of a Zed (for example), but her toolset lends itself to an Assassin playstyle with a different flavor: the "Runaway Train" can do just that, shrugging off damage as she charges into the enemy team, utilizing her unique abilities to latch onto a specific target and run them down. Rockette can fire her Tow-Cable Launcher + Retracting Cable at the Veigar in the backline, for example, pulling him in before she rockets (heh) away with the use of Ramming Speed!! to drag the little terror away from his compatriots. Anti-Personnel Blade + Whammer Mallets keeps him in place and isolated, while the Mounted Pyro Laser inflicts continuous damage to ensure the teamfight quickly becomes a 5v4. In this scenario Rockette demonstrates her Assassin-like qualities in her ability to seek out a vulnerable target (Veigar), while taking advantage of her tankiness to survive the play.

Outside of teamfights, the combination of Rockette's skills leads to an unparallel potential for 1v1 dueling, relentlessly dogging her enemy. This can be further enhanced by careful management of her Experimental Fuel Cell charges. Aggressive use of the EFC early on can lead to an oppressive lane and/or ganking opportunities, but an over-reliance can devastate Rockette's end-game potential should she run out of Power. Building for durability increases her freedom to chase down enemies hiding behind their allies, while adding additional damage and CC can improve her ability to hunt said enemy or objective.

Having said this, Rockette is still a Tank first-and-foremost; she'll probably need help if she wants to take down a target in short order. In the above example with Veigar, the expectation is that Rockette used her Ramming Speed!! to drag Veigar toward her own team, so that they could gang up on the poor guy. In a 1v1 situation, unless she's building more toward damage, Rockette will have to rely on time (so she can wear down and defeat the fleeing enemy) or allies (driving the target into an ambush or the like) if she wants to be consistently successful.

Suggested Items Stat Priorities: Health > Durability (Armor/MR) > Movespeed > AD/AP > CDR. A more damage-orientated Rockette would move AD/AP up to equal Durability.

  • item 3742 Dead Man's Plate "Momentum" is a perfect compliment to Rockette; who better can embody such a passive other than a train? DMP's Health and Armor further Rockette's tankiness, while Momentum adds movespeed to boost her chasing/catching strengths and adds a bonus to damage when she gets to them.

  • item 3078 Trinity Force, item 3071 The Black Cleaver Rockette's ability comboes aren't as readily "spammable" as say a Brand's, so she'll have plenty of time to seed in a Spellblade-proccing auto attack between her skill usage. Sheen gives a tremendous bump in her dueling damage against her preferred target, while Phage's Rage passive provides yet another means of upping Rockette's movespeed, continuing the fantasy of a speed-machine relentlessly hunting down her unfortunate enemies. The Black Cleaver is arguably a weaker choice for a Phage item, as Rockette cannot Rend as quickly/efficiently as other champions, but the Health/AD/CDR combination would still be welcome.

  • item 3725 Cinderhulk Rockette is capable of very good "pick" ganks, wherein she rumbles out of the fog of war, locks down her desired target, and drags them away to their doom. Her Anti-Personnel Blade would be the camp-clearer of choice for the jungle, but it's not enough; Blasting Smite aids in Rockette's fairly slow clearing speed. The Warrior enchantment would make a fine choice, providing armor-pen and CDR, but it pales in comparison to Cinderhulk: Cinderhulk's percent increase to Health would further enhance that which is already gained from the Experimental Fuel Cell, not to mention any found on additional items. Immolate's damage-over-time also meshes well with Mounted Pyro/Cyro Laser, for dueling in the jungle, ganking, and taking down jungle monsters.

  • item 3512 Zzrot's Portal Outside of the scythe from her Anti-Personnel Blade, Rockette is not the best at clearing waves of minions: her ranged auto attacks are not as powerful as they could be if she builds toward tankiness, and outside of "wasting" her ultimate only the aforementioned W provides AoE damage. Something like a Zzrot's Portal would aid in this endeavor if she wanted to improve her pushing power. Much to Rockette's gratitude, ZZrot's also provides many useful stats in addition to its active ability, granting the Runaway Train a great amount of durability while further enhancing her movespeed when near turrets.

Example final builds (not in order): Tank - Experimental Fuel Cell mk-3, Cinderhulk, Dead Man's Plate, Trinity Force, Righteous Glory, Zzrot's Portal + Elixirs of Iron

  • One assumes she traded her Boots of Swiftness/Mercury's Treads in for another item at some point; EFC + Righteous Glory can compensate for this loss of movespeed.

Hybrid Damage - Experimental Fuel Cell mk-3, Trinity Force, Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Rod of Ages, Maw of Malmortius, Boots of Swiftness

Lore Entry Corki's brow furrowed. The clock upon the wall ticked on mercilessly, with seemingly no regard for his wishes. Time itself appeared to not be on his side. Where was that girl?

The yordle's moustache twitched as he paced across the room, occasionally eyeing his guests and throwing them a disarming smile. It had no effect: the ill-tempered toe-tapping of the shorter one was almost enough to drive a yordle insane. Combined with the clock's ceaseless ticking, it was a wonder he hadn't lost it already. Where was that girl?!

"Enough is enough, sir. Your illustrious career and contribution to our city is the only reason we haven't already left. If that waif cannot demonstrate the discipline to even show up for this interview, then she clearly lacks the particulars necessary to join the Yordle Academy!"

"Cool your jets; she'll be here! She deserves to get in...just give her the chance!"

A quick harr-umph was all the response Corki would get, and this one was hardly the first uttered since they had arrived. Their patience had already been worn thin, snapped from the tension, hastily tied back together and worn down again. And they hadn't even met her yet; Corki could only imagine the blood vessels popping when the conversation began!

Thankfully(?) his worry had run its course, for a tell-tale sound coming from outside his home signaled his niece's arrival. He could just make out her eager, quick steps on the stone as she drew closer to the...wait, those weren't steps...

"Look out!!"

The three elder yordles had but a moment to dive to one side, as a thunderous CRASH was the next sound to follow in the coming moments. The wall facing the street had been all but obliterated by the collision, with glass, metal, and wood strewn about Corki's abode...and no small amount upon Corki himself. The yordle shook his head to shake off the dust (and the poros dancing around him), his vision straightening out to discern what had come into his home and introduced itself so excitedly. It resembled his famous copter, a sleek design of metal and mayhem, but it didn't have any wings: traded out for a collection of large wheels on either side. Various pieces of wiring and pointy-bits stuck out from the vehicle...along with what was left of the wall. His door was perfectly speared on the front, skewered in place by some kind of battering ram.

A head popped out of the wreckage, back-lit by the sunlight that suddenly intruded into Corki's home. A body eventually followed it, and the mystery person jumped up in excitement:

"WHOO!! What a rush!"

The young yordle followed her declaration with a swift tumble, falling off her post and subsequently landing at the shorter Academy minister's feet. She pushed her hair and conductor's hat out of her face, looking up at the yordle's (extremely red) visage.

"...hey, how's it goin'?"

Corki's eyes met the man's, whose impatience had boiled over into open rage, and he watched as the two ministers stormed away. It was only natural that a harr-umph would be their parting words. All-in-all, that had gone better than he had expected.

Rockette bounced up, seemingly unharmed from the event. Any care for potential injuries would play second-fiddle to her apparent, endless joy.

"Did you see? Did you see, Uncle?! My baby works! She's super-fast, super-powerful, and super-awesome!!"

Corki sighed half-amused, looking at the remains of his home. "And apparently it needs to come with a warning label."

Rockette continued unabated, oblivious to her uncle's words. "With a slight tweak to the electron-thrusters, and if I double the stabilizing-refractors for balance, she could go even faster!"

Corki watched as the young yordle began to teeter back and forth unsteadily. "...have you considered incorporating a helmet into your design?"

Rockette stood tall (or as tall as she could), her face beaming with pride. "...when I meet him, Uncle, you'll be the first to know!"

It was all she could get out before promptly face-planting to the floor.

Friends/Allies: Corki, Heimerdinger, Rumble, Tristana, Ziggs Rivals/Enemies: Corki, Heimerdinger, Rumble, Ziggs

Rockette doesn't have any enemies, but, being an up-and-comer looking to make a name for herself in Bandle City and Piltover (and lest I forget the rest of Runeterra), she has made it her mission to be the best there ever was. She may be Corki's niece, but that doesn't mean she can't surpass his legacy, right? And that goes for all yordle engineers, inventors, and innovators: there's a new kid on the block, so everyone better watch out or they risk being run over!

Example Quotes: Picking her at Champ Select "All aboard! Next stop: adventure!"

Jokes "This baby really tears up the road...but thankfully it don't need roads." (activates the aero-wings) "Don't worry! There's only a slight, above-zero-percent chance that this thing will explode if I slow down..." "The highest I've gotten her is 87 miles per hour. ...I wonder what would happen if I went faster?"

Taunting Rumble "Cool bot, Rumble! But can it cut a tomato?" (shows off her scythe)

Buying Righteous Glory "This thing makes me go even faster?! Righteous!"

Catching someone with her Tow-Cable Launcher ability "You're coming with me!" "Gotch'ya!"

Activating her Ramming Speed!! ultimate "Brace for impact!" "Coming through!" (train horn blows)

Activating the Powered Up! version of her ultimate "TIme to give her all she's got!"

Upon using her last Power charge from the Experimental Fuel Cell "Uhhh....uh oh." "Well that's not good..."

3 Comments

linkblade919/11/2015, 9:16:14 PM1 votes

One of my favorite parts about designing a champion is the "why" in relation to design choices. Decision-making is a fascinating subject (shut up, it is :P), and I like to learn the whys and hows the creator came to the final product as it's presented to us. That's why I so thoroughly enjoy the reveal debrief we get with each new champion: that little essay/discussion of "this is who s/he/it is, this is what they do, this is the idea behind them, and this is how they came to be."

With that in mind, let's talk about two of the major things about Rockette that might stick out as being quite different from what's come before:

A. Utilizing a Non-Renewable Resource

  • For some, NRRs will always be a hard sell: you're basically telling them that part of the character is hidden behind a "paywall", their coolest/best abilities restricted in access to only X times a game. When it's gone, that could be a bullet to the knees of that character's effectiveness, so why allow it instead of going with something more consistent?
  • Well, there'll always be downsides to a NRR system, and yet it provides very interesting advantages in exchange. To be frank, if Rockette had total access to her Powered Up! combo (E+ > R+ > W+ > Q+) at all times, she would be dangerously broken. That's a ton of free CC and utility, so to balance it out I'd have to file down some of her strengths in other areas. Her abilities would probably inflict less damage, her durability would take a hit, and/or some of that CC/utility would have to be taken away directly. And yet, if they are hidden behind a "paywall", she can remain intact while providing an avenue for decision-making from the player: "what time is the right time?"
  • I will concede as well that when Rockette runs out of Power, her overall potential takes a big hit. But that's by design: her tools come with a warning. Responsibility is needed to manage her Power usage, so she can maintain that potential throughout the match. In a way she faces the opposite dilemma of the "hyper-carry": Jinx, Tristana, Ryze, etc., must "suffer" a lesser early-game so that they can build to their true power-potential later in the game. Conversely, Rockette must be careful in how often she abuses her early strength, or she'll find the momentum dried up by game's end if the match runs too long.
  • As I stated above, decision-making interests me and adding complex choices into game, not merely for the sake of it but in an effort to create enjoyable gameplay is always something I'm looking to do. With Ducard, Torn Asunder, it was a question of "How do I manage my forms to ensure maximum offense while keeping myself alive?" For Rockette, her EFC passive creates a more long-term play/counter-play paradigm of decision-making: "Does using my Powered Up! now out-weigh the potential risks should I run out of charges later?"

B. The Tow-Cable Launcher; "is it really even CC?"

  • In a base description of the ability, Rockette's standard-E is essentially a longer Skarner ultimate without the stun effect: Rockette gets to drag around a person (or at least try to), and yet this person is still fully capable of escaping...or worse, fighting back. Without the stun, the Tow-Cable Launcher doesn't fit any current definition of a CC ability: it is not a root or snare, nor a slow, it does not stun, and it's not really a knockback/left/right/up/forward. So...what's the point of it?
  • First thing's first, leaving off a hard-CC effect like a stun keeps Rockette's E from being literally Skarner's ultimate attached as a base ability. That's too strong, and would end up being a blatant copy-paste job to boot. Where's the fun in that?
  • By foregoing really any standard form of CC from the Tow-Cable Launcher, it becomes something entirely new, creating its own game of play/counter-play decision-making (there's that phrase again...). As the enemy, when Rockette zigs you zag or get dragged along for the ride. Or you can use an ability/summoner spell to escape. Or you can stand your ground (metaphorically-speaking) and fight back. As the Rockette, somewhat having control over an enemy's movements has its own set of decisions attached: "do I pull this enemy from the teamfight completely, negating their potential usefulness?" "Do I pull them towards my friends, in the hope that we could destroy them in time to tip the balance?" "Do I grab someone as a means of defense, pulling the enemy away as a form of peel?" "Do I hold onto someone as a means of distraction, keeping them away from dragon/baron/towers/etc.?" All of these possibilities have to be taken into consideration, and most of them would be lost if Rockette could just stun her target automatically and drag the helpless person around. That wouldn't be fun for them, and frankly wouldn't be as fun for her, having stripped the ability of its complexity.

Phew, what a mouthful haha :) Hopefully someone found this interesting to know, or this whole thing was a waste lol :P

As always, feel free to leave a comment, questions, or even just a point-counterpoint to what I've described. There's always room for improvement! Thanks again for reading this.

linkblade919/14/2015, 9:15:59 PM1 votes

I was thinking about this earlier, so I came back to address it. Her combo sounds like an overly-OP toolset in a perfect world, but obviously that's just not the case. The given example with the Veigar assumes a Happily Ever After scenario where everything goes Rockette's way; many things have to go right for Rockette to successfully pull him to his doom in the middle of a teamfight:

  1. She has to get to Veigar first. By saving her ultimate for after she captures the evil yordle, she can't use it to get to him; that means CC can shut down Rockette's play before she even gets it going. Getting killed wouldn't help either. Conversely, if she uses Ramming Speed!! to get to Veigar she doesn't have access to it to get back out. Unless she did some kind of super-pro drive-by nab; that would be awesome :D

  2. Assuming she gets to the back-line, she has to nab Veigar with the Tow-Cable Launcher. If she fails, Rockette is left with egg on her face right in the middle of the enemy team. Even after latching on Veigar could Flash to escape, or Zhonya. He could be saved by a Kalista ultimate, Bard ult, or a Tahm Kench Devour. Or Rockette could just miss; that's one way to blow a combo lol >_>

  3. Lastly, assuming everything has gone alright thus far, Rockette now has to get her target out of there. Veigar could end this immediately with an E-stun, since he can still defend himself. Ramming Speed!! doesn't cleanse Rockette of CC, so being stun-locked before her escape will ruin the entire plan. Plus, throughout this whole process, Rockette maintains her crippling, unfortunate weakness to death. If you're foolish enough to jump on the Veigar with medium-to-low health, you only have yourself to blame when he foils your master-plan with a combo of his own :P

Just something to think about heh