Champion Concept: Cariphus, the Brutalizer

First champion made. Hope you guys like it. I've added in notes where I explain reasoning behind certain mechanisms and why I chose to do it that way.

Cariphus is a large bipedal ape-like creature who wields a savagely-fashioned rune hammer. Born of a wicked ritual with a tainted rune stone, he scours the world, seeking those who he deems worthy, then crushing and slaughtering them with his hammer. He wears crude leather armor akin to that of a barbarian, and adorns his armor in trophies of his kills, such as human skulls around his belt. His face is covered in runic tattoos that glow a bright red and radiate strength when he's in combat. His piercing red eyes cut through even the strongest of men. His jagged teeth poke up from his mouth and are hungry for the flesh of his foes. His black hair further enhances the malicious atmosphere around him and strikes fear into those who behold him. His footsteps quake the ground around him. Unshakable, unquenchable, unstoppable.

Stats: Health: 599.43 (+91.54) Mana: 294 (+35.76) Melee range: 175 Attack Damage: 59.72 (+ 4.85) Health regen: 11.231 (+0.77) Attack Speed: 0.611 (+2.95%) Mana Regen: 5.72 (+0.45) Movespeed: 330 Armor: 29.52 (+3.65) Magic Resist: 32.1 (+1.25)

Passive – Brutalize

When Cariphus basic attacks an enemy champion or large or epic monster below 40%/45%/50% maximum HP, he deals the greater of 15 + [3 * current level] and 50% of his target's bonus armor as true damage.

> The inspiration for this passive comes from the traditional usage of mauls and maces in RPG style games. These are usually used against heavily armored targets and deal more damage the more armored a target is. The physics principle behind this is that the maul or mace turns the opponent's armor against them, caving it in on their torsos and causing them to be unable to breath and fight.

> This was probably the most difficult thing to balance for the champion that I came up with. The armor scaling damage for this passive is an entirely new mechanic, and it's one that may very well be not properly balanced as it is now. I went through several different iterations of this passive in an attempt to find an appropriate balance for it so that it wouldn't destroy hyper tanks ( ) late game while also being able to still deal relevant damage against carries late game as well. I initially tried a stacking passive, but steered away from a three hit passive, as those are quite infamous for being so popular. I found a neat interaction with a basic attack-stacking passive that stacked 6 times and dealt physical damage equal to a portion of his target's armor (5% per stack). Upon dealing damage to a target with max stacks, it dealt a high percentage of his target's armor (30%) as true damage. This interaction was positive because it pushed him away from a build, which creates further emphasis on the higher cooldowns in his build. However, I found this problematic for a few reasons: it seemed this would take far too long to stack up, and even if you did stack it, the damage wasn't meaningful against carries. In addition, the damage wouldn't be meaningful during the early game. For example, if he was attacking an with 34 armor at level 1, the bonus damage per stack would be 1.7 physical damage per stack and then 10 true damage at 6 stacks. The damage was hardly meaningful in early trade calculations, and made it just a ridiculous mechanic. The only way to make it meaningful early would be to either: A) make the passive deal damage with fewer stacks or just every hit or B) increase the ratio to something much higher. Both of these, however, ran into the same problem: damage late against tanks would just be too strong, and it could turn him into a tank killer without having to build any offensive items. For example, take a with a hypothetical 300 armor. Using a ratio of 50%, he would deal 150 true damage after 6 autos, which is hefty, but it takes a very long time to happen, probably too long to be meaningful in a teamfight where, you would assume, he is on the front line trying to dive the enemy carries or peeling for his carries. If the number of stacks required was decreased, say to three hits, the champion could more easily build attack speed and allow the true damage ratio to do the damage instead of having to build attack damage items. This further emphasized a problem akin to old ult, where a valid way of reducing the damage of his ult was to just not build AP, unless of course you were a ...etc. So i scrapped this manner of approaching the passive.

> Then, I explored an option with a flat amount with a level scaling (similar to the one above) and a percentage armor scaling that scaled down as the game went on. This showed promise, as it got rid of the irrelevant damage to tanks while also adding meaningful damage in early trades and carries with little to no armor. However, a percent scaling that went down over time just seemed to denote an unhealthy mechanic, one that I had gone about the wrong way of balancing. Plus, I still had the issue of compounding damage against tanks.

> Finally, I settled on a mechanism similar Q, which allows for both relevant damage early and solid damage against tanks at all points of the game, while not allowing it to be overbearing. I also moved towards bonus armor rather than total armor, as this makes the passive deal less damage overall against tanks, but still allows it to fit the purpose in adding bonus damage to trades. I also decided to implement a gate type mechanism for such a significant power allowance by making it be against only champions at a certain health percentage. The reasoning for this was two fold: A) this allows the passive to be meaningful damage-wise because it has a fixed requirement that the opponent has reasonable control over, rather than having it be something like a rage bar or a stackable passive similar to W, and B) the armor ratio can be much higher because it requires the target to be significantly low in HP before the passive actually factors in. In terms of fights much later in the game, it will be more difficult to reduce a tank to 50% HP (assuming this fight happens post-16) than it would early in the game, forcing extended fights against a tank to gain the benefit of dealing more damage the lower the tank gets.

Q – Ferocious Pursuit

Damage: 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 + (120% Bonus AD) + (8% Bonus Health) physical damage Cooldown: 15 s / 14 s / 13 s / 12 s / 11 s Mana Cost: 55 / 60 / 65 / 75 / 80 Leap Distance: 550 units Damage field: 375 units

Cariphus leaps and slams his hammer down at target location, dealing physical damage to all enemies nearby and slowing them by 20% for 1.25 seconds. Ferocious Pursuit's cooldown is refunded by 15% for each enemy champion hit, up to 45% cooldown refunded.

> A fairly standard gap-closer (think similar to unevolved E when you visualize it) with a slight emphasis towards using it to engage on multiple champions to gain more mobility in teamfights, considering the rather hefty cooldown the ability has without CDR. This works to gear Cariphus towards full teamfights rather than picks or using the ability to escape. By also adding a slow, it further gears him towards being a diving type fighter. The bonus HP ratio helps to emphasis pick-ups in itemization like: .

W – Crush the Feeble

Damage: 80/90/100/110/120 + (110% Total AD) + (5% of target's max HP) physical damage Cooldown: 12 s / 11 s / 10 s / 9 s / 8 s Mana Cost: 45 / 55 / 65 / 75 / 85 Special: gains 50 bonus auto range

Cariphus's next basic attack slams his hammer on his target, dealing bonus damage based on his target's max HP.

> Not much to say here, just an auto attack reset to emphasize being a mostly auto-based champion. He does gain bonus range equal to a Q.

E – Scattering Sweep

Damage: 90 / 115 / 140 / 165 / 190 + (55% Bonus AD) physical damage Cooldown: 20 s / 19 s / 18 s / 17 s /16 s Mana Cost: 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 / 90 Range: 300

Cariphus channels for up to 1.5 seconds and swings in an arc, knocking back all targets based on how long he channeled. While Cariphus channels he is slowed by 15%, increasing by 15% per 0.5 seconds he is channeling. Enemies are launched 200/375/550 units away from Cariphus, based on how long he channeled, increasing by 175 units per 0.5 seconds channeled.

> Think half of ult as I explain this. Cariphus E functions as a form of disengage, but requires him to channel and be slowed to knock back enemy champions a decent distance. At minimum, it will push an enemy champion 200 units away, which is not very far at all (within range of a Q), but at max charge it allows him to shove an enemy champion the distance of several dashes, including his own. However, he ends up being slowed the entire time he's channeling, and the slow increases as he channels longer, giving targets outside of the sweep range time to get closer. The spell also has a relatively short range, which allows it to be juked and for chases on Cariphus to be fruitful should he miss his E.

R - Extermination

Damage per swing: 110/130/150 + (75% Bonus AD) physical damage Maximum damage: 264 / 312 / 360 + (180% Bonus AD) physical damage Cooldown: 130 s / 115 s / 100 s Mana Cost: 100 Range: 550 units Width: 200 units

Cariphus slams his hammer down in a line, dealing physical damage and stunning all enemy champions hit for 1 second. Cariphus may reactivate Extermination up to two more times within 10 seconds, but enemies hit by consecutive strikes take 70% damage and are not stunned by consecutive hits. Cariphus may move around and cast other spells between Extermination strikes. There is a 1 second cooldown between strikes.

> This functions similar to Q, but his second Q doesn't refresh the duration of Extermination like 's second Q does for Broken Wings. Each strike has a wind-up equivalent to Q, and the cooldown between strikes allows opponents a chance to respond to the first hit, giving them time to juke the following strikes. By allowing him to move between strikes, it prevents him from being locked down in one spot and allows him to pursue targets who flee. The wind-up also gives a moment for enemies to know that his ult is coming and to juke if they are able to. This ultimate functions as a solid follow up to primary engage tools like R, R, R, R, etc.

Lore:

Tl;Dr - Cariphus was born of a dark spell that he manipulated a sorceress into performing. He roams Runeterra seeking and slaughtering any manner of foe he finds worthy of battling. I'm not a brilliant fiction writer, but hopefully you enjoy the lore I've put together below.

The aftermath of the Rune Wars saw many powerful artifacts lost throughout the world, and many sought to take that power for themselves. Whatever their reasoning for wanting such power, disaster would be the only reward for their search for power, whether it be their destruction or the world's. In the jungles of Ionia, a young sorceress was seeking vengeance against the Noxian invaders who had butchered her family, and she had heard stories of the powers of some of the old runes that lie waiting for someone to take control. Her lust for revenge clouded her judgment; she had spent weeks searching all across the islands for anything that could give her the power she wanted. One day while wandering through the jungles, she felt a strange presence calling to her. It felt so foreboding, but somehow too alluring to resist. Her lust noticed that the life around her seemed strangely intelligent compared to elsewhere. The birds seemed whispered about her as she staggered through the vines, and the snakes hissing felt like warnings to turn back as she crossed a creek. It must be my imagination, she thought. The sorceress ventured deeper into the jungle until she found it: an old temple that she could feel overflowing with strange magic. She ventured in, ignoring any sense of danger she may have felt. As she drew closer to the source, she heard lumbering footsteps behind her. She began running until she came to the center chamber, and there, before her, was a black rune seated on a pedestal. She walked towards it and stretched out her hand. She felt a crushing grip on her shoulder as she turned back to see a large ape standing behind her. The ape stood on its hind legs and towered over her; it growled at her as she stood motionless, petrified in fear and pain. She could feel the bones in her shoulder beginning to crack as the ape stared her down. “Wait!” she cried as she withdrew her hand from the rune. The ape loosened its grip, but refused to release her fully. Its face winced as it struggled to make words. “Why...you...here?” the ape asked slowly. She couldn't believe what she just heard, what she just saw. She turned back to the rune, and she could feel a presence calling to her. “I...” she stuttered, “I came for the stone.” The ape's grip tightened again as she cried in pain. “That...mine.” the ape said with a growl. The sorceress tried to think of a way out. She wanted the power, but she couldn't fight a creature who clearly wanted the power too. That's it, she thought. “It is yours!” she shouted, “It is most certainly yours, and I give you something else too.” The ape looked puzzled as it loosened its grip again. “What...you...mean?” the ape asked as it tilted its head. “Will you release me so that I may explain?” the sorceress said as tears ran down her face. It's certainly broken now, she thought, I couldn't fight back even if I wanted to. The ape released her, but kept her within arms' reach. “I think you and I can help each other out,” she began as she wiped her face off with her hand, “I can help you bu performing a spell to make you strong, stronger than anyone, and you can help me by killing those who butchered my family.” The ape still appeared confused, but she maintained a confident countenance as it scratched its head. She knew apes like these enjoy fighting, and she hoped her appeal to its brutish nature would be effective. “Stronger? Me...strongest?” the ape said as it stared at her. “The strongest ever!” No one would stand against you!” The ape stood back and shook its head with a grunt. The sorceress took the rune and placed it in the ape's hand. She recited an ancient spell, and dark magic and smoke circled around the roaring ape, morphing his body into something of both might and terror. When she had finished the sorceress coughed and wheezed as she waved the smoke away with one hand. She looked up to see a dark shadow in front of her, and as the smoke cleared, she saw what the ape had become. A massive creature that seemed to resemble an ape, but its jagged teeth, white hair, and the tattoos on its face distinguished it as something entirely different. In its hands was a massive hammer, savagely crude in design and seemed to have come from the rune itself. She could feel the power surging from it, and it overwhelmed her. What had she created? The ape examined itself, looked over its body and touched its face. It stroked the hammer it held and seemed to smile as it felt the power surge through its body. It looked down at her with deep green eyes that seemed to pierce right through her, and then, it spoke. “I have no need for you anymore. As a token of my appreciation, I'll ensure your death is quick.” the ape said as it hefted its hammer overhead. The sorceress collapsed on the ground, dumbfounded and confused. The ape swung the hammer down with a thunderous impact. It heaved the hammer over its shoulder and headed out into the world, determined to find a worthy challenger to satisfy its lust for battle.

"None have stood before me. Those who tried, I broke their legs."

Hope you guys enjoyed my concept. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks for reading.