Champion Concept - Aridus, the Dynamic Bulwark

NOTE!!!! This is a very outdated concept, at the moment it is being reworked to be reposted. Please wait for the Aridus Champion Update. In substitution, why don't you check out a concept that I worked on with a friend of mine Gryndheim, the Usurper.

Aridis, the Dynamic Bulwark

This champion concept was worked on for quite a long time, but just like art, you cannot rush what is made to be good quality. The idea for this champ just started out as a vague blob. I know there is no way that I can do a job near the quality of Riot, but I know that I can try. I try to look and see what new niches could possibly introduced, the number is nearly infinite, but I look for what the players might enjoy. I always enjoyed a good unique weapon, in design and application. League of Legends has a few but maybe they have room for one more in the boards. This is how I was inspired to create a new concept centered on a unique weapon design. I had always liked champions who are created around their weapon, I feel that it grounds them more in the real world and gives them more flesh. It’s not easy trying to imagine a unique weapon that is can still be realistic and viable but new and fresh. I decided to look at exotic weapons in the real world, but I didn’t want to get too crazy, people had to be able to recognize it and not be confused. The vambrace caught my attention, there are many different forms and uses for one, and they are very versatile and have multiple applications. That is what I decided to settle on, but my job was still far from over. How does one use a vambrace normally, how does that transfer to the game. Can I come up with any unique and fresh ways for a person to use a vambrace, would another person understand my ideas? This champion needed clarity, which is most important. I did what any inspired person would do, I started to share my ideas. I enlisted the help of a couple of close friends and we brainstormed a hurricane. Ideas where being generated with furious creativity. Slowly Aridus started to take shape. To match the versatility of the vambrace we knew we needed to create a champion that could excel in many roles. We decided we wanted to create a strong character who also defended, but was still mostly centered on attacking, and defended passively. We wanted to create a character to fit the Arrogant Hero Archetype, who basically only defended the rest of his team to show that he is superior to them. Not to be mean or that that is how we want players to treat each other, but that is the unique personality that we were shooting for as we defined Aridus. We started to draw on other sources of inspiration. Some siege engines such as the ones of Greece, where used mainly to attack and take down targets such as forts to cities, but they also protected the people operating inside or behind, but its done passively while still focusing on attack. We knew our next direction to go in. We decided he would also have the aspects of a siege engine, heavy salvos of damage and able to take damage in addition having the versatility of a vambrace. We wanted people to know that Aridus is about denying enemy resources, the ability to attack, while giving himself and allies the advantage a better chance to deal more damage at the enemy’s expense. We also needed the answer the question of how did he get his vambrace, and why does he choose to use it over other weapons. With our frame set up we could finally get to work.

Aridus is a melee, tanky fighter, who boast both offensive, and defensive power, but his array of abilities make him able to play in almost any position on the team.

Passive: Audacity When Aridus is above 50% health he has 10% mana regen. When he is below 50% health he deals10% more damage. -_- Q - Vice Grip/ Battering Ram Aridus uses his favorite way to inflict pain, he grabs an enemy unit and viciously squeezes, stunning them for 0.5 sec, dealing damage and causing X amount of AS reduction for X seconds. After Vice Grip is activated it becomes Battering Ram for 2 sec before going on CD. When Battering Ram is activated Aridus will dash forward 245 units and knock back the first enemy champion he collides with (knock-back 100 units?) damaging them. Aridus will deal 50% bonus damage to enemies with active and passive shields. Large Monsters will be stunned if Battering Ram is activated on them. Small minions and minor monsters can be Rammed 500 units to a target location damaging them and all enemy units within 100 units of the landing.

Battering Ram is a way for Aridus to deal some more serious damage since Vice Grip is more of a utility sustain ability, it is also a very nice disengage. Since Aridus will dash before he knocks back a target, you must plan when you want to use it, but it is a nice follow up to Vice Grip. And true to its name, this ability also helps Aridus crack down on squishy targets that think they are safe behind enemy shields. Aridus hates people who try to hide behind walls and will attack with extra energy.The best way to use this ability is use it to help get your enemies away from your allies if they are in trouble. Pushing an enemy to the side is a great way to screw up skill shots. -_- W - Aegis Arm Aridus swipes his arm across the front of his body to the left or right in a semi-circle. When the arm reaches the side that it was cast to, he holds his arm out on that side for 2 sec. His arm damages any enemy it comes in contact with. His arm also blocks 50% of skillshot damage, and 75% of melee damage that it comes in contact with. Allies are shielded for 2 sec as long as they are within 150 units of his arm. If there are no allies within 800 units Aridus will not hold his arm out. Instead Aegis Arm can be cast again within 2 sec, at the cost of a longer CD.

Aegis Arm is all about correct planning with your allies. Cast right and you can shield yourself and an ally or two. But you cannot shield yourself and an ally at the same time, sometimes being the Dynamic Bulwark, means you take a bit of damage to protect your squishies. This ability along with Vice Grip/ Battering Ram makes a great in your face attack. But this ability can deny a good amount of damage, cast at the right time, and still allow you to get some in too. It can also give Aridus the ability to deal a lot of damage in the jungle. -_- E - Gouging Claw Passive - when this ability is activated, for 10 sec, every 5th AA will shred armor. Aridus slams his Vambrace into the ground at his side, channeling and losing 10% MS until reactivated, and slashes it forward causing the ground to be torn and ripped apart in a target direction. The force and speed of his slash causes the torn ground to be forced forwards, leaving long ruts in the ground ahead of him. The rutted ground slows enemies and last for a short while. At max range the ravaged ground will also apply grievous wounds to enemies that it hits. If an ally clicks on Aridus' vambrace while he is channeling, he will toss them forward a distance at the same time that he unleashes the earth shockwave.

This is Aridus main engage ability, Battering Ram is good for closing the distance, but only if you can get a successfully landed Vice Grip 1st, which makes Gouging Claw a more reliable way to stick to your targets. While it is not a true engage for Aridus, it does allow him with correct planning to allow another team mate to engage from the toss, while the rutted ground slows them down and allows Aridus to catch up to his team mate. -_- R - Bursting Bastion Aridus digs his hands into the ground. channeling for 1 sec gathering his strength, and lifts up a huge flat stone roughly in the shape of a square (450x450) from the ground flipping it upright for 2 sec. Allies behind the stone will be shielded from enemy sight. Within 2 sec he punches the stone sending out chunks of rock in an 80 degree cone that shreds armor and leaves a light dust cloud. Range of 600. Enemies on the site of stone lift off when it is tossed, will be slightly knocked up, and back, when the stone is tossed.

This is a big part of what makes Aridus a siege engine. Once that huge stone is up, you and any allies behind the stone will be hidden from view. The enemy team won’t know what is going on behind, or what attacks will come flying out. If your team engaged, but found themselves on the losing side, this ability provides a great chance to regroup and try again thanks to this abilities second half. Additionally since it blocks enemy sight it is also a great way to start a fight.

Lore Everyone in Rakkor thinks the sword, spear and shield are the mightiest of weapons. But Aridus was an exception. He always preferred to fight with his hands. Or rather he was forced to. He disliked weapons, none where ever durable enough to last long in his hands. Born with extreme strength Aridus was gifted or rather cursed with an iron grip, allowing him to grip fleeing foes so tight that he ripped flesh, regretfully this also extended to bending sword handles. Aridus, instead, sought to prove his strength and prowess on the battle field by taking down and dominating his opponents with his hands alone, no matter who or what he was up against. There was nothing better than the feeling of opponents withering under his tight vice grip around their throat. In battle he would always lead the charge of the formation, absorbing all the blows first, taking the brunt of the attack and carving a way for his fellow fighters behind him. He was always aware of his team around him and he was strongest when he fought with them. Being with his phalanx was when he felt most at home. Troops always rallied behind him, if a group was losing, Aridus' arrival always signified a chance to regroup with fervor. But even then Aridus was never satisfied, there was always a way to be better, kill faster, inflict more damage. Aridus needed a weapon, but it was of no avail, his strikes were so intense and swift and that even cast iron clubs could not withstand his vicious onslaught for long before they were rent and started to crumble in his grasp. He was like a siege engine, always attacking, yet not allowing his enemies to retaliate and return any damage, not relenting until they were crushed under his hands. Even when his weapon broke he still continued. If nothing survived in his hands then he would have to find something to fight with that encased his hands. Aridus knew what he needed, a vambrace, and not just any, he needed a Greater Vambrace, of the larger class, any less and his sheer bulk would break it. From the day he first put it on Aridus never took it off, he become one with the vambrace, the metal just as strong as him become an extension of him and his strength, fusing to become one instrument of combat. To him the vambrace was no longer just a weapon it was an extension of his own arm. It was the ultimate weapon with it Aridus could attack and defend, not that he needed to, and yet still be an agile and swift fighter. With this there was once again nothing that could hinder him. But not everyone agrees that the vambrace is the perfect weapon, especially his fellow Rakkor clansmen. And Aridus knew the best way to prove them wrong. Crush everything else that people think is better, and that includes the champions in the League of Legends.

"Other weapons are inferior, the greater vambrace, is the supreme weapon with it, you can crush opponents underhand, literally" – Aridus

Rivals: He Hates Twisted Fate, which he lost a card game to in the Champion Teaser. Check it out here!: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/skin-champion-concepts/ldT8I4E9-a-hand-of-cards-a-champion-concept-teaser

Quotes I've got the upper hand now! Hands down I'm the best warrior around Hand me that. Can't touch this. I'll unhand you... When you die. I have the better hand now. I'll crush all that oppose me I've got my weapon ready and armed Me and this vambrace, we make a good team, and your death. Some people say I'm underhanded, those people don't live I'd say I have something up my sleeve, but I would worry about my hand more. Someone once called me lopsided...then I showed them what it meant to be lopsided, they never insulted me again. Give me a high five

Dance Does a 1 handed handstand, then does some push-ups in that position “Hand stand! 1, 2, 3 aaand done.”

Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XTfu52VX6w&index=26&list=PLA41F5034D7C9F4EB