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~C.K. , The Catcher and The Child

5LC·12/26/2019, 10:23:01 PM·7 votes·6,961 views

Please read entirely before posting any complaints of this being unrealistic to play based on the description alone, also noting that I've gone into extensive detail here, and that the in-game tooltips will surely be worded differently, and the descriptions are not meant to reflect their intended size

edit: this concept has been re-designed to a large degree, which will come in a whole new post in the near-future, expanding upon their history (giving Chris and Katie a new, much more deeper and personal backstory), and accordingly redesigning their kit, which will contain almost entirely new skills for Chris, force Katie to think more about her engages, but provide her with a new and exciting E to keep it interesting for both teams, utilizing a concept that does not exist in-game currently. They will also be given an arch-nemesis in their Lore, similar to the Kha'zix-Rengar predicament (with Rek'sai the lucky winner).

~C.K. (actually representing a joint, sort of "double-signature", as opposed to the initials of an individual), revolves around a Champion concept designed to push the mechanical demands of League (and of gaming in general) to a new height, paving the road to a more complex meta game than we've ever experienced thus far.

Rewarding players of incredibly high game knowledge and understanding, who also possess the mechanical ability, attention span, and re-active decision making to carry out the Champion's action-loaded design, ~C.K. will be a Champion of both unseen skill floor and ceiling, virtually worthless in the hands of some, and a monster in the hands of others.

Originally meant as a solo lane champion, but now intended to be a one-player bot lane, ~C.K. is a Champion selected by a single Summoner during the Champion Select, represented in game as 2 separate Champions, both controlled by the single player (including being pathed, as their movement controls are also separate). They each have their own model, hit box, and 4-ability kit, which are made practical to be controlled by a single player due to an intuitive, manageable, and clever UI which is entirely unique to them. Requiring unparalleled attentiveness, interaction, and human input, ~C.K. holds the potential for a level of play making (as well as outplay potential) that just does not exist in the current game, boosting a kit that screams mobility, but also demands accuracy, and the ability to perform long "runs", as their theoretically 12-ability kit (with re-casts) synergize in a vast variety of potential ordering and series of combinations, with the skill to change the course of your plan mid-way through and counter-react to your enemies being vital. On the flip side, they hold a high number of in-built punishments for disrespecting your positions, your skills, or your opponents, with mis-plays made in crucial moments able to absolutely negate any positive progress you've made in a fight. Basically, if you lose track, you're out, and coming back from certain scenarios can quickly become nearly impossible.

Without further ado, I present;

~C.K. , The Catcher and The Child

Description:

~C.K. is the joint signature of Chris, an AD nomadic gunslinger functioning as a DPS, and Katie, a magical young girl (~12-13) suffering delirium, who's kit utilizes CC and displacement in brand new ways. Katie believes that she is a mighty conqueror, and lives life in a world of her own fantasy, charging recklessly into enemies, monsters, and any opportunity she sees for a fight. Chris, her protector, follows the young child, disposing of enemies that attempt to prey upon the weak and seemingly defenseless girl from a distance.

The unlikely duo was formed after Chris, seeing opportunity, rescued Katie (unknown to her) after witnessing and defending the seemingly abandoned youth in one of her suicidal assaults, charging a group of outlaw rogues. It was during this battle that he realized she was blessed with magic allowing her to control and displace her surroundings, although otherwise causing no physical harm. While Katie is now aware of Chris, she sees him as her partner, believing her magic to cause most of the damage she witnesses in fights, and, oblivious to her own vulnerability, often brags of her prowess to slain enemies (as well as to Chris) before charging off into another fight, where he must once again rescue the child from her own endevours. Unable to control her, or even catch her most of the time, he's committed to chasing her endless, aimless rampage across the lands, continuing to protect her (often against her will) and uncover the limits of her powers, while still being given the opportunity to clean up vagabonds along the way, made easy by their vulnerabilities when unsuspectingly engaging the child.

Abilities:

Passive - A Dynamic Duo

4 major game mechanics, which generally very common-sense, and simple to understand, are quickly complicated, impractical, or made simply un-fair by the concept of controlling 2 champions, so they're addressed in 4 respective sections to balance this out, which replaces having an actual passive for them, as they quite frankly don't need one. The words "brief" and "briefly" are used extensively in their kit, which contains this buffer time for the sake of both human input (allowing the player to realistically input commands and line up combos from both), and for enemy reaction time, punishing ~C.K. for not understanding their window of opportunity. Any time either word is written, it can be equated to 0.5 seconds, as a standard delay time is the best approach for all's fairness.

please note that all key binds are default in this segment for convenience, I'm aware not all players use the default key assignments

I. Leveling

Short and simple, to prevent role-abuse, the amount of experience ~C.K. gains is penalized as though they're sharing it with a nearby player at all times.

II. Controls

Chris and Katie have their own separate abilities, and separate cool-downs (apart from their ultimate abilities, and casting either Champion's R will put both on cool-down, so selecting the right one in the situation can be vital).

Chris is controlled as a champion is normally controlled, moving and attacking with standard right-click, and casting Q, W, E, R, B, F, and D, accessing items with standard 1,2,3,5,6 and 4 for trinket.

Katie is controlled with the identical key binds, but is forced to use a buffer key (Shift by default, re-assignable) to input her commands (i.e. she moves with shift-right click, casts her Q with shift-Q, etc.). Her key binds are automatic mirrors of Chris', and this can not be changed (meaning if Chris reassigns Q to 1, she now uses shift-1 as well, instead of staying on shift-Q).

Chris must use the A key (by default) if he wishes to use the attack-move command, as Shift-right click is reserved for Katie's movement, and Katie is a harmless child, unable to auto-attack entirely.

Recalling centers around the champion that cast it (B vs Shift-B), with the other stopping all actions, and beginning to path towards them, matching up in Xayah-Rakan style format at the end. Damaging either, or giving a command to either, will stop the recall. If the champion who was pathing is unable to reach the re-caller in time (for bad terrain pathing, or some other reason), the recall continues to channel, staying at 0 seconds until canceled, or until the duo are united, at which point the recall will complete after a brief delay (While we're on the subject, the summoner spell summoner 12 Teleport will also interact in a similar fashion, but will only be interrupted if one of the duo is CC'd, and can not be canceled as per it's own rules).

They share item, trinket, and Summoner Spell cool-downs, with them being cast by Chris, (from his location at his range limit) if used normally, or by Katie (from her location at her range limit) if used with her Buffer-key.

III. The Tether

Chris has bound Katie to himself by a Tether, making them unable to leave a fixed range of one another. This range is indicated by a faint circle centered on the distance between them, which is visible only to them, and scales with level. (slightly smaller than Ryze's rank 1 ult range at Level 1, scaling up to be slightly larger than the distance from standing on the Dragon spawn to standing on the Blue side's Red Buff spawn at Level 18).

Note that due to the possibility of being displaced across terrain from each other, where the Tether may prevent them from being able to path across it (a bigger issue at lower levels), ~C.K. is forced to take Q at level one, as Katie's Q is their only guaranteed way to cross it again, being a cost-less, targeted dash. If terrain pathing prevents the two from uniting, while one continues to be pathed away, the other will be dragged as far they can, and once pinned to terrain by the Tether, will cause the Leader to be knocked back in their direction a short distance, and briefly stun them. This should almost never occur, and should only be possible by negligent or intentional dis-positioning of yourself, or by very well-placed enemy Champions, and being in this situation is just an unfortunately harsh punishment of the situation on the Champion until you can once again Flash, use Katie's Q, or another option arises, several of which exist in their kit.

If Chris or Katie attempt to path out of the Tether from one another, the one which more recently input the command will be designated as the "Leader", and as they approach the edge of the Tether (small ~100 unit buffer zone to allow smoothness), the other will be forced to stop all activity, being dragged by the Leader until they're once again close enough to move freely, after rejoining the Tether range by at least an extra distance of the buffer zone again. The follower is also unable to cast any abilities while doing so, with the exception of Katie's Q (with a potentially severe double-punishment for incorrectly using it, explained in her Q description later), and Chris' E, and R.

Awareness and positioning is a skill on ~C.K, and the while the duo experience CC separately from one another, one of them attempting to path out of the Tether while the other is stunned will instead cause them to be stunned at it's edge, for a time equal to the remaining stun duration of the other. If one attempts to path out while the other is slowed, their movement speed is reduced to match the other's until the effect ends, or until they're within the Tether by at least the distance of the buffer zone again.

If Chris or Katie are displaced in a way that will move them outside the Tether, the other will be forcibly dragged in the same direction an equal distance, with a small additional distance added, and any extra (or reduced) necessary to not land inside of terrain (favoring being left on the side they would have been closer to if they had landed inside the terrain), being briefly stunned after landing.

If one of the duo is inside of the Ryze ultimate cast zone while the other is not within a distance equal to the ult zone's radius from the other's position, they will both be left behind. This applies to taking Tahm Kench's Abyssal Voyage (as to say that the duo member who did **NOT ** take the Voyage would need to be close enough to the one that DID, that they WOULD be able to take a Voyage if the Member who **DID ** take it were casting it themselves), as well as any other applicable situation being handled in a similar fashion.

Note: Attempting to summoner 4 Flash out of the Tether will automatically place that champion at the edge (minus the buffer distance), but will not stun them, even if the other member of the duo is stunned (unless they input a command to continue moving outside the Tether).

IV. Health

Chris and Katie each have a Health bar indicator above their head as a normal Champion would, but both bars will always reflect the same number, as they share a single health bar, and damaging either of them will effectively be shared by both. These separate bars are primarily for the sake of enemies who only have vision of one of them (as this will not grant vision of the other automatically, or indicate the direction they are in relevant to them), and your primary HUD health bar is the number you should be keeping track of. They have higher base health than most champions, but this is still a penalty as they can theoretically be DPS'd twice as fast, having 2 separate models, and likely building little to no defense. If Chris and Katie are both hit in the same instance of damage (i.e. both caught in Morgana's W, or hit by the same AoE spell like Zigg's ultimate), they take 25% reduced TOTAL damage, the equivalent of still taking 50% MORE damage than a standard champion would (if they're both hit by a spell for 100 damage, they take 200 - 25% (50) = 150 damage, as opposed to the 100 a standard champion with identical stats would take. Sharing stats, they'll always receive DPS at an identical rate, with the exception of Katie's E, which grants Armor and Magic resist, and only applies to damage received from her hit box)

Shields are champion-specific. For example, if Katie gains a shield, it only applies to damage that was received from her hit box during the shield duration, and Chris would be damaged fully, with ~C.K. still dying if that damage brings their health to 0. This applies to the Summoner Spell summoner 21 Barrier as well.

The Summoner Spell summoner 7 Heal is 40% less effective if the caster is not close enough to the other to have been able to cast it on them if they had chosen to.

Heals cast on ~C.K from allies that only apply to one of them will instead show as a shield on the receiving champion, lasting until destroyed, or until they move within a distance of each other equal to the heal's original cast range, at which point it will become transferred into permanent health. Global heals, and Redemption are granted immediately, and heals that they both receive in the same instance (Senna Q, Soraka Ultimate, etc) are 35% less effective, treated as a single heal as to only benefit once from masteries and items.

While they both have a health bar, only Chris' abilities use mana, with Katie's being resource-less (although higher cool-downs, and dealing no damage). Katie will not reflect a mana bar, so enemies who only have sight of Katie will have to think carefully before engaging the child.

With that out of the way, we can move on:

The Champions:

Please note that if you want to read the abilities in the most sensible order for their interactions, read them as follows (C for Chris, K for Katie): KQ, CQ, KE, CW, CE, CR, KW, KR

Chris, The Catcher:

Q - Right there! Chris fires a lazer in a target direction, leaving a visible trail that lasts for a couple seconds after reaching max range, which scales slightly with the Tether. The ability will always travel the full distance, but will only damage the first enemy Champion hit, and dealing reduced damage to minions, as well as reduced damage to the first enemy Champion hit if it contacted a minion first.

If Chris' Q intercepts Katie's Q, the trail's both immediately disappear, and a small zone is shown briefly around the intersection point (roughly Hydra's active cast damage range), before also disappearing, and pushing any champions inside of it a short, fixed distance away. If this occurs successfully, Chris will then be able to re-cast his Q for a few seconds, which will cause him to, after a brief delay, dash to location of the intersect zone, gaining a small shield.

W1 - Risky Bait

Chris empowers his next auto-attack, causing a guaranteed critical strike, and recoiling Chris backwards from the direction he attacked in by a fixed % of the Tether (roughly 40%), leaving a toy trap where he was standing when he attacked for a few seconds (this trap is meant for Katie, and can not be triggered by enemy Champions). Recoiling himself outside of the Tether will instead cause him to be knocked back inward a short fixed distance upon reaching the edge, briefly stunning him, and canceling the trap.

If Katie steps over the trap before it vanishes she triggers it, being stunned for 1 second, during which time Chris can activate the second half of this ability.

W2 - Move!

Chris pauses briefly as he reveals the rope attached to the trap, then pulls Katie ~60% of the way to his current location, while dashing a short distance in front of her.

E - Protector

Passive: This ability is unable to be activated _unless _~C.K's health is 25% or less. It uses a charge system, having only 1 charge, which is **ONLY **refreshed upon returning to base.

Active: Chris calls on the Tether's power, rushing to Katie's aid (think Yuumi W). He leaves behind an indicator that marks a position away from Katie that is always the relative distance/direction that he was when he cast the ability, and is returned to this location after the ability ends (~6-8 seconds), adjusting to account terrain.

During this time, Katie holds one of Chris' guns, able to auto attack with Chris' range (with standard right-click, as she still is controlled otherwise with her buffer key during this time), and her W is replaced with Chris', although scaling with AP instead of AD. Her Q will gain base damage equal to Chris' Q base damage at the current rank, also scaling with AP instead of AD. Her E will function normally, although gaining a stack for each instance of damage she deals to an enemy champion, temporarily allowing her to exceed the stack limit by 5, with any extra disappearing if still held at the end of the ability.

R - The Fray

Chris briefly pauses for a breath, revealing his hidden leash on Katie, and bracing for war. He then pulls Katie to himself (strapped to his back against her will for her own safety, and effectively removes her from the map), gains bonus AD, and refreshes the Cool-downs of all basic abilities, granting them empowered effects for the duration of the ability, but they may each only be cast once in this time, and any ability which he used will begin a full cool-down, starting AFTER the ultimate's effect is over (unused abilities will still be normally available). The ult lasts about 8-10 seconds.

Q - Fires a widened version of the lazer, which deals damage to all enemies it contacts, and triggers a larger version on the intersect zone after reaching max range, behaving as though it had contacted Katie's Q. After the knock-back Chris automatically gains the option for the re-cast, if he chooses, for the remaining duration of his ultimate, and gains a slightly larger shield upon doing so.

**W **- Behaves as a short-range linear skill shot instead of empowering his auto attack, firing a dagger and damaging champions and epic monsters as though it were a Critical auto-attack. The dagger marks the position it lands for the rest of Chris' ultimate, and he can re-cast it during that time to pull himself back to it, stopping a short distance in front of it.

E - Chris' E is replaced with Katie's E during his ultimate, and he acquires any stacks she currently had upon casting The Fray. The pull-in range on the active effect is slightly larger, but the ability still deals no damage. Chris gains stacks from all new instances of damage he deals to champions, and may pass the stack limit by 5, with remaining bonus stacks dropping off after the ultimate ends. Katie's E goes on cool-down instead of Chris' after his ultimate ends if he used it, as it is her ability and not his.

3 seconds before the ultimate ends, Chris will begin to show a flashing indicator in the direction that Katie was in relevant to him when he cast it. This is visible to enemies, and after the ult, she will be thrown by Chris a distance equal to 30% of the Tether in that direction, briefly stunning herself and Chris upon arriving as he cuts the cord. This is when Chris' abilities will appropriately be placed on cool-down.

Katie, The Child:

Q - Here I go!

Katie dashes in a target direction, leaving behind a trail lasting a couple seconds, and pausing to gloat briefly at the end of her dash. The maximum range of the ability scales with the Tether, but Katie does not have to dash the full distance if she chooses not to. Enemies she passes through are briefly slowed, and attempting to dash out of the Tether will cause Katie to be knocked back inward a short, fixed distance upon reaching the edge, stunning her briefly.

(Note that if Katie attempts to Q while being dragged under the effects of the "follower" condition (the part of their passive causing her to follow Chris if he's pathing out of Tether more recently than her) in the direction which she is already at the limit of, that this will also stun Chris, as he would already be at the Tether limit and pathing away from her, thus walking into it when she becomes stunned, causing him to share her remaining CC timer)

**W1 - Wait! **

Katie channels in a small zone around herself for 0.75 seconds, ignoring damage and marking all enemies she successfully parries for a few seconds. If she successfully parries at least 1 enemy, she'll gain the option to re-cast the 2nd half of her W for a few seconds.

W2 - Ride-a-long

Katie briefly winds up before charging in a target direction (basically a dash), causing all marked enemies to be interrupted during the wind up, and then forced to charge in the same direction an equal distance (scales with the Tether), regardless of the distance they've managed to gain since becoming marked shortly before.

If Katie hits a wall, the ability ends immediately, and she is briefly stunned, stopping the charge for all enemies she was controlling, freeing them.

If an Enemy Katie is dragging hits a wall, they are freed, but the ability continues for Katie and the rest of the enemies (if any, if not Katie will still complete the charge alone). The enemy is not stunned if they hit a wall, and as usual if Katie attempts to Charge out of the Tether, will be knocked inward a short distance, and briefly stunned (also ending the charge for all enemies).

E - Backup

Passive: Katie gains a stack of Backup for each new instance of damage Chris deals to an enemy Champion that she is near, granting a small amount of bonus armor and magic resist per stack, and stacking up to 10 times. If Katie has at least 5 stacks , she can activate the ability, immediately consuming them. (armor and magic resist Katie gains from this ability do not affect Chris' stats, and only apply to damage received by her). If the cool-down for the active is not currently available, Katie does not benefit from the stat bonus of her stacks, although she may still acquire them.

Active: Katie briefly pauses, showing a zone around herself during that time, before pulling all enemies in the zone towards her a fixed distance (~150-200 units), causing them to be slowed heavily for 0.25 seconds, and temporarily losing armor and magic resist equal to the amount that Katie had gained from stacks before casting it, granting Katie a small shield, slightly larger for each enemy pulled. If Katie casts the ability at 10 stacks she also gains a short, decaying movement speed buff.

R - NO!

Katie screams out, creating a no-combat zone, which quickly expands from the center of her champion during the brief casting animation during which she is unable to otherwise act. The zone is attached to Katie, and moves with her. Damage can not occur inside the zone, ignoring all de-buffs which cause it, and preventing auto-attacks, or abilities which cause damage from being cast inside of it. Ranged attacks and projectiles moving from outside the zone inward are destroyed, and dashes or abilities which attempt to pass into the zone (panth ult, leblanc W, etc), will stop the champion at the outer edge. Enemies who enter the Zone are marked, and during her ultimate's duration, Katie's W will automatically be granted her W2 cast instead, allowing her to use it at any time during the ability, but also ending the ability after her brief wind-up.

If any of Chris' attacks or abilities are stopped by the zone, the effect will end. His Risky Bait trap can still pass through and be triggered by Katie inside her Ultimate, as it deals no damage, and he may still pull her in the 2nd half of it. Katie can re-cast the ability to end it early. It lasts roughly 4-5 seconds.

I would appreciate any and all feedback from those who managed to read this whole post, as well as thank you for your time. Hopefully able to see the large picture of their kit's potential, I believe that there exists CD's, scaling, and Base numbers for this Champion that cause it to be fully balanced, and believe that the Champion would also boost a very like-able personality that the League community could find a large following to (like Xayah and Rakan, Jhin, Teemo, Yasuo, etc.) and that a large amount of skins could be easily pushed out, making it a highly marketable concept for Riot. I think the plays we could start to see after people begin to Master ~C.K. would be some of the most exciting to date, and that the opening it creates in the meta is something hopefully able to push the game in an exciting new direction, adding even more potential to the already massive list of possibilities that exist in game. If it sees any support from any readers, I'll continue to update a section below, where I'll go more in depth on personalities/design/etc. I'm open to feedback and would once again like to thank any who read the entirety of this post, as it's a concept I've worked very hard on.

25 Comments

Sypek12/27/2019, 3:00:12 AM3 votes

Ok, first off I disagree with changemynameplz, I think that the concept is absolutely amazing and I just got excited reading it like it were an actual champ reveal for a minute and started thinking about how its gonna affect the game. Reminds me of.... absolutely nothing, and that's what makes it great. I love the reference in the name (though i'm pretty sure it's just meant to sound like Catcher in the Rye and not actually represent it, am I right?) I think it has a great ring, and the little storyline sounds like something Riot could have came up with, and could absolutely see it being played out in the fan-favorite type of character personalities you discussed. and skins? yeah, waves of them incoming, not a lot of champions can have a multi-skin joke within themselves (Like Beauty and the Beast CK or something IDK) and their kits synergize in a really open but obvious way, and trying to think of getting the most out of it quickly exhausted my brain. I love challenges I could spend days in the practice tool on a champion like this.

BUT! big questions though, so what happens to bot lane? you send one person bot instead of two (entrusting them with the skill to beat two humans by themselves, which is admirable but dangerous), and if they succeed then the champion's design prevailed that game. But what do you do with your extra player? duo top? CK already get their xp sapped into the air, (presumably to be identical to the bot lane's level the whole game) but then you're giving up xp somewhere else? also, supports generate gold, and assuming they have normal starting gold and 6 item limits, theyll get out-scaled in gold by the enemy bot lane over the course of time ? vs something like relic or whatever it is now that grants gold to the AD as well. I think you answered most questions many would have in your passive section (which is worded in an easy to understand way. but wayyyyy too long for a tooltip, even by Aphelios standards) but i think theres prob a few things were missing, im sure you'd have answers to them though. Anyway i upvoted this, wish i could do it again, I would love to see a champion like this in-game.

Soraka The God12/27/2019, 2:31:34 AM2 votes

Well, I don't like the fact that Soraka isn't one of the Champions.

jkjk

Honestly that's an immense amount of information, it definitely needs to be simplified.

But like you said its also over explained in detail, and honestly answered all of my questions before I was done reading it, so props for that.

I support the double champion idea, and the controls seem practical. I also like the little lore thing, but I think Katie's ultimate might not be accepted since no ability currently creates that type of condition in the game.

Good luck though, upvoted.

Wards Win Games12/27/2019, 2:55:09 AM2 votes

Ok I like the idea for the most part, but I really wanna applaud the detail that went into making this post so clear, designed, and detailed. Like WOW I read through at least 15 champ designs today and this is the first one that looks like it was written by Riot or something. Couldn't find a grammar error and the organization and ability to predict and answer questions was unreal, all the way down to the part about being stuck across walls from each other (which I still think will be a problem, as I'm expecting Katies Q cooldown to be longer than a few seconds, and it would leave a massive window of useless-ness for them, but maybe that's how far your "in-built" punishments are meant to go) which was the very first thought I had when I read about the tether bond before I even got to the side note.

As far as the champ goes, I think the biggest problem is Katie's W, since the only mechanic like that in League right now is Skarner's R, and it's only for taking 1 champ, doesn't have a dash built in, and doesn't parry anything. Not to mention it's an ultimate. I love the idea of the "no-combat zone" though and am surprised now that I read it that Riot hasn't done something like this (I also thought of a concept like Camille's ult before she was released too, so maybe it's not too far fetched). The rest of it seems balanced to me with the right numbers, maybe a little shorter on the time Chris' ult lasts.

Good luck with this, I'm sure the basic idea will get support, and btw I do like the backstory and theme of them. I think it'd be cool if their "~C.K." signature was written like it was by 2 different people. Like a different style of handwritting for each half.

aspiedog12/27/2019, 6:37:58 AM2 votes

I absolutely love this concept, you have my support. Just change the name maybe, "The Catcher and The Child" sounds a little "Wrong"

Chubby Platypus12/27/2019, 7:08:52 AM2 votes

Hey there! Chubby here with some praise and applause (as well as criticism!). Great job at making my job easier by putting everything out there in the first post (how did you manage to write so much? these forums always cut me off mid though). Anyways, I digress, the information you provided is very well written and is simplified to allow even the most challenged of potatoes (that would be me) to understand your very complex concept, and just between you and me it's not all that complicated actually. What you propose is more of a two part interaction in a single kit rather than two actual separate champions (think of Katie functioning similar to how Oriana's Ball interacts with the rest of her kit, with of course each champion having an identity). Katie can, actually, fight on her own for a while provided the ability functions the way I think it does (Chris' E), but all of this is not without a flaw.

We have to think in terms of the big picture here. The fact that during champion selection someone will choose ONE champion and end up playing TWO, essentially translates to this ONE champion having 8 abilities, and while a handful of other champions have access to an extended number of abilities (ex. Jayce, Nidalee, Elise, Gnar, Karma etc.) these champions forgo having an impactful R in exchange for these extra abilities. Chris and Katie, regardless of how you want to look at it, will be coded as being the same champion during game play and will have access to two ultimates. Having an extended number of abilities and two ultimates without any drawback wouldn't be balanced. I know the concept that you're going for, and in a perfect words it would work, but the truth of the matter is that something needs to be sacrificed in order to make your vision a reality and as it stands I don't see a big enough flaw to justify having access to so many abilities. Let's dive a deeper into the abilities. (I'll skip the passive since it's basically just going over the rules of this new mechanic).

I'll be going over their abilities together to save some space and making a little easier to read. Hope you don't mind.

  • Q (Right There! & Here I Go!): Let's do Katie's first. Since her design does not allow for damage, I can only work with the utility it provides. It's a slow- that's basically it lol. It can be seen as a sort of dash mechanic with a Kogmaw E (kind of). Simple and clear, no complaints here. When we get to Chris though... that's where things get a little muggy for me. He fires a simple linear skill shot that does damage, good so far, but then if it intercepts Katie's Q... you get a Velkoz E? Lol why? I just couldn't wrap my head around this design. And it doesn't end there... after said Velkoz E, Chris is granted a recast that allows him to... dash. I could ask why this is part of the kit, but the bigger question I have is why is there also a shield attached to this? You get CC, damage reduction AND mobility out of this one single ability, and while you might be thinking that this would be hard to achieve... I would argue that once players got the hang of this level one combo they would very easily abuse it. Just something to think about for a minute.

  • W (Risky Bait/Move & Wait!/Ride-a-long): Let's talk about Katie since ladies first. She parries incoming damage, marks champions who she successfully parries and then drags them with her in a target direction (another dash). As stated by Wards Win Games, this ability feels like Skarner's R, but I would argue it actually functions more like Rakan's R, albeit it that Katie isn't charming anyone but it achieves a similar goal to Rakan's R, which is to take a group of people (or maybe only one) towards a desired location. CC like this one isn't all that new to league (ex. Poppy's E, and to some extent Vi's Q) so I don't see anything quite bad with this ability. It has a small window of opportunity, and it also provides no damage which means it's purely meant for utility, and then we have Chris... He basically auto attacks someone with a guaranteed crit, dashes away while throwing a trap which Katie can interact with and if she does, he pulls her towards him and he dashes towards her. The first portion of this ability is fine, in fact I really like it- it's refreshing, but the part where he get's to dash twice I'm having some problems with. Doesn't he already have a dash in his Q? I get how this ability is meant to function: as an escape for both Chris and Katie, but Katie could just use her basic Q to dash away and Chris could use his W to achieve the same result, so why include any further dashes?

  • E (Protector & Backup): We'll do Chris' ability first since it is much simpler. He dashes to Katie and then disappears(?), he then allows Katie to auto attack, gives her some extra bonuses and grants Katie access to his W (which is a dash), all of this which can only be used while at or below 25% of his total health. Keep in mind that this affect does not replace Katie's E, but instead just ADDS to it. I don't see anything wrong with this ability, but thematically... isn't leaving a little girl all on her own while you're at 25% health kinda... idk... a douche-bag move? Now for Katie lol. The passive portion of her ability gives her stats based off the damage that Chris inflicts (he's boosting her morale?), which I find a little hard to digest since Katie's "suicidal assaults" make it seem like she'd be dead without him, so why exactly is she gaining tank stats as a crazy, fragile, little girl? The active portion of this ability is basically Diana's R and W all in one @__@. I think you see where I'm going with this one. P.s. the ability is called Backup, but you're actually pulling towards you lol. Just a little stimulation for the brain juice.

  • R (They Fray/ NO!): I'll do Katie's first since it's easier. She creates a no damage zone (kinda like Kindred's R, but not stating it doesn't allow damage bellow a certain threshold) that also stops champions form dashing inside. I like the thematic contrast between her always wanting to rush into battle, but realizing that she's just a child and needs to be protected. Nice! Destroying projectiles... now I don't know about that. You're already getting away without being damage, now you're also proposing nullifying forms of CC (ex. Morgana Q). I can roll with the damage mitigation, but flat out denying any effects to take place is crossing a very fine line. This ability would translate to "while I'm in this zone I take no damage and I'm unstoppable". She also gives enemies in the zone marks that she can use for her W! That's a lot! And we haven't even talked about what Chris does... and boy does Chris do... things. He refreshes his cooldowns (lol ok) and gains empowered versions of his basic abilities. I'll break this down even further:

  • Empowered Q: It's the same as his basic Q except the Velkoz E is bigger and he gets to recast and dash when ever he chooses to do so while in his R. Nothing too bad, it stays true to what his original Q is and just enhances it. Not too bad.

  • Empowered W: Replaces his former ability with a skill shot that can crit and marks a location which he can dash to if he activates the ability (basically Akali's E). Thematically, I would think retaining the auto attack enhancement would suit a marksman better, but maybe there is a reason behind this slight alteration of his former W. Some explanation would be appreciated. Aside from that, I would just question this champion's mobility at this point.

  • Empowered E: He basically gains Katie's E and also pulls in enemies (wut?). As an ADC, the last thing I want to do is pull people towards me lol. This feels a little clunky, but if you change this ability to a push rather than a pull then that would really clean up this ability. It's basically just Katie's E, so feel free to refer to what I had to say about Katie's E.

Some key notes: In combination, this champion has (2) basic abilities that function similar to some ultimates that we currently have in the game right now, on top of having their own ultimates which totals to 4 ultimates in the kit (kind of). In combination, this champion has the potential to dash 7 times (9 if you count his ultimate enhancements).

The concept is there, and I'm really not against it, but the kit is just overloaded. As I stated earlier, your concept would be coded as the same champion and right now there's not a single champion that offers as much as Chris and Katie do. I know, I know "it's two champions in one", but that doesn't mean that they should be allowed to do what they are currently written to do (which is a lot). I would try to dial down their mobility and also work on lowering the CC and I could maybe see this being a tad more fair, but as of right now :( perma-ban.

This was Chubby's reviews brought to you by... Chubby. I hope my review didn't leave you with a sour taste in your mouth- I know how some artists get when their work is critiqued. Hopefully I was insightful and I stimulated your brain juices. If you'd like, I'd love to talk more about your character concept! It honestly just needs to be tweaked a bit and you've got yourself a solid champion! The proposed mechanic shouldn't be too difficult to implement (it's just code lol) and I think Riot might consider this if fully fleshed out. I would love to hear back from you! Cheers!

  • Chubby
changemynameplz12/27/2019, 2:34:08 AM1 votes

im not sure if people would really like the idea of a 5v6, even if it is still a 5v5 technically..

i love the characters concepts and design, and their abilities, maybe consider making it 2 seperate champs that just synergize? like xayah and rakan?

overall i think its cool as shit dont get me wrong i jsut dont think riot is gonna take the idea well