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Let's have a talk about Enchanters and character design

TheUrbanKitsune·4/26/2019, 8:35:00 PM·12 votes·8,310 views

Yuumi, the newest addition to the class, feels like she is just more of the same. I don't mean her in-game kit (which by the way looks AWESOME and I cannot wait to see how it plays in game) but her overall feel. For the purpose of this post I'd like to focus entirely on champion designs and aesthetics. It just feels like Riot wastes a lot of potential to fill various niches.

Let's start out by looking at the enchanters.

[Yuumi]

They can pretty much be boiled down to the following--

Kind-spirited magical beings: Soraka, Janna, Nami, Taric, Sona(?) Whimsical/childish magical beings: Lulu, Yuumi

They all (with the exception of Nami) have very similar bright or pastel color palettes and either childish or soft and feminine features.

There are so many cool enchanter concepts that could be explored. An enchanter who treats allies like minions or grunts to do their bidding, and buffs/shields/heals them so that the may fight for them. An enchanter from Zaun who specializes in hextech augmentation and uses allied champions as lab rats for their experimental technology. An enchanter who was once a proud warrior but now seeks to amend the wrongs they've done by helping others. (may be a bit close to Ivern but ehh) An enchanter who lives only for war and gives people the tools to fight to fuel their own personal never-ending bloodlust.

My point is that there are SOOOOO many other routes you can take as a designer that aren't 'magical being who is nice and likes magic and helping people' It just feels like a massive letdown from a company that has proven to be capable of some really neat and creative character concepts. Other roles feel like they get a lot of variety in the types of champions available but for enchanters it's more like 'do you want magical pastel spirit #1 or magical pastel spirit #4? maybe magical pastel cat?'

Curious as to how many other people see this as a problem as well.

16 Comments

Darius Strada4/27/2019, 2:08:36 AM5 votes

A 'parasitical' enchanter was always a theme that I've seen the community talk about, which would be great for a Void champion( Kai'sa does not give us that fantasy) They got the 'parasit' part we always wanted but they kinda missed the theme...

mrmeddyman4/27/2019, 6:15:27 AM3 votes

As much as the "diversity" argument gets thrown about around this game and this day and age (I will admit it does have merit, new things are more interesting after all as long). I do have to admit I disagree. There is a reason that it's done and why it works. Communicating what the champion does through its visual design is so important. Tanks have to be big and beefy to communicate that it will take a lot of damage to take them down

Alistar Braum Sion DrMundo

Assassins manifest as something scary looking to communicate if this guy gets on you are fucked

Zed Kayn Rengar

Imagine if Riot added a tank with Annie ' profile for the "diversity". Or if a heroic champion like Taric was supposed to be an Assassin?

It just doesn't make sense. You don't have to look further than Shen to see why this can be a bad thing. Yes a tanky ninja is unique, and his lore is cool I will admit, but Shen never made sense in the game for so long because ninjas are associated with speed and lethality and Shen is a freaking tank like what????

In my head we got a champion who isn't anthropomorphic of which consists of 95% of League champions and this is a champion from Bandle City who isn't a Yordle. That's enough diversity for me. We don't need to break conventional game logic to force more of it into the game.

Freed By Frailty4/26/2019, 11:00:22 PM2 votes

First, I wouldn't consider Taric an Enchanter in the slightest, he's simply a tank with a mediocre heal, at best he's a Enchanter-Tank hybrid. Secondly, I just wanted a male Enchanter, and I'm kind of disappointed with what we got, as it does feel more or less the same as the other Enchanters, but it's just a cat.

Camille Ferrøs4/26/2019, 9:42:18 PM2 votes

Honestly, are we surprised about what we got?

Sunbreaker4/27/2019, 5:41:14 PM1 votes

What about a Demon support that aids their allies, but at a cost (Like maybe having a massive heal, but the ally gets a DoT for half the healed amount or making an ally unstoppable and invulnerable for a few seconds but after that the ally dies, horribly.)

Hemulen Magi4/28/2019, 2:04:10 AM1 votes

I'd like a troll hag/shaman enchanter who is affiliated with Trundle and Lissandra in the lore. She/he could specialize in debuffing opponents, which could be a theme for trolls like Trundle's Q and R, and create buff areas of effect for allies to fight in, like Trundle has his W for himself.
She/he could be immobile and melee, but very beefy for an enchanter (secondary fighter).

P: Can collect herbs that spawn around in bushes around the map. Each bush has a unique cooldown after harvesting herbs from them. [Encourages roaming] When a unit dies nearby, they drop collectible souls (extra souls from big monsters/minions, champions and epic monsters) [This is similar to Thresh, but he/she uses the souls as ability resources instead of collecting them for stats.]

Q - Strike with a sacrificial dagger, dealing damage and marking the enemy unit hit. If an enemy dies while marked, their soul is consumed immediately, creating a ritual area of effect where they died. The strength and size of the ritual depends on how many souls the marked unit would have dropped. Allies entering the ritual area gain a shield (scaling with your health and AP), and heal for a small percentage of damage they deal while shielded. Enemies in the ritual area are slightly slowed and take a small amount of damage over time. [The cooldown would be similar to item 3302 to allow synergy with the item while supporting. This would be an autoattack reset. Your lane ally should learn to trade damage with opponents during rituals.]

W - Place a cauldron at a location, lasting up to 120 seconds at max rank. You can interact with the cauldron to select a brewing option and channel (stir) the cauldron, consuming herbs to greatly increase the rate at which the cauldron produces charges. [Charges appear as flasks that 'pop' out of the cauldron and drop to the ground around it. Allies clicking on the cauldron or clicking/walking on the flasks will consume them. You can visit a lane, drop a cauldron and channel it for a while to leave a teammate tasty buffs, similar to a Bard leaving satchels.]

Brewing Options: (red) Rejuvenating Potion: allies may consume charges from the cauldron to restore health and mana over time. (purple) Paralyzing Potion: allies may consume charges from the cauldron to poison their next attack to deal damage over time and reduce the opponent's Attack Damage and Attack Speed. (black): produces ghouls/wraiths; channeling consumes collected souls rather than herbs to increase spawn rate; if units die nearby, their souls are automatically collected by the black cauldron to spawn ghouls/wraiths. [Unlike the other brewing options, this is more like a item. It is a reference to "The Black Cauldron" which is based on Welsh mythology.]

E - Ally/Self Cast: (consumes herbs) begin chanting while burning maddening incense, driving yourself and allies within the incense smoke radius into a fanatical rage. While berserking, gain ramping up bonuses: movement speed, tenacity, and reduced damage. Enemy Cast: (consumes souls) begin chanting and conjure frost-wraiths that pursue nearby enemies, dealing magic damage and slowing them. The fourth/last wraith released will fear enemies caught by it.

R - Passive: This ability can be recasted while on cooldown to consume a number of stored souls to reduce the remaining cooldown of this ability. [Very long cooldown otherwise.] Ally Cast: Bind your soul to an ally for a duration. While bound, a small amount of your stats are shared with one another. If the ally would take lethal damage while the binding is in effect, the binding is consumed to reduce the damage and then a large amount of health is transferred from you to the ally (will leave you with a minimum amount of health). Enemy Cast: Bind souls with an opponent for a duration. While bound, you steal a small amount of stats from your opponent. If you would take lethal damage while the binding is in effect, the binding is consumed to reduce the incoming damage and steal a large amount of health from the opponent.

I think this kit would work best as support but could also jungle depending on clearing speed. The lack of mobility would make ganks a bit weak, but you would be able to leave potions for your allies to help them, or place a black cauldron to hold/split-push a lane. Solo laning might be possible, but it's hard to imagine with so much power budget in utility to buff an ally. She/he could be an okay duelist, but others are just as good at dueling and have more mobility/range, and a full juggernaut would almost always be better at dueling.

Lord of Medicine4/28/2019, 9:46:01 PM1 votes

Well i mean, its a cat. If next 10 champs would all be cats i wouldnt mind