League of Legends LII: Sin of the Blind Monk

[Duos]

Spoiler: Gorecraw, the Macrovore

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Spoiler: Lore Review

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Not really sold on this one. It's basically "Hey look! Something scary we have control over!" There's nothing wrong with it, per se, but we've see the idea a lot, and it's not any more interesting now than it was the first 3-4 times Riot's tried it

Spoiler: Abilities

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First things first: Gorecraw looks like a sustained damage AD assassin, although he also looks like a burst damage assassin (we'll get into that later).

Firstly, before we do anything else, let's figure out his optimum damage combo. That appears to be R-E-auto-auto-W-Q-auto-E (which should be up again by now)-auto. This takes him approximately 3.5 seconds, and deals 790+3.2 Bonus AD, plus another 1.8-2.4 Bonus AD from the passive, plus 5 (+0.02 Bonus AD) of their maximum hit points.

Assuming a reasonable 300AD on him (as he's an assassin, basically), that's 790 + 1210 (ratios + bleed from 200 bonus AD and 300 AD total), plus 11% of their maximum health (242 on a 2,200 health target). Plus the 3 auto-attacks, for 900 more. So his potential burst is at about 3142.

Talon's burst, for reference, is about 900 + 1000 + 540 (so 2440) in the same window if everything hits. This goes up to 2880 if we assume he gets off 2 Qs during that time.

Gorecraw, however, has a few further benefits. He has an insane AoE slow of up to 85% at 600 range, on a low cooldown (that will practically be 3.5 seconds or less in a fight), and this ability not only serves to allow him to chase indefinitely (remember: 85% slow and 85% ms boost for 2 of the 3-3.5 seconds the ability takes to come off of CD), but also increases the damage that his passive does by .3 AD per attack.

He also has two low-cooldown jumps and a attack range extension, to further make sure his target is never actually able to escape. Finally, he has one of the highest base AD in the game, meaning that you could build something like Black Cleaver/Triforce/Bloodthirster/Ravenous Hydra/Boots/Frozen Mallet, end up with 2485 health, 295 bonus AD, Triforce procs, lifesteal, even MORE chasing and slowing power, another AoE damage proc, and armor shred. My damage numbers above don't come close.

His cooldowns are low enough that he's got both crazy burst and crazy sustain in a fight. You can't run from him, but he can deal so much damage that staying to fight isn't much of an option either, especially since he has a stun (and can lay on the damage during that time). His jungle is probably pretty decent, his ganks are insane (two jumps, a huge slow, and a extra-range 1.5 second stun), and his ability to pick carries will be pretty absurd as well.

All in all, I think Gorecraw just has to much going for him, especially as far as chasing power goes. I don't think anyone running from him actually has a chance of escaping, and if the only counterplay is always ALWAYS run as a group I'm not sure the champion is in a good spot. Imagine this thing invading a jungle, for example: if he's winning the fight you're just dead, as you can't run from him. If he's losing, however, he just stuns you, starts running, then hits you with a huge slow that gives him movement speed, and KEEPS running.

On the lore: Yeah, it's fairly generic; about the only thing different is that we only have one (two?) champions from the Plague Jungles area so far. But call me a sucker for monstrous champions.

On the kit: hmmm. I may have miscounted his numbers. But you do reveal a problem; I hit his base stats. He's still super, super squishy, especially since he has below-average armor growth due to R passive, but I also hit his base AD and his AD growth to ensure he needs items to do well as an assassin.

I cut the slow and range on Maul by 10%/rank (maxes at 40% now and has 200 less range) and removed the stun on Reaping Bite. This cuts down on his CC a bit and makes him more reliant on his team to keep his target locked down but still leaves him capable of ganking overextended lanes.

Also, Reaping Bite has a flat 16% CD and Maul's CD is up by 7 seconds across the board, along with losing half of the CDR passive. This should help the sustained vs burst problem, I wanted something capable of jungling but Q max probably makes that possible anyways. I also hit the damage on Maul and the Ult (base damage on Maul and scaling on the ult.)

Thanks for the feedback, Djinn! Helpful as always.

Spoiler: Verdesol, the Earthtender

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Spoiler: Lore

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So...plant Anivia. Or something. I'd suggest that instead of focusing on the mystery, you play up either a defining trait or the backstory more. Nice tie-in with Annie, though I can't imagine how the two of them would interact.

Spoiler: Abilities

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Starting with the low-level view: Q is a bit of a nothing skill (Heimer passive and Song of Celerity active on 24-36s CD?), with a lack of gameplay that makes it hard to balance, and the vision passive (itself a sometimes game-changer) interacts strangely with his other abilities that outrange it. A lot depends on the AOE of R, which isn't specified, but I'm guessing something like Nunu ult. AD ratios on Mud Shot and Sinkhole feel extremely weird--fluff and mechanics don't match.

As for gameplay--if Verdesol goes solo lane, he'll go top, and max W unless Q regen turns out to be OP early game, and he'll max Q anyway as support. Jungle, well, his clear time will never suck when he has autos, and his ganks are good. He has a lot of AOE ability damage for an AD bruiser--compare Jarvan. The main issue I have is that I want to play him as a bruiser, but Q is just not a fit. That, and I think he does a little too much with his other abilities.

On the lore: I could either play up the 'primal force of nature' angle or the 'benevolent protector' angle. One of those might give him more character.

On the kit: So, either more AP ratios, less AD ratios, or swap out Q and remove some of the kit's utility? either way, it does make more sense lore-wise. And I do agree about Q- it's basically Shurelia's, and I've never really been satisfied with the balance of the skill, solely because of it's non-interactivity.