Raela: The Sound of Thunder

[quote=AlyrianLegend]Raela: The Sound of Thunder Roles: AP Caster / Ranged, Pusher, Fighter - Raela, the Sound of Thunder is my first champion idea, and I think it's a solid, fun idea with an interesting twist and a myriad of viable uses in both fights and the game at large. I imagine she would be a ton of fun to play, while refraining from being "OMGSOSTRONKOP", with less damage, but faster, quicker paced combat that allows for mobility and freedom. I hope you like her concept as much as I do, and if you have any suggestions or tweaks or ideas, I would love to hear them, and perhaps I will revise her design. I plan on doing concept art, as well as lore and a mock-up of how her "profile", like in the League Store, would look, in the nearish future, and I would love to see and hear the community's reaction to my ideas. As well, feel free to notify me of any spelling mistakes or errors you think you've found. Thanks, and enjoy and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE... I love feedback <3 :) - Raela’s purpose within the League of Legends is to provide an offensively and defensively capable, but most importantly mobile caster capable of competing in the mid-lane and possibly duo top, while remaining a capable one-on-one duelist. However, as fits with her element, Raela attacks rapidly, but for less damage than most AP champions, so it balances. Mobility being Raela’s key attribute, she should be able to maneuver and chase with ease and precision, but be punished heavily by crowd-control. Her abilities require quick judgement to operate to their full extent and potency. - [b](Passive) Static Field[/b] - Every 25 seconds, Raela generates one [b]Static Charge[/b], and stores it (up to a cap of 3 charges). This is not a fixed rate, and is affected by cooldown reduction, down to a floor of 15 seconds. Each time Raela is struck by an enemy champion’s regular attack, it will apply a brief 0/5/10/15% attack speed slow (called [b]Static Cling[/b]) based on the number of Static Charges she has stored. Raela is able to activate some of her abilities, even when on cooldown, at the cost of one Charge. The strength of some of Raela’s abilities are increased up to a cap by the number of Static Charges she has stored. Every time a Charge is consumed for an ability, the storing timer on the next Charge is set back by 5/10/15 seconds (when 1/2/3 Charges are consumed within 5 seconds of each other), making it important to manage when you use your abilities, not just which ones and how many times. When one of Raela's abilities consumes a Static Charge, she gains a debuff denoting that she did, which lasts 15 seconds. If Raela is not careful, it is possible to increase the cooldown of an ability by up to 15 seconds more, while also preventing the next Charge from being charged for an additional 30 seconds. - [b](Q) Voltaic Burst[/b] - Raela charges an electric surge over the course of 1 second, and upon release, dashes quickly towards her target location. Raela deals damage to all enemy minions and monsters that she passes through, slowing their movement speed by 10/15/20/25/30% with a debuff called [b]Voltage[/b]. It counts as a blink, and can go over small walls and through buildings. Upon hitting an enemy champion, Voltaic Burst’s path will end, and stun the first champion hit for 0/.5/1/1.5 seconds based on the number of Static Charges Raela has stored. If Voltaic Burst hits an enemy champion, it will set off an electrical pulse, dealing moderate area-of-effect damage and applying the Voltage debuff, and applying Static Cling to all enemies in the blast radius. Voltaic Burst can be activated multiple times, consuming one Static Charge each time. However, when used in this method, Voltaic Burst will not stun, and deals 0/25/50/75% reduced damage based on the number of Charges remaining, and have a 200/250/300% longer charge time to go full distance. Also, it is put back on full cooldown (with added cooldown depending on the number of extra times used) for regular use when used via Static Charge. Voltaic Burst may have an approximate cooldown of about 20 seconds without CDR. - [b](W) Galvanic Current[/b] - Passively charges every fifth auto-attack to deal additional magic damage based on Raela’s ability power. This is shown as a counting buff similar to Caitlyn's "Headshot" mechanic, with a buff called [b]Galvanization/Galvanized[/b]. This damage goes up with rank. Additionally, when activated, Galvanic Current increases Raela’s movement speed by 10/15/20/25/30% for 4 seconds. The passive damage increase is increased to 200% while Galvanic Current is active, but is lost when the ability goes on cooldown. Galvanic Current does not consume a Static Charge when used regularly. Raela is able to activate Galvanic Current multiple times, consuming one Static Charge each additional use, granting an additional 4 seconds of Galvanic Current, up to a cap of 4 seconds for each Static Charge consumed (for a maximum length of 16 seconds), though the passive damage increase remains at 100%. In addition, the movement speed granted from activation rapidly decays over the 4 seconds when Galvanic Current is used by consuming a Static Charge. After Galvanic Current is used in this manner, it is put back on full cooldown (with additional cooldown based on the number of extra times used) for regular use. Galvanic Current may have an approximate cooldown of about 18 seconds without CDR. - [b](E) Ionic Shell[/b] - Passively increases Cooldown Reduction by 4/8/12/16/20%. Activating Ionic Shell will shield Raela from incoming damage and free her from any slows/roots/snares afflicting her. While the shield buff, [b]Ionic Shell[/b], is active, Raela gains an enhanced version of Static Field.. While Ionic Shell is active, attacks against her will apply Static Cling as if Raela had 3 Static Charges, regardless of how many she actually has stored. Ionic Shell does not consume a Static Charge when used normally Raela is able to activate Ionic Shell multiple times, consuming one Static Charge each time, increasing the duration of the shield by up to 2 seconds per charge, and charging an additional 33% of the originally shielded amount. However, every time Ionic Shell is used in this manner, Raela is not freed from the crowd-control effects, it is put back on full cooldown (with additional cooldown based on the number of extra uses) for regular use. Ionic Shell may have an approximate cooldown of about 30 seconds without CDR. - [b](R) Thundercall[/b] - Thundercall is a unique Ultimate that revolves around the number of Static Charges Raela has stored at the time of activation. It has a base range of 500, without any of the Static Charges, increasing by 500 for every additional Static Charge, up to a cap of 2000. Use of Thundercall consumes any and all Static Charges that Raela has stored, in order to allow her to teleport, similar to Kassadin’s Riftwalk, to a target location. Thundercall removes all crowd control effects on Raela at the time of use - though it cannot be used while incapacitated, and upon landing, deals area-of-effect damage in a circle around the impact point, dealing additional damage and stunning enemy minions, monsters or champions that are inside a smaller, interior circle. Thundercall has a 150/100/50 second cooldown (at rank 3 without CDR - 90/60/30 with full CDR at rank 3) based on the number of Static Charges consumed. In addition, the damage goes up for every charge consumed, dealing 100/150/200% damage based on the Charges consumed, as well as additional damage based on rank. Thundercall stuns all targets inside the interior blast-radius for 0/0/1/1 seconds based on charge. The stun duration is not affected by the number of Static Charges consumed. Thundercall applies Static Cling to all enemies inside the secondary blast-radius. Thundercall’s damage output and cooldown are increased for every charge consumed in its use. As such, it requires some thought to use. For instance, using it directly into a teamfight would allow Raela to deal the largest damage with one attack, as well as instantly close the gap between her and the combat, but presumably consume all three Static Charges, leaving her unable to Charge any other ability. Using Thundercall to chase after a fight, however, with only one charge, causes Thundercall to have much a shorter cooldown, and thus become usable again faster. When used in combination with Arc Burst, Thundercall becomes a highly effective technique for chasing and maneuvering in the jungle. - Summary and Overview in Relation to Existing Things: Raela is a ranged caster with a focus on mobility. She is equipped with a set of abilities designed to help her maneuver quickly to avoid attacks and to position for her own, as well as a set of defensive and utilitarian passives. Following this summary, I will relate her to existing champions and abilities so that you can better grasp the design concepts I had imagined. (Passive) Static Field - Static Field, the way I see it, would behave like Teemo's [b]Noxious Trap[/b], with a similar "storing" mechanic. It would keep up to three charges, and is the key mechanic behind all of her spells. The more charges she has, the more useful her spells effects are, and the more damage her Ultimate does. Additionally, these Charges can be expended to use all of her abilities (except her Ultimate) while they're on cooldown for reduced effects. This is the attribute that makes her such a versatile, high-skill-cap champion. The Static Cling debuff behaves a lot like a scaling [b]Cold Steel[/b]. (Q) Voltaic Burst - Voltaic Burst, the way I imagine it, behaves similarly to Vi's [b]Vault Breaker[/b] and Kennen's [b]Lightning Rush[/b]. I imagine it having a short charge-up, and the ability to launch Raela through walls like [b]Vault Breaker[/b], at the same approximate range. However, it also deals damage and applies Voltage, similarly to [b]Mark of the Storm[/b] applications from [b]Lightning Rush[/b]. (W) Galvanic Current - Galvanic Current, the way I imagine it, behaves similarly to Caitlyn's passive, [b]Headshot[/b] (though considerably weaker, as it procs off her ADC auto-attack) and its active being similar to Blitzcrank's [b]Overdrive[/b] and a utilitarian version of Master Yi's [b]Wuju Strike[/b]. I'm worried about the balancing on this one, as it seems like it wants to do too much at once. However, as the movement speed isn't passive, only active and the repeated use causes it to decay like [b]Homeguard[/b], I think it could be easily balanced if it proved overpowered or "too useful". (E) Ionic Shell - The way I imagine Ionic Shell working, it behaves a lot like Skarner's [b]Crystaline Exoskeleton[/b], except instead of adding attack and movements speed, the shield adds resistance to crowd-control. I imagine it would stack with [b]Tenacity[/b], but not necessarily if balancing becomes an issue. It wouldn't be a very strong shield, but by max rank it should easily be able to stop a turret shot or an Ashe ult, etc. (R) Thundercall - Thundercall, the way I imagine it working, isn't much like any other Ultimate I can think of in the game. It behaves like [b]Flash[/b], mixed with Kassaadin's [b]Riftwalk[/b], and Twisted Fate's [b]Destiny[/b]. With three charges, it has the same range as Lux's [b]Final Spark[/b], and does a significant chunk of damage. However, it has a decently long cooldown. The interesting part about her Ult is that its cooldown is flexible. A skilled player could manage the charges to use her Ult more frequently, as an additional chase tool, etc. - Thanks to Arenor for advice :) Your input has been considered, and been taken into account. Edited 5/21/2013 - Revisions to Static Field's Charge rate, Galvanic Burst's damage, Ionic Shell's crowd-control reduction / cleanse, Thundercall's cooldown and damage.[/quote]

[quote=Arenor]Wow, first off, +rep for creativity, dedication, and effort. You have clearly put allot of thought into this and it is bringing results. I very much like the idea, she sounds like a high skillcap champion that requires quick thinking and planning. I see one major problem, she will poke you to hell. Ill explain. Do you play renekton? His harass combo is dash in, stun, get a few AA and then dash back. Raela will do just that but with more punch. Dash+stun, a few AA with glavanic charge, dash out. She is also a [b]Huge[/b] split pusher, she can dash 4 times, or dash 3 times and teleport, or just teleport 3000 range. Even without that, she can get a 30% m.spd buff, for a max 16 seconds! forget ever taking [[ghost]] on her, or even [[flash]] for that matter. You know what? She doesnt even need [[teleport]] or [[exhaust]]. She can also just buy [[mercury treads]] and activate her shield to just ignore CC, which you said is her weakness, so [[cleanse]] isn't an option either. So just [[ignite]] and [[heal]]... I know you said her mobility comes with an inherent weakness in damage, but she can stun for 2 seconds! thats allot of stun from a basic ability. She applies a.spd slow equal to [[frozen heart]] all the time, making Adc useless vs her. And her mobility is just too much. [[Ahri]] is considered extremely mobile thanks to [[spirit rush]], Raela has more mobility in her normal abilities, not considering a 30 second ultimate. Overall, nice idea, nice kit, I fully support this champion and would like to see her, but she needs some work. Nerf her[sub](and Irelia)[/sub][/quote]

[quote=AlyrianLegend]@Arenor: I thank you for your praise. I did put quite a bit of thought into her. However, I do agree that she would need nerfs to be at all balanced in the current meta. I don't typically play casters, but I always notice that they do need to spam abilities. One of the things that may be lost in the description is that there are drawbacks to using abilities more than once. I also neglected to determine scalings for the sole purpose of balancing, as I don't know too many specifics, so aside from hypothetical cooldowns and charge rates, I basically left those out. Let's look at a scenario involving her "repeated dashing". At level 18, Raela has 40% CDR from her Ionic Shell and Items. Her Voltaic Burst is at rank 5, with a base cooldown that, I would imagine, is fairly long. With built in CDR like Zyra, she can afford it. So, let me paint you a picture: Voltaic Burst has a base cooldown of say... 20 seconds. With full CDR, this puts the cooldown at 12 seconds. That's a little crazy. However, note from the wall of text: "Also, it is put back on full cooldown (with added cooldown depending on the number of extra times used) for regular use when used via Static Charge." Imagine that every time you use the charge when it's off cooldown, using one of your charges (thereby reducing the total damage done, and not stunning ever) would reset the cooldown to full, as well as add some. For simplicity's sake, say that each extra use adds 10 seconds to the cooldown - half of the base cooldown. Using Voltaic Burst regularly has a cooldown of 12 seconds. The initial, "costs mana" usage is the only one that can stun, BASED OFF the number of charges she has. If she has none, it won't stun. If she only has one, it's only for one second. Etc. Using Voltaic Burst one additional time would give it a cooldown of 22 seconds. The first, "real" one could stun, but the second one wouldn't, and would deal reduced damage. Remember, you regenerate one charge (with full CDR) ever 15 seconds, so that's not too bad. Using Voltaic Burst two additional times would give it a cooldown of 32 seconds. The first, "real" one could stun, but the second and third ones wouldn't. AND, if the second one's dealing reduced damage, the third one will do even less (To be honest, I don't remember if I included that note in the post above x.x). Using Voltaic Burst three times would give it a cooldown of 42 seconds. The first, "real one" could stun, but the other ones wouldn't. And the last one would be basically pathetic in terms of damage, if it even did any (say, like, 25/50/75% reduced damage or so). Now, Raela is all out of charges, and her only real damaging move is on a 42 second cooldown. Sure, by the time it's up again, she will have regenerated two more charges, but that's a 42 second cooldown on a basic ability, with full CDR. As well, she can't use her Ultimate without charges. So yes, it allows for a little bit insane maneuverability, but the damage output comes out to one stun, and about 250% of what Voltaic Burst would have done initially. I do admit that she can still use her other two abilities for a movement speed and bubble, making her a tower-diving maniac, but she's not that bursty. Her auto-attack damage is minimal, so the Galvanic Current helps, but not overly much. Her shield's CC redux will definitely be toned down, perhaps to a "free from slows and snares" and then damage block, not reduction. And her Ultimate will definitely be smoothed out. I will actually get around to editing that shortly, and including approximate cooldowns. Thank you very much for your input and advice, and I hope to continue to develop and refine Raela, as I believe she would be a very unique and valid choice for a champion :) EDIT: Edited, give the first post a re-read and take a looksy, most specifically at the change to Static Field, and the cooldown and damage changes on Thundercall :)[/quote]

[quote=Arenor]My problem with voltaic burst isnt the cooldown, or the damage, its the utility. Lets say you have 3 charges, you can dash in with the "real" voltaic burst, stun for 2 seconds, which as I said is Allot! [[Leona]] is considered to have very long stuns and she gets about 3 seconds after using 3 abilities, one is her ulty. So after you use the "real" burst, you can either stay for a kill using your "real" abilities, or expend 1 charge and get away safely. Also, imagine escaping, where the last thing on your mind is cooldowns, even if your voltaic burst is on max 42 cooldown, you can get a charge after 15 seconds, so all her abilities actually have a max cd of 15 seconds. And her ultimate, well, nocturne's [[paranoia]] has similar range, and its also a teleport, but it doesnt stun for 2 seconds and has a cooldown of over 100. Still needs some thought about the utility, like shortening the dash range every charge[/quote]

[quote=AlyrianLegend]Valid concerns. I see what you mean. But you have to remember, in terms of characters like Leona, Leona is built as a tank. Raela is squishy as beans, so she deserves a little more safety from mobility and anti-mobilization techniques. I've changed and tweaked some of the abilities, and listed the changes below. However, I recommend a thorough re-read of the post, where it has been updated in detail. And as for the max cd of 15 seconds, that was changed before I replied to you the first time. Every additional use of an ability by use of Static Charges causes the timer to delay by 5 seconds, changed even further to make wasting Charges a bad idea. Anyways, read the changes. Tell me what you think. Changed: Static Field to set back the timer on Static Charges by 5/10/15 seconds when consecutive Charges are consumed. This counts for Thunderfall, delaying the next charge to be gained when multiple stacks are consumed. Changed: Static Field to notify the player of what counts as a “consecutive additional” use of abilities by granting a debuff with the name of the ability. This debuff, and the nature of the additional use, and its resulting changes, lasts 15 seconds. This debuff also notifies the player of how many times the ability in question has been used additionally. Changed: Voltaic Burst’s charge time to reach full distance naturally at 1 second, increased by 200/250/300% per consecutive use. Also, the stun duration reduced to 0/.5/1/1.5 seconds based on Static Charges stored. Changed: Thundercall’s range decreased to 1000/1500/2000 based on the number of Static Charges stored. Also, the stun duration reduced to 0/0/1/1 based on the number of Static Charges stored. Cooldown remains at 150/100/50 without cooldown reduction.[/quote]

[quote=Arenor][quote=AlyrianLegend] I don't typically play casters, but I always notice that they do need to spam abilities. [/quote] Thats just it, they don't! You have melee casters, like [[renekton]] [[darius]] and [[zed]], who spam abilities and rely on them. You also have some Adc casters, like [[ezreal]] [[caitlyn]] or [[corki]] who also spam abilities. But Apc? They burst, they nuke, they are full glass cannons, blow up and become useless. [[Veigar]], squishy as hell but will drop you from 3000 to 0 in two seconds. [[Brand]], if you get caught in his combo, you're toast. I like the fast paced style of hers, but she might become a jungler, because she has great initiations and huge stuns, and even greater mobility in the jungle. I think even support might be viable on her[/quote]

[quote=Arenor]Sorry, I replied before I got the chance to read yours. The changes are definetly great, making you think twice before using charges. The channeling time on voltaic burst is good, making repeated dashes harder to escape. Thundercall as well, good changes, I would still say somewhat op, still a huge range teleport stun. However this is balanced with the use of all charges, limiting Raela and making use of this ulty more tactical. I would consider adding a sign, like the deck of cards shown in [[destiny]] or the circle before [[arcane barrage]][/quote]

[quote=AlyrianLegend]I thought about jungle for her, but there's not overly much in the way of AP sustain at early levels, and Raela is a squishy little thing. Hextech Revolver's a big piece, 400 more than a Vampiric Scepter. But yeah, her level two ganks, between her bubble and her dash would be pretty epic. I just feel like she would need a lot more sustain than she'd get. Anyways, yeah, there would most likely be an indication of where she would land with Thundercall, and the OPness of it should be balanced. Again, really only testing would tell. However, you compare her to a bunch of spammy characters, which is good. She spams and spams. Not so much as say, Cassiopeia or Ryze, but far more than someone like Varus or Chogath. I like that about her. It brings a change to the typical style of AP casters. Instead of being massive bursts, she has utility, making her similar to Zyra or even Lissandra in terms of a potential "support" role. I could see her being an AP top, against the squishier, slower characters like Kennen or Darius. Needless to say, the build and the playstyle would determine where she would go, but I feel like she would definitely be a versatile (in more ways than just roles) champion who would be a fun alternative to the cut-and-dry AP casters.[/quote]

[quote=Arenor]Agreed :) her kit definetly makes her a unique Ap champion, which is a good thing. I doubt she will be a top laner because its a "sustain" lane. Even Ap top have tankiness and healing, e.g [[vladimir]] and [[rumble]]. Being a good ganker I think mid is probably best, with a possibility as an unorthodox support similar to a support [[zyra]] or [[elise]]. Thundercall seems fine to me, the range is good and it needs to be used very tactically, to escape or initiate, the great impact charges have on this ability make it balanced. But again, must be tested.[/quote]

[quote=AlyrianLegend]Yup yup. COME ON RIOT!!! xD If only. Up next I guess I'll do some lore and some splash art for her, make up a whole "mock-up" for the character. Who knows, if Riot sees, maybe they'll just... pick it up. A designer can only dream, lol.[/quote]