Thought of the Day: Lucian

It's been a while, but I had a epiphany about Lucian.

If Ardent Blaze, Lucian's W, could be cast while moving he'd be a competitive AD carry.

Right now Lucian is considered terrible for a number of reasons:

• He's a short range AD carry without a powerful steroid.
• His W isn't an effective tool for either chasing or kiting.
• His E is a relatively weak escape/gap closer.
• His ultimate is difficult to aim and doesn't do much damage.

At first it looks like Lucian has multiple issues that need to each be resolved individually. Upon closer inspection, however, it's clear that three of the purported issues are actually symptoms.

• Lucian's short range is an issue because he can't chase or kite effectively.
• Lucian's E is underwhelming because it's insufficient to make up for his chase/kite deficiency.
• Lucian's ultimate feels week because he's often forced to use it mid-fight when he's been zoned by the tanky front line due to his range and chase/kite issues.

It all comes back to the fact that Ardent Blaze fails to be more than an additional damage skillshot. If it provided the kite/chase potential it was supposed to, all these dominoes would be knocked over and he'd be much, much better. Perhaps not perfect, but far closer.

Champion Misdesigns: Thakkrad Goldtooth

I often spend time mucking about with champion designs. Occasionally I happen upon an idea so horrifically bad that it deserves to be put into the wild. Thakkrad Goldtooth is just such an idea.

Thakkrad was born through the epiphany that a champion could have abilities which cost gold to use, which is possibly one of the worst champion design concepts ever imagined. At the same time the idea was so unique and hilarious I couldn't help but attempt to make it work.

At the outset I recognized that there were two paths to take in order to balance this mechanic. The first path was to compensate Thakkrad for his trouble by making his abilities significantly stronger than normal. As he would be expending a meaningful amount of gold on his abilities, he would normally be weaker by virtue of having fewer items. The second path was to find a way to augment Thakkrad's gold income to make up for his extra expenditures. Both paths have significant issues.

The first path has the potential to snowball very powerfully. If Thakkrad were to get a lead he could easily leverage his over-potent skills to dominate the early and mid-game. While he'd have a slump toward the late-game, he'd be exceptional in very long games simply because by the end he'd eventually have a full item build plus naturally stronger abilities. This path seemed too difficult to balance, so I avoided it.

The second path has its own pitfalls. With an enhanced gold income, Thakkrad could potentially pull a "Bank Plank" and farm incessantly, show up with a trifecta of super-items, and destroy the game. It also had some snowball potential, though not as much. As this seemed easier to balance, and more unique, I took this route.

The net result was the following monstrosity.


Thakkrad Goldtooth, the Wealthy

Thakkrad is an extremely wealthy warrior from Lokfar. He gift for acquiring riches is matched only by his ability to spend them. He fights by swinging a giant bag filled with gold.

Passive: Avarice
All of Thakkrad's gold per 10 is doubled (includes base gold per 10).

Q: Crush
Thakkrad crushes an enemy under the weight of his wealth, dealing 50/100/150/200/250 (+ 1.5 Bonus AD) physical damage, and stunning the target for 1.2/1.4/1.6/1.8/2.0 seconds. 14/13/12/11/10 second cooldown. Costs 17/19/21/23/25 gold.

W: Fast Money
Thakkrad passively gains 15/20/25/30/35 movement speed. When activated the passive bonus is doubled and Thakkrad gains 25/35/45/55/65% attack speed for 7 seconds. 12 second cooldown. Costs 20 gold.

E: Clear the Field
Thakkrad swings his bag around up to three times, dealing 20/35/50/65/80 (+ 0.3 Bonus AD) each swing and moving 30% slower than normal. At the end of his spin he hurls his bag, dealing 30/60/90/120/150 (+ 1.5 Bonus AD) damage to the first target hit and knocking them back. Thakkrad can activate this ability again to end his spin and throw the bag early. The knockback distance is based on the number of spins. 10 second cooldown. Costs 25 gold.

R: Ransom
Thakkrad gains 5/7.5/10 gold per 10. When Thakkrad dies, he can activate this ability to spend 30 + Level * 15 gold to revive immediately where he fell with full health. 180 second cooldown.


This is not a good champion design. This is, in fact, a terrible champion design. Without even taking his ultimate into account, Thakkrad can burn 400 gold per minute spamming his abilities without cooldown reduction. Despite looking like a bruiser he'd probably end up as a support, sitting in bushes waiting to crush opponents while abusing his massive gp10 advantage to get good items.

I can't overstate how bad this design is, or how fun it was to make.

Thought: 100 Champions

When Jayce is released, which should be Tuesday barring any further server shenanigans, League of Legends will officially have 100 champions. It's hard to look at that number and not think about what it means for there to be so many.

With so many champions in the game one wonders where it will all stop. Riot obviously plans to keep pushing forward with champion releases, their business model depends on it, but it seems inevitable that eventually the releases must stop. At some point another champion in the roster will be one champion too many. It's anyone's guess where and when that point will be reached.

As many of Riot's recent champions have been very unique I think there's still some ways to go yet. I personally enjoy a large, healthy roster as it keeps the game interesting. So long as older champions keep seeing price reductions, I have no issue with more champion releases.

I predict, however, that Riot will eventually shift from champions being their primary source of interest/income to skins being their driving force. There's a much greater and wider market for skins than champions, and so many champions in dire need of decent skins. When the well of champions is long since dry, skins will still be going strong as a source of revenue.

Theory: Sustain Champions (S-Z)

It's the final installment of my overview of sustain. If nothing else this will serve as fodder for retrospectives when two or so years from now I feel like looking back at the way things once were. The game is always changing, but it's still worthwhile to stop and take stock from time to time.

Shen's sustain is extremely flexible. Leveled first it is a simultaneous harass, sustain, and last-hitting tool. That Shen is an energy champion means he can spam it indefinitely, either to whittle down his opponent or mark targets so he can heal himself. Later in the game the heal is largely forgotten, but can still be notable when his team is focusing a target.

Skarner's sustain ability is largely considered his worst. While the heal can be notable when leveled, Skarner's priorities lie in his other abilities. By the time he gets around to leveling his sustain it's no longer worth mentioning.

Sona was the queen of sustain when she was released, and though she's received many nerfs since she's still one of the few supports with a viable spell for sustaining allies. Because her heal is inefficient unless both she and her ally need healing Sona tends to be picked primarily for her harass and offensive buffs. Still, her ability to sustain and defend when all else fails is a big part of what makes her viable.

Soraka is synonymous with sustain. Even though it's been repeatedly nerfed her heal is still one of the first abilities to come to mind when the word "sustain" enters a discussion. Soraka essentially is sustain, her kit is designed to do little else. Despite having few other strengths Soraka's sustain alone is enough to get her banned in tournaments.

Swain is the only sustain champion who has no sustain outside of his ultimate. However, Swain is still known for his sustain because of just how powerful that ultimate is. The three birds that constantly damage opponents during his ultimate also heal him for significant amounts, giving him incredible sustain in lane and durability in team fights. That it has barely any cooldown is just icing on the cake. A Swain with Blue buff is essentially invincible unless ignited or focused down.

Taric is known more for his laning offense and auras than his sustain. However, his heal remains a crucial part of his kit as a frontline support. Taric's heal will always heal him for at least as much as it heals an ally, and can be used with increased effectiveness on himself if necessary. It's this self-sustain, combined with his strong armor, that allows Taric to keep threatening his opponents with his stun.

Trundle has one of the most interesting, yet only mildly effective, sustain passives in the game. He gains a % of the maximum health of any enemy unit that dies in his presence, including minions, champions, and monsters. He doesn't even have to be the one killing them, he only has to be nearby. In a teamfight where multiple enemies with thousands of health die, Trundle can easily heal for hundreds of health. In the lane the constant stream of dying minions provides effective Hp5 for Trundle. However, the values are never high enough for Trundle's sustain to be that strong without items to supplement it.

Tryndamere's sustain ability simultaneously grants him healing and offense. Each rank in the ability gives him AD that scales with how much health he's lost, and healing that scales with how much Fury he's accrued. It can be used without any Fury whatsoever as well, a fact which encouraged many Tryndamere players to actually use AP runes and items for laning sustain. Tryndamere uses his sustain to survive until he has farmed enough to carry his team.

Udyr uses his sustain to bully his lane opponents or emerge from the jungle a full health, tanky monster. The combination of a shield with both Life Steal and mana regeneration is extremely potent, allowing him to survive the killer offense of many top lane champions even with nominal ranks in the ability. It's this ability which gives him so much mid-game tankiness.

Vladimir has been nerfed numerous times, in part because of his strong offensive sustain. Though many of his abilities cost health, his principal ability and nuke costs nothing, rapidly reduces in cooldown, and most importantly heals. As a result Vladimir must be shut down early or else he quickly becomes abusive. That he also has a strong late-game makes him a double threat.

Warwick's combination of a sustain passive and nuke make him extremely difficult to wrest out of a lane. Unlike Vladimir his nuke at least costs mana, potentially limiting him against another sustaining opponent. Still, so long as it's safe for him to auto-attack minions he can still heal for substantial amounts without spending mana. This makes him very strong against attrition lanes and in the jungle.

Xin Zhao's passive heals him every third auto-attack. It's ideal for jungling, and gives him mana free sustain while laning. Unfortunately Xin Zhao's poor late-game scaling and lack of escapes makes it hard for him to convert his sustain into an advantage for his team.

Yorick is the poster-child for abusive sustain. His ranged harass is highly spammable, heals him, spawns a ghoul for extra damage and healing, and even reduces the damage he takes. Diving into him results in a flurry of angry ghouls and minions. Because of his laning strength Yorick is an ideal champion for shutting down opponents or playing 1v2.

That's all of them. I wasn't able to go quite into the level of detail I wanted, but such are the limits of this sort of format. Hopefully this exercise has been informative and not too dry.

Theory: Sustain Champions (I-R)

Without further ado, the second installment of the sustain champion analysis.

Irelia, like Dr. Mundo, is one of the few champions with two forms of sustain. The "better nerf Irelia" meme came about in part because of this. Despite many nerfs she remains a threat if allowed to farm, and her sustain tools are still potent. Maxing her W first makes it hard to trade with her except in short bursts, as any prolonged engagement favors her true damage and passive healing. Once she has her ultimate she can heal for very significant amounts off of creep waves, and the cooldown is short enough to do so every other wave. She may not be quite the monster she once was, but her sustain and carry potential still make her strong.

Karma remains the outcast support for a number of reasons, and her iffy sustain is one of them. While Q's healing has incredible potential late-game, it's extremely weak early on when champion health pools are low. Combined with mana costs and a dependency on Mantra, Karma has significant problems sustaining either herself or an ally.

Kayle is not known for her sustain, but her heal is still an important part of her kit. It is what allows her to emerge from her first jungle clear with full health, and provides her a notable edge in laning. However, Kayle rarely maxes this first or even second unless she's behind and forced to fall back on a pure support role.

Lee Sin has the most incredibly multipurpose sustain ability in the game. Not only does his W provide Life Steal and Spell Vamp, but also provides a shield, an escape/gap closer, and an Armor bonus. Because both his Q and E can be extremely effective even at low ranks, Lee Sin can easily invest in W against tough lane opponents. Lee Sin won't max W first in the jungle, but between his W and his E he has few sustain problems even before Wriggle's.

Maokai's passive gives him the sustain he needs to survive both the jungle and teamfights. While healing for 7% of maximum health every few spell casts may not seem like much, over the course of a clear or skirmish it can add up to a lot of health. Combined with his ultimate he becomes deceptively tanky even with only a handful of items.

Master Yi's sustain ability is unique in that no other sustain ability restricts the champion so completely. While Fiddlestick's Drain is similar it still serves an offensive purpose. However, this does not make the ability weak. If uninterrupted Master Yi can heal for incredible amounts, and is nearly impossible to kill while channeling. However, the ability's long cooldown means it must be used carefully; any interruption puts Master Yi at a potentially deadly disadvantage.

Morgana is an infamous sustain champion. Her passive gives her Spell Vamp which scales with her level, and she only needs to cast one spell to clear a creep wave. This combination allows her to absorb harass and farm indefinitely, using her Black Shield to escape any gank attempts. Morgana wins her lanes both by attrition and by being a huge teamfight threat later in the game. Few AP champions enjoy laning against her.

Nasus has the only passive in the game which grants Life Steal, but still requires significant help from items in order to lane. While starting with more Life Steal than a Vampiric Scepter sounds amazing, Nasus has conflicted priorities between his desire to last-hit with Q and his need to sustain by auto-attacking. Ultimately his passive puts him ahead in his strong matchups, but does little to help him against his counters.

Nidalee's heal is notable in that it is the only heal which doubles as an offensive steroid. As a result, most of her early laning harass is actually from auto-attacks. The heal itself has been nerfed a number of times, but is still strong and a part of what makes Nidalee so difficult to pin down and kill.

Nocturne's passive is almost exclusively designed for jungling. In a laning situation it will sustain him, but inevitably pushes the lane as well. While it scales with Attack Speed Nocturne does not go out of his way to itemize around his passive; it's simply too situational outside of jungling. For jungling, however, it gives him the sustain and damage needed to clear quickly and safely throughout the game.

Nunu's Consume was legendary in the old jungle for its counter-jungling potential. Today it's simply a situational sustain tool. Most of the time Nunu's priorities will be on maxing his W and E as those provide far better support, ganking, and teamfight utility. However, AP Nunu is practically impossible to kill in lane without outside interference because of his combination of harass and healing.

Olaf is another infamous sustain champion. Whether maxing his Q or E first Olaf has incredible offensive potential which enhances his Life Steal/Spell Vamp combination. Because it can be so dangerous to stand near Olaf it's easy for him to auto-attack creeps and heal. Olaf is a clear case where a little sustain combined with another strong point can lead to an extremely strong lane.

Renekton abuses opponents in lane by dashing to them, stunning them, and then healing for a significant amount off both them and their minions with his Q as he walks/dashes away. With no mana costs worth mentioning, Renekton can sustain himself so long as he can safely Q his opponent and/or their minions. While there's a cap, it hardly matters when the ability has only an 8 second cooldown.

We're nearing the end of the overview/analysis of sustain champions. Many of these champions could easily be worthy of their own dedicated posts detailing how their sustain interacts with their other abilities to make them strong. That's sadly out of scope for this style of post, but hopefully there's some good information to glean regardless.

Theory: Sustain Champions (A-H)

Today I'll be covering the first 13 out of 39 notable sustain champions. There's more to say about some than others, so don't be surprised when one champion gets multiple paragraphs while another only gets a few lines.

Ahri's passive is a complicated place to start, but is fairly simple in practice. Every ability she uses generates up to 3 charges based on the number of targets she hits, and at 9 charges her next ability gains 35% Spell Vamp. Practically speaking this means Ahri has bonus Spell Vamp on every fourth ability cast.

At first this might seem weak, but the condition is there to make up for the passive's high value and usability. It's quick and easy for Ahri to hit an entire creep wave with her Q, and her W is considered a single-target ability for the purposes of Spell Vamp. 35% is also a very large amount of Spell Vamp, especially during the crucial early game. Ahri's passive, when used properly, is a large part of what makes her strong in lane and in team fights.

Akali's passive grants her 8% Spell Vamp upon reaching 9.5 bonus AD, and an additional 1% for every 6 AD thereafter. Typically Akali players use Flat AD Marks to activate this part of her passive, as buying AD items on an AP assassin is extremely inefficient.

While 8% Spell Vamp isn't a lot, Akali's infinite energy allows her to spam her abilities and reap the healing rewards. Her damage is also primarily single-target, meaning she doesn't suffer the AoE Spell Vamp penalty. Because her sustain and resources are both free she can trade unfavorably with opponents and still end up ahead in the long run.

Alistar is better known for his crowd control, but his healing spell is a very important part of his kit. It's an incredibly efficient self-heal and critical to mitigating the damage that Alistar inevitably takes as a jungler or frontline support. That his heal also heals allies and doubles as a pushing tool is icing on the cake.

Cho'gath is the first champion whose passive sustain is predicated upon last-hitting. With perfect last-hitting he can heal for as much as 200 health per creep wave even at level 1. The scaling of this passive is weak, but that high base value makes Cho'gath practically immovable during the laning phase.

However, Cho'gath's early-game offensive potential is fairly limited in many matchups, and his late-game is primarily about disruption. Despite being a defensive fortress he's a rare pick because he can't suppress or outscale most opponents.

Dr. Mundo is one of the few champions who can be said to have two forms of sustain. His passive provides him with significant Hp5, and his ultimate is on a surprisingly low cooldown. The longer the game goes on the better Mundo's sustain gets, up to a fairly ridiculous point if you ever complete his trifecta of Warmog's Armor, Force of Nature, and Spirit Visage.

Fiddlesticks' Drain is so potent he can sustain himself with only one or two ranks in the ability. It is also one of the few sustain abilities which can be interrupted by CC or movement. This makes Drain a very binary ability; if uninterrupted Fiddlesticks can be extremely hard to kill, but if there's CC on the field he can easily die while waiting on his cooldown to return.

Fiora's passive is clearly designed for lane trading and sustain, but it's very weak. At 7+Level healing over 6 seconds the edge granted by this ability is very small. Even four stacks, obtained by attacking a champion, will only grant 100 total healing at level 18. In the end it's nothing to write home about.

Galio is well known for being a counter to AP champions, and a large part of that is his Bulwark. Bulwark turns the incidental damage from minions into significant healing, up to five times the tooltip value depending on how many hits he takes. With just a single rank and a little MR/AP Galio can heal for hundreds of health. This makes him a monster of attrition, and his high base mana regen allows him to perpetually farm with or without blue buff.

Gangplank has the infamous CC breaking oranges for his sustain. The dual-purpose of this ability makes it a double-edged sword; spamming it for sustain leaves Gangplank vulnerable to CC. However, leveling this first is a well known stopgap tactic when facing an unfavorable lane. With 360 healing at rank 5, Gangplank can survive almost any lane.

Garen's passive is a significant contributor to his love of bushes. Because he must avoid taking damage in order to prevent his Hp5 passive from dropping, bushes are an extremely safe place for him to hide. So long as it's active Garen's passive is far stronger than Mundo's, but in practice even bushes can't keep Garen's passive up consistently. In the end Garen isn't known for his sustain, but for his signature battlecry.

Gragas is often forgotten amongst the sustain champions; few people even realize that's what his passive does. While 2% of his maximum health in healing when he uses abilities seems weak, it adds up quickly when he has blue buff. Combined with the innate damage reduction from his W, Gragas can be difficult to push out of lane.

Hecarim's Spirit of Dread is perhaps the most interesting sustain ability in the game. All damage done to champions within the area of affect heals Hecarim for a %. The cap on healing from minions and monsters is there to prevent abuse, as otherwise the ability would effectively be 30% free Life Steal and Spell Vamp. Still, it functions that way when fighting champions, making Hecarim incredibly hard to kill in duels or teamfights. While it shouldn't be leveled first when jungling, laning Hecarims often grab it first to play aggressively and crush their opponents.

Heimerdinger is perhaps the most dubious mention on the entire list. While the 10-25 Hp5 his passive grants to him and any nearby allies does count as sustain, he has no way to capitalize on it. Like Fiora, it's a slight advantage and better than nothing, but does little to amplify Heimerdinger's strengths or compensate for his weaknesses.

Tomorrow the analysis will continue with letters I through R. This is going to take some time, so bear with me.

Theory: Sustain Champions (Preface)

There's a lot to cover on the subject of sustain champions. More than a third of all champions have an ability or passive which gives them sustain. The sheer number and variety of sustain abilities, combined with how they interact with their specific champions, makes tackling this subject a monstrous undertaking.

Champions also feature a different sustain type not seen on runes or items, healing. Most healing abilities are on-demand, making them much more flexible than other forms of sustain. Combined with AP ratios and CDR, healing abilities can scale powerfully into the late game. Healing can also often useable on allies, something no other form of sustain can do. Healing is one of the final pieces of the sustain puzzle, and I'll discuss it further as we examine more closely the nature of sustain on champions.

Despite my insistence that sustain is a critical asset for any champion, the astute will have realized from some of my earlier statements that the majority of champions have none. Many of the champions with sustain only have it in small amounts or must wait for their ultimates. Strong sustain is actually fairly rare on champions, and even champions who possess it typically have to sacrifice damage or other utility to level it. While good sustain is a significant boon to a champion, it is neither sufficient nor necessary for a champion to be viable.

It is the ability to capitalize on sustain which sets champions apart. The champions best known for their sustain are those who can convert their sustain advantage into a greater advantage for their team. Laning champions either use sustain to go on the offensive, whittling down their opponent in successive trades before going for the kill, or to play defensively, holding out until their champion's superior late-game carries their team. It's similar for junglers, gankers want to maintain high health so they can gank anywhere, anytime without a second thought, while farmers need sustain to be safe within their own jungle. Without specialties, strengths, and opportunities to apply them, sustain is little more than a convenience.

There are so many champions to cover that forcing them all into one post wouldn't give them the attention they deserve. As such I'll be splitting it up into three or four additional posts, sorted alphabetically. Apologies to Yorick fans, but you won't get my thoughts on him for a number of days.

Quote: On Champion Picks

"Everybody knows how to play a champion, except the player who picked them."

-P.J. O'Rourke