ANNOUNCEMENT

ANNOUNCEMENT

Double Dorans has a new home!

I've shifted my focus back over to game analysis and breakdowns as well as starting a page for champion tips and tricks!

If you wish to show continued support to myself and Double Dorans you can check out the new website over at

doubledorans.weebly.com

or follow me on Twitter @DDMourgus

Thank you for your support and happy summoning!

Tuesday 13 May 2014

ANNOUNCEMENT

The time has come!

Double Dorans has moved to doubledorans.weebly.com and shifted back to game analysis!

Be sure to check it out, thanks to the new site I've been able to do a lot more with Double Dorans and hope to continue to improve upon my game analysis and breakdowns.

You can also follow me on Twitter now @DDMourgus

Thank you for the support.

As this was the first blog I had ever tried to maintain, it showed me that managing a blog is a lot easier and more interesting than I had originally anticipated.

Again, thank you for checking out Double Dorans and I hope you continue to do so in the future.

Wednesday 26 March 2014

Regi, the Crimson Queen

I am playing way too many favourites with this character. Going for another redesign, hoping to make the theme feel a lot tighter this time 'round.

Regi, the Crimson Queen



In Noxus there is only one true law. Survive or die. Noxus has no room for weaklings and no room for those that are not strong. Leaders come and leaders go, men will rise and heads will roll.
Such is the story of the Angst family.
Gregory Angst quickly rose among the ranks of the Noxian military, achieving the rank of General within four years of the beginning of his campaign. He quickly became a man of great influence and vast connections, spreading his influence not just through Noxus but through the entirety of Valoran. As a Noxian military leader, he was respected by both his peers and his enemies.
Despite his greatness, he is not the focus of this tale.
The true beginning to this tale started with the birth of the General's heiress, Regina Brunhilde Angst, a baby born in a silent night.

As she grew, she immediately took a liking to her father's armoury, swinging practice weapons before she could count and sparring before she could write. Her skills with diplomacy and strategy soon proved to match her growing fighting skills. She was matching her father's footsteps and seemed to be outpacing them at points. As she grew so did the contempt that the lesser families felt towards her and the Angst family.

It wasn't long before she would call herself General Regi Angst, making her the youngest Noxian general in the city's history. Much like her father, she became respected and feared for her efficiency and ruthlessness on the battlefield as well as developing a camaraderie with the soldiers she commanded. With the backing of her men and the respect of her peers, she found herself as an adviser to General Du Couteau before his disappearance, a formidable ally for one such as herself. Unfortunately, that made a large portion of Noxus her enemy.

In Noxus, power rules politics and coin rules power. The lesser families came together in a plot to destroy both the Du Couteau and Angst families at once in support of the man they believed was Noxus' true ruler, Jericho Swain.

As Regi sat in the war room with her father, discussing future battle plans for Noxus, one of their guards triggered a silent magical alarm. They were being attacked from the shadows. Through the many years of experience Regina and her father shared, the two immediately formulated a plan to deal with the attackers. With the little time they had, Regina was unable to fully armour herself, opting for less plate and instead favouring a large red coat she had earned from her expeditions in the north. As her and her father drew their swords, the windows burst inwards as lightly armoured men smashed through them, blades drawn.
Some generals in Noxus were feared by their men for their ruthlessness, some feared for their cunning.
Regi and Gregory Angst were respected as warriors.
For what seemed like hours, wave after wave of cutthroats and bandits raided their home and for hours they fended them off. As they neared the dawn, they discovered that survival was not to be.
A single arrow whistled through the shattered windows and into the heart of the mighty Gregory Angst.
Regina watched as her father fell to his knees before keeling over for his slumber. She felt only despair and sorrow but as her heart was wrenched from her chest, she knew this couldn't be the end for her as well. She quickly grabbed her father's blade, Krieg, the Rebellious and fled.

She arrived at the barracks long enough to tell her men and her friends that she was leaving. Their response was singular and immediate as they gathered their things and set out with their ally.
The loss of her father would not weigh her down. From this day forward she decided that it would only empower her to one day return to Noxus and when she returned, the ones that did this would tremble and they would pay.


Passive -  Krieg, the Rebellious
Krieg is the icon of the Angst families virtue. Regi's spirited nature allows her to reduce crowd control effects by 10% for every 3 seconds she remains in combat. Caps at 40%.

Q - Furious Cleave
Regi brings Krieg around in full force, dealing 70/90/110/130/150(.4 Bonus AD) to all enemies hit and causing them to take 6% increased damage from Regi's attacks.

W - Take 'em Down
Regi sweeps low, gashing the legs of all enemies hit dealing 25/40/55/70/85(.25 Bonus AD) and slowing them for 15/17.5/20/22.5/25%.

E - Rebellion
While sharing their values, Regi has never followed Noxus' methods or anyone else's. Regi gains one stack of Rebellion for each second she is in combat. Each stack increases Regi's attack damage by 2/3.5/5/6.5/8. Caps at 10 stacks.

R - Blitz Attack
Regi blitz's with Krieg, instantly dealing a 100/200/300(.5 AD) as she dashes forwards. If an enemy champion is hit by this ability, Regi may use it again for 75% damage.



Basically, I wasn't too sure what I thought of with Regi using an axe and I'm still not 100% sold on the sword. I'll also be tweaking the story quite a bit as this is little more than a rough draft. Should expect to see more updates on Friday.

Wednesday 19 March 2014

Void Invasion Part Two

Void Invasion is horde mode at it's core with a few different missions to break things up with different goals. Survival of the fittest, the Champions of the Institute of War must once again prove themselves worthy of the title of Legends.
A few general notes.


  • All Champions are level 18.
  • All Champions receive 20,000 Gold to start.
  • Runaan's Hurricane is disabled.
  • Tiamat and Ravenous Hydra are disabled on some champions(namely Riven and others with large amounts of AoE damage already).
  • Lifesteal caps off at 20% from all sources.
  • Guardian Angel may be purchased but if no allies are standing at any point in the game(or are currently being revived by Zilean's ultimate or Guardian Angel) the mission is failed.


I will be adding some champion-specific alterations in a later post.


The missions will be a chain of events with two difficulties, Normal mode and Legends mode.
In Normal mode, most fight mechanics will not cause a mission loss unless repeatedly failed. In Legends mode, everything deals increased damage and has increased health. Failing mechanics usually leads to failing the mission.


Here are the missions.

Destruction of the Assault

Mission Guidelines

  • Each wave varies with minions. Normal mode has a boss every 5 waves. Legends mode has a boss every 4 waves.
  • Champions must survive 15 waves in Normal mode or 20 waves in Legends mode.
  • After dying, Champions must wait 15 + 3 seconds per wave to respawn unless an allied champion channels to revive them.
  • If the Nexus is destroyed, the mission is failed.
Straight defense mission.
Early waves will have extremely large numbers of weak enemies that slowly increase in strength and durability. The boss waves will consist of 3-6 larger enemies that are much stronger with very powerful attacks that must be dodged or avoided in order to survive.


Retaliation

  • Enemies regularly spawn and must be slain to move forward.
  • A large number of rifts consistently spawn enemies. The more open rifts, the more enemies flow.
  • Closing rifts reduces the entry points for enemies. Fewer open rifts, higher concentration of enemies from remaining rifts.
  • After the rifts, a wall is put between the Champions and the exit. The wall can be destroyed through direct damage and basic attacks and may not be crossed by any other means.
  • At least one champion has to reach the exit to succeed.
  • A wave of empowered enemies spawns every 60 seconds on normal, 30 seconds on Legends mode.
Combination of mobility and survival skills.
The closer you get to the end, the denser the enemies will be as you close the rifts. Wall can't be crossed except by breaking through it to avoid cheesing it with Fizz, Tryndamere, etc.


Fill the Void

  • Single enemy. Empowered Void champion.
  • Vel'koz may cast all abilities on the move and his passive also increases damage the enemies take. Plasma Fission fires multiple secondary bolts instead of only two, Void Rift deals damage per second and lasts longer, and Tectonic Disruption becomes a barrage, hitting multiple locations.
  • Cho'gath's Void Spikes knocks targets back, Rupture hits an increased area, and Feral Scream becomes a skillshot and moves the same way Nami's ultimate does. Cho'gath will focus on a single enemy and begin moving towards them before using Feast. If kited for 15 seconds, he will give up the chase.
  • All of Kha'zix's abilities are evolved. Leap cooldown is always at 5 seconds, Taste Their Fear is unchanged, Void Spikes are unchanged, Kha'zix stealths every 8 seconds on Normal or every 4 seconds on Legends mode.
  • The entire battlefield is covered by Kog'maw's Void Ooze, all his attacks reduce armour and magic resistance, Bio-Arcane Barrage remains the same, and Living Artillery hits multiple locations per cast. Passive deals increased damage in a larger radius.
  • At least one player must survive the encounter to close the rift.

The big bad boss fight. The story will lead up to Kassadin fighting Malzahar one versus one to prevent him from interfering. Completely random which enemy is fought. If any remaining players die to Kog'maw's Icathian Surprise, the mission is failed.


Naturally, it would require a lot of tweaking and toying with but that's my idea for a story mission for League of Legends. I think it could prove to be interesting for some monsters to have unique combat mechanics to help players improve their skills with positioning and timing rather than the mode be designed purely for the narrative.

Tuesday 18 March 2014

Void Invasion Part One

I've put a lot of thought into League of Legends game modes over the years and the one that has always appealed to me the most was a horde mode.
I play a little bit of Dota2 here and there and I thought the Wraith Night game mode was amazingly fun, even if there wasn't much variety in it. In addition to this, I've always been a fan of hack and slash action RPGs so I figured it was only natural to want a horde mode.

Now, I would like to present the story behind this mode.


Void Invasion


The Institute of War was a great step forward for peacekeeping across Valoran and was a major driving force behind unnecessary magic usage across the continent. Unfortunately, the damage caused by the Rune Wars ran deeper than anyone imagined, into the very fabric of existence. The residual magic energies left by the wars caused a large number of anomalies across the land which lead so some very strange oddities and discoveries. Ancient beings were awakened, newer beings were brought into existence, and others became altered or mutated. These were the least of the Institute's concerns.

The Institute of War had to prepare for the approaching chaos. They needed to prepare for the Void's horrors as it crept onto the physical world's doorstep. It came as no surprise when the monstrous creatures of the Void began to enter the physical world. Cho'gath, Kog'maw, and Kha'zix made the Institute uneasy but at the same time made them feel somewhat relieved. Of the three, Cho'gath appeared to be the only creature that valued intelligence over primal instinct. When a rift to the Void was opened for Vel'koz, the Institute became uneasy. Why would the Void need to observe them? A creature such as him appeared to behave similarly to the many alchemists and engineers of Zaun and Piltover so what was his purpose? Who was he to report to if anyone at all?

The Eye of the Void had already begun to reveal their world to the Void. As the weeks passed and the months progressed, the Void prepared for their finest hour. The day when they would rip open the pathway to the physical world came and as dusk settled across Valoran, the Institute of War prepared. The signs of Void Rifts were obvious as the Void Walker had revealed to them. As the Champions of the League of Legends stood guard over their beloved homes, the Rifts began to open and the armies of the Void flooded upon the world.

As the hordes descended upon the cities, the landscapes, and the homes of the bravest defenders, the creatures of the Void had only a single command. Rain destruction upon the land and reclaim the land that rightfully belong to their master.
Daddy was coming home.

Wednesday 12 March 2014

Qin'jar, the Slayer of the Void

Void champions have almost always been my favourites. Kha'zix and Kassadin are two of my absolute favourite assassins in terms of both playstyle and character. Naturally, I've tried to create a few void characters but I figured I'd try again with...



Qin'jar, the Slayer of the Void


Destiny is an odd thing.
Some are granted their destiny on the day of their birth, others are granted the ability to choose their own, and yet others see their destinies changed before them.
Qin'jar grew up in the beautiful city of Icathia, a city of scholars, of learners, and teachers. Icathia, the City of Knowledge. Qin'jar was thought of as an odd young boy as he never had any interest in playing with his friends, preferring to relax and read the scrolls of various scholars. It wasn't long before he had discovered his path in life. To become a student of Icathia and to learn from it's deepest, darkest secrets. Destiny, however, had something else in store for the young child.

As he progressed in his studies, it came time for him to become a man. With the blessings of his parents and teachers, he struck out to learn from what the world had to offer.
In a few short years, he had accrued his own personal based purely off of his own adventures. Becoming known as one of the greatest explorers of his generation, he often uncovered ancient ruins from a time long, long ago. Unfortunately, his exploits also gathered the watchful eye of creatures that were not of this world.
While dusting off some large tomes, a book that was bound in chains and seals fell from the shelf before him. Despite being a very logical being, he could not help buy open the bound tome.
Thus, his destiny would change forever.

Seconds, minutes, centuries, they're all the same in the Void. Time passes so slowly... or quickly, Qin'jar couldn't decide which. He had hibernated for some time in the void as far as he could tell. As his mind was now indoctrinated and his body designed to fit the needs of the Void, their newest assassin set foot on Valoran for the first time in a millennium with target in mind.
To reach his target, he must first become  member of the League of Legends to be given a chance to face the greatest enemy of the void.

Kassadin.

"Be sure to keep an open mind... or I'll open it for you."



P - Psionic Void Blade
Qin'jar's blade is fused with the power of Void powers and his personal knowledge and experience. Qin'jar's next basic attack will deal bonus damage based off of the distance traveled since the last attack.

Q - Mind Spike
Qin'jar uses his psionic abilities to attack his target's mind, causing them to take damage and reduces their magic resistance.

W - Psiblast
Qin'jar unleashes a blast of raw psionic energy, disrupting the minds of nearby enemies. Enemies hit are slowed and take damage.

E - Psicharge
Qin'jar empowers himself with a blend of Void and psionic energy before blinking at his target, dealing damage plus bonus damage equal to a percentage of the target's maximum health(or a flat damage increase versus manaless targets).

R - Onslaught of the Void
Fusing void energies directly into his psionic powers, Qin'jar erupts in a flurry of attacks, rapidly striking his target while remaining untargetable. As that target's health decreases, the damage from the attacks increases and the target receives reduced healing effects.


Pros: Good assassination potential, encourages roaming, good single target damage.
Cons: Poor team fighting, very little waveclear and area damage, no hard crowd control.

Tuesday 11 March 2014

Teech, the Bilgewater Mogul

I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out a unique support that can feel badass and act like he doesn't care about his allies while still having a reason to support them.
After more struggling than I care to admit, I think I got something I'm really comfortable with and feel as though it works really well.


Teech, the Bilgewater Mogul



It takes a special kind of person to survive in the scum infested waters of Bilgewater. It takes a lunatic to be prosperous.
Few can lay claim to the work that Teech has completed in Bilgewater and ever fewer would want to. Having once been a mere grunt worker for a well known pirate, Teech slaved over menial jobs day in and day out until one day he was given the opportunity to change all that.
A wealthy business man had decided that the pirate captain was becoming too much of a hassle to ignore so he would pay Teech the ship's worth and a little extra to sneak in to the captain's cabin and slit his throat as he slept. The young lad that was Teech was a man of his word and a man that fancied his gold. The pirate captain never saw the rising sun.

As his new found friend came to board Teech's ship to claim it as their own in exchange for the gold they had brought, Teech used the wonderful connections he had made over the short time he had spent on the ship and rallied the crew to take the merchant ship, along with the gold. After their newly claimed ship displayed their colours, Teech had something he needed to do.
As the ships docked in Bilgewater, he approached a fellow captain and offered him riches for his services. Who was the captain to say no to gold? He accepted and after the two had fully restocked their ships, they set sail as Teech's personal fleet.

Within a year, Teech had collected over twenty ships and their crews. He was now the most richest man in Bilgewater but he had one final item he needed to collect. The Dead Pool. The only man that Teech could consider a rival was none other than the League Champion Gangplank. Unfortunately, due to the Institute of War, it was going to be difficult to claim his prize. In order to do so, he will have to fight in the League of Legends and defeat Gangplank there in order to claim the title of Pirate King.

"I'll make you an offer you can't refuse." - Teech to a deceased pirate captain. He tried to refuse.



P - Extensive Networks
One does not reach Teech's position without making some enemies along the way. Fortunately, Teech has just as many friends that support his cause. Teech has increased passive gold generation and gains a small bonus to assist gold.

Q - Bribery
Teech throws a bag of gold at the target, bribing them and forcing them to walk towards him. The damage scales with the amount of gold Teech has earned with his Extensive Networks.
(think Ahri Charm without the damage increase)

W - "Incentive"
Teech offers his ally some "Incentive" from the barrel of his pistol. While active, target ally gains a percentage increase to AD and AP that diminishes over time.

E - Double Time
Increases the movement speed of all nearby allies and gives them a small bonus to tenacity. The duration scales with the gold earned from Extensive Networks.

R - No Strings Attached
Teech lobs a large bag of gold at his enemies, tying them to it and slowing them. If all enemies tied to the bag move in the same direction, they can pull the bag with them.
Once Teech has received X gold from Extensive Networks, the bag will slow enemies even if they're pulling it.


The main goal with designing Teech was to create a champion that didn't scale with attack damage because he doesn't want to reduce himself to a level where he feels the need to fight, he has others to do that for him. At the same time, I didn't want him to have any kind of magical abilities so scaling with ability power didn't seem to fit. Once again, he's not a fighter so he can't really scale similarly to Taric and Leona.


Pros: Reliable support income, consistent scaling, strong teamfight presence.
Cons: Only one form of hard CC, relies heavily on allies, poor skirmishing abilities.

Monday 10 March 2014

Morello, Master of Minions

While I am fully aware that the name belongs to a Riot employee, the idea for this character is based purely off of the Morellonomicon not the person it's named for.
That being said, the goal of this champion design is based on the role of minion/pet based champion that many others fit but don't fill.


Morello, Master of Minions

There are few men that live as deep in the Voodoo Lands as Morello does. Known as an older hermit that once traveled Valoran in search of knowledge, adventure, and power, he now sits in his hut growing older and older.
Some say his magic was learned from the ancient tomes of old while others believe he was the pioneer of the dark arts seen today. Regardless, he is a force to be reckoned with.

Nearing his 247th birthday, Morello had begun to grow weary with the world and decided to leave his study in Noxus to travel across the Great Barrier to witness the beautiful atrocities and horrors the wild lands held.
Never having to search far, he learned much from the wilderness and savagery around him. Seeing tribes of witch doctors that could force a man to do things against his will that were constantly warring with tribes known for calling upon their ancestral spirits to help them in battle, Morello became inspired by the tribes and did not believe that the two great magical heritages deserved to have to fight one another.
Thus his evil tome was bound. A book of dark inspiration, research, and experiments. It began with his ideas for using ancients spirits to become the driving force of his personal soldiers, completely devoid of choice.
While the experiments began as something as simple as animating a sword, they soon became quite complex. A full suit of armour, a simple cadaver, and more. As he continued his research, his knowledge increased and the pages of his book were beginning to fill.

While Noxian refugees were not an uncommon sight, seeing so many mages and magic users in one place made Morello uneasy as the refugees of the Grey Order were on his doorstep one day asking for a single night of shelter. Did they know who he was? He was Morello, the harbinger of evil, the most evil mage of them all! As the greatest dark mage to walk Valoran he was not a poor host and agreed to allow the order to make camp on his land. The novelty of the situation didn't last near as long as the wretched living did. They spoke to each other, they practiced magic outside of his home, and they attempted to interact with him. They had to go. Day after day, Morello tried to persuade their leader to leave his land and search for something better suited for their needs but they never seemed to prepare for travel.
One morning, Morello awoke to silence. Grim, dark, and beautiful silence. As he walked around his home, he was pleased to see the Grey Order had left him on his own to continue their expedition. As he walked around his home, he was not pleased to see that they had stolen his research and in a single explosion of fury, the ancient spirits that stalked the voodoo lands were ripped from limbo. The dead began to roll in their graves and the sky darkened.
He was the greatest host across all of Valoran and as Valoran's greatest host, he would not let them go free for their crimes against him. He would leave his title of 'Almighty Host' upon his door mat and he would dawn the title for 'Lord of Darkness' once again to ensure that he had his revenge...

and his book.

"Aha, it has been returned to me!
Wait, what do you mean this is only a replica?" - potentially upon the purchase of Morellonomicon.


P - Help You Help Me
All of his minion's stats scale with his own ability power. Minion health scales with Morello's health.

Q - Necroblast/Ghostly Charge
Necroblast sends out a small skillshot that explodes on impact, slow all enemies hit. Ghostly Charge sends Morello's minion charging into battle to fight for him.

W - Dread Curse/Unwilling Intervention
Morello curses his target, increasing all damage he deals to them. Unwilling Intervention forces his minion to protect his mighty name. Morello must have been attacked by an enemy within x second for this to be usable.

E - Bone Shield/Enrage
Morello's mastery of the dark arts allows him to shield himself with the bones of the deceased, increasing his defense. Enrage greatly increases the attack speed and damage of his minion for the duration.

R - Arise Minion
Available at level 1. Morello summons a minion to fight for him until it's killed. The strength of the minion and it's power vary with rank. Summoning is channeled.
Rank 1 - Living Weapon. Mediocre stats, average movement speed. Medium cooldown
Rank 2 - Wraith. Average stats, slightly increase movement speed. Medium cooldown.
Rank 3 - Knightly Cadaver. Exceptional stats, slightly increased movement speed, increased damage. Lower cooldown.
Rank 4 - Zombie Champion. Exceptional stats, improved movement speed, increased damage, reduces the damage Morello takes if within a short range. Low cooldown.



I figured that this time I would include pros and cons to the champion to better describe how I imagine them playing so here we go.

Pros:
Decent utility, safe to play, possibly a good champion through all stages of the game.

Cons:
Unsafe without minion, potentially easy to shut down, fairly simple kit with a large emphasis on the minion living or dying to be useful.