Designing My Own Champion: Batman!

Hello everyone,

Recently, I asked some friends to suggest some character archetypes that they felt that League of Legends was missing, and I would pick one or more and try to make a balanceable champion kit that fit cohesively with that archetype. Several types were suggested, but the one that I have chose for now is Batman. How I see batman is a sneaky, agile, melee fighter who also uses gadgets. So without further ado, here is a proposed kit for League of Legends version of Batman!

Batman uses energy as a resource

Passive - Detective's Senses: Batman gains heightened senses of his surroundings when he concentrates. If he stands still, takes no damage, and casts no abilities for at least x seconds, the area in a y unit radius around him is revealed. This includes units hidden in brush, fog of war, and stealthed units. This does not reveal wards.

The x seconds will likely be a small number; I imagine 2-3 seconds at the moment. The radius will likely be around the same width as Evelynns passives. This ability allows batman to have a little delayed security check around him, at the cost of doing nothing else. Forcing Batman to move, or damaging him will disrupt this ability, allowing for counterplay.

Q - Batarang: Active: Batman throws out a batarang at a target, dealing x (+y% bonus ad) physical dAmage to the target. The batarang will then return to where it was thrown from. If batman is able to catch the batarang, the cooldown of the spell is reduced by z seconds and Batman restores 10 energy.



Batarangs will not deal too much damage, especially since if you catch them it makes them a bit spammable. This also adds in counterplay as you can know exactly where Batman will be heading or staying if he wants to catch the batarang, so you can head for or attack that area to either punish him for catching the batarang, or force him to not catch it.

W - Ninja's Senses: Passive: Batman gains bonus % attack damage while this spell is off cooldown. 

Active: For 2 seconds, Batman is able to read the moves of his opponents. He dodges every basic attack and targetted spell used against him. During this time, Batman must focus too hard to be able to attack anyone else, and his movement speed is reduced by Z. However, if he dodges a melee basic attack, Batman is able to return x (+y bonus ad) physical damage to the attacker. Catching a Batarang reduces this spells cooldown by 1 second (.5 seconds if the batarang was cast while Gliding).

Batman can still be hit by AoE spells. He can also be more easily outran because he slows himself down. Melee champions especially will want to avoid attacking him during this spell's duration. You also have the cost of losing the passive if you activate it, making the Batman player have to consider the costs to make sure the ability is used at the right time.

E - Grappling pull: Active: Batman fires his grappling pull at target location. If a target champion or monster is hit, the spell stops moving and that target becomes snared for x seconds. This cannot hit minions. If a target it snared, Batman may cast this ability a second time to pull himself towards the target. When Batman reaches the target, he kicks them dealing y (+z% bonus AD) physical damage and knocking them back slightly (Batman follows with this knockback) and stunning them briefly. Batman also restores energy upon kicking his target.

This is Batman's gap closer and crowd control ability. It is a fairly thin skill shot, so if you dodge it, then you hurt batman a lot. Landing it however can have great rewards.

R - Gliding Strike: Active: Batman jumps up high into the air and uses his cape to glide down slowly towards the target location he jumped from. While Batman is in the air, he may cast his Batarangs for not energy cost, and they will always return to him. Upon returning, they will fully reset their cooldown. Batarangs have double their normal range while this ability is active. Batman is untargetable while he is in the air, and cannot be damaged by any ability.

Batman may recast this ability to quickly glide down towards target location. Any enemy in a small area around where Batman lands will be knocked up for a short duration, and take x (+y% bonus AD) damage. If batman does not recast this ability, he will return to the ground from where he jumped after z seconds, dealing the same damage and knockback to any enemies hit.

So this ultimate serves as Batmans get out of a fight and harass from afar ability, as well as providing high damage and crowd control if used aggressively. Also keep in mind that his batarangs are not too strong of an ability, so especially in late game team fights they will unlikely be overpowered. For counterplay, you may run out of the area where you can be harassed, and there will be a marker on the ground where batman will land, allowing you to step away, but you will have to do it quickly (think brands W quick).

Thematically Sound: I feel that this kit is pretty sound thematically. You have your slippery gadget using melee fighter.

Balanceability: Batman relies on his auto attacks to deal a lot of his damage, as batarangs do not hit for much. This forces Batman into a similar position as my last designed champion, Kirito. However, I feel that with his high amount of CC and ability to avoid lots of damage during his W, Batman will be able to deal plenty of damage with proper use and timings. Batman is also able to overcome potential squishiness for damaging builds thanks to his W and R abilities, which will hopefully buy him enough time in team fights to be able to survive most of the damage left after he glides back down.

I explained counterplay options in my ability notes.

Until Next Time!
"You'll hunt me. You'll condemn me. Set the dogs on me. Because that's what needs to happen."
-Rikukun