Jax is introduced as a master who can master every weapon. Jax was too strong, so Jax decided to use the street lamp to give his opponent a chance. It is also possible that since the introduction of League of Legends in the beginning and development – the time when the game has not been able to give out too complex champions. But what if in the future Riot Games would rework a true Grandmaster at Arms ?
Aphelios, the new champions only have up to 5 weapons and the main weapon mechanism to interact with effects from secondary weapons. And Jax will do it again to deserve the title Grandmaster at Arms is no longer a distant thing
Here, a player on Reddit gave everyone an awe at the idea of rework Jax extremely “quality”. With this guy’s idea, Jax will truly become a Grandmaster at Arms with the ability to use and interact with items in the shop.
Swords B.F. Sword, Bilgewater Cutlass, Blade of the Ruined King, Bloodthirster, Death’s Dance, Doran’s Blade, Executioner’s Calling, Guardian Angel, Guinsoo’s Rageblade, Hexdrinker, Infinity Edge, Long Sword, Manamune (Muramana), Mercurial Scimitar, Maw of Malmortius, Sheen, Skirmisher’s Sabre, Trinity Force, Wit’s End, Youmuu’s Ghostblade, Zephyr, Nashor’s Tooth, Sanguine Blade, Stormrazor, Hextech Gunblade,
Polearms Archangel’s Staff (Seraph’s Embrace), Luden’s Echo, Rylai’s Crystal Scepter, Spear of Shojin, Void Staff, Needlessly Large Rod, Rod of Ages,
Daggers Dagger, Blade of Draktharr, Spellthief’s Edge (Frostfang, Shard of True Ice), Hunter’s Machete, Lich Bane, Kircheis Shard, Phantom Dancer, Serrated Dirk, Zeal, Statikk Shiv, Stinger,
Axes Black Cleaver, Pickaxe, Ravenous Hydra, Tiamat, Titanic Hydra,
Hammers Caulfield’s Warhammer, Frozen Mallet, Phage,
Scythes Cull, Spectral Sickle, Essence Reaver, Vampiric Sceptre,
And the special 7th category, Fists Jaurim’s Fist, Iceborn Gauntlet, Sterak’s Gage,
Here are the abilities to slot them into:
Passive – Master at Arms: You may equip a weapon in this slot to be wielded in Jax’s main hand, augmenting his autoattacks.
- Fist: Your autoattacks deal additional damage equal to a portion of your max health.
- Sword: Your critical hits cause the enemy to bleed for X damage over 3 seconds.
- Dagger: You gain X% increased attack speed (based on level)
- Axe: Your first attack against a target deals additional damage equal to the AD granted by the equipped weapon.
- Polearm: Your attacks gain X increased range.
- Hammer: Your autoattacks reduce the target’s armor by X%, stacking up to X times.
- Scythe: You gain X% lifesteal (based on level)
Q – Power Strike (6 sec) Resets your autoattack and empowers your next attack with extra damage and a special effect based on the equipped weapon.
- Fist: [Pummel] Your next attack knocks the enemy back slightly, interrupting all actions briefly.
- Sword: [Thrust] Your next attack is guaranteed to crit.
- Dagger: [Garrotte] Your next attack silences the enemy for X seconds.
- Axe: [Cleave] Your next attack strikes all enemies within attack range.
- Polearm: [Whack] Your next attack disarms and slows the enemy by X% for X seconds.
- Hammer: [Bell-Strike] Your next attack stuns the enemy for X seconds.
- Scythe: [Reap] You heal for X% of the damage dealt by your next attack and apply grievous wounds.
W – Reposition (12/11/10/9/8 sec) Jax moves either toward the target location or target enemy depending on the equipped weapon.
- Fist: [Charge] Perform a short-range dash, if you collide with an enemy during this movement, that enemy is knocked back a short distance and is stunned for 1 second.
- Sword: [Lunge] Lunge forward and strike all enemies you pass through.
- Dagger: [Shadowstep] Instantly move behind target enemy, becoming untargetable for x seconds.
- Axe: [Whirlwind Rush] You break out of any CC effects and become immune to them for the next X seconds. You gain X% increased movement speed each time you autoattack for the duration.
- Polearm: [Vault] Vault over target enemy, ally, or terrain. You are untargetable while vaulting. Enemies you vault over are rooted for 1 second. This skill can be performed twice within 3 seconds.
- Hammer: [Leap Slam] Jump to the target location, damaging and knocking enemies into the air where you land.
- Scythe: [Sweeping Death] Gain X% increased movement speed, decaying over X seconds. You attack the nearest enemy every X seconds (scales with attack speed) during the duration.
E – Guard (20 sec) Jax enters a defensive stance that hinders his enemies attacks in a variety of ways depending on his equipped weapon.
- Fist: You raise your fists to block incoming attacks, gaining a large temporary shield based on your max health.
- Sword: You prepare to parry the next attack or spell that hits you, lowering your movement speed by 50% and reducing the incoming damage of the next attack or spell that hits you by X (+X% of AD). If there is any remaining shield after you are hit, the remaining amount is dealt as damage to all nearby enemies after 1 second.
- Dagger: You become a blur, creating two phantasmal afterimages that move beside you. 1 second after you take damage, one afterimage will disappear. Each afterimage reduces the damage you take by 33%.
- Axe: You swing your weapon around rapidly, deflecting spells and attacks for X seconds.
- Polearm: You gain a small temporary shield each time you attack for the next X seconds.
- Hammer: You strike the ground, causing the earth to rend and tear. For the next X seconds, enemies standing on the broken ground have X% reduced movement speed and attack speed.
- Scythe: You store a portion of the life you steal from enemies, turning it into a protective barrier that absorbs damage when you use this ability.
R – Grandmaster’s Arsenal: Jax may equip 1/2/3 weapons into his abilities to augment them.
Though this wall of text seems like a nightmare to master, the abilities granted by each weapon are intuitive and simple (mostly). Since you start by equipping a weapon into your passive to augment your autoattacks at level 1, and only gain the ability to equip items into your other skills when you level your R ability, it won’t be an information overload that overwhelms players that are new to the champion, only having to make one decision at a time.
This version of Jax would be interesting to balance since certain item types only become available at certain stages of the game (you can’t start with a hammer to become a CC monster at low levels). Item paths also become very important. Want that trinity force? Say goodbye to your phage. Managing your arsenal of weapons would be a fun element that we haven’t had before as it is a new type of resource management.
Since information is important in a game like LoL, I imagine that the weapons you have slotted could be shown in Jax’s hands/on his back.
I believe that this design concept is very flexible and could be implemented in a number of ways. You could limit the ability augments to only the Q and W, or the Q and E to reduce the balancing issues, you could change the passive to have your autoattacks use the weapon that your last ability has equipped.
What do you guys think about this idea? What if his ideas are noticed and developed by Riot Games in the future?