Kled: The Best Designed MOBA Character
What makes a MOBA character well designed? The appearance? The counterplay? The amount of fun the player gets while playing the said character?
But unlike most characters today, he also has some of the traits I value the most when it comes to MOBA characters, and those are:
The gameplay representing and showcasing the character's story and personality and clear, telegraphed windows of power (Skaarl and his W passive) that the player and the opponent must play around with.
For the first trait, Kled's personality and story match his gameplay perfectly.
Kled is a sociopath who always wants to fight, while his mount and best friend, Skaarl, is a total wuss and would leave him to fight on his own. Kled is then left to fend for himself and while fighting solo, Skaarl sees Kled's bravery and returns to Kled like the immortal lizard doofus that she is.
Gameplay-wise, Kled has two separate health bars, one for Kled and one for Skaarl. Once the first health-bar (which is Skaarl's) is depleted, Skaarl runs off, removing Skaarl's abilities from the player's set of abilities and leaving Kled to fight on his with his own set of abilities.
While alone/dismounted, Kled has very low health, very low movement speed (unless running towards champions), increased attack range, lower damage and has only two abilities. During this, Kled can fill up a bar called "the courage bar/meter" by fighting enemy champions or by taking objectives and killing wave creeps. Once the meter is full, Skaarl returns, with all her abilities off-cooldown and a huge chunk of her health back.
This unique mechanic encourages the player (and even the opponent) to keep fighting to maximize their chances of success. His gameplay style is very ham. Very all or nothing, do or die style. The only thing that can save him is fighting at very low health. This can lead to many cases where he survives situations, most would not have.
His skill set also represents his very HAM play-style.
His Q, "Beartrap on a Rope", is a skillshot, that when it hits an enemy champion, Kled must stick to them for a while to deal a significant chunk of the enemy's health and also slows them for a brief period. The distance in which Kled is allowed to be for the damage to apply gets smaller and smaller, enticing Kled to be up close and personal with his opponent. His Q also changes depending on if Kled is mounted or dismounted. When he's dismounted, his Q is replaced with a shotgun, that when fired, launches Kled a certain distance, providing more room between him and his opponent, and this synergizes with his increased attack range and the extra movement speed buff that he gets whenever he attacks an enemy champion. He can also use the shotgun to go over small walls.
His W, "Violent Tendencies" is a passive that lasts for a few seconds after attacking, which speeds up Kled's four attacks with the fourth attack dealing heavy damage. After the fourth attack, it goes on cooldown for several seconds. This is Kled's main damage source and his bread and butter. Kled can't deactivate this passive to attack normally but he can plan his positioning and when to attack to compensate this. Enemies can see whether or not Kled has this passive, so Kled is encouraged to not waste it or plan carefully and accordingly with and without it. He can also use this while dismounted to gain some courage as quickly as possible thanks to the enhanced attack speed.
His E, "Jousting" is a fixed-distance dash, that when it hits an enemy champion, he can dash back to them, also in a fixed distance. This can be used in a lot of ways. To get closer to hit his Q, to secure that he sticks to his opponent by hitting the first dash or to simply create distance in a disadvantageous fight. It's important to note that this ability is only available while mounted.
His unrivaled ability to stick to an opponent is only available if he's with Skaarl.
Last and certainly not the least, his ultimate, "Chaaaaaaaarge!!!"
As with most ultimates, his, when used, can turn the tides of a battle.
When used, Kled becomes unstoppable, immune to stuns, slows and roots and gains a shield and movement speed bonus that ramps up during the charge. His allies gain the same movement speed if they follow him from the trail he leaves behind. Once they encounter an enemy champion during the charge, they home in on them, knocking them back and dealing damage based on the distance traveled.
This ultimate is best used with a team for sieging but it can also be used to come back from a losing fight. Imagine, after an intense battle, you and the enemy give yourself some distance to ready your cooldowns. You have your ult and your W passive is off-cooldown. So you ult in towards them, absorb their damage with the shield that you gain from the ult and finish them off with your Violent Tendencies. Glorious and bloody.
All in all, his gameplay represents his story, his story represents his gameplay, he's the best-designed fighter in all of MOBAs thanks to his clear and telegraphed windows of power and fun to play around dueling mechanics that he provides and he's the best example to follow when designing a champion.
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| Art by VegaColors |
Kled ticks every box when it comes to designing a great champion. He's a fighter, a diver, that excels at long-winded duels and sieging.
He has the standard "must-haves"
He has counterplay and is very fun to play.
The gameplay representing and showcasing the character's story and personality and clear, telegraphed windows of power (Skaarl and his W passive) that the player and the opponent must play around with.
For the first trait, Kled's personality and story match his gameplay perfectly.
Kled is a sociopath who always wants to fight, while his mount and best friend, Skaarl, is a total wuss and would leave him to fight on his own. Kled is then left to fend for himself and while fighting solo, Skaarl sees Kled's bravery and returns to Kled like the immortal lizard doofus that she is.
Gameplay-wise, Kled has two separate health bars, one for Kled and one for Skaarl. Once the first health-bar (which is Skaarl's) is depleted, Skaarl runs off, removing Skaarl's abilities from the player's set of abilities and leaving Kled to fight on his with his own set of abilities.
While alone/dismounted, Kled has very low health, very low movement speed (unless running towards champions), increased attack range, lower damage and has only two abilities. During this, Kled can fill up a bar called "the courage bar/meter" by fighting enemy champions or by taking objectives and killing wave creeps. Once the meter is full, Skaarl returns, with all her abilities off-cooldown and a huge chunk of her health back.
This unique mechanic encourages the player (and even the opponent) to keep fighting to maximize their chances of success. His gameplay style is very ham. Very all or nothing, do or die style. The only thing that can save him is fighting at very low health. This can lead to many cases where he survives situations, most would not have.
His skill set also represents his very HAM play-style.
His Q, "Beartrap on a Rope", is a skillshot, that when it hits an enemy champion, Kled must stick to them for a while to deal a significant chunk of the enemy's health and also slows them for a brief period. The distance in which Kled is allowed to be for the damage to apply gets smaller and smaller, enticing Kled to be up close and personal with his opponent. His Q also changes depending on if Kled is mounted or dismounted. When he's dismounted, his Q is replaced with a shotgun, that when fired, launches Kled a certain distance, providing more room between him and his opponent, and this synergizes with his increased attack range and the extra movement speed buff that he gets whenever he attacks an enemy champion. He can also use the shotgun to go over small walls.
His W, "Violent Tendencies" is a passive that lasts for a few seconds after attacking, which speeds up Kled's four attacks with the fourth attack dealing heavy damage. After the fourth attack, it goes on cooldown for several seconds. This is Kled's main damage source and his bread and butter. Kled can't deactivate this passive to attack normally but he can plan his positioning and when to attack to compensate this. Enemies can see whether or not Kled has this passive, so Kled is encouraged to not waste it or plan carefully and accordingly with and without it. He can also use this while dismounted to gain some courage as quickly as possible thanks to the enhanced attack speed.
His E, "Jousting" is a fixed-distance dash, that when it hits an enemy champion, he can dash back to them, also in a fixed distance. This can be used in a lot of ways. To get closer to hit his Q, to secure that he sticks to his opponent by hitting the first dash or to simply create distance in a disadvantageous fight. It's important to note that this ability is only available while mounted.
His unrivaled ability to stick to an opponent is only available if he's with Skaarl.
Last and certainly not the least, his ultimate, "Chaaaaaaaarge!!!"
As with most ultimates, his, when used, can turn the tides of a battle.
When used, Kled becomes unstoppable, immune to stuns, slows and roots and gains a shield and movement speed bonus that ramps up during the charge. His allies gain the same movement speed if they follow him from the trail he leaves behind. Once they encounter an enemy champion during the charge, they home in on them, knocking them back and dealing damage based on the distance traveled.
This ultimate is best used with a team for sieging but it can also be used to come back from a losing fight. Imagine, after an intense battle, you and the enemy give yourself some distance to ready your cooldowns. You have your ult and your W passive is off-cooldown. So you ult in towards them, absorb their damage with the shield that you gain from the ult and finish them off with your Violent Tendencies. Glorious and bloody.
All in all, his gameplay represents his story, his story represents his gameplay, he's the best-designed fighter in all of MOBAs thanks to his clear and telegraphed windows of power and fun to play around dueling mechanics that he provides and he's the best example to follow when designing a champion.
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