“I’ve watched my death…”

Greetings Forgers,

Meet your newest ally on the battlefield. Lucan is one of the frontline supports that we’ve got ready to show you, and his simple, supportive style gives him a lot of power on the Forges. He has a kit that is mostly point-and-click, making him one of the easier Forgers to learn, and it also has one goal: protect and empower his team.

To that end, his slows prevent targets from reaching his own carries, and he can shield and protect his allies well. The war cardinal from Ouros can deter enemies from approaching with his sheer presence, branding them for execution by allies. His ultimate is able to both blow enemies away and pin them so your allies can send enemies to their maker. His ability to chase enemies down is low, though, so his ability to play proactively without this ultimate is low.

However, he shines most when played aggressive enough to take advantage of his resource, Conviction. Gained through basic attacking, Lucan’s Conviction allows him to empower his basic abilities and make his supporting prowess even stronger.

If you haven’t yet, you can read Lucan’s lore right here!

Lucan

The Fist of Ouros

Frontline Support

Lucan’s kit is extremely simple – the kit has only 1 skillshot, and each ability works towards a similar, very simple goal of “assist the backline”. Because of this, Lucan’s place in teamfights will normally be standing next to one of (or all of) the carries while doling out debuffs on the enemy front line and buffs on the allied backline.

We expect to see Lucan appear most often in the Harrier role, as his ranged point and click abilities allow him to effectively harass enemies from range while laning, and his low wave clear makes him less than efficient at killing minions. Alternatively, he may potentially be playable from a jungling role, as his passive will help him stay healthy while killing jungle camps, and his Q can be used to set up a “slowed no matter which direction you go” situation, if he ganks from behind the enemy laners, and his passive can help lock down his target in ganks.

Resource: Conviction

Lucan uses Conviction to empower his abilities. His basic attacks grant him a small amount of Conviction and double that amount if the primary target is a Forger. He has a moderate amount of maximum Conviction. If Lucan has maximum Conviction, his next ability cast gains additional effects. o7 design notes: This resource is a very straight forward one that’s built to play well with his passive, as Lucan is already encouraged to basic attack enemies to build his passive on them. However, as his only way to generate his resource is from basic attacks, he will need to engage enemies in a fight before he’s able to build it to full. Combined with his lack of hard CC or abilities that let him catch a fleeing opponent makes it most efficient for him to build his resource by attacking enemy front liners, which further aligns with the rest of his kit’s goals.

Passive: Penitence

When Lucan basic attacks an enemy Forger or large monster consecutively, they are stunned for a short duration. This ability cannot stun the same target for a moderate duration. o7 design notes: This ability helps Lucan do his primary job – acting as a bodyguard for high priority targets on his team. By making this effect require consecutive attacks on a target, it can’t be used as effectively against enemies that are moving away from you, particularly if there are multiple priority targets within the same area.

Q: Excommunicate

Lucan unleashes a blast of power from his shield at an enemy, dealing a moderate amount of physical damage and cowing them, causing the target to be slowed by a moderately low amount when they move toward allied Forgers for a moderate amount of time. Conviction: Target suffers a constant slow in addition to the base effect. o7 design notes: This ability, like the passive, helps push Lucan into the role of a character who helps protect his teammates, rather than one that sets up fights for them. As this ability’s power lies in the potential to make it very difficult for enemies to properly engage onto your team, and as it is targeted, you can use this ability to selectively make it more difficult for a higher damage target to effectively engage with the rest of their team. The empowered version of this effect can be used for a variety of purposes, ranging from making it even harder for the targeted enemy to engage properly, to allowing your team to pick a straggler at the end of a fight. This flexibility makes it a powerful option to use at any time, and is the ability that we most often expect players to be empowering.

W: Cardinal Call

Lucan grants himself a shield that prevents a moderately large amount of damage for 3 seconds. If he has any allied forgers within a moderately short range, the shield amount is granted to each forger in range at a reduced efficiency, based on the number of affected forgers. Conviction: The range of the effect is notably increased and all forgers gain the full effect of the shield. o7 design notes: This ability was originally just a basic “Lucan and all nearby allies gain a shield” effect with a relatively weak shield tied to it, but after look at the kit as a whole, we felt that we could afford to insert some complexity to this ability in order to provide players with some more complexity that requires that they make decisions other than just “do I use my Q and E off cooldown?” We plan on making the shield very efficient for Lucan to use on just himself (and fairly efficient to use on himself and another ally) in the early game, while allowing it to still be usable, if situational, to cast on all the way up yourself and all 4 of your allies. On the other hand, the empowered version of this ability distinctly encourages you to try to position yourself such that you grant yourself and as many allies as possible the full effect of your shield. The range increase will help you do this without having to go too far away from the carry or carries that you are trying to support, so you don’t have to leave them out of position and alone.

E: Sinbrand

Lucan brands target enemy, dealing a moderate amount of physical damage and causing them to take a small percentage bonus damage from all sources for a moderately short duration. Conviction: When an allied Forger deals damage to the branded enemy, they gain a moderate amount of flat bonus movement speed for a very short duration. o7 design notes: While this ability can be used on lower defense targets if you happen to get in range of them, it will most often be most effective to use against the enemy frontline, to help your high damage allies rip through the enemy frontline faster than the enemy team can rip through yours. The empowered version of this ability will those same allies more effectively kite or chase the targeted enemy, depending on which is needed (and can allow you to help pick up stragglers after a fight, similar to the empowered version of the Q)

Ultimate: The Fist of Ouros

Lucan smashes the area in front of himself, dealing a moderately large amount of physical damage and knocking enemies away from himself by a relatively long distance. Enemies that hit terrain are stunned for a moderately long duration. o7 design notes: Lucan’s ultimate can be used in a couple of different ways. Most commonly, players will want to save it as a disengage to peel particularly sticky front liners from his allies, but if he’s able to get behind enemies, or put them between himself and a wall, he can also use the ability to help his team engage more effectively. This potential allows Lucan to more smoothly transition between assisting his front line (primarily during chasing situations) and his back line (when he’s needed to peel during team fights).