Jirran, The Variable Swordsman
Jirran is a melee assassin that uses his hextech to modify his sword length, allowing him to spin and vault his way to victory.
Passive: Hextech Lengthening
Every time Jirran uses an ability, he expends a little bit of hextech from his reserves to extend the length of his sword. After this occurs 4/5/6 times, his sword shrinks down to the length of a dagger while his hextech reserves are recharging.
Q: Stretching Cyclone
Jirran spins in a circle, holding his sword out and hitting all enemies within range. The radius of the attack increases corresponding to his sword length. If he has reserves when he spins, he expends 1 hextech charge from his reserves to lengthen his sword, which will remain that length until his hextech reserves deplete.
W: Pole Vault
Jirran firmly places his sword into the ground and uses it to vault forward. The length and speed of his vault will depend on the length of his sword.
E: Stab
Jirran lunges forward with his sword, striking enemies in a straight line directly ahead of him. If he has reserves when he spins, he expends 1 hextech charge from his reserves to lengthen his sword, which will remain that length until his hextech reserves deplete.
R: Hextech Overload
Jirran overloads the battery on his hextech backpack, temporarily granting him infinite hextech charges. This allows him to stack his sword length as many times as he can. This effect lasts for 4/6/8 seconds.
Lore
Jirran once dreamed of being a gymnast, but his lack of talent prohibited him from success in the field. After studying hextech in school, he went on his own to do more research and eventually created the sword-extending hextech that he uses now. He is envious of those who were naturally successful and takes great offense when people discredit his ability due to his use of hextech.
Playstyle
Jirran often uses his sword to tease and taunt his enemies until he can go in for the kill. As the sword gets longer, this becomes easier. He uses the sword to poke his laner down until they are low enough that he can hop in using pole vault and then finish them off.
Design Pitfalls
I think that making Jirran's sword length clear to enemies and allies will be crucial to having him be fun to play against. This could be done with color, or some other visual indicator overhead (maybe a stack count that shows the length), but it is pertinent that the enemies are not always caught off guard when he hits them with a long stab, or quickly slices them with a short-range spin. This should also be easy for Jirran players to understand as well, so they can properly tell how long their attacks are going to be.
The idea that Jirran uses a backpack to hold his hextech doesn't really fit with his gymnast persona. I thought about trying to make a gymnast suit that holds the hextech instead, but it didn't fit well enough for my liking. I think that finding some other way for him to lore-wise hold/build the hextech charges might help flesh out the non-gameplay aspects of his character.
It is somewhat unclear which playstyle would fit him better. Jirran could potentially be scaled in a way such that he is a bruiser/tank, or in a way that he is an assassin. I can see pros/cons of each side of this, but I think that champions that can build both ways easily are unhealthy for the game. Perhaps he could be large (which would explain his early troubles with gymnastics), and this would lead towards a more tanky build. If this was the case, I would want to add some sort of CC to some of his abilities, so he can more easily stick onto his enemies for longer fights. I think that building him as an assassin also has its perks, I think that using his pole vault to get in close while timing his hextech reset so that his sword is perfect for close range would be a cool encounter - and this would add a lot of depth to the timing/order of his ability usage with the number of hextech reserves he has left. I think the downside to this would be that he might be too strong at several ranges at once. He would likely need to have a damage nerf as his sword was longer (longer sword = thinner blade = less damage per hit), but I am not sure how good this would feel from the player's perspective.