The Rumble spotlight went live last night and, though I really wanted to dump all of my impressions out at midnight, I decided to wait until today to hopefully give a more balanced look at the League’s new champion. I’m not sure it worked. Rumble seems like the worst parts of the tanky meta all rolled into one little bundle.

First of all, the shield thing has got to stop. Rumble not only gets a damage shield, which likely scales with AP, he also gets a movement speed boost with it, and it’s on a crazy short cooldown. At level 7 Phreak’s shield had a 5 second cooldown. Granted, it didn’t look like it shielded much, but 5 seconds? Yuck.

Rumble also appears to be able to abuse the minion aggro AI in lane because he can cast so often. Minions typically don’t aggro on champions if they’re using spells on one another, an issue typically balanced by the fact that lane casters are fairly squishy. Still, you already know some frustrating exceptions to this rule. Mordekaiser, for instance, can dish out a lot of champion damage without taking aggro from minions because he’s dealing spell damage. The same seems to be true for Rumble, which will be extremely frustrating for the softer characters in lane.

I’ll be interested to see how he actually plays in game. For right now, I’m worried Riot has added yet another bruiser class character to the game, even if he relies on spell damage to bring down opponents.

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Riot announced the Rumble ability list this afternoon, a list that looks remarkably similar to another champion in the lineup. I’m also pretty worried that we have yet another Tanky DPS champion joining the League. Shield ability? Check. Ranged slow? Check. Damage modifier? Check. Dear lord.

Here’s the list:

Flamespitter: Rumble torches the area in front of him with his flamethrower dealing damage to all units in a cone for several seconds. While in the “Danger Zone,” this spell deals additional damage.

Scrap Shield: Rumble creates a shield blocking incoming damage for several seconds and granting a short duration speed boost. While in the “Danger Zone,” the shield’s strength and speed boost increase.

Electro-Harpoon: Rumble launches a projectile that deals magic damage and applies a stackable slow on the target. A second shot can be fired for no additional cost within several seconds. While in the “Danger Zone,” the damage and slow percentage is increased.

The Equalizer (Ultimate): Rumble calls down a line of rockets over the target location. Enemies in the scorched area take damage over time and are slowed.

Junkyard Titan (Passive): Rumble’s abilities generate heat. When Rumble is above 50 heat, he is in the “Danger Zone,” causing all his basic spells to have additional effects. When Rumble reaches 100 heat he overheats, silencing himself and causing his physical attacks to deal additional magic damage. Rumble loses heat over time.

At first I was worried we had a Blitz clone, but he actually seems to be closer in skill style to Urgot. I am wildly unimpressed by the skillset and, as mentioned above, mostly worried about having yet another Tanky DPS to deal with. From the sound of things, his Harpoon will be extremely easy to land, giving him the ranged harass that often makes Tanky DPS toons such a problem in lane. I’m not excited for his release. Not one bit.

We’re well on our way to a new champion again, this time with a Blitzcrank doppleganger named Rumble. Here’s the blurb:

Harpoon? Check. Flamethrower? Check. Triple rockets? Check, check, and check. Just to be safe, we’ll throw in one mischievous yordle whose mechanical prowess has been used to make the most diabolical machination ever to hit the Fields of Justice. Meet Rumble, the Mechanized Menace. His desire to see you burned, speared, crushed, stomped, blown up, or otherwise grievously injured, has him pushing his war machine way beyond what would be considered safe operating procedure, even if he might blow a gasket. But don’t call him short. That’ll really grind his gears.

I gotta say, I dig his little checklist at the beginning. I’m a little concerned that he’ll steal my boy Blitzcrank’s thunder, but all the same he seems interesting. His skills sound vaguely like Tinker from the Dota days, though I wonder how the harpoon will work out. I bet triple rockets are his ult.