Typically, I try to match the release of a League champion with a new build for them. However, I missed the release of Ambessa, so I'm adding the build now for the first Full Build Friday of the new year! As always, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in my best attempt to fit the character. These choice may not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.
Be sure to check out the video on the build as well!
Let's get into the build for Ambessa, the Matriarch of War from League of Legends!
AMBESSA, THE MATRIARCH OF WAR
CHARACTER Ambessa Medarda
SOURCE League of Legends
BUILD GOALS
o Ambessa was exposed to the horrors of war young when her father would pay her to collect the weapons of the fallen. She eventually became a general of Noxus
o She is a melee champion who is counted as a diver and skirmisher, mobile fighters who single out priority targets and have situational defenses
o Her weapons are crescent blades on chains called drakehounds
o With Drakehound’s Step, she can dash when she uses an ability and empower her next basic attack
o Ambessa slices at enemies in a cone in front of her with Cunning Sweep. If this hits one enemy, she can use Sundering Slam, which slams her weapons down in a line
o Upon using Repudiation, Ambessa braces and gains a shield. She then smashes the ground beneath her, dealing more damage if her shield mitigated damage
o Lacerate damages enemies around Ambessa and slows them. If she uses Drakehound’s Step during this, she slices again at the end of the dash
o Her last ability is Public Execution, which grants her armor penetration and causes her abilities to heal her. On activation, she blinks to the farthest enemy in a line, suppressing and damaging them
Summary of Goals: The goal is to build a deadly warrior who makes sweeping slashes with her paired blades as she darts and dashes around the battlefield. She has some protection in her kit and can severely hamper foes, slowing and locking them down to giver her more time to tear them apart.
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Ganzi Human
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Strength, +Dexterity
o Ancestry Feat: Unconventional Weaponry – Chain Sword
Background: Martial Disciple
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution
o Skill Increase: Athletics (trained), Warfare Lore (trained)
o Background Feat: Quick Jump
Class & Subclass: Fighter
o Class Ability Boost: +Strength
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (trained), Arcana (trained), Intimidation (trained), Society (trained)
o Class Feat: Sudden Charge
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom (Str +4, Dex +2, Con +2, Int +0, Wis +1, Cha +0)
For mechanical reasons, Ambessa will stick with the human ancestry, but she does spice it up a bit with the ganzi heritage. This is also mechanically important, but it will come in later because she starts off with Unconventional Weaponry, so that she can treat chain swords as martial weapons. These will represent her drakehounds with their reach, something which her passive empowers, and their slashing nature even if their appearances are a little off. Their sweep trait will also come in handy. Given that Ambessa was raised in the arts (and horror) of war from a young age, something with Warfare Lore was important to the build and martial disciple fit the best given that she is a general. Athletics and Quick Jump matches with the swiftness of her dashes. She closes out her first level with the fighter class, giving her the martial proficiency to select chain swords with Unconventional Weaponry and making her far more formidable with them. Reactive Strike is great with the reach of her chain swords, and then she has Chain Sword for added mobility, taking a teensy, tiny bit of inspiration from her Public Execution.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Dual-Weapon Warrior Dedication
o Skill Feat: Intimidating Glare
o Gear: psychopomp mask
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Athletics (expert)
o Gear: +1 chain sword, psychopomp mask, ring of discertion
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Swipe
o Skill Feat: Additional Lore – Warfare Lore
o Skill Increase: Warfare Lore (expert)
o Gear: doubling rings, +1 chain sword, necklace of knives, psychopomp mask
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom (Str +4.5, Dex +3, Con +3, Int +0, Wis +2, Cha +0)
o Ancestry Feat: Witch Warden
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (expert)
o Gear: +1 striking chain sword, doubling rings, golden legion epaulets, necklace of knives, psychopomp mask, ring of discertion
Given the dual wielding that Ambessa does, Dual-Weapon Warrior Dedication slots in nicely though she takes a slight penalty on Double Slice since they lack the agile trait. However, as a fighter, this just means that she has a bonus equal to most martials with these Strikes. Another way to get multiple hits at the same multiple attack penalty is Swipe, which is based on her Cunning Sweep and makes solid use out of the sweep trait of her chain swords – you just have to pretend that she’s using both weapons for this instead of one. As a daunting woman, Intimidating Glare is a great fit, but Additional Lore for Warfare Lore might be a touch more pertinent given her status as a general for Noxus. Toughness enhances her survivability while Witch Warden resembles her mistrust of magic and particular antagonism with the Black Rose.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Twin Parry
o Skill Feat: Powerful Leap
o Gear: +1 hide, +1 striking chain sword, lifting belt, doubling rings, Jack’s tattered cape, necklace of knives
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Feather Step
o Skill Increase: Athletics (master), Warfare Lore (master)
o Gear: lesser grub gloves, +1 hide, tactician’s helm, +1 striking chain sword, doubling rings, golden legion epaulets
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Flensing Slice
o Skill Feat: Wall Jump
o Gear: boots of bounding, ring of the ram, lesser grub gloves, +1 hide, +1 striking chain sword, lifting belt
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Multitalented – Ranger Dedication
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (master), Survival (trained)
o Gear: +1 resilient hide, boots of bounding, ash gown, lesser grub gloves, tactician’s helm, +1 striking chain sword
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +5, Dex +3, Con +4, Int +0, Wis +3, Cha +1)
o Class Feat: Basic Hunter’s Trick – Initiate Warden – gravity weapon
o Skill Feat: Group Coercion
o Gear: armbands of athleticism, +1 resilient hide, corrosive weapon rune, boots of bounding, ring of the ram, +1 striking chain sword
Twin Parry vaguely resembles the protection of her Repudiation’s shield though temporary Hit Points are honestly a better fit to represent that. More importantly, it’s from her archetype, which could allow her to pick up a new dedication as she follows this on with Flensing Slice. This is a follow-up for Double Slice and the bleed is great, but more important is the reduction of physical resistances resembling the armor penetration on her Public Execution. However, Multitalented lets her skip the normal restriction for her Ranger Dedication, which she follows up with Basic Hunter’s Trick to take Initiate Warden to take gravity weapon as a focus spell. While Ambessa is opposed to magic, this extra damage on her first Strike is meant to resemble the empowering effect on her autos granted by her Drakehound’s Step. She extends the range of her jumps with Powerful Leap and Wall Jump before playing into the control she took over Piltover with Group Coercion, while taking advantage of her Intimidation. Feather Step will also be handy down the line, letting her Step into difficult terrain with ease.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Fleet
o Skill Increase: Society (expert)
o Gear: +2 striking chain sword, armbands of athleticism, bravery baldric (haste), +1 resilient hide, boots of bounding, ash gown
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Advanced Hunter’s Trick – Skirmish Strike
o Skill Feat: Courtly Graces
o Gear: +2 resilient hide, +2 striking chain sword, greater demon mask, armbands of athleticism, corrosive weapon rune, thundering weapon rune
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Glory and Valor!
o Skill Increase: Society (master)
o Gear: +2 greater striking chain sword, +2 resilient hide, greater doubling rings, greater demon mask, armbands of athleticism, thunderblast slippers
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Whirlwind Strike
o Skill Feat: Leverage Connections
o Gear: greater extending weapon rune, +2 greater striking chain sword, moderate grub gloves, +2 resilient hide, impactful weapon rune, greater demon mask
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +5.5, Dex +3, Con +4.5, Int +1, Wis +4, Cha +1)
o General Feat: Fast Recovery
o Skill Increase: Athletics (legendary), Deception (trained), Warfare Lore (legendary)
o Gear: +2 greater resilient hide, greater extending weapon rune, propulsive boots, +2 greater striking chain sword, greater ash gown, greater doubling rings
As promised, she gets some use out of Feather Step with Skirmish Strike, again inspired by her Drakehound’s Step. Meanwhile the area effect of her Whirlwind Strike is based on the slice or smash of her Laceration or Repudiation, respectively, letting her hit all creatures around her. Her associates in Piltover as well as her pull as a general makes Courtly Graces and Leverage Connections some super solid skill feats for her. Fleet lets her jump farther and dash faster, which will also be handy. However, outside of her class feats, the winner of this block might be her Glory and Valor!, coming from her ganzi heritage. While limited to once per day, this causes her Strikes to heal her a bit, inspired by the healing that she gets from her abilities once she has unlocked her ultimate.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Dashing Strike
o Skill Feat: Streetwise
o Gear: greater corrosive weapon rune, +2 greater resilient hide, propulsive boots, greater extending weapon rune, +2 greater striking chain sword, moderate grub gloves
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Heroic Presence
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater striking chain sword, greater corrosive weapon rune, antimagic armor rune, +2 greater resilient hide, greater extending weapon rune, propulsive boots
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Advanced Hunter’s Trick – Hamstringing Strike
o Skill Feat: Cloud Jump
o Gear: bracers of strength, +3 greater striking chain sword, quickstrike weapon rune, greater corrosive weapon rune, +2 greater resilient hide, propulsive boots
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Robust Health
o Skill Increase: Society (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient hide, bracers of strength, greater impactful weapon rune, +3 greater striking chain sword, greater corrosive weapon rune, antimagic armor rune
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str +6, Dex +4, Con +5, Int +1, Wis +4, Cha +2)
o Class Feat: Sever Space
o Skill Feat: Legendary Professional
o Gear: +3 major striking chain sword, +3 greater resilient hide, titan’s grasp, dread blindfold, greater dinosaur boots, quickstrike weapon rune
Skirmish Strike has the flourish trait, which means that she can’t use other flourish actions with it. Fortunately, Dashing Strike doesn’t have the flourish trait so to really capture the mobility available that she has when chaining abilities together in League. Hamstringing Strike from her archetype nets her a slowing effect, as per Laceration. Finally, she nails Public Execution with Sever Space. I actually almost took Weapon Supremacy before I remembered the existence of this feat, and while this lacks the lockdown of this ability, it does get her on the background to savage her enemies. Streetwise represents her more criminal connections, such as Singed or Renni and Legendary Professional with Warfare Lore makes her a major general for Noxus. Finally, Heroic Presence actually manages to capture the shield of her Repudiation.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: Honestly, just expanding on Ambessa's already available options is a solid way to go. Dual-Weapon Blitz is a fantastic fit for her with it adding more mobility to her kit, and Twinned Defenses is just handy for the AC bump. From the ranger, there's Twin Takedown, Relentless Stalker to dash after prey if she doesn't want to just Reactive Strike it, and Quick Draw just to get her weapons ready a bit faster if they aren't already. With her freed up feats, she should honestly be looking for those feats that I talked about taking with her flexibility feature.
BUILD CONCLUSION
Ambessa, the Matriarch of War is a ganzi human fighter with the martial disciple background - exposed and raised in the arts, and horrors, of war since she was young. Her chainswords can be flavored as her drakehounds with their slashing effect, but her passive will empower her attacks with enhanced range, which also comes in the form of their reach trait. Gravity Weapon also supplies the extra damage from this enhanced strike, but that's honestly a more minor aspect of her passive. The larger part of Drakehound's Step is the dash, which means that we need some focus on mobility, and this comes in the form of Skirmish Strike, Feather Step, and Dashing Strike. Swipe is perfect for her Cunning Sweep, and works well with her chosen weapons, but there isn't really Strike in a line sort of effects for her Sundering Slam. I looked for a few press feats to at least emulate the idea. For the shield of her Repudiation, she has Resounding Bravery or Heroic Presence giving her temp HP or Twin Parry enhancing her AC. She relies on Whirlwind Strike for the area damage of both this ability and her Lacerate though for the actual speed reduction of the latter, she uses the ranger's Hamstringing Strike. Early on, you could possibly flavor Sudden Charge as her rush into the backline for her Public Execution, but this is better accomplished through Sever Space. This features a Strike that lets her blink onto the enemy, savaging the squishies with a sudden cessation in a perfect representation of this ability - save for its lockdown. For its passive effects of healing and armor penetration, she - respectively - has the ganzi's Glory and Valor and the Flensing Slice to reduce resistances.
In closing this character, this cruel but competent conqueror carries out her carnage with capable carvings, coursing across the combat while courageously crossing cutlasses with all comers, a complete commander of the conflict.
Please let me know what you think and what other builds you'd like to see!
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Have a fantastic Friday!
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