Almost every champ out there has to level R on level 6. I was thinking it would be interesting to have a champ that did have a strong R ability but some combination of the Q/W/E could potentially be stronger in some situations than automatically leveling R.

Closest thing I can think of is Udyr, but really whether you take R on him or not doesn't amount to much more than how you go about jungling (speed) or farming.

So what I'm not saying is give a champ a weak R so there's no reason to level it, instead I'm suggesting give a champ a good R ability but also a good alternative via some combination of Q/W/E. The abilities would have to be a bit unique and serve some utility instead of just damage, while the ultimate could be mostly damage. That way if you need utility you can skip R but if you want to gank you go with R.

Or am I forgetting some champion that works like that?

udyr

Actually if I am playing super-harass heimerdinger I will sometimes skip turrets and his ult even into lvl 6

though what has this to do with TT? XD