Original Post — Direct link

Hello ladies and gentlemans,

today I had a really electrifying thought. We already have a lot of fire and water themed skins. And purple is tasty and also Ritos favourite color this year. But what about the might of nature? I am talking about thunder and storm. Why aren't there more electrical themed skins? I absolutely love crispy sound effects and I feel like there could be so many cool concepts about this theme.

What about Thunderlord fiddlesticks, who is summoning a electrical field with his ult and drains the energy from all this robot skins?

What about Stormmaster Ziggs, who has the might of Thor on his hands and summons a storm cloud for his ult that explodes in a gigantic thunderstrike on his foes?

What about thunderstriker Lee who might strike a kick with 1000 Volt through the poor adc?

What about a fking Electric Breaker Karthus who might just roast the Toaster of the whole enemy team with a ult?

What about an Mordekaiser skin who grabs his enemy and just sticks them in a massive stormwall for his ult?

What about a Zeus Pantheon who throws thunderstriks and rides on a cloud for his ult?

I think you get it. I like thunder. Let me hear your opinion. Thanks for reading.

External link →
about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Really appreciate the suggestion and you laying out why the theme is interesting to you. Will definitely pass this onto our Thematic Development team as we’re always looking for new ideas and trying to develop thematics that you guys will hopefully love.

(I also completely agree that the SFX for something in this space could feel super powerful and satisfying in-game).

;)

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Fluffasaurus89

Balance changes dont make money

:>

It’s true that we’re a business that needs to be supported with revenue. It’s false to assume that every effort we undertake is focused on revenue.

Let me use Dark Star Shaco as an example. Shaco is one of the lower popularity champs in League. This means that if we chose to make a Shaco skin, the possible number of players who would be interested in the skin is significantly lower than other champions like the recent meme-fuel examples Lux and Ezreal.

That being said, if we were a company that only valued revenue and was trying to min-max for that, you wouldn’t see skins for Ivern, Shaco, Udyr, Galio, etc.

We believe that the audiences for those champions need to be served still, but so when we choose to make something like Dark Star Shaco, our top goal isn’t revenue, our core goal is to make something that Shaco fans really love.

Sometimes we succeed at this, sometimes we don’t.

I’ve worked at several game companies over the course of 15 years and Riot is the first that I’ve seen willingly make decisions like this and really give a sh*t about players.

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by SpaceAids420

Lightning Storm Malzahar. Please make it happen

As someone who mained Malz years ago I am so down.

Unfortunately I’m not here to make what I want, I’m here to make players want. (And maybe that is a lightning based malz someday, no guarantees) Ideally those things overlap but people are all very different as you already know. :)

Imagine that Nether Grasp tho. Could be a violent beam of lightning that crackles and initiates with a THWAPOW.

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Predatoratorr

So you did not forget about xerath and skarner right?

Correct we did not forget about these champions. :)

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Pappy_whack

You forgot the one unpopular champ who gets a half-baked skin from the same line when they don't fit the theme.

Understand your comment and why you might feel that way. Know that we’re trying to do better though.

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by zestyclosetutor3

> players beg for Dunkmaster Illaoi, Elderwood Kindred, etc

> riot makes Dunkmaster Ivern, Elderwood Nocturne, etc

> nobody buys the shoe-horned skins

> riot uses it as an excuse that nobody buys skins for unpopular champs

Rinse and repeat.

For any given champion, there’s an expected number of players that will engage with a skin for that champion.

Popular champs have large audiences, less popular champs have smaller audiences.

If a skin for a particular champion doesn’t perform well, we don’t see that as a signal to stop making skins for that champion, we see it as a opportunity for us to reflect on why the audience for that champ didn’t like it and what we can do better next time.

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by hey-boss

Wish u/bellissimoh can make the panth one true throwing thunders is idea way too epic not to be true, i would buy it on 5 accs just for supporting this epic idea.

Zeus / God of Thunder Pantheon?

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by SuperSkillz10

more skins for gp >:O

Any thoughts on thematics (existing or new) that you’d be interested in seeing for GP?

Also giving context on why you like the idea is super helpful.

about 5 years ago - /u/RiotAxes - Direct link

Originally posted by Bellissimoh

Zeus / God of Thunder Pantheon?

Yes please

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Predatoratorr

Thank you, i'm sure it'll be worth the wait. Here are some xerath and skarner skins ideas i'd love to share, keep up the good work!

Dark Star Xerath: there's even a wonderful concept ( https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/skin-champion-concepts/JAgAUXGU-skin-idea-dark-star-xerath?show=flat ) made by SlownD. Dark themes suit xerath particulalry well, due to his personality and story, and shooting deep space energy would fit him like a ring;

The new Dark Cosmic line is also so fitting for Xerath: being so powerful, he could manage the power from both Dark Star, and Cosmic Reaver.

Archlight Xerath: one of the most evil characters in LoL trying to redeem himself? White and gold armor, white particles with symbolism and plummeting dark forces shooting blinding light arcanopulses, or purging them from the skies with celestial arcane barrages;

Harrowing/Haunted Xerath: i mean, his armor is a sarcophagus, just make it creepier with some dark material/monstrous insertions, slap some green/light blue spooky particles, let him unleash his spooky magic while ulting, et voilà, you just found a skin for the next harrowing!

Mecha/pulsefire Xerath: i just need a good mechanical/robotic alternative to Battlecast Xerath. Armor transforms as he casts his spells (to each spell his form) and returns normal after the cast: it'd be so cool to see him transforms while comboing. Orange/yellow particles, and you're good to go.

Void Xerath: this one may be a little bit trickier, but with the organic armor, and tendons or alikes keeping it in place, Xerath should still look quite Void-y while casting purple colored spells!

An ascended Xerath skin would be top of the top, however i don't have any solid concept to go from =/

Battleboss Xerath: like seriously, already playing against xerath feels like a boss battle, where you got to close on him dodging everything he throws at you. he was even the boss in ascension mode, how about that!

Elementalist would be cool too, Q could be a concentrated ray of wind, W water from above, E some kind of lightning, and R could work as a volcano erupting. or you could switch between R and W

also Program, but he really fits well into any tech-y theme, just switch his sarcophagus armor with some metal, slap some cool VFX and there you go

Edit: with Stars Shaper, we went with the idea of a magic lancer xerath: His q could be a spear that stretches as j4's does (maybe he juggles with It as charging animation?) His w can a spear falling from the sky E could be another type of spear, or a morning star. R could be javelins His armor could be like the Lancer zero skins, or made up with weapons and blades, like a moving armory

Also, i'd love if a skin could be made out of his concept art, those black and white particles are really nice.

Skarner: Giant enemy lobner/deep terror skarner Surprisingly to me, a lobster skarner skin is a popular concept. however i don't want it to be an april fool's line skin, se here's some ideas for it: Passive: capped by the enemy: boat floating midair. capped by skarner & team: the ship sinks and lays on map terrain, like a shipwreck on the bottom of the ocean floor, really dark). dark water currents show the spire range. Q: dark water splash/ tentacles going allout from skarner's body. W: dark water bubble engulfs skarner/or some kind of frightening coral reef. E: not sure about it, could be some kind of dark water projectile. R: tentacles going all out from skarner's tail, entangling the victim.

High Noon Skarner Half demon-half cowboy can be really fitting of skarner, with scorpions being legendary creatures of the old wild west. Passive: capped by the enemy: normal sand lair, with some cinder and smoke coming out of it. capped by skarner & team: sand lair with flames going out of it, like an entrance to hell. jericho roses and sand particles at the edge of the spire. Q: erupts fire and dust; W: horns appear allover him, and his body is covered in fire. E: revolver, that's all. R: skarner unleashes his demonic form, and lunges his stinger to drag the unfortunate soul (literally) in hell.

Void skarner His claws become jaws, his stinger has an aline-esque appearance. passive could be some void relic, eggs, spawn, etc.

Riot skarner Passive: capped by skarner & team: flare gun shoots from the center of the spire, and the flare stays on the floor His claws are electric staffs, and his stinger has a taser like appearance. Q: electric shock from his staffs. W: riot shields spawn and his siren activates. E: water gun on his back. R: taser shoots a charge at target, sirens activate.

Dark Cosmic Skarner really fitting of him, since scorpion is a zodiac sign, but his ult can be a literal blackhole his passive can be made of nebulae's/cosmic object. E can be a star being shot from skarner's core fire themed skarner; ice theme skarner.

Again thank you and best wishes for your work =)

This is an amazing set of feedback and suggestions. I’ll be passing this both to the thematic development team as well as some of our skins teams. Thanks for taking the time to write it up Predatoratorr. :)

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Rafaap

void hunter jax please i love lore related skins

Other than Void Hunter, are there are lore related themes you’re interested in seeing more of or exploring further?

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by TerraRising

Understand your comment and why you might feel that way. Know that we’re trying to do better though.

Please know that I've read this and you may actually be be trying to do better...

But understand that I've heard this a thousand times before from other people on Riot's skins team and it's only gotten worse for niche players.

Understand there’s a history. And you’re absolutely right. I can say a bunch of stuff here on Reddit but it’s our actions and what we deliver ultimately that matters. Going to have to wait and see if we meet expectations on that front.

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Intensolo

Thank you for the communication.

Thank you for caring enough to engage with us and be constructive. We’re nothing without our fans.

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by QUINN_VALOR_VGU_WHEN

This is honestly a relief to hear coming from a Rioter. Ever since Heartseeker Quinn's relatively negative reception, I feared the skins team would be dissuaded from making more skins for her.

For skin themes in general, my gut feeling is that players generally prefer high-quality skins that amplify the core fantasy of their main champions and take it up to 11. Spirit Guard Udyr and God-King Garen are some good examples of this. Their themes are relatively similar to the base champion, but taken to crazy epic proportions with the visuals to support that fantasy.

Yeah in the Quinn example, we can get a pretty good sense for how many people play Quinn and estimate what the rough demand should be for a Quinn skin.

So if a Quinn skin doesn’t perform, we look internally at our decisions, thematic choice, and art execution first.

If a skin doesn’t perform, that’s on us. We didn’t make something that Quinn players wanted, and it’s our job to figure out what Quinn players want the next time around.

Also we recognize that the cycle time or time in between skins for low play rate champs is long. We’re working on that as well and hope to talk about that more later this year.

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Predatoratorr

thank you for being so kind, i'm happy you appreciate it =)

Our creative teams thrive off of productive feedback like this. So thank you.

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by TheAlmightyChanka

Hello Bellissimoh, I assume you're part of the Skins team for LoL and I would like to give a skin suggestion for Jax, It's part of the Bee themed skins, like Beekeeper Singed for example.

For his weapon I imagined his lantern being a Beehive stuck on a tree branch, when he would hit someone It would splatter honey from the enemy.

Since his mask has a lot of "eyes" those eyes would be hexagon shaped and orange

For his Q, when he jumps on someone he would leave a honey trail behind him

For his W, when he hits someone It would make a squishy sound

For his E, when he rotates his weapon, a lot of bees would be surrounding him

and for his ult, his shield would be made of orange hexagons from the beehives

sorry for any typo, english is not my main language :/

We’re currently exploring some ideas for Jax but unfortunately none of them are bee or honey related.

Will definitely note this though should we decide to revisit the bee keeping sub universe of League. Thanks for the suggestion. ;)

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Floppuh

Just please make cool new morde skins, hes probably the most skin friendly champion in the whole game

We had a big pause on him for a while as the Champions team was hard at work with his VGU. Now that his VGU is out we’re definitely exploring some ideas for future Morde skins. Agree he’s got a lot of potential thematics that make a ton of sense.

Plus his Death Realm ulti has a ton of interesting creative surface area to explore. (But also adds complexity and scope to any Morde skin to be fair)

:)

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by xXnYuuXx

Woah, I didn't expect a Rioter Answer. It was just something I thought about in bed a few hours ago and I was like "well, I could do a Reddit post". I know that there are so many themes and there is only a handful of skins released every year, but I was just confused why are there electric skins lacking. The last I remember was Orrn and before that... I don't even know. Also if you know the guy who did the Robot Amumu skin... That e (especially after the little update) is something to worship. It's just really crisp. Also lightning is something that can be displayed in a white/yellow/babyblueish hue and I think these colors really match well.

As a jungler I completely agree with your thoughts around the Robot Amumu.

As soon as I read your post I thought to myself. “Yeah I agree with this.”

Can’t guarantee we’ll make something here but can guarantee it’ll be part of some upcoming conversations with our thematic development team. :)

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Sakkara1

Hi, not OP but I was thinking that it would be cool if there were skins of the Darkin before they got corrupted. I think it would be interesting to see their Ascended forms, with new particles, maybe voiceovers, I don't know.

For a cheaper option I'd also love to see Ashe's outfit from the Marvel comic, it looks way better than her default, kinda skimpy look in-game. She can keep the same particles etc, it could be a simple 750RP skin and I think it would satisfy a huge portion of Ashe players and lore enthusiasts.

Really cool suggestions. Thanks. :)

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by funnyboyee

I'd sell my soul to riot for a Warring Kingdoms Lissandra. She could be powerful chinese empress for sure :D

(Coven is great tho)

What is it about Warring Kingdoms that gets you excited to see Lissandra in that world?

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Random_Stealth_Ward

tbh when I played Quinn a reason I didn't craft heartseeker was because the skirt looked very weird with Quinn's posture. It just felt so strange when I saw it in-game when attacking.

Helpful feedback thanks.

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by spyborg3

Will Xerath be getting a skin before or after my 1st grandchild is born?
Asking for a friend.

Depends on when your 1st grandchild is being born.

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by HeWhoBringsDust

Thank you for communicating with us. I know there’s a lot of hate and unkind words being thrown around regarding Riot on Reddit lately, so I (and other Redditors) are thankful you decided to actually comment on this.

I wanted to ask though, would it be possible to have a sort of compromise with the skins? I know Riot is a business, so it’s only logical to focus on skins for champs that sell well, but could you maybe try to slide in one or two unpopular champ skins into every skin set release? That way they get some love as well.

The commitment we can definitely make is that we’re going to be making more skins in total. The result of that will be more skins across all buckets (both low, medium, and high play rate champs). The ratio of low play rate to high play rate though we can’t make any hard commitments there.

Also to your comment on the recent bias towards critical feedback over constructive. Be the change you want to see.

We can always be better about informing players about what we’re trying to do, and everyone here has the power to be constructive if they want to be.

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by spyborg3

~8 months?

So to be real, I thought you were trolling / poking fun. Imagined you bring much younger or decades out from having a grandchild.

As some else here mentioned congratulations! And you know what I can’t concretely answer whether or not we’ll beat your grandchild to the rift, but know that we want players of all champions to count the time since their last skin in months and not years.

We’re not there yet but that’s where we want to go.

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by TheeOmegaPi

Real talk, I've been waiting for a Rioter to be this direct about champions for a while, especially for unpopular champions. I've tried to make cohesive arguments about this, especially with regard to the importance of marketing, and until today (I've been following your responses to this thread, /u/Bellissimoh) there s been weird arguments that either distracted from the fact that unpopular champions got little attention from the lore/skin front or ignored it altogether. I remember talking to a Rioter on here about two years ago about this, and they tried to use Pokemon as a way to make the argument that some champions will naturally be more/less popular than others, but there was no concrete plans to try to decrease the amount of time between skins/being featured.

As one who almost exclusively plays unpopular champs (e.g., Ivern, Yorick, Shaco, Hecarim) because I find them fun, I'm glad that y'all are making an effort.

Hey I’m in the same boat man. Taliyah, Aurelion Swole, Trundle, Kench, Udyr are some of my highest mastery champs.

These champs will all get skins at some point. (Just as Udyr did recently). But I’m not here to prioritize my needs as a player. Our job is to look at all champions, and more importantly the audiences of those champions (you, players) and make sure we serve them the best we can.

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by bazopboomgumbochops

Would you be able to tell me how well Blood Moon Zilean has sold? Because his rework (and the skin's release, his last skin,) were 4 1/2 years ago. Is he just totally useless sales-wise? Or are you holding off on making content for him on the expectation of doing a visual overhaul (that probably won't happen, given that he was reworked 4 1/2 years ago and still never got his splash arts updated?)

Not to sound too bitter - I like y'all leaving him be, kit-and-balance wise. I do wish he had more than 1 decent skin though.

Can’t really speak to any gameplay around Zilean. Can say that he’s just a lower play rate champ generally. We haven’t forgotten about him though on the skins side, there have been a few ideas kicked around but nothing we can really talk about at current.

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by LeFiery

Interesting to see a rioter actually reply to comments like that and not just ignore it. Thank you.

It can be really hard to sit down and discuss hard issues when there’s a lot of anger or bitterness around some topics. Particularly in the digital age when you be almost anywhere you want to be just in one alt/tab or swipe of your thumb on your phone, it’s easy to opt out of conversations you don’t want to be a part of.

That’s why it’s really important that when folks do engage, they focus on what they want to see, or the desired direction they want to see the game go, as opposed to criticizing decisions or even attacking developers that are just trying to make something that people like at the end of the day.

In short, thank you LeFiery for giving us productive feedback. We need it if we’re going to keep getting better. :)

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Zadorboy

Hello Bellissimoh ! Do you have any news on a potential Taliyah skin ? Is it in the works or some kind of list ?

I can’t fuel any speculation on future skins. I can say that we know it’s been a while since she’s had one and we’re trying to hit all of our skin starved champs in the next year or so.

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Dopp3lg4ng3r

You need to gather informations from said mains for a targetted audience skin, a lot of subreddit mains are willing to provide help as long as you do care listening and discussing.

Ivern's skin has been actually catastrophic in the community it has been a huge disappointment

Yup we definitely heard Ivern mains when that last one came out. Know that we’re going to put more calories into understanding what mains want of a given champ moving forward, across the board but particularly low play rate champs.

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Zadorboy

Hm I see. Thanks a lot for the feedback !

Also as a side note, I’ve got over 100k mastery on Taliyah, so I may not be as big of a fan as you are but I’m also a huge fan of our resident Stoneweaver.

That aside, thank you Zadorboy for engaging with League and us here in this community.

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by TheeOmegaPi

I know I replied to you earlier, but I'm actually curious now: Is there any plan to increase the play rate of particular champs other than skin sales? Is that on the board at all?

Main efforts that would potentially touch on that would be gameplay updates and live balance updates.

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by MrMulligan

You've probably already heard it a few times, but thank you for the communication that you have provided in this thread.

Also would love a new Bard skin

Thank you for being a League fan MrMulligan. :)

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by ThunderousBlade

u/Bellissimoh

Maybe Elderwood morde holding a broken tree trunk with roots and moss on tip. With his armor covered in moss and vines. Tattered and broken cape.

Or Worldbreaker Morde (could work for other champs too, olaf, galio, voli , attrox, kayle, chogath, renekton etc

Bee-trox

vampire trox (bat creature and spiked bloody mace instead of sword)

dragon volibear with tail long neck and so on post rework or undead/mecha voli

darkin lulu with a horned head similar to aatrox and face similar to rhast. When she uses w she extended wings that fly.

Darkin claimed kayle (if aatrox claimed kayle's powers)

Darkin nautilus (effects similar to aatrox sword on his anchor would be cool)

Dragon/walking venus fly trap kogmaw.

grasshopper kha zix's/tristana

magic flying carpet taliyah (alladin style)

necromancer warlord illaoi (with gauntlet covered skeleton arms sprouting from ground that have swords in hands instead of tentacles)

serpent/dragon guardian illaoi with snake/dragon head tentacles instead

dwarf teemo (beard and throws a axe on q) R could be exploding barrels/tnt/medieval explosives/minecarts/exploding gemstones

Santa teemo with christmas candy cane thing as the dart flute w active could send reindeers from above that run ahead of him and drag him faster on a sleigh or just recall

human shaco that looks like a regular human in medieval clothes but sneaky maybe something like Lord Baelish from got with the houppelande clothes.

a xin skin that uses a spear with an axe near the end which would work really really with his animations. Also some good armor that changes a lot of his look.

A yummi skin that makes the cat look evil instead of cute something like the nexu from star wars with 4 eyes. Could be applied to rengar or nidalee cat form instead.

A skarner skin that makes him more crab like and has a triceratops like crest similar to the acklay in star wars.

A trundle skin in which he is a giant gorrila and wields a mossy tree branch with roots on the end where he hits enemies with. A chroma could be a white fur version of it and a brown one. Maybe orange and red too.

A werewolf skin in which warwick changes from a wolfman/ragged human to a full werewolf form when his w senses targets.

Spoon wielder cheff kayle. she throws eggs n sh to the enemies when she gets her aoe. Starts wielding a spatula or another one as well when stacked

Whip attrox. Uses a whip for his attacks and q and w.

water wielder hecarim that builds up a wave with e and r. he could be spectral in appearance. Like the elven river magic in lotr when the nazgul try to cross.

caveman trex rider kled

velociraptor warwick (really cool r when he jumps)

Triceratops cavewoman rider sejuani

giant mole reksai with sniffing sounds her ult would be big lmao

porkipine rammus

Thanks for all these suggestions. One thing to keep in mind when it comes to skin suggestions is we have to be careful about combining things to the point where they get too close to another current or maybe even future champions design space.

One example is you mentioned Dwarf Teemo where he has a beard, axe, and exploding barrels. While he’s shorter than Olaf and Gangplank, he might tread too close to what those other champions or even skins of champions already hit.

Also while we want to push the envelope and have a lot creative freedom with outfits, gear, and weapons, we still need to try and stay in the same ballpark of the source material. Two big reasons here, one because League is already a difficult game to learn, and having Teemo throw axes might confuse a new player and make them think it’s a completely different champion. The other reason is because people who are Teemo fans opted into him because they like what he has already, so we want to build on that rather than tear it all down and build a completely different fantasy.

There can be exceptions to everything of course, but we have to be thoughtful and careful when we do deviate.

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by MidChampsWhere

do you guys explore themes like Sakura Kingdom - A place where princesses and swordsmen dance around on pink sakura flowers. A sakura princess Ahri is what i meant and so many others like Lux, Kaisa, Janna can all fit in this theme = pink flowers and petals in their clothes and animations.

There can be a mermaid world where these girls are like Mermaid princesses with very colorful and vibrant outfit and hair.

Butterfly kingdom - large wings with patterns

If you play Chinese or Japanese or Korean MMOs you will notice these are the outfits everyone is wearing and running around completing missions

I hope you guys create these beautiful, elegant and mystical lines. I am sure Western players will like them if not absolutely love them

This is a great suggestion. Also we definitely consider some of the source materials you mention. :)

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by BluBeatles

Hey is there any update on whether or not Zac is getting a new skin in the next year? I know his model is really hard to work with but his last skin that wasn't world's related was pool party from a long time ago. Something like Ice cream Zac or molten Zac would be cool and the chromas could be cool as well.

You called out the challenge and I’ll agree with you there. Making skins for Zac can be challenging. Can’t speak to unannounced skins on the roadmap but know that we haven’t forgotten Zac players. :)

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by GabrielRR

Last time I heard this in the riot pls we got the joke that is dunkmaster Ivern.

Not holding my breath for this kind of stuff anymore

Skepticism makes sense. Hope we convince you otherwise in the future with our actions and releases.

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by BluBeatles

Would he be the hardest champ to make skins for? I know rumble and zyra are hard as well but they have more skins.. so I'm guessing Zac has the hardest rig to work with?

I would say he’s more difficult conceptually than technically.

Zyra is hard because of raw amount of assets and animations, Zac is more “what thematic makes sense and can be clearly communicated but also be different than his base / chromas?”

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Zoli_Ben

Can I ask how difficult it is to make a skin for Urgot? I do not want to sound rude, but we do not want to wait 2000 days for another skin. :(

What our discord and reddit server psyched about right now is being divided with the following skins, based on amount of mentions: Evil Star Guardian (serious at this, I want it too, he'd be like Syndrome from Incredibles who IMO is amazing supervillain), Dark Star, Mafia, Burgot, Battle Boss, Pool Party (water gun knees), Snowman (remember Little Elf Teemo concept art? carrot gun knees), and my own personal suggestion: a six-legged Spider themed Halloween skin.

Spidgot: A six legged spider monster who shoots webs from everything. Q would be a larger cocoon drop, W would be rapid spiderweb shooting, E would be same as other skins, just maybe make it look more spider-y, R would shoot a large web into a second mouth that is his stomach and the pulled in victims would be consumed.

Thank you very much, if you at least gonna comment on the first paragraph. I have always been curious to know this information.

We don’t want you to wait 2000 days either. We’re working hard to ship more skins per year, which will hopefully help us cover more champs in a given year.

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Xuralei

Do you think that using something like a tweaked variation of the choose-a-skin contest would be optimal for more niche character fanbases?

Voting on something like Reddit, while helpful, only gets information from a narrow slice of the entire global audience.

We’re looking at a variety of tools to help better inform our decisions moving forward.

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Xuralei

On another topic, do you know if riot has anything planned for the lunch table thing? I always thought that tool was interesting and you seem to like a lot of champs that I do, so I wanted to see how the rest of the community is in regards to this.

Sorry I’m not sure I know what you mean by “lunch table thing”?

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by sanketower

I have a question regarding the most recent Elderwood skins, hope you can answer. Kindred mains were asking for an Elderwood skin for the duo, due to an amazing skin concept done by VegaColors (I'm pretty sure you guys have already seen it), and Super Galaxy Kindred came out three years ago (May 2016). With that in mind, what was your thinking process when deciding which champions will receive this year's Elderwood skins?

Considering that Ahri got her last skin less than a year ago (with Prestige Edition that's still available with PP) and Nocturne looks more like Coven, it could've been a perfect opportunity to make Elderwood Kindred happen (and release Elderwood Nocturne exactly as it is right now but next year and renamed as Coven).

I don’t know if there’s going to be an answer you’re going to be satisfied with here tbh. You want a new Kindred skin and we didn’t make one for this set of Elderwood skins unfortunately.

We haven’t forgotten about Kindred and I hope that our next Kindred release meets the tastes and needs of as many Kindred players as possible.

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Xuralei

Oh, I wasn't referring to getting votes from Reddit, that would definitely not be representative of what a given plauerbase wants for their character. I was referring to something like the skin creation process where people voted for the Resistance Illaoi and Little Devil Tristana skins. Iirc, for Illaoi, there was even a subsection breaking down the vote specifically for Illaoi mains. Im sure there's a reason why it isn't used, but I've always thought that something like that process would be useful for the niche characters.

In cases where we have a high degree of uncertainty or if there are multiple concepts / thematics that we think are good we’ll often do player labs. Tests where we bring in players across different regions to get a better sense of what they like or don’t like.

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Zoli_Ben

Can I ask how is it decided to "ban" a champion from getting a skin these days because back in the day Yorick, Urgot, Poppy, Taric, Sion were having years of ban, but now we get skins for Mundo, Nocturne, Udyr who are all on the rework list? Isn't that subverting the "put an additional plate on the champion update team workload" statement?

I’m not sure I’m following your point.

Champions are not banned from getting a skin. They might be put on hold when we know and have confirmed that a particular champion is getting a rework. Ex: Morde

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Zoli_Ben

In 2017 this blog was posted, which more or less admitted that champs are not getting skins if they are high on rework list. https://nexus.leagueoflegends.com/en-us/2017/05/dev-state-of-skins/ but right now champs who are high on it still get skins like Fiddle, Mundo, Udyr, Corki...

There’s a difference between on the backlog and actively being worked on.

We typically don’t make new skins for champions that are in the process of getting reworked. Those that are on the backlog but won’t start for some time are generally fair game.

It all really depends on the champion, the timeline for the VGU, and how far out that VGU actually is.

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Xuralei

I phrased that really poorly oof. A while back, there was a blog post about "finding your lunch table" which was about champion correlations and clusters of champions that people would be likely to play if they played a given champion. It's really out of the blue, but I remembered after seeing a post on reddit and kind wondered what would have changed since then in regards to clusters. It was a bit of a longshot but was kinda curious if there was any plans to do a part 2 or something.

I would imagine clustering could change over time. Especially as balance changes or reworks change play patterns or update the champion fantasy.

I wouldn’t know though for sure that would be a question for the champions team. :)

about 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by MidChampsWhere

Thanks! The new Nami and Morgana skins are exactly how I imagined the Sakura Kingdom to be and mentioned it to you in above reply.
I am so happy that you guys are already looking into this theme.

One more request - please include Ahri and Lux in this skinline. I really want them to get a beautiful sakura princess skin with pink flowers and petals on their clothes and animations.
Or like they are mermaid princess (not Atlantean skinline), colorful and vibrant, lengthy and voluminous hair. Think Meera from Aquaman movie.

Love you!

Hope you enjoy the Nami and Morgan’s skins. Can’t promise you more in this exact theme but can promise that we’re constantly trying to find ways to deliver more and hopefully hit themes that players enjoy. :)

almost 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Spideraxe30

Those thematic explorations really paid off with mecha kingdom :p

Thanks Spider, these have a been a long time coming with a lot of effort from our teams.

almost 5 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Spideraxe30

Hey Bellissimoh, hope you’re enjoying the holidays. Wanted to say Night and Dawn has been really fun so far as a replacement for Snowdown, Adriaan and Justin have been really delivering on passes and missions after promising to improve, it was a really good combo with Dawnbringer and Nightbringer providing something unique and returning a fan favorite line while Sugar Rush provided some more light hearted content to contrast.

Thanks for the feedback Spideraxe. Glad to hear you’re enjoying the event and it’s content. We’re definitely trying to make sure that event passes are a ton of value for players who plan on playing (even a modest amount of games) during an event.

Also our creative teams are working hard to try make content that really connects with players and excites them to see what’s up next.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year. :)