[2019] We're the Rioters that created Yuumi. Meow us anything!

Originally posted by moosebog

So I’ve seen a lot of different yuumi builds but it feels like she’s more impactful when she’s connected to a strong mid or top rather than adc. My question is, is it supposed to be like that?

Originally posted by jrespeed

What you’ve noticed monitoring her play so far that caused her to have such a low win rate?

Originally posted by Aoaelos

What do you think that is the strategic niche of Yuumi? Why should i pick her over Sona or Janna or any other enchantress if my goal is solely to win?

Originally posted by pedrofracassi

I love the early character models you guys post on the AMAs sometimes (like the gnar riding hecarim kled or thresh with a giant moustache rakan). What did you guys use to represent Yuumi before her model was complete? Can we see? 👀

Originally posted by justintoronto

Right now I see a lot of Yuumis that just permanently attached, leading to them just Q spamming and healing whenever. Was that a playstyle risk/concern during their development?

Originally posted by Marace55

Give me your best cat puns right meow!

Originally posted by march9191

What champs do you think have the best synergy with yuumi?

Originally posted by Momookus

I wanted an anime oppai loli cat girl champion instead I got a literal cat......and I'm not even disappointed. Anyway when you were making Yuumi was it always the idea for her be a literal cat or was there discussion on whether she should be a cat girl or humanoid in some way.

Originally posted by Sanjarobi

Was Yuumi predestined to be just a cat? Any other designs?

Originally posted by Kadexe

Do you think Yuumi works well with melee laners like Yasuo or Irelia?

Originally posted by seikunaras

Why do you think the champ is under performing so much?

Originally posted by DeathSeesAll

Is there a particular reason why she can not auto attack during her W?

I can understand that you don't want her to build like an ADC while attached to a tank, but as we've seen with "turret" Kog'maw, it shouldn't be a problem to reduce her damage while using her W to avoid this.

Originally posted by henry25555

In my opinion yuumi's release was CATastrophic, she's really weak right now even in the hands of professional support players like Zeyzal. What are the plans to bump her up, is the problem primarily on her numbers or on her kit?

Originally posted by Aoaelos

What do you think that is the strategic niche of Yuumi? Why should i pick her over Sona or Janna or any other enchantress if my goal is solely to win?

Originally posted by RayFrost

What is that forest that Yuumi goes to in her video? Is where the new assassin lives?

Originally posted by Precat8

Her Q ability is really unique what were the prototypes?

Originally posted by All_Fiction

Do all cats in Runeterra look like Yuumi or is it specific to Bandle City only?

Also, was Book created by Norra or was it found somewhere?

Originally posted by pedrofracassi

Yuumi plushies when????

Originally posted by lavajci

To follow-up along that line of thinking, are there any ADCs that would work well as a solo-lane right now, so the Yuumi can be more of a roamer?

Originally posted by Dewku

How many of you guys are weebs

Originally posted by MaliciousMetal

Okay I got a few!

Would Yuumi get along with Skarner?

Why does she refer to Morde as a big metal cat, is it because of his awesome new horns or is there another reason. Other than Morde totally being the kind of villain who'd have a cat to stroke with his clawed gauntlet...Which is probably why he kept Veigar around.

And lastly. When are we getting a Nekonomicon skin for Yuumi?

Originally posted by march9191

Do you think yuumi might be able to spawn in a new meta of the support going mid or top?

Originally posted by TheBossVeigar

Was she ever a yordle in development? Or was she always planned to be something other than a yordle?

Originally posted by xXdimmitsarasXx

How do you feel about the community reaction to her entrance in the game?

Originally posted by KawaiiKoshka

Is this related to the decision to give her a lower base attack range (500)? She would lose in a poke war with other ranged supports from her low stats anyway, and if she can't auto attack while attached, it seems like it was made to deter her from auto attacking in general

Originally posted by DudeLikeYeah

What are some of the scrapped abilities from her kit?

Originally posted by Kadexe

What was the most extreme version of Yuumi's W that you tested?

Originally posted by Kadexe

What was the most extreme version of Yuumi's W that you tested?

Originally posted by DotAGenius

More of a comment than a question, but I am worried that a lot of new players will main Yuumi to start and climb, then negatively impact games when they cant play her (bans, nerfs, etc.) because her playstyle is inherently different than the rest of the champion pool (for instance, not having to worry about positioning during laning phase or crutching on other people for map movement in the midgame).

We saw something similar with Mercy in Overwatch, where players who climbed with Mercy couldnt do much once she got nerfed because they had not developed "core skills" important to playing Overwatch.

It's still way too early to tell, but from what Ive seen, Yuumi could be starting a similar issue; so I guess my question is whether that is a concern and, if so, are there plans to make her more relatable to other champions while keeping her unique kit?

Thank you.

Originally posted by AForgottenSnowflake

Were there any other abilities you considered giving Yuumi, that while fitting the character just didn't fit her kit at all? I figured maybe something with portals might have been considered given Book's story.

Also, I love Yuumi a lot. I know she's getting a bit of a bad rep right now, but I do fully believe it is due to the fact that a lot of players suddenly became support mains with the new champion. So because she isn't a killing spree kind of support like Pyke was, people are saying she is weak. As a support main who plays a lot of healing champs like Nami, Soraka, and Taric, I think she is a wonderfully fun champion who can be extremely powerful in the right hands, and the right comp. ♥

Originally posted by Vekkna

To start, I'd like to thank the champ designers for making the first champ in 5 years that I both want to play and am capable of playing. And that I actually want to continue playing!

Question: It's still early, obvs, but I've had solid success using Coin, rushing Deathcap, stacking AP runes (Eyeball, Focus, Storm), and using Q mostly to zone or check bushes. At 1 item you're basically worth a BF and ~50% MS.

Have you seen any success with these sorts of builds, or is Q deliberately intended to be ranked first and W last?

Originally posted by TheBossVeigar

What was the main reason for not considering making her a yordle? Was it because she'd be too similar to Lulu?

Originally posted by Youseph_Seraph

Are enchanter supports going to receive more attention? I mean, the last enchanter was released in 2013 and the enchanters that received some work between that period were just Janna and Zilean mini-gameplay update and Taric VGU (this one is a mix between an enchanter and a warden). As a enchanter support main, I'd like to see more enchanters.

Why is Yuumi made to be a female support? The only 2 male enchanters were released back in the early league days...

Originally posted by SilverEmpress

What was the decision-making like around what her Q would do and be like?

I think the attached version is really cool; being able to direct it like that is pretty neat. But... I really wish it had a small AoE on it, even if the AoE was only on her Q when she's not attached to anyone. I've found if you're in a situation where you have to be by yourself, pushing a wave even slightly can be very hard.

Originally posted by Mechanickel

Was Yuumi too strong with allowing her passive to get reduced by landing autoattacks and/or abilities? It feels like something that should happen when playing with her and it was a bit awkward to realize that it does not happen. I feel like it makes the lane phase not too interactive because you don't want to put yourself in the open as often.

Originally posted by CynicaIity

When designing enchanters what are the different tools or design niches you consider?

Some people like to simplify the role down to just heals, shields, and stat buffs, so internally what are the different things you are willing to try or boundaries you can push in order to make the role more dynamic and differentiate new champs from other enchanters?

Originally posted by Chocolatebeany

At /u/RiotMaxw3ll, is there any reason for yuumi to have extremely low base mr? IMO the untargetability doesn't really warrant that given that she also has one of the the lowest health pools, and if she still needs a buff it could probably be changed to standard ranged champion mr growth.

Originally posted by Scienc3_HS

What where some of the most hilarious bugs/champion models or stories you encountered while making her?

Also how did you choose the name? I like it very much and I think it's very fitting.

Originally posted by Karna47

What was the worst thing to code about her? Im assuming having her jump on a champ could create so really weird interactions like Zed going into his ult.

Originally posted by OpalP

What were Yuumi’s prototype names/appearance/abilities like? Was she always a cat or did the concept start out as something different altogether?

Originally posted by Trickquestionorwhat

Which ability did you guys intend to have her max first, or did you try to make it balanced enough that it depended on the player's playstyle?

Originally posted by Clotzy

Does it not worry Yous the yummi is completly locked to a support role , when every or champion can pull off a secondary role to some degree ,

Originally posted by ADD_ikt

Which champions do you think yuumi work well with?

I recently got smashed by Kled Yuumi. I think it's secret op. Any other secret op duos.

Originally posted by BellyDancerUrgot

Ever gonna get that reverse yuumi skin where the book is riding the cat?

Also are rengar and yuumi friends in the kitty rengar alt verse?

Originally posted by Hextech_Avenger

In early iteration of the character, were there any ideas of granting the person you were attached to a percentage of Yuumi’s MS?

Originally posted by Zezimaz

Hi! thanks for the AMA, did you guys consider her Q being AoE? or maybe proc something similar like lundens echo? thank you

Originally posted by moodRubicund

Did she used to have more portal-related powers with her book while in development? There are other attach-supports in other MOBAs like Abathur from Heroes of the Storm, who have global presence as well. Portal powers would seem to work well with a global presence-skillset yet they seem totally irrelevant to Yuumi, who doesn't use portals to do anything except get back to base.

Originally posted by PClicious

Your champ sucks and this is not banter. It literally has 2 skills (E-R), everything else is useless. D4 here.

Originally posted by RedShirtKing

The mid-patch update to Yuumi so soon after her release may be the largest I've ever seen. What do you think caused that discrepancy between where you thought she stood in power level during PBE testing and what we saw on the ranked ladder? Do you think bumping up her numbers across the board is enough of a fix to get her into a healthy state, or are there other changes you might be considering now that the playerbase at large has gotten a hold of her?

Originally posted by Rammed

Fully utilizing the passive, baiting pressure abusing the fact that the w cooldown goes down while in an ally, not building her like a normal support

Originally posted by Plecsius

any funny glitches/interactions you ran into while testing her?

Originally posted by C3ntra

Those of you that designed her kit, do you think that you succeeded in bringing the original fantasy to the game?

Also, what was the first thought that brought Yuumi into existence? What was the spark of inspiration? Was it along the lines of “let’s put a cat in LoL,” or “What if we had a support that constantly sticks with teammates to help them?@

Originally posted by cinox

do you really think is it good designed heal, i mean the worse your adc trade you are more rewarded ? Played few times against her if you poke her and they are hugging turret you will lose in sustain battle, she heals more than soraka almost. Anyway well designed champion, i do like her kit and unique playstyle. Only problem have with her E(heal)

Originally posted by NotEfe

what are you guys thinking about the way subreddit reacted to yuumi? is she really that bad as the subreddit says or do you guys have another opinion about it

Originally posted by GustingWind

As a support main myself, I find that Yuumi is very reliant on the positioning of your ADC. Was the intent always to be hoping that your ADC would be in the right spot when you needed them? This is especially critical to her ult, which I have definitely screwed up bc my ADC is running away instead of facing the enemy!

Originally posted by Precat8

SHIELDS HEALS CUDDLES

Originally posted by khaot-cerrai

First of all, thanks for making Yuumi, she is everything I like in life made a champion (in my favorite role). Now questions, why is her ult damage so low? Or like in general actually. I remember that even at full build against 1st wave of minions she couldn't even one shot them, is her main role being a healer?

Originally posted by mazrim_lol

cat

Originally posted by George9946546

OwO

Originally posted by TheySeeMeTrollinLoL

If she's on the PBE for a while, why can't you guys predict her winrate being low on live servers if it's low on PBE to start off?

Originally posted by Krana_lol

Why is yuumi’s kit so so similar to sona in many ways. Just the hability of targeting herself to a champ makes her a bit diferent. Do you have strong rules at Riot to try make every new champ as different as possible from others or is it fine to have such a similar champs?

Also isnt yuumi the cat that we have had making faces for the emotes for so long? How much time have you been working on yuumi because the emotes have clear inspiration from her.

Originally posted by dengeniul

who in your team watched the most cat videos while making her?

Originally posted by Auberaun

There was one version where it didn't have a cooldown at any point in the game (kinda like what it is now after level 11). Her laning against melee supports bot was close to unbeatable. There was another version where she was unstoppable while using it so she would just buffer all CC heading towards her team.

Originally posted by pm_me_xayah_porn

What has been your favorite champ to pair with Yuumi?

Originally posted by Clotzy

It does discourage player creativity by licking it to support tho , example being G2 playing pyke top at MSI

Originally posted by DarkMoonDream

Apologies if this has been asked already, but what is your favorite part of her design/kit?

Originally posted by RiotCattlegrid

Not a specific cat or situation but it was definitely inspired by their behavior. /u/Jellbug was my cat expert who I would always ask for approval on any cat-like animations.

Originally posted by RiotJag

This question is for RiotMaxw3ll. Why are you such a memelord?

Originally posted by garzek

Is there any concern, even with the hotfix, that her nature makes her fundamentally invisible in the laning phase? The sheer volume of champions that have a way to completely shut her down -- from engage supports (leona, alistar, blitz, thresh, naut) to stronger defensive enchanters (janna) to mage/enchanters (lulu, karma) to flat out mages (zyra, annie), it's a colossal list of bad match ups for Yuumi and that's predicated largely on her kit, where more than likely the numbers that make her able to have presence in these match-ups make her just flagrantly overpowered in the general case.

It just seems to me that Yuumi is a support with the enchanter equivalent of Kayle's power-curve, and it seems pretty antithetical to the purpose of a support.

Originally posted by Spideraxe30

/u/Reav3 how did you guys come across the gameplay hook for Yuumi

Originally posted by garzek

Right, Yuumi can't do anything about her ADC being engaged on, and all of the engage supports can just tank her poke without losing HP.

Originally posted by Spideraxe30

Could I also ask where the DNA goes after Yuumi

Originally posted by Spideraxe30

Are you able to share who the designer would be on the choose a VGU and the DNA on Dan's champ

Originally posted by [deleted]

[deleted]

Originally posted by ancine

Any chances she may get a mini rework in the future. The style of clinging to your ally all the time seems binary and expresses no skill at all. Her getting rewarded by attaching to allies(reduced cd, enhanced abilities for the first few seconds, anything rly) seems to be much better in terms of counter play to kill her and allowing her to express skill better.

Unless your target demographic was specifically players who don't want to put in effort into a match, then that'd be understandable

Originally posted by Vekkna

an entire Lucian culling

How did she survive to the end of the Culling? 3500 hp full tank Yuumi?

Originally posted by Bwob

She got a pretty substantial buff across the board in the hotfix. Does this mean that you're expecting to have to revert those at some point, once Yuumi players get good enough?

Originally posted by Spideraxe30

And back to Yuumi, long term do you expect her to be broad or niche

Originally posted by IMainStashusAssassin

Does that confirm the assassin is a humanoid at least now that we know Yuumi was the "non humanoid one" that you were talking about? Also, do you guys follow male, female, male, female formula or is there a chance that the assassin is a girl?

Originally posted by NikolayVStavrogin

Hey Ryan, I need you to say ''soon™' for Morde rework so that I can feel like my life is completed. It's a very important step in the process that one should not ignore.

I'll accept "very soon™" also, so feel free to choose.

Originally posted by IMainStashusAssassin

What about the assassin?? Can we get an estimate in soon's too?

Originally posted by Spideraxe30

Could I ask if you found a designer for the polled VGU now

Originally posted by Spideraxe30

Ah sweet that'll be cool, could I also ask if Skekses, Reinboom and WAAAARGHbobo are working on anything since their VGU got iceboxed

Originally posted by IMainStashusAssassin

Hey what can I say, i'm REALLY stoked on this champion. Tbh I never thought we'd get a new ad mid assassin.