What about midlane?
Could he fit a niche as a counterpick in mid to burst champs who would blow their cooldowns into his “defensive stance” before he ults and pummels them back?
I would love it if that were the case. He’s probably susceptible to getting poked out because he doesn’t have great ways of getting in without heavy telegraphing.
u/riot_llama would know more I think
Did you research any other West African countries for inspiration?? Or did the idea of basing K'Sante on Ghana come early in the development?
The team wanted to create a West African-inspired champ from early on, and Ghana was chosen very early. West Africa isn't a monolith of culture, but there's some overlap between some of the countries--especially considering much of the modern borders in Africa were drawn by white European nations and ignored a lot of the differences between different groups of peoples.
They did look at the region overall, and highlighted a lot of the regional traditions, but tried to stick closely to Ghanaian inspirations.
His mana is alright. You definitely can’t waste your W, but unless you spam q AND e you probably aren’t running out.
His laning is strong. Not top class early game champ but can definitely fight you and trade effectively. With his ult, he can definitely turn around a 1v2 if the enemy doesn’t respect the angles of the knockback
unless you spam q AND e you probably aren’t running out.
😰
what is the asian group called? how many groups are there?
There is FAR, the Filipinos at Riot RIG, who recently put on a Night Market in partnership with Riot Unidos, the Latino Rioter RIG. API is for Asian & Pacific Islander Rioters. There's one for underrepped genders and gender identities, and also one for veterans. I think there could be more, but I'll admit I'm not super active with RIGs.
Another question! How is K'Sante's mana in lane? He's got the same Q mechanic that the windshitters have, but they can spam theirs as much as they want being manaless and all. I see it's only ten mana in the video you guys included but that does add up when you're playing such a scrappy champion.
In fact, how is his laning phase in general? Does he get kicked around when his ultimate isn't up? How is his all-in? Can he 1v2 a gank if he gets ahead?
His mana is alright. You definitely can’t waste your W, but unless you spam q AND e you probably aren’t running out.
His laning is strong. Not top class early game champ but can definitely fight you and trade effectively. With his ult, he can definitely turn around a 1v2 if the enemy doesn’t respect the angles of the knockback
Yeah at 6'7" he would probably be closer to 320 with next to no bodyfat
Maybe gravity works different in Runeterra ;D
I appreciate Riot having RIGs for their minorities, but did you really need to name them Riot Noir and Rainbow Rioters?
The RIGs (ERGs) name themselves!
Follow up question: how’s his jungle clear looking? Are we talking “viable jungler”, “you can make him work if you want”, or “balance team is under instructions to break his kneecaps if he looks at smite funny”?
This is actually a tough question, because his kit was locked way before the new jungle was designed. We ran some tests, but it was with the current items and things. I’m sure we ran more tests since but I’m not the person who would’ve done it.
That point about how all the other black characters in League are defined by their struggle is one that I've never considered. Yes, character problems drive growth and create interesting story opportunities, but that doesn't mean that's all they have to have (nor does it make the ones that do bad characters by any stretch of the imagination).
I'm an African-American kid who's grown up around stories where very rarely do people who look and talk like me get to be the protagonist or hero just because, especially in fantasy and fantasy adjacent settings. K'Sante is a well crafted and interesting character beyond the color of his skin of course, but when you add that in the first feeling I get is "See! People like you are welcome here! You've got every right to exist in this place." It may seem trite or unnecessary to some but I can't tell you how much I wish I had this type of character to identify with growing up.
Representation matters.
I’m very glad to hear this resonated with you. I know it won’t hit for everybody, but that’s why we need different takes on different types of characters, and I’ve been acutely feeling the lack of this one for a long time as well. I also wish I had more like this in the games I played growing up—kids deserve better.
Question for the gameplay designer if they are here, how much of a consideration was to make K'Sante a viable support? Clearly it looks like he's focused on being a Top Laner, but having a new tank to try is really cool as a support main.
Not to mention whenever Tope inevitably releases as his own champ we get the Tope + K'Sante botlane.
It was in the back of our minds. His power curve requires him to be somewhat gold reliant to succeed, so his support isn’t likely to be his main role. It is possible that in certain matchups he’d be a reasonable support pick, but his kit is working against him there.
That point about how all the other black characters in League are defined by their struggle is one that I've never considered. Yes, character problems drive growth and create interesting story opportunities, but that doesn't mean that's all they have to have (nor does it make the ones that do bad characters by any stretch of the imagination).
I'm an African-American kid who's grown up around stories where very rarely do people who look and talk like me get to be the protagonist or hero just because, especially in fantasy and fantasy adjacent settings. K'Sante is a well crafted and interesting character beyond the color of his skin of course, but when you add that in the first feeling I get is "See! People like you are welcome here! You've got every right to exist in this place." It may seem trite or unnecessary to some but I can't tell you how much I wish I had this type of character to identify with growing up.
Representation matters.
I'm sorry that entertainment media has failed you and other BIPOC folks so holistically in the past (and will probably do so in the future). K'Sante isn't, and can't be, the solution to all the missed opportunities for diverse and inclusive storytelling. But I hope this is a step in the right direction.
These stories matter. Diverse stories matter. I'm glad you've found representation in K'Sante, and I know the team will be as well. They put so much care and thought into him, and it's such an honor to be able to help show that.
Kinda lame they don't show they alternative champion concepts like they used to, seeing the different "could have been" versions of champions like sett was cool
We didn't include it here but the exploration for K'Sante was mainly focused on his weapons, hair, and costuming. They knew they were going to make a Black, West African-inspired man from the start. So there wasn't the standard three direction spread we've shared in the past.
I've been trying to find an answer but can't. I'm going to Atlanta and was wondering about the drops. Clearly if we go to the event we can't be streaming for the drops. How can we get chromas if we are physically there and it drops online? Are those that paid to be there SoL? Which seems so shitty if that's the case since we paid to be at the event.
Hey Throdien, if you're going to be in Atlanta and have a ticket, reach out to player support and they can grant it to you since you, well, were there. :)
When we dropped the article, it mentioned that we were going to distribute codes. As it turns out, that didn't feel awesome so we worked together with a ton of Rioters internally and made it so that we could get these chromas to you regardless of if you own the skin or the champion.
The codes were a great idea, so players could gift their main friends (Akshan, Zyra, and Swain), just like the LPP codes, it doesn't make much sense to have one chroma without having the skin or not even playing with the champion.
The amount of players that will never touch these chromas is a waste...
I, for example, love the 3 (Akshan, Zyra, and Swain), but I hate green/red chromas/skins, and because of that I had already promised Zyra's chroma. This sudden change of plans is very frustrating.
☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️
Heya Raphel, thanks for the feedback! I agree, we really wanted the codes to work but there were issues that we couldn't get corrected in time, and the results would have meant you would think you got the chroma when you didn't. Worlds is something we can't postpone for issues like this, so we pivoted quickly to get the chroma out to you all. We're going to revisit that when Worlds is over to make the Experience better next time, especially now that we know there was an issue.
Read moreI have to say that this has been an extremely confusing promotion. My gf is desperate to get the Zyra chroma and we've been really consistently trying to research how to get them and jump through all the hoops. We've had to speculate a lot. After watching for weeks we had concluded
- It looks like no one online has gotten one, so they must not be released yet. It was unclear on when/how it would be released.
- I was wondering if I should stop opening worlds capsules? Since they all degenerate into esports capsules. I wasn't sure if they came in the worlds capsules and maybe opening them before the skins were unlocked was actually destroying my chances.
- BTW what a terrible experience having all the World's capsules degenerate. Don't TELL me it's lamer and force me to click more for the lame reward, just give me the lame reward.
- We were happy that it was some kind of code because that meant if I got the drop I could give it to her.
- Then i...
heya crashmore! so, there are basically a few kinds of drops, you can get all kinds of things. Capsules, codes, loot codes, and chromas. The exclusive Tiffany & Co chromas are currently dropping as individual chromas, and we're spacing them out over the remainder of the tournament. Akshan was dropped right at the start of the last game of group stage, and we're looking to drop Zyra's chroma at around the same time in quarterfinals. Make sure you and your gf are logged in and opted in to the drops on lolesports.com and all your ad blockers are disabled! If you are watching, you'll get Crystal Rose Zyra (Tiffany & Co) chroma when it drops! It'll show up directly in your inventory on the Chromas tab regardless of owning the champ or skin.
The code issue is something we're working on updating. We ran into a bug, to be frank, that would have made those codes break for everyone, and decided that was worse than auto-fulfilling it. We're sorry it was confusing but we realize gettin...
Read moreThat's not super clear. Is there one drop for Ashkan that only some people got? So if you weren't tuned in, or were and weren't lucky, you'll never get it. Or will there be more Ashkan chroma drops during Worlds?
We created three chromas, one for Akshan, Zyra, and Swain. :) We dropped Akshan on the 16th, and will be dropping Zyra and Swain, in that order, during quarterfinals and semifinals. The drop also goes to everyone who is viewing when the drop happens, as long as you are logged in, opted in, and have all your ad blockers disabled per the support articles.
so im from europe and i have been watching worlds until 1 hour before it ended and the akshan dropped
i literally only wanted his chroma...
for me on a monday morning middle of the night i cant keep watching
will it drop again because jesus christ
i have to work and cant stay awake until 3 in the morning
Irarius, I hear you! If you contact player support and let them know what happened, they might be able to help you out.
Hi thanks for the informations, I got the Akshan chroma yesterday! I have a small issue with the drops system:
The people going to viewing parties and going to the show can't get the drops even though some of it is exclusive content
Heya k-tsura! That is a great callout, and we're working on something to make that easier in the future! We want you all to get reward and watch the way you want to.
Ok so TL;DR winrate IS a criteria?
We might have different definitions. When you say "winrate" what I think about is a player's winrate for the duration of the season. For example, trying to match someone with a 30% winrate against someone on the other team who has a 30% winrate, which is not something we do.
Winrate will inform how you got to your MMR, but for the purposes of making matches we don't look at how you got there.
There are a few more planned since Crystal Rose Akshan dropped on October 16th, so join us on lolesports.com to get the rest throughout Knockouts and Finals!
Could you clarify if this means there will be a guaranteed drop for the chromas during knock outs, if so are you allowed to share when, because I like a lot of people want to watch every match and get the rewards, but that isn't always feasible (in my case I get to watch in person 1 day) so it'd be nice to know when we can expect it so I can carve out time for it, especially for folks in non-NA friendly viewing times
Hey Spideraxe! Yeah, we try to target the last non-tiebreaker game of the stage for these, but you'll see more happening as we get into Knockouts. :)
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