Visual and Sound Effects Update: Anivia

RiotRiot Star Weaver·Nov 3, 2018·1 votes·167,518 views

Hello everyone!

Similar to the recent Jarvan, Lee Sin, Veigar, and Vi updates, we're working on VFX and SFX updates to more champions whose spell effects are in need of some love to get to current League standards. In Patch 8.24, we'll be releasing updates for Anivia, Dr. Mundo, Gragas (VFX only; SFX shipped in patch 8.21), and Teemo. Keep an eye on this post and we'll add visual previews as they become ready! Please try them out on the PBE—especially if you're a main—when they're in and leave us your feedback here!

Today's preview covers the visual effects updates to Anivia, The Cryophoenix. Audio will also continue to be polished with mix and clarity in mind. Her idles and emotes will also have a bunch of feathery wing sounds!

VFX VFX update across the board to clean up unnecessary noise and improve gameplay clarity. BA - New missile and hit impact. P - Glow should be more emphasized as to where she is in the rebirth process, as well as a more impactful hatching moment! Q - Should more clearly communicate the hit box, with an emphasis on the "sweet spot" center. W - Updated models for the wall, and a frosty ground! E - Missile is distinct from the basic attacks. "Crit" Impact is now brighter and more defined. R - The ultimate has a Freljordian indicator, with a swirling blizzard!

Anivia's Blackfrost and Carnival skins have had their VFX tweaked as well. To keep with the spirit of the skins, only minor adjustments were needed:

Blackfrost's Q and R were updated to reflect the changes in base, as to not feel like they lost their uniqueness or power as a legendary.
Carnival Anivia's ultimate ring was adjusted to better match the hitbox.

Please use this thread to give feedback on Anivia's VFX. Please leave any questions about other champs to their thread.

89 Comments

MitsukiNov 3, 201846 votes

Hi Anivia one trick here, would it be possible for you to freshen up Anivia's character model? Make her feathers more defined and make her more visibly icey?

L0ve Is BlueNov 3, 20184 votes

Agreed! I feel like she would need a model update way more than a VFX one.

ALEX IS AN INTERNov 3, 20183 votes

Completely agree. I really hope Riot looks into giving her a model update soon.

RiotRiot Star WeaverNov 5, 20184 votes

Hello!

The goal of this update was to focus solely on gameplay clarity improvement. We can update their VFX and SFX in a significantly shorter time than it would take to do a full VGU, which allows us to deliver this kind of update much faster.

Since these are smaller updates geared toward sprucing up some of the oldest members of the roster, they aren't really in the same prioritization conversation as how we decide who gets a VGU (where we take model, gameplay, and thematic into account too!)

ChiimeraNov 6, 20182 votes

What about changing how anivia's model interacts with light? maybe not full transparency because that could cause some problems, but maybe something like K/DA ahri's tail on a smaller scale? or even a slightly lighter coloring to match her new vfx? Anivia item 3070

im sorry womenNov 3, 201818 votes

anivia main here, thank you so much for giving her some love! You did an awesome job on these new VFX and I love them a lot. The only thing bothering me is that her E is three shards in a "box" formation instead of one large one. It looks very clunky in my opinion. I think it would look nicer as either one large shard or a huge shard with little fragments trailing behind it.

Also, can her egg get some love? The new revive animation is really cool, it feels like the egg model itself should be polished to match (but that might fall under character model stuff)

BananaBoat12Nov 3, 20185 votes

[{quoted}](name=ƒire type,realm=NA,application-id=A7LBtoKc,discussion-id=c4vYafPh,comment-id=000a,timestamp=2018-11-03T00:54:31.251+0000)

anivia main here, thank you so much for giving her some love! You did an awesome job on these new VFX and I love them a lot. The only thing bothering me is that her E is three shards in a "box" formation instead of one large one. It looks very clunky in my opinion. I think it would look nicer as either one large shard or a huge shard with little fragments trailing behind it.

Also, can her egg get some love? The new revive animation is really cool, it feels like the egg model itself should be polished to match (but that might fall under character model stuff)

the single icicle Anivia has currently feels much more powerful than the new E with the multiple icicles. Its really my only complaint

RiotRiot Star WeaverNov 5, 20184 votes

It seems the biggest sentiment is around her E staying as a single Icicle, so I'll be looking into keeping it as one today. I like the suggestion about some trailing shards, so I'll see if I can incorporate that!

Unfortunately, as you said, the Egg model does fall under the character modeling category, which isn't what the goal of this update is geared towards! (This was more focused on gameplay clarity, which allows us to do these sort of updates rather than wait for a full VGU).

MoveslikeQuaggerNov 3, 201815 votes

I apologize if some of this sounds too harsh - I'm a long-time Anivia main, since season 3 (before the small rework to ult and e, adding of Q indicator, etc) and change is often quite jarring to me, especially when it seems counterintuitive or unnecessary.

Base Skin: Q - Way too bright. It's pretty, but it just feel like the brightness was turned up to 12 and it hurts my eyes - Also, with a little lower brightness, the shape of the projectile would be much clearer. Also, there's been a visual issue on the Q indicator (on all skins) since... Well, really since that old rework, where it just doesn't line up anywhere near where champions actually visually are. You can actually see this pretty clearly (for the small hitbox at least - this doesn't show any suspiciously-missed stuns) in the sample clip during the Q at 1:03, and the one right after it at 1:06. I'd hope this would be somewhat fixed on the visual update... W - That wall is a lot closer to white than Anivia's signature blue, which is quite jarring against the color scheme we've come to know and love. Again, looks too bright, a bit too artificial/opaque for the color - more like marble than ice, more Demacian than Freljord. If whiter ice is really what you want to go with here, it'd be a bit less jarring if it seemed more translucent, or at least a deeper color. E - The triple-shot is visually inconsistent with its effect. There are not 3 hits happening, just 1, and it looks quite strange for an effectively rectangular projectile like that to be coming out of the smooth activation animation. If you must keep the triple-shot visual for clarity, please at least group them closer together so it looks more streamlined/less blocky. Regardless, I don't think the old animation was anywhere near as misleading as this one. R - It's very pretty. It's a little bit visually distracting. Personally I'd prefer it toned down juuust a tad, but this one's really pretty close to okay, again assuming you really want a more white color scheme.

Blackfrost: Q - Fine R - There's a bit of black wind that goes just over the top of the circle, which is intended to show the back-side of the 3D object that is the blizzard, but it also unintentionally extends the range of what looks like the top end of the circle around the ability's range, if you're not looking closely. This seems bad for visual clarity, especially in teamfights. Frost - Is there any plan to change the color on her frost effects to something darker on this skin? The new frost effect's bright aesthetic, especially compared to the new Blackfrost's accentuated dark/purplish colors, ~~clashes pretty badly.~~(on twitter update: not quite as bad, since the skin has a bit more of that color in its animations to match - or maybe it just looks better on this spot in the map, I don't know for sure)

dotdog20Nov 3, 20182 votes

Base Skin: Q - Way too bright. It's pretty, but it just feel like the brightness was turned up to 12 and it hurts my eyes - Also, with a little lower brightness, the shape of the projectile would be much clearer. W - That wall is a lot closer to white than Anivia's signature blue, which is quite jarring against the color scheme we've come to know and love. Again, looks too bright, a bit too artificial/opaque for the color - more like marble than ice, more Demacian than Freljord. If whiter ice is really what you want to go with here, it'd be a bit less jarring if it seemed more translucent, or at least a deeper color. R - It's very pretty. It's a little bit visually distracting. Personally I'd prefer it toned down juuust a tad, but this one's really pretty close to okay, again assuming you really want a more white color scheme.

I agree with all these points, the wall is a bit more towards white than blue, and the storm effect spins way faster compared to the live skins imo.

RiotRiot Star WeaverNov 5, 20184 votes

Hello!! Thank you so much for the feedback! VFX artist here. I actually appreciate that It's quite a bit of a rundown, so I'll give my thought process on everything to match :)

So the reason I made everything a little bit brighter is for visual hierarchy in our game. The brighter something is, the more attention is drawn to it. Her Q was getting lost in teamfights sometimes, and bringing up the brightness makes it more noticeable on all fronts. Ice is normally on the whiter side of things, and when I brought some deeper blues in with a lot of her VFX (I'm mostly looking at her ult here in this example), it was giving me overlap with other champion's VFX. There were a lot of concerns early in playtest that the R felt like a Ryze ult when I pushed deeper blues in it. Still, with that being said, I can tone down the glow on her Q by like... 10-20%, and that could help a tad?

Also, for the hitbox on her Q, I didn't want to change what players were already used to on that ability. Funny enough, I actually was trying to test out the hit box on it to see if I could stun an Annie with the wonkiest of angles and just the BARREEEE edge of it, and the hitbox is actually pretty accurate! The timeboxes you pointed out in the sample clip do actually do what they are intended to do (The first one, Annie is not in the ring, the second one, she is).

The W was also pushed closer to white in order to bring up attention and clarity around it (See point above). I'll probably go in and bring in about 30% more blue into it, but the main reasoning I made it whiter is to actually stand out a bit when you use it in conjunction with the R. It actually creates an effect that pushes each other out.

As for the E, I'll be changing that into a single icicle today with trailing shards rather (As decided by popular vote!).

I'll see if I can tone down the R ever so slightly, but I have it that crazy because I was actually getting feedback that it was being lost a little in teamfights somehow (like, WUT). I also wanted to bring in a more aggressive blizzard feeling rather than a soft snowy feeling. But yeah, as I stated above, the deeper blues pushed it to looking more like a Ryze ult and I was getting overlap of that from playtest feedback.

To be honest, I'm really excited to see these changes go out to PBE, and I'd actually really like to see what your feels are after playing the new changes. The choices I made on her VFX are a little on the subtler side and I personally believe that it improves how she feels to play.

I'll look into the dark wind on the R with blackfrost to see if I can make it match the hitbox a bit more accurately as you're describing. As for the frost, if you're talking about the slow effect that plays on Annie, that's actually the global slow effect and it's something that I unfortunately don't have the ability to change for gameplay reasons.

BUT YEAH. Thanks again for the feedback! It really does help to understand what other Anivia mains are feeling!

MoveslikeQuaggerNov 6, 20182 votes

Oh, wow, I really appreciate the direct response/thought process! I posted another comment already about my thoughts on the more recent update, but that was before noticing this comment.

On brightness - I reeally like the newer version of the Q, a lot. I do hope that's visibly clear enough, because it feels like just the right amount of brightness. Same goes for the wall - feels more icy/anivia-ey, while still popping. (There may be an acceptable case to bring a tiny bit of the blue back out, but not a ton imo)

On the Ryze Ult comparison - Now that you mention it, yeah, that makes a lot of sense, especially given the new runic flair. Perhaps it could help to have more solid-looking icy particles tossed in there, or for a more work-intensive overhaul, replace some swirling movement for a more boiling-spaghetti-patterned effect? For now, though you said you didn't want it to feel "soft/snowy," it really does look a bit like a swirling snowglobe (which detracts from the "dangerous ice storm" image), and I don't think the speed of it is the main issue. (Again, this version isn't so bad. Part of the visibility issue may be the light-colored ring? Though, the live version gets lost in teamfights a surprising amount as well, to which I attribute half of Anivia's currently positive winrate, the other half being the Akali matchup)

On the Q indicator - With those timestamps, I was more talking about the timing with which annie was hit with the first part of the ability than the actual circle around it. You'll notice she appears to be almost at the edge by the time she's hit by the first half - having the circle there as a reference only brings attention to this. I realize this is due to Z-axis/skillshot interactions, it's just reeeally obvious how wonky it can be with such a slow and calculated projectile.

On the E - Thank you. I know the triple-shards was your baby, but it didn't feel as powerful to throw out as the single leading one does.

Regardless of all this, your work is beautiful, please help us convince the modeling department to fix Anivia up to her new spells' standards [slayer-jinx-catface]

RiotRiot Star WeaverNov 6, 20183 votes

Honestly i'm really glad I get to hear what everyone thinks! So thank you x 100000 again for the feedback!!

OH! That's what you meant about the Q. YEEAHHH... I totally wish I could change how that behavior is, but it is a Z-axis issue as you said. If I change that, it changes the whole feel of the ability, which traditionally, changes how people feel about playing a champion in a negative way. (I'm talking about the subtlety how it FEELS to play a champion vs. the visuals of how something looks and feels). Ahhh still probably not explaining that properly, sorry!

HMMM. I'll see what I can do to add a little more defined shapes in the ult (I think that's what you're getting at here :), but It's also now nearing the point where noise becomes a huge play and that's the balancing act. I can't promise much will change, but I'll try my best! <3

MoveslikeQuaggerNov 6, 20181 votes

Hey, I saw the tweet of the updated version of this - the new base skin W and Q, and blackfrost E, are beautiful! Base skin E still seems a bit clunky, but it's much better than the triple-shard imo (honestly, compared to the rest of her kit, the E was pretty close to perfect before this update; it'd be hard to beat outright).

Some other people mentioned the "powderiness" of the new R, and how odd it is that the runes stay in place, but it's still better than the iteration here.

I particularly love the more blueish wall from the tweet! Thank you for that!

Remaining issues after the tweet: Misleading Q indicator (not necessarily this domain, though) Base skin E still feels slightly more chunky than fits Anivia R is just a bit awkward with the powderiness, and the hasty-feeling washing-machine spin cycle in contrast with the still runes Anivia's base model is still atrocious, and even more obviously so with these beautiful spells

CrazyBigfoot28Nov 3, 201810 votes

that w looks so good

dotdog20Nov 3, 20188 votes

Default skin E looks like a three-pronged thing while bf and fest look like the live version. Is the three-prong going on all the skins, or just the base level, or base, noxus, eagle, etc?

RiotRiot Star WeaverNov 3, 20185 votes

The multiple icicles should be on base's kit, which is tied to noxus, eagle, etc!

UnpronoucablNov 3, 20182 votes

I feel like the 3 pronged missile makes E look like multiple large projectiles, tbh.

Personally, I'd switch the BA & E icicles, since you'll actually be AA more often than E. (Like make the auto 3 TINY shards or something)

Just A PlushieNov 3, 20187 votes

Anivia main here, wall looks really good. I think E should stay as a single icicle though. Not sure of what I think of the ults yet. Are the changes live on PBE already?

RiotSirhaianNov 3, 20185 votes

Heyo! Changes are not live on PBE yet. They're planned for 8.24. We would like some early feedback in here first before going on PBE~!

WendígoNov 3, 20186 votes

No sound on Blackfrost R?

RiotRiot ZimberflyNov 3, 201812 votes

{quoted}

No sound on Blackfrost R?

Not to worry, that sound will be back before PBE. :)

LamboyantNov 3, 20185 votes

I really like the update on the base skin! Although the e seems kind of weird given how it has multiple icicles, I like the clearer visuals on each of Anivia's abilities.

ModThe DjinnNov 3, 20185 votes

Love these.

A few small suggestions:

The pass-through hit on Q should be amplified a bit more, given how much power is gated behind detonating the effect AFTER you get the pass-through hit on the primary target.
The "bonus damage" duration on E seems like it could benefit from a sharper visual (the blue at the feet seems easy to miss -- it took me two watches just to see it, especially with her other blue particle effects), and I'd love to see a special impact and sound for an empowered E to help with clarity on WHY you suddenly took more damage.
I'm not quite feeling the triple icicle -- it's a nice effect and excellently done but, for some reason, nuking a target with a single big ice spike just seems like it feels better to me.
Is it worth considering her runic effects on the ultimate and working those in a few other places? The indicator around the Q or the ice of the W seem like possibilities, and it would help tie that thematic in a bit more.

Otherwise no complaints -- gorgeous work as per usual!

RiotRiot Star WeaverNov 5, 20181 votes

Thanks for the suggestions! Glad you like it!

I initially had a brighter/more noticeable hit impact for her pass-through effect, but when you used the ability over multiple minions/champions, it was taking up too much attention/noise. It was amped up a little bit, but should be at a good balance now. (It didn't have a hit impact before!)
I amped the hit effect on the E crit to be different from when they aren't frosted. It's subtler, but it's there now (Before there really wasn't).
The triple Icicle will change to a single one :)
I also initially tried the Freljordian runes on other parts of her kit, but it overall just made more noise than intended. Soooo RIP.

ModThe DjinnNov 5, 20181 votes

[{quoted}](name=Riot Star Weaver,realm=NA,application-id=A7LBtoKc,discussion-id=c4vYafPh,comment-id=00110000,timestamp=2018-11-05T21:53:37.462+0000)> - I initially had a brighter/more noticeable hit impact for her pass-through effect, but when you used the ability over multiple minions/champions, it was taking up too much attention/noise. It was amped up a little bit, but should be at a good balance now. [It didn't have a hit impact before!]

I amped the hit effect on the E crit to be different from when they aren't frosted. It's subtler, but it's there now [Before there really wasn't].

Awesome! That assuages my concerns there -- even a minor boost from what we had seen would be nice, and the improvements over NO indicators are incredible.

I also initially tried the Freljordian runes on other parts of her kit, but it overall just made more noise than intended. Soooo RIP.

May I ask why they stuck around for the ult then? It just makes that ability feel a bit disconnected from her thematic (although the effects are delightful) because the rest of her is decidedly just "ice bird" save for that one "Freljordian rune magic" effect that ends up sticking out oddly as a result, especially with it's already darker color.

RiotRiot Star WeaverNov 6, 20183 votes

I wanted to make the ult feel a little more Freljordian because that was the best place to add the flair and show her origins. (I'm a lore nerd x___X). It's a delicate balance we have to play with as VFX artist/ gatekeepers of gameplay when we want to add something cool.

ModThe DjinnNov 6, 20181 votes

[{quoted}](name=Riot Star Weaver,realm=NA,application-id=A7LBtoKc,discussion-id=c4vYafPh,comment-id=0011000000000000,timestamp=2018-11-06T03:00:19.751+0000)I wanted to make the ult feel a little more Freljordian because that was the best place to add the flair and show her origins. (I'm a lore nerd x___X). It's a delicate balance we have to play with as VFX artist/ gatekeepers of gameplay when we want to add something cool.

Makes sense! I appreciate the answers! If you have time I'd still encourage seeing if a few faint runes just inside the outer rim of the Q AoE are too visually complicated or if they help tie it the theme together, but that's just out of a desire to see that theme pushed a little harder for her.

Thanks again for taking the time to respond to so many thoughts!

XxDRAGONsAK47xXNov 3, 20184 votes

I feel like the E for Anivia's Blackfrost and Carnival should look like the new classic one as well

EROTIC RAID BOSSNov 3, 20184 votes

The wall and E look super nice! I don't have any critical feedback just wanted to say good job on those

ARE YOU PC BRONov 3, 20184 votes

Hextech one could use some extra love...

what you deserveNov 3, 20183 votes

I think that empowered E (hitting someone affected by q or r) could benefit from a secondary visual effect. I'm not sure what specifically, but something to give clarity as to how half of my health bar just got removed from a single attack

MopoiiNov 4, 20183 votes

Very nice, but the model really needs an update. Like for Gragas, that's what really would've been more urgent in my opinion

TomiMan7Nov 3, 20182 votes

Is it just me but the E looks like(sometimes) just a regular AA?

DJ Y4ssinNov 3, 20182 votes

Ily. sincerely, best anivia na

CritDogeNov 3, 20182 votes

Hi Sirhaian!

Everything looks pretty good to me, except for the explosion of Q and the hit particle of E, where they look really...cartoony, for lack of a better word. It just looks like a bunch of unshaded cyan polygons flying off into the ether, and seems really out of place with League's softer, more polished aesthetic.

Rathar DashingNov 3, 20182 votes

I'm really hoping that Blackfrost gets a bit more love, from what I've seen so far it's much too close to the base skin for a legendary.

MetaKaizerNov 3, 20182 votes

I think making the E be a single missile when non crit and 3 when crit would look better but that might require some coding that maybe its none of you buisness. Either way, amazing work you are doing with all these champs.

warpenguin555Nov 3, 20182 votes

The video disappeared :(

HEEBEEJEEBLERNov 3, 20182 votes

Anivia Main here: Especially loving the new walls. Any word on if Blackfrost is going to get a new recall? Thats the only part of her that doesnt feel legendary.

SatakieliNov 3, 20182 votes

Anivia OTP here, I absolutely love the new AAs and the R outer circle symbols, however, there are 2 things that bother me a little:

1: The wall. It doesn't look like ice, and while I like the frosted ground idea, I think it could've been represented better. Right now it looks like a messy white mixed with the map's ground. Feels like an exaggerated smudge+blur in Photoshop, IMO. But I might just be a personal complaint. 2: I like how the R's outer circle expands and fades in from a blurry blue, and then becomes a clear contour with runes and cool symbols and whatever you see there, but I think the transition is too sudden. Like 'hey that R is gloriously expanding' and then 'OH WAIT IT'S FULL already? Did I miss a frame?'. It feels like a lag :(

But again, I might be biased. Great work overall, I'll have to say this again: I simply love the AA missiles. Tiny, sharp icy things which don't look like a winter's goddess wrath at first, but that will quickly eat away all of your HP during the laning phase. RIP.

Pirate PugNov 3, 20182 votes

Just need an updated Model and Lines (like Ezreal) and she's perfect!

KarunamonNov 4, 20182 votes

I love this - my favorite birdy enters the modern era :D

Two minor, minor nitpicks:

One is the ice wall animation. Currently, it's a smooth melt out and really looks like how you'd expect rapidly melting ice to look. The new version kinda sits there for a bit, and then quickly jumps under the ground as the timeout ends - it's a bit jarring, and II wish the smooth fade was still there.

Also more of a question - why does base Ani not have any falling ice on her ult now, but Blackfrost and Festival Queen do? As I understand it, this is a visual indication that the ult is at max size and is doing extra damage. That feedback is now gone.

Healing SeraphimNov 4, 20182 votes

The murder bird is finally getting some love. Yey.

My only complaint is the E animation which would look better as a single projectile.

This doesn't really her main issue tho. The model is oudated, including the flight animation. Can you make her a bit more feathery and birdy in that regard? A flying animation similar to Phoenix from Dota would certainly look very nice.

EvhelNov 4, 20182 votes

The wall is amazing! The R feels a little empty to me... Maybe some more snowflakes? Also Blackfrost should get some more love, it's her legendary and Festival is a lot better...

Kristian818Nov 5, 20182 votes

Except for the already mentioned problems with E (about using 3 small shards) and very bright (almost white) colors one thing that could fit very well is if the runes around her ult would slowly spin the opposite way around when the storm is fully charged. This would give more life to the ability since it feels clumsy to have stationary runes with all that movement and magic inside the storm.

And î oopNov 10, 20182 votes

Are some of the anivia skins and maybe her base model also gonna get an update in near future? Her model is a bit old and clunky and her older skins look... just bad and some of them like team spirit anivia are rly rare so its kinda shame that a really rare skin looks worse then her basic model

Lord RaphelNov 12, 20181 votes

Hi, guys, I want to say my thoughts and opinions about this video.

First of all, have to say that I love Anivia, and she deserves more affection from Riot, she has incredible potential for a new story that connects the other champions and that does justice to her powers, and his years of life.

On the wings: In the original skin they are not fluid, they are hard and strange, the wings flapping of her is still strange. In skin Carnival and BlackFrost the wings are ok! Another thing in the original skin: the wings beat too slowly, as it is slow the flapping of wings becomes even stranger to those who play with her. Quinn's Valor flies a lot more beautiful for example than the Anivia! She looks more like a bluebird flying strange than a bird ice goddess. The self-attack is ok for me but I miss ice in general

(Q) is ok but I miss cold, maybe fractals of ice; The ice wall

(W) got super interesting but it's missing a bit of snow and cold in my opinion. I hope that with this rework projectile attacks are blocked by the "ice wall" as they are blocked by the "Yasuo wind wall" because it makes no sense the wind blocking projectiles and an ice wall does not...

The (E) is amazing with three pieces of ice, although I think they should be spaced out just like the Q of Twisted Fate;

The (R) looks beautiful but I see more wind than cold and ice, I think it is fitting to make icy adjustments in general for her.

And speaking of your passive (P) I miss cold on your sides, it's an icy egg and with that, she needs a cold wind circulating the egg!

As a cold champion, she has to bring this to the battlefield.

I am the snow, wind, and ice. Anivia

[slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

MoveslikeQuaggerNov 17, 20181 votes

Haha, coming in again late just to check in...

Is there any chance we could see all of this from the enemy's PoV? In particular, I'm interested to see what the blizzard's ring indicator looks like from the other side.

The Demon ChildDec 3, 20181 votes

It feels like Blackfrost is like the classic skin now, but in different Colors, when we think about, that it's supposed to be a legendary skin. Maybe adding something really special to this skin's spells, that it differs to the classic skins.