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VFX Updates for Amumu, Lulu, Tryndamere and Ziggs

RiotSirhaian·5/29/2019, 7:39:05 PM·1 votes·139,666 views

Hello everyone!

Similar to the previous VFX updates we’ve made in the past (Kennen, Olaf, Wukong, etc), we're working on updates to the Visual Effects (VFX) of more champions whose spell effects are in need of some love. Our aim is to get their FX to current League standards and improve gameplay clarity. In Patch 9.12, we'll be releasing VFX updates for Amumu, Lulu, Tryndamere and Ziggs.

Just like the previous ones, and since these are smaller updates geared toward sprucing up some of the oldest members of the roster, they aren't in the same prioritization conversation as to how we decide who gets a VGU (where we take model, gameplay, and thematic into account too!): they do not affect any other timeline, and are more of a side project.

We're looking for feedback on those changes, which should be up on the PBE now. Please try them out there —especially if you're a main— and leave us your feedback!

####Amumu AMUMUAmumu

VFX Update aimed at reinforcing his Shuriman thematic and improving his gameplay clarity. Also tried to get as close as possible to his music video’s style.

https://imgur.com/6jShE38

https://youtu.be/KnNnsP7yY4M

##Kit:

  • BA - New impacts
  • Q - Added a subtle effect to show the width of the missile. The tip of the missile is now brighter, too.
  • W - Subtle clarity change, now displaying a reflection. Better representation of the hitbox. Also has a hit effect, now.
  • E - New AOE, now with sand! Better representation of the hitbox. New and more condensed impact effect.
  • R - Entirely new AOE effect, now with actual Shuriman runes, sand and flair!
  • P - Just cleaned up a bit.

Skin changes:

  • All Skins: Cleaned up to match base.
  • Sad Robot Amumu received new spell effects across the board.

######Lulu LULULulu

VFX Update aimed at making her magic feel a bit more unique and improving her gameplay clarity.

https://imgur.com/UNcGkYj

https://youtu.be/jSSG4qwpJ80

##Kit:

  • BA - New missiles and hit effects.
  • Q - New missiles and cleaned up hit effects.
  • W - Ally - Improved and cleaned up buff effect.
  • W - Enemy - Cleaned up missile, with new hit effect.
  • E - Ally - Improved and cleaned up shield.
  • E - Enemy - Improved Pix teleport and hit effects.
  • R - Entirely new AOE effect. Cleaned up enemy hit effect, and new slow effect. Leaves a subtle trail of fairy dust behind.
  • P - Pix bolts have been cleaned up a bit, while keeping that fairy magic feel.

##Skin changes:

  • All Skins: Cleaned up to match base.
  • Dragon Trainer: Pix now shoots small pink fireballs.

#Tryndamere TRYNDAMERETryndamere

Mostly a clean up to reduce all the noise from his old VFXs, while adding a little bit of Freljord flair.

https://imgur.com/CV5gSpj

https://youtu.be/dwkjtcMBNEQ

##Kit:

  • BA - New hit effects and adjusted weapon trails.
  • Q - More visible heal effect with reduced noise.
  • W - Added a cast effect that shows the range of the ability.
  • E - New effect, showing the actual width of the AOE (yes, his weapon is bigger than the AOE size).
  • R - New activation effect and buff.
  • P - New rage indicator effect.

Skin changes:

  • All Skins: Cleaned up to match base.
  • Demonblade: New fiery spell effects.

##Ziggs ZIGGSZiggs

Complete VFX overhaul, focused on showing the actual size of his AOEs and bringing him up to today’s quality standards.

https://imgur.com/mka8NM7

https://youtu.be/86B2PQFn0PM

##Kit:

  • BA - New missiles and impacts. Sparks!
  • Q - New missile, but especially new explosion, leaving a crater that shows the AOE size. Sparks too!
  • W - New explosion, with crater. Has an upward movement to reinforce the knock-up feel. Now has a hit effect. Adjusted AOE indicators to match the hitbox. Also sparks!
  • E - Added a subtle trail to the missiles. Added a subtle range indicator on the mines. They also leave a small crater on impact. More sparks!
  • R - New cast, indicators, missile, AOE and hit effect. Finally an actual mushroom cloud! And guess what? Yes, sparks!
  • P - Empowered hit is more explodey and the missile has more sparks!
  • ** Emotes** - Changed the various explosions to look closer to the rest of his kit.

##Skin changes:

  • Mad Scientist: Added bubbles and goo here and there. Green explodey stuff!
  • Pool Party: Cleaned up the noise and brought him closer to the rest of the skin line.
  • Snow Day: Cleaned up the noise and added some warmer accents in the missiles and explosions.
  • Arcanist: Added the crater in the ult and updated the indicator to match base.
  • Odyssey: Added the crater in the ult.

Please test those changes on the PBE and let us know if you have any feedback!

[slayer-jinx-catface]

141 Comments

NotSoEvilDead5/29/2019, 7:46:37 PM11 votes

unfortunately, amumu ult looks awful... huge step in the wrong direction

Kadexe5/29/2019, 7:52:50 PM8 votes

Really nice stuff, especially clarity on Tryndamere's ult.

Grindr Princess5/29/2019, 7:53:16 PM7 votes

I only play Lulu and Ziggs from these 4 so I will speak only for those 2, they are really nice, really, great job, I just think Ziggs ult could use something to make it a bit more.. Flashier ? i think? More color or noise, to make it feels like a big explosion ! Other than that everything is really great in my eyes, great job ! :)

Shirvallah5/29/2019, 8:13:36 PM6 votes

As a dedicated Lulu player, I thank you for updating her VFX, Sirhaian. You did a beautiful job, just as I thought you would. I’ve been a fan of your work even before you worked at Riot.

While I’m here, do you guys have any plans to give Janna or Sona any VFX updates? Their skills look a whole lotta boring and not impactful. It’s one of the reasons why I only use their newer skins pretty much exclusively.

Additionally, any plans for Lux? At one point, one could argue that were only so many directions one could go with the light element, but we’ve long since been proven differently with Battle Academia (and Prestige, respectively), Lunar Empress, and Elementalist. I’d like to finally fix her hit box problems, as well.

Galiö5/29/2019, 7:57:07 PM4 votes

Ziggs ult is kinda obnoxious and needs to be toned down, imo

Edit: nevermind my phone screen made it look weird. Good day :)

Love most of the other changes, however.

Neato

F3EDfromDesIr35/29/2019, 9:00:25 PM3 votes

I like the Tryndamere changes but could you also try to make all the animations of Tryndameres skins (including base) match the animations of the Sultan skin? Every Tryndamere player will tell you that the auto/crit animations feel a lot smother on the Sultan skin compared to everything else. Would really appreciated it because thats the only thing that prevents me from using a different skin.

CancerMancer5/29/2019, 7:59:22 PM3 votes

Ziggs fx look amazing

Mad scientist finally looks how I hoped it would when I bought it on his release :o

Arcade Lulu5/29/2019, 8:37:35 PM3 votes

Lulu's new effects look really cool and clean

Now can we please get some visual updates for base lulu, wicked lulu and dragon trainer lulu. And can dragon trainer Lulu get an unique recall, it's a 1350 skin after all

Elleyna5/29/2019, 8:50:26 PM3 votes

I absolutely adore Lulu's new effects. They are purple and full of glitter and overall really pretty to look at. If only her model could look just as awesome [slayer-jinx-wink]

Oh and I love the animation of Amumu's R. Did you guys use his music video as an inspiration? In my opinion it looks just like in his video and I love it

igracek fousac5/29/2019, 9:27:51 PM3 votes

What about Udyr? Is he about to get updated soon or something like that? Champions like Ziggs and Lulu are "getting in front of him" I actually don't know that for sure, Riot can already work on Udyr or have something complete, but still don't know. So what :D?

  • Have a nice day :), sorry i really like dyr :3
Tryndamere Bot5/29/2019, 10:51:35 PM3 votes

Hello there @Sirhaian

I'm here to talk about the trynda vfx;

I generally liked all the stuff you guys made it's all good but the Spin is the big problem here;

  • Why does it need to be such a dark circle in the middle?

As an auto attack champion which only has 125 AA range; We need to be able to see what's around us, And that Dark circle is really not helping May I suggest a bit more transparent filter there cuz it's really dark and hard to see through

The best example could be the Chemtech Tryndamere, The transparency on that animation is enough for me. Also, the New Demonblade spin looks awesome but could be better with some transparent

  • You only showed the base skin and demonblade but What will happen to fan favorite Sultan skin?

Sultan skin has many tiny details, and animations and also has a different Spin VFX So pls make sure to keep those little details pls pls pls.

  • Demonblade still doesn't feel like a Legendary skin :/ feelsbadman :(

At least you get rid of that purple Fury indicator that everyone hated so ty for that but still, it feels like could be better

if I should give an example Nightbringer Yasuo skin has some VFX that is not blocking a lot and still looks fancy. I'm also not saying that demonblade should copy what that skin has but I'm saying that the VFX needs to be a bit more transparent so we can be able to see around ourselves

  • And pls let us keep the Spin+Laugh animation cancel ^^

That would be all from me as a person who got more than 1M mastery on the champion and who got all the skins for it I'm really looking forward to this VFX update Ty Riot and Ty to Sirhaian

LuIu5/30/2019, 12:11:05 AM3 votes

The Lulu VFX is really pretty and well done, but there is something I do kinda dislike about it: it's too purple. With her current VFX, her Q&passive are the only abilities that are mainly purple. Her other abilities such as her shield and ulti have pink, yellow and orange mixed in. Obviously purple should be the main-color as that's Lulu's thing, but I think it's currently just too much. To me it would feel more whimsical if more colors were used, I'm especially missing the yellow/orange parts of her abilities.

The VFX is beautifully done, but the colorscheme is kinda giving me cosmic/darkstar-vibes rather than whimisical fairy ones.Lulu

Byleth5/29/2019, 8:32:55 PM2 votes

I love them all, but I wish Pool Party Ziggs' bombs (W, E and especially R) did something instead of creating craters (maybe replace it with waves of water or splashes), because it looks off and kinda ridiculous

Shadow Entrancer5/30/2019, 7:36:45 PM2 votes

Lulu I don't play Lulu but I love her ult visual effects. So pretty. Might play her.

Amumu However I do play Amumu and his ult made me sad instantly when I saw it. Like others have said it looks a little empty. I understand this could be to reduce visual clutter? The small glyphs around the edges are probably why. They probably aren't large enough considering how team powerful this ultimate is. E.g. bard with his ult, braum with his ult. Difference is I suppose they're designed to be dodged.

I wonder if it would improve with a champion update overall. I like the idea of the runes appearing first before lighting up/bursting and then his ult occurring. Kind of "un wrapping" or "unravelling" around. Like a blooming lone oasis lotus. Poor Amumu :(

But my base suggestions are larger glyphs and maybe should keep the coloured circle beneath, even if it's just a faint magic/sand storm haze. As if they got caught in the desert by a lone wandering Amumu and stuck in sandstorm.

I think Shurima has poor visual effects compared to Targon, Void and the Cursed Isles which is making it difficult. I remember seeing the colour/effect comparison for themes and do not remember Shurima. Perhaps it isn't really living (undying?) up to its high fantasy Egyptian Empire theme. Then again the only Shurimans I can think of at 5am is Nasus, Renekton, Rammus and Azir and they aren't really well known for their pretty ability magic effects.

Deep Terror Nami5/29/2019, 9:30:48 PM2 votes

Uh, can we not have the big circle persisting around Lulu's Wild Growth target? It evokes the idea that something is happening there (like damage or slow or w/e) and it's not doing anything at all.

Flooffy5/29/2019, 9:37:38 PM2 votes

I'm really happy about the Lulu vfx update! <3 Lulu

Rios InfernO5/29/2019, 9:47:51 PM2 votes

Can tryn still laugh during spin? The real question

ModThe Djinn5/29/2019, 10:02:22 PM2 votes

##Amumu

  • Awesome overall.
  • Amumu loses a lot of priority during his Ult and E, possibly making him hard to see during parts of those animations. The ultimate especially makes him look untargetable for a moment.
  • Ult fades visually in the center before the root fades, which could be confusing. I might keep it brighter for longer.
  • Passive is fairly boring compared to his other effects. Can this get a bit more punch?
  • Slight concerned that W doesn't give its range as clearly as it could, and it might be nice to see Tantram have a few more of the burst-style bright effects from his ultimate so they don't come out of the blue there.
  • Would be nice if the ult runes came out a little faster so they were clearer for longer.

##Lulu

  • Absolutely glorious.
  • Only comment is that I'm not sure the shield even needs the leaves any longer, but that's not a dealbreaker in general.

##Tryndamere

  • Love the new hit effect.
  • Green healing lines look weird on a barbarian, but green is consistently healing, so I'll survive.
  • The mocking shout looks great, but makes me realize how much I dislike his weird little blade movement (since the effect doesn't deal damage) and the fact that he does not shout anything.
  • Spin looks incredible.
  • Ult looks...almost too fiery. I miss seeing Tryndamere a bit, and I'm not sure why it has that little burst of frost. I understand he's from Freljord, but it seems a bit arbitrary.
  • Concerned there's too much color going on here. We have green, orange, yellow, white, dark red, and dark browns, along with the blue tinges to W and R's burst. I feel reducing this palette might be helpful in making him feel a bit more visually tight.
  • "Freljord flair" isn't selling well. Tryndamere -- while he is from the Freljord -- it not especially magical, does not possess ice powers, and is basically just a powerful tribal leader. The ice effects, as a result, feel rather forced and nonsensical, unless you turned that into a common theme and used it on, say, slowed targets, as his healing burst color, etc.

##Ziggs

  • Feels much more explosive. Nice job.
  • Ziggs ult is nice and satisfying, but I worry the bomb itself isn't as visible as it could be. I feel like if it's going to have that low a visual priority pre-explosion it should have some last-second indicator on the ground marker itself.
Crossman2005/30/2019, 3:51:18 AM2 votes

When will Lulu Model be updated, tho?

Lexanomical Unit5/29/2019, 9:21:57 PM2 votes

Apologies if someone else has mentioned it - but with the VFX on Lulu can you update the Winter Wonder Lulu Pix? It uses the old poro model (same with WW Ori's recall) and it always makes me a little sad when I know poros look so much better now.

ZIGGOY5/29/2019, 8:46:09 PM1 votes

What about Battle Boss Ziggs? Does it also get changed?

Mastęr Yi5/29/2019, 8:53:57 PM1 votes

All good but Amumu W, you may want to look at this post

https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/buekc8/as_a_longtime_high_elo_singed_main_he_definitely/epc1anj?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=web2x

Considering the gameplay clarity I think it's even worse than the previous one.

Still, well done, good job and thank you!