Visual and Sound Effect Updates: Gragas

RiotRiot Beardilocks·Nov 1, 2018·1 votes·159,462 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 and improve gameplay clarity. In Patch 8.24, we'll be releasing VFX and SFX updates for Anivia, Dr. Mundo and Renekton, and VFX-only updates for Gragas (he already received some SFX love) and Teemo. 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 Gragas, the Rabble Rouser. Gragas' sound effects updates were shipped in patch 8.21.

VFX VFX update across the board to clean up unnecessary noise and improve gameplay clarity. BA - New hit impacts for more satisfaction Q - Improved ring indicator and liquid visuals show Aoe more clearly W - Enhanced character effects to communicate that Gragas has a damage reduction, bubbles are less noisy E - A shockwave shows the AoE clearly, and has distinct impact FX R - Improved liquid visuals that more closely match the AoE and feel more impactful

All of Gragas' skins except for Arctic Ops Gragas have had their VFX updated. Oktoberfest and Vandal gragas have updated beer VFX.

https://youtu.be/L2GvFjW2JbE

https://youtu.be/0FiOkq-2i-I

Please use this thread to give feedback on Gragas' VFX. Please leave any questions about other champs to their thread when we post it in the near future.

60 Comments

AewyinNov 1, 201850 votes

The Q and Ultimate need more wood sounds like the boards breaking and make the ultimate have altered colors maybe a little bit orange in the middle to symbolize a stronger ability.

The W sounds and looks pretty good and make him glow not as bright but otherwise I feel it is a good change

The E needs to sounds more impactful it is a very large fat man slamming into someone, the updated sounds sound like he is giving them a pat on the shoulder. The blue seems weird to me cause all of his other effects are purple. maybe changing the color would make it fit more.

It is a good step in the right direction keep up the good work

RiotRiot BeardilocksNov 2, 20186 votes

Hi,

Thanks for your feedback, Gragas' VFX artist here.

I will pass on your audio feedback to the sound guys.

For the W I will probably tone down the brightness.

With regards to the E colours, originally I had made the shockwave and impact FX orange, as this felt like the natural colour for a physical ability that roughly matches Gragas' skin and hair colours. However, looking at the tooltip this ability does magic damage! We use orange generally for physical hits in the game (just like his Auto attacks) and this ability looks like a physical attack, so I changed it to blue which is the usual colour for magic damage abilties. I might try some purple in there, but his W already uses purple for all of its FX, and I wanted to make sure that players could clearly distinguish which ability they'd been hit by.

ModThe DjinnNov 2, 20183 votes

[{quoted}](name=Riot Beardilocks,realm=NA,application-id=A7LBtoKc,discussion-id=pjKXqRsl,comment-id=00030000,timestamp=2018-11-02T18:18:13.657+0000)I might try some purple in there, but his W already uses purple for all of its FX, and I wanted to make sure that players could clearly distinguish which ability they'd been hit by.

I think you could probably make this pretty apparent with a few more particles on the back end of the effect so the path is more visible, maybe? Might be too visually messy though.

ModThe DjinnNov 1, 201827 votes

Nice and straightforward improvements. I do think the light tan W color on Ocktoberfest Gragas makes the damage reduction a little less visible though (or maybe the pink is too visible), and I'm slightly concerned that the explosions on the Q and the ultimate are close enough that they might be mistaken in a frantic teamfight. I'd love to see those differentiated a bit more in explosion pattern to help track the effects better.

RowGoNov 1, 20183 votes

Yea the yellow on the green of SR really makes the VFX of Ocktoberfest fade into the background. I'd really like to see his beer become more of an Amber Ale - Brown Ale, instead of a Blonde Ale color.

My reasoning behind this is that those colors of beer are more traditionally paired with food that (I would imagine) people have at October fest. Plus the red would emphasize his beard more, would pop out of the green background, and would make his VFX more consistent with his classic skin making him more identifiable to people who aren't used to playing against Ocktoberfest.

EDIT: it wasn't obvious I was talking about Ocktoberfest gragas at the beginning

RiotRiot BeardilocksNov 2, 20185 votes

Hey,

Thanks for your feedback. Differentiating the ult and Q is the thing I've been struggling the hardest with on these VFX updates, since they're both just liquid exploding out of a barrel :/ I think it's safe to say if we made gragas nowadays, we would not have two of his abilties basically being the same thing but having different effects. I added a bright glow around the barrel on the ult so that people could hopefully see when he was ulting a bit easier, but i'll see if i can amp the brightness a little more.

Thanks for pointing out the W on Oktoberfest, I will make sure that it is more clearly visible, and might tone down the brightness on his base VFX as well.

ModThe DjinnNov 2, 20182 votes

[{quoted}](name=Riot Beardilocks,realm=NA,application-id=A7LBtoKc,discussion-id=pjKXqRsl,comment-id=00000001,timestamp=2018-11-02T18:07:05.734+0000)Thanks for your feedback.

My pleasure!

Differentiating the ult and Q is the thing I've been struggling the hardest with on these VFX updates, since they're both just liquid exploding out of a barrel :/

It's definitely a tricky one, yeah. Is there the possibility of putting more barrel elements into the ultimate so it's a bit more cask explosion than the Q, or a longer lingering effect of some kind, like a small crater? Either that or perhaps make the ult into a more physical barrel burst with a fountain of wine that follows? Would have to actually explore it a bit first to have better input though, and, sadly, I don't have time at the moment. :(

Thanks for pointing out the W on Oktoberfest, I will make sure that it is more clearly visible, and might tone down the brightness on his base VFX as well.

Awesome! Thank you guys for sharing this with us, and for being so responsive. It's pretty fantastic, and -- my occasional critique notwithstanding -- these updates are amazing!

Sir NopeNov 5, 20181 votes

The brew is magical in lore, right? Flavor the ult as magicaly volatile do to how unstable the magic is, and have the ult leave magical cracks in the AOE.

Further down the road, you could consider changing the ult to have Gragas fire a magically charged freball of booze and unstable magic (an alcoball?) in place of a tossed barrel.

The IcebornNov 2, 20181 votes

[{quoted}](name=The Djinn,realm=NA,application-id=A7LBtoKc,discussion-id=pjKXqRsl,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2018-11-01T01:43:57.978+0000)

Nice and straightforward improvements. I do think the light tan W color on Ocktoberfest Gragas makes the damage reduction a little less visible though (or maybe the pink is too visible), and I'm slightly concerned that the explosions on the Q and the ultimate are close enough that they might be mistaken in a frantic teamfight. I'd love to see those differentiated a bit more in explosion pattern to help track the effects better.

Damn, its OKToberfest not ocktoberfest.. cmon now you should know that

HupsisNov 1, 201816 votes

The E sounds a bit too agile, almost like kicking a football or something. I think it should play more into the comedic concept of 'there's a fat man jumping at me'.

SariokNov 1, 20181 votes

Slow-mo bouncy ball

PanunuNov 1, 20188 votes

When I first found about the new sound effect updates I think it was amazing! However I am not a huge fan of the new sound updates for bodyslam. The new bodyslam has a "watery" sound like if it was for a pool party skin. The old sound effects had more of that "impact" feel to it. Clarifying I am talking about both the dash and the impact of bodyslam when hitting an opponent.

RobertsmashNov 1, 20187 votes

Gragas, the Rebel Rouser

It's Rabble

RiotRiot BeardilocksNov 2, 20183 votes

Ooops

oscar the grouchNov 1, 20185 votes

I feel like the body slam impact sound is a little underwhelming and quiet compared to live. These look great though

Minjo MasterNov 1, 20184 votes

I think it would be great if you gave Scuba Gragas the underwater voice filter.

charon25Nov 1, 20184 votes

The W sound effet looks a lot like the one for Predator, and it's really annoying.

WodinNov 1, 20184 votes

Two notes:

The hard red line on the Q explosion radius indicator being present immediately interferes with the color language of his barrel "cooking" - where before when you saw a flash of red you knew that your barrel would do maximum damage, now there's immediately red and you need to focus specifically on the center to get the information you need. I don't know if it's possible to shade the explosion indicator to follow the same color progression as the barrel's timer, but that would be the best possible case. You might also be able to use the thickness of the indicator as a similar cook timer (e.g. 1px/2px/3px for instant/halfway/full damage).
If Oktoberfest Gragas is getting specific updates, would it be possible to reinstate the trail of lost pretzels on his Body Slam? It was a fun and whimsical part of the skin that was removed in his original VFX update. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQtu7xkHtjU#t=47

Thank you for taking the time to do these! :)

RiotRiot BeardilocksNov 2, 20184 votes

Hi,

I'm sorry if the video was misleading, that Q ring indicator was the enemy indicator. For friendly players, the indicator is blue. Here's what it will look like if you are playing as Gragas. https://imgur.com/3F7xRnj
I will look into restoring the pretzels on Oktoberfest Gragas

Thanks

WodinNov 6, 20181 votes

[{quoted}](name=Riot Beardilocks,realm=NA,application-id=A7LBtoKc,discussion-id=pjKXqRsl,comment-id=00190000,timestamp=2018-11-02T19:21:56.626+0000)

Hi,

I'm sorry if the video was misleading, that Q ring indicator was the enemy indicator. For friendly players, the indicator is blue. Here's what it will look like if you are playing as Gragas. https://imgur.com/3F7xRnj

I will look into restoring the pretzels on Oktoberfest Gragas

Thanks

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond - that allays my concern completely! Looking forward to playing with the shiny new FX!

Côco AtrevidoNov 1, 20183 votes

Will Santa Gragas have some christmas sfx like Santa Veigar, since they are there same price and you have a chance to give a 975 skin sfx

DavSharkNov 1, 20183 votes

The VFX are so good (in general) but gragas need seriously a VU (and mundo a VGU)

Lucian Was TakenNov 1, 20183 votes

The Q and ultimate are very similar and that could be confusing during the game, maybe you could change the color or how it looks so we don’t waste a flash on his q. :)

AcherønNov 1, 20183 votes

looks like honey in those barrels not mead

DepressedTomokoNov 1, 20183 votes

So, you leave Arctic Ops to have its VFX the same when it's used competitively because of the fact the ulti blends in with the colors of the map?

La BelloNov 1, 20182 votes

despise the new belch sound and the red outline of the barrel seems way too bright and "in progess" test esque. like something that should be seen when coding the champion that would be later taken out.

Dont understand why this has such a massive bright box when other things like Fiddlesticks ult is much more subtle about it

LaZeRpanNov 1, 20182 votes

The vfx for the most part is pretty good. I do like the idea of the colorful aura around E but the bright blue isn’t very fitting imo. My biggest complain though is about the sfx of E and the W DONK auto sounds. E should sound a little heavier, not as swift as this version. And the hit sound is greatly underwhelming. It should sound more cartoon-y like someone getting slapped in the face with a big tuna fish. As for the W hit sound, it’s a little bubbly, would like if it had this punch to it, like dropping a barrel full of liquids on the ground. I want to feel my enemy’s skull get bashed in when I hit that W.

LùmenNov 1, 20182 votes

Sounds like a pool party skin..

TheorcheroNov 1, 20182 votes

Amazing. Good job!

Norbert GierczykNov 1, 20182 votes

looks too sticky, like some champion based on shooting barrels of glue not of beer, sounds are very bad on every spell expect q, there is no foam on ultimate i dont like it too. Im talking as a player for which gragas was favorite champion in whole league. Just loved sounds, kite of this champion, history of him and this champion overall, this VFX is rly pointless, if u want to make smth good about gragas change his ulti to old speed, thanks.

ZOBETH RONMALAGONov 1, 20182 votes

You should most definitely make the e sound more impactful.

CCP InchallahNov 1, 20182 votes

I wish Arctic Ops Gragas R would be fixed, it's hard to see sometime

Water StealerNov 2, 20182 votes

i'd like it more if you could update his base model considering it looks like a pile of dog boners.

his beard shadow is attached to his stomach ffs.

KurelNov 2, 20182 votes

The W's after drink sound is weird, a little bit annoying to my taste

nobotninjaNov 1, 20181 votes

[deleted]

ShadowParkerNov 1, 20182 votes

Why are you posting this here. This isn’t the place

JabalorNov 1, 20181 votes

Does Santa Gragas still has his candy/ mint effects on this update?

RiotRiot BeardilocksNov 2, 20183 votes

yes

WTDuck64Nov 2, 20181 votes

please just revert the new sound effects they are bad as hell the old ones are much better as for the vfx they are good

WTDuck64Nov 2, 20181 votes

please just revert the new sound effects they are bad as hell the old ones are much better as for the vfx they are good

Ducky McQuaksterNov 2, 20181 votes

the vfx looks pretty ok...( not that good or bad ) we can live with it but please for the love of god PLEASE revert the sound effects its so bad at least revert the q and w

J O D Y R Nov 2, 20181 votes

Guys what about an potatoe-feet-Update for Pantheon and Udyr ?

PharastoNov 2, 20181 votes

Those look good. The beer keg explosion look a bit odd though. Someone else compared it to honey. I think I know why. One would expect a bursting barrel or keg of beer to be carbonated. This means the first thing you'd expect to see in a case of beer explosion is beer head (white foam).

Giani GeorgianNov 2, 20181 votes

Not quite related to the VFX but can you suggest to the people in charge that Scuba Gragas should have underwater voice filter?

Also, would it be possible to reinstate the trail of lost pretzels on Oktoberfest Gragas' Body Slam? It was a fun and whimsical part of the skin that was removed in his original VFX update.

SanKakUNov 4, 20181 votes

Wow, the new default Gragas abilities look so much better!

ThatPersonGabeNov 4, 20181 votes

So the general intent of these VFX changes are to add more clarity. Will there still be the animation canceling aspect on Vandal Gragas?

jocomotionNov 4, 20181 votes

Grape soda and OJ.

RedLeftyNov 6, 20181 votes

Vandal Gragas has had a skin-specific bug that allows him to cast E, Q, and R simultaneously. It may be more of an animation thing than VFX, I have no clue how all this works. But is there any chance this update may have removed that animation bug?

Example here: https://youtu.be/hpte34r6tq8