How to make a dual chamion properly.

(Note: I don't know where this should go so I'm putting it in "gameplay". It's more to do with champion design.)

tl;dr The Vastaya are riot's third dual champion in one and a half years (fourth if you count Kalista) and they need to do it right.

So recently it was leaked and less recently it was announced that Riot is releasing a new dual champion called "The Vastaya". We haven't seen their kit yet but it's pretty clear from the lore and short cinematic that they are two characters in one champion. Now, if you've been playing the game for a while, you'll have noticed that this is the third (fourth if you count ) champion in just over two years that features some kind of pairing. Even some other recently released or reworked single champions have ultimates or other abilities that allow them to enter two forms, or spawn a pet ( . It's clear when there have only been about ten champions since Kali that this is something they are trying to get done. So, why aren't the champions satisfying?

Well, in all three of the champions already released, the problem is that one part is less significant than the other. For Kalista, you are only playing kali, and you have no control over her partner. When you play Kindred, you're really playing Lamb, as all of Wolf's skills are either directed by Lamb or AI. It's the same problem with Kled, when riding Skaarl you get a different kit but youre really still just Kled on a dog. The problem with the dual champions Riot have released is that you're only controlling one character even though you're playing two.

I think a lot of champions designed to be one character actually feel a lot more like two than the dual champions. For example, and , as well as other champions with transformation ( ) have far better coherency between forms, and it actually feels like you're playing two champs. You play as human nid and hit a stunning spear, then cougar nid cleans up the kill with an enhanced takedown. However, it's very hard to have two controllable characters in a game without having one just stand around doing nothing, and transform is a very clever way to get around this. But if you really want to feel like youre playing two characters, you need to integrate them both with a kit in some way or another, or you're just playing one character.