What's a Galio?

Galio's rework has been recently confirmed to be the next big VGU after Warwick, its scope unprecedented and heralded as a tremendous undertaking seeing that Galio's identity and gameplay's been confused for a very long time. So once again I was tempted to share my personal thoughts on the Sentinel's Sorrow and what I personally think are his core themes that should be explored in his upcoming VGU.

Disclaimer; This post might be very subjective, everyone's entitled to their own opinion and I encourage you to share it with the rest of us. Anyways, let's get started on the very first topic;

-----------------------------------------------------------------Who is Galio----------------------------------------------------------------- Before we can fully understand who Galio is we have to take a look at his backstory, due to it being extremely important to his character and being one of the most tragic and yet so very compelling pieces of the old lore, long before Morde was THE Big Bad Guy.

Galio was created by Durand, a magister of Demacia back when it was just a small city-state. Durand was adept at creating magical constructs, bent on defending Demacia from its enemies, their rival city-state of Noxus being the greatest threat they ever faced and thus Durand took it upon himself to strengthen the kingdom's borders with his own creations. He imbued raw stone and lifeless matter with magic, creating magical guardians to protect Demacia and its citizens.

His greatest creation was Galio. A sentient Gargoyle Statue and Durand's companion, always following the Magister, his only task being to protect his creator with his life and ensure he will continue to keep Demacia safe with his creations.

Yet Galio failed, the very reason he was created was to protect Durand but he was murdered by Noxian assassins while travelling with Galio, the Gargoyle's sole reason to continue existing dying in his arms while the Assassins disappeared as fast as they came. Mourning over his maker's remains the Gargoyle fell into a deep depression, an existential crisis, he failed, he had only one reason to be and it was taken from him. And so it was that Galio just watched over Durand's remains until they were nothing more than dust in the wind, Demacia growing into the empire we know today, his stone hide covered in moss he still watched over the same spot his Master had died in his arms.

He had no reason to exist... Up until a yordle( ) came to take refuge under his towering stone form. Her enthusiasm and strong sense of responsibility, having something she strongly believed in and pursuing this task with every ounce of determination managed to awaken something deep inside Galio, something he had deemed lost to time.

She inspired him to put the past behind him and find a new task, continuing Durand's dream of keeping Demacia safe, protecting the Innocent. And so the Sentinel's Sorrow was born, Galio's tragic tale becoming one of grim responsibility after he found something new to believe in, all thanks to a hammer wielding Yordle.

Poppy and Galio are both ancient beings, her determination having caused Galio to finally forgive himself, their relationship should be explored more in their lore, their friendship being a very nice touch that could give them both a lot more character but I'm digressing.

Galio's all about finding purpose in the wake of his Maker's demise, he's the Sentinel's Sorrow, a protector of the innocent to stop something like Durand's death from ever happening again, mourning over his deceased maker and taking new purpose in continuing on his vision of a strong and secure Demacia.

This is Galio

http://orig05.deviantart.net/2f83/f/2012/251/a/1/galio_and_poppy_by_kukon-d5dz7g5.jpg

-----------------------------------------------------------------A magical Construct----------------------------------------------------------------- In terms of appearance I think Galio's pretty unique. He's not just some Golem like the old tales of Prague, he's a Gargoyle sentinel, cold stone brought to life by strong magic. This should be reflected in his rework. While he might be alive and conscious his body is still stone, his soul strong magic and his will to protect being the driving force behind his thick layer of magical enhanced stone flesh.

Gargoyle's are a common motive in architecture and him being this very sorrowful character, having watched over his master's bones for so long makes the Gargoyle the perfect shape for someone like Galio. Besides, Crouching Gargoyles carry a lot of weight and most of the emotions Galio felt can be represented with a cold, mourning statue, having all eternity to think about their failures.

---------------------------------It's a mage, it's a tank. It's Superm...GALIO!------------------------------------- Galio's gameplay has always been very confused. He's got two long range Artillery spells in form of his Q and E, a heal/defensive steroid in form of his W and a tanky initiation/peel tool in form of his ultimate while also gaining damage from building tanky.

His kit has very little synergy with itself besides W->Ult for heals, more AP and general tankiness but beyond that there's little to no interaction between his spells. His Q, W and passive are all things I feel could be scrapped completely in favor of more interesting abilities, though MR scaling on his damaging abilities would be a really neat way to preserve the essence of his current passive while also allowing him to get a more interesting one instead of a simple stat-stick passive like Vlad

His W is rather interesting in its supportive nature and the heal it provides but the ONE thing I feel is what makes Galio who he is is his ultimate

IDOL OF DURAND It's a very strong ability and something you just associate with Galio as a character. But beyond that it also has the thematic value. Galio won't let what happened to Durand reoccur, not on his watch! He'll sacrifice himself if it means being able to safe those he swore to protect! The massive taunt coupled with his scream once the ultimate ends is certainly something very fitting for someone not wanting to let his past mistakes define him, wanting to better himself and continue on with his maker's wish.

It's the ONE thing I feel should be kept at all costs!

-----------------------------------------------------------------The mid-lane Tank---------------------------------------------------------------- Now this is something very interesting. Riot has mentioned wanting to truly deliver on a mid-lane tank-kind of character with Galio's VGU and I feel this would be something extremely unique while also allowing for some really strong team comps being built around Galio, though if you FORCE something like this only bad things happen (cough cough) Anyways, I feel him being this Bulwark Mid who protects his team and serves as the thing they can rally behind could just be the second most important goal of this VGU, seeing that he already fills that role somehow but being kept down by his outdated kit and generally not really fitting into the current version of League.

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Now it's your turn. What do YOU think Galio's Rework should try to accomplish? What exactly defines Galio for you? What's better, cookies or cake? What do you think should remain from his current kit?

Share your ideas and let's discuss one of League's most forgotten champion!