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The cinematic is a test for unpopular champions.

ModCaptainMårvelous·7/22/2014, 7:49:16 PM·5 votes·826 views

What do I mean by that? First, let's analyze those in the cinematic:

- Fairly well played. Decently sized fan-base
- Very popular.
- Riot's poster girl. Surprised Ryze wasn't in. - "Dunkmaster", huge fan following - No explanation necessary. - Highly played. Arguably a fan favorite. - Dominated S3. Fell out of favor but is still well known and liked. - Somewhat highly played, one of the new but well-liked champs.

Then we have these two:

- Not seen since S2/Some of S3. Rarely played, not very popular. - S2 Juggernaut, fell off the face of the earth and generally untouched.

So what am I getting at here?

This trailer had 10 champs. 8 of which who are either popular or very well liked. Then we have two "wild cards" who don't get much playtime or lack super massive fan bases. Thanks to this cinematic, however, don't you think these two will receive a spike in popularity? This is the effect I'm referring to: In a way, this cinematic advertised two lesser-known/lesser-played champions.

If this works (I personally think it will) and Graves/Naut receive spikes in players as well as purchases (Be it IP or RP), we may see more trailers/cinematics featuring champions we don't normally see. Guys like , or could all appear in hopes that giving them some camera time would make them more popular.

Time will tell, but I for one would love to see more effort being put into the expansion of lesser known champs.

13 Comments

Keonyn7/22/2014, 8:33:42 PM2 votes

All the cool cinematics in the world won't change the gameplay of the champs.

The problem with Graves and Nautilus has a lot to do with them simply being counter-intuitive for the people that play those roles. Graves doesn't have the range and ridiculous poke that adc players generally love, which is why Cait is one of the more popular adc's because she fits that view of the adc perfectly. it's not that Graves is necessarily bad, it's just that to play him effectively you have to take a much different approach to the role and put yourself in a lot more danger to be effective than a typical adc would want to be.

Nautilus is similar in that he's a slow, lumbering and tanky jungle or top. He isn't about mass damage output and powerful dives and ganks as people in those roles will often want, so you just generally play him in such a different fashion than people in those roles typically look for.

Hoi Im Temmo7/22/2014, 8:20:29 PM2 votes

Interesting theory - I hope it works, but also hope we see some more of the non-standard champs. With so many different ones, surely Riot will be willing to show off more of them? (mundo, mundo, mundo)

The Lexer7/22/2014, 8:32:48 PM1 votes

Literally just saw my first Naut in about 6 months or more

Thoroniul7/23/2014, 9:38:52 AM1 votes

In my opinion zyra is the strongest support at the moment.

The Red Warden7/22/2014, 9:58:51 PM1 votes

Imagine how badass Morde or Hecarim would look in one of these

THE Space Jawa7/22/2014, 11:29:36 PM1 votes

Admittedly, the bit with Graves does have me interested in taking another look at him the next time he comes around as a freebie.

Nautilus not so much because I know full well how much an exaggeration his size and hitting potential was in the cinematic vs. the actual game. He certainly looked cool, but having played him already I know the reality doesn't match up to how he's being advertised.

MrBuffington7/22/2014, 8:26:48 PM1 votes

Graves gets occasional play in the professional scene (fallen off lately due to the hyper carries). Nautilus also recently got some buffs/itemization bonuses, so I wouldn't say he's non-existent (you're right that it is pretty rare though). I do see what you're saying about the cinematic being an advertisement; Rengar was still on free week for me (played him once a long time ago, didn't like him too much), but I got excited to try him out again, and boy was he a lot of fun :D