The next time you create a Kindred-like champion ...

Illâoi Evê Siôn·Feb 15, 2016·3 votes·646 views

... could that champion be played by two players? For example, had this been Kindred: Lamb is a Marksman, and Wolf is an Assassin. Player 1 can pick "Kindred" to get a hybrid Marksman-Assassin, who can Jungle and is mobile and very much 50/50. But now a second player in the same match, Player 2, can go ahead and pick "Wolf" as their champion. Player 1 now has "Lamb" instead of "Kindred". "Lamb" alone has more range and crowd control. "Wolf" has more mobility and burst damage. They would have a passive that makes them stronger together.

In Solo-Queue, players might not want to play Lamb. They might want Kindred. So if they queue up on their own they get the option to unlock Wolf in champion select for others to pick. If they want Wolf themselves, they can trade when all's locked in.

10 Comments

Filthy WookFeb 15, 20161 votes

This sounds a little strange to pull off in my opinion, but it would be awesome to see something more dynamic with the champions in champ select.

ThePartyLeaderFeb 15, 20161 votes

What? I get the while two players one champ thing. Not a fan but I guess it has a originality/novelty to it. But you can't release a champion that can be played by one or two players.

Illâoi Evê SiônFeb 15, 20161 votes

Why not?

ThePartyLeaderFeb 15, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Why not?

Power balancing. If one person can play a champion so strong it makes up for two people playing him he's obviously op. So you would have to have three champions designed. One for each player and one for solo play. Then you would have to have a easy way for another player to denote whether that champion is which of the three champions they are playing against, the dual champion or the 2 solo champions

Illâoi Evê SiônFeb 15, 20161 votes

You just found your solution :)

FloRaider42Feb 15, 20161 votes

Just because it works in HOTS doesn't mean that it works in LoL. The idea is interesting, but it is very hard to balance and doesn't make a lot of sense (half the champion shouldn't be as strong as the whole one)

Illâoi Evê SiônFeb 15, 20161 votes

Which champion can be played by two in heroes of the storm? How does it work there?

FloRaider42Feb 15, 20161 votes

I thought you mentioned it, because of him...

Basically you can only pick him in Premade (pick phase is quite different there) and you can only play him as a whole. He is very intersting, but it helps that a lot of design choices in that game support him.

Illâoi Evê SiônFeb 15, 20161 votes

I was thinking they would split up (which wouldn't fit Kindred thematically). And when the two are near they gain special interactions. So you could either go Marksman & Support, or Marksman & Jungler or so. They would reward teamplay (not just with each other, but the whole team) massively, but the champion can still be played as a single one in solo-queue.

FloRaider42Feb 15, 20161 votes

But since they have a potential power spike when the two are together you need some way to balance it. Either by making the solo forms weaker for having a strong combination, or having two decent solo forms that gain small buffs when cooperating.