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@KateyKhaos Can we talk about Morde's skins?

GwingMaster·8/17/2015, 2:24:19 AM·5 votes·3,942 views
Mordekaiser/SkinsTrivia

TLDR: Mordekaiser's skins are generally considered unsatisfying and poor largely because they do not represent significant enough deviations from the fantasy offered by his base skin.

Hallo! I promise this post IS NOT ABOUT HIS GAMEPLAY UPDATE. Good? Good.

So we all know that Mordekaiser's model is old. It doesn't look good and he's probably not gonna be up for a full visual rework for at least a few months at this rate. Instead of complaining about that, I wanted to just take a moment to offer my opinion on what is holding his skins back and how they can be improved upon in the future.

The basic knock on his skins is that most of them feel more like elaborate recolors than actual alternative versions of the character. This isn't to say that they don't have unique qualities, but more so that they simply don't offer the player a version of the character that feels noticeably different from the base form.

By comparison, let's take Zyra as an example of a character with a small but very solid skin selection. When we look at Zyra's skins what do we see? For the moment, let's look past the fact that her skins tend towards the more elaborate end of things given the complexity of her particles and models.

Base Zyra is the awesome, Poison Ivy-style plant lady we all love. Wildfire is great - she's burning, she's molten, and she looks very intimidating. Cool. Then we get Haunted - a wonderfully macabre take on the character with great-looking demonic 'plants' and a fantastic, zombie-esque take on Zyra's model. Her lowest end skin, SKT, still manages to give the player a slick, modern-looking character that offers a fun, lighter version of the champion (and she doesn't even need new particles to do it!).

All of these version of Zyra feel like Zyra, but offer something genuinely different and engaging players. When you pick Haunted Zyra, it feels like a totally distinct experience compared to base Zyra.

Now let's look at Morde. He has Dragon Knight, Infernal Morde, Lord Morde, Pentakill, and King of Clubs. Looking just at Dragon Knight, Lord, and Infernal for a moment, we see that these are really just sligthly different versions of what is essentially the same big dude in armor. When you pick these, you're not getting a unique experience - you're just getting Morde in slightly different armor. They have none of that flair that makes each Zyra skin so satisfying. You're not filling a new fantasy or paradigm for the character, you're just making his armor red, or a little purple.

Pentakill Morde IS a different version of the character. He's got less armor, he's carrying an axe guitar, stuff is happening here. The major gripe with this one is mostly just that it's so damn obvious - i mean, OF COURSE Morde, the guy with all the heavy metal references, had to have this skin. It's fun, but still a but uninspiried.

I hold King of Clubs apart fromt he others because at least in this case the skin attempted to use some new materials and shake up his look a bit. You see some yellow on his costume, there's a cool cape, the club is different. It's still basically just Morde in a new suit of armor, but at least there's an effort her to make him feel different.

Now look - i KNOW that Morde's armor is a big part of what makes him who he is. Obviously. But look at Leona - her skins manage to retain the armored look while still giving her some unique feels (bathing suit Pool Party, the ornate Valkyrie, the dark grey parrots of Iron Solari). It can be done, you just need to be a little more imaginative!

Morde with the new update has zero new particles on any of his skins right now. You might respond that none of his skins seem to really call for new particles now that the maces are removed from his E and his Q particle has changed. You know what? You're right. But that's a problem with the skins - none of them fill a different enough creative space to demand new particles. They're mostly pretty much the same thing.

There are so many creative and interesting things you could do for Morde skin. There are tons of community ideas out there. You guys are too talented and too creative to settle on just changing his armor of little bit. Morde's problem is that his skin concepts don't take him to radically new places, and as such never feel distinct or unique from one another. You guys can do better, I know it! For the next Morde skin, whenever that is, please consider really taking him somewhere new! Otherwise, the same complaints will always persist. LONG LIVE THE PIZZA FEET!! :-D

10 Comments

Riotmoonstones8/19/2015, 10:51:43 PM3 votes

Hey GwingMaster,

First off, thanks for taking the time to write out such a thoughtful post!

Hallo! I promise this post IS NOT ABOUT HIS GAMEPLAY UPDATE. Good? Good.

Phew, okay! Let's talk skins!

You bring up a lot of valid points here in regards to Mordekaiser. I agree that some of his older skins (as well as older skins for other champions) don't really fulfill a different fantasy, or really push a different thematic for a champion. I think we've come a long way in terms of improving the kind of skins we can create, and in a lot of cases, have managed to think outside the box. (Just look at 2010 skins and compare them to 2015 skins!)

Zyra is a great example to bring up. She has a really unique silhouette, but that said, each of her skins really brings something different to the table.

I hold King of Clubs apart from the others because at least in this case the skin attempted to use some new materials and shake up his look a bit. You see some yellow on his costume, there's a cool cape, the club is different. It's still basically just Morde in a new suit of armor, but at least there's an effort her to make him feel different.

Let's take a step back and take a look at Mordekaiser's catalog of skins. Prior to King of Clubs, his last skin was in 2011. As mentioned before, older skins didn't really push a champion into another space, but instead, gave them more of a costume change.

King of Clubs Mordekaiser was the first time we've worked on a skin for him recently (holy crap, it'd been a while).

He's in a similar place as Eve when it comes to skins. His model and rig aren't fantastic, which leaves us with some limitations as to what we can do when it comes to a skin. In Eve's case, we gave her Safecracker Eve because she a. fit in well with the thematic we wanted, and b. it was a 750 RP skin (new model and texture) that accepted the limitations of her rig.

Mordekaiser is in a similar spot - we wanted to give him a skin, and we felt the card skins were a great opportunity. (We went with clubs and not spades due to shape language. I know, I know, Mace of Spades though.) This skin was different than some of his others, like you'd mentioned, but at the end of the day, he's a dude in metal.

Now look - i KNOW that Morde's armor is a big part of what makes him who he is. Obviously. But look at Leona - her skins manage to retain the armored look while still giving her some unique feels (bathing suit Pool Party, the ornate Valkyrie, the dark grey parrots of Iron Solari). It can be done, you just need to be a little more imaginative!

Yup! Mordekaiser is a big dude in some pretty heavy armor, but you're right - other champions, such as Leona - have a wider catalog of armor styles, and even some without their base armor, and it works well. In regards to Mordekaiser, Pentakill is the furthest we've pushed him so far. I agree that it's something that can be done!

Morde with the new update has zero new particles on any of his skins right now. You might respond that none of his skins seem to really call for new particles now that the maces are removed from his E and his Q particle has changed. You know what? You're right. But that's a problem with the skins - none of them fill a different enough creative space to demand new particles. They're mostly pretty much the same thing.

I can't speak much to this one, as it's something Champion Update took on as a project, and not skins.

I will say that while particle light champions make for great 750 RP skins (Marauder Warwick, for example), there are opportunities to give them simplistic particles that can enhance a skin. Not to mention, higher tier skins also receive a new recall, which would help enhance a thematic and give a bit more personality to the skin.

Morde's problem is that his skin concepts don't take him to radically new places, and as such never feel distinct or unique from one another. You guys can do better, I know it! For the next Morde skin, whenever that is, please consider really taking him somewhere new! Otherwise, the same complaints will always persist. LONG LIVE THE PIZZA FEET!! :-D

Okay, that said, Mordekaiser is a dude in metal wielding a huge weapon. His silhouette is pretty iconic, but I think there are definitely ways to keep both of those aspects and give him something completely different What is your ideal Mordekaiser skin? What kind of thematic would you picture for him?

Aaaaand finally, nuuuu pizza feet. D:

Variks the Loyal8/22/2015, 1:52:24 AM1 votes

If you ever VU Mordekaiser, you could do so much with his current skins, too.

Infernal Mordekaiser: Fitting with Infernal Nasus and Infernal Alistair, you could keep his exact silhouette, but trade out the armor for a scaly, demonic body. Similar to Diablo in Heroes of the Storm. Demonic armor could be outfitted on his wrists, arms, and legs, but his hands, feet, and head are all exposed. His horns could be styled to match his base skin's helmet, and he could wield a giant, fiery axe (Titanic Hydra, anyone?)

Dragon Knight Mordekaiser: This one fits really well with his new shtick of enslaving the dragon. His armor could be similar to base, with different colors and all, but it would shine in it's spell effects, which would be draconic and fiery. A wing flap for E. Swirling dragon scales for W. And his ult makes a dragon head above his foe instead of a helmet. And when he enslaves the dragon, it's ghost can be orange and firey instead of spectral!

Lord Mordekaiser: I see this one as sort of a 'super Mordekaiser'. Very similar to base Mordekaiser, which I feel champions should have. I wouldn't change much here except his color scheme.

Pentakill Mordekaiser: Self explanatory. If he got a new voice over, you could do what you did with Pentakill Karthus and add in music references, and Pentakill song lines for his ultimate. And play Lightbringer's guitar solo /chorus for his dance. And, for the love of all that is metal, put in an Easter egg if you make an all Pentakill team!