Boards›Concepts & Creations

Early concept for a Dryad support (Ideas and critique requested) Lets make a champion together.

GG Open Legs·3/21/2018, 4:46:07 PM·11 votes·1,673 views
https://i.imgur.com/NSouPef.jpg

So I love fantasy and really wanted to make a Dryad champion. I first drew her face and immediately fell in love with the concept. As of right now I'm very torn on just about everything, which is where I ask for you guys help. From personality, role, colours, weapon of choice and design. I have the core of her down, I wan't her to be a dryad in the World of Warcraft terms, pretty much a Centaur but it's a deer mixed with human, instead of a horse. My first idea for her is a support with a spear, got a few ideas as for abilities but honestly it's next to nothing atm. Next is a ADC with a bow, again have a few ideas floating around but nothing major. Finally a support but wait here is the kicker... It's a staff instead of a spear ay. [zombie-brand-clap]

I only have sketches of the spear as of now as it was my first instinct for this character, Also got different horns, ears and hair I guess you can mix and match in your head, and of course I made some outfits.

Last thing I'm torn about is personality, whether she should be your standard overly happy and helpful Dryad, or perhaps have some "depth" to her personality. I know Riot loves archetypes but not stereotypes, so maybe the pretty much ripoff happy Dryad from wow, isn't such a great idea after all.

So I ask you guys for ideas and critique on just about anything about her, perhaps this could be our Resistance Illaoi of champions, in the sense that we create her together.

Hope you like the idea and will leave some food for thought in the comments about who she should be, how she should be and what she would look like [slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

I will leave the "sketches" I made for her below. (Warning your scroll wheel might break) lol sry

https://i.imgur.com/NSouPef.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/ELcKaxH.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/uiQPajg.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/iLfNn4z.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/lAlJ7DC.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/4d9uc2x.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/nbGuQFp.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/ZIFMGkY.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/zbNOjur.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/mVEtiAO.jpg

If you made it this far thank you! This will be a lengthy project and I will post updates (if people even care bout this sh*t) frequently when I feel like progress had been made. I am juggling this project with another one, (which is much further ahead of this one) but that project will be posted in it's finished state only. I do 2 projects at a time so I don't burn out, updates might take a bit longer than they really should because of that, hope that's alright.

Thanks again for checking this out and feel free to leave your thoughts! (Edit) I know I can make this champion on my own just fine, and I will if nothing happens here [slayer-jinx-wink] but just like anything league releases it goes through a lot of green lighting and they get tons of critique and ideas from others, so I wanted to try that ^^

Update 1 : Head of the staff https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/skin-champion-concepts/rZAboWyi-dryad-staff-heads-update-1-requesting-ideas-and-criticism

Update 2: A new path https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/skin-champion-concepts/L5ajMoEb-dryad-champion-a-new-path-update-3-ideas-and-critique-requested

30 Comments

A Nunu3/22/2018, 3:22:17 AM6 votes

Some constructive criticism from one artist to another below:

If you are creating the champion as if you were presenting it to the company, consider the following: When creating, updating, or even making skins for champions, Riot has an extremely strong emphasis on how immediately distinguishable, and recognizable each individual product that is playable on the Rift is. Any champion with the exact same body + weapon type archetype (Hecarim is a quadruped with a staff-based weapon) without anything vastly different to set the character apart from other champions other than colour will run into problems. This can be fixed by perhaps changing the weapon type, exaggerating characteristics of a champion massively (for example, Poppy's massive pigtails or every "standard pretty girl's" different postures and walk animations.)

The only way I see this champion being in-game would be if (at the very minimum) her walk animations were EXTREMELY different than Hecarims, such as a very bouncy prance/gallop for a walking animation. ANY kind of animation that seems even a little more uniform or calm will come off to be too close to home for Hecarim. Despite your opinion against the overly happy and bubbly dryad archetype, this character archetype would be absolutely necessary for the type of attire and general look you've given to this character if you want to keep her to look the same, as her design really sends the message that that character is the happy and bubbly type (light clothing and armor).

If you're looking to change it in order to enable the champion to fit into the game better, and still want to leave the whole bubbly, happy character thing behind, I'd suggest maybe heavily redesigning her to look more streamlined, like a hunter or someone constantly in some kind of pursuit (could give them the same type of prance/gallop, but with just a little spice of confidence added). You could also make her walk animation just be her levitating above the ground with some kind of magic. To fit that, perhaps make her seem more of a powerful, intelligent or leaderly figure (as levitating above someone else is usually used as an indication of such things), change her look to make her seem more like someone with more magical powers, like making her eyes glow bright green, or making her outfit look more plant-y.

Welp, I've said what I needed to say. Hope this helps. http://www.auplod.com/u/aludpoa5f72.png

Ok sure but why3/21/2018, 9:26:09 PM4 votes

I have an idea, what if her W healed an ally champion, but it cost some of her own health to do so? And her E casts a circle that silences everyone inside?

Mama Soraka3/21/2018, 11:10:36 PM3 votes

Someday we'll get our own Blossom / Enchantress for League.. someday

[sg-soraka]

kda akali3/22/2018, 2:12:42 AM3 votes

https://i.gyazo.com/83790b2f3a55533631892fba9aa75cf0.png

I decided to color in one of the staffs, your drawings are really good. Coloring it in was fun

Lloyd Castagnier3/21/2018, 6:56:23 PM3 votes

I like this. Since it will be a dryad, make it shy and naive (not used to humans or other creatures overall, this could make for cool interactions), stuttering a lot while attacking and using abilities. Will it be a different species or a vastaya?

Make its hair long with braids and flowers and shit. Maker her staff look old and mossy, twisted at the top with a crystal floating in the middle. Also, the staff can have handmade stuff hanging from it like dreamcatchers and stuff. Also, no panties because you're giving the idea that there's something that shouldn't be there.

Let's not make it old (mature), more like a teenager or something

To keep it linked to the original ideas, make one its abilities something like: Ex:

Passive: Spiritual Bond. X right clicks on a nearby ally and links to it. The ally abilities use half of X's mana and transfer 20/24/28/30% of the damage they receive to X.

Ex:

E) Nature's Bounty: -X throws a seed to a target location. If it hits an enemy it will explode slowing them. If it hits the ground and isn't stomped (also detonates it), after a brief delay, a tree grows blessing the area around it (1200??). -While in the zone, X gains additional mana and health regen (when below a threshold), this also applies half of the regen to the ally X is linked to. -X other abilities can be affected by the tree. -The tree has 3 points of life and remains for 2 minutes. -X can carry one seed. Planting it destroys any active tree.

RawGreen3/21/2018, 10:40:46 PM3 votes

Things I want to tell you first before I give you my thorough advice.

  • While Ivern doesn't fit the visual stereotype of a Dyrad he's actually pretty spot on with his visual themes but not his kit.
  • Zyra is thematically for the most part what most people probably think of when they read the description of a Dyrad but she's never mentioned to be and is in fact a different creature entirely.
  • Hecarim is currently the only centaur champion in the game.

With those in mind here's what I want to tell you;

In order to make a solid working design for this character you should consider taking inspiration from Ivern but avoid any resemblance to Zyra. This might also exclude plants from being used for her abilities to keep visual distinction available where it would otherwise be difficult( skirmishes and teamfights ). Rather than nature magic for this perhaps something like soul magic, pure magic, or cleansing magic can help you light up ideas?

A distinct Silhouette is very important for a champion to have, being able to determine which champion you've seen at a mere glance without confusing it with another champion is one of the keys to having a unique character. I do have to bring up Hecarim because if you look at his silhouette it is very distinct and would be hard to replicate even if you wanted to. And while this could be interpreted as having completely free rein in designing your character it is still important to make sure the silhouette is easy to understand at a glance, but not so simple as to be uninteresting to look at.

Also consider that perhaps a cliche Dyrad doesn't fit the League Of Legends universe, you have the potential to dispose or incorporate traditional ideas of what the Dyrad is and even create new rules for your character design. That's not to say that the possibilities are limitless, rather you want to establish the limits of your design as soon as possible in order to push your designs to those limits. After all, without limits nothing can be pushed to the limit.

I'll bookmark this thread to check back later, and perhaps when there's time I can sketch up some ideas too. I hope you continue to work on this.

WiccanBKaplan3/21/2018, 5:38:54 PM2 votes

This will never happen, too similar to Hecarim and Lunara from HotS https://www.artstation.com/artwork/xdGGO

HalcyonDweller3/21/2018, 5:53:11 PM2 votes

Well lets go into the mythos of dryads then, shall we?

According to greek mythology they are "tree nymphs" or "tree spirits" who make their home in a tree, remaining bound to it and living in and around it.

So ideally you may want a character with a theme of being bound to a place, and having a love of plants and nature. Riot has already done this (Ivern) and the centaur theme (Hecarim), so you're going to have to take a slightly different direction if you want something that is has as good a chance as possible of being picked up by Riot.

Some ways to make them bound to something: An ability that allows them to become more entrenched in an area, gaining advantages in that area and disadvantages while out of it. Kind of like how Illaoi can set up tenatacles to become part of something.

Dryads/Druids can supposedly pass through trees and plants, so perhaps an ability that allows them to blink or dash to nearby brush or walls could be interesting.

Also if you want to go with a concept/mechanic that already has popularity in the community you could borrow from the idea of a character that can bind to and share a body with an ally. Sort of a "lost the forest she was bound to so now she haunts people she meets" kind of theme.

Another ability that might work is something based off of the "entangle" type spells from tabletop roleplaying games. Imagine placing vines or brambles in an area and causing that area to slow enemies who pass through it.

That's all I've got off the top of my head, hit me up if you want to discuss further.

CasterGilgamesh3/22/2018, 12:16:10 AM1 votes

wait but we already have Soraka the goat goddess in league and she has a dryad skin....

PokladnicaZla3/21/2018, 9:24:29 PM1 votes

Wow,the drawing skill are pretty good.The staffs are awesome. I would love for her to be a support,who focuses on healing. Maybe she could place flowers/plants of some sort that heal allies around them? Maybe a single target over time heal? Hope RITO does a dryad concept in the future.

GG Open Legs3/22/2018, 1:18:19 PM1 votes

Update 1 : Head of the staff https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/skin-champion-concepts/rZAboWyi-dryad-staff-heads-update-1-requesting-ideas-and-criticism

GodlyBane3/24/2018, 2:49:00 AM1 votes

THHEEE FURRRYYY, NOOOO ITS TAKING ME OVVEERRR

Nekaa11/20/2018, 8:51:54 PM1 votes

Every post about dryad ideas all have something wrong with them, and here's the thing that this post got wrong; Dryads are not half horses those are centaurs.

A Dryad is an entity that is physically attached to nature in a way and doesn't actually have much of a body unless its a form they prefer to take.

Aside from the part that this dryad idea is actually a centaur support idea there's nothing much to say about this post aside from my ideas of the abilities and weapon.

I believe that the Dryad should be able to use abilities that root enemies and heal allies with a passive that shows what a dryad really is like. The passive should give the dryad debuffs and buffs depending on where they are, for instance in the jungle: while in the jungle she has attack speed and speed buffs which slowly fade away for 5-10 seconds after she leaves the jungle, bushes should have the same effect but only last for 3 seconds after leaving with a cooldown of 4 seconds once they leave either jungle or bushes so the player cant constantly get buffs to heal and do damage. The Q should be relatively similar to the Baron Nashor which can send out poison and fling spikes out of the ground; within a radius of 800-1000 the dryad can root an enemy champion for 3 seconds and damage a small area with 35-200 damage depending on level of the ability. The W can heal 100-300 health to ally champions depending on level of ability and give the target ally stronger buffs as they get closer to bushes and jungle areas. I'll leave the rest of it up to you to think of.