Mini-boss Malzahar. Literally. We have final boss veigar Battle boss blitz And then like 10 good guy arcade skins Its time we had another bad guy. Like his passive can be a barrier of code His q be like Portal portals open and shoot orange and blue projectiles His minions become arcade themed minions Space aids become a virus code thingy Ult is absorb the targets code while creating a pool of ERROR 404 i would buy the skin instantly
Zarvanis5 votesI think "mini-boss" is a bit demeaning, though. Maybe "Battle Boss" can just be the title for all Arcade Villain skins (besides Veigar).
RiotKindlejack22 votesActually this is exactly where Battle Boss came from. 'Miniboss Blitz' was his working titles but didn't feel great... perhaps there are other kinds of bosses? Secret Boss, Hidden Boss, Optional Boss (lel), Big Boss, Raid Boss etc.
When I play Nasus we jokingly call him the 'Raid Boss'. Might be something there >:)
World Ender5 votesI wouldn't be opposed to another Legendary Nasus skin :3
RiotKindlejack33 votesHell why not ultimate? Every time you Q all your comments get one upvote, on every website. When you fatally Q an enemy champion it deletes a game from their steam library at random. When you ult you get bigger AND everyone else's models get smaller (including turrets and jungle camps) like the lightning in Mariokart. If you ever die your opponents get gold/exp and a randomised loot table - maybe your support gets an IE or your warlock gets an account-bound epic bow.
If only.
AllahusSnakBar8 votesI am digging the idea of Malzahar being a hacker instead of a boss, and having all of his skills be reskinned around that theme. Maybe have his voidlings be little purple and black checkered robots. Have his e have a glitch effect on affected units, making them look like they are rapidly fading in and out.
RiotKindlejack17 votesI agree Malz is a cool idea. Being a prophet and all I wonder if he would be heralding the coming of Veigar, or Master Hand, or...
The Game Genie?
Sahn Uzal4 votesRaid Boss Darius.
Captain Aishi4 votes... or the game shark.... fizz...
Mhihnj5 votesMaybe have his voidlings be little purple and black checkered robots.
How about space invaders
in green of course
Nanuk Pihoqahiak3 votesBeing serious, Nasus is one of the best candidates for an ultimate skin. His evolving model could be tied into his Q stacks, up to say 1,000? Every milestone would also morph his abilities slightly, maybe even making his armor more awesome as he gets stronger.
IcyPepper5 votesWhen you fatally Q an enemy champion it deletes a game from their steam library at random.
You monster.
Blueclaws3 votesPoppy and Trundle...Poppy could carry the Ban Hammer, Trundle could carry the Nerf Bat
blackfootedfox3 votesSo uh, why hasn't there been additions to the battle boss skins? If the arcade line keeps expanding at this rate they're gonna get bored just facing viegar and blitz
RiotKindlejack15 votesWhen we choose the champions for arcade we get together and talk about how we see them fitting into this world, and then depending on how the idea is shaping up make a decision about where they fit. Right now there are actually three sort of 'factions' within the Arcade theme; There's the Gamers that are jumping into these worlds (Tron style), the Natives of the game worlds (Wreck-it-Ralph style), and the rogue bosses jumping around causing havoc. Even then among those there are differences; Sona, MF and Riven form something of a holy gamer trinity; the goddesses of RGB destined to 'save the game' while Ahri and Ezreal are more rounded 'players' who have only just arrived in the game-verse. Another example is Veigar and Blitz, with Veigar being clearly on his own level - messing with the code at will, fully conscious of where he is and what he can do, while Blitzcrank charges around driven solely by a copy of Poro Roundup.
Sometimes champions are selected for a theme and then designed, sometimes a theme is chosen then champions are explored, sometimes there's a great idea or concept we get excited enough about that we just go with it. I remember Corki came up this way - as a really solid pitch in a meeting that made too much sense to pass on, while Ezreal and Ahri were chosen for the Arcade patch this year a long time ago.
As for the Bosses, I agree that next time around I feel like we gotta have at least one. I suggested a few at the last ideation meeting and there was a world in which Corki ended up being a boss a'la Eggman, but the Bullet Hell theme was too great to ignore and all that remains is a mustache.
Raxistaicho4 votesI have a question!
Miss Fortune: FPS Sona: Rhythm Games Riven: Fighting Games Ezreal: JRPG's Corki: Bullet Hell
What are Ahri and Hecarim's video game genres?
RiotKindlejack10 votesRiven was actually designed with RPGs in mind but then her VFX/Audio was Fighting inspired. As CrazedPorcupine mentioned Hecarim started out as a Thunderdome project to make him look like Rainbow Unicorn Attack.
Ahri I'm not sure about, although her jacket is reminiscent of White Mage. I'd have to ask the concept artist Potatka.
Keevalroy4 votesAhri I'm not sure about, although her jacket is reminiscent of White Mage.
Star Fox
http://a.disquscdn.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/4053/1052/original.jpg
MavenSong2 votesWhen we choose the champions for arcade we get together and talk about how we see them fitting into this world, and then depending on how the idea is shaping up make a decision about where they fit. Right now there are actually three sort of 'factions' within the Arcade theme; There's the Gamers that are jumping into these worlds (Tron style), the Natives of the game worlds (Wreck-it-Ralph style), and the rogue bosses jumping around causing havoc. Even then among those there are differences; Sona, MF and Riven form something of a holy gamer trinity; the goddesses of RGB destined to 'save the game' while Ahri and Ezreal are more rounded 'players' who have only just arrived in the game-verse. Another example is Veigar and Blitz, with Veigar being clearly on his own level - messing with the code at will, fully conscious of where he is and what he can do, while Blitzcrank charges around driven solely by a copy of Poro Roundup.
I very much approve of this lore, it better be AU canon!
Jeddy0176 votesSona, MF & Riven are a Holy trinity? Let me guess:
Sona - Triforce of Wisdom MF - Triforce of Power Riven - Triforce of Courage
They certainly have fitting hair colors.
RiotKindlejack4 votesSomething like that yes. Zeronis talked about completing the 'Red Green Blue' of RGB, the way old TVs used to handle colour.
Chromatic Eagle1 votesI'd love to ask you guys about more skin AUs. How many exist atm?
RiotKindlejack1 votesAs we make skins now, we build ideas for the AUs. They are mainly to align designs and all the people involved in production and range from a full story to a single sentence. If you have questions just ask me! Right now I'm in the middle of a leadership course though so apologies if responses are slow.
Solideus2 votesI'm curious about the AU of Arclight, Justicar, Shadowfire Kindred and the demonic skins. Are those considered the same AU? What skins are/aren't included there? What's the high concept of that/those AUs?
SuperLuigiLXIV1 votesI'm not sure about the others, but it's been mentioned that Arclight Varus is how he looked right after he absorbed the power that he was guarding, before it started to corrupt him.
And the Justicar skin line is supposed to actually be a sort of portrayal of evil characters as if history considered them heroes instead.
Solideus1 votesWell, about Arclight Varus.. I'm sure that was some Rioter's throwaway line players blew out of proportion; it obviously isn't a canon skin.
It might be ONE uncorrupted version of Varus, but not actually THE pre-corrupted Varus, you know what I mean? Arclight is certainly separate from the regular canon.
Edit: Not to mention the supposed quote is nowhere to be found.
SuperLuigiLXIV1 votesSolideus1 votesThanks for the link.
I'd still argue it's unlikely to be canonical. It still seems like a throwaway line, NeeksNaman doesn't seem to be an authority on canon and the comment is OLD, long before Riot took lore seriously.
For example, some Rioter recently said Graves vaping is canon, so just any Rioters throwaway line obviously isn't hard-fact on what's canon.
Confirmation from someone from the lore department would be the best, but there's nothing on the actual skin to indicate he's the same character as regular Varus, so it being non-canon still seems like the most reasonable conclusion. It'd make just as much sense to say Arclight Vayne or Vel'Koz is canon, which obviously isn't the case.
RiotKindlejack2 votesYeah it's not canon anymore, for two reasons.
Ionia is a very different place now that is actually much better defined - foundations has been doing a lot of great work to realise the world of Runeterra and yeah, that ain't Ionian no more.
Varus will at some point have updated lore that this skin doesn't fit into.
RiotKindlejack3 votesArclight and Justicar are kind of a tricky tangle right now. There was not, as far as I know, any clear storyline for these although I'd jump at the opportunity to better define them.
The demonic skins like Infernal and Gatekeeper don't really have any story beyond 'hellish demons' and Shadowfire was a unique design that combined something like Arclight and Infernal to demonstrate Kindred's duality.
My headcannon for Arclight is that Vel'koz is a god-like being (similar to the angels from Bayonetta) that, in times of strife or demons, selects champions to be his avatars on earth and carry out his righteous decrees. Hence why in his splash he is 'choosing' worthy vessels - Varus and Vayne being two who survived the choosing.
Justicar has been a virtuous angelic take on some of our 'evil' characters, but I'd like it to be more than that. I had the idea of completing a team and having each one represent a set of Judicial virtues - sort of like the seven heavenly virtues but more of a focus on the wrath and smiting judgement.
Very curious to know your thoughts!
Chromatic Eagle4 votesI thought Justicar Aatrox was how some people saw him. Could be retconned or developed. Doesn't matter much to me.
You could go for a Diablo (copyright?) theme with Justicar and the Infernal/Gatekeeper skins.
SuperLuigiLXIV3 votesSo I've mentioned this to other Rioters, but there needs to be a fourth faction in the Mecha vs Program vs Project AU.
The Liquid Metal faction.
Liquid Metal Zac (Q becomes a barrage of blades or a wall of spikes, ult forms giant anvils and spiked balls, etc)
Liquid Metal Azir (soldiers are less detailed, but connected to his body by a liquid metal link, ult is similarly so, with spawn and despawn animations that show the metal returning to his body)
Liquid Metal Illaoi (tentacles are large, metal, and spiky)
Liquid Metal Twitch (poison effects have more of a 'molten metal' feel to them than his usual poison effects, and his stealth has a "cloudy" effect to make it look like he's flying as a swarm of metal)
Liquid Metal Nami (the buff looks more like molten metal than water, the bouncing heal/damage spell has a nanomachine feel to it, and the ult causes her lower body to disappear to provide the metal for a molten wave)
Cmon Rito, when you gonna listen to me :C
RiotKindlejack2 votesI think there was a concept for a T-1000 type Zac as a launch skin but it was way too complex at the time. It seems like a pretty obviously great skin for him but would require almost a champion worth of vfx/animation to do faithfully.
A side note Mecha and PROJECT are different universes, as is Battlecast that Vel'koz isn't supposed to be there :S
Chromatic Eagle1 votesWhat's the difference between Mecha, PROJECT, and Battlecast again? I'm guessing there won't be a Mecha Lucian, or a PROJECT Sion.
RiotKindlejack2 votesMecha are giant robots, PROJECT is dystopian cybertnetic military and Battlecast is more like T-800 terminators all gritty n warmachiney. That's a fair guess we often think about which sci fintheme they'd best fit into, although robotic characters would lend themselves to multiple sci fi themes.
nosafterburn1 votesSee, that's a shame cuz i could totally see a Mecha and Full Metal team up vs a Project, Program, and Battlecast universe. Maybe Viktor originally worked and created Liss as an AI to help him in the creation of the Battlecast and Project line, but Liss wanting to be seperate and free from him secretly created the Full Metal's. Meanwhile the yordles started to create the Mecha's to help fight and free the humans that were turned into Projects. Now that some Projects are free they are starting to rebel against everything including Liss and Raka.........but that's just my imagination on it i guess. thanks for letting me run with it.
RiotKindlejack2 votesThat's why, although I like to share our thoughts about skin creation, we don't want to be prescriptive about AU. These worlds are yours now, create whatever stories you want!
EROTIC RAID BOSS1 votesDo you guys have any new skin lines planned for this year?
RiotKindlejack1 votesSo far we've had Program, Gothic Horror, Lucha and Dark Star as well as bringing back some classics like Deep Sea and Death Blossom - I'd also say this year's Super Galaxy set are drastically different to Rumble. But yes, we do.
Chromatic Eagle1 votesWhat's the lore behind Program, Deep Sea, and Death Blossom?
RiotKindlejack1 votesI would love to do some more Deep Sea, or when champion update reworks the old ones, that are like Kaijyū that could fight the Mecha; emerging from the deep oceans to threaten yordle-kind.
Program are sentient AI; Lissandra is an unseen mastermind with a security force of iBlitz's that control the city's populous while Soraka-bots are built for administering care both on the battlefield and in hospitals. Kinda like ghost in the shell, i robot, blade runner, ex machina etc. They are everywhere, they are aware, and we have relied on them to the point of being at their mercy...
Death Blossom is inspired by insects (and arachnids) that camouflage by taking on the appearance of flowers. Species of mantis and spider are well known for this trait, hence Elise and Kha'zix sharing this theme.
Torgaz1 votesWill you guys be looking to go back and add more of other lines? For example one I have seen on the boards that I would love to see is Full Metal Vi
RiotKindlejack2 votesYeah I've been thinking about 'Full Metal' and what that even means. I really like the original concept for FM Jayce, it had an art deco edge to it like a 50's toaster. Pantheon is some kind of scrap-built armour and Rammus seems to be a full robot. An odd bunch.
Email Support1 votesHi. I like you. Wanna date?
RiotKindlejack3 votesNo but I admire your forwardness; be honest and brave and go through life with your head held high, you'll never know if you don't try!
EROTIC RAID BOSS1 votesNot saying you haven't done some cool ones already was just wondering if you had any more to look forward to in the next 3 months ha
I love the gothic horror ones idk if those got enough credit, possibly the best 750 line you've done
RiotKindlejack2 votesThanks dude that means a lot to us!
In the next three months? Absolutely >:)
l Helios l2 votesMay be a long shot, but what do you think of a space themed GP skin? Think about it: "Interstellar Scourge GP." His Q could be a laser pistol with a neat little zap sound to it, his W could be...well his W (maybe a space fruit or something), his barrels could be like plasma bombs with green explosions, and his ukt could fire lasers instead of cannon balls. You could have him all futuristic looking and junk, have a shiny metal arm and everything. I think that'd be cool.
love god4 votesActually this is exactly where Battle Boss came from. 'Miniboss Blitz' was his working titles but didn't feel great... perhaps there are other kinds of bosses? Secret Boss, Hidden Boss, Optional Boss (lel), Big Boss, Raid Boss etc.
When I play Nasus we jokingly call him the 'Raid Boss'. Might be something there >:)
Any Arcade-Villain Viktor skins planned or thought about? Its been a long while since we have had a Viktor skin, and he doesn't have a fun/goofy skin yet. I think that his character would fit in perfect for an Arcade-Villain skin!
