Taliyah: The Stone Weaver - Revealed!

Sharjo·May 3, 2016·18 votes·3,546 views

Champion Reveal: Taliyah, the Stoneweaver

Behold Taliyah in her full glory!

29 Comments

PyrodiniumMay 3, 20164 votes

Those spell particles are completely on point.

The way she spins during Threaded Volley is just awesome.

HexaDecimelMay 3, 20163 votes

I really like all of her partials except for her E ability. If she is using her ability to draw rocks from beneath the earth I think they should all have different shapes and be slightly different in size. In my opinion it would also look better if the rock placement on her E wasn't so orderly and perfectly lined up.

PyrodiniumMay 3, 20161 votes

Yes, different rock models would be a nice touch, but remember that you can only take so many liberties on the aesthetics.

Unraveled Earth creates a zone that interacts with your enemies' positioning and dashes. It has to meet a certain amount of visual clarity, since the enemies need to know at a glance if they are standing on the minefield. Considering that most of Taliyah's abilities (and many other champions') create visual effects on the ground, it seems reasonable that Riot took the safest approach on visuals.

HexaDecimelMay 3, 20161 votes

I understand that, but it looks like they made one rock model and texture and then copied it 18 times and lined it up perfectly. It really doesn't give off the feeling of Taliyah using her power to draw up bolders from beneath the earth.

A couple different rock models and some slight positional changes would be nice just so it doesn't look like a repetitive pattern.

MishliMay 4, 20161 votes

that's exactly what they did, the big thing is, in any game with lots of particals/that gets very hectic, ANY variance is taken note of, any abnormality/difference means something, like in 99% of all shoot-em-ups, even if an enemy looks the exact same, any color difference usually means it's a different thing. if there were positional variances in the rocks, people would not be able to clearly tell which ones would trigger if you dash over them, if they looked different, then the question would be 'does that rock do something different'

as a side note, there actually is a special reason for the 'perfect' order of the rocks i feel. look at the shape, it's a pyramid. the shape and design of the skill is a nod to shurima's pyramids like egypt

HexaDecimelMay 4, 20161 votes

I understand why they did it, I just personally don't think it looks very good.

Tesla EffectMay 3, 20163 votes

Sharjo, you speed demon you. [slayer-jinx-wink]

SharjoMay 3, 20166 votes

Only saw it after it'd been up for two minutes, so I thought I was late!

VeraskaMay 3, 20162 votes

Sharjo at the speed of light

option paralysisMay 3, 20161 votes

Everything looks great, but god damn.. again a champion without an ult that does dmg.

The Last BalladMay 3, 20161 votes

At least it is a utilitarian ult that isn't invulnerability!

PROJECT BearMay 3, 20161 votes

looks awesome. also completely copied from the earth benders of Avatar the last airbender. not even a shout out to the creators of Avatar? can we get a blind small girl skin after Toph?

PyrodiniumMay 3, 20167 votes

I don't see much of a Earthbender on Taliyah other than the fact that she manipulates rock and earth.

Most Earthbenders have a tough look and tend to be physically imposing (even Toph is has a more square silhouette that other members of Team Avatar), while Taliyah is slender and graceful (just like Azir, I would say).

Even her movements are very different. Earthbenders tend to favor solid, power stances where stability is key. Meanwhile Tali's motions are flowing and nimble (she even surfs on the rock).

MishliMay 4, 20161 votes

the thing is the mechanics of how she does it, with her motions affecting the ground around her (most obvious in the 'homecoming' video that literally looks like it's straight out of avatar) it's not like avatar invented elemental manipulation, also, though you are correct with earth bending martial arts generally being more 'grounded' the idea that 'martial movements = elemental control' is the real comparison being drawn here, as for her story i'd compare her much more closely to terra from teen titans. and toph also goes rock surfing in her own way

ShandrakeMay 3, 20162 votes

Avatar invented Earth manipulating characters. Better tell DC that Terra copied them too.

[slayer-jinx-unamused]

MrBuffingtonMay 3, 20161 votes

Facebook video as a gameplay preview for those (like me) who can't wait: https://www.facebook.com/leagueoflegends/videos/10157102718095556

WheatloafMay 3, 20161 votes

Vayne mains are ready to beg for roams.

ZackeryssMay 3, 20161 votes

http://am-a.akamaihd.net/image?f=http://news.cdn.leagueoflegends.com/public/images/pages/2016/april/tare/img/Taliyah_Splash_Wallpaper.jpg&resize=1093: Pretty hyped!

ShinirupMay 3, 20161 votes

Does anyone else think her art style doesn't match the rest at all?

The Last BalladMay 3, 20162 votes

In the fact that it is better? Yes.

ShinirupMay 4, 20161 votes

In what possible way is it better?

RalanrMay 3, 20161 votes

She looks like a mage I'd be interested to try.

Though I do hope the next champion is a tank, or at least melee. The last one melee champ was Illaoi with TahmKench being the last tank.

NicèstMay 3, 20161 votes

{quoted}

She looks like a mage I'd be interested to try.

Though I do hope the next champion is a tank, or at least melee. The last one melee champ was with being the last tank.

which were really recent

RalanrMay 3, 20161 votes

Were they? In terms of champion releases, Illaoi was 6 months ago with Tahm being 11 months ago. AurelionSol was 2 months and Jhin was 4.

I don't know if 6 months count as recent given how fast they've been bringing them out.

Imortal DragonMay 3, 20161 votes

You know i had a concept for a champion with the same Q T-T now i'll need to think of something else

OleandervineMay 3, 20161 votes

I want to know why her Ult is practically the same as Aurelion Sol's E. Sure it creates a wall, but in principle, it achieves a lot of the same purpose. Also like his E, Taliyah's passive is incredibly similar to Sol's E's passive, with three exception that she has to be near terrain. Additionally, her Q shares a similar aesthetic with Sol's orbiting stars. I was kind of hoping for more diversity, but it almost seems like the two design teams for her and Sol were cross contaminating each other, or one of the champs was the leftover skill ideas from the other. I like her concept though, and her spells do seem neat.

StrawberryBliss6May 3, 20161 votes

Riot is releasing so many champions so fast and it makes me mad >.< i can't get used to them all at once.

MishliMay 4, 20161 votes

my first impressions... I think the story is cool, her design is really cool with the bird parallels... but her face feels uncanny valley weird and i don't think her kit comes together very well

we have a mage with poke, that literally runs out of poke we have an initiator that likely can't survive initiating or will get caught out trying to get an angle to wall accross the team we have a roaming champ with out real hard cc (minus the ult with almost a 3 minute cooldown at rank 1) and we have a zone control mage who literally can 'out zone' herself putting down too many fields that lower her dps we also have a 'roaming zone control' mage whose passive limits her movement options, unless she takes time to set up zones... which means she can't roam very effectively. she also has good 'support like' abilities with peel and slows... but with every ability being aoe, she wouldn't work well as a support i think

Don't get me wrong, i think all of the abilities in her kit are really interesting, especially her E and her passive rock surfing LOOKS awesome... but i don't think it all works together on one champion

MishliMay 4, 20161 votes

hey... i just realized, her w is an upside down malphite E. every time i see her cast w. i picture a malphite on the other side of the ground punching people into the air... maybe it's just me.. but anyone else think that rock formation looks like a fist? (or riot logo in stone?)