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If and when you give Jax a VGU... [Warning, somewhat long]

Erractic Eick·3/3/2017, 7:05:14 AM·23 votes·3,470 views

Please make sure his in-game model has a bulky physique.

I don't mean eggplant shaped. If you look at Jax's splash work, you can see he's not a slim guy, though. He's muscular, but not lean. Broad at the shoulder, broad at the waist, broad at the hips. He's less form and more function in his body type. He's clearly a big guy.

http://cdn.leagueoflegends.com/game-info/1.0.15/images/champion/backdrop/bg-jax.jpg

This is important in multiple senses: Jax as a character is not a good looking warrior. Quite the opposite, in fact. Sure, he's a badass looking warrior, but not a dainty, pretty power. He isn't supposed to be a knight in shining armor, like Garen. Jax's strength visibly isn't as graceful in nature, and that's because when you look at Jax, you see from the very beginning that he is powerful in a raw sense. He's bulky. He's confident. He's experienced in his stance. He's confident he can kick ass with a lamppost, for god's sakes! He screams power, and with that power, there is function in his physique.

https://images-cdn.9gag.com/photo/aKzdop6_700b_v3.jpg

Jax is not supposed to be a Mister Universe type. His features are disfigured. His power isn't pretty. So he should have a body type to match. He should be built, mountain man style, though not necessarily tall. He should look dangerous, even through the whimsy of his lamppost.

That's all I have as input. Thanks for making an incredible champion, and keeping him awesome through the years, and keep up the good work, guys!

Edit: I just want to address that even though he is visibly strong does not mean he has to give up being graceful in his fighting style. This model will keep him visibly and stylistically different from Yi and Shen, however, both of whom have a graceful, slim form.

9 Comments

Lùmen3/3/2017, 12:17:23 PM8 votes

This is the first time I think an old champ has more potential than Mordekaiser. Just thinking about his attack animation changing as he stacks his passive up and every empowered attack animation, and the lamp post catching fire like it did back in the New Dawn cinematic.. Also, I am not sure if this kind of subject can apply to Jax as his body features are quite a mystery.. I mean, the size of his fingers alone seems overwhelming.

mr Boombastic7873/3/2017, 7:35:11 PM5 votes

I like this. They should not make him look like a bodybuilder. Though I don't fullt agree with you. For me, Jax is a more agile fighter rather than a powerhouse like Darius, Mordekaiser and Sion are supposed to be. He is a agile man that is skilled with malee weapons not the strongest man alive. I would like riot to make him a little bit in between someone like Shen and what showed. Just my opinion :P

Oleandervine3/3/2017, 11:43:51 PM2 votes

Here's the disconnect from reality though - Jax's weapon and fighting style is not typical of stocky muscle mass. People with stocky muscle mass are very rarely agile or adept at finesse style combat. The type of weapons that support stocky muscle mass are weapons that require you to use blunt force and and generated power to be effective- weapons such as battle axes (see Sion, Darius), broadswords and claymores (See Garen), clubs (Trundle, Mordekaiser), and hammers. These weapons require massive force to initiate and become devastating - this is why the people trained in such weapons are heavily muscled and stocky, they need the muscle for the power and the heavy build to be rooted to land their blows effectively.

Switch over to Jax. He uses a lamp post. For all purposes, it's more of a bo staff or quarterstaff. A staff based weapon is not generally a weapon that utilizes brute force to be effective, instead relying on speed, very close range, and repeated blows to attack and throw enemies off guard. Your power at long range with this weapon is excessively low, due to having little to no brace on the weapon beyond arm length, and thus it makes this weapon most deadly in closer combat, where you can firmly grasp and attack using both ends of the staff. This weapon is not a weapon that will be useful in the hands of someone muscular or stocky, because someone of that build can't use momentum to their advantage - they are inherently slow due to their mass, and to be efdective, you need speed. They have great heft when they can deliver a powerful blow with a weapon designed for power, but a staff just is not that weapon. This is why you tend to see very skinny, lean martial artists who are masters of the staff, and this is why Jax can't realistically be a bulky humanoid if his weapon of choice is a finesse weapon.

kasfas3/4/2017, 2:51:56 AM1 votes

Here's an idea, and I KNOW riot can do it with enough effort.

Whenever had gets updated, his passive makes him a REAL grandmaster at arms, allowing him different attack animations as well as possibly weapon models and special effects based upon what weapon he buys and chooses to use.

Here's an example:

Passive- GRANDMASTER AT ARMS: Jack is a master of every weapon in existence, and changes his fighting style depending on which weapon he has equipped.

Lamppost:Jax's his standard attacks grant him (x%) bonus attack speed per attack stacking up to 8 times.

Sword: Jax gains a powerful blow every three attacks (which is effected only 50% by bonus attack speed) that slashes in an arc in front of him (dealing x physical damage.) had healing him for a % (x%) of damage dealt

Dagger: Jax gains an additional quick attack every 2 attacks (dealing x physical damage.) that bleeds his target for (x (small amount)) bonus physical damage

Blunt: Jax's base attack speed is reduced (by 30%), but every third attack smashes the ground around jax in an area ( ~ 175 units) dealing x physical damage and applying a (x%) slow.

Halberd/scythe/(long range melee): Jax gains (100) attack range and penetrates a percent (x%) of targets armour.

Flail: Jax's attacks gain (25) attack range, and apply in a small pass through aoe dealing (x%) less damage per enemy unit passed through after the first.

Staff: Every spell cast by Jax empowers him making his next attack deal (x) bonus magic damage in an area which increases in size based on how many stacks he has (max 3)

Tome: (Jax cannot read due to the amount of time he spent mastering actual weapons, so he hurls pages of the book for his basic attacks dealing an additional x magic damage.) Jax's spells gain potency increasing damage (by x) and cc duration (by x seconds).

Gun : Jax gains a ranged attack (+325 range) every x seconds in combat (10 seconds?) that deals (x) bonus physical damage and applies on-hit effects.

Bow: Jax gains a shot at long (+600?) range dealing (x ad + x ap) physical damage every x seconds (25 seconds?) when out of enemy vision.

This should cover every actual weapon in the game, and any item that doesn't fall under one of these categories cannot be used to fight with. If you can think of a weapon that isn't on the list, Inform me.

The idea is that jax's play style changes based upon which type of weapon he chooses to use, but can always just default back to the lamppost. This both allows jax more flexibility in fights, but allows multiple different play styles to be viable all on the same champion.

This is probably pretty overloaded, but I thought it would be a fun investigation into having Jax's role reflected in his playstyle(s).

I also think this would make Jax as a character that much more interesting, as he is this bulky guy who is deadly proficient at using ANYTHING you put in his hands, even a lamppost.