Boards›Story, Art, & Sound

Thoughts from a 1 Million Mastery Illaoi.

TTK Dreadnought·10/31/2017, 9:32:30 AM·25 votes·11,054 views
Choose the Next Illaoi Skin - Nexus

First, it's nice to get this kind of response from riot about a champion who has needed a second skin for a while. I do hope urgot will be following eventually since yorick has gotten a new one now.

> What have i been personally looking for in a new skin?

  • I've been wanting one of two options when it comes to a new skin for Illaoi.
    • One, was to get a skin that made her feel more threatening or felt more serious when playing as, or against. Generally i associated this with an Infernal Illaoi, with tongues of flame as tentacles, Gold/Black/Red Armor and highlights. Tentacle's slamming would leave the brief burn mark (similar to Infernal Nasus Q), while her R would be a much larger branding on the ground. Or something similar to a Horrowing Skin, where instead of Nagakaborous being the recycler of life, she is the taker of it.
    • The second was something more casual or fun, similarly to Pool Party Illaoi who would have an inflatable kraken instead of an idol and tentacles would either be inflatables or pool noodles.

>What's required for a new skin for me?

    *  Illaoi is most noticeable for her visual and sound effects. Illaoi is loud in both areas. Illaoi's character model features are focused on the Idol in hand, in addition to the tentacle models. She is also, one of the more vocal champions i've played due to her nature of testing an opponents faith through force.
            * Strong clear visual effects
            * Strong clear Sound effects
            * New Models for both tentacles and Illaoi
            * New Vocals, not just a modified VO
            * Models and Animations must flow, but show impact.

> What is my opinion on Voidbringer Illaoi?

      * Voidbringer Illaoi's concept of being a Void Priest for the Voidborn Nagakaborous was a good idea due to it being more of a mirror take on normal Nagakaborous and Illaoi. however, while the tentacle models and character models are decent, the skin gets ruined by the overbearing shades of purple and just a modified VO. Classic Illaoi is adorned with Golds, Blues, Greens, with a bit of Brown. If voidbringer Illaoi had some blues and reds mixed into her color pallet similar to chogath and reksai, it would of been much better. The VO filter, while it helps make the skin fit the theme they wanted, it just doesnt sound very good with the original quotes. I know riot prices the skins a certain way due to the work put into them, but i feel like i got a 950 skin, rather than a 1350 rare skin. I did buy it, but i honestly only use it to match any void champs or color schemes on my team. Otherwise, i use the classic skin.

What are my opinions on the 3 revealed Illaoi concepts? Well, let's reveal those.

> DEEP SPACE ILLAOI > Infected during a mission in space, Deep Space Illaoi and her “friend” now roam the universe looking to add to their family.

So, a few of my friends liked this idea, and i myself own AstroNaut and Astronaut Teemo. It was considered to be my vote. But after some thinking, i realized. It's just another Voidbringer Illaoi. From what i imagine from the concept art, is similar to what Voidbringer makes me think of. A New model for both Illaoi and tentacles, but also a filtered VO with some new colored effects and recall. It sounds like a nice idea for Illaoi to be corrupt in this way, but it just doesn't feel different enough from Voidbringer to become my vote and i believe it's potential just isnt there. In addition, Illaoi becoming an astronaut/space explorer seems a bit too deep space for her, even for an Alternate Universe and i know it's just concept art, but a space suit looks horrible on her. I'll be glad to see it as a 950 skin down the line though. Until then, Nautilus and Teemo will venture through the final frontier on their own.

> ADVENTURER ILLAOI (Illaoiana Jones) > She’s beaten ancient curses, discovered hidden temples, explored the depths of the ocean, and survived it all unscathed

This was also a good idea to "stay true, but explore", but this ends up having a "rehashing" feel to it. the model concepts are fantastic. Using a tangle of vines for tentacles, the design for the golden idol is very meso-american-esque which dips into the original conceptual designs for Illaoi to begin with. The tangle of vines spawning from crevices in the image in nice and reminds me of the tentacle spawning from DreadNova Gangplank's Recall. Some visual effects can include vines spreading when a Tangle slams or when she ults, or maybe other jungle style plants and flowers. However, the color scheme for her, falls too close to her classic skin. I'll take this as a strong second choice though, simply because its similar to her classic skin which i enjoy so much with some differences. I also cant think of much Vo that could really be too different.

>** BATTLECAST ILLAOI** >_Part machine, part human, Battlecast Illaoi fights for the survival of all organics against Creator Viktor’s “Evolution.”

So this concept was interesting. I've always wondered if "Full Metal Illaoi" could ever be a thing (Similar to Jayce/Pantheon). So far, i do have to say, it's my favorite concept so far when it comes to potential. First, her outfit is actually pretty sweet looking and it kind of gives her a "i'm a badass" feel. The concept makes it feel like she can take a hit, AND dish it out with the cybernetic components. Illaoi's original theme of "Live life to the fullest" can be replicated in her will and faith to not only survive on her own, but to help others survive the machine evolution. Next part, the robot head. While this is a concept art, the robot head looks rather weird with the wires hanging out of it, but the robot head in general could look differently to begin with. The other part, is the robotic hand for the tentacle. that completely looks tacky. its the weirdest part about the skin, however, its also the most unique model for a tentacle thus far, although it needs some improvement. I believe it would look better if it was more like something that could be used to rip apart robots that isnt a hand. the rest of the "tentacle" is fine looking. The VO for this skin, has more possibilities due to it being a "resistance" group against a greater threat rather than teaching faith. And with a known enemy, there can be special interactions among other things. so i see this having some flexibility and potential. Visual effects wise, similarly to Adventure Illaoi, wires can spread out from the ground, or broken machine parts could be involved. The color scheme doesnt invade her other skins, nor are they as overbearing as Voidbringer and i dont like how the space looks on illaoi. i think Battlecast Illaoi has the highest potential to be a great skin, however, the hand on the tentacle needs to be messed with more conceptually, and a name better than Battlecast Illaoi must be available.

49 Comments

RiotRiot DrPh810/31/2017, 7:57:17 PM15 votes

Yooooo!!! Thank you for taking the time to write up your thoughts TTK Techno! I just got around to answering some of the boards posts, and a fellow Rioter referred your post to me to check out. You make a lot of very well thought out points here amigo, and these are all things that we ping pong back and forth during our review meetings. Fistbump!

Also, just to clarify, we aren't going to just make the skin that wins the votes and then completely toss out the other ideas and never come back to them. This event has clearly struck a chord with players and has brought out some passionate discussions (such as yours!) so we'd be fools to just never revisit the other two skins.

A really cool side effect that we didn't anticipate is that there are a ton of skin ideas players have pitched as a reaction to the vote. I used to spend hours dreaming up skin ideas for Champs as a player, so to see something my team is a part of sparking that creativity is extremely rewarding and humbling.

Please hit us with feedback throughout the process of the skins creation as well. We're all gonna make something kickass together, so strap in and get comfy!

RiotBilby10/31/2017, 7:55:01 PM7 votes

Thanks so much for the thoughtful post! Forgive me for focusing on only one small part of it--

I want to hear more about what you said about the name Battlecast Illaoi & what other options you all might wanna see instead. Those names are placeholder for now, but they might still be the best options in the end. Battlecast is a tough one since she's in that universe but not part of the faction--in the past, we've been inconsistent about theme names & the names of factions within those themes. I think "Resistance" sounds cool but think that steps on Resistance Caitlyn.

In my mind, calling it "Battlecast" most clearly indicates what the general look and feel of the skin is gonna be, and anyone who cares more about the story behind the skin will read and find that info. But I could totally be wrong.

KuroCaliber10/31/2017, 1:07:41 PM6 votes

It's not going to have vo changes, only legendaries get those, or a skin on release like taliyah, when the voice actor was already in house

VelvetCrotch11/1/2017, 8:44:17 PM2 votes

awesome written bro. have the same opinion! ;)

ChompyWulf10/31/2017, 9:33:18 PM2 votes

While each skin has this going for it, I think Deep Space offers the best choice.

Illaoi's two existing skins are heavily dominated by one color, green for base and purple for Void. While base skin has some brown in the model, it blends into the terrain a lot. I feel like the Adventurer skin is weakest of the group. It's a very similar color palette to base skin and looks like something that would be a cheap skin, a 750 rp skin.

While I like some of what Battlecast is doing, I dislike the hand, dislike how she is a cyborg when all of Battle cast has been fully mechanized, and again it is largely dominated by a single color. Additionally, I am growing tired of so many skins expanding existing skin sets and fewer new concepts and visions being put out.

I think Deep Space offers the best new look, the contrast of the inky corruption against the spacesuit (which begs to be chroma'd) , a slight tie-in to the existing Astronaut skins, and also potentially the Alien Invader.

Daunt10/31/2017, 1:58:47 PM1 votes

This is why i actually wouldn't opt for skin voting. I like all 3 skins and all of them have amazing potentials to really kick ass so it kinda sucks that only one will be made. Especially if you are a main of the champion getting the skin. I think it's better if players are not aware of failed concepts to avoid disappointment. Also, from an artists point of view the skin might not be as creative as it could with some other themes since you just get a concept that you simply have to make.

Rayjay Redfang10/31/2017, 10:52:50 PM1 votes

I agree with you for the most part, the only thing I disagree with is the space one. It just doesn't remind my of voidbringer (which I don't really like that much either, but maybe chromas would help).

Żügżwäng11/1/2017, 5:05:12 PM1 votes

I'm not sure why so many people are going for adventure. It's not really that "thicc" like some are saying... Battlecast is more of a fanservice.

The problem with adventure is that it's just too close to the base skin in concept and appearance. Both deep space and battle offer something different and interesting. I would have preferred if there deep space one went for the Alien biomass for tentacles (ala dead space event horizon zerg etc) but it's still quite attractive with a portalesque space suit.

R0XTAR10/31/2017, 9:26:26 PM1 votes

"Corrupted" Illaoi. She is supposed to be using the Battlecasts against Creator Viktor, yet it would make no sense for this "traitor" to also be called a Battlecast when they serve Vik.

Like, it definitely needs a name change to show what her goal truly is. I don't wanna have to read up on the lore for a champion skin to understand what the whole thing is about.

"Corrupted" would make the most sense as she is leading a rebellion against the machines.. not Battlecast. "Obstruction" Illaoi.

These are just some ideas