If Swain isn't going to be "The Tactician" anymore, will there be a new Champion to take that role?

darkdill·10/30/2017, 7:46:47 PM·12 votes·1,409 views

Riot's reworking Swain's backstory and niche to be "The Dictator", more or less, but this leaves the slot of "Tactician" open to being filled. Having just gotten off watching some more Star Wars Rebels, and witnessing more of Grand Admiral Thrawn's brilliance in action (I love how they haven't bastardized him), I want to see someone of such caliber in League's lore.

Will there be anyone to take those reins?

44 Comments

Chembaron Yamada10/30/2017, 11:28:59 PM5 votes

I thought for a long time that Noxus shouldn't get the master tactician. That country is one of the strongest simply because of number advantage.

If a land with that many warriors has basically the best tactician in the world, conflicts with them would be totally one-sided since they get all the advantages.

The master tactician should be from a small country, making it able to compete with the other nations even if they have less warriors, simply because they got the advantage of superior tactics.

My preferred version: Piltover. That city is highly advanced. The master tactician could use cameras to collect data and give instructions from safe distance.

Their advanced culture makes sense to give them the master tactician archetype.

Other possibilities:

Mount Targon, an aspect could fill that role
Bilgewater, tricky capt'n leading a fleet

Helmight10/31/2017, 12:31:35 AM5 votes

I kinda feel like "tactician" just isn't a great theme for a game like League of Legends. In an ideal world, any sane tactician is up on a hill three hundred miles away watching the action and dictating orders, not fighting down in the trenches with everyone else.

Not saying that Riot couldn't find a clever way to sneak a tactician into the game, but I do find it unlikely.

GreenLore10/30/2017, 10:45:46 PM5 votes

I think it is possible that a new champ would fill that role eventually,but I wouldn't count on it anytime soon.

After all we still don't have a new metalmancer Mordekaiser in the game.

Digielf10/31/2017, 9:16:16 AM3 votes

Azir Azir is already a tactician, all his abilities are about commanding others

Jet Sett10/31/2017, 12:34:30 AM3 votes

I hope "Dictator" doesn't mean some meathead brute force only kinda guy is gonna replace Swain. If he's not gonna be THE master tactician, then hopefully he'll be A tactician to some extent. The whole interesting part about him to me was how he managed to beat the previous general of Noxus in a straight fight that no one thought he could win, if he's some brute force kinda Dictator I can't see how his lore will make his rise to the leader of Noxus be interesting in any way.

Chaos Milk Tea10/30/2017, 10:03:13 PM2 votes

I was thinking this too. My biggest qualm with old swain was that he wasn't much of a tactician, which is exactly why I picked him up to begin with. Now he's at least going to be coherent with himself, but I STILL don't have a master tactician.

GripaAviara11/1/2017, 6:29:49 PM1 votes

Would be cool,

Probably an ability to augment and order creeps to attack a target. Also some slick mechanics where you plan in advance by placing some sort of beacons and each beacon gives you and your team a specific boost, also you can't place them exactly near each other

kalima99410/31/2017, 7:59:13 AM1 votes

He isn't much of a tactician anyway, he's very linear

Naalith10/31/2017, 11:50:31 PM1 votes

I mean, it sounds like he did some tricky shit behind the scenes to screw over Urgot and gain the dark magic of some sort of Raven god. Although he might not be known as "the master tactician," he is definitely playing 4D chess with other Noxian leaders and being extremely ruthless and cunning in order to assume his dictatorial position. He's still extremely intelligent and good at planning, like a tactician, but when you have a dark magic wielding-raven transforming-tyrant who used underhand tactics to become the leader of one of the most powerful traditional armies of the world, tactician doesn't really bubble to the top in terms of all his "accomplishments."

Plus, we have Kled , the paragon of well thought out battle strategy and careful cool-headed planning.

shicky9711/1/2017, 4:14:02 PM1 votes

Swain doesn't really feel like "The Master Tactician" as he is now anyway. His joke is a perfect example of his fantasy versus his actual gameplay. A tactician would approach strategically from the flank to gain the advantage. In the actual game though, all Swain does is morph and eat them, no strategy required.

I don't think Noxus needs a new "Master Tactician" because they pretty much didn't have one in the first place.

ModKnightsKemplar11/1/2017, 5:52:23 PM1 votes

I think we won't see anyone adopt that fantasy for awhile, simply because that's going to have to be a brand new champion. It's not like it's leaving a void in the actual gameplay; Swain's biggest issue is that he never played like a master tactician.

Having that fantasy in the game would be sweet, but that's gonna be some delicate design, I imagine.