New Summoner's Rift Skin: Undercity of Zaun

EDIT: Added Krug and Scuttler replacements, VO lines.

EDIT2: Link to my second idea, the Void Invasion of Shurima: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/summoners-rift/dApBZlfv-summoners-rift-skin-idea-void-invasion-of-shurima

So by all metrics that I’ve seen, Butcher’s bridge was a resounding success. There is already a lot of clamor for it to be a regularly appearing map interspersed with Howling Abyss in ARAM. There is a good reason for it. It’s gorgeous, the music is great, and Gangplank’s voiceover as the announcer made the champion and lore feel more connected to the game itself, which is always a good thing.

I think that this is a good direction to take the lore and map design elements. What I would like to see is more map reskins like this, but for Summoner’s Rift and Twisted Treeline. We all know that certain folks clamor for new game modes, and that Riot avoids those because champion balance is so heavily based on Summoner’s Rift. A good way to add variety to the setting would be creating new maps that are structurally and functionally identical to Summoner’s Rift, but massively different in appearance and tone. These maps could be set in locations the same way Butcher’s Bridge was set in Bilgewater, with references to champions that make their home there.

My initial idea for a map like this is one I call ‘The Undercity of Zaun’

Zaun: a city of towering buildings and deep, labyrinthine slums. A city of marvels, terrors, and rampant innovation unbridled by law or regulation. Byzantine corporations push the boundaries of the possible with little regard to those left by the wayside. Solitary geniuses and madmen pursue grand schemes and impossible designs. Deep beneath the surface, in the sewers and slums, gang warfare carves up the city into sectors that the wary traveler would do well to avoid. Some of these gangs are loyal to powerful or charismatic figures. Others are loyal to none but their own kind.

These gang wars have gone on for as long as anyone in Zaun can remember, but something different is happening now. The gangs are bigger. More organized. They whisper the names of powerful men with awe, and claim to fight in their name. Some strange substance has been discovered deep in the slums. Generations of biological waste, toxic chemicals, and magic infused machine oil have collected into a pool, creating a mixture with nigh-miraculous properties. Two titans of Zaun, more than any other, covet this resource, which has come to be called the Catalyst. They have, over time, gathered allies in the Zaunite underworld, working their will upon them, enhancing them in their own particular ways. Creating armies.

A gang war unlike any Zaun has ever experienced is coming, one that will shake the very foundations of the city. The Council of Zaun is powerless to intervene. Whoever comes out on top will have the power to shape the progress of Zaun for generations. Champions all over Runeterra have taken interest, and some few even fight for one side or the other. Are you ready to delve deep into the savage Undercity of Zaun?

Unit Design

Instead of the magically created minions of the rift, the minions of the Undercity of Zaun (UoZ) map reflect the rival gangs attempting to control the Catalyst.

Red minions: Viktor’s Hextech Army. Minions mimic Viktor’s Hextech augmentations, mechanical looking creatures of cogs, crystals, and steam. Viktor does the announcer voice for this team.

Blue minions: Mundo’s Mutant Mob. Minions are warped and grotesquely mutated by Mundo’s malicious ministrations. Oversized limbs, awkward gaits, wacky expressions. Mundo does the announcer voice for this team.

Blue Buff Guardian: Crazed Steam Golems, powered by blue mana crystals.

Red Buff Guardian: Sentient Sludge Mutants. Dripping with toxic red slime.

Wolves: Slum Panthers. Black mutated cats, hard to see in the darkness of the undercity.

Razorbeaks: Giant Rat swarm. Not as big as twitch, but large swarms of rats as single units.

Gromp: Psychotic Cyborg from Ekko’s video.

Krugs: Slime beasts (think Flans from Final Fantasy).

Scuttlecrabs: Some sort of Hextech scarab drone, think Necron scarabs from 40k.

Dragon: CYBERDRAGON! Rogue experiment by Viktor.

Baron: Catalyst Wyrm. Massive Baron-like beast mutated by the Catalyst.

Map Design

Using Summoner’s Rift as the base, Undercity of Zaun follows the exact pattern of the source map, much the way that Butcher’s Bridge follows Howling Abyss.

The three lanes become raised catwalks over the slums, with ramps leading down into the (urban) jungle . Instead of the trees, fallen logs, and stone of SR, UoZ’s jungle borders are towering buildings, steel girders, winding pipes, and piles of hextech junk. You can see frightened slum dwellers peeking from the windows, strange ooze dripping from the pipes, strange skittering creatures darting in and out of the junk, etc. The river is a bubbling, muddy trackway with puddles of the catalyst, a luminescent green liquid. The baron and dragon pits are large pools of Catalyst. Similar to how the four quadrants of SR are different in color and theme, the four quadrants of UoZ will reflect different aspects of Zaun. Additionally, certain champions linked to Zaun and the quadrants will have special lines the first time they move through various spots on the map.

North Quadrant: Viktor’s Junkyard. Jungle walls are piles of Hextech bits and bobs, piles of junk, smoke and broken golems and vehicles. Reds and browns. --Viktor VO: "Evolution always leaves the weak behind." --Blitzcrank: "What is it that I have, and these ones lacked?" --Heimerdinger: "Such a waste! Much here is repurposable!"

East Quadrant: Ekko’s Slum. Abandoned buildings, scurrying figures. Contains Ekko’s Mural. Dark, muted blues and grays. --Ekko VO: "I'm sorry. I couldn't keep them out." "I won't let you be forgotten." --Jinx: "UGH! I never wanted to see this place again." --Jayce: "Yet more evidence of Zaunite inferiority."

South Quadrant: Blasted Laboratory. Broken Pipes spewing sludge, jagged concrete and glass. Specimens on the loose. Possibly ZAC’s birthplace? Purples and whites. ZAC VO: "I wonder how mom and pop are doing?" Singed: "This is what comes of weakness." Ziggs: "I wish I'd been here to see the boom!"

West Quadrant: Twitch’s Sewers. You’ll find a little nest that belongs to Twitch here. Sewer grates, dripping waste, snaky pipes. Greens and blacks. --Twitch VO: "Home smelly Home!" "They better not track clean dirt on my nice filthy floor!" --Vi: "Ulp... I think I'm gonna hurl!" --Trundle: "I used to know a troll who'd be right at home here." If you like this idea, and you have artistic talent, do some concept art! Make suggestions!

If enough people like it, I'll expand on my other idea, "Void Invasion of Shurima."