Diana, the Scorn of the Moon!

Posted on at 4:56 AM by Moobeat
Gaze upon the sneak peak for our next champion - Diana, the Scorn of the Moon!
"Not all creatures of the night are the sort that lurk in the shadows. A select few leap headlong into the fray, leaving enemies begging for sunshine. Shunned by the people of the sun, Diana turned in isolation to the cold power of the moon’s glow. She hurls herself into the heat of the fight, wielding her crescent blade and unleashing lunar energy with merciless ferocity. If you’re awed by the darkness of the night, but never one to hide in the shadows, you’re sure to be drawn to this knight of the moon and her relentless pursuit of vengeance."

While "armored lady" is about all it takes to get me hooked on a champion, a few of you might be wondering what exactly is depicted in the teaser above. Is it Leona and the new champ? Is it Leona battling with someone related or affiliated with Diana? Luckily, RiotRunaan cleared it up a little bit for us:
"...the Chosen of the Sun and Chosen of the Moon depicted in the mural are not Leona and Diana, but their ancient predecessors "
Furthermore, RiotRunaan also mentioned that Leona and Diana are not "bound by blood", implying they are not sisters or related in any way.

Continuing to enlighten us, IronStylus, who let out early hints about Diana in the forum of a secret forum code, chipped in about the teaser art by revealing:
"The discarded robes of a Solari acolyte lay before her. She has cast them aside, paying homage to the past, embracing the heresy."
Her lore seems to be very engaging already, but what do we know about her design and the people behind it? IronStylus mentioned he is responsible for Diana's visual style, Volty ( designer behind Draven, Leona, Maokai, and more ) for her mechanics, while Harrow and RiotRuaan contributed to the lore and creative design. IronStylus also had a few more things to squawk out
On her design philosophy...
"Diana is an experiment and a culmination of feedback in terms of visual design and character design in general.

Every comment I've gotten in the past from high-heels on Leona, to lessons on boob-plates vs. breast-plates, to skin exposure, to that whole.. "it has to read as female" thing I said, etc, has been considered in her design. I wanted to make someone very unique.

She is not ostentatious, she is not flamboyant, she is not overly sexual. She is sleek and deadly. She is contemplative and appropriately detached. She is a tragic figure but a triumphant one. Her story is one of defiance, perseverance, exile, validation and surrender. She is not vapid, nor shallow, nor simple. She is elegant yet vicious. She is not hateful, she is determined.

She has been a challenge on all fronts as she is not typical. She is very much influenced by Eastern tropes of surrendering one's self via tragedy and gaining something extraordinary. Diana though, unlike traditional characters out for "revenge", has sought acceptance only to find rejection. She is someone we can relate to on that level.

We very much tried to hit all three areas of development, art, design, creative, as holistically as possible. My hope is that we achieved something special. =)"
On Diana's blade like weapon of choice...
"We considered a scythe. Sorta felt like a Hecarim weapon. We considered two scythes, sorta felt like Akali weapons. I wanted to use something scythe or sickle-like, but the standard treatment didn't fit. It was actually davin who pointed me toward the khopesh which yielded the best middle ground. It's sort of a reverse khopesh though, with the business end being the inner part of the curve. It wasn't a sword, it wasn't a scythe, but it was something in between that felt like it hinted at reaping. She is of the moon, she signifies the reaping of the dead crops so that the new ones can grow."
Additionally, it seems a great divide is forming on the forums, both among Rioters and Summoners, between which is the more righteous - Leona, the Sun, or Diana, the Moon.



Which do you choose? Do you protect the faith or do you embrace the heresy?


P.S I think more than a few of you will recognize Diana from the deeper look into 6-8 PBE, where her files included  stun and silence abilities. While these may have changed since then,  I'm interested to see where her kit ended up.

38 comments

  1. Looks like Riot is eager not to be included in the Tropes vs Women in Video Games garbage. Too bad she'll just rip them a new one regardless.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am still annoyed by the fact that women can "sexualize" a male character but when a guy does it to a female character "oh noes! Feminist cuntbags unite!" Thank god feminism is dying, i am tired of this bullshit about "equal rights" when you still see girls treating guys like garbage.
      Sexism SHOULD work both ways.

      Delete
    2. Or maybe sexism just shouldn't exist. Also, when was the last time you saw rule 34 on any of the male champions in the league. Or any male champions with, say, an impractical codpiece or something to outline and say, "Hey guys, this is a dude!" In short, shut up and be glad you don't have to put up with sexist bullshit each day, you privileged fuck.

      Delete
    3. Your privilege is showing.

      Delete
    4. For the record, Paheal, one of the largest rule34 aggregators, has a colossal selection of male LoL rule34. And things such as Pantheon's unreasonable 12pack and Garen's ridiculous shoulders could be examples of overt objectification.

      Delete
    5. Are you some kind of retard?
      "or maybe sexism should not exist at all"
      Sure, it would be better if there was no such thing, but at the same time there should be no war either, do you see that happening? No? Ok, well fuck you then. Let me qoute some more, "Shut up and be glad you don't have to put up with sexist bullshit every day" Oh, i will; as soon as women stop dressing like whores THEN they can complain. No, this does not apply to every female on the planet, and for that i am happy. And please, ever heard of Hentai / Porn or seen guys in adverts, and looked up rule 34 of guys specifically? Its JUST as ridiculous, sometimes even more.
      I have no fucking privilege over any other gender.

      Delete
    6. I honestly think there should be hotter male champions. I don't like any of the current ones. :(

      Delete
    7. Honestly I'm glad to see Riot as a progressive studio. Their attitude about female champs is they should have practical design for their theme. They realized that in the past they failed a few times in the past, and our moving forward with that in mind. That takes courage as most other studio's don't even considered these types of things.

      Delete
    8. and jarvan??? SEXY AS HELL!!!

      Delete
  2. Probably she's something close to a Talon. Hope she have blink and all this stuns and silences.

    ReplyDelete
  3. when is Diana going to be release in PBE? like to try her..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope soon. I was actually surprised we got a sneak peek this week as I expected to see stuff starting next week since Zyra just rolled out... I wonder if she'll come out next week.

      Delete
  4. We'll slow at 100th champion release.
    OH, RLY? But i love Diana... I don't know her, but i love her xD

    ReplyDelete
  5. She is very much influenced by Eastern tropes of surrendering one's self via tragedy and gaining something extraordinary.As in? Idont get what he is reffering to.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's something in anime, wuxia, etc.

      The hero gives up everything or loses everything (family, friends, town, their sanity, etc.) and ends up gaining immense power in the form of magic, a special weapon, and so on.

      Delete
  6. I'm happy that they keep releasing new champions, as far as I'm concerned, for how many champions LoL has, it's still generally balanced.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thats how i feel too, bithing is blatebtly overpowered close to 2/3 of te champions are pickable its just a few 20-30 that are not string enouph and that number is dwibdlibg fast. 2/3 is HUGE for a viable tournament roster. Street fighter, coubter strike(weapons) and even dota 2 have yet to hit those numbers.

      Delete
    2. Wow i need to stop sending messages from my phone, that first line should read "nothing is overpowered" theres only about 1/3 of the champs who are too weak to be pick worthy.

      Delete
  7. I can see Celestia and Luna here! :D Awesome!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bronies find a way to relate ANYTHING back to MLP no matter what it is.

      Delete
  8. I just hope she has sailor moon jokes.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Nemerian, if you read some of the eastern classics, a number of the novels talk of surrendering your self to become more. I cant go into more specifics only having read translations. Some of them dont exactly translate well *cough* journey to the west*cough* but still interesting. Cant remeber which one had the surrendering oneself part in it though....must re-read them again

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hey Moobeat, do u know if there will be skins about London olimpic games????

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not sure, I'd imagine if we got any themed skins they would come in the next patch. If so, probably nothing limited but more akin to the Chinese New Year skins from early 2012

      Delete
  11. I guess this means leona buffs to be able to contend and smack up diana

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Leona is right hand woman ro blitzcrank in the smash your face in bottom labe support right now its like

      Alistar
      Blitzcrank
      Janna
      Leona
      Soraka
      Taric
      Lulu
      Sona
      ---------
      Karma

      Delete
  12. So much for my theory that she is the one Leona refused to kill in her trial by combat. Being a living loser in a fight to the death that never even happened would probably not go over well.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Well nice move riot.nothing brings together a community than picking sides just to hate the other one.GJ

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ok the part of my brain responsible for my English just died.BRB

      Delete
  14. well.. i'm gonna buy her because she looks badass while still being feminine but actually having some clothes on so hah. also i like the night more than the day.

    ReplyDelete
  15. MantigerturtlebearbirdJuly 26, 2012 at 12:43 PM

    Sweet. And they put some extra effort into the design. Anyone knows what role she might be suited for?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. i think she's a tank unfortunately. if she's a tank im gonna be a sad panda but if she's a tanky dps i'm gonna buy the hell out of her. Currently im trying to get better at solo top and jungle .. so she'd be a nice addition

      Delete
    2. MantigerturtlebearbirdJuly 26, 2012 at 4:28 PM

      Well Riot did talk about adding another supportive champion, but I do agree that a tanky dps would be a nice addition, especially since there are no female ones (or am I misstaken?).

      Delete
    3. MantigerturtlebearbirdJuly 26, 2012 at 4:33 PM

      Silly me, forgot about Irelia and Riven. Oh well, still too few.

      Delete
  16. Assasin with some aura-buffs for allies and cc?

    ReplyDelete
  17. I wonder if lol is making Summer Olympic skins i hope they do ! :o

    ReplyDelete