8-3 News : Darius & Heimer Changes, Sion's update, Silly skins, and more!

Posted on at 5:13 AM by Moobeat
I'm glad to see that some of you have put down your the newly released Battlecast Prime Cho'Gath skin just long enough to visit good ole' S@20. To reward you, here is a recap of August 3rd's news and red posts!

I have red posts concerning upcoming changes for Darius, the status of the comprehensive Heimerdinger changes, Sion's model remake,  the future of "silly" skins, a small quip about Teek, and an unsatisfying post concerning the long lost Rocketeer Tristana skin. Additionally, The PBE also received a small update, including bug fixes and balance changes for Alistar and Zyra.

A few days ago, Morello commented that Darius was going to be receiving some changes in the near future. Responding to summoner eagerly awaiting these changes, Morello said
"We're gonna do Darius changes, we're just working on them. Make him less infuriating and more team-friendly.
So you get an IOU - no sense it doing it fast but 1/2-way. "
Summoners immediately took this as a declaration of nerfs for their favorite Hand of Noxus. Morello then elaborated further by saying
"Changes, not nerfs. Not buffs, both. Please stop carrying things to a ridiculous extreme and then assigning intent."
Heimerdinger, buff wise, has been left out in the cold for a while...
Similarly, Morello posted just an affirmation that Riot is still working on a little sompin' sompin' for Heimerdinger.
"We are! Xypherous has a comprehensive set of changes, but mad science takes time"
Could this be related to the tentative leak a few weeks back?
I'm not sure anyone will disagree that Sion has quite an unattractive character model.
So we all know Soraka, Katarina, and a few others are up for model updates soon, but what about Sion? Grumpy Monkey, one of the character artists, let the cat out of the bag today by saying
"Yes. New In game Model and textures. He is going to look like the Badass Undead Warrior, Freeze you with a Death Gaze, Scary Mutha He truly is."
Surprise Party Fiddlesticks, one of the last silly skins to come out of the community..
You may have noticed the trend of  more serious or thematic skins lately. It's very infrequent that we receive a jokey skin a la Hillbilly Gragas or Big Bad Warwick. Morello had this to say about Silly skins and if we can expect more:
"We do like funny skins, but the right funny skins are important. Jokes for jokes' sake tend to fall really flat (Hillbilly Gragas, for example) but things you guys are a big part of are super-win. Surprise Party Fiddle, Brolaf, Gentleman Cho'Gath - all these are awesome examples. We have a couple more coming up too.
To be frank though, silly skins will be done less than "cool" skins, but not avoided. We love clever jokes on this stuff, but it needs to be actually funny as opposed to just "derpderp." "

A champion who was abandoned long ago ( over two years now! ) , while still in the design process - the infamous Spider Queen. A few optimistic summoners were hopping Teek was a placeholder name for SQ, but it seems that notion has been shot down.
If you've tuned into S@20 for a while, you may remember Teek, one of the upcoming champions hidden away, along side Zyra ( then Xara ) and Diana, in the 6-8 PBE. Morello made mention of Teek today ( inside the Spider Queen needs you! thread ), saying:
"Teek is a placeholder name.

Though not for Spider Queen.

The plot thickens..."
Indeed the plot does thicken! From the PBE files we saw that Teek had a stealth, infest, and scent abilities, but that's definitely subject to change. Even Diana changed extensively since we she was first uncovered; her (limited ) files made mention of a silence, stun, and lance although all of those are missing from her live incarnation. 

Model viewer screen caps and the splash art for Rocketeer Tristana.
Riot responded to a thread about the presumably abandoned Rocketeer Tristana skin yesterday. This skin, which first popped up in the Viktor patch earlier this year, has yet to make its way into the store or be confirmed as cancelled. Morello confessed to being in the dark about it, saying
"Sorry, I have no idea on what this is about guys - way outside my area of expertise." 
He then steered summoners to someone else who might know more about the skin,
" I think on the promotions team (since it's a Facebook thing, right?)"
That someone else, RiotBazner, respond by saying
"Hey guys, before this gets out of hand with rumors, I just want to make it 100% clear, this skin (if it in fact exists) is not connected to Facebook in any way."
Annnnd we're right back to where we started! I'm curious why Riot wouldn't just confirm it's cancellation, as they have done in the past with skins like Dark Crusader Mordekaiser, or that it has been sent back to the chopping block.


Finally, PBE received a smallupdate today to apply bug fixes and few balance changes. Reign of Gaming reports the balance changes as:
Alistar
  • Headbutt now deals 55/110/165/220/275 damage instead of 85/130/175/220/265 damage.
Zyra
  • Base movement speed has been reduced to 300, down from 310.
  • Rampant Growth - Extra plants striking the same target now deal 50% less damage. (Up from 25% less damage.)
Keep in mind these are tentative changes and NOT on live servers!

26 comments

  1. Well, personally think that Spider queen is great concept but the model and art side isn't, i think she could use extreme makeover before adding her inside the game.

    I'm really looking forward to new sion model, current one has really awful animations and is very odd looking.

    Other Champs what could use some improvement are; Annie, Mundo (Animation improvement), Master Yi, Sivir, Taric and TF.

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    1. Taric could definately use new animations. His model right now is actually really good except for the fact that his animations are a tiny bit lackluster. Instead of lightly tapping enemies with his shield/hammer I feel that it should be more of a full swing or a full on shield bash.

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  2. I agree but those are some of the oldest champs so they are gonna show age and in time they will all get updates. They really need to fix nid her feet are giant ploygons it just looks broken. But I bet the new sion skin will be stunning lol

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  3. What? That badass Morde skin was canceled? Nooooo!
    I wanted it so bad ;.;

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  4. How is it possible that that GREAT Tristana skin has been cancelled. Please no. It would be the best Trist skin, ever. Please. I want to insta-buy that skin. lol

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  5. Rocketeer Tristana can be readily BOUGHT and USED in friggin League of Legends Garena (Philippines to be exact since that's where I am)

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  6. Moobeat, do you still hear anything about Karma rework? It's been a while now and I'm quite worried why it's coming so late.

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  7. dont forget about nidalee, she needs a remodel too

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    1. i like her boots. they look furry and cozy. they seem in theme with her.

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  8. "Surprise Party Fiddlesticks, our last community concepted silly skin."

    No, that was Battle Bunny Riven.

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  9. I wouldn't really say battle bunny was a community concept. The artist behind Riven had drawn her as a bunny girl just a little after her release. You can find the art work on his deviantart page.

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    1. Actually he drew it after community pointed it out, that artwork is him posting in support to the bunny girl thread.

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  10. hey moobeat check this out,alot of rioters loved the idea http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/attachment.php?attachmentid=464512&d=1340091197

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    1. that looks like a mu online blademaster ... with dragon knight set.

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  11. just a guess after thinking a bit,remember the rioter who had that pic from bunny girl riven?maybe that's teek,the ghost thingy

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  12. There's a poll going on on the NA forums about changing Lux's ulti name from Infinite Light to Final Spark - The translation of the original Finales Funkeln. It seems to be confirmed by Rioter Kitae that this change will take place next patch. The poll was also started by Kitae, sooooo...
    http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=2436855

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  13. tristana's skin is legendery >>>?

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  14. Make Cuban Pete Singed NAO

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  15. Would better love to see some ghost shooting or something. Rather than gaze from sion. As we know he manipulates souls not only smelly looking on opponent o_O

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  16. the last silly skin implemented from the community was pool party ziggs.

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