#fuck you riot games for making me care about league of legends

[craniumknight]

We finish this together.

[ontoilogical]

arcane end of s2

My impressions. Spoilers of course.

For all the good storylines and setup, Arcane didn't land them well. This was my worry from the start, because a good setup is not enough and not a guarantee that the payoff for the narrative and emotional build up will be good. I would not have expected a Riot Games IP to make layered political commentary along with badass, genre-pushing narrative music sequences, allow their characters to be flawed in a way where, yes, you may not like the whole of the protagonist, even if you're emotionally following and cheering for their journey. And yet they did... until the last three episodes that brought the series back into its gaming origins.

A lot of what happened in those three episodes simply wasn't narratively earned. The Piltover-Zaun collab against the Borg. Mel's sudden sHe'S a mAge shift, when she was extremely and, pointedly, the one without any combat skills, instead an accomplished diplomat. I would have accepted defensive qualities, but her dependence on skilled fighters in a violent world is an interesting premise, for she is strong, but that strength also hinges on other people's abilities and assistance. Ambessa's death. I don't even know what to say about that, other than making a League of Legends game mechanic reference how she's shouldn't have gone 1v2. Hells, how they frame Vi and Caitlyn's reunion and sex scene felt strange to me.

I did not see Caitlyn coming back to her moral base entirely, which is fine and may be a good decision for the concept of the character, but I feel it was left muddied, without addressing her journey towards temporary tyranny beyond the line Vi says, in a scene that felt stronger in a Tumblr gif than the series.

Vi's characterisation, meanwhile, ends up as a season-long journey of being lost and not being able to have the lesson of "you can't save Powder... or Jinx, or anyone" stick. She's not politically relevant to either Piltover or Zaun and thus doesn't really participate with any significance beyond following Caitlyn's suggestion. Her convictions are tied within a family she has lost and ends the series with an, again, strange line about how she's there to be with Caitlyn. It almost reads as a co-dependent personality manifesting in life circumstances where she literally has nowhere else to be, which doesn't feel very rewarding to viewers who like the pairing. Again, could be interesting storyline material, but it wasn't done well. The storyline leaves us with an impression of her having no agency and not being afforded a celebration of her character within the storyline.

The way Maddie fucks off takes away from the setup of Caitlyn dating her, rendering it completely irrelevant. The implication is basically "she was actually evil, thus whatever her and Caitlyn had was not relevant or a source of conflict or complexity. For that evil she (conveniently) dies, although she wasn't an obstacle to begin with".

And don't get me started on Jayce and Viktor, who have somehow managed to, within the fandom, or more broadly I don't know, eclipse Caitlyn and Vi as Arcane's Important Couple. Their entwined souls locked in a lifelong loop explode together and save Piltover and Zaun from destruction, while Vi is the dirt under Caitlyn's nails lmfao. I never noticed fandom's preference for The Gays over The Lesbians, because I am so deeply uninterested in couples with men that I do not offer any attention to them, but this time it feels a bit... bad.

The series was still excellent, relevant, an animation marvel, with some really good content and some scenes that will live rent free in my head. And some old part of me that cared about Vi and Caitlyn's pairing is finally mostly sated and calmed, but Arcane's end is not raptuous – it's a Marvel-flavour of epic fight scenes against an other-wordly foe, where characters die or maybe-die at a breakneck pace that would make GoT blush and a storyline's end that that has more to do with the sequel than the two seasons it consisted of. Whatever difficult commentary on society or politics relevant for the world WE live in was trivialised into formulaic boom boom solve the bad problem, the end. That is what I meant when I said going back to its capital g gaming origins.

Gentle disclaimer... I watched this while I was sick, tired and sleepy, so it's not the most layered or seasoned option I've given so far, but I don't get the impression some detail would change my impression by much.

Edit: Just a final thought. I think ALL the narrative decisions they've made could stay and be considered Good Storytelling, if there was a sufficient amount of padding and contextualising added between the scenes (the scenes simply needed proper introduction to make them impact the way they were intended to). Maybe they counted on that - animation is a slow and arduous format and a story doesn't need to spoon feed explanations for every aspect of a storyline, but there is simply too much here to fill.

[teeto-peteto]

Okay, so basic rundown: Arcane is now canon. I think Riot is moving away from short stories to explore other mediums. Don’t quote me on this, I just know the broad strokes and I’m sure someone can explain better.

mkay im dumb i always thought that Arcane was canon? like it was nonsensical once you put it together with the league of legends lines but HAHA im ringing my 'im stupid' bell. see this is why you shouldnt listen to anything i say i have no motives-

they are moving away from the short stories??? woah thats... a pity, actually. Im not the type of person that reads a lot of them but i normally do of characters i like and care about. I know Milio is not that recent anymore, but his short story felt heartwarming and very nice to read. It also had some illustrations.

I dont understand why would they do that. I assume that by other mediums they probably mean audiovisuals like teasers or something like that, maybe audio stories like Legends of Bilgewater or whatever the name was, i cant remember correctly. Wich it isnt bad its just... dissapointing they would say that they want to move away. If there's going to be comics like then i would be uttterly dissapointed but hey, at least i would be happy they're giving a job to writers and artists, they very much deserve and need it.

its saddening i just dont undertsand why they would take down a feature most people like about the characters they are interested on...? bruh

dont worry i wont quote you on this one but i will say that if all of this turns out to be just like that, i wouldnt be not even a bit surprised. Its no secret Riot has been ruining and pissing over their own characters re writting them and fixing shit that never needed to be repaired by starters and making the whole lore more confusing and nonsensical with a bunch of plot holes, wich i assume is going to happen if they make Arcane canon. This has been like this for almost 5 or more years, the lore keeps getting worse and worse and the only things that mattered to fandom will dissapear if all this turns true.

the whole 'guys but look we got a new CEO and we SWEAR he's amazing!' its getting hard to read at this point because a macro company is trying to sell us that this guy is going to improve everything with just a finger, like if thats going to stop or even reconsider the oversexualization of female characters, objetification and the plainest of characters coming out of their hands getting worse and worse as the lore is tearing apart and the community is a fire pit with the worst incel playerbase i have ever seen.

The way they phrased one of the tweets about this new CEO in the past being the backbone of the Pride events made me wheeze cause the way it was written made me imagine the guy entering the meeting like 'hey guys you know homosexuals exists? we should do something about it' as if it was a medal to have a pride event when its the leastest shit you can do for a game at this point. At least make good lgtbq+ stories instead of selling the exact same icons for years and sweeping trans taliyah under the rug. God i hate this company and its writing.

see? things where better when institute of war was there. they are just a bunch of guys hanging out in empty space. fuck it that rocks

[tigerkirby215]

5e Aphelios, the Weapon of the Faithful build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Pan Chengwei. Made for Riot Games.)

(Shit meme by yours truly.)

Yes I hate Irelia so much I’m genuinely making an Aphelios build before her.

But I really don’t get the “Aphelios too confusing 200 years” memes. Don’t get me wrong his kit’s weird and certainly overtuned but it doesn’t take that long to figure out what his guns do. Calibrum has long range and fires a skill shot, Severum has lifesteal and attacks fast, Gravitum slows and roots, Infernum attacks in a cone for AoE damage, and Crescendum attacks very fast and creates a turret.

Just because I understand this does it mean I can play Aphelios? Fuck no. Did I learn all this from Legends of Runeterra by playing Labs with Aphelios? Yeah kinda. But all I’m saying is that if my stupid support-main ass can do midway decently as Aphelios on free-to-play rotation I really think the hype around him is overblown.

That’s enough hot takes from me. He’s the point where I list 5 goals for this build instead of 3 and make 200 years jokes.

GOALS

Calibrum - We’ll need a long-ranged weapon to harass our foes and pick them off when they try to run.

Severum - If enemies get too close or we get too low we’ll need a way to keep ourselves alive in a 1v1.

Gravitum - We’ll need to control our foes to always stay in an advantageous position.

Infernum - AoE damage is always useful to deal with crowds.

Crescendum - To take down the toughest of foes we’ll need to unleash all our firepower and even get our weapons to fir themselves.

Basically we need literally everything, all packed within 20 levels of D&D and 200 years of game design.

RACE

Aphelios is a human... but ellipsis means that another race makes more sense. Aphelios has his sister advising him wherever he goes in life, so to play two spirits in one a Kalashtar is a good choice! Your Wisdom score increases by 2 and your Charisma increases by 1. Alune’s Dual Mind grants you Advantage on Wisdom saving throws, and her Mental Discipline lets you resist Psychic damage. Alune also keeps you Severed from Dreams, meaning that you’re immune to spells that require you to dream (like the Dream spell) but not spells that require you to sleep (like Sleep.)

Aphelios doesn’t talk (unless you want him to) but Alune can make a Mind Link to speak telepathically with others! You can speak telepathically to any creature you can see that’s within a number of feet of you equal to 10 times your level. You don’t need to share a language with them, but they must be able to understand at least one language. You can also use your action to give that creature the ability to speak telepathically with you for 1 hour or until you end this effect as an action. To use this ability, the creature must be able to see you and must be within this trait’s range. You can only give this ability to only one person at a time however, as it ends when you give it to someone else. Oh and speaking of languages you know Common, Quori (which no one is going to have outside of Eberron lol), and one other language of your choice: Celestial probably makes the most sense but you can pick whatever you fancy.

ABILITY SCORES

15; CHARISMA - You’re a kpop pretty boy, because Aphelios has more guns than body types in League of Legends.

14; WISDOM - I mean you get advantage in Wisdom saves anyways: may as well make the skill good too?

13; DEXTERITY - You are a marksman but we aren’t really using DEX for combat. So in other words: something something Medium Armor.

12; CONSTITUTION - You are one of the squishiest ADCs in the game but you do have enough sustain to keep yourself alive.

10; INTELLIGENCE - You were trained spiritually, as opposed to academically. That being said Religion is an Intelligence skill for some reason.

8; STRENGTH - I mean look at Aphelios’ arms; kid’s a freaking twink.

BACKGROUND

Aphelios fights for him and his sister’s faith in the Lunari... bit unorthodox, but you’re certainly quite the devoted Acolyte. As an acolyte you get proficiency in Religion but I’d replace your proficiency in Insight with Medicine, which you’re probably used to after drinking so much poison. You also learn two languages that you won’t use because Aphelios is mute. (But yeah pick whatever you think will be useful and if you want to feel free to swap your languages for tools or something. A Herbalism Kit or Poisoner’s Kit actually works rather well given your favorite drink to keep close to your sister.)

Alune may be in the Shelter of the Faithful but you can return to the temple from time to time for solace. You and your adventuring companions can expect free healing and care at a temple, shrine, or other established location of Lunari faith (you have to provide any material components for spells though.) The Lunari will support you (but only you) at a modest lifestyle in the temples.

If you’re near your sister’s shrine you can ask the chosen Lunari priests for assistance, provided the assistance you ask for is not hazardous and you remain in good standing with your temple and your sister.

(Artwork by SixMoreVodka Studios. Made for Legends of Runeterra by Riot Games.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - SORCERER 1

Starting off as a Sorcerer for proficiency in CON saving throws lol, but also for proficiency in Arcana and the Insight skill we skipped from our background. But Sorcerers get to choose their subclass at level 1 and to get closer to the Aspects grab a touch of the Divine Soul. As a Weapon of the Faithful you are Favored by the Gods, letting you add 2d4 to a missed attack roll or saving throw once per Short or Long Rest for a touch of Alune’s guidance. I’m going to mention now that a death saving throw is technically a saving throw, and I mention it because your AC is 11 and your health is 7. Level 1 ADCs, am I right?

Anyways: Divine Souls get Divine Magic for one extra spell from the Cleric spell list: technically you’re supposed to take one of the ones they suggest to you but I’d recommend Guiding Bolt for Calibrum’s Q: a long ranged shot that lets you shoot the target more easily afterwards.

And of course being able to cast spells implies that you have Spellcasting! You can learn four cantrips from the Sorcerer or Cleric list which means you can grab Guidance for a bit more of your sister’s help. You can also grab Word of Radiance to attack everyone near you with Severum’s Q, Acid Splash for some AoE damage from Infernum (should it be doing fire damage? Yeah probably), and Light to see with your dumb Kalashtar eyes. You can also learn two leveled spells like Sanctuary to protect yourself or your allies as long as they act peacefully, and Ice Knife for a more ranged AoE blast from Infernum.

If you want you can grab Mage Armor or something because your AC and HP are kinda uhhhhhhhhhh... trash?

LEVEL 2 - WARLOCK 1

Hopefully you didn’t die as a level 1 Aphelios with 7 HP and 11 AC; we didn’t even get 200 years of damage yet! Warlocks get to choose their subclass at level 1 as well which means you can shape yourself as the Fiend the Solari see you as. Dark One’s Blessing grants you temporary hitpoints equal to your Charisma modifier plus your Warlock level whenever you slay a foe for Severum’s lifesteal and passive shield.

You also get Pact Magic, which is like regular Spellcasting but your spell slots are funny! You can learn two cantrips from the Warlock list like Eldritch Blast to blast while you eldritch, and Chill Touch for some Grievous Wounds. You can also learn two Warlock spells like Burning Hands from the Fiendlock list to blast your foes with Infernum, and Hex to mark your foe for death under the moon.

LEVEL 3 - WARLOCK 2

Second level Warlocks get access to Eldritch Invocations like Agonizing Blast to agonize your blasts, and Lance of Lethargy to slow your foes with Gravitum. You can also learn another Warlock spell like Unseen Servant for some extra sisterly help. I mean, you’re probably going to replace these all next level anyways.

LEVEL 4 - WARLOCK 3

Third level Warlocks can choose their Pact Boon and truthfully? Just about any of them work. Pact of the Blade would be the most “in-character” but your Strength and Dexterity are both kind of bad and you don’t need to use weapons. Pact of the Chain will let you personify Alune on your person and get a shitty version of Crescendum’s turret but Aphelios doesn’t have a pet. Pact of the Tome lets you get Aspect of the Moon which is funny in its own right and more cantrips are universally useful. And hell: even Pact of the Talisman is useful for your sister to lend her aid to someone else in the party. Basically this is an elaborate way for me to say that your Pact Boon doesn’t matter much for this build, as we won’t be using any of the abilities or invocations from your Pact Boon much. So pick what you think will be useful and fun and make your own Aphelios!

With that being said: you can also learn second level Warlock spells now! Shadow Blade will serve as Crescendum’s blade that you can throw at the enemy, but it is based on your DEX which is kind of... bad? Well at least you can replace Unseen Servant with Misty Step, because a summoner’s Flash is more useful than your sister’s unseen help.

LEVEL 5 - WARLOCK 4

Man isn’t it fun to wait until level 5 to not die when the enemy support breathes on you? That uneven Dexterity score was done so you could grab the Moderately Armored feat for +1 to your Dexterity and proficiency in Medium Armor and Shields. Grab both to get hit less, basically!

You can also learn another spell like Hold Person for Gravitum’s root. And another cantrip like Minor Illusion for your sister to summon some props that you can hide behind.

(Artwork by Jennifer Wuestling. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 6 - WARLOCK 5

Hey that Medium Armor doesn’t really fit your outfit: how about the Mask of Many Faces invocation to put on some skins?

Third level spells are also useful! Vampiric Touch will let you heal in close range by damaging your foes with Severum.

LEVEL 7 - WARLOCK 6

6th level Fiend Warlocks get more guidance from Alune. The Solari may call it the Dark One’s Own Luck but all it lets you do is add a d10 to an ability check or saving throw once per Short or Long Rest. I mean hey: if you want a load of saving throw insurance this plus Favored by the Gods basically means you’re adding +10 to a saving throw!

You can also learn another spell but the only ones I’d want have very expensive components. Basically I want a Tasha’s summoning spell for Crescendum’s turret, but you’re going to be replacing it with...

LEVEL 8 - WARLOCK 7

4th level Warlocks can learn Summon Aberration which is a little more than just a turret! You can choose between a Beholderkin turret, Slaad tank, or Star Spawned Aspect! I’m not going to go too deep into this spell as you can read up on it for yourself but the point is you’ve got some backup now!

Alternatively if you want I think your sis could use some friends: Banishment will send them up to the temple where they’ll have to sit around and chat peacefully with Alune. Or if they’re not from the plane you’re in they’ll just be sent home.

Oh and you can also get another Eldritch Invocation like Eldritch Spear to keep your range with Calibrum.

LEVEL 9 - WARLOCK 8

8th level Warlocks get another Ability Score Improvement: you should probably increase your Charisma for more damage and accuracy with your weapons.

Speaking of weapons Dimension Door will let you head back to fountain to buy more weapons, or get out of danger and in range to use your weapons.

(Artwork by SixMoreVodka Studios. Made for Legends of Runeterra by Riot Games.)

LEVEL 10 - SORCERER 2

We’ve gotten all of out basic auto attacks: now I want some of Aphelios’ finer abilities. Second level Sorcerers get a Font of Magic for Sorcery Points which currently do nothing other than let you get more spell slots. You can melt down your Warlock slots however to get more Sorcery points, which will be useful later.

And of course you can learn more spells, but we’re going to wait for...

LEVEL 11 - SORCERER 3

Third level Sorcerers can finally learn Metamagic to empower their spells! You can take Quickened Spell for some Attack Speed, or Seeking Spell for some armor penetration to deal with higher AC enemies.

You can also learn second level spells like Icingdeath’s Frost (UA soon to be in Fizban’s hopefully) to blast foes with Infernum then Gravitum, or Dragon’s Breath to blast Infernum all throughout the fight.

LEVEL 12 - SORCERER 4

Would be good to cap off that Charisma, so go ahead and do so with your ASI.

You can also learn another spell like Spiritual Weapon for a turret you can move around a bit, and a new cantrip like Mage Hand for your sister’s help reaching the top shelf.

(Artwork made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 13 - SORCERER 5

5th level Sorcerers can get some Magical Guidance from their sister to reroll ability checks, because she’s been reading up on Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.

You can also learn a new spell like Fireball... I mean I really shouldn’t need to justify this. It’s Fireball. Blast them with Moonlight Vigil for a burst of Infernum’s fire!

LEVEL 14 - SORCERER 6

6th level Divine Soul Sorcerers can use their Sorcery Points for Empowered Healing... wait you have healing? Well whenever you or an ally within 5 feet of you rolls dice to heal from a spell, you can spend 1 sorcery point to reroll any number of those dice once, as long as you’re not incapacitated. This technically doesn’t work with Vampiric Touch (since that spell does damage and then heals you based on how much damage it deals) but if your support heals you or a nearby ally there’s no reason not to give them an extra pick-me-up!

You can also learn another spell but I’m going to hop back to second level real quick for Mirror Image. It perhaps doesn’t fit as well (which is why I didn’t take it until now) but it’s very good to keep yourself alive, and as a squishy Lunari boy it’ll be very helpful to make it harder for the enemy to hit you.

LEVEL 15 - SORCERER 7

7th level Sorcerers can learn 4th level spells like Guardian of Faith for a turret that actually stands still! It shoots at anyone who comes close, and when it runs out of ammo it disappears. But what’s cool about this spell is that it lasts for 8 hours, which is plenty of time to rest through the night while your sister watches over you.

LEVEL 16 - SORCERER 8

8th level Sorcerers get another Ability Score Improvement or Feat: seeing as you’re mostly casting War Caster would be a good pickup to keep your Concentration with your bad Constitution and also hit those who come too close with magic. Or you could just get better Constitution maybe since it’s a bit late for War Caster tbh...

You can also learn another spell like Death Ward, for a Guardian Angel that you’re probably going to need seeing as you still have less than a hundred health.

(Artwork by Francis Tneh and West Studios. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 17 - SORCERER 9

9th level Sorcerers can learn 5th level spells like Teleportation Circle to recall back to base or to your sister’s temple. If you know the sequence of sigils to go back to a teleportation circle you can use this spell to link yourself back to it. You can also create a new circle over the course of a year. (And by spending a lot of gold.)

Basically this is my way of saying that we got all we wanted after level 16 tbh and I’m kinda just going through the motions of grabbing your last few levels.

LEVEL 18 - SORCERER 10

10th level Sorcerers get their third Metamagic option! Hurrah! By this point you have enough spells that force saving throws that Heightened Spell is a good option to make it a lot harder for your opponents to resist 200 years of magic!

You can also learn another 5th level spell like Hold Monster for Gravitum’s root against a ganking Fiddlesticks. And another cantrip: I somehow didn’t take Prestidigitation until now, so grab it for all sorts of basic Lunari magic.

LEVEL 19 - SORCERER 11

11th level Sorcerers can learn a 6th level spell! This is going to be your final, highest level spell; your ultimate ability! And I’d consider an ultimate from a fed Aphelios to be a Circle of Death. It’s a huge AoE that does a lot of damage: a simple nuke for a simple ADC that isn’t remotely confusing.

LEVEL 20 - SORCERER 12

12th level Sorcerers get one last Ability Score Improvement or Feat... I’m going to be honest: this doesn’t fit Aphelios but you likely have around 100 HP. Do yourself a favor and grab the Tough feat for 40 extra health.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

For every phase, a weapon - Wow who would’ve guessed building for versatility makes you versatile? You have a huge variety of spells for just about any occasion: AoEs to deal with crowds, single-target spells to take down big foes, crowd control to keep enemies in place, summons to keep enemies targeting them instead of your allies, and of course more than enough damage to shake a stick at.

In your hand; from my heart - Sorcery points also give you plenty of flexibility, notably in your ability to greatly increase damage output thanks to Quickened Spell on Eldritch Blasts and Seeking Spell to reroll missed Eldritch Blasts. But being able to turn your Warlock slots into ammo for your more useful guns is extremely useful and allows you to better adapt to various situations.

I am with you... shining above - Medium armor goes quite a long way! A Breastplate and Shield gives you a solid 18 AC, and if you’re willing to have Stealth Disadvantage upgrading to Half Plate gives you a respectable 19 AC!

CONS

You make yourself a weapon, so you do not have to feel - Skill proficiencies are reserved for those who don’t spend 200 years on damage. You have two skills from your background and two from your class and none of them are particularly great. Sure your Insight and Medicine skills are fine enough but you’re going to be beaten in Arcana by a Wizard and Religion by a Cleric also a Wizard, because Religion is an Intelligence skill for some reason.

Your life upon the altar, brother... - Even with the Tough feat your health is extremely poor. d6 hit die hurt and anyone with Power Word Kill can easily execute you. While I did give you good Wisdom for roleplay’s sake you could (and probably should) opt for Constitution instead.

An omen in your grasp - Your low health is kind of a problem when a lot of your spells force you into close range. There are ways to use spells like Burning Hands, Dragon’s Breath, Shadow Blade, and Vampiric Touch without getting too close (those methods being the Distant Spell Metamagic which we didn’t take; you could totally replace Seeking Spell if you wanted though) but Severum and Infernum are balanced around their low range. There’s no reason you can’t throw balance out the window to take spells that will likely be more useful.

But you are a weapon, sworn to carry your faith and show the world the light in the darkness. Your task is to slay those that deny the right of your people before they even know you are there... Sure confusing them as to what you are even doing is also effective, and I guess it doesn’t matter if your abilities make sense if they’re all dead. They’ll have 200 years to figure out how you killed them: I’m sure that’s plenty of time to read your ability descriptions.

(Artwork by @NAOMM29 on Twitter.)

[that-house]

Viego Rant (villainy and character design and tragedy and all that jazz)

Introduction The more I think about Viego, League of Legends’ newest character, the more enamored I am with him as a villain (unrelated to his general sexiness, though that does tie in with what makes him such a good villain).

I’ve seen a lot of complaints about his design. The Ruined King, one of the greatest threats in Runeterra, the progenitor of the Shadow Isles, the lord of the undead, is finally released as a playable champion and he looks like this:

People were expecting another Mordekaiser (who is similarly an undead king with a ghost army), a lich-tyrant clad in iron, decayed flesh peeling from an aged face. What we got was an angsty anime prettyboy, and it was infinitely better than the alternatives. 

Lore Viego isn’t a conquering king. While his combat abilities are indeed badass, his personality is far from it. He’s a whiny brat and that’s incredible. He isn’t bent on world domination. His character arc revolves around just how human, how fallible he really is. For those unfamiliar with his lore, I’ll paraphrase it here:

Viego was the second son of a great king. Overshadowed by his brother and with no expectations upon him and near-limitless wealth, he wandered around being an idiot fuckboy for the vast majority of his formative years. Disaster struck when his brother died in an accident, and Viego took the throne with no training, no experience, and no desire to be king. He was a shitty king. The worst king. Just all-around apathetic. Gave zero shits. Can you blame him? It’s a lot of responsibility to be thrust upon someone who isn’t much more than a child, and with no preparation. He didn’t care about anything, that is, until he met Isolde. She was a poor seamstress, but he fell in love with her upon their first meeting. Together they ruled the country but it was really just them staring longingly into each others’ eyes. His allies were kinda fucking pissed about that, and one day an assassin came from Viego. The assassin fucked up and stabbed Isolde instead, and the poison on the blade made her fall gravely ill. As she lay in her bed, slowly dying, Viego went mad seeking a cure. He ravaged the land seeking any knowledge that might help, pouring all of his money into finding an antidote. He failed. As a last resort, he brought Isolde’s body to the Blessed Isles, a place rumored to be able to resurrect the dead. It worked, to an extent. Isolde’s wraith, confused, afraid, and angry at being ripped from the peace of death, unthinkingly stabbed Viego in the chest with his own magic sword, creating basically a magic nuke that turned the Blessed Isles into the domain of the undead. Viego resurrected as the king of the Shadow Isles some time later, having totally forgotten that Isolde killed him. He controls a big-ass ghost army, could probably beat up any living thing in a fight, and has evil ghost magic. Now this stupid simp wants his wife back and if he has to kill every living thing on Runeterra, well, anything for his queen. He’s even a tier 3 sub to her Twitch.

Music His musical theme isn’t some heavy metal anthem or intense cinematic piece (unlike the Pentakill song named after his sword, Blade of the Ruined King). It’s mostly sad and slow, almost sinister, with a piano and a music box. It has its loud moments featuring violins and choral bits like any villainous music, but the song is mostly subtle. It is a banger though.

In the comments section of this video, someone pointed out that the music reflects his story from beginning to end:

Everything about this champion is so well done. Riot Games really outdid themselves on this one. Bravo, encore please.

Motivation While the Mordekaiser circlejerkers on r/LeagueofLegends won’t shut the fuck up about how powerful Mordekaiser is, Viego is the better villain. Mordekaiser may be a bigger threat to all life on Runeterra, but Viego is a better character. (There’s a guy on my League discord server who won’t shut up about Mordekaiser so forgive me for being pissed at Morde stans).

Mordekaiser is motivated by a desire for control, to rule the world. Viego is motivated by obsession and misplaced love. There aren’t a lot of Mordekaisers on Earth. Supervillains are rare in real life. But Viego’s motivations are a lot closer to home. People in positions of power that they don’t deserve can do a lot of harm (for example: Trump).

He’s a grieving husband who was never prepared to deal with anything more difficult than choosing what wine to drink with dinner, who is trying to get his wife back because the world had always complied to his every whim. He’s a funky mix between a truly hopeless romantic and a spoiled brat throwing a temper tantrum.

Obsession is scary. It’s a real-world emotional state that’s been the cause of a lot of murders over mankind’s history. In contrast, Mordekaiser’s cartoonish Genghis Khan XXL schtick isn’t something that we encounter often. Of course a superpowered ultradictator would be worse for the world, but if you give ultimate power to a random person, you’re more likely to get someone like Tighten from Megamind. Or, more relevantly, Viego.

Design His design is sexy and stupid, just like him. He wears an open shirt into battle and wields his sword like an idiot (I’ve seen all the rants about how that’s not how that sword is meant to be used) because he was never really a warrior. Even at his most violent, right before the end of his mortal life, he didn’t do much combat himself, leaving his military endeavors to his underlings. Even now that he’s essentially a god, he still has a colossal wraith army that causes far more devastation than he ever could personally.

Despite his slim build (by League of Legends standards), he easily wields his colossal sword because of the strength of his state of undeath. Like his political power when he was alive, his posthumous magical and physical powers were never something he sought out, they were just given to him by circumstance.

The big cool-ass triangle hole in his chest where Isolde stabbed him is the source of the Black Mist, which is evil ghost mist that ebbs and flows from the Shadow Isles, bringing with it hordes of the undead. The sadder Viego is, the more Mist he creates. Poetically, his invasion of the world is inspired by his sorrow at his wife’s death and enabled by his wife’s reluctance to return to him. His story is perfectly reflected by his design.

Isolde Isolde’s spirit took up residence inside a young Senna (who’s another League champion, not particularly important here). This led to some Black Mist-related shenanigans and at least for the time being, Senna uses Isolde’s power to fight off the servants of Viego which threaten all life on Runeterra.

It seems pretty clear that whatever love Isolde felt for Viego is gone by now. Whether or not she ever loved him or was just unable to say no to the king is up for debate, but I’d like to believe there was something there. In my opinion, Viego’s story hits harder if they really were a great couple at first, torn apart by circumstance and obsession.

Much like the Maiden of the Woods in that one comic that circulates around here, to whom the knight gave his heart and she was like “yo what the fuck i literally never asked you to do this,” Viego went a little too far in trying to save her. They may have once been happy, but the Ruined King ruined his own life, too.

Unless Isolde is a lot less morally decent than we’ve been led to believe, I doubt she can forgive all the massacring that her husband’s been doing lately. In the recent cinematic, she was shown to be pretty anti-Viego. Maybe she’ll get a bastardization arc, but it certainly seems unlikely.

All of Season 2021 is based around Viego, Isolde, and the Shadow Isles, so we’ll just have to see what comes next. It’s possible that we’ll get Isolde as a playable champion, which should clear a lot of things up.

Final Thoughts Unlike so many villains, he’s not fueled by rage or hatred, but rather by sorrow. He’s stuck in his past, unable to move on. He regrets the actions of his life but is set on his course now. The sunk-cost fallacy comes into play here; he’s put so much time and effort and blood into bringing back Isolde, that turning away from it would feel to him like an insult, not only to her but to the innocent lives he’s taken in her name.

His tale is a tragedy, a love story gone horrifically wrong. Viego has suffered throughout his thousand-year life. Despite this, he’s undoubtedly the villain. His permanent death would be a net positive for the world. In has rage and grief he’s destroyed multiple civilizations, and will burn down the world to get Isolde back.

His heart may be in the wrong place, but it’s in a very human place. I don’t think he’ll get the ending he’s looking for, but I hope he finds some closure in the end.

[knifekris]

stoppp making me look at league of legends. a basic google search will tell you about the horrible misogynistic work environment at riot games and the sexual harassment that female employees have had to deal with there.

why is your need to consume the next pretty piece of media you see so fucking intense that people just gobble up a well funded netflix show despite the terrible company behind it. i dont care how well its made and i dont care about whatever xcuses people have

[nitewrighter]

Saw your LoL talks and I agree it lends itself well to watching from the sidelines. Like, I don't play LoL but I'm subscribed to channels like TBSKyen and Necrit because they cover the lore and news in an interesting way. And it's easy to just watch the well-animated trailers Riot put out. Though that may change for me at least with stuff like The Ruined King and the tv show they're developing since I don't have to deal with LoL players to experience them.

Yeah honestly like, as a gamer who is also big into lore (*cough* to the point that she compulsively wrote 600k+ words of fanfic for an under-lored game *cough*) actually engaging with LoL as someone who plays it sounds... exhausting. Aesthetically and chronologically, Runeterra seems very disjointed, you know? Like... they want to have their High Medievalist Fantasy cake but eat their Steampunk cake, too. So like, it works as a rough, forgiving “Ren-Faire” aesthetic but since they banjaxed their own lore in favor of keeping a steady stream of new heroes rather than.... actually bothering to build anything really cohesive with their established heroes, it really only seems to work out best in its specific Skin AU’s?? I mean, Overwatch kind of has a similar problem, but the aesthetic and storyline of Overwatch’s universe is much tighter so like, even if tonally it can be all over the place, aesthetically, it’s far more together?

I know a lot of this comes down to fighting game/battle royale logic where gameplay is king, but like... I don’t think you necessarily have to throw narrative under the bus to prioritize gameplay. Video games are at their best when they’re treated as interdisciplinary in their concept and production. I mean obviously that kind of artistic prioritization isn’t going to happen in this capitalist hellscape, but it lends itself to games with more staying power. But for gaming companies the question is less about “is it enjoyable and does it have a lasting effect on players that creates a brand loyalty” and more about “Is it addictive and will it make me as much money as possible.” Addiction doesn’t care about your level of enjoyment, and that’s the tough part about Overwatch---Blizzard designed Overwatch’s characters with “love at first sight” for the user in mind. Even if you fucking hate blizzard for all their bullshit... you can’t hate Zenyatta. or Reinhardt. And I can only imagine the case is the same for characters of League of Legends. Even if you know Riot sucks, it means so much to you that Ahri is pursuing her pop star dreams, or whatever....then again I have no idea how engaged LoL fans are with its lore so...

[vaportea]

“You can always block toxic players from communication in game!”

Or..how about you penalize toxicity in the first place so its safe to fuckin communicate you cucked toads

Gettin reeeeeeal sick of wanting to enjoy mainstream games now and again and having to sludge through a whole bunch of unwarranted White Privilege and hypermasc bullshit where people freely abuse others with no repercussion.  The solution as far as Big Gaming™ is concerned is ‘just mute it, drown it out, pretend it isn’t there!” which does absolutely nothing to solve the core problem.

That irritates me.

Good example.  League of Legends a few years back.  Implemented a dozen ways to communicate with others without chat because the chat was so toxic.  Rather than..y’know..actually more strictly penalize people abusing others in chat.  Then again we’ve learned recently and throughout the years the state of Riot’s infrastructure so what were we to expect right?

Oh wait, can’t even GET to that point in some games.  Good example, Overwatch, especially console.  Want to report someone on console?  Go through circles of hell to do it.  They don’t make it simple, you have to make sure you left the game you were in, find the player in your previously played games, and sometimes this gets frustrating because games can go so quickly in OVW so its easy to miss!  Can’t even properly ban communication with a toxic player because Blizzard only allows you to block communication with two people at a time for only a few days.  Which is bullshit considering Blizzard is known for toxicity, but don’t take it from me, you can see it in their pro circuit, not like they care as long as they pocket the cash.

I hate that we are forced in an environment with this very negative culture.  Sometimes a bitch just wants to play a game and have a good time, feel me?  I don’t give a fuck about Kevin from Ohio who can’t wait to shout racial slurs in his mic the moment something doesn’t go his way, and I shouldn’t have to be punished by being in the same room as him either, yet I’m forced.  Every.  Time.  Because EVERYONE is Kevin.  So can’t use voice chat.  Can’t pay attention to text chat.  Just have to perform my best and that’s not even to enjoy myself, not even to experience the game, but to just dodge the headache of all that unnecessary hate.  Which is ALSO bullshit.  That people can’t even make mistakes or try new things because Kevin will sit there and destroy someone verbally until you use those oh so helpful mechanisms in the game to block him out!  But his tantrum isn’t done, gotta ping till he can’t, gotta grief till he can’t, gotta afk or feed or whatever the hell he does because Kevin doesn’t get punished for his tantrum but everyone gets punished for his presence.

Why are companies catering to Kevin’s dumbass as if my money and me as a consumer doesn’t matter, because it’s just as good and mine doesn’t come with a fraction of the abhorrence.  Where is the punishment, where is the fairness, the equality, the justice?  When will our community be a safe one?

I’m tired.

[your-friendly-neighborhood-sc00t]

Thoughts on Reworks in League of Legends + Akali and Eve Rework Rants

With the Akali rework coming up soon, I can't help but feel depressed that yet another champion that I've enjoyed playing for years, is going to be completely gutted and changed into something I am no longer familiar with at all.

Akali, in her present state, isn't by any means balanced, but with a few tweaks to her abilities, I think she can be balanced out. And let's be perfectly honest, her imbalance is probably the reason why Riot is reworking her.

So here are my ideas:

First of all, her passive has too short of a cool down, and heals FAR too much, especially in the late-game, it's CD at longest is 8 seconds, and at shortest is 4.

So, considering this is combined with Gunblade and Fleet Footwork, we're looking at some insane healing in late-game, so, how do we fix/balance this out?

Well, I personally think she needs a new passive, this is simplytoo efficient for an incredibly bursty assassin.

Or, give the passive an incredibly long CD to refresh. Perhaps, at longest 30-45 seconds, and at shortest 15-20 seconds? So at least once she procs it, you'll actually have some time to act before it refreshes, leaving her a bit more vulnerable in the meantime.

Next is her ult, so, why doesn't it cost energy? Like, maybe, 60 energy + 1 Essence of Shadow, so that, she doesn't just have to wait for 3 stacks and then just permanently hop onto her lane opponent. Maybe even decrease her max EoS's by 1, let her only have 2, that way you might actually have to use them more sparingly.

And that's pretty much it, I think if Riot did that Akali would be alot less cancerous than she currently is.

The point is, if the problem with a champion is balance, why doesn't Riot just tweak their abilities to make them less cancerous to play against? To balance out the game, while still keeping the champions mostly the same, and familiar to those who main them.

But back to the actual topic.

My problem with reworks, is that Riot claims to be really sensitive when it comes to them, but, then they just, rework the champion into something entirely different that it might as well just be an entirely new champion?

Most of the time, the reworked champ isn't even remotely close to what or how they we're originally.

And if they're so sensitive about it, why do they change things that I (we) love, into something I don't even care to play at all?

The reworks also tend to streamline the champions, kind of forcing them into specific roles or builds.

For example, before Eve's rework, she was my go-to jungler. And I don't even give a shit about jungling for the most part, it's my second least favorite role, as a matter-of-fact, but if I was ever autofilled into doing it/last pick, I would get so pumped to play Evelynn.

She was, at least, imo, one of the most flexible champions in the entire game, because you build in so many unique ways, AP, AD, Hybrid, whatever, and still find success, not because she was broken, but because she was designed in a way that allowed her to benefit from more than just one specific stat or build.

She was truly something special.

And now? Why the fuck wouldn't you build her straight AP? She lost alot of her utility and is all about sustain and AP damage.

And now her ult makes her untargetable for no reason. A huge burst of AP dmg, and it dashes her backwards, but Riot decided she ALSO needed to be entirely untargetable while in this state.

When they completely butcher a champion that I've come to love for years, I just lose the desire to play them, as well as the desire to even continue playing this game.

Evelynn's not the same, not even anywhere close to what she was, and I don't play her anymore as a result.

A champion that actually got me hyped to play a role I generally don't care about, is now a champion that I don't even have interest in playing at all now.

Another thing I never really understood, is why Riot always seems to bundle in Visual Updates with their reworks, which is the final nail in the coffin, not only does Riot completely alter their kit, they also entirely change their identity with a new visual design and voice.

Eve's old design? Perfectly fine, I liked her dark, blue skin tone, a nice colorful touch to the character, and her vibrant, magenta hair being a polar opposite to it. And the updated splash really did her justice.

And the voice, oh man, I loved it, it was actually kind of creepy, and had this badass, echo-ey effect to it, kind of like Nocturne.

And yeah, she was sexualized, sure, but that was pretty much only in visual design.

Then the rework/vu comes up, and Riot decides to just go entirely overboard with Evelynn's sex appeal.

I normally don't complain about things like this, but this just isn't Evelynn.

Some of her new voice lines are literally just her moaning sexually, and I get it, she's a succubus and all that, but c'mon, no need to go overboard with it like that. Oh, and they gave her heart panties for some reason.

Point is, most of the time, the only thing that the old champ has in common with it's reworked form, is that they share the same name, but they shouldn't, since it's essentially an entirely new champion.

I do enjoy some reworks, like Poppy's and Irelia's, I still firmly believe that Poppy's has been Riot's greatest rework to date.

But I know someone else is hurting out there, someone who probably just lost all interest in that champion in the day of their rework, and yeah, that bothers me.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, regardless of whether a champion is hardly played, or flat-out broken. They all have an audience, and Riot can seriously hurt them if they aren't careful with how they handle the champ.

I can actually think of several ways several champions in the game can be rebalanced without full-on reworks, and I may actually list them sometime in the future.

Not gonna lie, I don't really agree with the concept of starting from scratch with something that's been established, in the game for years.

Riot should instead look to see how the champions are broken/overpowered/causing general problems, and tweak their stats and kit accordingly, without completing deconstructing them and starting from scratch.

[crankstank]

LEAGUE OF FUCKING LEGENDS RANT

So I have played League for years now. I played every season except 1 and 4 and I can say I had so much fun, just playing games with my friends and learning this deep and intricate game, and continuing to get better. However, I can’t even be bothered to care anymore. Simply put, Riot cares too much about money now. Every champion/rework is released once per month and they end up having A. Kits that have no counterplay and/or B. Completely overtuned or undertuned. The most balanced champion probably released in memory is Vel’Koz and he was released in 2014. They make these heroes knowing damn well people will spend money on them because they are really fun to play. Look at the newest champion, Camille. Her Q is dumb but tolerable, same w her W, but her E and R make no sense to me. How did that get through the PBE? Her kit is even more bullshit than Yasuo, Riven, Zed, and any other champion who can be frustrating to face. Camille is able to just jump into your team and instagib your adcs, which are TOTAL GARBAGE. I was never much of an adc player except Kog’Maw and Ezreal at certain times, but it’s so pathetic how an entire ROLE is useless because of how dumb tanks and assassins are. Simply put, if you don’t play these meta champions you lose. The meta champions are way too strong and have no counterplay to them. The current state of League is too much for me to even care about anymore. I might start playing again at some point, who knows, depends on whether or not Riot fixes their shit.

[beast-queen]

league of legends and overwatch for the fandom thing!

send me a fandom and i’ll tell you…

League of Legends

the first character i ever fell in love with:

Ryze! I actually watched the trailer from the game and I kind of made him an instant fave because that first trailer made him out to be so cool! Also there was this really awesome fic about him I read. 

a character that i used to love/like, but now do not:

Jayce. Honestly I disappointed myself with this too, but I used to love Jayce and also Jayce/Vik, however at some point I began to like play Jayce more like an asshole jock and kind of broke off the Vik/Jayce ship too. New lore feeds into my nostalgia, but they will screw Viktor up and I’m scared of getting happy a bit too early. 

a ship that i used to love/like, but now do not:

Viktor/Jayce but I was younger, also I used to ship like Yi/Karma but I haven’t thought about that since I was 14. 

my ultimate favorite character™:

VIKTOR! 

prettiest character:

Hmmmm, I’d say Ahri, I find her the pretties appearance wise.

my most hated character:

Hmmmm, actually I was never fond too much of Ezreal, lore wise, but also Jarvan. I don’t hate them, I just don’t care. Ingame, probably a very long list of characters I hate. 

my OTP:

Oh man! Vi/Caitlyn, Twisted Fate/Graves and Illaoi/Miss Fortune (but also Illaoi has two hands so MF and Karma can be there too!)

my NOTP:

Garen/Katarina! And probably Ezreal/Lux too. I mean from the “canon” ships or whatever, if I start going into fandom ships I’ll write an essay. 

favorite episode:

Ugh this can’t be answered about a game, but I’ll put something here, favourite trailer is definetly a tie between the first one and A New Dawn. 

saddest death:

No one actually dies? But I kind of panicked when I thought that Twisted Fate will almost died, man I loved Burning Tides. 

favorite season:

It’s a game but gameplay wise, season 2 and season 3! When the meta wasn’t so tight and you could go ADC mid and due mage bot. 

least favorite season:

Current and every future one, I hate this game. 

character that everyone else in the fandom loves, but i hate:

Hmmmm, hate is too strong, I don’t hate anyone but I guess that’s like Jarvan, Garen, Jayce, Ezreal, I just don’t hate them I sort of don’t care if they live or die. 

my ‘you’re piece of trash, but you’re still a fave’ fave:

Jhin! Absolutely problematic fave! But I guess new Viktor will eventually fit in this category too....

my ‘beautiful cinnamon roll who deserves better than this’ fave:

Viktor! Okay but also Orianna, Ahri, Lee Sin, Sona, Ekko, Lucian, Taric, Shyvana, Sivir and by they deserve better I think the deserve better than fandom and better than Riot. And special mention to Azir who deserves to be completely ripped out of Riot’s ugly racist hands and given to writers that know how to write.

my ‘this ship is wrong, nasty, and makes me want to cleanse my soul, but i still love it’ ship:

Eeeeh??? I don’t know?? I don’t ship anything wrong or nasty, with me is more like “Fandom and people will hate me for shipping this, but I do.”

my ‘they’re kind of cute, and i lowkey ship them, but i’m not too invested’ ship:

A lot of the ships my friends ship and I see around. I mean the good, non problematic ships of course! 

Overwatch

the first character i ever fell in love with:

Lucio! Oh man I was so terrible at fps and with Lucio I felt really good cause he didn’t require much aiming, he was a support so I could get used to it and also very nice music playing and keeping my spirits up even though I was afraid. 

a character that i used to love/like, but now do not:

None I guess? I love all of them because I am trash. 

a ship that i used to love/like, but now do not:

Pharah/Mercy, now I don’t cause I do not like Mercy. Oh wait, honorable mention to Genji/Mercy who I now hate don’t like cause I used to like it BEFORE I sort of read Genji’s story with more understanding. Still I avoid the discourse. 

my ultimate favorite character™:

Impossible to tell, please don’t make a mother choose between her children (but a tie somewhere there around Reaper and Reinhardt.)

prettiest character:

Symmetra and Sombra, I can’t decide!

my most hated character:

None :O I can’t hate anyone. Though Solider 76 is progressively descending down that lane. 

my OTP:

Oh, like I ship a lot of things so um, Tracer/Emily, Symmetra/Pharah, Sombra/Widowmaker, McHanzo and Genji/Zenyatta are the prime otps. Sombra/Widowmaker is actually real good, it’s the right amount of goth/punk lesbians I need to survive.

my NOTP:

Genji/Mercy

favorite episode:

It’s a game so, I can’t say. But my favorite short is a tie between Dragons and Infiltration.  

saddest death:

Genji, after his brother throws him into a meat grinder. 

favorite season:

least favorite season:

character that everyone else in the fandom loves, but i hate:

MERCY! FUcking hell, I mean I don’t hate her but she is really disproportionately loved and that just calls to me to not like her. But I don’t hate her, and I have mutuals that love her and I am sorry for saying this but no really I just don’t like the way fandom portrays her most of the times, I don’t know. 

my ‘you’re piece of trash, but you’re still a fave’ fave:

Hanzo. He is a bit trashy yes, but a fave. 

my ‘beautiful cinnamon roll who deserves better than this’ fave:

Ugh lets see, Reaper, Lucio, Symmetra and Genji. They don’t deserve half of how fandom and Blizzard treats them. 

my ‘this ship is wrong, nasty, and makes me want to cleanse my soul, but i still love it’ ship:

Ugh I just realized this is a badly formulated question since I want to leave that gross and nasty ship I am a sinner thing in the past, it’s really annoying especially when I could write f/f or m/m ships here. 

my ‘they’re kind of cute, and i lowkey ship them, but i’m not too invested’ ship:

Junkrat/Roadhog is pretty cute. I’ve seen few other cute ships like Symmetra/Mei and such and I never thought much about them, but I think they are cute. 

Thank you for asking Vik! 

[tigerkirby215]

5e Zed the Master of Shadows build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Riot Games)

Well; I did promise it. I’ll be honest the only reason for this build is that it’s the most obvious build to make with the new Echo Knight from Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, and it would be an injustice not to do so. I honestly don’t care much about Zed as I feel like his popularity has sort of died down as his meta relevance has waned. Regardless this build isn’t just a straightforward “lol Echo Knight 20″ so I hope those of you who want to play the edgy shadow ninja boy are pleased.

GOALS

Living Shadow - Of course the core of Zed’s kit is his shadow clones. Man I wonder how we’re going to recreate that?

Shadow Slash - Both Zed and his shadows need an arsenal of weapons that are always on-hand and are ready to both slash and throw.

Contempt for the Weak - Zed passive is what makes him an assassin, quickly killing anyone who’s already hurt.

RACE

Zed is a Human but due to my continued determination to avoid using the Variant Human race (and also because we really don’t need a Feat in this build except maybe Skulker) we’ll be grabbing Flash from Mark of Passage from Eberron. Your Dexterity increases by 2 and you can increase one stat of your choice by 1: choose Wisdom for some later Feat investment. You can also choose one language on top of Common: if Ionian is a language choose that, but Elvish is pretty close I suppose?

You get Courier's Speed for 5 feet of extra movement from your Zeal, and  Intuitive Motion lets you add a d4 to any Acrobatics check you make or check involving land vehicles, because of all your training with the Kinkou apparently taught you how to drive a cart as well as do back-flips? But of course the main reason I said to take this race was for Magical Passage, giving you a one-time cast of Misty Step per Long Rest. Flash is a powerful summoner spell: use it to make some stylish plays.

ABILITY SCORES

15; DEXTERITY - Being a ninja is about swiftness and precision, and doing sick backflips and parkour. Wait this isn’t a Talon build?

14; WISDOM - To be a master you need to be wise; wise enough to know you enemy and how to exploit their weakness. It’s also a requirement to multiclass after all.

13; CONSTITUTION - Just because Zed isn’t a tank in-game doesn’t mean some extra tenacity (not the CC reduction type) isn’t appreciated. CON is also tied to some of our clone abilities.

12; INTELLIGENCE - The art of war is a game of intelligence. If fighting is sure to result in victory then you must fight!

10; CHARISMA - Zed runs around in Shredder cosplay and half his voice lines are literally just him grunting. He has his own order but he isn’t getting any free beers.

8; STRENGTH - Again you’re not a tank, and Strength simply isn’t needed for this build. The only thing we’d ever really use Strength for is Athletics, and we can get proficiency in the skill to remedy that.

BACKGROUND

Much like the Kayn build we’ll be going with the Faction Agent background, only this time you’re the faction head! Much like your protegee you get Insight proficiency as well as Intimidation since you’re a spooky shadow man. And of course your Shadow Order can provide you with a Safe Haven if needed, giving you a safe place to hide if your half-brother is looking for you. As for your two languages again it doesn’t matter, so pick something fun.

(Artwork by Riot Games)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - ROGUE 1

Starting off as a Rogue for the extra proficencies, also because no shit you’re a ninja. Regardless Rogues get proficiency in 4 skills from the Rogue list: choose Stealth, Perception, Acrobatics, and Athletics so you can keep to the shadows and strike at the perfect time. You also get Expertise in two skills that you know: I’d opt for Stealth as well as Intimidation from your background, so you can sneak up on someone and go “boo!” before cutting out their throat.

Of course the main appeal of Rogues is their Sneak Attack, letting them add a d6 of damage against any enemy who’s close to another ally, or you have advantage on by attacking them from the shadows.

Finally your Shadow Order is well-versed in Thieves’ Cant, a secret code that neither the Noxians nor the Kinkou understand.

LEVEL 2 - ROGUE 2

Second level Rogues get Cunning Action, letting them Dash, Disengage, or Hide as a Bonus Action. The key to playing Zed well is much like the key to playing Rogue well in 5e: keep mobile and be everywhere at once. Don’t give your enemy a moment to hit you.

LEVEL 3 - ROGUE 3

You can choose your Roguish Archetype at level 3 and of course the Master of Shadows needs shadowy blades. Or should I say psychic blades? The Soul Knife subclass from the Psionics UA can create weapons as a Bonus Action with their Psychic Blade feature: these are finesse weapons that you can dual-wield, and throw 30 feet normally and up to 60 feet with disadvantage. These weapons deal a d6 of psychic damage and disappear after they hit the target you throw them at, when you dismiss them for free, or after you let go of them.

You can also choose through a variety of Psionic Enhancements. You can either give yourself 30 feet of telepathy, 5 feet of extra movement speed, or health equal to your Rogue level plus your Intelligence. You may notice that in total that would add up to a 4 currently, but that isn’t likely to go higher so I’d recommend either the telepathy or the movement speed. (5 feet of movement combined with the 5 feet from your race means you’re moving at Barbarian speed!)

WHY LOW INTELLIGENCE? - The Soul Knife, despite being a psionic class, doesn’t need Intelligence to function. A +5 in Intelligence would only mean a total of 8 extra health because we’re not going to be taking any more levels in Rogue. You need both Dexterity and Constitution more in this build, so it’s not worth investing in Intelligence just for one skill. But if you can get your Intelligence high go right ahead.

And finally your Sneak Attack increases to 2d6 now.

LEVEL 4 - FIGHTER 1

Now that you have your shuriken it’s time to get your clones. Level 1 Fighters get a Fighting Style and there’s a lot of options to choose from:

Two-Weapon Fighting is the obvious pick, letting you squeeze a bit of extra damage into your second weapon attack if you decide to opt for two-weapon fighting with your Bonus Action.

Thrown Weapon Fighting from the Class Feature Variants UA will vary in utility depending on your DM’s interpretation of “drawing a weapon.” If they let you summon your knives for free with this fighting style (as long as you throw them instantly) take this fighting style. If not Archery could also perhaps increase your ranged accuracy if your DM is cool with the rules.

When all else fails Defense provides a flat +1 to AC.

Why not Dueling? - Dueling is good in it’s own right to increase damage output but it technically only works if you have one Psiblade out. This means that you’ll be gimping yourself by only summoning one knife at a time, which means you can’t have two ranged shots before needing to “reload.” If you have a cool DM Dueling can still work for more damage.

You also get Second Wind, so you can pop a Refillable Potion to heal for 1d10 plus your fighter level once per short rest as a Bonus Action. Even at this late level that can equal up to a third of your health bar!

LEVEL 5 - FIGHTER 2

Second level Fighters get Action Surge, allowing them to take an additional action once per Short Rest. Man I love Fighters; so simple to explain.

LEVEL 6 - FIGHTER 3

HA HA FUCK ME AM I RIGHT?! Echo Knight from Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount suddenly becomes a hundred times more complex! For the sake of brevity I’m literally going to copy-paste the Echo Knight’s ability description from my Skullgirls Isaac build:

The echo (or Living Shadow, if you will) has an AC of 14 plus your proficiency bonus, 1 hit point, and immunity to all conditions. If it has to make a saving throw it uses your saving throw bonus for the roll. It’s the same size as you and occupies a space. On your turn you can make the echo to move up to 30 feet in any direction without using an action but if your echo is more than 30 feet from you at the end of your turn it is destroyed.

You have several things you can do with your echo:

* You can swap places with your echo with 15 feet of your movement, regardless of the distance between the two of you.

* Any attack you make with the Attack action can originate from the echo’s space if you choose to do so.

* When a creature that you can see within 5 feet of your echo moves away from it, you can use your reaction to make an opportunity attack against that creature as if you were in the echo’s space.

* You can use Unleash Incarnation to make one additional attack from your Echo’s location when you take the attack action, adding up to 3 attacks total. You can use Unleash Incarnation a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier.

In short: Living Shadow can attack for you. We good?

(Artwork by Riot Games)

LEVEL 7 - RANGER 1

We’ve got our Q, we’ve got our W, now it’s time for our... passive? Building characters in D&D is weird. Regardless Rangers get another skill proficiency: I’d recommend the Survival skill to survive if you decide to go into the jungle.

You also get a Favored Enemy and Favored Terrain from Natural Explorer. As per usual whenever I use the Ranger class (which I seem to do a lot) I recommend talking to your DM to find out what enemies and terrain you’ll need, or alternatively use Unearthed Arcana rules. This build is rather separate from Unearthed Arcana but regardless it’s much better than baseline Ranger so I suggest looking at it.

LEVEL 8 - RANGER 2

Second level Rangers get a Fighting Style so I’d recommend one you didn’t take from Fighter 1 (since Fighting Styles don’t stack.) But notably you get access to Spellcasting and learn two spells from the Ranger list: Detect Magic will let you check if your opponent has their ultimate up before fighting, and Hunter’s Mark will let you mark an enemy for death and do an extra d6 of damage every time you hit them.

LEVEL 9 - RANGER 3

Speaking of damage: third level Rangers can choose a conclave archetype, and the Hunter archetype is as useful to assassins as it is to hunters. You get the Hunter’s Prey feature which lets you choose from three different ways to do extra damage, but Colossus Slayer will let you show your contempt for the weak by doing an extra d8 of damage to anyone who’s injured.

You also get Primeval Awareness, letting you spend a spell slot to detect enemies that are near. (Read the ability for a better understanding of how it works.) And speaking of spells how about a smoke bomb? Fog Cloud will let you create a... cloud... of fog. The area is heavily obscured for the duration unless you lose concentration or a strong wind blows it away so you can use it to block enemy vision and get into position to hide and strike!

LEVEL 10 - FIGHTER 4

Man we skipped over our Ability Score Improvements for awhile huhn? Well thankfully there’s no more multiclassing anymore as it’s just straight down Fighter now. But we’ll first be taking a Feat to even out some of our uneven ability scores, and the Observant feat is perfect for a ninja, getting an increase to passive perception to spot assassins in the dark and being able to read the lips of an enemy so you can relay the message to your allies.

LEVEL 11 - FIGHTER 5

5th level Fighters get an Extra Attack good lord finally! The thing is that more attacks means that you’ll have to “reload” your Psychic Blades with a Bonus Action more often, which is why we opted for Colossus Slayer first. So just remember that your knives are limited.

(Artwork by Riot Games)

LEVEL 12 - FIGHTER 6

6th level Fighters get another Ability Score Improvement: increase your Dexterity and Constitution to finally get rid of those awful uneven Ability Scores.

LEVEL 13 - FIGHTER 7

7th level Echo Knights get Echo Avatar: You can see and hear through your Living Shadow, deafening and blinding yourself while you do this. You can keep it up for 10 minutes max and can end it at any time without an action. While your echo is being used this way it can be up to 1000 feet away from you without being destroyed, meaning that you can theoretically teleport to it if you so desire. One of Zed’s biggest strengths is his ability to be practically everywhere at once.

LEVEL 14 - FIGHTER 8

8th level Fighters get another Ability Score Improvement: you can finally cap off your Dexterity for maximum damage with your knives and your shurikens.

LEVEL 15 - FIGHTER 9

At level 9 in Fighter you get Indomitable, letting you reroll a saving throw once per Long Rest. You must use the new roll so be sure to only pop your QSS on an important stun you know you won’t get hit by again 3 seconds later.

LEVEL 16 - FIGHTER 10

10th level Echo Knights get Shadow Martyr. Hey it has “shadow” in the name! Regardless once per short rest you can use a reaction to have your Living Shadow defend an ally (or yourself) when being attacked, forcing the attack to hit the echo instead of you. People can’t shoot Zed’s shadows in League but that doesn’t mean he can’t block a skillshot for an ally.

LEVEL 17 - FIGHTER 11

11th level Fighters get three attacks per round thanks to an improvement to Extra Attack. Again remember that you can only throw two of your Psychic Blades before needing to reload, meaning that if you decide to throw them you can only do so twice before needing to spend a bonus action, and will run out of daggers if you decide to Action Surge. But since your echo can attack with melee it should be fine, right?

LEVEL 18 - FIGHTER 12

12th level Fighters get another Ability Score Improvement: increase your Constitution for more health and more uses of Unleash Incarnation, adding up to you dying less and your enemies dying more.

LEVEL 19 - FIGHTER 13

13th level Fighters get another use of Indomitable. Isn’t cool-down reduction a great stat?

LEVEL 20 - FIGHTER 14

Our capstone is an Ability Score Improvement from the 14th level of Fighter: 2 points in Constitution will give you a 20 HP boost and one extra use of Unleash Incarnation.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

The merest shade of me... - You have a huge array of options in combat which are almost always available for use. You can always be armed with both a melee and ranged weapon and have insane mobility with Misty Step and the ability to swap places with your Echo, not to mention that a 40 foot movement speed puts you above the average movement for humanoids and on-par with most mid-to-high level enemies, letting you easily chase them and keep up.

Our blades crave battle - You have incredibly high damage output. Three attacks with your psychic blades is good in its own right but combined with Sneak Attack, Colossus Slayer, and Hunter’s Mark you can do a grand total of 3d6 + 1d8 extra damage with one of your three strikes. Extra attacks are a great contingency for on-hit damage boosts.

Only the worthy survive - While Zed is squishy in League of Legends this build is much tankier than average. Actually being able to invest in Constitution without losing out on abilities and most of your levels being in Fighter means that your health can easily reach up to 200. Add in Second Wind and Indomitable and you have more than a Guardian Angel to protect you.

CONS

Secrets kept are weapons wasted - You have a lot of set up time to get all your abilities up. A bonus action to draw your weapons and then another bonus action to summon your Echo, plus extra bonus actions to create more blades or more echoes, which will take away from Cunning Action or your mobility abilities.

Only time can judge us - Many of your abilities are limited: limited spells, limited protection with Indomitable and Shadow Martyr, limited damage with Unleash Incarnation and Action Surge, and most notably limited ranged attacks per turn since you can only summon two Psychic Blades per turn.

Balance is weakness - The three levels of Ranger really don’t provide much. More damage is swell and all but taking 3 more Fighter levels instead of 3 Ranger levels would give you more sustainability with Reclaim Potential, another Ability Score Improvement, and most notably a third use of Indomitable and a second use of Action Surge. Ranger makes your average damage output higher but removes your ability to quickly assassinate a target, or keep alive. And it of course forces you to invest somewhat in Wisdom, which might not be possible if you didn’t roll well for stats during character creation.

But I honestly struggled to find many points of weakness in this build; I’m actually impressed with how strong it is overall. You have the tools to take on any fight that may come your way, moving around the battlefield at lightning speeds and dropping any enemy with a flurry of blows. It’s only up to you to use those tools, less you prove yourself a Faker.

(Artwork by Riot Games)

[tigerkirby215]

Battle Master Sett and others (League of Legends build errata)

(Artwork still by @victorli_ran on Twitter.)

I’m going to be honest: like 80% of the reason I made the Sett build was an excuse for me to make JoJokes. The other 20% of the reason is because I constantly see this motherfucker on the Rift. Whenever I don’t ban him he gets instapicked because Rito can’t balance for shit and made such a brain-dead champ OP as hell. But my complaints about Sett aside the few people I’ve met who played Sett because they genuinely enjoyed him (and weren’t spamming him because he’s Rito’s latest opee opee champ) were super nice and friendly, and Sett as a whole is a cool character who seems fun to play. I’d buy him myself but I’m waiting for the balance team to stop reading Jojolion and do their goddamn job.

With that out of the way Sett is one of the few times I honestly feel like 2 levels is more than enough to capture a character. With 1 level in Fighter for Unarmed Fighting (because Barbarians don’t get a Fighting Style lol) and 1 level in Barbarian (for Unarmored Defense) you have pretty much everything I’d want to play Sett except for False Life from the Aberrant Dragonmark Feat. (Which is nice but more of an afterthought for more Temp HP.) The 18 levels in Fighter were done entirely for the Survivor trait from Champion, which is strong yes but it involves you getting to level 18 first. What’s more is that 2 levels in Barbarian means that you’re missing out on the 4th attack from Fighter, and if you’re going to go to level 18 in a class you may as well get the level 20 capstone feature as well. I make these builds for roleplay first and practicality better since I doubt anyone is coming to this Tumblr for OP builds.

With that being said I did promise to provide a build for Battle Master, and I’d like to offer some other potential multiclass dips and the strengths and weaknesses of each. I’m not going to go too deep into the levels of each class myself (to be honest just read them yourself) but I will give the reason why you’d want each class and subclass in the notes.

BATTLE MASTER MANEUVERS

Full disclosure I know very little about Battle Master so most of my advice is going off a guide as well as my roleplaying recommendations.

OFFICIAL

Commander’s Strike - The boss bossing around his teammates is highly in flavor, but unless you have a Rogue (who can sneak attack) or someone with a similar damage boosting ability this ability is fairly redundant. 3/5 ROLEPLAY - 3/5 PRACTICALITY

Disarming Attack - Very in-flavor for Sett to try to get the upper hand by punching a weapon out of his opponent’s hand. Also very useful in combat, especially if you either take their weapon or kick it away. 4/5 ROLEPLAY - 3/5 PRACTICALITY

Distracting Strike - You can give yourself Advantage with Reckless Attack, and can afford to do so since you have so much health. That being said helping your allies get hits is very useful, especially if you have a Rogue or something similar. You can also argue that this would be Sett getting a good Facebreaker in to set up for his allies. 5/5 ROLEPLAY - 4/5 PRACTICALITY

Evasive Footwork - Knuckle Down lets Sett zoom at his enemies but not away from them. More importantly you have more than enough health and AC to take some opportunity attacks. This can make you a little sturdier but it’ll eat up your maneuver dice; it’s just not worth it. 2/5 ROLEPLAY - 1/5 PRACTICALITY

Feinting Attack - Very in flavor, but you already have a way to generate Advantage. Good if you don’t take a second level in Barbarian. 4/5 ROLEPLAY - 1/5 PRACTICALITY

Goading Attack - INSANELY useful as you’re the tank, so this will stop the enemies from targeting your allies. Also definetly in-flavor for Sett to taunt his enemies into going for him instead of his fight partners. 5/5 ROLEPLAY - 5/5 PRACTICALITY

Lunging Attack - Literally Haymaker, but in the wise words of rpgbot.net: “Just move closer to your target.” You can afford to take an Attack of Opportunity by moving away after attacking. 5/5 ROLEPLAY - 1/5 PRACTICALITY

Maneuvering Attack - See my points on Commander’s Strike. Only difference is that this ability is even less useful since movement isn’t that special in 5e. 3/5 ROLEPLAY - 2/5 PRACTICALITY

Menacing Attack - In flavor for Sett to growl and snarl, but you don’t care about taking hits and if there’s one thing you don’t want its for enemies to stay back. 3/5 ROLEPLAY - 2/5 PRACTICALITY

Parry - Very in flavor but sadly your DEX mod isn’t that high. 5/5 FLAVOR - 4/5 PRACTICALITY

Precision Attack - Since you already have Advantage this can be great to break through some tough ACs. It’s not as impressive but it gets the job done, and considering that your fists are your only option hitting hard enough to get through Braum’s shield would be very useful. 4/5 FLAVOR - 5/5 PRACTICALITY

Pushing Attack - Could be ruled that this is you using your ultimate but it’s very impractical. 3/5 FLAVOR - 1/5 PRACTICALITY

Rally - Much like the other “commander” maneuvers it’s decently in-flavor for Sett, but you don’t have the biggest investment in Charisma. You’re no support and you’re far better off leaving the healing to the Cleric. 3/5 FLAVOR - 2/5 PRACTICALITY

Riposte - The more in-flavor and more useful version of Parry for a tank build. Screw defense; more damage! 5/5 FLAVOR - 5/5 PRACTICALITY

Sweeping Attack - Titanic Hydra? But while this is rather in-flavor the damage is just extraordinarily low. 3/5 FLAVOR - 1/5 PRACTICALITY

Trip Attack - In-flavor for Sett to fight dirty, and rather useful, but not the most useful overall. 3/5 FLAVOR - 4/5 PRACTICALITY

CLASS FEATURES UA

Ambush - What are you? A Rogue? 1/5 FLAVOR - 1/5 PRACTICALITY

Bait and Switch - Very cute if you’re playing bodyguard, but you probably won’t be. It’s just far too conditional to be used. 2/5 FLAVOR - 1/5 PRACTICALITY

Brace - This is essentially Riposte but slightly different. Much like Riposte it’s very in-flavor, but I’d probably stick to Riposte. 5/5 FLAVOR - 4/5 PRACTICALITY

Restraining Strike - Was used in the Champion build but Grapples are garbage. 5/5 FLAVOR - 2/5 PRACTICALITY

Silver Tongue - Lets you keep some of Sett’s charm but you’re hardly the face of the party, unfortunately. 3/5 FLAVOR - 1/5 PRACTICALITY

Snipe - These fists ain’t thrown love, though I guess you could pull out a knife and scream MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA before throwing it. 1/5 FLAVOR - 1/5 PRACTICALITY

Studious Eye - What are you? An Inquisitive Rogue? 1/5 FLAVOR - 1/5 PRACTICALITY

Here’s a theoretical list of maneuvers I’d take:

LEVEL 3

Distracting Strike

Goading Attack

Riposte

LEVEL 7

Disarming Attack

Precision Attack

LEVEL 10

Lunging Attack

Trip Attack

LEVEL 15

Pushing Attack

(Choice)

P.S. Leatherworker’s Tools are probably the most in-character tool for you to have proficiency with as Sett.

(Artwork by Riot Games)

OTHER CLASSES TO TRY

BARBARIAN 20

The only reason we went full Fighter in the original build was for Survivor, but the only reason we even took a level in Fighter was for the Unarmed Fighting fighting style. (Because Barbarians don’t get a Fighting Style lol.) If you have a cool DM who’ll let you either reflavor your weapon as unarmed strikes or flat out let you attack with hands as strong as weapons (or if you have an Artificer who can make you an Arcane Propulsion Arm [removal of a hand required], or can find a similar magic item that gives you an Unarmed Strike) then Barbarian 20 is more than viable.

The main strength of going full 20 in Barb (other than the vast majority of your hit die being larger, meaning that on average you’ll roll a lot higher) is their level 20 ability Primal Champion, giving you 24 in both Constitution and Strength for the hardest punches and the toughest grit. Most of the other general Barbarian abilities are admittedly somewhat subpar however. Fast Movement and Feral Instinct are nice and all but other than that you only get Rage features and more damage on your crits. The Rage improvements are nice (as are more rages and more damage on those rages) but at best you’re probably going to get a d8 out of your fists, meaning the brutal crits won’t do that much more. Also without value levels in Champion you only have a 5% chance to crit baseline, or a 10% chance with Advantage.

PROS: Much tankier, even stronger.

CONS: Weak features on the way, only worth it for level 20.

With that being said: subclasses. Ironically Path of the Battlerager (IE “the worst one”) probably fits Sett the best, with Reckless Abandon recreating Pit Grit and Battlerager Charge recreating Knuckle Down. With that being said Battlerager is absolute garbage, primarily because the Spiked Armor and the class features based on it suck. You certainly won’t be wearing Spiked Armor as Sett (what are you? Mordekaiser?) which means that the features are completely wasted on you. If you can find a good Homebrew variant for Battlerager or can make one on your own it can be a good pick but while it is in-flavor it’s far too weak to be reasonably played.

PROS: Highly in flavor, more mobile and sustainable.

CONS: Weaksauce, useless armor.

Path of the Totem Warrior is the obvious one to mention as its the typical opee opee Barb. The Bear Totem Spirit is forever a powerful choice but truthfully the Tiger Totem Spirit is far more in-character. The thing is that Tiger is probably the most impractical, so Elk or Eagle are also good picks.

Much like with my Frank West build the Bear Aspect of the Beast would be extremely in-character for Sett (and would be the only way I could justify Sett grabbing a dragon and slamming that shit down on Teemo’s fucking face.) Elk, Tiger, and Wolf would also be in flavor.

For your Totemic Attunement the spirit of the Elk, Tiger, or Wolf would all be in-flavor. Bear could make sense but you don’t need that level of tankiness this late into a build.

PROS: Opee opee, tons of options, tons of utility.

CONS: Going to be accused of powergaming, going to get yelled at for not picking Bearbarian.

Other interesting subclasses to mention:

Path of the Beast (UA) gives you punching claws but almost all the other features play on the werewolf motif. More of Warwick’s thing... or maybe Rengar’s.

Path of the Beserker is extremely powerful but is a little too wild for Sett.

Path of the Zealot is great if you want to infuses your punches with the wrath of the gods - perfect if they ever make a God Fist Sett skin, or if you find a stone mask lying around.

MONK

Monk gives you an unarmed strike, and while mixing Barbarian and Monk is weird it is quite doable if you want to play a STRonk. (Strength Monk) For subclasses Way of the Open Hand recreates some of your movement effects with Open Hand Technique and Pit Grit with Wholeness of Body. Your level 11 and 17 abilities aren’t as impressive so I’d probably invest between 7 to 8 levels in Open Hand Monk for Evasion.

PROS: Movement imparing effects, more pit grit, Evasion, movement speed.

CONS: d6 attack dice, not a lot of Ki, stacking Unarmored Defense, Wisdom requirement

Way of the Drunken Master could also work but that’s much more Jackie Chan than pit fighter.

PROS: Mobility, great in crowds.

CONS: Out-of-character, somewhat weak.

PALADIN

Okay hear me out here: Conquest Paladin 20.

PROS: Hit very hard, counter attacks, innate Pit Grit that can be shared with allies, anime transformation.

CONS: Fear based, need armor, spellcasting isn’t in flavor, Charisma requirement

ARMORER ARTIFICER (UA)

Like I said when Armorer Artificer came out the class would be very good for Mecha Kingdom Sett. The thing is I think the build would be so different from default Sett (with an Intelligence focus among many other things) I’m not going to talk about it.