Riot explains why Arcane erased a League of Legends champion Avid gamers Area

League of Legends is over 15 years outdated. The sport is sort of sufficiently old to drive or vote, and its builders at Riot Video games haven’t been shy about making use of retcons or reworks to champions or different elements of the sport as wanted. Even longtime gamers can discover themselves stunned by these overhauls. As an example, one champion was within the recreation for 11 years earlier than he was out of the blue changed with somebody fully new, however with the identical title. The brand new Viktor has been taken from Arcane, which is way much less complicated to new gamers — however what occurs to longtime followers of a champion when their beloved foremost character will get changed with a “higher” model?

In the event you’re an Arcane fan, this can be a pure determination that is smart. In the event you’re a League of Legends veteran, it evokes questions as to the sport’s larger canon. I reached out to Riot to be taught extra concerning the strategy of reinventing Viktor, and the way Arcane’s new lore matches into the larger League library.

Polygon: How did the “new” Viktor come about? Was this a artistic determination by Fortiche that Riot determined to undertake for League of Legends, or was the brand new design a collaborative effort?

Paul Bellezza, govt producer of League of Legends: Lore-wise, we knew that we wished Viktor on the finish of Arcane to achieve the Viktor we see in-game. However how he received there within the present was in the end led by Christian [Linke, co-creator of Arcane] and the Fortiche group. And when his character improvement, each visually and narratively, began taking a barely completely different course, we had been all in and excited for this new iteration of Viktor to even be in-game quite than retaining them separate. So the adoption was positively a artistic determination by Riot and Fortiche. It started with a Viktor foremost who labored on League of Legends, who then joined the animation group, which led to the event of what the “tremendous” type of Viktor may seem like, and resulted in people being very excited to undertake him into the sport. It was very a lot a game-alumni led effort in collaboration with the Fortiche group.

Arnaud-Loris Baudry, manufacturing designer: A protracted-time, influential illustrator on the League of Legends splash artwork group and Viktor foremost joined the animation group along with his personal thought of how “tremendous” Viktor may seem like. The human model of Viktor was already designed and he was becoming a member of once we had been attempting to think about how we’d take Viktor into this journey visually. And it took truly, I’d say, 4 years of labor to get from the preliminary concepts to the ultimate design.

Gem Lim, artwork director on champions (League of Legends): This was positively a special perspective to champion updates. We needed to preserve issues extra beneath wraps than standard as a result of we wished to help Arcane and keep away from spoilers in service of making a significant second for gamers along with his new look. It was dangerous not having the ability to present his progress and get as a lot enter from the gamers, however top-of-the-line issues about Riot is that we’re not afraid to strive one thing new. And I’d quite we strive one thing like this when the chance presents itself.

At what level was it determined that the “outdated” Viktor could be eliminated instead of the Arcane model of the character? Have been there any inside debates about retaining the unique themes?

Bellezza: Principally, as soon as we knew what was going to occur within the present and the group’s imaginative and prescient for Viktor’s story arc, we went all in on collaboration with the Riot animation group and Fortiche. We wished to rejoice his story and this new model of Viktor in-game and mentioned to ourselves, ‘we’re going to make this an incredible second for viewers and gamers.’ And so, this was an intentional determination that every one of us made collectively as a result of we had been excited concerning the evolution of the character.

Kiahna Manker, artistic producer of movie/TV: Additionally, I’d say Arcane season 1 had launched at this level and so, we had been seeing a resurgence of Viktor as a personality that gamers actually, actually had been gravitating in the direction of. So there was numerous belief that the sport group had put into Arcane, in addition to the trajectory that this character would have sooner or later.

Are Arcane Viktor and new League Viktor the identical character? Is Arcane canon within the “Welcome to Noxus” storyline at the moment being arrange? In that case, is League Viktor technically useless within the present canon?

Bellezza: The Noxus storyline that League is doing and the CG we did for Season One 2025; it’s all one universe. So sure, Arcane Viktor is the Viktor you see in-game. And we immediately tied collectively the top of Arcane to the start of our Season One 2025 cinematic, “Welcome to Noxus,” with Mel arriving on the shores of Noxus to flesh out this universe. For this explicit video too, we had been actually excited to associate with Fortiche and felt it was an particularly pure match given some parts are a observe on from Arcane.

Is League Viktor technically useless within the present canon? We don’t know what definitively occurred to Viktor in Arcane; so just like the viewers, we have now to interpret what the present confirmed us of Jayce and Viktor’s conclusion. In the end, the sport is a illustration of the IP.

There are a few design parts from the unique Viktor (the hair out of the again of the masks, the third arm), and I’m curious why the group determined to maintain these explicit items?

Lim: One thing we all know from doing visible updates previously is that gamers (particularly mains) really feel very strongly and passionately concerning the authentic design of their champion. So, even because the story for Arcane was creating, the groups intuitively understood that the Viktor you see in Arcane ought to at the very least begin off, visually, with what’s at the moment within the recreation. Whereas they won’t have recognized which particular parts they had been going to maintain initially, it was all the time deliberate to make sure that among the authentic design would keep. There may be additionally a champion silhouette readability consideration when updating champions in-game. We don’t wish to deviate too removed from what gamers are accustomed to, in any other case, you would possibly as properly be making a brand new champion.

Baudry: With that in thoughts, once we seemed to discover the redesign of Viktor’s last type within the present, we wished to indicate his transformation via the evolution of his bodily aids: the braces, the crutch, and so on. grow to be precise parts of his newfound energy. His crutch remodeled right into a employees and his braces on his torso truly grew to become virtually an armor. Visually, we wished to depict the journey of somebody whose bodily challenges grew to become symbols of power and transformation, turning into an virtually godlike being on the finish. And thankfully, a few of these authentic design parts actually match with this story we had been telling via his transformation.

There was fan suggestions that Viktor now shares some thematic overlap with champions like Malzahar and Lissandra. How did the group work to maintain him distinct? Is there one other champion who would possibly take over the “robotic overlord” thematic function?

Laurie Goulding, narrative director of League Studio: Once we discuss character themes, we’re not simply pondering of our champions by way of the MOBA, however the wider IP setting. I just like the alternatives inside a world like Runeterra to indicate that typically the identical classes aren’t realized and interpreted throughout hundreds of years of in-world timeline. Simply because any individual made an analogous mistake previously or adopted an analogous journey to a different character some place else on this planet doesn’t imply that no person else is ever going to make that very same mistake, or strive an analogous plan of action sooner or later. I just like the sort of cyclical nature of among the ethical classes that our characters fail to be taught or absorb comparable, however barely completely different, instructions. It’s not essentially the identical, but it surely rhymes. That feels genuine to me.

Riot builders have spoken previously about how champion reworks may cause the unique mains of that character to precise dissatisfaction or give up the sport. What did Viktor’s participant base seem like earlier than Arcane and the rework? Why was he eligible for this drastic change, and was it definitely worth the backlash from longtime Viktor mains who most popular the unique model?

Bellezza: This yr, not solely will a champion be thought-about for an replace primarily based on age, readability, outdated gameplay, and so on., however we’re contemplating thematic match to a season in order that gamers are seeing a cohesive drop of content material. So equally, previous to that official determination, Viktor was a champion that we thought could be match for an replace through the Arcane timeframe, like once we up to date Caitlyn within the first season of Arcane. And he was clearly going via this large transformation within the present that we wished to have the ability to put within the recreation, as properly.

Each champion replace is sure to be dangerous and face backlash. We strive our greatest to mitigate the chance, by attempting to protect the core parts that gamers love and guaranteeing we don’t lose the essence of the unique character whereas updating to our present requirements. Generally meaning we push additional than some long-time followers are snug with, and it’s a high quality balancing act to attempt to handle. Whereas we’re pleased with the evolution of Viktor by way of Arcane and his new in-game look, we are going to proceed to mirror on what elements had been resonant or not-resonant with our gamers and take the learnings alongside the way in which.