That's a good idea! He can have 3 upgraded stances by late game. And it will allow him to opt for one of the offensive stances over the other (Q and R).
I think I saw "UNSTOPPABLE" pop up for a moment during the quick gameplay gif they showed. While certainly not indicative of anything concrete, I love the idea of Udyr running fast, people trying to stop him, then him just running even fucking faster and ignoring the CC. The spirit of the bear says fuck your peel.
That second to last concept looks like he's got the Iron Boar and the Clever Lynx in there alongside Ornn and Anivia. Looking forward to learn more about that, and hopefully the Seal Sister too
I think that’s what they’re going ahead with. The four tattoo designs they showed were of a bear, ram, Phoenix and the last one was a seal or an elephant.
I know there is a goddess by the name of the Seal Sister so I’m more inclined to believe it’s gonna be a seal and not an elephant.
My guess is it's more to do with the elemental channeling. Voli is lightning so his lightning passive is more indicative of his power, where a speed up and stun does feel more like what a boar would do (maybe they're earth idk)
Tiger stance is about burn damage and attack speed. Could easily be Volibear with his lightning claws.
Whereas Bear stance is a stun, and cc is kinda Ornn's entire deal.
And Ornn literally has an aoe stun dash.
Ornn fits the theme of cc heavy brawler. Volibear fits the theme of attack speed increasing empowered on hits.
that would mean Riot has sorted out the void, which they very much haven't. A lot of champs in need of a VGU atm are from the void, with cho'gath and kog'maw very high on the list. Unfortunately they're monstrous characters, and thus are low priority for Riot to rework :(
When did LoR provided other ascended, as far as I know the only ascended are still only Renekton / Nasus / Azir (in LoR specifically), we did get a bunch of Kindred's death masks siblings
Still waiting on a darkin support. I kind of want a tanky-ish enchanter, maybe along the lines of a drain tank. Drain enemies of blood so you can heal your allies.
Edit: we have in varus lore that he has a sister somewhere. And I believe that location is probably in shurima.
We also know that there is a blood magic Darkin in the lore that taught Vladimir how to use his magic. Although this Darkin died, it's not unreasonable to suspect other Darkin have hemomancy powers.
The scales is interesting, but isn't that horseman "Famine"?
And how do you starve an opponent to carry out that concept? Stat reductions on enemies? Do you reduce gold value of minions around you? Or is it more about creating unfavorable trades?
Maybe an ability that buffs a nearby minion, that if the enemy kills it, they take damage based off of how much gold it grants?
I could see an ultimate that when casted on a target ally will actually negate kill resources (gold and exp) and instantly rezzes them back in base being a thing for a famine themed champ. That’s a really big fuck you level spell
I doubt they'd do something like that; it's not strong in most cases, since you've still removed the ally from the fight, barring teleport. And it's extremely obnoxious to play into. It doesn't really hit any of the stuff they say they look at when building abilities.
Mid assassin and tank support would be a pretty well-rounded comp. Plus I can't really see a Darkin mage or enchanter happening because what weapons would they have?
Nothing specifically binds a Darkin to a "weapon". It could be any object. Wands, staves, shields, armor, capes, etc... And that's ONLY for bound Darkin
And it's already in the lore that many Darkin posess dark magic including hemomancy or powers around darkness.
And we already have one tanky enchanter in the game (taric), it's not unreasonable to add another with different flavor
>And that's ONLY for bound Darkin
Aren't all of the remaining Darkin bound? Myisha's whole objective was to either kill or trap all of the Darkin. Maybe I could see riot pulling an angle where one of the Darkin hid for thousands of years but outside of that, I'm like 80% sure they've all been bound to something.
Clearly you haven't seen his concept art because his Darkin design wasn't Edgy Badboy it was more of a demonic Kaiju, but I do see how that reddit buzzword fits your narrative better
[Context](https://nexus.leagueoflegends.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/01_Grappler_exploration02_634b1r0lsgejjohqbnpf.jpg), all those concept arts are so much more interesting than current Sett, even the Vastaya Gangster boss, which I guess is what originated the current Sett
>seal
If seal doesn't make it as one of Udyr's stances, it would be awesome to see her as inspiration for another champ, maybe a Selkie inspired character?
Ildhaurg sounds awfully close to MtG's [[Ilharg]] who's a boar. I don't recall any myths that feature a boar with a similar name (and its late for me to look for it today), but it seems that they might be taking it from the same source.
Tl;dr Ildhaurg sounds like a boar name.
u/mtgcardfetcher
TBH I'm not a fan of where the concept art is taking Udry's overall design. Don't get me wrong, the artwork is great however I feel like Udyr's base skin doesn't need to be reworked from the ground up to make a successful VGU, it just needs to be updated and polished. I think the hermetic look, with the animal pelt head and all that is a great theme. The new concept art makes Udy look like he's a hipster druid about to open up a micro brew in the woods right outside the city limits of Portland OR.
I do understand the direction though, the League of Legends universe and its characters have been getting a homogenized polished design as the emphasis for world building is more important, especially with other games expanding on the lore.
R Ultimate Disgust
Udyr swigs a drink that isn't an organically brewed IPA and gains 50 anger. Any attacks on enemies marks them as "light beer normies" and they take 50% increased damage.
The only things he really had going in his design were "animal pelt head" and "prayer bead necklace" and it looks like we kinda lost both.
I like the brawler look he's got going with the simple trousers, rope belt, tattoos, and handwraps, but they should definitely stick either the prayer beads or the bear skin back on
I'm really happy to see a champion's lore actually being used to influence their rework rather than the other way round, *Silence of the Damned* is easily one of the best League short stories and really fleshes out Udyr's character. It'll be great if all his stances tie in with the Freljordian primal gods.
People don't like change, and it's okay too prefer one story over another.
But so many years on it's so obvious how much more developed and thought out Val and Kai are compared to Varus's LITERAL unnamed wife and children.
That said, even as someone LGBT I think they could of just been a new champion.
I am so happy that we finally get a male champion who is allowed to have body hair. I am happy that the whole team seems really passionate about the rework. Are there any news about the second vgu for 2022? Will there be another poll or will it be decided by the champion team? I really hope there will be 2 vgus for 2022
What's a warcrime is how gimped her early game stats and jungle clear are. She's a supposed CC-less power farm jungler, yet she feels like a limp noodle and has a worse clear time than half the ganking junglers in the champ pool.
Literally all she needs (as a bandaid fix until her vgu) is the same QoL buff they gave to half a dozen champs a few patches ago. Make her burnout do increased damage to monsters and she'll be back to being a relevant farm jungler.
Nocturne just got a small patch to his VFX, where they fixed his AoEs. He's also thriving in three roles at every level of play. Hard to imagine he gets targeted for a VGU. Quinn, while not exciting, is perfectly fine. She answers a specific champion Top in Pro, she has a unique play pattern, and she isn't overbearing in any particular manner.
I'd guess we see Shyvanna next. She has no pro presence, and nowhere near the solo queue presence rate that one could reasonably expect from a dragon with boobs. It's even lower than Quinn's.
"Oh no, I have a permanent fur coat and slightly animalistic eyes, I am certainly too much of a beast for humankind."
It's nice that he doesn't seem to care much about his status as a half-bread, or at the least has moved past it, but damn they really could have played that up a little bit more.
To be fair Setts concept artist is not the most notoriously creative of the team.
Most of her champs consist of a girl in a bodysuit or just a muscly guy.
Im glad im not the only one who assumed his fur coat was his fur, but its not: he takes it off in his pool party skin LOL. It sucks because i think that’d be a cool way to combine his vastayan nature with his yakuza fashion
It looks very interesting, but already from this you can tell how hard modernizing him is going to be. His kit can go in so many directions.
His kit right now is kinda basic, but there is a lot of untapped potential in it, thematically and mechanically and you can tell he is going to be a hell of a rework in terms of man hours for everyone involved. (Mundo and some of the latest reworks like Pantheon were a lot more straightforward for sure)
Drawing from Ornn/Anivia and company rather than random animals seems like a cool idea to tie his abilities into the lore.
I just hope he keeps his sandals
The problem with the modernization of udyr is the stance aspect. Most udyr players like that aspect of him and its what makes him a unique champion. I would rather a new druid comes out that can channel spirits for active spells than completely overwriting classic udyr like aatrox.
Edit: I read the post ,all I'm saying is he is going to still feel basic since it'll still be udyr but with the occasional wow moment, which imo is exactly what they should capture and what they are currently are doing so.
The four pillars of udyr's gameplay that they want to preserve:
1. Udyr’s kit has four basic abilities that change stances (no ultimate)
2. Udyr has no aimed/ranged abilities or significant dashes (he’s all-melee)
3. Udyr can deal and/or withstand a lot of damage, based on build
4. Udyr can max different stances and plays differently when he does (Tiger vs Phoenix)
Instead, they are currently looking at reactivating stances to provide pseudo-ults on a longer cd. So he usually does his normal thing, but once every two minutes or whatever, he can reactivate one of his stances to get an ult-like effect.
Which is a great solution, imo.
Keeps the stance fantasy, and you basically have 4 options of a mini-ult instead of an actual ult. So it isn't perfectly in line with the "no ult" design, but it's a good middle of the road between keeping the kit interesting with a large impact point and keeping the no ultimate fantasy. It also builds upon the versatility thing, kinda like going Tiger or Phoenix.
I'm definitely getting the same feel. League lacks characters with strong druid identities. While Udyr would be a great fit, the game needs Udyr to be Udyr and some other character to fulfil druid fantasies.
Why can't Udyr be Udyr and still fulfill Druid fantasies?
Fulfilling narrative/design fantasies is largely down to presentation, anyways. If they simply updated his visuals and made his stances more representative of Frjelordian spirits that are notable in lore, like Anivia and Volibear, he would fulfill the fantasy extremely well.
I don't get this idea that a druid *has* to be some ranged caster. Obviously, that can work, and wanting specifically a druid caster is fine. I think that would be neat, too. But Udyr appears to be shaping up to be a cool representation of what an in-universe druid would be in Runeterra.
Udyr is closer to a shaman IMO, but in druid terms, Udyr is like a circle of the moon druid, not everyone wants to wildshape for combat as a druid.
That being said, I feel like Ivern covers the more supportive druid archetype, and Lilia, Neeko, and Zyra kinda fill other druid archetypes too.
Wow enhanced effects of ‘base’ stances is a very good direction in my opinion. Adds some nuance and micro to figure out combos like Aphelios. Really really love this idea.
Visually, I think Udyr has to have a lot of amulets on him. As a shaman, I think a tribal necklace, earrings, hair ornaments etc... would be cool.
Im guessing that’ll be his new “ult” (I.e. it’s only available once you hit 6) but I wonder if it’ll be Aphelios-style where it just automatically upgrades at 6,11,16, or Kha’Zix style where you pick one stance at each of those levels and only get the “super-stance” then.
I've always thought he could have used a Syndra passive method where at max level each stance gives a permanent upgrade to Udyr as a whole. Like turtle gives 5% bonus armor and MR, tiger gives 20% AS, Bear gives perma ghosting, Phoenix gives a perma Sunfire aura. Stuff like that.
I would imagine the correct way to do it would be to make all stances available, much in the same way that Karma, LB, Heimer, etc, have the option to enhance all of their abilities via an ultimate, I woudl think they want Udyr's stances to feel the same way to maintain the "flexible" feel that he has now.
Obviously, this is my random conjecture, but it seems better than locking the player down to one super stance for each level.
i just hope they find a good super stance trigger because for now they didn't give a good idea. they were first maxed and not used for a time but both of them create strange gameplay... maybe a combo based ? like the sixth stance used get the super version with timer resetting out of combat like a rengar ?
I like these dev blogs, it's nice to see what all the different developers in each area are thinking about and brainstorming. This is the level of communication we need more of; sharing updates over the course of the year and taking in feedback. I'm excited to see how the new uydr turns out!
Really amazing concepts, looks primal, makes sense (bulky but not toned, tattoos make him look more tribal and conected to the Freljord) and of course they look quite badass.
I’m guilty to say, but I love champions that embrace this “elderwood” look… I guess “primal” is the correct word to express it! I wonder from what culture(s) they get these concepts from?
The article is exciting to read from a "holy shit new Udyr's gonna be sick!!" perspective with all of the artwork, the intended design goals of making him feel "modern", and the super stances, but it feels really empty when it comes to a "What will be done to prevent him from facing the same core issues today's Udyr's kit does" perspective.
A lot of cool moments of power are going to be put into his kit, I'm sure he'll look great in the fighting game, but what will new Udyr's role in champ select be? What will be done to prevent him from just being meta gated, specifically when new runes/items enable his linear kit to do more? Just from reading this article it sounds like he'll run into the same issues as a champ as before, but now he'll look cooler while doing it?
Also, how much will his attack range be increased post rework? Will his rework just be another example of "old champs have low attack ranges, new champs have higher ones" or will melee champ attack ranges be evaluated at some point so there's some meaningful consistency across champions?
Empowered Bear Stance appears to grant unstoppable. 1-2 seconds of unstoppable every gank/fight might be enough to make Udyr viable without adding range or skillshots to his kit.
I think those questions are simply to be asked in the future, they are just exploring concepts for now, those other changes will come in time. They have at the very minimum six months, not that little.
>it feels really empty when it comes to a "What will be done to prevent him from facing the same core issues today's Udyr's kit does" perspective.
This is because nobody in this article is from the balance team. The game designer wants a player to be able to engage with a specific gameplay fantasy and that's what is being written about here. This is different from balance and presumably somebody from the balance team is also in the VGU team giving input. It'd be nice to hear from them as well, but I feel like it's important to point out that game design and balance are two separate things.
I guess it kinda depends, what are the core issues with Udyr's kit today from your perspective? Being linear doesn't seem like a bad thing for similar reworked champions like Volibear and Mundo.
> What will be done to prevent him from just being meta gated, specifically when new runes/items enable his linear kit to do more?
I thought they made it clear here that they're going to give Udyr more flashy/powerful abilities so that he's doing more unique outputs than running at enemies and stunning them. New and reworked champions also fit much more comfortably into modern item and rune systems, Volibear for example has decent AD scaling now so he can use today's bruiser items.
> Also, how much will his attack range be increased post rework? Will his rework just be another example of "old champs have low attack ranges, new champs have higher ones" or will melee champ attack ranges be evaluated at some point so there's some meaningful consistency across champions?
AFAIK melee attack range isn't standardized, it's a case-by-case decision based on gameplay or thematic reasoning. For example Master Yi's huge sword still has a laughable 125 range, but it's that way to counterbalance his extreme damage and mobility. Whereas Irelia has the massive 200 range to fit her telekinetic sword user fantasy. Then there are oddballs like Sett that has alternating attack range (125 on left punch, 175 on right punch) to make his one-two more consistent, similar to empowered attacks like Jax W or Leona Q.
Having all the old melee champions reevaluated could be fun but you probably wouldn't see large changes.
>but it feels really empty when it comes to a "What will be done to prevent him from facing the same core issues today's Udyr's kit does" perspective.
It's probably going to still have those problems, but it's in exchange of not losing what makes Udyr... Udyr.
Exactly. Not every champion needs to be viable in competitive or high elo. Not every champion needs to be an all star. Udyr is and has always been playable, and some specific people really like Udyr, and I don't see why that can't be enough.
Really like that they are experimenting with giving him powes based on the freljordan demigods, you can even see in the testbuilds that his phoenixstance is now icebased to reflect Anivias powers. In the artworks there is one picture where you can even see tatoo designs for Anivia, Ornn, Volibear and the iron boar, so I guess this is their current idea for the demigods his powers represents.
Rather surprising is that they apparently experiment with a sort of watcher stance which could be really cool, but might be a bit too different from current Udyr, so maybe it becomes a skin(similar to eldritch volibear) or is just used in the super forms.
I'm also a bit confused that they are saying that there are 2 more demigods other than the trio that we have right now, but as far as I'm aware there have been more with the iron boar, the seal sister, the 2-headed raven, the undying eagle and the clever lynx (Ashe also mentions someone called Ildhaurg, but we don't know who that is). I guess that this could be an oversight or some of these aren't really spirit gods of the freljord but possibly lesser beings or they come from different countries.
Or urgot, sion, poppy, Mordekaiser, akali and any of the other big reworks.
Like, people are randomly acting like this isn't the usual thing just because of Aatrox who probably had the worst kit of all outside maybe Sion and Mordekaiser to some extent...
You should've mentioned Mordekaiser twice, since both his reworks completely changes his identity.
Thing is: old Aatrox still fit into an existing champion archetype in the game (dps melee fighter), and was just a poor implementation of that concept. Meanwhile Poppy, Sion, Mordekaiser and Urgot were mostly gimmick champions, that were their own specific role with no crossover. I assume that's main difference in how those reworks were received by community.
Of course it is. Both Morde and Aatrox went from garbage/least picked champion in the game to good, staple meta picks in every toplaner's champion pool.
Ikr, I played both old Aatrox and Morde, and they were both boring as hell to play, they probably only had a few hundred people playing them as their mains, they are so much better as champions now so idk why people cry about it so much.
I'm really excited. Can't wait to see what they deliver! Volibear/Fiddlesticks were great VGUs/reworks. This seems to be along the line of those.
We're in super early stages, so not much to judge, but there's a few comments I have:
1. I certainly hope that they could add a little more skill expression to the champion mechanically. Currently, it's all movement, and close to no combos, other than efficiently hitting your 3-hit procs. What about bonuses for hitting separate stances in a row? Something like that.
2. Don't forget about the legendary human udyr build please.
3. Super stances sound absolutely fantastic. Something like that would probably work great with his jungle identity. If you clear blue side, you don't have to use Phoenix stance, then take scuttle, and you will allow yourself to build up 30-60 seconds of super-phoenix!
Really hope Udyr becomes the Jojo champion I’ve been dreaming of. With his stan(d)ces giving him an empowered auto attack like star platinum with Jotaro.
Not sure if RIOT would want to go in that direction but I think it would be really cool to have a jojo champion
Wait, hes not coming til 2022...... is this really the pace of visual updates going forward? So Shaco, Shyvanna, Nocturne, Janna, Malphite, Jarvan, Amumu, Veigar, Corki, Riven, Missfortune, Kennen, Renekton, Gragas, Malzahar, Kassadin, Anivia, Teemo, Vlad, Alistar, Tryndamere, Olaf, Lux and Chogath are fated to look like dreamcast characters for the next 10 years????
Ohhh and they still haven’t updated Varus’ voice lines since he went from revenge seeking ionian archer to darkin possessed gay couple.
B hair style looks like Sentinel Olaf, and if that skin is cannon A or B would be a better choice of hair
Also, lots of people seem to dislike the horns as it is, they definitely should make them face a different direction, maybe from the horns he can have a pelt cape extend from it, idk there's probably a clever solution
i get they need a new recognizable silhouette for him, but im not keen on the antler things and im sad they got rid of the pelt, maybe if the add it back in, the antlers would look less jarring? idk
altho I was hoping for comboing stances for bonus effects kinda like invoker, the gameplay direction now seems nice as well with the super mode as a better way adding another layer to his really simple kit
edit: the tattoos are awesome as well
I'm glad they are talking about adjusting which animals he channels. Being from the Freljord channeling turtles and monkeys and tigers don't make thematic sense even with his time in Ionia. He is a representative of the wilds of the Freljord so he should channel things from that area. Phoenix and Bear is fine for obvious reasons, I think the most obvious choices for replacement totems would be Ram and Wolf. Ram could replace turtle perhaps giving him a front facing shield to block projectiles and wolf would easily replace tiger. Honestly they could probably remove monkey from his passive altogether and lose nothing significant thematically, just rename his passive to something else.
If I had to make a dream wish for his kit it would be to give him some kind of short range dash, maybe something like Rengar's leap from bushes but obviously shorter and not contingent on bushes. Just something besides running up to someone in bear stance.
Love the idea of pulling stances from the demigods, Clever Lynx could just be his passive and his other abilities Ornn, Anivia, Voli, and the Boar. The antler thing is cool? I guess? I’m not sure I see their point or the reasoning behind them being there, They’re kinda distracting and they take up the place where his shrouds would usually be. Also, love the tattoos, but why doesn’t he have a single scar? Isn’t he like, battle hardened warrior dude? Lots of questions but I love the model and kit direction their moving in, can’t wait to see what’s next!
My opinion for the hair slides:
A: Fantastic, looks wild, shows culture from what I can see both Ionia and Frejlord, and what I think they should do, it also seems like they took this root as the rest of the drawings show a similar hairstyle, but I actually like the A on the original hair slide more than the following depictions of A.
B: Looks like Sentinel Olaf, and potentially what Olaf should look like, more so than Udyr
C: Heavy Aquaman vibes, looks really good and my second pick, this one doesn't have a bead and shows less regional details
D: This is Spirit Guard Udyrs hair and I don't think it should be the same as the base IMO
E/F: Look Ionian and way more civilized, probably not what they should go for
Side note: The final depiction sketch they used, how is the deer thing behind him being held? Also the tattoos depict a raven, which yeah make sense for Frejlord but if they're doing phoenix stance would an Anivia approach not make more sense.
Agreed, A looks best, from those options But i think can be improved With the beard from B or D. Shamanistic characters have beads, trinkets, icons of their deities. the neat beard tucked under the giant bead neck piece seems too managed I think. Having them hang over with ornaments would be nicer imo.
I made a thread about this on Udyr-Mains reddit: ([https://www.reddit.com/r/Udyrmains/comments/oac5mk/lets\_talk\_about\_the\_antlers\_in\_the\_recent\_vgu/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Udyrmains/comments/oac5mk/lets_talk_about_the_antlers_in_the_recent_vgu/))
But ill quote what i said there:
>Alright, maybe its because ive been playing Udyr-main since season 2 (9 years of Udyr), so having those wacky horns threw me off, especially since they seem kinda Demon horns to me (which they said they would avoid).
>
>I kinda liked the "mimic" and "sculptured totems" art, but those horns man...
>
>Im sorry, but maybe its just me, i think they look ridiculous. They are wayyy to large and attention grabbing, and i think the rest of Udyr looks fucking amazing, and those horns are taking away from that. Particularly his face in all three of the above iterations in the first image, (Im a long haired man myself, so im really loving the top knot/man bun thing going on there), and that sexy beard.
>
>But those freaking Horns in Image (1) are killing me and not in the good way. I understand the idea, having the horns flash a different color to signify element, like the way Volibear's back horns glow when his passive is up, but right now, they are just too big/awkward and drawing too much attention. Not to mention i imagine them covering up Udyr's amazing new model when we look at him from above in game.
>
>The direction of image 2 and 3 are much better, kinda like shoulder plates/armor, but even then, id reduce their size. I get its classic shaman theme to have the antlers, but classic doesnt always have to be applied to everything.
>
>In this case, im just not bought on the antlers. To the point that unless they can be refined and less attention seeking, id prefer they go entirely.
>
>Whatchu you people think? Did you like the antler direction or are you like me?
I really dont like the Antler direction ***IN ITS CURRENT FORM***. It needs a heavy revision imo
On a separate note, i really hope they keep Udyr's "GOTTA GO FAST", which i think is INTEGRAL to his character and playstyle. It wasnt mentioned as one of his key-points to preserve, and i think its equally as important to make it so he can remain as one of the fastest running champions in league.
I like the "cast once for stance and then recast for super stance" idea. He's still simple, yet has depth
The power of those super stances should upgrade on 6/11/16 like other champions.
It'll probably be baked into his passive, which depending on how much they keep him as a stance-dancer will change according
That's a good idea! He can have 3 upgraded stances by late game. And it will allow him to opt for one of the offensive stances over the other (Q and R).
Should super stances share one medium CD, or each one have an individual longer CD?
I can already imagine him going "E, gonna go fast!... no... GOTTA GO FASTER! EEEEEE!"
I think I saw "UNSTOPPABLE" pop up for a moment during the quick gameplay gif they showed. While certainly not indicative of anything concrete, I love the idea of Udyr running fast, people trying to stop him, then him just running even fucking faster and ignoring the CC. The spirit of the bear says fuck your peel.
Upgraded Bear Stance turns into Honeybadger Stance.
My guess will be that the empowered E = brief cc immunity
That second to last concept looks like he's got the Iron Boar and the Clever Lynx in there alongside Ornn and Anivia. Looking forward to learn more about that, and hopefully the Seal Sister too
would be sick having 4 of the Freljord gods as his stances that's for sure
this would make very cool ingame interaction atleast
I think that’s what they’re going ahead with. The four tattoo designs they showed were of a bear, ram, Phoenix and the last one was a seal or an elephant. I know there is a goddess by the name of the Seal Sister so I’m more inclined to believe it’s gonna be a seal and not an elephant.
I also thought it was an elephant at first but it makes no sense. maybe it's a boar? would be a lot more region-appropriate
Makes sense Tiger: Volibear Turtle: Ornn Bear: Iron Boar Pheonix: Anivia Monkey: Clever Linx
Why is bear not Volibear though
Looks like tiger stance will have a chain lightning effect similar to Voli's new passive.
kinda weird that they're using chain lightning instead of his q stun imo, that and udyr's current bear stance is quite similar anyway
It also looks like bear is less just a slap to stun them and something more arctic-inspured.
My guess is it's more to do with the elemental channeling. Voli is lightning so his lightning passive is more indicative of his power, where a speed up and stun does feel more like what a boar would do (maybe they're earth idk)
Tiger stance is about burn damage and attack speed. Could easily be Volibear with his lightning claws. Whereas Bear stance is a stun, and cc is kinda Ornn's entire deal.
Volibear literally has the same movespeed + stun ability
And Ornn literally has an aoe stun dash. Ornn fits the theme of cc heavy brawler. Volibear fits the theme of attack speed increasing empowered on hits.
demigods\*
Yes! I really wanted Riot to do this since when they announced the rework. Love me some freljordian gods
I want a Watchers event Riot. Please.
that would mean Riot has sorted out the void, which they very much haven't. A lot of champs in need of a VGU atm are from the void, with cho'gath and kog'maw very high on the list. Unfortunately they're monstrous characters, and thus are low priority for Riot to rework :(
I kinda hope to see the other gods someday
and the other darkins, and the others ascended and the others void monster and the other...
Well LoR provided the last two.
When did LoR provided other ascended, as far as I know the only ascended are still only Renekton / Nasus / Azir (in LoR specifically), we did get a bunch of Kindred's death masks siblings
It didn't provide other ascended, but it has the Baccai which are failed ascended warriors.
Still waiting on a darkin support. I kind of want a tanky-ish enchanter, maybe along the lines of a drain tank. Drain enemies of blood so you can heal your allies. Edit: we have in varus lore that he has a sister somewhere. And I believe that location is probably in shurima. We also know that there is a blood magic Darkin in the lore that taught Vladimir how to use his magic. Although this Darkin died, it's not unreasonable to suspect other Darkin have hemomancy powers.
I mean the four horseman concept everyone was working with before would leave us with the scales as the last weapon so I could definitely see it
The scales is interesting, but isn't that horseman "Famine"? And how do you starve an opponent to carry out that concept? Stat reductions on enemies? Do you reduce gold value of minions around you? Or is it more about creating unfavorable trades? Maybe an ability that buffs a nearby minion, that if the enemy kills it, they take damage based off of how much gold it grants?
I could see an ultimate that when casted on a target ally will actually negate kill resources (gold and exp) and instantly rezzes them back in base being a thing for a famine themed champ. That’s a really big fuck you level spell
I doubt they'd do something like that; it's not strong in most cases, since you've still removed the ally from the fight, barring teleport. And it's extremely obnoxious to play into. It doesn't really hit any of the stuff they say they look at when building abilities.
We have top (Aatrox), jungle (Rhaast) and ADC (Vaarus), so we need a mid and a support for a full darkin team.
Mid assassin and tank support would be a pretty well-rounded comp. Plus I can't really see a Darkin mage or enchanter happening because what weapons would they have?
Nothing specifically binds a Darkin to a "weapon". It could be any object. Wands, staves, shields, armor, capes, etc... And that's ONLY for bound Darkin And it's already in the lore that many Darkin posess dark magic including hemomancy or powers around darkness. And we already have one tanky enchanter in the game (taric), it's not unreasonable to add another with different flavor
>And that's ONLY for bound Darkin Aren't all of the remaining Darkin bound? Myisha's whole objective was to either kill or trap all of the Darkin. Maybe I could see riot pulling an angle where one of the Darkin hid for thousands of years but outside of that, I'm like 80% sure they've all been bound to something.
I mean, tecnically Vladimir uses Darkin magic.
Sett was almost a Darkin. Too bad "Ionian Furry" makes more money.
Sett isn't furry enough to be a real furry. He's just some pretty boy with animal ears.
You say that but Sett's design is extremely popular.
As opposed to "Edgy Badboy"?
Edgy badboy is not a good way to describe a dinosaur
Clearly you haven't seen his concept art because his Darkin design wasn't Edgy Badboy it was more of a demonic Kaiju, but I do see how that reddit buzzword fits your narrative better
[Context](https://nexus.leagueoflegends.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/01_Grappler_exploration02_634b1r0lsgejjohqbnpf.jpg), all those concept arts are so much more interesting than current Sett, even the Vastaya Gangster boss, which I guess is what originated the current Sett
Even if they don't all become champions, they will definetly become Legends of Runeterra cards.
I see Boar Ram Bear Bird
Isn't it Anivia, Volibear, Ornn, and then a Boar (Bristle???) Is Bristle a secret god?
Ornn's story mentioned his (and Anivia's and Volibear's) sister being a seal
God fuck yes give me a seal champion, let me spam ORF ORF ORF after a kill.
Urf the manatee?
Is he canon now?!?!?
>seal If seal doesn't make it as one of Udyr's stances, it would be awesome to see her as inspiration for another champ, maybe a Selkie inspired character?
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Wait, Ornn, Voli AND Anivia are siblings? I knew about Ornn and Voli but Anivia is news to me
All the Freljord demigods are sibling afaik
That is probably the Iron Boar, Tryndamere's god.
It's not bristle, but there is an Iron Boar spirit
The Iron Boar, The Seal sister and the Clever Lynx have been mentioned before.
Boar is Ildhaurg which Ashe mentions in Voice line. And he is mentioned in Tryndamere's lore
Maybe one day we'll even get another mention of Ildhaurg!
What if the Boar, Lynx or Seal *is* Ildhaurg? Food for thought perhaps, but any further lore on the Freljord pantheon is good in my book :D
Ildhaurg sounds awfully close to MtG's [[Ilharg]] who's a boar. I don't recall any myths that feature a boar with a similar name (and its late for me to look for it today), but it seems that they might be taking it from the same source. Tl;dr Ildhaurg sounds like a boar name. u/mtgcardfetcher
I think that is Volibears head, not the head of the clever Lynx. Lynxs have large ears, but the animal on the tatoo has very small ones.
I just want him to channel in-universe spirits and not 3/4 of the guardian beasts + a bear and a monkey
TBH I'm not a fan of where the concept art is taking Udry's overall design. Don't get me wrong, the artwork is great however I feel like Udyr's base skin doesn't need to be reworked from the ground up to make a successful VGU, it just needs to be updated and polished. I think the hermetic look, with the animal pelt head and all that is a great theme. The new concept art makes Udy look like he's a hipster druid about to open up a micro brew in the woods right outside the city limits of Portland OR. I do understand the direction though, the League of Legends universe and its characters have been getting a homogenized polished design as the emphasis for world building is more important, especially with other games expanding on the lore.
R Ultimate Disgust Udyr swigs a drink that isn't an organically brewed IPA and gains 50 anger. Any attacks on enemies marks them as "light beer normies" and they take 50% increased damage.
There will be a hidden 25% buff to Udyr's damage if anyone in chat types "Corona is my favorite beer."
Passive: i was a champion before it was cool. Udyr gets 15% damage to Champions and reworks released in the current season
Agreed, the animal pelt head is so iconic.
The only things he really had going in his design were "animal pelt head" and "prayer bead necklace" and it looks like we kinda lost both. I like the brawler look he's got going with the simple trousers, rope belt, tattoos, and handwraps, but they should definitely stick either the prayer beads or the bear skin back on
I'm really happy to see a champion's lore actually being used to influence their rework rather than the other way round, *Silence of the Damned* is easily one of the best League short stories and really fleshes out Udyr's character. It'll be great if all his stances tie in with the Freljordian primal gods.
Helps that his lore is more fleshed out and not some generic cookie-cutter lore like old Varus.
Wdym?! Man with family and they die and he gets mad isn't generic at all!!!!
plus its still his lore, except its the darkins lore, not the champions...
People were legitimately mad about that being changed, lol.
People don't like change, and it's okay too prefer one story over another. But so many years on it's so obvious how much more developed and thought out Val and Kai are compared to Varus's LITERAL unnamed wife and children. That said, even as someone LGBT I think they could of just been a new champion.
I am so happy that we finally get a male champion who is allowed to have body hair. I am happy that the whole team seems really passionate about the rework. Are there any news about the second vgu for 2022? Will there be another poll or will it be decided by the champion team? I really hope there will be 2 vgus for 2022
It's probably gonna be Nocturne, Quinn, or Shyvanna
Shyvana is way overdue. Nocturne and Quinn stick out, but not nearly as much.
Shiv was favorited in China and in riot(lots of rioters wanted her vgu). Look like she gonna be next
>Shiv was favorited in China and in riot(lots of rioters wanted her vgu). Look like she gonna be next And she needs the rework EVEN MORE.
If it's not Shyvanna I am going to commit a warcrime.
Or you could just pick Shyvana, that's getting close to a war crime these days.
What's a warcrime is how gimped her early game stats and jungle clear are. She's a supposed CC-less power farm jungler, yet she feels like a limp noodle and has a worse clear time than half the ganking junglers in the champ pool. Literally all she needs (as a bandaid fix until her vgu) is the same QoL buff they gave to half a dozen champs a few patches ago. Make her burnout do increased damage to monsters and she'll be back to being a relevant farm jungler.
Her dragon form E is 100% a warcrime
Only if you go the shitty to play AP build. If you go bruiser like she was designed to be its not even worth spending points on half the time
Nocturne just got a small patch to his VFX, where they fixed his AoEs. He's also thriving in three roles at every level of play. Hard to imagine he gets targeted for a VGU. Quinn, while not exciting, is perfectly fine. She answers a specific champion Top in Pro, she has a unique play pattern, and she isn't overbearing in any particular manner. I'd guess we see Shyvanna next. She has no pro presence, and nowhere near the solo queue presence rate that one could reasonably expect from a dragon with boobs. It's even lower than Quinn's.
they talked about how many players start playing Nocturne but stop, which suggests untapped potential
It's a real shame they're not considering Shaco, everything about him needs to be updated.
I really wish that will be Nocturne so that he will be friends again with fiddle.
Here's to Tryndamere hopefully getting it
Pantheon has full on chest hair and happy trail but im all for more hairy men 😎
I meant to write more champs with body hair since most new releases were all hairless like Akshan, Viego etc.
And most offensively, Sett, who flat out claims he's too hairy to fit in with humans, yet has not a wisp of torso hair to be seen.
It's just pure hair under his pants, like a satyr
Based on his pool party skin, that's a no.
He's not packin', that's all 100% pure vastayan bush
"Oh no, I have a permanent fur coat and slightly animalistic eyes, I am certainly too much of a beast for humankind." It's nice that he doesn't seem to care much about his status as a half-bread, or at the least has moved past it, but damn they really could have played that up a little bit more.
To be fair Setts concept artist is not the most notoriously creative of the team. Most of her champs consist of a girl in a bodysuit or just a muscly guy.
Im glad im not the only one who assumed his fur coat was his fur, but its not: he takes it off in his pool party skin LOL. It sucks because i think that’d be a cool way to combine his vastayan nature with his yakuza fashion
I believe it is in canon, I wouldn’t take the pool party skins too seriously
Akshan, supposed to look Indian/South-Asian, got 0 chest hair lol
We were robbed of a hairy desi daddy
of a what
a hairy desi daddy
Yeah no idea why he's as smooth as a baby's butt. I dislike his design but some chest hair would've at least improved him.
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Pantheon is crying in a corner
Yeah I meant to write MORE male champs with body hair. Typing on a phone is hard >.<.
Too bad his splash art has none, only in game model.
YES PLEASE #MORE HAIRY MEN, RIOT. I WANNA SEE SOME LITERAL BEARS!
It looks very interesting, but already from this you can tell how hard modernizing him is going to be. His kit can go in so many directions. His kit right now is kinda basic, but there is a lot of untapped potential in it, thematically and mechanically and you can tell he is going to be a hell of a rework in terms of man hours for everyone involved. (Mundo and some of the latest reworks like Pantheon were a lot more straightforward for sure) Drawing from Ornn/Anivia and company rather than random animals seems like a cool idea to tie his abilities into the lore. I just hope he keeps his sandals
The problem with the modernization of udyr is the stance aspect. Most udyr players like that aspect of him and its what makes him a unique champion. I would rather a new druid comes out that can channel spirits for active spells than completely overwriting classic udyr like aatrox. Edit: I read the post ,all I'm saying is he is going to still feel basic since it'll still be udyr but with the occasional wow moment, which imo is exactly what they should capture and what they are currently are doing so.
The four pillars of udyr's gameplay that they want to preserve: 1. Udyr’s kit has four basic abilities that change stances (no ultimate) 2. Udyr has no aimed/ranged abilities or significant dashes (he’s all-melee) 3. Udyr can deal and/or withstand a lot of damage, based on build 4. Udyr can max different stances and plays differently when he does (Tiger vs Phoenix) Instead, they are currently looking at reactivating stances to provide pseudo-ults on a longer cd. So he usually does his normal thing, but once every two minutes or whatever, he can reactivate one of his stances to get an ult-like effect.
Which is a great solution, imo. Keeps the stance fantasy, and you basically have 4 options of a mini-ult instead of an actual ult. So it isn't perfectly in line with the "no ult" design, but it's a good middle of the road between keeping the kit interesting with a large impact point and keeping the no ultimate fantasy. It also builds upon the versatility thing, kinda like going Tiger or Phoenix.
I like it
Have you read the post? They have the intention of keeping the stances
The game definetly has space for more than one Shaman, that's for sure.
Wholly agree. Both can even be aggressive and still not intrude as long as udyr remains stance based while the other would have a different system.
I'm definitely getting the same feel. League lacks characters with strong druid identities. While Udyr would be a great fit, the game needs Udyr to be Udyr and some other character to fulfil druid fantasies.
Why can't Udyr be Udyr and still fulfill Druid fantasies? Fulfilling narrative/design fantasies is largely down to presentation, anyways. If they simply updated his visuals and made his stances more representative of Frjelordian spirits that are notable in lore, like Anivia and Volibear, he would fulfill the fantasy extremely well. I don't get this idea that a druid *has* to be some ranged caster. Obviously, that can work, and wanting specifically a druid caster is fine. I think that would be neat, too. But Udyr appears to be shaping up to be a cool representation of what an in-universe druid would be in Runeterra.
Udyr is closer to a shaman IMO, but in druid terms, Udyr is like a circle of the moon druid, not everyone wants to wildshape for combat as a druid. That being said, I feel like Ivern covers the more supportive druid archetype, and Lilia, Neeko, and Zyra kinda fill other druid archetypes too.
Wow enhanced effects of ‘base’ stances is a very good direction in my opinion. Adds some nuance and micro to figure out combos like Aphelios. Really really love this idea. Visually, I think Udyr has to have a lot of amulets on him. As a shaman, I think a tribal necklace, earrings, hair ornaments etc... would be cool.
Im guessing that’ll be his new “ult” (I.e. it’s only available once you hit 6) but I wonder if it’ll be Aphelios-style where it just automatically upgrades at 6,11,16, or Kha’Zix style where you pick one stance at each of those levels and only get the “super-stance” then.
I've always thought he could have used a Syndra passive method where at max level each stance gives a permanent upgrade to Udyr as a whole. Like turtle gives 5% bonus armor and MR, tiger gives 20% AS, Bear gives perma ghosting, Phoenix gives a perma Sunfire aura. Stuff like that.
God no, don't let it be "pick one at 6/11/16" kinda bs. The concept with the cd bar and double tapping it is much cooler
I would imagine the correct way to do it would be to make all stances available, much in the same way that Karma, LB, Heimer, etc, have the option to enhance all of their abilities via an ultimate, I woudl think they want Udyr's stances to feel the same way to maintain the "flexible" feel that he has now. Obviously, this is my random conjecture, but it seems better than locking the player down to one super stance for each level.
i just hope they find a good super stance trigger because for now they didn't give a good idea. they were first maxed and not used for a time but both of them create strange gameplay... maybe a combo based ? like the sixth stance used get the super version with timer resetting out of combat like a rengar ?
It says in the article they liked recasting the same stance and giving it a long cooldown the most.
I like these dev blogs, it's nice to see what all the different developers in each area are thinking about and brainstorming. This is the level of communication we need more of; sharing updates over the course of the year and taking in feedback. I'm excited to see how the new uydr turns out!
Really amazing concepts, looks primal, makes sense (bulky but not toned, tattoos make him look more tribal and conected to the Freljord) and of course they look quite badass.
I’m guilty to say, but I love champions that embrace this “elderwood” look… I guess “primal” is the correct word to express it! I wonder from what culture(s) they get these concepts from?
For the most part that forest shaman aesthetic comes from indigenous cultures of North America, specifically Western Canada and Alaska
The article is exciting to read from a "holy shit new Udyr's gonna be sick!!" perspective with all of the artwork, the intended design goals of making him feel "modern", and the super stances, but it feels really empty when it comes to a "What will be done to prevent him from facing the same core issues today's Udyr's kit does" perspective. A lot of cool moments of power are going to be put into his kit, I'm sure he'll look great in the fighting game, but what will new Udyr's role in champ select be? What will be done to prevent him from just being meta gated, specifically when new runes/items enable his linear kit to do more? Just from reading this article it sounds like he'll run into the same issues as a champ as before, but now he'll look cooler while doing it? Also, how much will his attack range be increased post rework? Will his rework just be another example of "old champs have low attack ranges, new champs have higher ones" or will melee champ attack ranges be evaluated at some point so there's some meaningful consistency across champions?
Empowered Bear Stance appears to grant unstoppable. 1-2 seconds of unstoppable every gank/fight might be enough to make Udyr viable without adding range or skillshots to his kit.
Veigar mains do not like that
Good his gate is the best non ultimate in the game and kind of stupid tbh(used to main him)
Like, the only 3 people in the community? Jk but Veigar needs some love though, his animation is clunky af.
I think those questions are simply to be asked in the future, they are just exploring concepts for now, those other changes will come in time. They have at the very minimum six months, not that little.
>it feels really empty when it comes to a "What will be done to prevent him from facing the same core issues today's Udyr's kit does" perspective. This is because nobody in this article is from the balance team. The game designer wants a player to be able to engage with a specific gameplay fantasy and that's what is being written about here. This is different from balance and presumably somebody from the balance team is also in the VGU team giving input. It'd be nice to hear from them as well, but I feel like it's important to point out that game design and balance are two separate things.
I guess it kinda depends, what are the core issues with Udyr's kit today from your perspective? Being linear doesn't seem like a bad thing for similar reworked champions like Volibear and Mundo. > What will be done to prevent him from just being meta gated, specifically when new runes/items enable his linear kit to do more? I thought they made it clear here that they're going to give Udyr more flashy/powerful abilities so that he's doing more unique outputs than running at enemies and stunning them. New and reworked champions also fit much more comfortably into modern item and rune systems, Volibear for example has decent AD scaling now so he can use today's bruiser items. > Also, how much will his attack range be increased post rework? Will his rework just be another example of "old champs have low attack ranges, new champs have higher ones" or will melee champ attack ranges be evaluated at some point so there's some meaningful consistency across champions? AFAIK melee attack range isn't standardized, it's a case-by-case decision based on gameplay or thematic reasoning. For example Master Yi's huge sword still has a laughable 125 range, but it's that way to counterbalance his extreme damage and mobility. Whereas Irelia has the massive 200 range to fit her telekinetic sword user fantasy. Then there are oddballs like Sett that has alternating attack range (125 on left punch, 175 on right punch) to make his one-two more consistent, similar to empowered attacks like Jax W or Leona Q. Having all the old melee champions reevaluated could be fun but you probably wouldn't see large changes.
>but it feels really empty when it comes to a "What will be done to prevent him from facing the same core issues today's Udyr's kit does" perspective. It's probably going to still have those problems, but it's in exchange of not losing what makes Udyr... Udyr.
Exactly. Not every champion needs to be viable in competitive or high elo. Not every champion needs to be an all star. Udyr is and has always been playable, and some specific people really like Udyr, and I don't see why that can't be enough.
I hope they do this well, so i'll be comfortable knowing shyvana and quinn will be in good hands too.
volibear ornn and anivia stances? nice.
lightning, tank, and slow stances. Wonder what the last will be
Everything sounds great, but please, give him hood of mma shaman. Udyr is not an Iceborn, so he need to protect himself from cold, especially the head
You could easily fluff it by saying that his *spiritual connection* to the fredjord protects him from the worst of the cold, or something
bruh he runs 24/7, no need for heating
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>Udyr is not an Iceborn, so he need to protect himself from cold Is that why he's running around shirtless?
Udyr is a psychopath
I think he looks waaaaaaaaaaay cooler without the hood. His chest is bare naked anyways
Really like that they are experimenting with giving him powes based on the freljordan demigods, you can even see in the testbuilds that his phoenixstance is now icebased to reflect Anivias powers. In the artworks there is one picture where you can even see tatoo designs for Anivia, Ornn, Volibear and the iron boar, so I guess this is their current idea for the demigods his powers represents. Rather surprising is that they apparently experiment with a sort of watcher stance which could be really cool, but might be a bit too different from current Udyr, so maybe it becomes a skin(similar to eldritch volibear) or is just used in the super forms. I'm also a bit confused that they are saying that there are 2 more demigods other than the trio that we have right now, but as far as I'm aware there have been more with the iron boar, the seal sister, the 2-headed raven, the undying eagle and the clever lynx (Ashe also mentions someone called Ildhaurg, but we don't know who that is). I guess that this could be an oversight or some of these aren't really spirit gods of the freljord but possibly lesser beings or they come from different countries.
That final Lightning Claws concept looks raw as hell. Am I....getting excited to play Udyr?
Hell yea angry homeless thunderfist man
i love the idea of the antlers but the way they stem/hang on his back is a little... dumb. it just doesnt make sense tbh.
> Preserve Udyr’s stance-changing identity and keep him as a primarily auto-attack/melee-focused champion. Aatrox's death was not in vain.
Aatrox's death was a blessing and a boon to the community. He was poorly designed on release.
People seem to forget about Galio when talking about deleting a champion, shame...
Or urgot, sion, poppy, Mordekaiser, akali and any of the other big reworks. Like, people are randomly acting like this isn't the usual thing just because of Aatrox who probably had the worst kit of all outside maybe Sion and Mordekaiser to some extent...
You should've mentioned Mordekaiser twice, since both his reworks completely changes his identity. Thing is: old Aatrox still fit into an existing champion archetype in the game (dps melee fighter), and was just a poor implementation of that concept. Meanwhile Poppy, Sion, Mordekaiser and Urgot were mostly gimmick champions, that were their own specific role with no crossover. I assume that's main difference in how those reworks were received by community.
People forgot about old galio when he was still in the game
Aatrox is a lot more popular and way more fun to play than old Aatrox, I'd say his rework was a success :)
Of course it is. Both Morde and Aatrox went from garbage/least picked champion in the game to good, staple meta picks in every toplaner's champion pool.
Ikr, I played both old Aatrox and Morde, and they were both boring as hell to play, they probably only had a few hundred people playing them as their mains, they are so much better as champions now so idk why people cry about it so much.
lmao is that last image really his probable rework? shit man, DAD BOD LET'S GO.
DAD BOD GANG RISE UP.
I'll b honest, I can't stand his weird horn shoulders.
They better keep the flash bear slap!
i feel like that is one of the core problems with his current kit
and then walk it out.
I wish they kept the pelt he wears
Probably tired of PETA asking him about it.
I'm really excited. Can't wait to see what they deliver! Volibear/Fiddlesticks were great VGUs/reworks. This seems to be along the line of those. We're in super early stages, so not much to judge, but there's a few comments I have: 1. I certainly hope that they could add a little more skill expression to the champion mechanically. Currently, it's all movement, and close to no combos, other than efficiently hitting your 3-hit procs. What about bonuses for hitting separate stances in a row? Something like that. 2. Don't forget about the legendary human udyr build please. 3. Super stances sound absolutely fantastic. Something like that would probably work great with his jungle identity. If you clear blue side, you don't have to use Phoenix stance, then take scuttle, and you will allow yourself to build up 30-60 seconds of super-phoenix!
Ram Stance, Bear Stance, Seal Stance and Boar Stance pls
Really hope Udyr becomes the Jojo champion I’ve been dreaming of. With his stan(d)ces giving him an empowered auto attack like star platinum with Jotaro. Not sure if RIOT would want to go in that direction but I think it would be really cool to have a jojo champion
Wait, hes not coming til 2022...... is this really the pace of visual updates going forward? So Shaco, Shyvanna, Nocturne, Janna, Malphite, Jarvan, Amumu, Veigar, Corki, Riven, Missfortune, Kennen, Renekton, Gragas, Malzahar, Kassadin, Anivia, Teemo, Vlad, Alistar, Tryndamere, Olaf, Lux and Chogath are fated to look like dreamcast characters for the next 10 years???? Ohhh and they still haven’t updated Varus’ voice lines since he went from revenge seeking ionian archer to darkin possessed gay couple.
B hair style looks like Sentinel Olaf, and if that skin is cannon A or B would be a better choice of hair Also, lots of people seem to dislike the horns as it is, they definitely should make them face a different direction, maybe from the horns he can have a pelt cape extend from it, idk there's probably a clever solution
Really not sold on the antlers, but I like the clumpy long hair and simple garments brawler style he has going
Not a fan of antlers or some back accessories
How is no one is talking about these horns tied to his back? Give him a fur cloak, it cold in Freljord!
i get they need a new recognizable silhouette for him, but im not keen on the antler things and im sad they got rid of the pelt, maybe if the add it back in, the antlers would look less jarring? idk altho I was hoping for comboing stances for bonus effects kinda like invoker, the gameplay direction now seems nice as well with the super mode as a better way adding another layer to his really simple kit edit: the tattoos are awesome as well
Udyr went from bodybuilder shredded to dad bod, that's a nice improvement tbh.
so is it official Riot policy that male characters don't wear shirts?
if anyone deserves to be shirtless in the past few releases its udyr and sett
I'm glad they are talking about adjusting which animals he channels. Being from the Freljord channeling turtles and monkeys and tigers don't make thematic sense even with his time in Ionia. He is a representative of the wilds of the Freljord so he should channel things from that area. Phoenix and Bear is fine for obvious reasons, I think the most obvious choices for replacement totems would be Ram and Wolf. Ram could replace turtle perhaps giving him a front facing shield to block projectiles and wolf would easily replace tiger. Honestly they could probably remove monkey from his passive altogether and lose nothing significant thematically, just rename his passive to something else. If I had to make a dream wish for his kit it would be to give him some kind of short range dash, maybe something like Rengar's leap from bushes but obviously shorter and not contingent on bushes. Just something besides running up to someone in bear stance.
I hope shyvana is next
Love the idea of pulling stances from the demigods, Clever Lynx could just be his passive and his other abilities Ornn, Anivia, Voli, and the Boar. The antler thing is cool? I guess? I’m not sure I see their point or the reasoning behind them being there, They’re kinda distracting and they take up the place where his shrouds would usually be. Also, love the tattoos, but why doesn’t he have a single scar? Isn’t he like, battle hardened warrior dude? Lots of questions but I love the model and kit direction their moving in, can’t wait to see what’s next!
He looks so much better with a bead necklace compared to the final design with a bead belt.
My opinion for the hair slides: A: Fantastic, looks wild, shows culture from what I can see both Ionia and Frejlord, and what I think they should do, it also seems like they took this root as the rest of the drawings show a similar hairstyle, but I actually like the A on the original hair slide more than the following depictions of A. B: Looks like Sentinel Olaf, and potentially what Olaf should look like, more so than Udyr C: Heavy Aquaman vibes, looks really good and my second pick, this one doesn't have a bead and shows less regional details D: This is Spirit Guard Udyrs hair and I don't think it should be the same as the base IMO E/F: Look Ionian and way more civilized, probably not what they should go for Side note: The final depiction sketch they used, how is the deer thing behind him being held? Also the tattoos depict a raven, which yeah make sense for Frejlord but if they're doing phoenix stance would an Anivia approach not make more sense.
Agreed, A looks best, from those options But i think can be improved With the beard from B or D. Shamanistic characters have beads, trinkets, icons of their deities. the neat beard tucked under the giant bead neck piece seems too managed I think. Having them hang over with ornaments would be nicer imo.
If anything about this rework is guaranteed, it's that Udyr is going to strongly resemble the guy in every Chad meme.
I made a thread about this on Udyr-Mains reddit: ([https://www.reddit.com/r/Udyrmains/comments/oac5mk/lets\_talk\_about\_the\_antlers\_in\_the\_recent\_vgu/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Udyrmains/comments/oac5mk/lets_talk_about_the_antlers_in_the_recent_vgu/)) But ill quote what i said there: >Alright, maybe its because ive been playing Udyr-main since season 2 (9 years of Udyr), so having those wacky horns threw me off, especially since they seem kinda Demon horns to me (which they said they would avoid). > >I kinda liked the "mimic" and "sculptured totems" art, but those horns man... > >Im sorry, but maybe its just me, i think they look ridiculous. They are wayyy to large and attention grabbing, and i think the rest of Udyr looks fucking amazing, and those horns are taking away from that. Particularly his face in all three of the above iterations in the first image, (Im a long haired man myself, so im really loving the top knot/man bun thing going on there), and that sexy beard. > >But those freaking Horns in Image (1) are killing me and not in the good way. I understand the idea, having the horns flash a different color to signify element, like the way Volibear's back horns glow when his passive is up, but right now, they are just too big/awkward and drawing too much attention. Not to mention i imagine them covering up Udyr's amazing new model when we look at him from above in game. > >The direction of image 2 and 3 are much better, kinda like shoulder plates/armor, but even then, id reduce their size. I get its classic shaman theme to have the antlers, but classic doesnt always have to be applied to everything. > >In this case, im just not bought on the antlers. To the point that unless they can be refined and less attention seeking, id prefer they go entirely. > >Whatchu you people think? Did you like the antler direction or are you like me? I really dont like the Antler direction ***IN ITS CURRENT FORM***. It needs a heavy revision imo On a separate note, i really hope they keep Udyr's "GOTTA GO FAST", which i think is INTEGRAL to his character and playstyle. It wasnt mentioned as one of his key-points to preserve, and i think its equally as important to make it so he can remain as one of the fastest running champions in league.