➤Neeko / Development 🕹 League of Legends

Summary

1 Map of Champions: August 2018
2 Champion Reveal: Neeko
3 Ask Riot: Neeko edition
4 Multimedia
5 References

Hi there! We are back with the latest Champions Map of the year. This season, the champions team has been slightly more focused on visual and gameplay updates than new champions, so I won't be imitating the latest posts. Instead, I'll focus on the upcoming gameplay and visual updates. We have some champions in development, including a colorful and magic-assiduous character that we will unveil soon, but we won't reveal specific details yet.

Champion Reveal: Neeko

Who is she? That depends on who you are. Neeko, a metamorph from a lost tribe of the Vastaya, observes the world with a gaze of endless curiosity, always searching for new appearances to take. At first, it seems harmless, but don't take your eyes off it ... With Neeko, not everything is what it seems. [2]

Chameleon Illusion Neeko / Development

Neeko can change her appearance and look like an allied champion. Damage or take damage from enemy champions, or cast Neeko / Development

Floral Burst o Neeko / Development

Tangled Coil, it will break the illusion and increase its cooldown.

Floral Burst Neeko / Development

Neeko throws a seed at a target area. The seed will bloom to harm enemies. If the blast kills an enemy, or damages a champion or large monster, it will re-bloom up to two more times.

Essence Division Neeko / Development

Passive: Every third basic attack resonates with spirit energy, dealing bonus magic damage and temporarily increasing Neeko's movement speed.

Active: Neeko disappears for a moment, becomes invisible, gains movement speed and deploys a temporary clone of herself in her current form, which runs in the indicated direction.

Tangled Spiral Neeko / Development

Neeko fires a magic spiral that briefly damages and immobilizes enemies it passes through. The last champion hit is immobilized for the longest time.

Tangled Coil hits at least two enemies, gaining more size, speed, and root duration.

Wild Detonation Neeko / Development

Neeko begins to charge spirit essence. A moment later, jump up, gain a shield, and slow nearby enemies. When it lands, it unleashes its energy to deal massive damage and stun enemies in the area.

Being under the influence of Neeko / Development

Chameleon Illusion, enemies will not be able to see Neeko's initial charge. Play as Neeko Neeko / Development

Gameplay - Play as Neeko

Playing as Neeko, you can copy the appearance of your allies to confuse your enemies and surprise them with bursts of primordial magic. Catch your enemies with Neeko / Development Tangled Spiral to immobilize them and receive the painful magic petals of Floral Burst that will be activated over and over again. When it's time for action, use Chameleon illusion to mimic the appearance of an ally and sneak off to a new encounter.

Once your curiosity draws enemies into combat, use the Clone of Neeko / Development Essence Division to keep the enemy confused while you search for a better location and prepare for a special surprise. When everything is ready to reveal your true self, jump into the middle of battle with a colorful Wild Detonation to stun them with your magic.

"Hello, enemy!" Neeko / Development

Tips

Neeko's antics change based on her appearance. Here are a couple of ways to use shapeshifter magic from Chameleon Illusion:

Copying a close-range or melee ally is a way to fool everyone into using Tangled Spiral and Floral outburst. You will surprise enemies who think they are at a safe distance. Likewise, transform into an ally with a hook-type ability and watch enemies flee and hide behind their subjects ... like this, Tangled Coil will catch up with them and they will be immobilized for longer.

Take the form of a jungle man to fake an ambush in another lane ... enemies will use their escape spells as a precaution and will be unprepared when the real threat comes. Or you can also take the form of a low health teammate to attract the enemy team and use Wild detonation against everyone.

Coordinate well with your team to maximize the illusions of Neeko. Transform into a retreating ally to make opponents wonder who's in the lane, or use a clone of Essence division in the middle of a battle to confuse enemies with a triple problem: is it the real one, Neeko or a clone?

"I want to become everyone.
Who says I can't? " Neeko / Development

Ask Riot: Neeko edition

This week will be about Neeko the Curious Chameleon! [3]

During Neeko's development, did she have any crazy abilities that didn't pass the final test?

At one point he finalized a long range nest trap (2000 range I think) that took a long time to arm, but did a lot of damage. The idea was to place it in a place where you thought the enemy could pass and then pose as an ally to lead them directly into the trap. But it turned out to be ridiculously frustrating for the opponents, because they felt they couldn't go anywhere because they had no idea where he had placed the traps.

SolCrushed game designer

What did Neeko look like in early concept art ideas?

Since we already had the idea of a "vast chameleon" ready, Neeko looks pretty close to the initial concept. In early ideas, it was much wilder and less influenced by civilization. But in reality, she evolved into her current look because she constantly learns and imitates other people, and that makes her a little less wild and more like a human being.

Gallery

1/3 Skekses Senior Character and Concept Artist

What was your inspiration to create Neeko?

Skekses: One of the first inspirations when I proposed the idea of "vastaya chameleon" was Leeloo, one of the characters in the movie The Fifth Element. I love the way she learns, the way she moves, and her curiosity.

FauxSchizzle: On a personal level, it was Starfire, Mantis from Guardians of the Galaxy, Eleven from Stranger Things, X-23, Stitch ... very wacky characters, like fish out of water who have tremendous potential for untapped power. In general, they are stronger than you think, but they are open and warm-hearted.

Skekses: all this coupled with the gameplay idea of having a "champion who can copy the appearance of other champions", were the perfect ingredients to create Neeko. :)

Skekses y FauxSchizzle

Neeko is a Vast with human blood? Or a Vastayashai'rei?

Neeko is not a pure Vastayashai'rei, but she is much closer to being one than other vastaya. The Oovi-Kat tribe split from the Vastya tribes a long time ago and they have lived much of their lives in isolation, so their magic is purer and older than that of the other Vastya. There is very little human blood in Neeko's lineage.

Somebody like Neeko / Development Xayah, who longs for the time before the reduction of the vastaya by the pact with humans, would go mad if she met Neeko. She would probably feel a little envious because Neeko is very powerful with spiritual energy, and at the same time, she would feel hope because she would realize that the vastaya were not reduced as she believed.

FauxSchizzle Senior Narrative Writer

What is Neeko's favorite food?

Neeko loves to always try something new, but currently her favorite food is cheese bread, the one found in Valoran and a similar one made by her tribe. Who created the cheese bread recipe first? It's something I'd like to know.

FauxSchizzle Senior Narrative Writer

How did they make Neeko's passive work?

Although we had a mimic mechanic for Black Market Fighters in the Mirror of the Joker Mirror of the Joker item, we created it by combining a lot of existing code rather than being a custom system. With Neeko, we had to create something that fully supports the costume mechanics. This was not just a rewrite of the disguise code, but also a cleanup of existing systems, such as clone interactions with buffs and debuffs. There are some small errors and specific cases of Neeko's passive that we must repair, but with the new code we will be able to solve the problem in a systemic way, instead of creating solutions for each case.

SolCrushed game designer

Why does Neeko have to be at the center of the fight to use her ultimate if she's a mage?

We decided to keep the range relatively short because the clone and disguise gameplay was much more interactive when it had to take a chance to be effective (this ties into the reason why we dropped the "nest trap" ability as ultimate). By having unusual victory conditions like “jump to the front line as a distance champion”, it gives anyone playing Neeko much more insight into when he managed to fool the enemy.

SolCrushed game designer

Is Neeko oviparous? Stop. Do not ask that. (It is not). FauxSchizzle Senior Narrative Writer