Red Post Collection: Origin of the Wharf Rat, Wrekz designer on next champion, Scruffy on Mordekaiser, and more!

This afternoon's red post collection includes a look at the origins of Butcher Bridge's Wharf Rat,  Scruffy with discussion on the upcoming Mordekaiser champion update, Wrekz confirming he's the designer on the next champion, a keg full of Bilgewater community creations, and more!
Continue reading for more information!

• Red Post Collection: Next Champion not Support or Assassin, LIVE/PLAY Documentary, Scruffy on Yorick, and more!

• New Chroma Packs now available - Cassiopeia, Dragonslayer Vayne, and Koi Nami

• 8/13 PBE Update: Battle Boss Blitz tweaks & Garen Q changes
• 8/14 PBE Update: Arcade Login Theme

• EU & NA LCS Summer Playoffs: Semifinals

Table of Contents

• Origins of the Wharf Rat
• Scruffy on 5.16 Mordekaiser
• Wrekz is the designer of next champion
• Mirross on level 6 & 7 Champion Mastery
• Mirross on Promo matches
• Repertoir on Taric's Future Rework
• Master Yi's Dance scaling with Movement Speed
• Bilgewater Community Creations!
• Community Collab | Helmet Bro: The Animated Series - Singed

Origins of the Wharf Rat

Here's Glyceroll with a look at the origins of the WHARF RATS, the adorable little critters that scurrying around the the Butcher's Bridge ARAM map!

"As the dust settles from the explosive conclusion to the events in Bilgewater, let’s take a look back at a horrifying little critter who just wants to be loved: The Wharf Rat. Butcher’s Bridge introduced this brainchild of a few disturbed individuals, who are here to demystify the shark/rat hybrids. 

Also, if you’re too squeamish for the gory details on the Wharf Rats - check out the Origin of the Poros (http://eune.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/community-spotlight/origin-poros)!

First off, who are the insane people behind the Wharf Rat?

Mark Gibbons was the artist who created the original concept art. 

Max “Beezul” Gonzales worked off that idea and turned it into an in-game concept. 

Jue Wang took the concept and mapped it over the original poro models, which were then brought to life through Nick “Nickstravaganza” Matthews and Kevin Freeman’s animation.

Where did the Wharf Rat idea come from? 

The Bilgewater team knew they had a HUGE dilemma early on. They needed a replacement for poros on the Bilgewater ARAM map or the entire event would surely crash and burn quicker than Gangplank’s ship.

The main concern was that the creature had to fill the same niche the poro fills -- providing memorable interactions but not distracting from the actual gameplay. The team needed to bring this creature to life and make it unique enough to stand against the enormous poro fanbase. 

A few early iterations of the poro’s replacement were far too cute -- like an octopus that waddled around on its tiny tentacles and walruses. The team needed something adorable, but terrifying, while being aesthetically fitting for the run-down, waterlogged terrain of Bilgewater. 

Concept art of the wharf rat, shown below, was a product of early Runeterra explorations (deep dives on the people, flora, and fauna) done by Riot’s Foundations team. It was the perfect choice for Butcher’s Bridge.

How long did it take to create Wharf Rats? 

Much like the poro, a lot of the foundational work (the initial modeling and base textures) for wharf rats was done in a single weekend.

After that, the team started in on the long process of polishing and refining these horrifyingly adorable critters.

What’s the connection between Wharf Rats and Razorfins? 

Unlike poros, the rats grow and become more monstrous as they age. The full grown Wharf Rat is one of the four brawler minions within the new Black Market Brawlers game mode -- the Razorfin!

What else can you tell us about Wharf Rats?

• Wharf Rats are equal parts contempt, agility, and sharp pointy teeth.
• They’re more closely related to sea cobras than rats.
• No one has survived long enough to see the underside of a Wharf Rat...but it’s probably not pleasant.
• Wharf Rats have the capability of swimming like a shark or scurrying like a rat, so nowhere is safe.
• Wharf Rats also enjoy Poro-Snax, but usually it involves eating actual Poros...as snax.
• If confronted by a Wharf Rat, make yourself appear large. And unappetizing. Or just hope you properly notarized your Last Will and Testament.
• Dock workers sleep on raised cots to avoid being eaten by Wharf Rats in their sleep.
• Wharf Rats are the mortal enemies of bilge-lions.
• The Wharf Rats are armed with poisonous barbs in their tails... though most people don't survive long enough to see them.
• They were once used to keep the wharf clean of debris. (Seriously, they'll eat anything.)

Born out of malice, blinded by hate;
Cunning, deceitful; lying in wait,
Malevolent, evil; oh god it’s free,
Coarse, drooling; please don’t eat me.

So, who do you think would be a better pet? A Poro or a Wharf Rat?"

Scruffy on 5.16 Mordekaiser

With Mordekaiser's champion update coming in 5.16, Riot Scruffy jumped on to the boards to ease tensions and reiterate they are committed to post release support:

"Hey guys, I've been meaning to post some thoughts/plans on the morde update in one of these big threads, so here it is. CertainlyT, Meddler, Repertoir, Statikk, me, and a bunch of other designers have been paying a lot of attention to and discussing all of the morde feedback that we've been seeing on the boards this past week. 

==CHANGE IS SCARY== 

The first thing I wanted to weigh in on is that the changes are definitely trying some pretty out there and meta breaking ideas (i've always admired CertainlyT for his innovation). This comes with a bunch of costs, but also what we think is more benefit. Making an immobile melee kit with no CC work in the bot lane is a really crazy task and from the experience that we have from internally testing it (and you guys are experiencing on the PBE), it takes some time to get used to. 

Introducing some new ways to break the meta while preserving the conventional solo lane viability of the character is our goal. When it hits live, try this new morde wherever you prefer and see what works/doesn't. We will be listening and responding to feedback in the following patches for sure. 

==POST RELEASE SUPPORT== 

With these pretty new/untested goals we know that there is a pretty good chance that things aren't going to be 100% perfectly tuned when he comes out. We have already been planning a bunch of follow up plans for as many possible scenarios that might occur. 

Some things we would fix if we saw them on live: 

• Morde not viable as a bot lane pick (this doesn't mean he has to show up in pro play) 

• Morde not viable as a solo laner (same as above, pro play is not how we judge this)
• Morde mechanics are buggy 

• Aspects of morde kit are not fun for the majority of players after people have had a chance to try it out and adapt

Sorry that this post doesn't address any of the specific points people have been making, but I did want to pop in and give some context on our approach to making sure that the morde update is +fun +value for players, which is the #1 goal. 

-Scruff 

Edit: if there are specific questions that you guys feel are really important to answer, go ahead and reply. I'll come back in (or repertior will beat me to it most likely) and give the context that I can."

As for Mordekaiser's solo lane ability being in jeopardy, Scruffy  continued:

"There's some truth in what he's saying about morde's kit not having the amount of healthy 1 on 1 interactions that a full top to bottom rework like Sion or Fiora brings to those lanes. CertainlyT is a super perfectionist and he's just calling it like it is here, morde is not the pinnacle of solo lane skill based matchups. 

That said, I think that we're taking a "do no harm" stance on morde's solo lane compared to live. The solo laner may not be getting to exploit some of the crazy new tools (duo XP, dragon, W) as well as a duo morde, but he should be roughly as powerful/fun as live mordekaiser."

He continued:

"If solo morde ends up nerfed, we will address it. I'm just spelling out some of the goals/stance on solo vs duo morde."

When asked how they might buff solo lane Mordekaiser without buffing duo lane Mordekaiser, Scruffy noted:

"Things like solo W case, bonus XP in duo lane, E damage (we suspect this is better solo when he doesn't have allies to help him land W or Q). 

There are plenty of options if that's how we end up needing to react."

"Quote:

1) Are there any plans on making Harvester of sorrow accessible as a solo laner since it practically makes more only have two abilities during laning phase. Tweaking the movement speed buff and heal are mandatory to inhibit him from becoming this immovable metal wall in top or mid. 

2) Ult range reduction seemed a bit wonky at the time since he'll probably be facing against opponents with higher range and making it 650 instead of 850 seemed rather harsh. I like the idea though since it makes him more of a close quarters combatants than a long range nuker. 

3) His Siphon of destruction just seems really weak on paper and I'd love to see some improvements to it as in a solo lane it would be his bread and butter ability to farm and get some nice poke off. Maybe even go the extra length and take a look at some of my earlier suggestions to make it similar to Rumble's flamespitter to get rid of its unfair bully nature. 

=> It just seems way too weak in its current iteration and to be frank I'd love to see some drastic changes made to it like the ones made to his Q and W 

4) His wave clear seems to have gone from being one of the best to one of the worst/mediocre. Adding a bit more AoE in his kit may help him push the lane faster and apply pressure in his lane as it seems that his identity of royally castrating minions seems to be left standing in the rain.