Red Post Collection: QGT: 1/14, Champion Insights: Zeri, and more!

Today's red post collection includes the return of Quick Gameplay Thoughts post on Preseason 2022, Zeri Champion Insights, all the details on the Lunar Legends festival in TFT, and more!

Table of Contents

Quick Gameplay Thoughts 1/14: Preseason 2022

Here's Riot Phroxzon with the quick gameplay thoughts for January 14th - "A closer look at how Preseason 2022 has landed."

"Hi everyone, this is Phroxzon, the Summoners Rift Team’s new design lead! I’m a long time member of the team and have worked on game balance and the last four preseasons. I’m here to write about how Preseason 2022 content has landed. 

Chemtech & Hextech Dragons 

Let's start off with the new Elemental Rifts and Souls. We’re seeing positive sentiment and are generally happy with the Hextech Rift, but we hear your frustrations around the Chemtech Rift, which we knew would be contentious with its stealth mechanic. In testing, we found that it had great potential for fun and unique high moments like flanking from the fog as a team, but those also came with frustrating tradeoffs. In particular, it can be hard to contest your own jungle and adapt to new default warding positions on the edges of the Chemtech Fog zones. We've added some Scryer's Blooms to defensive locations in the terrain to help address this in patch 12.1 and will keep an eye on how that pans out. 

We’ve also observed high levels of frustration around the Chemtech Soul, which may also contribute to negative sentiment towards the terrain. We’re with you that trying to facecheck a team that has Chemtech Soul in the Chemtech Fog is difficult as you’re usually at both a combat strength & vision deficit. We also agree that the Chemtech Soul itself, regardless of the mechanics, is overpowered right now, so we're tapping down on its numbers in 12.2. If we find that the high moments still don't manifest after both of these changes, yet they continue to frustrate players, we're very open to higher scope changes, including reworks. 

Objective Bounties 

Next is Objective Bounties. On launch, we agreed they were turning on too early when the game was still relatively close, and falling off too late after the losing team had already clawed back some of the deficit. They also had deactivation timers that would reset anytime an objective with an active bounty was engaged, which led to some pretty extreme gold swings when teams chain-secured objectives without letting the bounty status reset. Thanks to all your feedback and game data, we were able to stabilize the system relatively quickly. (The first hour that the feature went live gave us more information than we could produce with internal testing in 200 years!) 

We’ve also received feedback that Objective Bounties can feel like they punish a team for winning. While winning teams are, by definition, disfavored by comeback mechanics, we don’t believe it’s guaranteed that a losing team will claim an objective bounty. With post-launch balancing in place, the current dynamic seems appropriate: If the winning team plays better, they keep bounty claims to a minimum, and If the losing team plays better, they claim the bounties and use them as a springboard to get back into the game. While we’re still fine tuning the balance here, we’re optimistic about this feature for the long term: It increases the number of available strategies when behind, rewards creativity with macro movements, and encourages the losing team to rally around a plan rather than give up. 

Runes, Summoner Spells, & Items 

We also changed some runes since preseason launched. Lethal Tempo has, despite the 11.24 nerfs, still skewed some melee power curves too heavily towards early game, so patch 12.2 will give it a more scaling profile. Glacial Augment has landed in a pretty good spot for melee users, but we hope to see a few more enchanters pick it over Aery as a more defensive and higher utility option in the long term. First Strike has also landed well for both carries and assassins; it's competing well with other keystones and has opened up a different playstyle for them. 

While not part of preseason's initial updates, 12.1's Teleport changes have landed pretty well. We’re seeing relatively minimal changes in winrates & pickrates from early data while still meeting goals for reducing its influence on early skirmishes. 

Finally, let’s talk items. Most of the item changes have landed relatively well, with only a few post-launch adjustments needed and with no huge balance outliers. We’re generally happy with them, but as always, we're all ears for your thoughts and will continue to finetune them as needed. 

We couldn't have made Preseason 2022 what it is without all your feedback. Please continue to send us your thoughts, ideas, and feedback! Thanks for playing, and I’ll see you on the Rift. Good luck for Season 12!"

Champion Insights: Zeri

Here's Riot Cashmiir with a look at the creation of Zeri - "What you get when you combine electricity, Tagalog, and a sweet gun."

"Editorial Note: Hey everyone! You may notice some shocking similarities between Zeri and VALORANT’s new agent, Neon—and that’s because you should! These characters were developed together by the same team. If you’d like to learn more about Neon, head over to VALORANT’s site to read more. 

What if we told you Zaun isn’t just a city overwhelmed by caustic pollution, rampant inequality, and volatile technologies? That there’s more beneath the layer of toxic haze. That it’s a place where magic doesn’t just exist, it thrives; a place that values community above all else; a place that embraces the flaws of the people who call it home. 

Well, now we have another way to experience this shockingly vibrant, neon-colored, side of Zaun. And her name is Zeri. 

Bringing Precision to Bot Lane 

Most League champs start as a creative seed—something the team uses as a jumping off point. But rather than a gameplay hook, someone from our lore, or a beautiful piece of concept art, Zeri began her life as a gun. 

“Shooters are interesting because they’re very high precision games. Aim matters—it’s one of the most important things you can do,” explains principal game designer August Browning. “In League, ADCs can attack really fast, but they’re not really engaging in a precision game the way you do in FPSs. Ezreal, Mr. Skillshot Man, is the closest we have to that, but he’s still not quite there. There’s something really satisfying when you spray down someone in a FPS that we don’t get with ADCs, so we wanted to see if we could bring that feeling to League."

League’s got a lot of guns, but none of them really capture the feeling August was going for. So it was time to bring a new gun to the Rift: the assault rifle. 

Assault rifles are a staple in tac shooters. They offer the feeling of spraying a controlled cluster of bullets at high speed, as opposed to the mouse-point accuracy of a sniper rifle or the spray-and-pray of an LMG. But there was still a foundational problem with the entire concept: How do you bring precision-based autos to League when playing ADC is all about right clicking? 

We all love a good “attack-move until they die” champ like Jinx or Kog’Maw. But right clicking doesn’t really give you the dopamine rush that you get when you flick headshot an enemy. So, in order to give Zeri the high-precision fantasy, August decided to make Zeri’s “autos” a skillshot. 

“But Riot, you literally just said that ADCs ask you to right click... How do you right click a skillshot? 

Easy. Zeri autos with her Q.

Do you hear that? That’s the sound of millions of support mains suddenly crying out in terror.

“We don’t design champions with an alternative form of auto attacks just to be different. It’s a way to deliver a very specific feeling when playing as the character,” August explains. “Zeri has unique autos because we wanted to bring the FPS precision fantasy to League. But that means she has a higher learning curve than other ADCs. A good Zeri is going to be moving around a lot to land all of her Qs, but it’ll take a little bit of playing to get to that point since it’s different from most of the other ADCs in the roster.” 

Beyond gunplay, Zeri also brings another common mechanic from shooters: movement. But before you start thinking “what the actual f*&^ Riot???” just hear us out. 

Movement’s not a novel idea in games—we’ve talked about mobility quite a bit before, but the way it works in League is very different from shooters. 

Shooters require you to move quickly between points, set up flanks, and navigate vertical obstacles to pick people off (or to miss all of your Op shots). And while League’s got TPs, flanks, and the occasional case of running it down, these don’t capture the “full rush” feeling that your team seems to always do in comp matches. That meant Zeri needed something that captured the high mobility sprinter feeling, while still working in League. 

It was around this time that concept artist Nancy “Riot Sojyoo” Kim drew a spread for Zeri, and one of the options had a seemingly simple addition: rollerblades.

“I really didn’t like Zeri with roller skates at first,” August laughs. “But when I was thinking about cool ways to do mobility, I thought that they actually kind of fit. I could imagine Zeri skating on the pipes around Zaun. It made me think of skateboarding games where you just go up to a wall or halfpipe and just grind down the whole thing. So, yeah... Zeri can do that. She just grinds over any wall in the game.” 

In addition to her ability to leap over walls, Zeri has another unique interaction with them—wall banging. 

“Something I really enjoy doing in VALORANT is wall banging,” August shares. “It’s basically when you shoot people through thin walls and whatnot. Even though you can’t see them, you might be able to hear them and shoot them through the wall. Zeri’s W is basically that: She fires a shot and if it hits a wall, it extends through the wall and hits enemies on the other side. It’s sort of inspired by an Op shot, but League’s walls are very different to VALORANT’s. It answers the question, ‘What happens if you were to shoot an Op through a wall in League?’ Since missiles in League ALREADY go through walls it probably needs to do something special when it comes into contact with one.”

Biolightning McQueen 

Beyond gunplay, Zeri’s development started with another goal: Making a League champ and a VALORANT agent in tandem. Around 20% of League players also play VAL, so we wanted to see if we could make a set of characters that felt similar so you could run it down on your main in both games. Which honestly was kind of a challenge. 

League and VALORANT don’t have much in common—unless you count Scuttle (RIP). But one of the underlying similarities in both games is that the playable characters have unique sources of power.

“I worked closely with Riot Sojyoo and one of the senior concept artists on VALORANT, Konstantin ‘Zoonoid’ Maystrenko to brainstorm a lot of different ideas,” recalls concept art lead Gem “Lonewingy” Lim. “We had so many ideas! Origami paper magic, graffiti, fog and soot, light magic, liquid metal and mercury, human printer, baseball girl, VR gamer girl... And then someone suggested a bioluminescent, electric eel girl, which we all thought was really cool.”

Runeterrans can be born with magic no matter what region they call home. Ionians have a higher chance of being born magical than people from regions like Piltover or Zaun, but it’s not impossible. And while we have a few magic-wielding champions who call the twin cities home, most of them are powered by Hextech and Chemtech.

Zeri’s magic manifests from within, like a human battery, and it’s strong. Like, really, really strong. And because she’s so young and hasn’t quite figured out how to use it consistently, sometimes it manifests in ways she can’t control. 

“Zeri’s still coming into her powers. She’s pretty different from a lot of the champions in Piltover and Zaun who are older and more reassured in their strength, like Vi, Viktor, or Jayce,” narrative writer Michael “SkiptoMyLuo” Luo shares. “She has some similarities to Ekko in that way. But where Zeri is different is how her magic works. She can’t control her powers yet, and she’s actually a bit of a mess. She’s anxious, she’s clumsy. She’s just all over the place, which fits that electric theme really well because she’s just going really fast all the time. I think that this emotionally-charged electrical personality fits with August’s gameplay really, really well.” 

Zeri’s ultimate is the manifestation of her high energy, electric state. She becomes incredibly pumped up, ready to take on everything, and is overflowing with electrical energy. What this means in game is she receives an attack speed and movement speed steroid, charging into the fight, getting hyped up at how well she’s using her power. 

But this level of magic doesn’t come without its drawbacks. 

Imagine being a source of constant electricity that becomes less controllable when you’re feeling strong emotions. You need to be wary when you hug your parents, or when you have your first kiss. Even a nightmare in your sleep could make you lose control.

With her volatile magic, Zeri could so easily be seen as a problem to fix by the citizens of Piltover. But luckily Zeri’s not from Piltover. She’s a Zaunite. And Zaun has a different take on how to handle someone who’s different: One that’s less focused on democratizing magic for the masses, but instead uplifting what makes their community unique, what makes it beautiful beneath the layer of grime, what makes it Zaun. 

The Bayanihan Spirit in Zaun 

There’s a lot to consider when we’re making new champions: difficulty, gameplay fantasy, and silhouette (to name a few). But beyond these, we want players from everywhere to have a champion they can relate to—someone they see themselves in. 

A lot of our champions have been inspired by the stories and cultures of the devs who work on them, like Akshan’s penchant for Bollywood-esque theatrics, or Samira’s immigrant’s story. And Zeri is no exception. 

“It was my personal goal to make Zeri Filipina. Not just because I’m from the Philippines, but because gaming is such a huge part of life there, and there isn’t much representation for us in games—especially for Filipina women. In fact, there are only like... four Filipina video game characters I can think of,” Lonewingy shares. “When SkiptoMyLuo pitched the electric eel idea I wrote a sort of...” She laughs. “I wrote this very grade school story about a girl who belongs to a middle class family in Zaun, who couldn’t control her powers. She’d cause blackouts in her neighborhood—which are really common in the Philippines! We actually had a huge blackout caused by jellyfish that got sucked into a tube at a power plant! 

“So I was just thinking of this lighthearted, clumsy girl. But it just... It felt so right to me,” Lonewingy smiles. “There’s this word in Tagalog called ‘kababayan’ and it’s used to describe a fellow Filipino—someone from your village, your neighbor, or just anyone. We’re a very family- and village-oriented culture, and we believe in helping everyone out. I wanted Zeri to have that core part of Filipino culture ingrained in her because I view Zaun as a place that would have that neighborhood culture. Then SkiptoMyLuo took my silly story and made it much better.” 

(SkiptoMyLuo unmutes in the call and scoffs at this comment.) 

“Those conversations were super inspiring! I latched really hard onto them, especially the part about her being a lovable mess. In Zaun we have this incredibly fascinating environment that’s very grimdark—it’s hard to survive there,” SkiptoMyLuo offers. “But the other side is that it’s also a city of gritty beauty that we really love. There are all of these lovable characters there, like Ekko, who reinforce the feeling that Zaun isn’t a place that should be written off and forgotten. And I think champions like Zeri really help bring that out in another way. It’s not just about her, it’s about her family and the whole community of Zaun around her.” 

So, going back to the whole “Zeri has an insane, difficult-to-control level of power” thing... That’s where her neighborhood and family come into play.

Everything Zeri has—and is—is from her community, not from the ultra rich Chem-barons and their corporations. Her jacket, a neighbor’s hand-me-down, was modified by her father to dampen her powers and let her hug her family. Her gun was lovingly made by her mother from industrial scraps found by neighbors who wanted to help her direct her powers. And in turn they asked for nothing. But nothing isn’t good enough for Zeri. She needs to return the unconditional love and support they give her. And so she fights for them. She fights for Zaun. 

“I think... I think we’re all really proud of who Zeri ended up becoming,” SkiptoMyLuo smiles. “When Lonewingy told me about the importance of community in the Philippines, it just all sort of clicked: Zeri’s a community-made hero. It has this nice cohesion when the game design, narrative, and art all come together. She’s not perfect or anything, but she definitely stands out in Zaun and adds a bit of lightheartedness and joy. But unlike characters like Seraphine, she understands the grim realities of her home. She’s not naive, and she’s far from being ready to save the world or anything, but she’s trying her best despite all her mess ups.” 

And luckily she has the rest of Zaun—her community—to catch her when she falters."

The Gifts of the Golden Lantern Event

Here's MinionsRPeople2 with an overview of the Golden Lantern Event in TFT - "How to participate in our first ever Lunar Legend Festival Event, Gifts of the Golden Lantern!"

"What you get, and how to get it, during our first ever Lunar Legend Festival Event: Gifts of the Golden Lantern! 

Each year, Tacticians from all over the Convergence come together to celebrate during the Lunar Legend Festival. Come patch 12.2 (live January 20th) we’re invited to join them in a new TFT Event, Gifts of the Golden Lantern, where we’ll gather the perfect gift for each of our favorite Tacticians, help them solve riddles, and light lanterns—oh, and we’ll also get some gifts for ourselves along the way! In this article we’ll be going over the general framework of the event, but if you want to know more about all the new content coming during the festival, click here! 

Participating in the Event 

With Gifts of the Golden Lantern coming in patch 12.2, you can expect a certain adorable Duckbill to invite you (along with a number of other Tacticians) to the Lunar Legend Festival. The Festival is a time for Tacticians to come together and celebrate where they’ve come from, where they’re going, and where they are right now: together! To accept the invitation, just hop into a game!

After accepting the invite, it’s time to meet the Tacticians at the event and start collecting gifts. Chat with Year of the Tiger Protector, Porcelain and Lucky Noodle Dowsie, Lucky Lantern Dango, Lunar Beast Choncc, Firecracker Duckbill, and Firecracker Chibi Jinx to find out what they might want for the festival. Then, embark on various in-game missions to assemble your gifts. Some missions are relatively easy, like running Scrap to repair parts for Duckbill’s Hopecopter 3000 (that’s their helicopter btw). Other missions might be a bit more challenging, but I have full faith in your ability to succeed! 

But just because you’ve gotten gifts for each Tactician doesn’t mean we’re done yet! Before any present opening and lantern lighting can happen, we’ve gotta help these Tacticians answer riddles. The answers may seem obvious, but they won’t come that easy—a few gameplay related missions might help you find the answers. And once you can help solve their riddles, the Tacticians may just have a reward for you as well. I hear that Dango’s gift is higher-quality than even those non-fungible jpegs. 

Event Rewards

Not only will you get priceless gifts from Tacticians, but you’ll also get rewards throughout the entire festival! 

Not that you needed any more motivation than a free hug from Choncc, but if you complete the event and its corresponding missions, you’ll collect the following rewards: 

• 1 Festival Firecracker (Has a chance to contain Chibi Firecracker Jinx)
• 1 Year of the Tiger Egg (Has a chance to contain Year of the Tiger Protector)
• 1 Festival of Beasts 2021 Egg
• 180 Star Shards
• Like My Stripes? Emote

 

The event, and it’s associated content will last from the start of patch 12.2 to the end of patch 12.3. Curious as to what you’ll get in each of those eggs? Well, do I have an article for you that goes into the contents of our bundles, Year of the Tiger Egg, and Festival Firecracker! Oh—one last thing to add. On PC, you’ll need to go to the event hub in order to claim missions and rewards; but on mobile, missions and rewards will be claimed automatically. 

Okay, that’s it for now. Time to work on my own gift giving list for the event!"

Lunar Legend Festival Tacticians (and more!)

Here's MinionsRPeople2 with details on the Lunar Legend Festival - "What you need to know about new content coming in Gifts of the Golden Lantern!"

'Everything you can get your hands on during the Gifts of the Golden Lantern event. 

It ain’t a party unless you have something (and someone) to celebrate with. And since patch 12.2 (live January 20th 11AM PT) brings our first Lunar Legend Festival event, we sure have a lot to celebrate! But first, let’s talk logistics. 

Gifts of the Golden Lantern 

Each year, Tacticians from all over the Convergence come together to celebrate the new year with feasts (featuring Choncc’s dumplings, of course), gifts, aaand the occasional explosion! This year, the celebration comes with a new, interactive Event: Gifts of the Golden Lantern! In this article, we’ll be going over all the new Tacticians (and other content) joining the celebration. If you want to learn more about how you can participate in the Gifts of the Golden Lantern Event, and get free stuff by doing so, click here. 

A Mythic Protector for the Collector! 

Stoic and brave, Year of the Tiger Protector has a lot on their plate. They’re constantly practicing their lion dance for the festival to ensure it’s nothing less than purrfect. But aside from that, they also have their own custom animations and sound effects—they’re quite talonted on the guzheng.

You can recognize Year of the Tiger Protector’s greatness only by obtaining them as a rare drop through the purchase of 2022 Year of the Tiger Eggs (390 RP), of which you can get 31 of in the Year of the Tiger Egg Bundle for the price of 25. Read more about our bundles and reach rewards here. 

Hijinks with Chibi Firecracker Jinx 

Chibi Firecracker Jinx loves fireworks, and Duckbill’s obsession with caution, safety, and protecting the environment just makes her like fireworks even more! 

Looking to cause some trouble? Chibi Firecracker Jinx is our first Chibi Champion with a skin, hence her status as a rare drop in any Festival Firecracker (490 RP). We also have two bundles full of Festival Firecrackers and much more that you can read about here! To get the Super Mega Firecracker boom, you’ll have to opt for the Megabundle that’ll also give you loads more content, including the Golden Tiger Market! But even if you aren’t going to be buying Festival Firecrackers or bundles, you’ll have a chance at getting Chibi Firecracker Jinx just by participating in the Gifts of the Golden Lantern event, which offers a free Festival Firecracker in addition to quite a bit more content. 

Park it at the Golden Tiger Market 

With its own music, entry animations, custom gold mine, and friendly dragons, Golden Tiger Market is the place to be during the Lunar Legend Festival. I’d say more, but I’d rather just show you. 

With the most bells and whistles (Firecrackers and festivities?) in any arena to date, the Golden Tiger Market is available only through the Lunar Legend Festival 2022 Megabundle. To explore the loads of content to be found at the market and in the Megabundle click it here. 

Duckbill and Chill at the Festival 

Duckbill is trying to keep it all together at the Lunar Legend Festival, but there’s just so much to worry about: the firework shows, getting Dowsie off their phone during the event, Dango being Dango, and their helicopter, the Hopecopter 3000 missing a key component! But despite all the stress of the festival, Duckbill knows that if they’re surrounded by friends and family, it’ll be alright. Catch the Lunar Legend Festival Duckbill variants below: Most Festive Duckbill, Jade Dragon Duckbill, Lunar Scholar Duckbill, Firecracker Duckbill, and Mischief Maker Duckbill.

You can directly purchase these festive Duckbill(s) from the shop, or find them in a Festival Firecracker anytime you wanna Duckbill and chill.

Tango with Dango 

Heck yeah, it’s a bunch of Dango variants!!! Let’s go! I mean… *stifling excitement* Dango’s at the Lunar Legend Festival to win it all! Their heart is set on winning the festival’s golden loot orb, which will take precision and skill that, frankly, they just don’t have. But what they lack in talent, they make up for in locomotion through repeatedly rolling over their face—and as far as I know, there’s no better way than that to win over the heart of a TFT player that can lend a helping hand. Roll through the new Dango variants hitting the store below: Porcelain Dango, Lucky Lantern Dango, Firecracker Dango, Lion Dancer Dango, and Fiercest Dango!

Dango is available to roll down and around with by direct purchase or as a drop via a Festival Firecracker. 

And Now See Dowsie 

For Dowsie, the only thing more important than what Tacticians say about the festival this year is what they have to say about Dowsie. That’s why they’re taking care to make everything look spick n’ span, and taking selfies in only spots with the best lighting. Careful when complimenting their fab drip though, they may think their hot-pot-hat is leaking. Check out the Dowsie’s festive variants below: Porcelain Dowsie, Fortune Dowsie, Lucky Noodle Dowsie, Extra Spicy Dowsie, and Sweet Petal Dowsie!

Hungry for hot pot? Then go get some, but if you want Dowsie you can find them in a Festival Firecracker or get your favorite via direct purchase."