New League of Legends champion Smolder is definitely adorable, but concerns about the youthful dragon’s design have made their way to LoL developer Riot Games, and the team has heard your feedback loud and clear. Lead champion producer Lexi ‘Lexical’ Gao has taken to social media to share the more draconic makeover for the upcoming League champion, which helps to “highlight his dragon features.”
Following the reveal of the new LoL champion and the full set of Smolder abilities, the League of Legends Reddit and the game’s presence on other social platforms has been heavily dominated by a conversation about how the newest character to join the MOBA looks. The primary criticism is how ‘cutesy’ Smolder is, with features that are much more human-like rather than those of a dragon.
Players point to other baby dragons that have appeared in the game, such as the Dragon Trainer Tristana skin, as examples of designs that look adorable but still retain those fundamentally dragon-like features. While I was certainly quick to be charmed by Smolder, I can agree that his initial face design might be a little overly softened – I want to see the little guy live up to his name and smolder a bit. His new look does exactly that, with sharper cheekbones, more prominent scales, and narrowed pupils.
“Hey guys,” Gao writes in a post to Twitter/X, “We heard your feedback on Smolder’s face and are making some adjustments to highlight his dragon features. Thank you so much to Gem, Jason Namgung, and Oussama Agazzoum for making this happen.” She adds that the team is also working on adjustments to Smolder’s splash art to match his new design.
In an entertaining coincidence, the Smolder reveal arrived just after former TSM pro player Marcus ‘Dyrus’ Hill said he’d be happy to see “Disneyland” champions deleted from League of Legends. Personally, I’m definitely a fan of the new look – it’s a step in the right direction. I’m already very excited to try out Smolder when he arrives with League of Legends patch 14.3 on Wednesday, February 7, so this is a welcome update.
If you’re planning to do the same, make sure you’re caught up on all the many League of Legends Season 14 changes, and put your eyes on our LoL tier list to see who else is viable in case you don’t get to play as Smolder. I know, it’s a shame we can’t all be him.
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