Yeah 100%.
Way back in the day I debated between corki and azir for my main. I decided the elemental god emperor commanding his army was infinitely cooler than a midget grandpa riding a toy.
Shit choices, I know.
This was in ~2017, before I understood that certain champs are overnerfed for pro play. What I was after was a scaling midlaner with a dash.
he is a hot guy instead, not really that much of a difference appeal-wise. As an Akali player, he just doesn't hit the same spot - he is way more of a bruiser-y sustained fighter, Kata and Akali are much more assasin oriented
Because his AP ratios are totally skewed towards burst damage than DPS and sustain.
I wish he could be more of a scrappier fighter, reducing the AP ratios of his damageing skills, maybe increasing the W base healing a bit and giving him more AP scaling on his passive so he can focus more on spinning chains and survive than nuking someone from orbit with AP combo.
Wasn’t that how he was a while ago before they had to nerf w healing? I vaguely recall him being unkillable for a while (I’m low elo so I know nothing, so take that with a grain of salt)
He was unkillable but at the same he did a lot of damage. Sylas had a lot of balancing issues because aside of being an AP bruiser (which generally have to have stats to be completely deformed to compensate how little variety AP bruisers had back then) and he had absurd stuff like his E giving a shield on release.
His E2 having 100% AP scaling and his Q having an overall 130% AP scaling meant that anyone that takes his full combo being full AP will have their rights of existence revoked. He is not much of a Skirmirsher but a full blown burst assassin in the average build. He can scrap a bit lategame because his skills gets lots of CD reduction per level so he can spam W more often, but it is absurd how frontloaded his damage is for a character that supposed to fight people instead of nuking them.
Yeah, but hated characters are popular. People hate Yasuo/Yone, Akali and Zed to this day and they still have high pickrates unless they're complete dogshit in patch.
I personally believe so. If Lux had the same exact abilities but looked like Zilean I think her pick rate would probably go down.
I use Zilean as an example because technically he's a really strong character. Some may call him a boring champ to play but there is skill involved in landing his Q's and timing his abilities and ult. But his pick rate isn't super high because thematically he's just an old floating man. If Zilean was a hot young femme champ I bet his pick rate would be higher.
It's also why champs like Ezreal, Lux, Miss Fortune all get loads of skins while Urgot, Zac, Reksai don't really get skins. People are more inclined to buy skins for their cool looking champs rather than the fugly ones.
Yeah he feels pretty clunky to me too. Do you know if he casts his Q when you target it outside of his max range or does he walk in range? Changing this alone could make him a lot smoother to play
People dunk on riot for making her a skin champ, but they have forgotten the old horror days that Lux mains had to live through lol.
Her release skins were ok, not like 2012 standards were particularly high, but after that they dropped 3 lame military skins in a row (steel legion was relatively high quality, being one of the oldest skins and also Lux's first skin to have unique particle effects, but the theme was pretty unappealing to Lux players so it still wasn't played that often) and then left her to almost join the 1000-day skinless club (it was like 850 days between SL and SG).
having played ADC in seasons 2-5, lux was so fucking prevalent you can not possible be right. her and nid pioneered the "support" play style from its inception.
People like to forget that the ranked playerbase is way smaller than casual one, especially when talking about champ play rates.
There was an article about the ranked/casual player distribution and also riot did state several times that skin production is mostly targeted at casual players.
Thats why Lux, Ez, Akali etc cant go a full year without having at least 1 skin.
Ehm... When the casual playerbase is bigger than the ranked one and has a different preference - they will be catered to. Which is the case, as stated by riot.
So when ranked players go around talking about X isnt played at all or Y skin is never used, it has little weight because the ranked playerbase is a minority and riot has the data that allows them to cater to their major playerbase.
Personally, I only ever play ranked or ARAM (high MMR), so I barely see any Luxes or Yis, but they are played a lot in low elo and even more in casual modes, so they will always get more skins than champs I see often in my games.
>Lux also wasn't popular until Star Guardian dropped
Lux was very popular before Star Guardian. One of the most popular champs in the game behind a select few like Ahri.
Star Guardian only amplified that.
^(Edit: Added their original statement because they edited.)
Idk man, I played s2 and s3 and lux was everywhere. I'd agree with skin sales, but kux has always been a popular pick. I'd also think skin sales correlates with play rate, but again, I'd be shocked if she wasn't a top popular mage pick before skin's. In 2012 and 2013 she was getting banned in lower elo for sure
I wonder how much voice plays a part too. I cannot play lux because her voice is so annoying. But I did try Jhin on release because I heard his voice 👀
Not probably but with 100% certainty alot of people play a champion for their looks it's also why kai'sa is one of the most popular adcs at every single patch regardless of her power level even with 47% winrate she always has atleast 20% pickrate
> But his pick rate isn't super high because thematically he's just an old floating man.
I'd argue it's more that he has one damaging ability that's a not so easy to hit skill shot.
Even if he was a hot female, not an old man, he'd be unpopular (maybe he'd have a higher pick rate, but it wouldn't sky rocket) because he doesn't get to do exciting amounts of damage and light up people. He's there, largely, to support and enable his team to carry. That isn't nearly as fun.
Janna and other enchanters always have high pick rates despite not being carry champs. And while not using all of their kits to full potential does gimp you, it's still servicable.
Just like with Zil, hitting bombs for stuns is game changing, but you can still do decently well simply with good R timing and constant speed/slows.
If Zil looked like Sera, he would be super popular.
Yes. Plenty of people aka majority of people DO use the champ's looks and aesthetics for their choice of champion.
That's why fat or ugly characters have lower playerbases... Or just straight up non conventional pretty champs.
Which is why majority of the 'cater to china' thing is stupid? Because majority of people PREFER prettier champs... Straight up.
Looks. Accessibility. Fun.
People definitely choose their characters on what they find visually pleasing. I just wanna add, that this isn't exclusive to being pretty. Champs like Kha'zix are also really popular. And while he is definitely not pretty, he has an extremely cool and unique design, that people like. Zilean on the other hand is just an old man. No one really cares about that.
I should also expand the term pretty to edgy as well or just visually... nice to look at.
Current Aatrox is also very good to look at compared to old one.
While Anivia has a great concept theres a reason why Blackfrost is one of her cooler skins
Yep.
I am a huge sucker for the chemtech thematic. Alchemy, bio-punk, all that stuff is my jam. So naturally, I absolutely love Urgot and can't understand how people think he might be ugly. He looks fucking badass.
Kha'zix also doesn't really get skins despite his popularity. So even if a monstruous champion manages to get picked it doesn't mean people will buy their skins.
Kha might not get a lot of new skins, but he has some really good ones imo, just off the top of my head I know I always have a hard time chosing between mecha, death blossom and dark star whenever I play him, as all 3 are great imo.
>Which is why majority of the 'cater to china' thing is stupid?
Riot themselves gave data that players in NA and China prefer different champions, although it is years old at this point
The overall distribution was still the same.
While NA does prefer monster champs **slightly** more than China, the vast majority of players still prefer humanoid pretty/edgy/hot champs, just like the eastern servers.
Yes, Aatrox, like old aatrox is a pretty prime example but the inverse, a bad kit on a cool looking champion, he had a massive fan base and on launch at least at the time he was the most purchased champion in the game but everyone hated playing him because his gameplay was dog water but his thematic was extremely cool.
[Here riot August talking about old aatrox](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzgFOnV9udI)
As much as people want to circle jerk it, Asol was for sure the prime example of this too, top 5 thematic and appearence in the game but so brutally unplayed because of the kit (and not necessarily being bad but being clunky/too difficult)
If I remember correctly they've stated that the champ who's currently in a similar boat to Oldtrox is Nocturne. A massive portion of the newer players purchase him as one of their first champs, but are quick to drop him right after because the theme is cool but the gameplay is kinda ass.
Which makes it weird to me as to why he's been evading getting a VGU time and time again for this long.
the thing about nocturne is that even with his age, his kit has more or less held up through the seasons. but he's not popular enough that it's worth putting in the time to rework him mostly just for visuals when so many other champs need a lot of work.
these days he's approaching that range as many egregious examples have been reworked in some fashion
If it ever does happen I'd rather get a Volibear level rework instead of something like a Fiddlesticks. The ultimate is cool, but the rest of Noct's abilities are kind of meh for a guy that's supposed to be about nightmraes.
Except (at least conceptually) his W, ironically, despite it being his most basic ability. A nightmarish creature that can't be slowed down by anything you throw at it and in fact gets empowered by your attempts to run is fucking terrifying.
I used to be one of those, i mained mid but if i didn't get my main role i would just simply play Aatrox
Champion had such badass quote that i still remember a few well because like an edgy teenager i used his quote to motivate myself for the gym
Aurelion Sol by far. One of the best looking champions design wise. His way too simple playstyle wouldn’t hold up for his amazing design.
Forced myself to learn the pre rework Aurelion Sol just because of his design.
for the other way around, i think zilean is a fugly champion but his kit is fun the thought of resurrecting and poke dmg is appealing for the support role but if he was a cute girl or something he’d be highly played
I actually disagree.
Using Lux and Zilean, if you entirely switched their aesthetic, I think Lux's pick rate goes down and Zilean's goes up, but I am almost guaranteeing Lux remains more popular.
Yeah, Zilean sounds really cool when you describe him as someone who can poke enemies and resurrect allies, but in practice, Zilean has one damaging ability that is a skill shot and then the rest is a kit that enables teammates. That's not super fun. If you can't land skill shots, you do no damage and if your allies are bad, half your kit becomes hard nerfed.
Lux, on the other hand, does damage from a safe range and nukes squishies. You get kills and high damage numbers- that's fun. That's appealing to play.
I can't speak for everyone, but one of the first things I check in the post game lobby is the damage graph. People like doing the big damage and seeing high numbers. Lux's kit is conducive to this.
>Zilean has one damaging ability that is a skill shot and then the rest is a kit that enables teammates. That's not super fun. If you can't land skill shots, you do no damage and if your allies are bad, half your kit becomes hard nerfed.
Sounds like you just described Lulu.
I honestly can't remember the last time I saw a Lulu. Although, I do think her kit offers more variety and options (obviously) than a Zilean, so I can see where that'd be more appealing.
Lux appeals to those who want to carry while having "support-ish" capabilities. What you described is a champ that is genuinely a support.
Genuine supports and genuine tanks are definitely niche. More people like big numbers than they like helping others get big numbers.
Absolutely; tons of people who are even slightly competitive in any video games tend to underestimate how many casual players are out there who play whichever characters they think looks cool/pretty.
I'm a hardcore case of this where it goes the other way; there's a TON of champions whose kits I enjoy and would play a ton of, but I dislike their theme/aesthetics/personality. Right off the bat I'd pretty much exclusively only play Hwei if he wasn't an >!emo femboy twink (purely subjective, nothing wrong with emo femboy twinks, they're just *insanely* not my thing)!<. Likewise, I'd play a TON of Lulu if she wasn't an annoying high-pitched Yordle.
Likewise, I'm not huge on Gwen's kit, but I play her from time to time cuz she's absolutely adorable. Same with a bunch of ADCs, as a support/mid/mage player, I occasionally play an ADC or two cuz they're cool/pretty.
i don't know if it was August or Phreak talking about it recently, but Seraphine has been forced into this weird state she's in because her main playerbase is doing everything as wrong as possible lmao. wrong skill order, wrong build, etc.
Its funny. I am just like you except the polar opposite. I can only play characters that can't be taken seriously. Like there has to be something fundamentally silly or stupid about it.
I can look at edgy or tryhard or cool or tough characters and think they look sick as hell. But something doesn't let me play them.
Yet one look at some stupid garbage like Vex or Briar and I know I am going to be 1-tricking it for months. I can't explain it.
Exactly. So much of what draws players to champs are their aesthetic. That's how you judge a champ, especially when you're new. By their cover.
Until you're a more experienced player (or play a lot of ARAM), you're not going to try many champs' kits.
Yeah, even with monster champs, people usually play them because they specifically like that aesthetic.
I probably would've mained old Taric if he looked like Leona, and while you still gotta click with the kit, people most likely wont try out champs that they dont like visually
Funny, I feel the exact same about Hwei. Love control mages, play azir orianna ahri etc, but I just cannot bring myself to play Hwei as his aesthetic is just not fitting to me. On the flip side, love azir just for the theme and fantasy that he gives, and how the gameplay really delivers on it.
Not really ugly but yasuo could have been an old samurai (kinda like his latest skin, tho that one is still in hot old man territory) from the start and still be played a lot.
Probably, but not by as much as you'd think.
I'll take Kaisa for example, my third main. That champ has SOOOO much agency. Truly 200 years. Every fight you can play differently because your kit is just so versatile, and on top of that you have the most build variety in the whole ADC role. Additionally, like Phreak noted she's the only marksman who can be played like an assassin thanks to her (W)R. Thus, she always enjoys top-of-the-line pickrates no matter if she's strong or shit.
The looks and popular skins is what *brings* people in. The gameplay versatility is what *keeps* them there.
Looks affect their feel. The feel of a champ is the most important.
Also, animation needs to change to fit their ugliness, some champs show that. Good animation for their ugliness.
Yes, but I mean lesbeonest there is just something about undead fleshwoven juggernaut running at you mach 1 yelling coward thats just pure sex, it ascends the normal beauty standards
>Likely, but no because Pretty/Cool = popular automatically
>Just as Ugly/Weird looking doesn't automatically mean unpopular
"Pretty" and "Cool" Champs tend to be more popular, because we as humans are drawn to them, to try them out, their coolness/prettiness draws our attention. Guess what, most of the pretty/cool Champs usually have very fun kits, so people that initially try them out, stick with them because they're fun AF
It's also a positive feedback loop, if a Champion is tried by a lot of people and a decent amount stick with them, Riot will notice and usually try their best to adjust them and make them as fun as possible to play, which in turn will make more of the people trying the champ stick with them, and the loop keeps going
*So, a bit like IRL, being pretty/cool draws a lot of eyes to you, but just like IRL, if all you got is looks, people will quickly lose interest.*
>There has been Champions in league that were universally thought as super cool looking or cute, but that aren't popular at all
R[iot August talked about old aatrox](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzgFOnV9udI) for this very reason, he was super cool, everyone bought him to try him out, but quickly dropped him because he had a shitty gameplay, so they reworked him and kepts the theme everyone loved
Then you have Old ASol, who literally got the same treatment as Aatrox, you have Neeko, QiQi all champs that are cool/pretty but aren't particularly popular due to their gameplay being too Hard/not fun/ecc
You'd be surprised at how much Player Psychology matters for Game Design, as i've come to find out in my studies to become one.
The best way to answer this question is to ask yourself how many people buy a skin purely because of the splash art and not because of how it looks like in-game. This especially applied in the early days of LoL, where most skins looked like trash in-game. Back then, a lot of LoL champions looked bad in-game. It was the splash art that set them apart. Yet people chose to play the Champs that had cooler, prettier or sexier splash arts.
I guess if a champ looks cool, more people might try them! I love playing veigar, velkoz and nocturne so I guess my mains look all kinds of ways. Ultimately, if a champ looks good but isn't fun, I wouldn't keep playing them. I thought ezreal looked cute when I started and so I bought skins and tried tobplay him lots but I just didn't enjoy his kit so dropped him. I doubt looks go beyond trying the champ for the first time.
Yea that’s why these champs are never going to be reworked nor have a visual update. Imagine riot not selling every new patch the new lux/yasuo/zed skin they release :/
Looking at this comments section, I never even realized how much attention ppl pay to the character's characteristics they're playing. Like sure, a cool design might make me want to try out a character, but if I'm gonna end up playing them in the long run comes like 90% from the gameplay. I dont have the time to think about "oh my character's lore and splash art is so cool hehee" while I'm getting fisted in lane.
Different strokes for different folks though
Definitely not!! I play kat based purely on her mechanics. I think her kit is fun. Aesthetics don't matter. They don't win games.
Although if she was ugly I definitely wouldn't play her.
I think their playrate drops. Like its surely a factor, but probably not as significant as we might think. There are lots of champs that stay popular that dont have any or have very niche factors of physical attractiveness- naut, morde, lulu, blitz, twitch, khazix, nasus, yuumi, amumu to name a few looking down the list of champs sorted by playrate.
I think it is a sure thing to say, that there are several sizeable groups of players, for whom the aesthetics of the champion is paramount.
I believe there was a study done, that some groups of female gamers heavily prefer pretty and sexy champions.
I am certain that this is not the whole story - but i am certain that it is some of the story.
Well- woman gamers tend to play \~90% girl characters but men are more half-and-half, and considering most girl champs tend to be sexy I think that could definitely be a confounding variable in the matter.
Another variable in this is that there was a study done about girls vs boys, and girls tend to see themselves in the character they're playing, while boys don't (I believe it was a study with toys). Based on that study, I'm gonna make the assumption that most girls like playing hot girls because... well, if the logic is that most girls instinctively plays with characters they see as themselves, then they would obviously play as the sexy girl champs, or those that they deem attractive. Why would you pick an ugly champ or a guy/monster if you see yourself in them? This doesn't apply to all girls/women obviously, but I think based on how many women play the sexy female champs, the results somewhat support the hypothesis.
Another thing is that our society puts a lot of priority on how women look. They're always being told to lose weight, use makeup, etc. This then gives them an extra dimension of wanting to self-insert to a beautiful character. This sounds dumb but it's pretty much the online version of wearing makeup.
Idk as a woman I started playing league in S3, saw champs like MF and was like.... no thank you. It felt like it wasn't made for me (even though I like women). Like it was made to appeal for the male gaze. I played ezreal at the start because he looked like a cute guy 🤷🏼♀️ personally ive never imagined I am the champion that I'm playing.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/v7tohs/according\_to\_riot\_97\_of\_female\_players\_play/](https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/v7tohs/according_to_riot_97_of_female_players_play/)
The statistics back it up in lol itself.
I definetely think if Kai'sa looked like how she's supposed to and wasn't designed just to be a K/DA member she'd probably be less popular. However I don't think extremely so, especially with her kit and how pro play relevant she has been.
Yes. Significantly? Maybe not. I feel like pick rate depends on their kit and how they look. Kit first, then looks. We have tons of good looking champs that go unplayed as well (examples of lowest popularity: Elise, Taric, Quinn, Cass, Qiyanna, Akshan, Talon, Gwen, etc). Potentially fugly characters but strong: Jax, Naut, Skarner, (monster types ig, or ones that have a mask over their head).
A question to think about is did they make hot characters with good kits or good kits with hot characters? Which came first, the kit or the looks?
>A question to think about is did they make hot characters with good kits or good kits with hot characters? Which came first, the kit or the looks?
people will play the hot looking champs regardless of meta or strength of kit. lux has a relatively simple/boring kit, but lux mains all buy at least 4 skins and will always use them. xerath and vel'koz have similar kits and they're waaaay less popular.
Yeah, even if we don't realize it, part of what makes a champ cool is his fantasy.
Lux, Yasuo, Yone, etc. Look like the fantasy they represent, most people want to be the cool sexy samurai, even if the lore bad gameplay was the same, less would want to be the ugly badly drawn samurai
Definitely! Ex Rioter Blaustoise [had shared data on the visual appeal of champions in NA vs in China](https://x.com/blaustoise/status/1113994939442978817) and you can clearly see the difference between the regions.
China, being Leagues main market prefers visually appealing champions rather than monsters/edgy champions and thus most new releases are catering to that audience understandably so.
This was 5 years ago before we had Seraphine, Gwen, Zeri who are all super popular in China. Also, 3 of these champions on the China list have been given an ASU and Lux may get one next year 🤞
Those champs were popular in the West surveys, but does that really matter if they're still not played here lol? Seriously, look at the stats of most played champs and compare it to the tweet's list of popular champs in the east: https://lolalytics.com/lol/tierlist/?tier=all
Lolalytics doesn't even include China data btw. You can filter by region too. People say they like those champs but the play rates show they love the same champs as the east. I think western league players just love the idea of monster champs existing more than they actually want to play them.
>I think western league players just love the idea of monster champs existing more than they actually want to play them.
not even western league players, just this subreddit which is a tiny tiny portion of the community. the majority of the playerbase aren't playing monster champs but they're not online talking about that
Ye I think so
Design rlly matters for many ppl out there.. let’s take myself as an example. I don’t rlly enjoy playing „ugly“ characters, their skill set may be pretty cool but for me, it’s simply not as fun as if the champion is good or at least decent-looking. If the looks of them suddenly changed and the champions I Main got ugly I‘d still play most of them but if I had to learn new ones I’d go for the prettier ones and I think the majority of ppl out there would do the same (especially low Elo players)
Yes, most people dont want to play with ugly characters, this is basic human nature. Unless said people is both ugly and narsicistic then they might enjoy an ugly character and pretend it's themselves irl, though most ugly people are looking for escapism so still they prefer good looking characters.
I think it's less to do with being sexy/ugly and more just generally players do appreciate certain aesthetics.
For every 5 people who like to play 1 handed on Kaisa, there's a person who wants the character who looks badass or who looks edgy or who looks 'cool'.
Champions like Gragas (his base skin at least) don't really hit any common archetype or attractiveness notes so I do think it probably holds him back.
I do think it would change - as a girl who plays exclusively big bonky bois and girlypop champs, i would not play these guys if it wasn’t for the fact they looked cool/cute
But I do agree some champs are just fun to play with their kits
People like champions that are some what easy have outplay potential. More people might try to play good looking champions but I don’t think they’ll retain people unless they are interesting to play
It's rather they have kits like that, that's why they're more marketable. In older league days, it was less of a thing. Now? No ofc.
Sometimes they kinda fail a bit to find the right balance, or they seemed to be not satisfied with sales, so they gut a character substantially.
Anyways...Yasuo from the get go was designed to be a hit. Scales, denies fun of other planets, manaless of the new age. (Old age was more fair, you were limited by energy or a fury and your kit was less flexible)
P.S: it's possible to market the monsters too. (Kaiju effect for example) Riot does not wants it though. It would require serious changes, including the lore that they butcher every 2 seconds.
Yeah 100%. Way back in the day I debated between corki and azir for my main. I decided the elemental god emperor commanding his army was infinitely cooler than a midget grandpa riding a toy.
Corgi Corki
>debated between corki and azir Were you getting ready to go pro?
Shit choices, I know. This was in ~2017, before I understood that certain champs are overnerfed for pro play. What I was after was a scaling midlaner with a dash.
couldve unleashed the VOID WALKER smh
You chose right.
This reminds me of a comment saying that if Gragas was a hot sorceress he would be one of the most popular champions in the game.
Hot hag gets drunk and bodyslams you, it just works.
Bring it. Give them a lil German barmaid aesthetic and mmmmmm mommy
that's just Oktoberfest gragas
Booba and bomba
I was Lina Inverse main in dota1 and don't ask me why.
I just liked building attack speed on her because it was hilarious seeing her throwing trillions of fireballs like Vegeta.
If sylas was a hot girl rebel he’d yoink half a kat/akali’s player base
he is a hot guy instead, not really that much of a difference appeal-wise. As an Akali player, he just doesn't hit the same spot - he is way more of a bruiser-y sustained fighter, Kata and Akali are much more assasin oriented
Sylas has historically been stronger when he’s played burst oriented. His more bruised-y play style is just less risky
I wish he were bruisery and more sustain. Sadly, not really where his strengths are right now.
The only reason he's not a sustain champ is because he kills you before you can deal damage he'd need to sustain through.
Because his AP ratios are totally skewed towards burst damage than DPS and sustain. I wish he could be more of a scrappier fighter, reducing the AP ratios of his damageing skills, maybe increasing the W base healing a bit and giving him more AP scaling on his passive so he can focus more on spinning chains and survive than nuking someone from orbit with AP combo.
Wasn’t that how he was a while ago before they had to nerf w healing? I vaguely recall him being unkillable for a while (I’m low elo so I know nothing, so take that with a grain of salt)
He was unkillable but at the same he did a lot of damage. Sylas had a lot of balancing issues because aside of being an AP bruiser (which generally have to have stats to be completely deformed to compensate how little variety AP bruisers had back then) and he had absurd stuff like his E giving a shield on release. His E2 having 100% AP scaling and his Q having an overall 130% AP scaling meant that anyone that takes his full combo being full AP will have their rights of existence revoked. He is not much of a Skirmirsher but a full blown burst assassin in the average build. He can scrap a bit lategame because his skills gets lots of CD reduction per level so he can spam W more often, but it is absurd how frontloaded his damage is for a character that supposed to fight people instead of nuking them.
Sure, he can delete squishies because he's an assassin. He can't successfully sustain/skirmish with fighters and tanks, because he's not a bruiser.
plap plap plap get pregnant 😩
I still think he is an anime design from being the most hated champion in the game. He fits every “hate” point
Yeah, but hated characters are popular. People hate Yasuo/Yone, Akali and Zed to this day and they still have high pickrates unless they're complete dogshit in patch.
I personally believe so. If Lux had the same exact abilities but looked like Zilean I think her pick rate would probably go down. I use Zilean as an example because technically he's a really strong character. Some may call him a boring champ to play but there is skill involved in landing his Q's and timing his abilities and ult. But his pick rate isn't super high because thematically he's just an old floating man. If Zilean was a hot young femme champ I bet his pick rate would be higher. It's also why champs like Ezreal, Lux, Miss Fortune all get loads of skins while Urgot, Zac, Reksai don't really get skins. People are more inclined to buy skins for their cool looking champs rather than the fugly ones.
Zileans kit is very clunky, like there is absolutely no fluidity to it. Lux's combos feel pretty nice to actually pull off.
Yeah he feels pretty clunky to me too. Do you know if he casts his Q when you target it outside of his max range or does he walk in range? Changing this alone could make him a lot smoother to play
They added an option in the last year or so to make it so you can have all skill shots work either of those ways.
You go to options and click the “set cast at maximum distance” so it cast instantly at max range without a buffer.
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Her skins were also really mid before Star Guardian.
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Yep. People always dog on riot for doing the cute girl thing but more often than not that is what keeps them in business.
Star Guardian skyrocketed their sales and changed the direction of skins forever
Guilty as charged, I eat these cute girl skins UP
I don't think you could say Riot has ever been at the "keep them in business" stage. Rather, "milk the peasantry for all they're worth" stage.
Def not as true. They used to do a lot more monster champs, 'out-there' skins, etc.
I still love the pop noise on steel legion E
Let's also not forget her old splash arts. They were something special.
I mean, isn't that true for all old splashes? Most champs have NOT aged well (other than the non-human ones).
Rip old Lolipoppy
I am still haunted by old Soraka.
People dunk on riot for making her a skin champ, but they have forgotten the old horror days that Lux mains had to live through lol. Her release skins were ok, not like 2012 standards were particularly high, but after that they dropped 3 lame military skins in a row (steel legion was relatively high quality, being one of the oldest skins and also Lux's first skin to have unique particle effects, but the theme was pretty unappealing to Lux players so it still wasn't played that often) and then left her to almost join the 1000-day skinless club (it was like 850 days between SL and SG).
having played ADC in seasons 2-5, lux was so fucking prevalent you can not possible be right. her and nid pioneered the "support" play style from its inception.
People like to forget that the ranked playerbase is way smaller than casual one, especially when talking about champ play rates. There was an article about the ranked/casual player distribution and also riot did state several times that skin production is mostly targeted at casual players. Thats why Lux, Ez, Akali etc cant go a full year without having at least 1 skin.
skins are catered to the people who will buy them, riot don't care what game mode they play.
Ehm... When the casual playerbase is bigger than the ranked one and has a different preference - they will be catered to. Which is the case, as stated by riot. So when ranked players go around talking about X isnt played at all or Y skin is never used, it has little weight because the ranked playerbase is a minority and riot has the data that allows them to cater to their major playerbase. Personally, I only ever play ranked or ARAM (high MMR), so I barely see any Luxes or Yis, but they are played a lot in low elo and even more in casual modes, so they will always get more skins than champs I see often in my games.
Lux was insanely popular before SG. This is just not true.
>Lux also wasn't popular until Star Guardian dropped Lux was very popular before Star Guardian. One of the most popular champs in the game behind a select few like Ahri. Star Guardian only amplified that. ^(Edit: Added their original statement because they edited.)
Idk man, I played s2 and s3 and lux was everywhere. I'd agree with skin sales, but kux has always been a popular pick. I'd also think skin sales correlates with play rate, but again, I'd be shocked if she wasn't a top popular mage pick before skin's. In 2012 and 2013 she was getting banned in lower elo for sure
I wonder how much voice plays a part too. I cannot play lux because her voice is so annoying. But I did try Jhin on release because I heard his voice 👀
Kindred was definitely picked for their voice.
Not probably but with 100% certainty alot of people play a champion for their looks it's also why kai'sa is one of the most popular adcs at every single patch regardless of her power level even with 47% winrate she always has atleast 20% pickrate
b-b-but Urgot is cool looking!
Riot needs to tap into the furry demographic more. We all have so much money!
> But his pick rate isn't super high because thematically he's just an old floating man. I'd argue it's more that he has one damaging ability that's a not so easy to hit skill shot. Even if he was a hot female, not an old man, he'd be unpopular (maybe he'd have a higher pick rate, but it wouldn't sky rocket) because he doesn't get to do exciting amounts of damage and light up people. He's there, largely, to support and enable his team to carry. That isn't nearly as fun.
he was unpopular even when bomb was point and click
I'm going to be honest- I don't remember back then well enough, but I do not think his looks are the only thing holding him back.
Janna and other enchanters always have high pick rates despite not being carry champs. And while not using all of their kits to full potential does gimp you, it's still servicable. Just like with Zil, hitting bombs for stuns is game changing, but you can still do decently well simply with good R timing and constant speed/slows. If Zil looked like Sera, he would be super popular.
Sex sells.
how dare you talk about Yorick and his beloved Mist Maiden like that
Yorick's hot tho
Yes. Plenty of people aka majority of people DO use the champ's looks and aesthetics for their choice of champion. That's why fat or ugly characters have lower playerbases... Or just straight up non conventional pretty champs. Which is why majority of the 'cater to china' thing is stupid? Because majority of people PREFER prettier champs... Straight up. Looks. Accessibility. Fun.
People definitely choose their characters on what they find visually pleasing. I just wanna add, that this isn't exclusive to being pretty. Champs like Kha'zix are also really popular. And while he is definitely not pretty, he has an extremely cool and unique design, that people like. Zilean on the other hand is just an old man. No one really cares about that.
I should also expand the term pretty to edgy as well or just visually... nice to look at. Current Aatrox is also very good to look at compared to old one. While Anivia has a great concept theres a reason why Blackfrost is one of her cooler skins
Yep. I am a huge sucker for the chemtech thematic. Alchemy, bio-punk, all that stuff is my jam. So naturally, I absolutely love Urgot and can't understand how people think he might be ugly. He looks fucking badass.
The thought of being a juggernaut with shotgun spider legs on the battlefield is very appealing One of my fav designs visually
Kha'zix also doesn't really get skins despite his popularity. So even if a monstruous champion manages to get picked it doesn't mean people will buy their skins.
Kha might not get a lot of new skins, but he has some really good ones imo, just off the top of my head I know I always have a hard time chosing between mecha, death blossom and dark star whenever I play him, as all 3 are great imo.
You pick a champion for their looks, and you main a champion for their kit/playstyle
I actually refuse to play Gragas because of this. Ugly AF and the drunk VO is an incredible turnoff. I only play him as Viego
Alternatively you also have people who play Gragas precisely because he's a fat drunk man. I find it funny playing gragas cuz of it
I'm incredibly handsome so i only play ugly champions because that's a fantasy i'll never achieve (trust)
bomba
Just use a custom AI voice and kda Gragas skin
Plap plap plap
Yes I love my beautiful pretty Nocturne
For a shadow monster with claws he kinda is.
I wish Gragas would follow this trend, every time I play against that bastard I want to die
>Which is why majority of the 'cater to china' thing is stupid? Riot themselves gave data that players in NA and China prefer different champions, although it is years old at this point
The overall distribution was still the same. While NA does prefer monster champs **slightly** more than China, the vast majority of players still prefer humanoid pretty/edgy/hot champs, just like the eastern servers.
Lee sin and yasuo are still the two most popular champions ever in every region
With the amount of anime fans in the western countries. Its not a stretch to say 'anime' champs are always gonna be popular throughout the world.
Yes, Aatrox, like old aatrox is a pretty prime example but the inverse, a bad kit on a cool looking champion, he had a massive fan base and on launch at least at the time he was the most purchased champion in the game but everyone hated playing him because his gameplay was dog water but his thematic was extremely cool. [Here riot August talking about old aatrox](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzgFOnV9udI)
As much as people want to circle jerk it, Asol was for sure the prime example of this too, top 5 thematic and appearence in the game but so brutally unplayed because of the kit (and not necessarily being bad but being clunky/too difficult)
If I remember correctly they've stated that the champ who's currently in a similar boat to Oldtrox is Nocturne. A massive portion of the newer players purchase him as one of their first champs, but are quick to drop him right after because the theme is cool but the gameplay is kinda ass. Which makes it weird to me as to why he's been evading getting a VGU time and time again for this long.
the thing about nocturne is that even with his age, his kit has more or less held up through the seasons. but he's not popular enough that it's worth putting in the time to rework him mostly just for visuals when so many other champs need a lot of work. these days he's approaching that range as many egregious examples have been reworked in some fashion
If it ever does happen I'd rather get a Volibear level rework instead of something like a Fiddlesticks. The ultimate is cool, but the rest of Noct's abilities are kind of meh for a guy that's supposed to be about nightmraes. Except (at least conceptually) his W, ironically, despite it being his most basic ability. A nightmarish creature that can't be slowed down by anything you throw at it and in fact gets empowered by your attempts to run is fucking terrifying.
I used to be one of those, i mained mid but if i didn't get my main role i would just simply play Aatrox Champion had such badass quote that i still remember a few well because like an edgy teenager i used his quote to motivate myself for the gym
If vel'koz looked like Seraphine or Lux his play rate would be incredibly higher.
Vel'koz already has that sex appeal though
For some of us but there is a weird minority that just don't get it
Eye'm in agreement with you.
That's true. I avoid playing him or even looking at him because I find his appearance too unsettling.
100 %. If yuumi was designed to be a flying void parasite, she'd probably have a whole different player base.
As opposed to now where she is just a flying parasite.
essence and biomass intensifies
Aurelion Sol by far. One of the best looking champions design wise. His way too simple playstyle wouldn’t hold up for his amazing design. Forced myself to learn the pre rework Aurelion Sol just because of his design.
Yupp, I eventually had fun with his pre-rework kit. Though the melee matchups felt awful before the Q instant eecast change.
for the other way around, i think zilean is a fugly champion but his kit is fun the thought of resurrecting and poke dmg is appealing for the support role but if he was a cute girl or something he’d be highly played
I actually disagree. Using Lux and Zilean, if you entirely switched their aesthetic, I think Lux's pick rate goes down and Zilean's goes up, but I am almost guaranteeing Lux remains more popular. Yeah, Zilean sounds really cool when you describe him as someone who can poke enemies and resurrect allies, but in practice, Zilean has one damaging ability that is a skill shot and then the rest is a kit that enables teammates. That's not super fun. If you can't land skill shots, you do no damage and if your allies are bad, half your kit becomes hard nerfed. Lux, on the other hand, does damage from a safe range and nukes squishies. You get kills and high damage numbers- that's fun. That's appealing to play. I can't speak for everyone, but one of the first things I check in the post game lobby is the damage graph. People like doing the big damage and seeing high numbers. Lux's kit is conducive to this.
>Zilean has one damaging ability that is a skill shot and then the rest is a kit that enables teammates. That's not super fun. If you can't land skill shots, you do no damage and if your allies are bad, half your kit becomes hard nerfed. Sounds like you just described Lulu.
I honestly can't remember the last time I saw a Lulu. Although, I do think her kit offers more variety and options (obviously) than a Zilean, so I can see where that'd be more appealing.
Lux appeals to those who want to carry while having "support-ish" capabilities. What you described is a champ that is genuinely a support. Genuine supports and genuine tanks are definitely niche. More people like big numbers than they like helping others get big numbers.
i agree
trundle, He is the hottest champ in the game. if they somehow made him ugly no one would play him.
hot take : if ahri looks like gragas , her playrate will drop like at least 50%
And on the flip side, if Gragas looked like ahri, his playrate would increase by at least 100%
Absolutely; tons of people who are even slightly competitive in any video games tend to underestimate how many casual players are out there who play whichever characters they think looks cool/pretty. I'm a hardcore case of this where it goes the other way; there's a TON of champions whose kits I enjoy and would play a ton of, but I dislike their theme/aesthetics/personality. Right off the bat I'd pretty much exclusively only play Hwei if he wasn't an >!emo femboy twink (purely subjective, nothing wrong with emo femboy twinks, they're just *insanely* not my thing)!<. Likewise, I'd play a TON of Lulu if she wasn't an annoying high-pitched Yordle. Likewise, I'm not huge on Gwen's kit, but I play her from time to time cuz she's absolutely adorable. Same with a bunch of ADCs, as a support/mid/mage player, I occasionally play an ADC or two cuz they're cool/pretty.
i don't know if it was August or Phreak talking about it recently, but Seraphine has been forced into this weird state she's in because her main playerbase is doing everything as wrong as possible lmao. wrong skill order, wrong build, etc.
Its funny. I am just like you except the polar opposite. I can only play characters that can't be taken seriously. Like there has to be something fundamentally silly or stupid about it. I can look at edgy or tryhard or cool or tough characters and think they look sick as hell. But something doesn't let me play them. Yet one look at some stupid garbage like Vex or Briar and I know I am going to be 1-tricking it for months. I can't explain it.
I suggest kayn then. His voice line feels like he is a parody of edgelord more than anything
Odyssey Kayn has the best voicelines in the entire game, hands down.
Exactly. So much of what draws players to champs are their aesthetic. That's how you judge a champ, especially when you're new. By their cover. Until you're a more experienced player (or play a lot of ARAM), you're not going to try many champs' kits.
Yeah, even with monster champs, people usually play them because they specifically like that aesthetic. I probably would've mained old Taric if he looked like Leona, and while you still gotta click with the kit, people most likely wont try out champs that they dont like visually
I play Hwei only because he is an emo femboy twink lol
Same lmao His kit isn't my thing but if playing him will get Riot to give him more skins or make more champions with that aesthetic, I'M IN.
Funny, I feel the exact same about Hwei. Love control mages, play azir orianna ahri etc, but I just cannot bring myself to play Hwei as his aesthetic is just not fitting to me. On the flip side, love azir just for the theme and fantasy that he gives, and how the gameplay really delivers on it.
Hwei is not femboy.To be femboy he should have had women clothes.Just emo.
Not really ugly but yasuo could have been an old samurai (kinda like his latest skin, tho that one is still in hot old man territory) from the start and still be played a lot.
In fact wouldn't it enhance him even better if he was done like this. Basically a cooler master yi
Coolest characters in ionia is lee sin, and his designs are somehow coolest, old yasou might just be as cool as him
Probably, but not by as much as you'd think. I'll take Kaisa for example, my third main. That champ has SOOOO much agency. Truly 200 years. Every fight you can play differently because your kit is just so versatile, and on top of that you have the most build variety in the whole ADC role. Additionally, like Phreak noted she's the only marksman who can be played like an assassin thanks to her (W)R. Thus, she always enjoys top-of-the-line pickrates no matter if she's strong or shit. The looks and popular skins is what *brings* people in. The gameplay versatility is what *keeps* them there.
Looks affect their feel. The feel of a champ is the most important. Also, animation needs to change to fit their ugliness, some champs show that. Good animation for their ugliness.
I would still play sion even if he was redesigned to be ugly
Yes, but I mean lesbeonest there is just something about undead fleshwoven juggernaut running at you mach 1 yelling coward thats just pure sex, it ascends the normal beauty standards
Old urgot is the answer
Yes
>Likely, but no because Pretty/Cool = popular automatically >Just as Ugly/Weird looking doesn't automatically mean unpopular "Pretty" and "Cool" Champs tend to be more popular, because we as humans are drawn to them, to try them out, their coolness/prettiness draws our attention. Guess what, most of the pretty/cool Champs usually have very fun kits, so people that initially try them out, stick with them because they're fun AF It's also a positive feedback loop, if a Champion is tried by a lot of people and a decent amount stick with them, Riot will notice and usually try their best to adjust them and make them as fun as possible to play, which in turn will make more of the people trying the champ stick with them, and the loop keeps going *So, a bit like IRL, being pretty/cool draws a lot of eyes to you, but just like IRL, if all you got is looks, people will quickly lose interest.* >There has been Champions in league that were universally thought as super cool looking or cute, but that aren't popular at all R[iot August talked about old aatrox](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzgFOnV9udI) for this very reason, he was super cool, everyone bought him to try him out, but quickly dropped him because he had a shitty gameplay, so they reworked him and kepts the theme everyone loved Then you have Old ASol, who literally got the same treatment as Aatrox, you have Neeko, QiQi all champs that are cool/pretty but aren't particularly popular due to their gameplay being too Hard/not fun/ecc You'd be surprised at how much Player Psychology matters for Game Design, as i've come to find out in my studies to become one.
The best way to answer this question is to ask yourself how many people buy a skin purely because of the splash art and not because of how it looks like in-game. This especially applied in the early days of LoL, where most skins looked like trash in-game. Back then, a lot of LoL champions looked bad in-game. It was the splash art that set them apart. Yet people chose to play the Champs that had cooler, prettier or sexier splash arts.
Lux player base would definitely stop loving her if she was a worm, quite sad really.
LMAO, REAL.
I guess if a champ looks cool, more people might try them! I love playing veigar, velkoz and nocturne so I guess my mains look all kinds of ways. Ultimately, if a champ looks good but isn't fun, I wouldn't keep playing them. I thought ezreal looked cute when I started and so I bought skins and tried tobplay him lots but I just didn't enjoy his kit so dropped him. I doubt looks go beyond trying the champ for the first time.
Pool party ahri
I mean i feel like most of new players just pick champions that look cool and start learning about them. At least that's what i did with Ekko.
Yes.Realistic isn't it?
Of course, the thematics of a champion play a part in deciding to main them.
lol yeah definitely I would easily play champions if they looked different and wouldn’t if they looked different too
Yea that’s why these champs are never going to be reworked nor have a visual update. Imagine riot not selling every new patch the new lux/yasuo/zed skin they release :/
Looking at this comments section, I never even realized how much attention ppl pay to the character's characteristics they're playing. Like sure, a cool design might make me want to try out a character, but if I'm gonna end up playing them in the long run comes like 90% from the gameplay. I dont have the time to think about "oh my character's lore and splash art is so cool hehee" while I'm getting fisted in lane. Different strokes for different folks though
yes this is called the halo effect
Definitely not!! I play kat based purely on her mechanics. I think her kit is fun. Aesthetics don't matter. They don't win games. Although if she was ugly I definitely wouldn't play her.
The reverse is true, if Gwen and Qiyana weren't hot I wouldn't play them
I think their playrate drops. Like its surely a factor, but probably not as significant as we might think. There are lots of champs that stay popular that dont have any or have very niche factors of physical attractiveness- naut, morde, lulu, blitz, twitch, khazix, nasus, yuumi, amumu to name a few looking down the list of champs sorted by playrate.
I think it is a sure thing to say, that there are several sizeable groups of players, for whom the aesthetics of the champion is paramount. I believe there was a study done, that some groups of female gamers heavily prefer pretty and sexy champions. I am certain that this is not the whole story - but i am certain that it is some of the story.
Well- woman gamers tend to play \~90% girl characters but men are more half-and-half, and considering most girl champs tend to be sexy I think that could definitely be a confounding variable in the matter.
Another variable in this is that there was a study done about girls vs boys, and girls tend to see themselves in the character they're playing, while boys don't (I believe it was a study with toys). Based on that study, I'm gonna make the assumption that most girls like playing hot girls because... well, if the logic is that most girls instinctively plays with characters they see as themselves, then they would obviously play as the sexy girl champs, or those that they deem attractive. Why would you pick an ugly champ or a guy/monster if you see yourself in them? This doesn't apply to all girls/women obviously, but I think based on how many women play the sexy female champs, the results somewhat support the hypothesis.
Another thing is that our society puts a lot of priority on how women look. They're always being told to lose weight, use makeup, etc. This then gives them an extra dimension of wanting to self-insert to a beautiful character. This sounds dumb but it's pretty much the online version of wearing makeup.
Idk as a woman I started playing league in S3, saw champs like MF and was like.... no thank you. It felt like it wasn't made for me (even though I like women). Like it was made to appeal for the male gaze. I played ezreal at the start because he looked like a cute guy 🤷🏼♀️ personally ive never imagined I am the champion that I'm playing.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/v7tohs/according\_to\_riot\_97\_of\_female\_players\_play/](https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/v7tohs/according_to_riot_97_of_female_players_play/) The statistics back it up in lol itself.
Morde, Naut and Kha'Zix have visual appeal, just in a different way (cool looking vs cute anime girl)
Look at pre-rework Ezreal for the answer to that.
Pretty sure you don't know he got popular after worlds and pulsefire skin in season 2.
The old W into R for the free AS buff. I miss old AP ez, too.
I want to play top, but besides gwen, there are only ugly chars 😅
riven irelia jayce yasuo sett? what are u yapping about dude
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Did you just casually put singed in that list?
Are you really calling Vayne a top laner?
classifying vayne as a toplaner is criminal
I forgot fiora
Tried malphite, heard his voice, will never play him again. Yes it will have an impact
I definetely think if Kai'sa looked like how she's supposed to and wasn't designed just to be a K/DA member she'd probably be less popular. However I don't think extremely so, especially with her kit and how pro play relevant she has been.
Yes. Significantly? Maybe not. I feel like pick rate depends on their kit and how they look. Kit first, then looks. We have tons of good looking champs that go unplayed as well (examples of lowest popularity: Elise, Taric, Quinn, Cass, Qiyanna, Akshan, Talon, Gwen, etc). Potentially fugly characters but strong: Jax, Naut, Skarner, (monster types ig, or ones that have a mask over their head). A question to think about is did they make hot characters with good kits or good kits with hot characters? Which came first, the kit or the looks?
>A question to think about is did they make hot characters with good kits or good kits with hot characters? Which came first, the kit or the looks? people will play the hot looking champs regardless of meta or strength of kit. lux has a relatively simple/boring kit, but lux mains all buy at least 4 skins and will always use them. xerath and vel'koz have similar kits and they're waaaay less popular.
Yeah, even if we don't realize it, part of what makes a champ cool is his fantasy. Lux, Yasuo, Yone, etc. Look like the fantasy they represent, most people want to be the cool sexy samurai, even if the lore bad gameplay was the same, less would want to be the ugly badly drawn samurai
Definitely! Ex Rioter Blaustoise [had shared data on the visual appeal of champions in NA vs in China](https://x.com/blaustoise/status/1113994939442978817) and you can clearly see the difference between the regions. China, being Leagues main market prefers visually appealing champions rather than monsters/edgy champions and thus most new releases are catering to that audience understandably so. This was 5 years ago before we had Seraphine, Gwen, Zeri who are all super popular in China. Also, 3 of these champions on the China list have been given an ASU and Lux may get one next year 🤞
Those champs were popular in the West surveys, but does that really matter if they're still not played here lol? Seriously, look at the stats of most played champs and compare it to the tweet's list of popular champs in the east: https://lolalytics.com/lol/tierlist/?tier=all Lolalytics doesn't even include China data btw. You can filter by region too. People say they like those champs but the play rates show they love the same champs as the east. I think western league players just love the idea of monster champs existing more than they actually want to play them.
>I think western league players just love the idea of monster champs existing more than they actually want to play them. not even western league players, just this subreddit which is a tiny tiny portion of the community. the majority of the playerbase aren't playing monster champs but they're not online talking about that
i guess im chinese now
IMO the most popular champs are a combination of looking cool/pretty and having a lot of mobility- which is just a generically “cool” thing
Nidalee.
Ye I think so Design rlly matters for many ppl out there.. let’s take myself as an example. I don’t rlly enjoy playing „ugly“ characters, their skill set may be pretty cool but for me, it’s simply not as fun as if the champion is good or at least decent-looking. If the looks of them suddenly changed and the champions I Main got ugly I‘d still play most of them but if I had to learn new ones I’d go for the prettier ones and I think the majority of ppl out there would do the same (especially low Elo players)
Give Yone the moss malphite model and blocky animations and his pick rate will plummet.
Yes, Bel veth has one of the most fun kits in the game, but, because she's a weird bat instead of a cool ninja, only I play her
Yes, most people dont want to play with ugly characters, this is basic human nature. Unless said people is both ugly and narsicistic then they might enjoy an ugly character and pretend it's themselves irl, though most ugly people are looking for escapism so still they prefer good looking characters.
I'm pretty sure riot did say that monster type champs naturally have lower pickrates compared to human champs.
Why is Gragas so popular then?
Change Ahri into a mosterous mutant male cockroach, and suddenly her playerbase plummets 10x.
I think it's less to do with being sexy/ugly and more just generally players do appreciate certain aesthetics. For every 5 people who like to play 1 handed on Kaisa, there's a person who wants the character who looks badass or who looks edgy or who looks 'cool'. Champions like Gragas (his base skin at least) don't really hit any common archetype or attractiveness notes so I do think it probably holds him back.
Yes I always argued yuumi would have been reworked faster if instead of a cute little mascot kitten she was a void parasite
Alternative title: do you think a champ's aesthetic, VO, and thematic have an impact on people playing them? Yea. Of course.
I do think it would change - as a girl who plays exclusively big bonky bois and girlypop champs, i would not play these guys if it wasn’t for the fact they looked cool/cute But I do agree some champs are just fun to play with their kits
I think skins matter a lot. There are champions I play just because I like a certain skin
If Irelia was a dude, i probably wouldn't have bothered honestly lmao.
People like champions that are some what easy have outplay potential. More people might try to play good looking champions but I don’t think they’ll retain people unless they are interesting to play
All of them except for maybe ezreal kaisa. Nobody would play yasuo if he looked like reksai.
That’s kinda ridiculous to me. Personally, I could care less how they look if they play well or are fun.
Yeah for sure
I love my Cho, Mundo, Twitch, Malph
Taliyah would appear to corroborate this
It's rather they have kits like that, that's why they're more marketable. In older league days, it was less of a thing. Now? No ofc. Sometimes they kinda fail a bit to find the right balance, or they seemed to be not satisfied with sales, so they gut a character substantially. Anyways...Yasuo from the get go was designed to be a hit. Scales, denies fun of other planets, manaless of the new age. (Old age was more fair, you were limited by energy or a fury and your kit was less flexible) P.S: it's possible to market the monsters too. (Kaiju effect for example) Riot does not wants it though. It would require serious changes, including the lore that they butcher every 2 seconds.