League of Legends’ lead skins producer Riot Katana discussed the ultimate Elementalist Lux skin in a Twitter thread last night, explaining that a cosmetic of that magnitude won’t be created again.
Having several ultimate skins with multiple forms on the Rift at the same time could potentially “break the game experience.”
“When you’re building a game meant to last for as long as [League] has already (and hopefully a lot longer!) we have to be looking to future sustainability as much as we can,” Katana said. “While making one skin like Lux didn’t break the game experience for players, making several definitely could.”
Katana also explained that many past ultimate skins use a lot of memory. Putting multiple versions of them in one game could “degrade or even crash the game experience for some players.” To compensate, the Riot skin team has to constrain the features and “break the expectation” that all ultimate cosmetics change forms in-game.
Despite having to constrain certain features, Riot asserts that the game’s skin quality won’t be impacted. There will just be more intentionality in how features and cosmetics are built, allowing the freedom to add to a skin’s form and the “surrounding experience.”
This discussion was sparked by yesterday’s reveal of an ultimate Seraphine skin. The new cosmetic will have a unique feature that explores the champion’s story, asking players to complete missions to unlock new forms through a narrative questline.
K/DA All Out Seraphine will start out as a simple, unknown artist. After completing three missions, however, the skin transforms into a more confident pop star. Her final form is the true superstar who’s collaborating with the hit virtual K-pop group, K/DA.
Not only does this skin announce Seraphine as a member (albeit temporary) of K/DA, it marks the sixth skin to be added to the game’s list of Ultimate skins. Other skins belonging to this skin line include Gun Goddess Miss Fortune and Elementalist Lux.
These ultimate skins bring unique new assets to champions both in-game and in their splash arts, offering evolutions that change the look of the skin as the game goes on.
Though this is certainly a new take on an ultimate skin, Seraphine’s cosmetic doesn’t change forms throughout a game. Players who purchase it will have to choose which version to use during champion select. While it did bring out a lot of discussion in the community, Riot isn’t forcing anyone to purchase it.
