#league of legends hecarim

[lichdandy]

Silly Hecarim alternative form

[tigerkirby215]

5e Hecarim, the Shadow of War build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Wesley Keil. Made for Riot Games.)

I constantly write this character’s name with two Cs.

Hecarim is a character who bounces in-and-out of the meta nearly constantly. Having a fast jungler defined entirely by being fast means he’ll never have trouble with his clear, so it’s always his power that winds up shifting. But as far as that power goes he’s still very strong and consistent, with a cool kit for D&D!

GOALS

Trample their bones - Hecarim is a champion defined by speed, and we’ll need the speed to chase any foe who may try to outrun our Devastating Charge.

Never relent - We’ll obviously need to be able to stick around in a fight after engaging, cutting down foes while in the thick of war.

Terror! - We must be able to strike fear in our foes with the undead might of the Shadow Isles!

RACE

So Hecarim is a Yuan-Ti... No he’s a Centaur, and I was waiting for Monsters of the Multiverse to see if they changed anything about the centaur. And no: they didn’t. Well except for the fact that you can use Tasha’s stat array with +2 to Charisma and +1 to Strength, and a Language of your choice along with Common. (I opted for Abyssal but feel free to take any “evil” language I suppose.)

You’re still a Fey (although perhaps talk to your DM about being Undead?) which means you can’t be affected by Hold Person. You still have an Equine Build to carry more but also have trouble with ladders. And you can still move at 40 feet, which I mention because it’s more than normal, and because we’re making Hecarim!

You can use your Hooves as a natural weapon that deals damage equal to a d6 plus your Strength, and if you move at least 30 feet straight toward a target and hit it with a melee weapon on the same turn, you can Charge them and hit them with your hooves as a Bonus Action. And finally you can take proficiency in Survival, because none of the other skill proficiencies from Natural Affinity make sense for you.

ABILITY SCORES

15; STRENGTH - You need might to crush your foes.

14; CHARISMA - You were already a scary war general before turning into a scary ghost horse.

13; CONSTITUTION - You are a melee character who’ll be getting in the frontline often.

12; DEXTERITY - More agility is nice, but we’ll be crushing our foes with overwhelming force.

10; INTELLIGENCE - Knowledge of military tactics is important for survival.

8; WISDOM - You were an infamously violent man, known to sway the prince-king to raid the Blessed Isles.

BACKGROUND

Haunted One... Soldier... Haunted One... Soldier... How about Pirate? Is this entirely for the Bad Reputation feature? Yes. Strike fear into the commonfolk and make sure they’re too afraid to say anything bad about you!

Yes Haunted One, Soldier, or Knight would probably make more sense. But you could probably reflavor Pirate to apply to these backgrounds. It’s just that I wanted the Bad Reputation feature (and it was either Pirate or Rakdos Cultist for that), although Athletics and Perception proficiency is also good. The tools are little weird but you’re free to change them to better your character.

(Artwork by Huyy Nguyen and West Studios. Made for Riot Games.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - PALADIN 1

Starting off as a Paladin for that sweet sweet Heavy Armor proficiency, as well as proficiency with Intimidation and... Persuasion? None of the other skill proficiencies make sense for Hecarim.

You also get Divine Sense to know if there’s any worthy challengers nearby, and Lay on Hands for some healing while you clear camps. Now I’m not saying that you should use all your Lay on Hands health on yourself, but...

LEVEL 2 - PALADIN 2

2nd level Paladins get a lot: firstly you get a Fighting Style and I would say take Great Weapon Fighting, but GWF is poop so I’d recommend Defense instead to shrug off more incoming blows.

Now would probably be a good time to talk about your weapon of choice: technically Hecarim uses a glaive but that has synergy with... basically nothing that your race does, and nothing you will be doing. So I’d suggest grabbing either a Greataxe or a Greatsword to simulate a big cleaving weapon. Greataxe would fit Hecarim more imo but that’s just me.

You also now get Spellcasting! You can prepare a number of spells equal to your Charisma modifier plus half your Paladin level and I mean... Wrathful Smite was pretty much made for Hecarim, right? More damage and frighten your foes? But other than that you can take Bless for a generally good combat buff for both you and your allies, Command to command your foes to fear, and Shield of Faith in case you (or an ally I suppose) is going to be taking heavy fire.

But of course you can disregard all of that to instead use Divine Smite, pumping your weapon with Radiant d8s to cut down foes and cut down undead even better! Because you are the true hunter of the Shadow Isles and you won’t be done-in by lesser wraiths.

LEVEL 3 - PALADIN 3

Third level Paladins get to choose their Sacred Oath and you’re probably expecting the Oath of Conquest, right? Or maybe the Oath of Vengeance? Perhaps even an Oathbreaker? No! We’re in fact going to be going for an Oath of Glory Paladin because of the two Channel Divinity options they get!

The main reason I didn’t choose Oath of Conquest is so this build wouldn’t essentially be a retread of my Fiddlesticks build. While that build was meant to be more of a ranged character we’re going to be treading a lot of similar beats in this build, which is why I opted for Oath of Glory instead for something more unique. Plus I felt like it would be more fun for Hecarim, but as always you’re more than welcome to change things as you see fit.

Peerless Athlete is all well and good (advantage on Athletics and Acrobatics can help in a variety of situations) but what we’re here for is Inspiring Smite: when you strike a foe you can grant temporary hitpoints equal to 2d8 + your level in Paladin to yourself or any creature within 30 feet of you, to syphon the lifeforce from your foes with your Spirit of Dread. Now I’m not telling you to give all the temporary hitpoints to yourself but... it would be the most in-character.

I mean, you could cast Heroism on yourself instead to constantly give yourself Temporary Hitpoints. Or cast Guiding Bolt if you so desire, which isn’t too in-flavor but it’s there as an option.

LEVEL 4 - PALADIN 4

4th level Paladins get their first Ability Score Improvement and more Strength makes your weapon all the more deadly, so I’d suggest that. You can also prepare another spell but I’d suggest waiting for...

LEVEL 5 - PALADIN 5

5th level Paladins get Extra Attack to swing both left and right! Additionally you can now prepare second level spells: as a Glory Paladin you get Enhance Ability and Magic Weapon innately but I’d also suggest grabbing Warding Bond, less because “it makes sense for Hecarim” (few Paladin spells do honestly) but rather because it’s just a good spell that will let you keep your allies safe. But feel free to take anything like Aid or Branding Smite when you play Hecarim.

(Artwork by Xiao Guang Sun and West Studios. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 6 - WARLOCK 1

Well we’d better get the might of the Shadow Isles, hm? Hecarim is probably the closest to a Warlock you can get in League (minus maybe Malzhar) given that he works for Viego and the Ruined King... he’s a pretty strong guy. So strong that he can give you Undead (not Undying!) powers! Most notably you get a Form of Dread to look more ghostly, gain temporary hit points equal to a d10 + your Warlock level, immunity to the frightened condition, and once per turn when you hit someone you can try to frighten them until the end of your next turn! Now to be fair you can’t do an AoE fear like Hecarim’s ultimate... yet.

Wait I forgot that Cause Fear is a spell. 🗿 Honestly it’s not the greatest for Hecarim since it’s more efficient to just hit someone while in your Form of Dread.

For now you can settle with Pact Magic: you get two cantrips like Chill Touch because we’re not investing in Eldritch Blast fuck you (but it’s nice to have some ranged backup that’s sufficiently spooky), and Prestidigitation for some general minor spooky Shadow Isles VFX. You can also prepare two leveled spells like 

Armor of Agathys for some Thornmail, and Expeditious Retreat to leverage your speed and dash every turn as a Bonus Action. Full disclosure though: there aren’t many 1st level spells I want so we’re probably going to replace everything except Armor of Agathys.

LEVEL 7 - WARLOCK 2

Second level Warlocks get to choose their Eldritch Invocations and we may as well grab Eldritch Mind to help maintain concentration. What about our other invocation? That’s a surprise tool that will help us later.

You can also prepare another spell like... Hex, I guess? Again I don’t want much from the 1st level Warlock list.

LEVEL 8 - WARLOCK 3

What I want is the 3rd level of Warlock for a bunch of boons! Firstly: Pact of the Blade to summon weapons into your hand. It’s perhaps not the most effective but it does give you access to the Improved Pact Weapon invocation to give yourself a +1 weapon if your DM hasn’t granted you one.

If you already have a magic weapon? IDK Devil’s Sight and Eldritch Sight are both good invocations.

And finally you can learn 2nd level spells like Misty Step for Flash, Suggestion to strike fear into your foes, and Phantasmal Force from the Undead spell list. I don’t get to talk about Phantasmal Force often but basically you can make a ghost that only one target can see and they will assume is real. It can’t be something harmful (that’s Phantasmal Killer!) but talk to your DM about what is and isn’t acceptable for you to do with Phantasmal Force. Because you’re going to have this spell for awhile.

LEVEL 9 - PALADIN 6

That’s because we’re going back to Paladin for Aura of Protection, which is... kinda the entire reason to play a Paladin. You can add your Charisma modifier to all your saving throws, as well as the saves of anyone within 10 feet of you! This along with your Undead Fey classification makes you resistant to most magic, which means less possibilities for your Devastating Charge to be stopped.

Additionally you can prepare another spell and I guess by this point it would be good to get Aid? Honestly we’ve got all we need in terms of Paladin spells; I just want Divine Smite. Oh and you might want to swap out Wrathful Smite, given that your Warlock abilities will cause all the fear you need.

LEVEL 10 - PALADIN 7

7th level Glory Paladins get to buy boots! Aura of Alacrity makes you 10 feet faster, and anyone who starts their turn within 5 feet of you also moves 10 feet faster for the round! Why do your allies have to be kissing your horse face to get the extra movement speed? Because WoTC is weird like that.

I will make a quick mention that with Aura of Alacrity your movement speed is now 50 feet baseline, which is pretty damn fast. Monks have to be level 10 to get that speed... so I guess you aren’t outrunning any Monks... yet.

(Artwork by Sean “Raiko” Tay and West Studios. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 11 - SORCERER 1

You know what’s better than two classes when multiclassing? Three classes! It’s Sorcerer time, more specifically Clockwork Soul Sorcerer to Restore Balance and negate advantage or disadvantage a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus. Now you may say “restoring balance doesn’t sound like something Hecarim would do”, to which I say: “Yeah... But think of it like this: your enemies can never put you at a disadvantage or strike you when you aren’t ready!”

You also get Clockwork Magic for some abjuration or transmutation spells from the Wizard, Warlock, or Sorcerer list. I’d suggest Shield for obvious reasons (more armor is good), and Longstrider. Because movement speed is funny. (And with Longstrider you can hit a total of 60 movement speed!)

Additionally you do get proper Spellcasting for more spell slots to mix with your Paladin slots. (But not your Warlock slots those are special.) You get 4 cantrips from the Sorcerer list like Dancing Lights to have some lost souls guide your path, Mending to keep your armor in check, Message to keep to team chat (by total level 11), and Minor Illusion to manipulate the mist to fool your foes.

You can also prepare more spells (other than your Clockwork Magic spells) like Disguise Self for more Shadow Isles trickery and... Feather Fall? Okay ima be real with you chief I don’t care about any of the 1st level Sorcerer spells: Shield is legit the only thing you should be casting with your 1st level slots anymore.

LEVEL 12 - SORCERER 2

Second level Sorcerers get a Font of Magic for 2 Sorcery points which currently do a whole lotta nothing. You can turn them into a 1st level spell I guess, and you can melt your spell slots down into more Sorcery points to turn into more 1st level spell slots. This has nice synergy with the Warlock class because your Warlock spells come back on a Short Rest, but unfortunately there isn’t much to do with 1st level spell slots.

And you can learn another spell, which we won’t do.

LEVEL 13 - SORCERER 3

2nd level spells time! Keep Lesser Restoration from the Clockwork Spells list, but you can replace Aid with the main reason we went into Sorcerer: Kinetic Jaunt! This spell lets you move 10 feet faster, move without provoking opportunity attacks, and it grants you Ghosting to move through enemies! I’m going to tell you right now if you want to leverage your movement speed (and your hooves) you should just cast this spell... every fight? Run around like a headless horse while cleaving through your foes. Is it practical? Not really. Is it fun? Hell yeah! Do some hit-and-runs my equine friend!

You can also prepare a bunch of 2nd level spells like Rime’s Binding Ice for AoE crowd control, Tasha's Mind Whip for single-target ranged damage, Wither and Bloom for a ranged version of your Spirit of Dread (you can technically cast it on yourself while surrounded by enemies, or cast it on an ally surrounded by enemies!) and See Invisibility, because it’s good to bring sweeper as the jungler.

Can’t help but feel I’m forgetting something... Oh right silly me: Metamagic! You get two metamagic options to augment your spells such as Quickened Spell to cast any action spell as a bonus action (letting you swing your axe around and also sling spells), and Heightened Spell to give your foes disadvantage on their first saving throw against your spells like Command, Suggestion, or Rime’s Binding Ice.

LEVEL 14 - SORCERER 4

4th level Sorcerers get an Ability Score Improvement and you’re still going to be swinging an axe first and foremost, so increase your Strength. Sure more Charisma would mean better spells and a better Aura of Protection, but trampling your foes is far more important.

Speaking of spells I’m not going to be taking anything for now, but you can at least grab Gust as a cantrip! Which is my way of saying that Sorcerers get too many cantrips.

(Artwork by Michal Ivan and Puppetworks Animation Studios. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 15 - SORCERER 5

Was Restore Balance not enough manipulation of fate for you? Well Magical Guidance will let you reroll an Ability Check for the low low price of one Sorcery point, actually making you pretty good off the battlefield as well!

But of course what we’re really here for is 3rd level spells from Clockwork Spells like Haste for even more speed (don’t cast it on yourself though I just mention it because it makes sense for Hecarim) and more importantly:  Ashardalon’s Stride. Remember how Kinetic Jaunt let you move 10 feet faster without provoking opportunity attacks? Ashardalon’s Stride lets you move 20 feet faster without provoking opportunity attacks.

Much more importantly however any foe you run past takes a d6 of Fire damage! With no save! Yup: this is how we’re going to be leveraging that sweet sweet 70 movement speed of yours! (40 + 10 + 20) You can only burn your foes once per turn but with 70 feet of movement you can do a Devastating Charge on every foe on the battlefield! Run around in circles before charging your main target, smash them down with your axe and hooves before running away for another charge! Oh and also this is why I didn’t take a pole weapon, but feel free to use one before you get Ashardalon’s Stride.

And you can also learn Fear to hit more than one enemy with your Onslaught of Shadows. And Fireball, because it’s just a good spell.

LEVEL 16 - SORCERER 6

6th level Clockwork Soul Sorcerers can become a little tankier with by using Bastion of Law. As an action, you can expend up to 5 sorcery points to create a magical ward around yourself or another creature you can see within 30 feet. Each Sorcery point is turned into a d8, and when the person with the ward gets hit they can roll any of those d8s to reduce the damage. This stacks rather nicely with the Temporary Hitpoints from your Warlock Form of Dread, since well... it’s not Temp HP but it’ll still reduce damage!

And for your last leveled spell? I dunno Counterspell is never a bad pick.

LEVEL 17 - PALADIN 8

Finally some more Ability Score Improvements! Now that you finally have maxed out Strength and are level way too high level you can grab the Great Weapon Master feat to truly cleave through the chaff!

You can also prepare another spell and boy I sure do care to tell you what to prepare. Look you should just be casting Ashardalon’s Stride every fight.

(Artwork by Bo Lu. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 18 - WARLOCK 4

More Ability Score Improvements let’s gooo! Sure more Charisma would be good but... we’ve been sitting on uneven Constitution for the longest time and I really want Skill Expert. You can get a +1 to Constitution for a health boost, Religion proficiency (because I have no idea what else to take), but most importantly: Intimidation expertise!

Is this the most effective choice? Probably not, but Ability Score Improvements are few and far between. At least you can get the Mage Hand cantrip.

LEVEL 19 - WARLOCK 5

Firstly you can get another Eldritch Invocation, and you know what that means: Eldritch Smite! Sure you have many other stronger options by this point, but sometimes jamming a Smite spell, Eldritch Smite, and Divine Smite together for as much damage inhumanly possible is worth it.

Secondly you can learn 3rd level Warlock spells and I’m going to suggest both spells from the Undead list: Speak with Dead obviously fits Hecarim well (since he’s undead and all), and Phantom Steed can be good to give an ally a way to keep up with your immense speed! And finally replace Phantasmal Force with Summon Undead for some more legionnaires from the Shadow Isles to aid your crusade!

LEVEL 20 - WARLOCK 6

The final level of this build will be the 6th level of Undead Warlock for Grave Touched. If your plain-old axe isn’t cutting it then you can swap its damage type to Necrotic, and while in your Form of Dread you can make any source of Necrotic damage deal one extra die of damage! Notably if you’re using a Battleaxe you can use Grave Touched to make it do 2d12 damage while in your Form of Dread.

And finally you can learn one last spell, but by this point you can pick whatever you think will be good.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Send me to battle - You have a good spread of damage between magic and martial, spanning all elemental types (though primarily Necrotic.) Any foe you can run down is in for a swift end, and even if they try to run you have ranged tools to whittle them down while you close in.

Crush them underfoot - So you can go pretty freaking fast. With a base of 50 movement speed Ashardalon’s Stride turns that into 70 feet per turn. Add in Longstrider and it becomes 80 feet, and if you upcast AS to 5th level you can have a grand total of 90 feet of movement speed! All while not provoking opportunity attacks and dealing 3d6 Fire damage to anyone you run past. (Or 1d6 if you only cast AS at first level.)

Despair! - You have plenty of unconventional survivability, opting for temporary hitpoints and damage reduction instead of full-on bulk. Although with that being said fearing enemies makes it much harder for them to hit you.

CONS

Their souls beg for release - Even though you have a good supply of spell slots your spells known aren’t too impressive. You lack Sorcery points to make use of your magic, which is to say nothing of your somewhat lacking spellcasting stat. But at least you have your axe to swing, right? Well that could be better too, as you’re going to be fighting with just two attacks and Great Weapon Master.

Suffering is magic - Honestly trying to both go fast and fear your foes results in a build that’s a little wonky overall. One could invest more in Sorcerer to get Ashardalon’s Stride faster, or put in more Warlock levels to unlock Grave Touched and other damage-increasing ability from Warlock. And in both cases more Paladin levels would’ve meant higher level Paladin spells and more features like Aura of Courage and Improved Divine Smite.

Life is fleeting - The three-way multiclass also results in a lot of missed Ability Score Increases. Having maxed out Charisma would be nice to make your spells and Aura of Protection stronger. If you have the option to roll for stats or use Point Buy then perhaps it would be better to invest fully into Strength and Charisma and skip out on both Wisdom and Intelligence.

But being a jack-of-all-trades means you can fit into any team comp and be an effective jungler. Rush down your foes and cleave them in twain, striking fear into their hearts while the rest of your party fights alongside you. The Shadow of War brings death to all as you herald destruction. Just be sure to know when it’s time to cool it.

(Artwork by Xu “Crow God” Cheng. Made for Riot Games.)

[league-of-skins]

Hecarim, the Shadow of War

[aurelion-solar]

Kalista, Ledros & Hecarim - Ruination Wild Rift Cinematic

[ohnoitstbskyen]

Ok this is a very specific question, but I don't play league and really have no intention of (as most I've watched arcane and won't go farther than that) but are there any characters or skins the invoke a gundam-esc aesthetic?

Oh yes, quite a few actually.

There's the Mecha skin line for the obvious pick, albeit that is more explicitly based on Pacific Rim than Gundam. It's all about the champions being rendered as giant robots battling Kaiju in a near-modern sci-fi setting:

And then there's the Lancer skin line, which is now discontinued, which drew from Gundam aesthetics among other things, mixing it in with a nominally medieval tech-level setting where the mechs are seen as protector gods or destroyers of the world:

And finally there's Mecha Kingdoms, which sort of tried to combine the two previous skin lines. Like Mecha, it's centered around heroes using giant robots to fight horrible kaiju monsters and protect the world, and like Lancer it's set in a medieval fantasy setting, except this time it's a Wuxia-based world rather than European medieval:

[togetherhearted]

How about Viego, Hecarim and Shieda Kayn dating S/O, who is usually kind and calm, but goes feral in battle?

Oho~ for sure!

Hope it's fine!

VIEGO,HECARIM AND KAYN WITH A BATTLE FERAL S/O

You reminded him a lot of Isolde;a graceful person, kind to others and mostly to him. With you he felt the happiest man he could be. He cherished you like a delicate rose;but as you know, rose has thorns as well and you had and many. When you rushed forward Viego wnated to stop you;his life with you flashing in front of him;then he heard a scream and blood splattered on the groud.  It was not yours. It was the enemy's. -ah..ahahaha magnificent my love!!-  The man ran towards you to give you a big hug;not caring about staining himself. He was mesmerized by your fierceness. Now he could breathe a bit easier; knowing you could fight for yourself.

It was a contrast to see a sweet soul like you around someone like Hercarim;an entity devoted to bring death whenever he went. Yet you two were quite the pair, a protector and the soothing presence. He didn't react much when he saw you going feral on your enemies;quite the opposite actually;in his heart pride swell for you. Hecarim kept watching you till he charged in battle by your side. -I felt like you had it in you. I'm pleased.- His voice reached your ears;a smirk on your lips as you two shared this bloodbath.

In the order rumors were spread about you and Kayn, a ruthless shadow assassin and a sweet nurturing soul like you. Everyone was asking how he managed to score someone like you.  Deep down you knew Kayn deserved love and appreciation. Though Kayn knew your secret. He knew how cold you were when killing your enemies. He could watch you step out the shadows and take down your target with the same sicko smile he had. -Oh, look at you~ Knew you were worthy of me- He came to your side, his lips on your bloody cheek. -Shall we play a game?The one who kills less gets to clean the room of the other for a week - His taunt made you burn with the desire to show him what you were made of. You both stepped into your shadows and started the body count.

[kenyizsuartblog]

LoL - Skarner Is Right

"Oh man, I wonder if I'll draw other champions from this game later down the line"

<proceeds to have an idea that requires half the goddamn roster>

Famous last words, huh?

Real talk, delete that last sentence from the final paragraph of Skarner's bio:

"The only one Skarner can trust is himself, and he'll do anything it takes to protect Ixtal and its people. Even if that means becoming the root of their destruction, himself."

And his "destructive paranoia" immediately gets downgraded to "fully reasonable and healthy paranoia". I bet I haven't even pictured a fifth of all the insane bull-- going on outside of Ixtal, and half of the things on the pic would be enough for me to vote for eternal isolation, thanks.

This was a lot of fun to put together, even if it took a bit longer than I would have hoped. I ended up reading and/or listening to quite a few lore bits, all of which I really enjoyed... and my god, the story of Nasus and Renekton just nuked my heart. I want the god-warrior bros to make up and live happily ever after! I don't even care what happens to Azir and Shurima in the background, I want the brothers to get a happy ending, pls, Riot!!

So what's the lesson to learn from all this? #SkarnerIsRight

Other LoL-related works

Skarner sketchdump 24-04-03-06

2024.04.13

[elili0000]

[milky-rozen]

Been playing a lot of Wild Rift lately, and I gotta admit, I'm taking a liking on these two 💚

[papuchochoe]

Ruination novel image of the day:

[wheat--wesley]

Commission: Hecarim

I absolutely love this centaur character, even though I'm not a League of Legends player.I hope to draw more commission art of cool characters like him in the future.

[thomas-jefferson-miku-binder]

thresh can’t win that non-human popularity pool. i won’t let him

[linx-the-sphinx]

Kalista: This secret santa thing is delightful

Ledros: Yes, I wonder why we don't do it every year-

Hecarim (in the distance): WHO GAVE ME A BRIDLE???

[league-of-starlight]

I can't imagine human Hecarim not being on a horse in some fashion.

In the bedroom? Horse is there.

Walking around? Riding a horse.

Sleeping? He either sleeps on top of the horse or using them as a pillow.

Meeting with Viego or Kalista? Always on a horse. It's a thing.

Dying? What do you think?

[aurelion-solar]

Artist Spotlight: Sean Tay

Role: Splash Artist

Twitter - ArtStation - Instagram

In light of Riot Games laying off 11% of their staff globally, I want to make a series of posts highlighting the portfolios of those affected, so that we can appreciate their contributions to the world of Runeterra and continue to support them. You can find a full list of those known to be affected here.

Pool Party Orianna & Taliyah (source)

PsyOps Pyke & Vi (sources 1, 2)

Sea Dog Yasuo (source)

Odyssey Kha'Zix (source)

Mecha Kingdoms Leona (source)

Hextech Sejuani (source)

High Noon Hecarim (source)

[ohnoitstbskyen]

With over a decade of time and the work of some of the most accomplished artists in the games industry, League of Legends has a genuine embarrassment of riches when it comes to beautiful splash art. I discussed my absolute favourites in a previous video, but there were so many that didn't make it into that list, I decided to have another go at it.

Beauty, of course, is deeply in the eye of the beholder, and for me it's not merely a matter of the splash art being "pretty" or competently rendered. Usually, for me, it comes down to composition and storytelling, although I'm not above being charmed by simple technical execution sometimes.

In this video we'll take a look at a few different kinds of splash art - the way Marquis Vladimir's splash uses objectification to reveal something about his character, the brilliant efforts of Star Nemesis Fiddlesticks to try and bring outsiders into its story, the quiet gothic western horror brilliance of High Noon Thresh, and seven other interesting artworks.