League players say these champions “failed” to deliver based on lore

Riot Games puts a lot of effort behind every champion in League of Legends with lore, theming, and visual motifs. League players put those background aesthetics to the test to find which characters don’t seem to deliver on their hyped-backstory or visuals.

On the game’s Reddit board, one played put forth the question of which champions have “the biggest disconnect between their thematic, lore, visuals, and teasers vs their actual gameplay?”

Riot has put out some incredible cinematics and trailers for its current releases, but one of the most talked about champions in the thread was an older release: Nocturn.

Players said the champion’s one-dimensional playstyle doesn’t live up to the hype of his theme, especially when playing against him in matches.

“You’re playing a game of Lux, and suddenly the entire screen goes dark; that’s badass! He’s like a terrifying nightmare demon! So you buy Nocturne from the store, start playing him, and realize the entire gameplay is just auto-attacking people, and sometimes using moves to get in range to auto-attack people…” One user said.

“I’m not even saying Nocturne is a badly designed champion, but he clearly has a theme that people are attracted to, and the gameplay just doesn’t live up to that fantasy.”

Players also aimed at Quinn and Kindred as two champions whose themes and lore all involve a partnership with another character, but their gameplay barely utilizes that partnership.

“Quinn’s gameplay doesn’t really reflect her fantasy of “Demacian ranger working in perfect sync with a trained warhawk.” While Valor is depicted in her abilities’ visuals, they’re basically just bird-shaped missiles and a glorified taxi,” one Reddit use said.

Shyvanna and Mordekaiser were also mentioned, two characters with deep lore about their power in Runeterra but don’t show it off that much with their abilities in-game.

One player pointed to Shyvanna’s disappointing transformation and lack of power in her half-dragon form as failing to fulfill the champion’s “fantasy.”

As for Mordekaiser, he is portrayed as an unkillable monster that can raise an army of dead souls on a whim in the game’s underlying narrative. However, in-game he can be powerful but his abilities are not similar to his lore version, mostly involving hitting enemies with his giant mace.

Many other champions were mentioned in the thread, like Karma, Malzahar, and Singed, but one champion that did seem to live up to the hype according to players was Aurelion Sol post-rework.

“His massive shockwave ult late game is one of the coolest abilities in terms of aesthetics and even his black hole and dragon breath are both pretty spectacular for a being of his status,” said the user about the “galactic dragon god” champion.

Riot is one of the best at crafting stories around its characters, but according to some of its players, the lore and background can sometimes over-hype a champion that isn’t all that interesting to play.