Game: League of Legends: Clash of Fates

Why you should care: Riot Games has come up with a tremendously quirky fun and varied cast of Champions for you to do battle with. You can choose from a tormented Minotaur that still wears the chains of his enslavement, a happy little girl that can turn her teddy into a ferocious shadow bear, and a little grinch-like person who throws snowballs at range and rides a yeti for strong melee attacks.

Character: Annie

Story:  At the age of two she miraculously enchanted a shadow bear – a ferocious denizen of the forest – turning it into her pet. Still to this day she keeps “Tibbers,” as she calls him, by her side, often transforming him into a stuffed doll to be carried like a regular child’s toy.

In the courtyards that dot the landscape inside the Institute of War, Annie is all sweetness and light, living the carefree life of an imaginative, playful child. She giggles and plays dress up like other girls her age, but don’t let that fool you. Champions who have met her in battle speak of a different Annie. No sweetness, only the fury of a grey witch and the power of the cabal.

Character: Alistar

Story: The last remaining survivor of his clan, Alistar was taken prisoner defending his home from a vast invading army. He became a slave, forced to turn a huge pulley that would raise and lower miners into the coal shaft.

His only relief from this constant agony came once a week when a slave girl by the name of Yessinia arrived to dress and care for his wounds. But one day, Yessinia was sold to a traveling merchant caravan, and she stopped coming to the mine. When Alistar heard the news, the Minotaur flew into a rage, breaking his chains and killing the overseers with his bare hands.

Character:  Nunu

Story: Valoran’s easternmost pole is bitterly cold and covered in ice. During the long winter months the inhabitants play a strange game. They agitate a family of hibernating yeti, and then take turns jumping on their backs to see who can ride the longest.

The previous record was two minutes and seventeen seconds. That is, until Nunu tried.

Crouching down on the edge of the cave, Nunu waited for the biggest yeti she had ever seen to come slumbering out. With a leap and a howl, she came down on his back and held on tight. The yeti, for his part, took off at a gallop and disappeared into a swirling snow storm. Nunu and her yeti have never been seen separated since.

Check out all the Legends here.

Gameplay: It’s a competitive team deathmatch game, so if you want to beat your human opponents you have to work together with your team, especially since each champion has its own focus in range, melee, magic etc. But you also need to work with your constant stream of groups of little minion guys that fight along side of you, because if you get too gung-ho you could get whooped. Let them absorb the damage while you snipe from behind them and cast spells. Also, your champions level-up quite quickly and distributing skill points on the fly is crucial.

The Kicker: You don’t really play as any of the champions, you play as a summoner, which you will have a persistent avatar for, who calls the champions to fight for him. As you play and win matches your summoner will go up in rank and level-up, earning himself skills, clothing and spells that he can use in future matches. It’s a little RPG-flavor to keep you coming back.

Tags: GDC09, League of Legends

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2 Comments » needtocontrol on March 27, 2009 12:36 pm Harbringer of Doom? Great characters, terrible spelling :o) JonathanZungre on March 29, 2009 12:42 am oh snap! that's a pic pulled directly from the website too! RSS feed for comments on this post. Comment Now Note: Commenting on Ripten does not currently require registration, however to be eligible for contests on the site, you must be a registered user. Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website Commenting Rules: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Ripten reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. Thanks. Notify me of followup comments Tired of the Goomba? Upload your own custom comment avatar.