We had the opportunity to participate in a roundtable that allowed us to take a sneak peek at the brand new League of Legends champion who will make his debut shortly. K'sante is the result of intense work within the Riot Games studios, not only in terms of gameplay, but also as a conception of the character and his back story. Everything was born also thanks to a synergistic collaboration between the creative team and the now pop icon Lil Nas X, who said of Riot he was nothing short of enthusiastic about being able to collaborate with Riot to bring this character and the story of he.
Starting from these assumptions, the Riot team has shown off a painstaking work not only from the point of view of the type of gameplay to be staged, but above all to shed light on what it means to be black people in Runeterra. Completely inspired by African culture K'sante is a slightly different tank than usual. One of those to have in your team and who can completely turn the tide of a match with a perfect call. To this we must obviously add an almost unique set of skills that will surely be able to capture all the Top Laners listening given the freshness of the action that the new champion will be able to implement.
K'Sante the hunter in League of Legends
One of the peculiarities of this new champion is certainly his set of weapons. A dual wielding almost at the antipodes of those seen so far. Weapons capable of adapting to any situation in order to become faithful allies even in cases where you need to defend yourself and your team. K'sante's nature made him so, a monster hunter born and raised in Nazumah, which had to adapt to the territory full of threats in order to grow. An oasis completely at the antipodes of what you think, anything but a paradise, indeed, a place where you have to learn to survive day by day.
On a narrative level, the care that has been given to the story of this character is at the highest levels. So explained to us the Senior Narrative of Riot "Michael Luo". The story was built completely from scratch so that it could also fit into what already existed within the realm of Runeterra. For those who are obviously not so accustomed to the League of Legends Lore, we can recommend an excellent read, or the vision of Arcane which gives an excellent starting point on a small region of what is a world full of magic and intrigue.
Riot Games on the other hand over the years has always shown how important its commitment to world building is. Each champion has his own story and why. All obviously also accompanied by a creativity that always convinces every type of player.
Returning to K'sante and his mighty weapons instead, he has two “Ntofos” at his disposal, which we will commonly call “Tonfa” here. Obviously they are rather unusual objects within League of Legends, but as we said just before, be careful what you say because the surprise is around the corner with this champion. Given the versatility of these weapons, the gameplay team was able to indulge in creating a set of skills as unique as possible, thus creating a perfect top laner who is not afraid to enter headlong into battle, but who is also perfect in situations where you have to beat a retreat.
His skills
After introducing the new champion, and taking a closer look at his history and background, let's take a look at his skills and what we will face once we find him in the Land of the Summoners. As said previously, K'sante will be particularly whimsical and it won't be just any Top laner. It will be easily manageable both in the attack and in the defense phase, thus resulting multifaceted and ready for any type of clash. His passive will be particularly useful in the laning phase, with his Ntofo he will in fact mark an opponent, who once hit will take additional damage based on maximum health. It goes without saying that this passive will be fundamental against the toughest tanks and can lend a hand both in the laning phase and in the attack phase when we find ourselves face to face with our enemy. Obviously if you are against K'Sante be very careful.
His Q instead "Shots of Ntofo" simply allows you to brandish his two Tonfa and go and hit the opponents around him in an area, also applying a small slow. If an enemy is hit by this attack, he takes a "charge". Every two charges, K'Sante will be able to pull opponents towards him.
In All Out the cooldown of the skill is reduced and no longer slows.
The W instead "Downrunner" is a completely defensive ability that Allows K'Sante to create a shield with his weapons, and to protect any friend who stands behind him. Once this ability is released, K'sante himself will be able to inflict damage to opponents based on the maximum health and a stun of the enemy in front of him.
In All Out, the cooldown of the skill will be refreshed, the amount of reduced damage increases, the damage dealt increases, and the rate of course after the skill is released is doubled.
The E “Leap of Pride“ is a completely utility skill and allows you to gain a shield after a small dash. In All Out mode it will double your dash speed and also allow you to pass through walls.
Ulti is perhaps K'Sante's most important ability, because it allows you to "boost" other skills as well. In fact, All Out allows not only to have a buff, but also to throw an opponent away and if he hits a wall, also inflict an increased amount of physical damage, with an additional stun. When the ultimate is active K'Sante will lose some health and her defenses will lower to allow her other abilities to transform.
As it is easy to understand therefore, the new champion is made for all those people who prefer close combat, for all those top laners who like to make fun of their opponent and want to dominate in the laning phase and then bring this advantage to the whole team at the moment of grouping. Having said that, we just have to wish you a lot of fun with this new PG and hope that someone tries to counter this power of him in League of Legends.