Many players in the League of Legends community have wondered what it would be like if their favourite characters from other games and series ended up as champions in Riot Games’ massive MOBA. This is a first in a series of articles, with each behaving as if that character were going to show up in League of Legends. So, let’s take a look and see what we can come up with, shall we? First up on our theory-crafting table is the recently-rebooted heroine of the Tomb Raider series, Lara Croft.
The Tomb Raider games have been a mix of exploration and combat, and the combat has always centred on shooting enemies from a distance and using movement skills to avoid their attacks. This form of kiting has been prevalent in nearly all of the Tomb Raider games, so it makes sense that Lara should be a ranged ADC.
[ADC = Attack Damage Carry. Deals damage from range using basic attacks and abilities, but is “squishy” as a result. A sort of glass cannon, if left alive in a team battle you can bet that they’ll win that fight.]
Lara Croft has been shooting enemies while strafing backwards since 1996, and coupled with her massive arsenal of weapons the Marksman class seems like a perfect fit. Lara also had to switch weapons best deal with each situation. So with that in mind, let’s look at what her abilities would be, while trying to maintain a connection to the Tomb Raider games both thematically and mechanically.
Passive: Tomb Raider
Lara’s agility allows her to resist slows, stuns, snares and fears caused by traps. Lara takes slightly reduced damage from these traps also.
In the Tomb Raider games, Lara often had to contend with a diabolical trap or two. All of the rotating knives and poison darts have toughened Lara up, enabling to her to be less affected by the CC caused by enemy traps. Things like Caitlyn’s snap-trap or Nidalee’s bushwhack, or Teemo’s mushrooms will not be as annoying to Lara as it is to other champions.
[CC: Crowd Control. This term is used to describe anything that disables movement, such as slows, stuns, fears, snares, and knockbacks.]
Q: Shotgun Blast
Lara’s next attack fires in a cone shape, dealing physical damage to multiple close range targets. The blast knocks back enemy champions a very small distance.
The shotgun is one of the classic Tomb raider weapons, often acquired early in the games. Activating the ability decreases the range of Lara’s next auto attack but increases its damage and hits multiple targets at once. This will help Lara clear waves as well as provide trade potential in lane. If a bruiser or assassin gets too close, the slight knockback will help provide a little bit of self-peel.
W: Light a Flare
Lara lights a flare which goes out after a short time, giving her increased vision range and revealing hidden targets. Reactivating the ability will throw the flare at target distance, dealing magic damage and briefly providing vision of that area before going out.
Like a shorter ranged version of Ashe’s Hawkshot, this will protect Lara from ganks if used on a bush at the right time. This is sort of the opposite version of Graves’s Smokescreen ability, which will give Lara and her teammates utility during many phases of the game. This works in pretty much the same way as it did in the classic Tomb Raider games, providing vision and helping players maintain a cautious approach.
E: Daring Escape
Lara fires her grappling hook in a line. If it hits terrain, Lara is pulled toward that terrain. If it hits an enemy champion, that champion is dealt physical damage. 15 sec cooldown.
This is Lara’s escape move, which is always a tricky subject when it comes to balancing. As an ADC, Lara will need to be able to kite away from melee fighters, and thematically Lara has used a grappling hook as part of her standard kit since Tomb Raider Legend. While it may seem silly to give an ADC what sounds like a hook, Lara won’t be CC’ing enemies to death. Rather the intent behind this skill is a risk/reward gambit: do I use grapple hook as part of burst combo or do I use it to escape? In lane, this should keep Lara players honest. Landing the hook will do plenty of damage early, but in doing so you have burned your escape. It’s also worth noting that this ability would not allow Lara to go over all walls.
Swing into battle, use it for damage or use it as an escape?
R: Rocket Launcher
Lara switches her dual pistols for a rocket launcher for a short time, gaining increased range and splash damage on her auto attacks.
Lara’s ultimate, this ability is a steroid and gives Lara some real punch when dealing with groups of enemies and should help Lara deal more damage in team fights.
In the Tomb Raider games, when things got heavy, Lara pulled out the Rocket Launcher. While it may not have been an actual rocket launcher in some of the games, the ultimate weapons in Tomb Raider games are usually ranged explosives that one-shot most in-game enemies. Having the Rocket Launcher be a part of her Ultimate fits with the Tomb Raider games, as well as the theme of impending battle and pulling out the big guns (literally) fits well with the Tomb Raider games and League of Legends simultaneously.
Taking the mechanics and characters from other games and seeing how they could be implemented into League of Legends or any other genre is always interesting, and it’s often a task that designers face when making crossover games such as Marvel vs Capcom or Super Smash Bros. If you‘ve ever thought how your favourite character would be translated into League of Legends, be sure to stay tuned for more of these articles in the near future.
Next up is the World Warrior himself, Street Fighter’s Ryu.
