“That Naruto moment was really key": League of Legends developers reveal the story behind K'Sante's ultimate
League of Legends' eternal connection to Japanese anime is no longer news for the game's ardent fans.
From Battle Academia to Star Guardian, there have been several anime-inspired thematics and storylines in League of Legends. The franchise was recently sought-after at the Anime Expo 2022, where the new Star Guardian skins were considered to be among the show-stoppers.
In the latest "Champion Insights" blog featuring League of Legends' newest champion K'Sante, the developers confessed that the ultimate ability All Out was once again influenced by anime, in this case from the popular show Naruto.
League of Legends game designer Azubuike "AzuBK" Ndefo-Dahl revealed that K'Sante's ult All Out was heavily inspired by the hugely popular scene from Naruto where Rock Lee drops his leg weight and shocks the audience. He stated:
AzuBK further explained:
According to the designer, The Shinobi of Konohagakure's Lee clan motivated him to design K'Sante's ultimate in such a way that it would shock the opponents with the protagonist's sudden transformation from nothingness.
As anticipated, once everything cools down, the All Out ability helps K'Sante shatter his ntofos and break the shields into fiery blades, dealing physical damage and knocking back an enemy champion.
League of Legends design lead Daniel “Riot Maxw3ll” Emmons also considered the Naruto moment to be key to the ult’s design concept. This thought led the team to bunk the idea of making K'Sante an old-school tank, and make the Pride of Nazuma a true fighter of the show. His words were:
Riot Maxw3ll further explained the idea behind adding a 'kick' to K'Sante's ult:
The developers wanted K’Sante to be a fighter who would make his decisions tactically similar to Rock Lee's
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