League: I really didn't tank!

Chapter 429 Champion Skin!

The design of this champion's skin is also innovative.

First, the designer used different colors for the special effects applied to all six contestants for the first time.

Secondly, the designers created two appearances for each skin: one is the normal appearance in the game, and the other is the two-dimensional appearance of the hero in the Tarot deck after pressing Ctrl+3.

When Luo Gang first appeared, he was depicted in a two-dimensional form.

"Wow!" Shi Senming's eyes widened when he saw that his Luo was the first to appear. He excitedly asked the viewers in the live stream, "Isn't he handsome, brothers?"

Shi Senming is a pure aesthetics enthusiast. While everyone else was studying Easter eggs and animations when discussing skin design with the designer, Shi Senming just kept focusing on the appearance.

Luo broke the card's surface, instantly transforming it from a two-dimensional image into a three-dimensional one.

This Tarot-themed Loh perfectly retains the bird's characteristics. The cape on his back is made up of individual black feathers. The black cape paired with the white clothes makes Loh appear as an elegant and graceful male figure when viewed from the back.

Magicians represent creation, and Rakan is one of the most creative support heroes.

In a flash, Luo appeared at the red team's mid-lane high ground.

At this moment, four heroes bathed in the gem's ultimate ability are rampaging through the screen.

But at that moment, Shi Senming's Luo activated his ultimate move, with black light emanating from the feathers on his back, and an infinity symbol appearing above Luo's head, which was quite cool!

Chen Dongqing glanced at the comments section and saw that many viewers had started using words like "cool" and "buy it all".

The scene showing four people rampaging around with their gems as ultimate abilities is from the third game of the S7 finals between QG and SSG.

With their backs to the high ground, SSG managed to force an all-in with Gem's ultimate, even after Xiangguo initiated the team fight with Nightmare's ultimate!

In this team fight, Shi Senming's Rakan used RE to enter the fray and followed up with W, directly knocking up four people and forcibly delaying the invincibility time of Gem's ultimate!

This time, the designer perfectly replicated Shi Senming's actions!

Luo truly embodied the phrase "graceful as a startled swan, lithe as a swimming dragon." All the onlookers saw was a flash of black light between the group of people opposite them, who were all captivated. Then, Luo used the move "Grand Entrance" to send all four of them flying!

At this point, we can see that Rakan's W also has a rather dazzling black effect, with a white QG team logo clearly visible against the black background!

"Wow, it's pretty cool!" Chen Dongqing only knew the design details of his own skin, so when he saw Shi Senming's special effects, he couldn't help but praise, "Shi Senming's Luo is definitely going to be a bestseller."

QG has chosen several heroes this year that are difficult to make special effects for, and they look plain and simple. If we only talk about sales, some of them may not even be as popular as Shi Senming!

Upon hearing this, Shi Senming's smile widened.

As Luo's control ended, the invincibility effect on the SSG players also disappeared. At this moment, the QG players naturally seized the opportunity to win this team fight!

And that's when it's Uzi's turn to perform.

At some unknown time, the image of an archer wielding a giant crossbow appeared from the void, firing holy silver bullets and beginning to generate massive damage!

The focus of the camera shifted from Luo to this marksman!

Coincidentally, Uzi's champion Vayne was also in this game.

In the third game of the finals, when Uzi picked Vayne, many viewers questioned whether it was a skin-themed game.

But as it turns out, this choice of Vayne was a stroke of genius.

The percentage-based true damage mechanic rendered SSG's selection of four tanky heroes meaningless!

At this moment, we can see that Uzi's Vayne is dodging and rolling in the team fight, and has entered a crazy output mode. Her whole body is swaying back and forth in the screen, and her basic attacks after activating her ultimate are surrounded by white light!

The Q stealth animation is even cooler. When you use Q, a white light rises around Vayne, causing her entire figure to disappear into the void!

But if you look closely, VN's design seems a bit strange?

When Vayne emerged from hiding for the second time, the camera immediately gave her a close-up. At this moment, we can see that Vayne has changed from her usual cool and aloof female image to a big fat boy!

This big, fat Vayne had a round belly and short legs, but her movements were surprisingly agile, dodging all the skills that SSG was using!

Upon seeing this scene, countless people were stunned, typing a screen full of question marks.

【? ? ? 】

【A 200-pound Vayne, right?】

I never expected BVN to even wear red-rimmed glasses.

【You don't understand, do you? The red glasses are an anchor point; they're indispensable.】

What kind of card is this?

Chen Dongqing couldn't help but chuckle at this moment.

The idea for this 200-pound Vayne came about when Chen Dongqing and Uzi went to Los Angeles for the All-Star game earlier this year.

When Uzi shared this idea with the designers, they immediately approved it, feeling that the idea was both innovative and could well showcase the characteristics of the player, which was exactly what the design of the championship skin needed.

The 200-pound Vayne fired one white crossbow bolt after another, killing off the SSG generals. She and her teammates strode forward, and the SSG base was already in sight!

This was QG's last match in 2017, and after this team fight, they officially defended their title and secured their throne.

At this moment, Uzi's smile was even more hard to suppress than AK's. He was still chuckling in the livestream, "How should I put it, this Vayne is alright, right, guys?"

After the Vayne skill demonstration, the screen switched back to the normal skin showcase, giving Vayne a detailed close-up.

Press Ctrl+3, and Vayne will transform into the image on the card. The image shows a 200-pound Vayne sitting on a trophy, taking out a horn and blowing it forcefully.

The tarot card represented by VN is the Judgment card.

The angels sound their trumpets, which signify "resurrection" and symbolize that the past is the past, and you will begin a new world with the sound of these trumpets.

In the new world, you will find that you are not alone; you have many friends who will walk with you toward success.

This card subtly alludes to the story of Uzi suffering two consecutive runner-up finishes in S3 and S4, and then going quiet for a year in S5, before finally meeting a group of great teammates in S6 and achieving a strong revenge victory.

Immediately afterwards, the scene shifted, and the camera returned to the middle lane.

This time, the character appearing on screen is Goddess of Mercy.

When you see the goddess of the moon, do you think of the Tarot card "The Moon"?

But actually, the card that Diana plays is not the Moon, but the Queen.

The overall color scheme of the Moon Goddess skin is similar to that of the QG skin, both being white. If we still use "moon" to represent it, then it would be no different from the original skin. Therefore, in order to differentiate it from the original skin, the designers made some ingenious changes.

When the Q skill is used, a golden light bursts forth!

It's quite easy to create special effects for a champion like Diana, since many of her skills are very eye-catching, and each skill she uses creates a lot of golden light pollution effects.

If you cram in lots of special effects, as long as the model isn't too bad, a lot of people will like it.

"Okay, not bad!" Godway nodded in satisfaction.

After the moon goddess was revealed, she transformed into a tarot card image.

The card depicts Diana wearing platinum armor and kneeling on one knee. From Chen Dongqing's perspective, she does resemble the later Empress Diana.

Seeing this, the audience could see the effort put into this skin.

The black magician, the white judge, the golden queen.

Different colored effects, different tarot cards—is this really a champion skin? The production cost must be too high!

Last year, after the designers changed the style of the team uniforms in previous years and created an ash-themed championship skin for QG, the audience thought that this was the pinnacle of championship skin production.

I never expected that designers could come up with something new this year!

After Diana, the next jungler is Jarvan IV.

It goes without saying what card the prince should use; it can only be the [Emperor].

The prince's image is that of a warrior in blue and white armor, seated on a throne, with a dazzling champion's headband on his head.

As for the 3D image, the prince's skill effects are all blue. When his ultimate skill hits, a large QG team logo is displayed in the center of the circle, which is quite dazzling!

Xiangguo licked his lips and said with satisfaction, "Not bad, at least it's a bit more flashy than last year's Leopard Woman."

Nidalee is a classic example of a character that's difficult to add special effects to. Last year, the designers racked their brains to finally manage to add some special effects to Nidalee.

But this year's prince is different. His W and R are both very powerful and can be used to create a lot of light pollution!

The camera then shifts to the substitutes.

Chen Dongqing chuckled, "369, what was your card again?"

The concept of Jayce as a hero doesn't quite fit with Tarot cards, so finding the corresponding Tarot card is difficult, and forcing a search will inevitably result in something abstract and hard to remember.

Chen Dongqing had heard 369 mention it before, but forgot about it after a while.

"It's the [Chariot]." 369 scratched his head and said, "The designer found it for me. What he said made sense, so I nodded in agreement."

In the image, Jess, represented by a card, is sitting on a chariot pulled by two lions, one black and one white, ready to move forward at any moment.

The victor on the chariot symbolizes the human soul, while the two lions it controls symbolize human will and instinct; they represent "victory" and "success".

As Jayce broke free of his cards and returned to his normal form in the game, the two lions, one black and one white, transformed into streaks of light and became the transforming weapons in Jayce's hands.

In its cannon form, it is a black lion. All its skills are black, and when it fires an acceleration cannon, it blasts a deep black light onto the enemy.

In hammer form, it is a white lion, and its skills are accompanied by a burst of white light.

Although Jayce used the black and white colors that had appeared before, he was the only one to use both colors, which can be considered a way of differentiating himself.

Chen Dongqing smiled and nodded, praising, "Not bad, the designer put a lot of thought into designing your skin."

369 said cheerfully, "It's definitely not as dedicated as Brother Shu's."

The previous five skins have been introduced, and finally, the highly anticipated Camille skin makes its dazzling debut.

Camille is also a classic type that's hard to make special effects for. The designers had to rack their brains to create a skin for their beloved FMVP.

The scene begins to change, and the camera pans to the spring.

This time, the designer specially created a 3D animation of an elegant woman dressed in red slowly descending upside down from above the fountain.

This is precisely the Tarot card represented by Blue Steel Shadow – The Hanged Man.

Hanging upside down represents a paid sacrifice, a test.

Every loss has its gain; after this trial, the Hanged Man will be reborn from the ashes and thus achieve success.

In the scene, Camille hooks Jarvan IV's ultimate into the wall with her E, kicks the enemy Kog'Maw, and Tiamat follows up with a kick to pull him up. With the help of her teammates' damage, they melt the enemy Kog'Maw!

If you've been watching the whole series, you'll immediately recognize this as the second game of the S7 World Championship Finals, where Chen Dongqing single-handedly flew into the enemy ranks and killed Ruler!

At this moment, the European and American commentators on site also gave him face and shouted, "OMG! Ilex is a complete monster! He almost single-handedly tore apart SSG's entire defense!"

In this sequence of actions, Camille's special effects were perfectly showcased!

When Camille pulls up with her second Q, her scissor kick leaves a noticeable red trail.

W [Tactical Sweep] is even cooler, with a red light sweeping across, exuding a strong sense of power.

As for E and R, they also fit the theme perfectly.

After pressing the E skill, the entire hook radiates a golden-red light, and when Camille kicks out, her body glows even red.

As for her ultimate ability, it goes without saying that after Camille's ultimate ability lands, a very spectacular large magic circle appears around the target, locking the enemy inside!

Chen Dongqing then added with a smile, "Camille's skins are all about feel, but don't worry about that, brothers. I had the designers fine-tune the feel and details bit by bit to ensure you'll have a comfortable experience!"

Camille's base skin is similar to the status of Godfist for Lee Sin and Godfather for Graves; it's the kind of skin that feels amazing and you can't live without once you use it.

However, the animations for Chen Dongqing's champion skin were meticulously adjusted by Chen Dongqing himself, making the workload much greater than for other skins.

Chen Dongqing glanced at the comments and saw them flashing by rapidly in the live stream.

[Buy, buy, buy!]

[Tree Bro personally tweaked the feel? OK, buy, buy, buy!]

Wow, QG's skin doesn't even look like a championship set anymore, it's too flashy!

I'm a country bumpkin, I just like all sorts of fancy things.

With this skin, who would still use the source code?

[Look at the reskinned championship set from S1 to S4, which has no special effects at all, and then look at QG's set. It's just that comparisons are odious.]

At the end of the video, there is a group photo of all six skins.

In the past, the champion skins were created by first taking a group photo, and then cutting out individual parts of each hero from the group photo to use as the original artwork.

But this time it's obviously different; each hero's loading screen artwork is their own card image.

As for the group photo, that was also made separately.

This time, Riot Games specifically hired lead artist Alex Flores to create the concept art.

This artist has an impressive track record, having created top-tier concept art for characters like God Fist Lee Sin, God King Darius, and Nightbringer Yasuo.

With such a talented artist at the helm, QG's group photo this time is certainly epic in its own right.

This time, it's the 200-pound Vayne standing in the front row, holding a giant crossbow and coldly aiming—this center position is probably a last resort, after all, with this 200-pound figure, if she were standing on the left or right, the whole picture would probably be unbalanced.

Standing on either side of Vayne are Diana and Rakan, each striking a pose that moves towards the camera, their movements full of tension!

Xiangguo's Prince and 369's Jayce stood on the outer side, also in a fighting stance.

The five people in front occupy the lower half of the entire original artwork, leaving a large blank space above. Of course, this is where our FMVP hero, Camille, needs to fill in the blank space!

The Steel Shadow sat regally on her throne, looking indifferently at the camera, as if the five charging heroes below were merely her soldiers, truly exuding majesty.

At this moment, it was as if Camille wasn't the Hanged Man, but the Queen.

The entire original artwork is full of power and tension; when the viewer looks at it, it feels as if a knife is slashing towards them.

This is also the result of the heroes chosen by QG.

Diana, Jarvan IV, Vayne, Rakan, Camille

What QG's heroes have in common is that they all possess swift and difficult-to-defend movement skills, which also reflects the bloody style of the 17 version of QG.

What? You're saying Jayce is a disgusting guy who only knows how to steal points from a distance and never actually attacks from above?

Stop criticizing; that was a substitute's behavior, it has nothing to do with the starters.

Chen Dongqing looked at the original artwork in front of him and liked it more and more. He was so happy that he generously gave away 200 sets of championship skins and 500 sets of Camille solo skins in the live stream before happily ending the live stream.

After the broadcast ended, it was time for dinner, and Chen Dongqing took 369 and Gao Dewei to their usual restaurant.

After finishing his meal, while waiting for his car, Gao Dewei turned around and asked, "The MSI this year should be fine, right?"

"Why are you all asking this kind of question?" Chen Dongqing laughed. "Isn't it obvious? Just play casually. Just wait and see us lift the trophy. In my experience, the competition in the LPL this year might even be bigger than the World Championship."

Gao Dewei, who is no longer in the LPL, laughed and said, "Is it really that terrifying?"

"It's obvious," Chen Dongqing said, shrugging. "EDG has faltered this year, can you believe it?"

Before the emergence of the championship-winning EDG, this team was always the benchmark for measuring the strength of the LPL.

This team is invincible; LPL is doomed.

With this team losing, LPL becomes invincible.

This year, FPX has preserved its strength well, IG has emerged out of nowhere, and then there's the traditional powerhouse QG.

Among these three teams, EDG can hardly even win a single game!

This demonstrates the strength of the competition region!

Gao Dewei thought about it and realized it made sense. He laughed and said, "It's a good thing I went to play PUBG. If I, an old man, were to play LPL, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to handle it."

"What's with all this talk about being old?" Chen Dongqing punched his old friend lightly and joked, "If you keep fighting, who can beat you? Haven't you seen Rookie's experienced a resurgence this year?"

"Forget it, let's not talk about this." Godve said calmly, "Anyway, just do your best at MSI. I need to go back and prepare for the competition."

It's not the off-season for Dwyane Wade; he still has games to play. He just came over to participate in an event during his game today.

"Just keep it up," Chen Dongqing said with a smile. "With your talent, winning a championship in the finals shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"I can only say there's a chance, but I'm not very confident," Goudryl joked. "The Juventus doesn't have a teammate as good as you. Why don't you come play with me for a season?"

"I'm from QG, how come I'm playing for 4AM?" Chen Dongqing laughed and said, "Linko once told you to join QG's PUBG division directly, but you refused, so there was nothing I could do. If you were still with QG, I would have come as soon as you said the word."

"Because I'm not playing PUBG with the intention of making a lot of money or achieving good results, I'm just playing around." Godaway waved his hand and said, "I was just joking, do you think I would really invite you to come? If you come and still can't win the championship, wouldn't that be incredibly embarrassing?"

Just then, the car that Gao Dewei and 369 had called arrived. The two said their best wishes to the QG players before getting into the car and driving away.

Chen Dongqing watched his two old teammates walk away, feeling a slight pang of sadness.

The departures of Gao Dewei and 369 from QG this year can be attributed to their dreams.

One is that he has fulfilled his wish in League of Legends and is determined to expand his territory in other games like Chen Dongqing.

One was unwilling to remain a substitute and decided to make a name for himself.

I wonder if there will ever be a moment when these two regret leaving QG?

Thinking of this, Chen Dongqing sighed and walked back to the new base with his current teammates.

But as soon as they returned, they saw Linko sitting in the lounge, seemingly waiting for them.

Chen Dongqing raised an eyebrow: "Brother Li, what are you doing here at this hour? Inviting us to dinner?"

Linko said with a smile, "I just received some good news, so I wanted to tell you all."

Upon hearing this, everyone in QG perked up their ears.

What good news?

"I just got a call from above informing me," Linko said. "The selection process for the esports events at the Jakarta Asian Games, to be held later this year, is about to begin. All four teams in our club are on the roster!"

Upon hearing this, everyone in QG seemed to be deep in thought.

Chen Dongqing briefly considered the list of events selected for this year's Asian Games.

Honor of Kings, Clash Royale, League of Legends, Dota 2, Hearthstone, and StarCraft 2?

There are a total of six projects, but QG doesn't have Hearthstone or Clash Royale divisions at all.

In other words, QG's players are on the roster for the other four projects?

It's also worth mentioning that QG's StarCraft 2 division only has Chen Dongqing.

Although this division had a small number of personnel, it reached unprecedented heights in CN StarCraft and won an unprecedented championship.

If Chen Dongqing doesn't participate in the StarCraft competition, the players of CN StarCraft will not agree.

In other words, Chen Dongqing is very likely to participate in the Asian Games while holding two positions!

"Oh, that's great!" Chen Dongqing smiled and said, "Then we can also bring glory to our country?"

Speaking of this, Chen Dongqing suddenly remembered the DOTA2 division.

When the Asian Games events were announced last year, Chen Dongqing was hoping to win three gold medals.

But now that the preliminary list has been finalized, does that mean he has no chance?

"Don't get too cocky. Some of you might not be guaranteed a spot," Linko laughed. "This is just a preliminary list. They've selected a lot of people, and there's a possibility of cuts or replacements at any time. Just looking at Li Yuanhao and Shi Senming, there are people whose scores are just as good as theirs."

In the support role, Liu Qingsong's achievements are on par with Shi Senming's, as are those of veteran players like Meiko.

As for the mid-lane, Gao Dewei's Glory completely crushed Xiaohu.

Therefore, they urgently need an outstanding result to gain wider recognition.

"So you get it now?" Linko laughed. "We absolutely have to play well in this MSI. If we lose, it'll be okay for the three veteran members of QG, but the new members might not have a chance."

Upon hearing this, both Xiao Hu and Shi Senming displayed serious expressions, clearly having taken his words to heart.

Chen Dongqing, on the other hand, seemed to be deep in thought.

So, in DOTA2, he's not entirely without a chance?

In the following days, the MSI version was officially updated, and the QG championship skins were finally released. Chen Dongqing started to work hard as a live streamer, giving away one or two hundred sets of championship skins every day, which caused the number of viewers in the live stream to surge again.

The five-day break passed quickly, and the holiday was drawing to a close.

On the last day, Chen Dongqing took some time to go home, had a meal with his parents, and then packed his luggage to prepare for his journey at MSI.

Around noon on May 5th, Chen Dongqing shouldered his backpack and gathered with his teammates at the entrance of the base, ready to embark on their journey to Germany.

But today, it wasn't just them; the DOTA2 team members also gathered at the base entrance, seemingly preparing to depart.

The tournament system for DOTA2 is different from that of LOL; their leagues are shorter and more frequent.

In just the time it takes for the LPL to play its Spring Split, they have already achieved a first-round exit at ESL One Katowice, runner-up at DAC Asia Invitational, champion of the Epicenter Major, and champion of MDL: Changsha.

From being eliminated in the first round to becoming runner-up and then winning two consecutive championships, QG's DOTA2 division has made great progress this year!

Now, they will be heading to the last tournament before TI8 – the DOTA2 SuperMajor.

And coincidentally, this DOTA2 SuperMajor, like MSI, has its finals on May 20th.

Chen Dongqing greeted the DOT2 team members with a smile and said, "So, we're setting off together, and we're going to bring back a championship together?"

Having just won two major tournaments, the DOTA2 team was quite confident. They patted their chests and laughed, "OK!"

At this point, one group headed towards Hongqiao Airport, and the other towards Pudong International Airport, embarking on their respective journeys.

Due to length constraints and tournament scheduling, the DOTA2 storyline cannot be developed like StarCraft, which can be done gradually over an entire season to secure a championship.

The result is that the pace is too fast and the groundwork is somewhat lacking. If I force myself to write it, I can even detect a slight lack of logic.

Fortunately, even the slightest illogical flaw could be patched up.

At this point, the book has entered the final one-sixth of its story, and there shouldn't be any problem with a perfect ending.

P.S.: I feel like WBG is going to be sent away by Xiaohu? You're something else, Xiaohu!

(End of this chapter)