A few days ago, Riot Games released the latest information about the champion Vex – a name that will appear in the upcoming Summoner’s Rift after the official update of patch 11.19. It seems that it’s not Vex herself but rather the shadow that accompanies her that is the main character – the one who possesses a skill set seen as a counter to the “national champion” Yasuo.
However, with the shadow’s power being the main focus, many gamers jokingly suggested that Vex could be countered very simply by… turning off the shadow effects in League of Legends. But is it really that simple? What will happen to Vex’s “shadow” if the shadow effect is turned off in the in-game settings?
A gamer recently tested this feature on the PBE server and the result was: Vex was completely unaffected, her shadow still remained intact while around her, the shadows of minions and structures had all been turned off.
Simply put, this “shadow” actually belongs to Vex’s champion model, not an in-game effect. Speaking of the lore, it’s simple: it’s not an ordinary shadow, nor a product of light effects as understood by common science. After all, what kind of shadow can attack others and use magic? Vex’s shadow is likely some magical entity, or it could be that this introverted girl uses her own magic to create it. This will be explained in detail when Vex’s story is released.
In mid-July, a Riot employee announced on Reddit that they would be raising the system requirements to play League of Legends higher than before. Specifically, this requirement would officially take effect with patch 11.17 alongside the release of Vex – a champion that Riot shared has many new skill effects that the old configuration would struggle to handle.
And currently, by testing the shadow effect off for the champion Vex on the PBE server, it can be said that Vex’s accompanying shadow is one of the reasons why Riot requires players to upgrade their machines to fully experience the game. Because in the history of League of Legends development, there has never been a champion accompanied by a shadow, where that champion uses normal auto-attacks while the shadow uses a skill set. In other words, Vex’s shadow is a new graphical product from Riot, as it performs a role equivalent to an entity in the game but appears in a much more complex form.
Riot has begun to realize its intentions to elevate the quality of champions, from skill sets, abilities, to the graphics and design of that champion. Perhaps gamers will also need to start adapting to these developments and innovations to avoid impacting their gaming experience in the future.