The latest champion to be added to the League of Legends roster had his design changed almost immediately after players criticized how he looked.
Smolder was unveiled during Riot’s announcement of the new features coming to League for the 2024 season, but his design quickly attracted criticism from players who wanted him to be a bit less Disney-esque.
As a baby dragon, you’d expect him to look a little cute, especially with the “success” of champions with a similar style, such as Zoe and Yuumi.
However, his face drew a lot of critique from players who worried Smolder was a bit too far into the uncanny valley, prompting League developers to quickly make some adjustments.
Newest LoL champion has design changed instantly
Rioter Lexical posted the changes on Twitter the day after the announcement, saying that the team “heard your feedback on Smolder’s face and are making some adjustments to highlight his dragon features.”
The post was accompanied with before and after images, showing that the new Smolder design had more pronounced scales and more draconic eyes. His new nose is more animalistic as well.
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Hey Guys! We heard your feedback on Smolder's face and are making some adjustment to highlight his dragon features. Thank you so much for Gem, @O0_Y_0O and @White_Leyth for making this happen! The splash team is working on some adjustments too! pic.twitter.com/6CWfVYwQjY
— Riot Lexical (Lexi Gao) (@neolexical) January 5, 2024
Lexical also noted that changes would also be made to his in-game splash art to match the new look.
The changes were met with significantly more positivity than the original design, and many players and content creators praised Riot for responding to feedback quickly.
Top League YouTuber Necrit asked: “Where are all of these W’s coming from?!”, while lore content creator Sharjo said: “Props to Riot on the fast response to feedback; this is definitely a marked improvement, and special thanks to the Rioters involved.”
For more news and updates on the latest champion added to the League of Legends roster, check out our breakdown of all of Smolder’s abilities and playstyles.