** TheGamer: ** A friend of mine struggled with Valorant's pace initially. He tried playing Phoenix for a while, but things didn't click. Then he gave Killjoy a shot, and her more defensive nature turned out to be much easier for him to grasp. What kind of player were you trying to appeal to with Kill

League has a lot of mages, but very few of them are used in professional play. Orianna is one of the exceptions though, and this is because she can throw her ball at her allies to shield them from damage. Her ultimate is also very useful because it can pull the entire enemy team together-thus leaving them open for att

** Max Grossman: ** For the initial characters that we've launched, most started with just their toolkits and different abilities. However, there was at least a "theme" in mind. Phoenix is a good example. He was always going to be fiery in some capacity—he throws a molotov and is reborn from the ashes, that kind of thing. Viper was the same. She started as this toxic, gas wielding character. But discovering that she was a scientist came later in the development process. Killjoy is a fascinating example since she started as a literal robot. So that component was very different at one point in time, Milio Support Guide but even then, she still had two of her four abilities that shipped with the final version of the character. Some of the characters change a lot, others not so m

The design team is involved in the early stages to establish rules for creating characters and making them stand out in environments. We worked with the character artists on what color values to use on the maps relative to how you do that with Agents. Small tiny details end up making a world of difference. Specific RGB color values on our characters are just not allowed to exist on our maps to prevent that "hiddenness" from happening so that the characters always pop out in the wo

** TheGamer: ** A problem that hero shooters struggle with is balancing abilities. Often, meta and competitive play come strictly down to how practical special skills are. Upon reveal, many people thought Killjoy's ultimate looked unfair, but the truth is all you have to do is shoot her and her bot. Do you believe that Valorant's emphasis on skill-based gunplay ultimately frees you from the "ability balancing" problems that similar games f

** Max Grossman: ** Definitely. When creating Agents meant to appeal to new players, they need abilities with a lot of direct feedback. Sentinels and reconnaissance characters are great for that. When you hit someone with a Cypher trap or see someone in his camera or shoot a Sova arrow, it reveals everybody — those are all examples of direct feedback. Raze too, you throw a grenade, and people take damage. It's about that feeling of "oh, I'm succeeding at using my toolk

** TheGamer: ** Some thought Killjoy's bright yellow jacket might make her stand out on the map more so than other Agents, painting a big target on her. How important is color palette in terms of combat readability when you're designing Age

** Max Grossman: ** There are two components to this. One being Sentinels aren't solely for newer players. However, two of our three Sentinels do appeal to new players, those being Sage and Killjoy. Cypher, not so much. He's a more cerebral, information-gathering character. Tough to use effectively. But I think there's a reasonable observation around the fact that Sentinels tend to appeal to people that don't feel as confident in their tactical-shooter skills. Because at the very least, they know they can set up their stuff (ice walls, traps), get a gun, and stay the

One of the original superhero movies coming out in 2021 is Samaritan . The film stars Sylvester Stallone and is expected to be a dark and grounded take on superheroes. The plot reportedly will follow a young boy who discovers a superhero presumed to have been dead for the last 20 years is still alive. That superhero will be played by Stallone. Samaritan is directed by Julius Avery ( Overlord ) and has a June 4, 2021 release d

Find him in Targon

Fans of Teemo are fervent and Riot Games had to know that leaving him out of the initial lineup was going to be met with resistance. If this is you, then hurry and help your server, because it'll take some work to unlock

The first movie on Marvel Studios' 2021 schedule is Black Widow . Scarlett Johansson's long-awaited solo MCU film is slated to be released in theaters on May 7, 2021. It was supposed to launch Phase 4 in May 2020, but Marvel delayed the movie multiple times due to the status of the theater industry. Since Natasha Romanoff died in Avengers: Endgame , her movie will be a prequel that continues her story after Captain America: Civil War . Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) , Red Guardian (Kumail Nanjiani), Iron Maiden (Rachel Weisz), and Taskmaster will all be introduced in Black Wid

While Season 10 wasn't perfect, it brought plenty of positive changes and laid the foundation for future improvements Riot Games will continue to make. For now, players should have received their end of Season 10 rewards and can take a well-deserved break from solo queue. Otherwise, the preseason has drastically shaken up the item system and experimenting now could lead to early ranked success when Season 11 officially begins in Janu