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Tahm Kench, the River King

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tahm_kench_originalloading25.jpg

"Call me king, call me demon. Water forgets the names of the drowned."

Voiced by:
Pat Duke (English)
Pedro Tena (European Spanish)
Arturo Casanova (Mexican Spanish)
Unshō Ishizuka (Japanese/2016-2018)
Naomi Kusumi (Japanese/Current)
Mauro Castro (Brazilian Portuguese)
Wan-Kyung Seong (Korean)
Maxim Pinsker (Russian)
Appears In: Legends of Runeterra

"The whole world's a river, and I'm its king."

Known by many names throughout history, the demon Tahm Kench travels the waterways of Runeterra, feeding his insatiable appetite with the misery of others. Though he may appear singularly charming and proud, he swaggers through the physical realm like a vagabond in search of unsuspecting prey. His lashing tongue can stun even a heavily armored warrior from a dozen paces, and to fall into his rumbling belly is to tumble into an abyss from which there is little hope of return.

Tahm Kench is a Warden champion who uses his gigantic maw to swallow both allies and enemies whole, protecting and ferrying the first around the map and disabling the second.

His passive, An Acquired Taste, causes Tahm Kench's basic attacks to deal bonus damage based on his max health and mark enemy champions they damage for a few seconds, stacking up to three times. Some of Tahm Kench's abilities gain additional effects against foes marked with three stacks.
His first ability, Tongue Lash, sends out Tahm Kench's tongue in a target direction, damaging and slowing the first enemy it hits for a few seconds, also marking them with a stack of An Acquired Taste and healing Tahm Kench for a percentage of his maximum health over time. Enemy champions marked by three stacks of his An Acquired Taste passive are also stunned, and Tahm Kench can also cast Devour while using the ability to swallow them from afar.
With his second ability, Abyssal Dive, Tahm Kench plants himself on the ground and then dives underwater, emerging after a short delay at any location in a short radius around him, knocking up enemies around him when he surfaces. Hitting enemies with the ability refunds a percentage of its cooldown and mana cost.
His third ability, Thick Skin, passively stores a percentage of damage dealt to Tahm Kench as "grey health", quickly regenerating a percentage of his "grey health" once he stops taking damage for a few seconds. When activated, Tahm Kench consumes his current "grey health" to gain a shield equal to the amount spent.
With his ultimate ability, Devour, Tahm Kench swallows a nearby ally or enemy (which he can only swallow if they have three stacks of his An Acquired Taste passive) champion whole, keeping them in his belly for a few seconds, during which they are untargetable and invulnerable, but unable to take any action. When the duration ends or the ability is reactivated, Tahm Kench regurgitates the target, either granting a shield to them if they're an ally or damaging them based on their max health if they're an enemy. Either way, Tahm Kench will be slowed and grounded for the duration, though he can still use Abyssal Dive with an ally champion in his belly.

Tahm Kench's alternate skins include Master Chef Tahm Kench, Urf Kench, Coin Emperor Tahm Kench, Arcana Tahm Kench, High Noon Tahm Kench, and Shan Hai Scrolls Tahm Kench.

In season 4 of Teamfight Tactics, Tahm Kench is a Tier 1 Fortune Brawler using his Coin Emperor skin. His Thick Skin ability is a passive that reduces the damage he takes from all sources by a flat amount. He was removed in season 5, returning in season 6 using his base skin as a Tier 5 Mercenary Glutton Bruiser. His Glutton origin is a trait unique to him that allows his controller to feed him one unit per round during the planning phase by hovering the unit over him and releasing, permanently increasing one of Tahm Kench's stats based on the unit's class with the bonus further increasing based on their cost and star level. Bruisers, Protectors and Colossi grant health, Bodyguards grant armor, Enchanters grant magic resistance, and all other classes grant spell power. His new ability, Devour, swallows an enemy and stores them in Tahm Kench's belly for a few seconds, dealing them magic damage over time but making them immune to all other sources of damage and granting Tahm Kench damage reduction for the duration. If the target dies inside, Tahm Kench will spit out an item component they were holding, or the unit's cost in gold if they were not holding an item. If the target survives, Tahm Kench will instead spit them out towards the farthest enemy, briefly stunning enemies they collide with. If a target is immune to crowd control when Tahm Kench tries to devour them, they are instantly dealt a percentage of the ability's total damage instead. In season 7, he returns to using his Coin Emperor Tahm Kench skin as a Tier 1 Revel Bruiser. His new Thicker Skin ability grants him a shield that scales with his maximum health, while dealing magic damage to enemies for the next three instances of damage Tahm Kench takes regardless of whether he is shielded. He was removed along with the Revel origin in the Uncharted Realms mid-set update, returning in season 10 using his High Noon Tahm Kench skin as a Tier 1 Country Bruiser. His Rawhide ability is similar to his season 4 spell aside from the damage reduction being percentage based instead. In season 11, he uses his Shan Hai Scrolls Tahm Kench skin and is a Tier 3 Mythic Bruiser. His Tongue Lash ability shields himself based on his max health and strikes his target for magic damage. If Tahm Kench's health exceeds his target's, the damage is increased; if not, the shield value is increased instead.

In Legends of Runeterra, Tahm Kench is a 4-mana 2/6 Bilgewater Champion who passively creates a copy of An Acquired Taste, a 2-mana Fleeting Slow spell that causes an enemy unit to strike Tahm Kench and then be Captured by him if he survives, when Summoned and at Round Start. After Capturing 3 units (enemy or ally) he levels up, gaining +1/+1, Obliterating all enemies he has currently Captured and releasing all Captured allies, and doing the same again every time he attacks. His signature spell is Tahm Kench's Bayou Brunch.

Actually, I Am Him: His teaser video, "The River King", is a story of one of Tahm Kench's past exploits with a gambler whom he tricked and devoured. Near the end, however, it turns out that Tahm Kench himself is actually narrating the story, and the video ends with him ferociously insulting the now-deceased gambler.
A Form You Are Comfortable With: Though "comfortable" may be overstating it. Tahm Kench has taken many forms over his existence, with his current one being a manifestation of Bilgewater's vices, primarily piracy and gambling.
And Then John Was a Zombie: The creative team has implied that Tahm Kench can only physically manifest through people he's made deals with, transforming them temporarily into an avatar of Tahm Kench so he can collect his due by consuming everything the victim loves, as part of a metaphor for universal human greed.
Anthropomorphic Personification: Of gluttony. Developers have acknowledged similarities to the Endless. To be precise, Fiddlesticks identifies the domain of each demon when he kills it ("Agony" for Evelynn, "Nightmares" for Nocturne, "Secrets" for the demon inside Swain, and when Fiddlesticks itself dies it will shriek "Horror!"). In Tahm's case, it identifies his domain as "Addiction".
At the Crossroads: Uses the same symbolism, with rivers instead of roads.
Balance Buff: On launch, Tahm Kench's Devour was a normal ability while Abyssal Voyage was an ultimate — the main hook of his usual trading style was to rescue his carry from danger at pivotal moments whilst preventing the enemy team from engaging, and Abyssal Voyage was a pure utility ultimate that could teleport him and an ally to somewhere in a massive range. Many found problems with this as this was heavily slanted towards those with exemplary coordination (namely pro players) at the expense of everyone who didn't have such luck, and Devour was found to be too annoying to regularly deal with since if used correctly, it instantly made trades stop dead in their tracks for almost no risk^note. He was given a rework in 2021 that swapped the two abilities around — Abyssal Dive now functions as a slightly shorter-ranged engage ability encouraging him to dive into opponents, while Devour is now a more situational ultimate whose sheer utility is allowed to be better justified, even expanded on by allowing him to shield allies (and even still teleport with them with Abyssal Dive) and better hurt enemies. Since then, he's found some stability through his more autonomous, accessible, yet direct playstyle with the beneficial utility of Devour, and has seen fairly reliable play between solo top and bot support.
Beneath the Mask: Presents himself as a reasonably friendly figure, offering helpful deals to those down on their luck. But under the mask, he's a monster looking for his next meal. The mask slips a bit when he's acquired a taste with his passive, causing him to switch to voice lines which lack any pretense of charm and are far more directly aggressive.
Beware the Silly Ones: A perfect example. The developers were looking for a "combination of grim and whimsical" with Tahm's design, and they hit the nail on the head. The result is a fat catfish-like gentleman with a sharp wit and a Louisiana accent, wearing two coats stitched into one (to accommodate his massive size) and a rather incongruous hat... who happens to be a maneater and a Manipulative Bastard who considers the misery of his suffering victims to be the best part of the meal.
Big Eater: It's a major part of his lore and kit.
Break Them by Talking: Is implied to be very good at this, see the entry for "The Reason You Suck" Speech for a better explanation.
Compelling Voice: While it's not a gameplay element, Tahm Kench's voice seems to be hypnotic to some extent, complementing his natural charisma. Even the most blatant of lies can pass off as truth when Tahm is the one saying them.
The Corrupter: How he reels his prey in. Tahm starts with offers for meager prices no larger than asking for a lie to be told, or to be gifted a single lock of hair. But slowly his victims begin to accept more and more offers until they have realized too late how much they have given. It is then that Tahm seals their fate.
Crutch Character: His biggest strengths are in instantly protecting allies with his Devour, as well as smothering enemies with his passive and Tongue Lash, but both are based in single-unit targeting and have virtually no AoE. This makes things convenient for him in laning phase, but while he'll always have his tankiness and utility teleporting ultimate, things become much harder for him as the game shifts to teamfighting as he now has more players that he must really be judicious in prioritizing.
Dastardly Whiplash: His catfish-like barbels give him the appearance of one.
Deadpan Snarker: He can be quite the sassy one when he wants to be. His taunts towards others are just dripping with snark.
(taunting Azir): An emperor as humble as he is beloved.
(taunting Draven): At least the rumor of your vanity isn't overrated.
(taunting Nami): The tides call you sashimi.
(taunting Zed): So, shiny attire seem like the thing to wear? You are the most intelligent ninja in the world.
Deal with the Devil: Specializes in making deals with desperate people. He initially fulfills his end of it... unfortunately for the people he makes deals with, he doesn't say anything about not eventually taking everything back. Most of his taunts towards allies are him offering them this sort of bargain, offering to take them to what they most desire (for example, taking Garen and Katarina to each other). Most of his taunts to enemies are just sarcastic insults.
Emotion Eater: Tahm Kench can and does eat many things, but Rioters have stated that his favorite dish by far is the despair and regret invariably felt by those he deals with, after he comes to collect.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: His taunt toward an allied Braum suggests that he doesn't know what to tempt Braum with.
- He's likewise unable to figure out what Janna and Teemo want, and he also expresses bewilderment at Vi's Heel–Face Turn.
Evil Sounds Deep: Not the nicest fish-monster around, and his voice is very deep.
Evil Tastes Good: He eats a lot of things, but to him the tastiest is despair, which he gets by tricking mortals with his contracts and devouring everything they hold dear. He also comments that "Mercy has no flavor".
Exact Words: How the deals with him work, which is related to his Jackass Genie theme. He fulfills his end in every possible way. He just never says that 'letting him in' means letting him take everything back.
Extreme Omnivore: While in-game he only eats living creatures, supplementary materials make it clear Tahm Kench can and will eat just about anything:
"Now when that hungry beast finally did arise [...] it ate the gifts, and house, and gold! For its hunger? Nothing satisfied."
Fantastic Racism: He really hates yordles as evident with his profile page where every yordle is listed as his rival. See Incorruptible Pure Pureness below.
Fat Bastard: His rotundness is one of his most identifiable features, making him easy to pick out from a roster. It's also a signifier of his immense gluttony and greed. Evelynn (one of his demonic contemporaries) calls him out on it when she taunts him.
Evelynn: So how are you, River King? I see you haven't missed a meal.
Faux Affably Evil: He's quite friendly and witty when he needs to be, but when he doesn't need to be...well, he's coming to eat you.
- Taken further in the lines said while at three stacks of An Acquired Taste. He drops any semblance of courtesy, charisma, and charm, and simply indulges in his demonic gluttony.
  Tahm Kench: Feed!
  Tahm Kench: Hunger!
  Tahm Kench: The world is my feast!
Fish People: Some sort of quasi-frog, quasi-catfish bipedal demon.
Gameplay and Story Segregation: Despite his whole shtick being a Manipulative Bastard, Jackass Genie that you should never trust ever, in game Tahm's a support, meaning that his teammates need to trust him for him to do his job.
Hope Bringer: A cruel and twisted subversion. He gives desperate people what they most desire, only to savor their renewed despair when he takes it all away.
I Have Many Names: Older than the waterways of Valoran, the River King has a name for every region his story is told and his dealings are made; Tahm Kench, the Great Waddler, Old Yawn-Belly, and Two-Coats.
I'm a Humanitarian: Almost every victim of his ends up getting devoured by him in the end. His skill set in-game involves temporarily swallowing allies and enemies alike.
Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Tahm Kench has issues with this trope as particular champions (Bard, Janna, etc.) baffle him, as he has no idea what to tempt them with. He also has dislike of Yordles, as his official lore lists nearly all champion Yordles as his rivals. The only exception is Veigar, notably the only one of the species to fall into despair. The Riot Q&A segment for Tahm states that the species only becomes susceptible to personal demons when socially isolated from their kind, becoming very resistant to the demon's manipulation in groups. By their very nature they deny Tahm's hunger.
I Can Still Fight!: Thick Skin's two effects allow for this. The passive allows him to make a decent recovery after winning or escaping a fight, while the active turns all the health lost in the middle of a fight into a shield. Heck, with the right build any attempt to kill him might actually make him even harder to kill.
I Shall Taunt You: Takes the title of "Most taunts in the game" from Dunkmaster Darius. And his taunts are far more savage than Dunkmaster Darius' could ever be.
- It was confirmed by a Riot member that Tahm Kench has around 46 taunts towards enemy champions, as well as that many quotes interacting with the champions on HIS OWN team. See for yourself.
Jhin: You have too many lines.
Jackass Genie: He is a con-man, seducing fools with promises of help only to come back and screw them over years later. After all, he gives them exactly what they want, but since he says nothing about it being permanent, his habit of eventually coming back to devour everything that someone gained isn't technically outside of the scope of his deals.
Kick the Dog: Tahm's taunts are personalized to strike at what really hurts each champion, like calling Ahri a prostitute or taunting Lucian about his wife Senna's death.
Leitmotif: Tahm Kench's login theme is notably pretty much two songs in one. The first part is an acoustic country song with melodious humming, fitting with his "Louisiana" vibe. According to "The River King", this is his luring song, attracting potential victims. Slightly over halfway in, the song abruptly changes and turns into a creepy, minimalistic ambient track evocative of murky watery depths. This theme suits Tahm Kench's true monstrous nature. At some points in the second half, you can still hear the sound of the acoustic guitar, but in a blurred and distorted way — the obvious implication being that it's playing on land while you are being dragged into a watery grave, and that it's most likely the last sound you will ever hear.
Leonine Contract: He offers his victims — some of whom are in truly desperate straits — what they most need or desire. But he won't reveal what he wants in return until it is far, far too late.
Magic A Is Magic A: Promises a lot of things, but in all his dialogue it becomes apparent is that his real power is generally limited to transporting someone to somewhere else. Might also include "somewhen" else. (See below)
Man of Wealth and Taste: How his general character is given. The top hat, suit and demeanor of a gentleman all lends to this.
(buying Mercury's Treads): I have a hunger for... fine shoes.
(buying Locket of the Iron Solari): How did I leave my jacket pocket unadorned for so long?
Meaningful Name: "Tahm" is an Estonian word for "black and grimy", as well as the pronunciation of the Hebrew word for "taste". A "kench" is a container used to salt fish and Middle-English for "loud laughter".
Mix-and-Match Critters: He's got elements of catfish, anglerfish, frogs, whales, and kappa all mixed up.
More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Tahm sports a mouth packed with jagged fangs.
Multipurpose Tongue: His tongue is his weapon. But that's not the real threat.
Must Be Invited: It is hinted that this is why Tahm offers deals to his victims first instead of simply eating them on the spot:
"See, I got hungers that ain't easily fed. But those finest tables? They ain't never got a seat for me. So I need men, like yourself, to let me in."
"So cry if you want, boy, 'cause you had a chance to walk away. Instead you're the fool, the fool who let me in."
Mythical Motifs: Sirens. He doesn't have the looks to match, but he is charismatic, has a Compelling Voice and sings to attract the attention of his future victims. In "The River King", he even refers to himself as a "monstrous siren".
Neighbourhood-Friendly Gangsters: Subverted as Tahm is as evil as they come, but he resides in Bilgewater while portraying himself as a "legitimate businessman" and the leader of a group of humanoid sea creatures like himself who offers people useful services. Presumably few are aware that he's actually an ancient demon.
Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: A cultured but sharp-tongued, river-dwelling gentleman who just happens to be a catfish demon with a voracious appetite who speaks in a Cajun drawl.
No Name Given: Tahm Kench isn't actually the Demon's name, but the name of the Gambler he ate in the lore video.
- Zig-zagged and possibly retconned; Fiddlesticks, a being so ancient it knows the names of all other supernatural beings (being able to name the demon Swain defeated, and addressing the Kindred as "Grey Man", the identity of their previous incarnation) calls him Tahm Kench. On the other hand, it's possible the demon doesn't have a true name at all, and its name is simply whatever it chooses to call itself on any given day, including the name of a previous victim.
Our Demons Are Different: While there are a number of monstrous entities in Runeterra (the Voidborn, the Darkin) Tahm Kench is an actual demon. The reshaping of Evelynn into one of his contemporaries makes it seem that Runeterran demons are embodiments of the Seven Deadly Sins: Evelynn would be Lust, while Tahm is obviously Gluttony.
Passive-Aggressive Kombat: Several of his taunts towards other champions are insults hidden as compliments. For example, his taunt to an allied Ahri praises her "class and refinement" and then offers a "token of admiration", essentially calling her a prostitute. His one for an enemy Ahri straight-up calls her a prostitute (courtesan to be specific).
Portal Pool: Abyssal Voyage allows Tahm to teleport himself and his allies (in his belly) around the map by diving into a pool of water somewhere and reappearing elsewhere.
Power Up Mount: In a support role, this is one of his main functions to team-mates.
Ragin' Cajun: He's notable for his Cajun accent, and he's definitely a badass.
Red Baron: Two-Coats, Old Yawn Belly, The Great Waddler, The River King. Tahm collects titles like he collects souls.
Really 700 Years Old: Tahm Kench is very old, and since he views Aatrox as an equal, it's very likely he's thousands of years old, if not older.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: He excels at these. Most of his taunts towards enemy champions are personalized sarcastic insults.
(taunting an enemy Jinx): Girl, if brains were dynamite, you'd be a dud.
Resource Reimbursement: Abyssal Dive has him teleport into any nearby area and launch any enemies above him into the air, something that is actively rewarded by refunding a portion of its cooldown and mana cost if it hits someone, incentivizing its use as an aggressive engagement tool.
Shipper on Deck: Tahm Kench's deals for Garen and Katarina—he offers to take each to the other.
The Sociopath: He can act sympathetic if he wants, but his only real care in the world is feeding his appetite on others' despair.
Sophisticated as Hell: For the most part, he has a remarkably classy disposition, composing himself like a high-value customer at a fancy dinner even while he's being incredibly savage.
"You are a malodorous offense to my palate!"
Stealth Pun: He's a humanoid catfish whose role is to protect his squishier teammates and is quite hard to kill. He's a 'fish tank'.
- Additionally, he takes delight in making fun of each heroes personality flaws - in other words he roasts them!
Stout Strength: He's a tank, and is almost completely round.
Support Party Member: While he is not useless offensively and can fight solo, most of Tahm's abilities are centered on helping his allies. By swallowing allies, he can act as an armored transport that helps Squishy Wizards reach their destination without getting ambushed and killed. At higher levels he becomes able to teleport himself, and an ally along with him, within a very long range. By swallowing enemies, he can take a dangerous foe out of combat altogether while his allies kill the rest of the weakened enemy party.
Swallowed Whole: Does this to friends and foes alike.
Time Travel: Makes claims to several Champions that he can take them on a trip through time, though it's anyone's guess as to if it is even remotely true. Considering he always keeps his side of the deal to the letter it likely is.
"Time is just another river and I care not what waters I swim in."
Tragic Villain: Invoked and subverted. Tahm Kench sometimes paints his hunger as something he regrets and has no control over, to make himself seem more sympathetic and make victims drop their guard. However, he himself admits that's a shameless lie.
Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Actually subverted with the release of his Legends of Runeterra card; if you were wondering why people were so willing to make a strange bargain with a bipedal catfish the size of a (massively large and obese) man, it turns out that Bilgewater has an entire population of Funny Animal people, and Tahm fits right in there as a sort of mob boss.
Villain Cred: Tahm Kench's taunt toward an allied Aatrox implies respect and offers no deal, possibly because he can't really return and take away a war he provided for Aatrox, or because he can't actually provide that more easily than Aatrox himself can.
Villainous Glutton: Seeing as how eating people is one of his main shticks and he's clearly not a good guy, this is a given.
Volumetric Mouth: Obviously.
Wicked Cultured: He's a monstrous, person-eating creature in a top hat and suit. And he dishes out dirt like no one's business.
Worthy Opponent / Friendly Rivalry: Aatrox to an extent. He'll still taunt Aatrox if they're on opposing teams, but the Darkin Blade is the only champion Tahm refers to as an equal. To be specific, he calls Aatrox "brother" instead of "child", which is the case for most of the champs Tahm interacts with. This respect may be founded of them both being ancient (albeit unrelated) powers. While only referenced in her own lines, he most likely also has at least some respect for Evelynn, a fellow demon.

Taliyah, the Stoneweaver

Taliyah of the Nasaaj

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/taliyah_originalloading.jpg

"Know the loom, be the stone."

Voiced by:
Erica Lindbeck (English)
Zehra Fazal (English/Legends of Runeterra)
Sandra Villa (European Spanish)
Lety Amezcua (Mexican Spanish)
Maaya Sakamoto (Japanese)
Erika Menezes (Brazilian Portuguese)
Yu-Jeong Mun (Korean)
Julia Churakova (Russian)
Appears In: Legends of Runeterra

"This world is a tapestry of our own making."

Taliyah is a nomadic mage from Shurima, torn between teenage wonder and adult responsibility. She has crossed nearly all of Valoran on a journey to learn the true nature of her growing powers, though more recently she has returned to protect her tribe. Some have mistaken her compassion for weakness and paid the ultimate price—for beneath Taliyah’s youthful demeanor is a will strong enough to move mountains, and a spirit fierce enough to make the earth itself tremble.''

Taliyah is a Battle Mage champion adept at using her mastery over stone and earth to reshape the battlefield, roaming across the map at high speed and manipulating her foes' positions.

Her passive, Rock Surfing, causes Taliyah to start riding a rock when she's out of combat and moving close to terrain, granting her a rapidly-increasing movement speed bonus.
With her first ability, Threaded Volley, Taliyah rips five shards of rock out of the ground and fires them in a target direction in quick succession, each shard damaging the first enemy it hits; she can still move around freely while doing so. The area where Taliyah used the ability will become Worked Ground for a long duration; further uses of Threaded Volley inside Worked Ground will consume the effect and instead yield a single large boulder at a reduced mana cost that deals double damage and slows enemies on impact.
Her second ability, Seismic Shove, causes the ground at a target location to erupt in a direction of Taliyah's choosing after a small delay, knocking enemies inside in the chosen direction.
Her third ability, Unraveled Earth, scatters multiple boulders out of the ground in a large cone in the target direction, damaging enemies inside. The boulders remain on the ground for a few seconds afterwards, slowing enemies inside and exploding at the end of their duration, damaging surrounding enemies. Enemies who dash or are knocked through the boulders cause them to explode immediately, damaging and stunning the target.
With her ultimate ability, Weaver's Wall, Taliyah channels for a short duration and then summons a massive wall of spiraling rock that tears through the entire map in a target direction, acting as impassable terrain for a few seconds. Taliyah can reactivate the ability while channeling to ride atop the wall as it emerges.

Taliyah's alternate skins include Freljord Taliyah, SSG Taliyah, Pool Party Taliyah, Star Guardian Taliyah, and Crystalis Motus Taliyah.

In season 2 of Teamfight Tactics, Taliyah is a Tier 1 Mountain Mage. Her ability is Seismic Shove, which causes the ground to erupt beneath the enemy with the most mana, damaging and briefly stunning them, and knocking them towards Taliyah if they are ranged or away from her if they are melee. She was removed in season 3, returning in season 7's Uncharted Realms mid-set update using her Pool Party Taliyah skin as a Tier 1 Lagoon Mage. Her Flowing Volley ability launches three stones in succession that each deal magic damage to the first enemy hit. In season 8, she uses her Star Guardian Taliyah skin and is a Tier 4 Star Guardian Spellslinger. Her Weaver's Wall ability sends a wall of spiraling rocks across the map towards the largest group of enemies, dealing magic damage to all enemies in a line. The wall explodes after a brief delay, dealing additional damage to enemies near the wall. She was removed in the Glitched Out!! mid-set update, returning to her base skin in season 9 as a Tier 2 Shurima Multicaster. In this iteration, her Seismic Shove passively causes Taliyah to throw a boulder at any enemy that gets knocked up or knocked back by any source, dealing magic damage to the first enemy hit. On activation, she knocks up her current target, dealing magic damage and stunning them.

In Legends of Runeterra, Taliyah is a 5-mana 3/5 Shurima Champion who summons an exact copy of a friendly Landmark when played. Once you have played 5 or more Landmarks she levels up, gaining +1/+1 and casting Threaded Volley three times when she attacks, which does 2 damage to her blocker or to the enemy Nexus if she's unblocked or her blocker is removed. Her signature spell is Taliyah's Stoneweaving.

Airplane Arms: Sort of does both variants simultaneously! While she runs with her arms outwards in a typical "buun" fashion, her rock/sleeve/sling things that mildly resemble wings flow behind her Sonic the Hedgehog-style.
Afraid of Their Own Strength: The reason why she abandoned her family and fled Shurima in the first place.
Balance Buff: Taliyah was always envisioned as a high-skill, high-reward control mage, but for many years, her difficulty curve was seen by players and even Rioters themselves early on as being too steep. Her Worked Ground mechanic was originally a self-afflicting debuff^note that primarily existed to discourage solo laning for too long and to roam often, but the level of coordination required to make this playstyle viable is nearly exclusive to professional play, and when combined with the already high mechanical requirement of her basic control mage combos, she languished for years with mediocre play rates. After years of moderate tweaks (including some attempting to balance her more as a jungler), she was given a significant mid-scope update in 2022 to make her more reliable: Worked Ground was turned from being straight negative reinforcement into an alternate new strength, allowing her to create more pressure with Threaded Volley as either a flurry of stones or a singular boulder with much better burst. Seismic Shove lost being able to deal damage, but gained a bigger area of effect and faster casing speed, and Unraveled Earth was reworked to cover a wider area and now stun enemies that dash through or are knocked into it rather than merely deal damage, improving her ability to lock down and protect herself against hyper-mobile champs.
Big Ol' Eyebrows: Her eyebrows are huge, apparently taking up 40% of her forehead real-estate. It's such a signature part of her design that when she was introduced to Legends of Runeterra and fans noticed that her new art shrunk them down, they responded with an outcry so massive that Riot scaled them back up within a patch.
Difficult, but Awesome: As a control mage, Taliyah players require a good understanding of prediction and proper positioning in order to fully utilize her large amounts of damage and CC. Threaded Volley has great bullying damage, but only if you can properly hit most of them and not stand on Worked Ground that the ability produces^note. Unraveled Earth is a great zoning tool that can provide some decent damage, but with a 4-second delay, can only be useful if one can consistently knock enemies into it with Seismic Shove. And Weaver's Wall can provide a massively useful impassable terrain much like an Anivia wall... or not, as like an Anivia wall, it can also screw over allies.
Dishing Out Dirt: Taliyah has control over rocks and dirt, damaging enemies by chucking stones and disrupting the ground beneath their feet.
Does Not Know Her Own Strength: While lore/personality-wise she fits more along the lines of being "Afraid of Their Own Strength," her laugh emote causes her to accidentally crumble the ground beneath her.
Foil:
- To her mentor Yasuo: Taliyah is a zoning, long-range control mage who uses the earth whereas Yasuo is a short-mid range fighter/assassin who uses the wind and is intended to slip through defenses and go through the enemy team. Both have relatively high mechanical skill required to play. Taliyah is a cheerful, inexperienced girl lacking in confidence who's focused on trying to save her family. Yasuo is a somber, experienced swordsman with extreme confidence in his ability who's focused on clearing his own name.
- She's also set up as one to Azir. Both champions are from Shurima, with Azir the highly Emperor of all from the ancient times and Taliyah the lowly peasant of nothing of the present day. Both have references to birds, Taliyah is the little sparrow and Azir is, literally, a giant eagle. Even their appearances are very striking, as while both have similar clothing of Shuriman origin, Azir's is more regal and elements of gold at the tips of his drapes while Taliyah's is more common, tattered, and made of unrefined, rocky minerals. In the style of gameplay, both use the elements of the earth for their abilities, with Azir summoning warriors made from sand while Taliyah takes the actual earth from the ground.
Fragile Speedster: Taliyah is mage that encourages a very roam-and-kite-heavy playstyle. Besides her enhanced movement from Rock Surfing, Worked Ground encourages her to constantly shift around to maximize her Q damage. And then there's Weaver's Wall which gives her a huge burst of movement on recast, allowing her to both chase down targets or join the fight quickly and help allies. Of course she is still a mage, which means her defenses are weak when cornered by enemies.
Friend to All Children: She's very close with the children of the Nasaaj. She also bonds quite well with Chip.
Geo Effects:
- Taliyah's kit is heavily emphasized around this concept, controlling and zoning large amounts of land and punishing those who move into the wrong position, with Seismic Shove that can knock enemies away in any direction, Unraveled Earth that creates deadly terrain to knock enemies into, and Weaver's Wall that creates a massive wall.
- Taliyah has her own personal geo effect with Threaded Volley. Using it on normal terrain nets her a cast of five rock shards for damage, and doing so causes the terrain around her to become "worked". If she casts the ability on "worked ground", she reverts the terrain to normal and instead launches a single large boulder, which deals bigger explosive damage and slows enemies on impact. Depending on where she stands, she can alternate between launching a solid, mobile volley or a single big burst.
Genki Girl: She comes off as a lot cheerier in her LOR incarnation, signifying either she's been through a lot of growth since working the difficulties of her powers or she's a younger version that's yet to experience those troubles.
Incompletely Trained: She would have stayed with Yasuo, learning self-control regarding her abilities, had she not learned of Azir's return and rushed home to try to help her family.
Interspecies Friendship: She's friends with Malphite, a massive rock elemental. She's also on good terms with his son Chip.
Irony: In her Champion Reveal, one of the listed counters to Taliyah, who is capable of moving earth as she pleases...Was Malphite.
Long-Range Fighter: Her spells all have great range and AOE potential, allowing her to chip away at foes from a distance.
Magikarp Power: While still having decent poke and utility with her abilities in the early game, Taliyah has pretty lacking damage overall, and runs the risk of using up a lot of mana in the laning phase, even with her rework reducing her mana costs. With added ability power and mana though, her damage output can quickly snowball, turning Threaded Volley into a devastating ability for dueling and wave-clearing.
Meaningful Name: Taliyah's tribe is the Nasaaj, whose name is Arabic for "weaver".
Nay-Theist: She stands against the Ascended of Shurima, seeing them as threats to the modern world who deserved to disappear into the sands of time. Even with Azir, she (pretty fairly) interprets the resurgent expansion of his former empire as encroaching on her family and tribe.
Azir: The world will bow to its emperor!
Taliyah: We moved on, Azir. Maybe you should too.
Nice Girl: A very compassionate girl devoted to her tribe and friends. She's willing to accept outsiders like Kai'Sa and was able to bring out a gentler side of the brooding Yasuo.
Not the Intended Use: She was originally built to be a traditional mid-laner mage who only periodically roams between lanes, but she's also seen a bunch of play as a proper roaming jungler. While Riot does prefer to skew more towards balancing her solo lane game, since her kit is so naturally inclined to traveling across the map no matter what, they prefer to leave some wiggle room for her jungling to be at least decently viable.
Odd Friendship: She strikes an unlikely bond with Kai'Sa, a lone wolf who spends most of her time underground fighting void monsters.
Only Friend: Taliyah is the first champion to be Yasuo's friend, and was his apprentice while she was in Ionia. She sees him as the older brother she never had.
Oh, Crap!: In Legends of Runeterra, she reacts very strongly to any Xer'Sai opponents. Considering what they can do, it's completely warranted.
(Rek'Sai is summoned) "She... found us..."

"The queen. Nobody move!"
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: She's pretty blunt when adressing Azir, calling out his antiquated ways and arrogance.
Azir: "The world will bow to its emperor."
Taliyah: "We moved on, Azir. Maybe you should too."

Azir: "Fear not, Shurima. You will stand tall again."
Taliyah: "It wasn't your absence that made us fear, Azir."
Spectacular Spinning: Not immediately noticeable since she doesn't have a traditional Spin Attack, but quite a few of her animations involve her spinning around, most prominently while casting Threaded Volley. This gets Played for Laughs with her joke emote, where she spins mid-air only to end up being tangled by her slings.
Ship Tease: With Ekko.
- She has a taunt towards him that veers into her becoming shy and lovestruck.
  Taliyah: "Did the earth move for you too? ...Did I Just Say That Out Loud?!"
- Legends of Runeterra tones this down a bit, showing them having what appears to be a largely platonic, yet playful rapport, even when they're on opposing teams.
  Taliyah: I'm gonna jam your things with sand!
  Ekko: And I'm gonna send you back to when stoneweaving was cool!
Take a Third Option: In regards to Xerath and Azir's conflict, she chooses to side with her family, seeing both Ascended as a danger to them.
Vague Age:
- A subdued yet simultaneously prominent case since unlike most champions, Taliyah is given a definite age... sort of. Taliyah was first introduced as being around 16, but due to some inconsistencies in the overall timeline, her journey across Runeterra is now implied to have spanned many years from her adolescence, with her "now" age since being specified as 23. Goodness knows what "now" actually means relative to stories like Bloodline and her in-game appearance.
- Legends of Runeterra also raises some questions regarding where in time she's being represented from. She doesn't appear especially different in artwork between games, but her voiceover is noticeably younger-sounding and less mature than in League, suggesting she's a younger version of the character, while several of her interactions with other characters (especially the newly-resurgent Azir and Xerath) suggest a version that's much closer to the present. Interactions in LoR represent a canonical amalgam of the characters from various points in time, but it still leaves the question up in the air of whether Taliyah is literally just her younger self, or if she was rewritten to act younger.
Vocal Evolution: In League of Legends, Erica Lindbeck performs Taliyah with a somewhat deep voice for her age, like an adolescent contralto. In Legends of Runeterra, Zehra Fazal is much lighter and higher-pitched, depicting her as sounding a lot younger (which, due to the variable canonicity of LoR, she may or may not be).
Walking the Earth:
- Taliyah's been very nomadic through her life. She was born in Shurima, running away and eventually wandering into Noxus, then escaping it to Ionia where she met Yasuo, who convinced her to head to the Freljord in the hope of finding transport from there to back home in post-Azir Shurima.
- This also lightly carries into her gameplay, as her Rock Surfing passive encourages her to roam across the map by buffing her movement speed when around terrain.
You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Her reaction to seeing an Exalted Poro.
"What is going on?"

Talon, the Blade's Shadow

Talon du Couteau

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/talon_originalloading.jpg

"Live and die by the blade."

Voiced by:
Travis Willingham (English)
Juan Antonio Arroyo (European Spanish)
Oliver Magaña (Mexican Spanish)
Yoshihisa Kawahara (Japanese)
Léo Rabelo (Brazilian Portuguese)
Jae-Heon Jeong (Korean)
Denis Nekrasov (Russian)
Appears in: Katarina

"The three deadliest blademasters in all of Valoran are bound to the house of Du Couteau: my father, myself, and Talon. Challenge us if you dare."

— Katarina Du Couteau

Talon is the knife in the darkness, a merciless killer able to strike without warning and escape before any alarm is raised. He carved out a dangerous reputation on the brutal streets of Noxus, where he was forced to fight, kill, and steal to survive. Adopted by the notorious Du Couteau family, he now plies his deadly trade at the empire’s command, assassinating enemy leaders, captains, and heroes.. as well as any Noxian foolish enough to earn the scorn of their masters.

Talon is an Assassin champion who can easily traverse the map, slipping over terrain to flank and assassinate single targets and escaping before their allies can catch him.

His passive, Blade's End, briefly marks enemy champions and monsters damaged by his abilities, stacking up to three times. Talon's next basic attack against a target with three marks consumes them to open their wounds, causing them to bleed and take heavy damage-over-time for a short duration.
His first ability, Noxian Diplomacy, can either be used from a distance, making Talon lunge at a nearby enemy and damaging them upon arrival, or when already in melee range of the target, stabbing them to deal increased damage. In either case, killing the targets heals Talon and refunds half of the ability's cooldown.
With his second ability, Rake, Talon throws three spinning blades in a cone in the target direction that return to him after a short delay, damaging enemies in the way out and back, and slowing those hit on the return.
His third ability, Assassin's Path, makes Talon vault over a piece of terrain, leaping to the other side of it. This ability has a very short cooldown, but can't be used on the same piece of terrain for a long duration.
With his ultimate ability, Shadow Assault, Talon releases a ring of blades around himself, damaging enemies in their path, and becomes invisible for a few seconds, during which he gains increased movement speed. When the invisibility fades the blades converge back to Talon's location, damaging enemies in their path once again; if he broke the invisibility by attacking an enemy, the blades will converge on the victim instead.

Talon's alternate skins include Renegade Talon, Crimson Elite Talon, Dragonblade Talon, SSW Talon, Blood Moon Talon, Enduring Sword Talon, Talon Blackwood, Withered Rose Talon, High Noon Talon, Prestige High Noon Talon, and Primal Ambush Talon.

In season 4 of Teamfight Tactics, Talon is a Tier 4 Enlightened Assassin using his Enduring Sword skin. His Truestrike ability stabs his target, dealing physical damage. If the ability kills its target, Talon refunds his mana and jumps to the enemy who has dealt the most amount of damage during the round. He was removed in season 5, returning in season 6 using his base skin as a Tier 2 Imperial Assassin. His new ability, Blade's End, is a passive that causes his first basic attack against each enemy to bleed them for magic damage over time for an extended duration, with every third attack afterwards applying an additional bleed that lasts independently of previous ones. In the Neon Nights mid-set update, his origin was changed to Debonair due to the removal of the Imperial origin, and his skin was changed to Withered Rose Talon. His Debonair VIP bonus converts the bleed into dealing true damage and extends its duration by 100%. In season 7, he uses his Talon Blackwood skin and is a Tier 4 Guild Assassin. His ability was changed to Shadow Assault, which briefly stealths Talon as he lets out a ring of blades dealing a percentage of his attack damage to enemies hit. He then leaps to the farthest enemy within 4 hexes and recalls the blades, dealing the same damage again to enemies in its path while dealing greatly increased physical damage plus bonus magic damage to his primary target. His unique Guild bonus grants his team bonus attack damage. He was removed in the Uncharted Realms mid-set update, returning in season 8 using his Prestige High Noon Talon skin as a Tier 1 Ox Force Renegade. With his OX-ian Diplomacy ability, he leaps to the furthest enemy from the center of the board, stabbing them for magic damage and healing Talon if it kills them. He was removed in the Glitched Out!! mid-set update.

Anti-Villain: Fights for Noxus, but his real loyalty is to Marcus du Couteau.
Assassin Outclassin': Has been on both sides of this. In the streets, he became so adept at killing that he was able to reject the Join or Die demands of Noxian assassin guilds. He couldn't best Marcus or Katarina du Couteau, however, and the only reason he's still alive is that they spared him.
Badass Cape: Made of leather straps and tipped with blades.
Badass Normal: His only assets are his stealth, hyper-vigilance, parkour skills and his collection of blades.
Balance Buff: Talon's always been a pretty straightforward assassin who found a home in whittling down enemies with Rake before going in for the kill, but this was generally seen as both hard to balance and not even that interesting to play given his excessive simplicity, with a point-and-click blink for an engage and completely linear damage buffs^note. He was given a significant retooling during the preseason 7 assassin update, expanding on a stronger niche of roaming thanks to his new Assassin's Path ability, allowing him to parkour across the map, kill vulnerable targets (helped by Noxian Diplomacy being tweaked into a situational engage), then get out. As a tradeoff, his burst damage was slowed down, with his passive now encouraging more judicious combos rather than mindlessly diving onto squishies, but he's still very deadly and a lot more flexible to play.
Because I'm Good At It: He probably could have just vanished once Du Couteau disappeared, but he continued to search for him and kill in his name because it's what he does best.
Blade Below the Shoulder: His main weapon is a large blade strapped to his forearm in most of his skins (Enduring Sword Talon uses a standard short sword held in a Reverse Grip).
Charles Atlas Superpower: He became almost superhumanly good at stealth and assassination simply by doing it again and again from a young age.
Crutch Character: For the first 20 or so minutes of the game, Talon is incredibly strong due to his high burst and unparalleled map presence, enabling him to snowball leads to his other lanes. However, during the teamfight phase, he is hard countered by defensive items and can’t do much to a clumped group of enemies. Somewhat mitigated if one decides to build him as a bruiser.
Deadly Euphemism: "Noxian Diplomacy" is the name of the skill where he either leaps and stabs, or delivers a brutal, close range stab.
Defeat Means Friendship: He respects General Du Couteau because the General won their duel. Even now that the General is gone, Talon is still loyal to him.
Devious Daggers: His animations and abilities can be accurately described as "blades everywhere". He also has a huge collection of blades from all the people he's killed.
Eye Scream: His failed assassination attempt on Katarina nearly cost her an eye. In the Katarina comic, he fails again, and she leaves him with a similar injury.
Flash Step: Noxian Diplomacy acts as this for him, although it's more of a dramatic leap than a step.
From Nobody to Nightmare: From Noxian street child to remorseless contract killer.
Gameplay and Story Integration: In "The Name of the Blade", he misses the killing blow on Katarina and spares her because of his mistake. His passive only successfully triggers if he lands all three abilities (Shadow Assault requires you to attack your victim with the ult's activation, followed by Rake or Noxian Diplomacy) if Talon cannot land the combo on his target, his only two options is to either escape or stand his ground where he lacks any auto-attack buffs for a sustained duel.
Glass Cannon: Zigzagged. While his kit encourages him to dive the nearest squishy, pop them, and run like hell, he has more flexibility with his item sets.
- A prominent meta build for Talon is divided into two builds: the All-out assassin, or a Bruiser. All-out Talon plays exactly like an assassin would do, dive or die. Bruiser Talon opt for something much safer and grants him a good chunk of sustain thanks to items like Goredrinker and Sterak's Gage allowing him to dive more often and give him more room of error as you rely on his base kit for bursting your opponent, making him a tough-as-nails bruiser that can even outdo other dedicated bruisers like Irelia and Fiora when played correctly and keep harassing tanks. A bruiser build can be also strong against squishy mages or ranged carries that can be outdone without buying lethality items. The downside is that most bruiser items and their components are slightly more expensive than the assassin ones, leaving him underequipped during the same timeframe a same Talon that's building assassin mythic and legendaries would do.
Highly-Visible Ninja: For an assassin who spends most of his time silently hiding in the shadows, it seems a little counter-intuitive for him to be dressed in blue (especially since he works in Noxus, a nation known mostly for dark reds and black) and a cape consisting of shiny knives. The accompanying artwork with "The Name of the Blade"◊ rectifies this a bit by showing him in a black, subtler version of his usual design, but even then he still has his knife cape.
Honor Before Reason: Zig-zagged: in a professional sense, he finds that "Only fools pledge life to honor," and he prefers to work for the side that's most pragmatic for him. However, with regards to his actual work, his overfocus on ensuring that his assassinations are completely perfect is his own worst enemy, and he'd rather abort the entire mission and re-track his target all over again than fumble his execution.
I Call It "Vera": After failing to kill Katarina in "The Name of the Blade" and vowing to hunt her down again, he reserves one blade just for her, with her name on it — literally, he calls it "Katarina".
I Fight for the Strongest Side!: He agreed to fight for Noxus only because a man stronger than he was (General Du Couteau) was the one giving the orders.
Join or Die: Various assassin guilds made this 'offer' to Talon, but General Du Couteau was the only one to do it successfully. And the implication is that Talon still would have chosen death over serving anyone but the General.
Le Parkour: Pushed during his pre-season 7 rework with his Assassin's Path ability, allowing him to traverse over nearly every wall in the game. Developers even specifically used the term "parkour" when describing his new playstyle.
A Lighter Shade of Black: He's certainly not good, but he just wants to make a quick, clean kill and get out. Compared to champions who torture their victims' souls or prolong their agony for the sake of "art," Talon doesn't seem so bad.
Mage Killer: Talon is usually played against mage-type champions in the mid lane: he can jump to them (negating their range advantage and disregarding all their poke), slow them once they're in melee range so they can't escape, and turn invisible once they try to counterattack with their spells. His purely physical damage also exploits mage champions' low armor, particularly in the early game, and if things go south, he can escape by vaulting over the nearest piece of terrain.
No Name Given: "Talon" is just a nickname; he either doesn't know his real name or doesn't think it matters.
Not Me This Time: In Quinn's backstory, Talon was accused of assassinating four Demacians and attempting to strike at the king himself. Quinn (correctly) dismissed this as "not his style" and went on to prove herself right.
Not the Intended Use: Some players have found that Talon can perform quite well as a Fighter, given his good AD scaling ratios (more evident in Season 11 with the new items). This of course trades some burst potential for survivabilty in extended teamfights, specially if there are two or more tanks.
The Perfectionist: The short story "The Name of the Blade" reveals that he has an almost obsessive focus on reaching a perfect "Edge", his term for an absolutely flawless singular assassination job, and that he considers it failure if he doesn't get the job done in one clean blow. When he misses the killing strike on Katarina (he was sent to assassinate her for screwing up an assignment), he lets her go, thinking he has no right to kill her for a mistake when he's made one too.
Power Creep, Power Seep: As the game's premiere all-in, 100-0 burst assassin, Talon is one of the most problematic champions Riot have ever released. He exists in only two possible forms: horrendously overpowered and unplayably useless, depending on whether the most recent tweak Riot made to him was a buff or a nerf. He is never "balanced".
- In 2016, Riot has finally brought forth a rework that will hopefully curb his constant misbalance, and make him more unique and standoutish among the assassins.
Precision-Guided Boomerang: His Rake ability describes it as a volley of daggers that return to him, but the animation for the "daggers" much more resembles bladed boomerangs.
Pride Before a Fall: As Enduring Blade Talon, his very first appearance has him stripped of his draconic powers by Irelia.
Professional Killer: So much so that, after General Du Couteau disappeared, Talon felt like he had no purpose in life without him.
Punch-Clock Villain: The life of an assassin isn't pretty, but it's just his job. When not on duty, as shown in Katarina, he seems almost decent to be around.
Recruited from the Gutter: He grew up on the streets but managed to get good enough at killing that Marcus Du Couteau would want him for an assassin.
Retcon: When he was first introduced, Talon was detailed as being allied with Katarina after he was adopted by Du Couteau, with Katarina seeing him as like a little brother in arms. The state of Talon's lore was in flux as he lacks a new full bio following the game's Continuity Reboot, but his color story, "The Name of the Blade" (released in 2020) suggested that while he was still trained by General Du Couteau, Talon's relationship with Katarina became fully adversarial, with him considering her a "failure" for disobeying Du Couteau's orders and watching for any mistake on her part that would justify finishing her off. Their dynamic would be backpedaled in some places during the Katarina comic of 2023 — Talon merely scarred Katarina when they were younger, but it was strictly on Du Couteau's order, and considering her loyalty to the man, Kat doesn't appear to hold a grudge against the incident. In general, the two — while remaining somewhat distant due to their professions — are shown getting along on much better terms as Like Brother and Sister, with Talon showing concern for his sister's safety. That is, until Katarina confronts him of conspiring with their father to lead her on the seemingly impossible Suicide Mission in Demacia, resulting in a violent scuffle where he nearly kills her. However, this conflict is far more rooted in Talon's Undying Loyalty towards Du Couteau than actual malice towards his sister, who merely scars him before leaving him to reconsider where he actually stands amidst Du Couteau and Swain's plans.
Right Behind You: His whole kit is meant to invoke the paranoia (especially if you're squishy) that he's about to pop up next to you and burst you down. If he disappears in a teamfight, pray he's not coming for you, because you won't see him until it's too late.
Self-Made Man: Went from a defenseless street urchin to one of the deadliest assassins in Noxus, solely by internalizing the Noxian creed that only the strong should survive.
The Social Darwinist: Comes with being Noxian, though Talon in particular shows nothing but disgust for the weak and only accepts orders from General Du Couteau because he bested him.
Strength Equals Worthiness: Clearly. Only a Worthy Opponent like General Du Couteau can command his respect. He has nothing but contempt for anyone weaker than him.
Technician Versus Performer: "The Name of the Blade" showed him to be the Technician to Katarina's Performer. Her style is flashier, but he sees it as sloppy work in a discipline where you can't afford to mess up.
Tragic Villain: Deep down, he's a young man manipulated by the toxic and perfectionist behavior of an abusive father figure, Marcus basically treating Talon like another tool for Noxus. Even after Talon betrays her yet again, Katarina can't bring herself to kill or harm him anymore than she has to, still loving him as a brother and seeing the same futile desire to make Marcus proud like she does. She leaves feeling sadness and pity for him.
Katarina: You're who I used to be. Trying to make him the father he thought he was. By being the child he said he wanted. But we were just a pair of blades in his collection. I know you don't see it now. And you think you're being loyal to him and Noxus... But that's because you trust him. And I'm done with that.
Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: A young Talon stabbed his accomplice after he screwed their plan up, beginning his career of killing very early in his life.
Undying Loyalty: When Du Couteau disappeared, he felt the only thing he could do was to search for him.
You Have Failed Me: His change in occupation from thief to killer was when his partner in crime, fellow street urchin Kayvn, screwed up in providing a distraction to let Talon get away with some food. When he showed Talon some daggers that he'd stolen in the hopes of selling them off, Talon decided that Kayvn was a liability and made him his first victim.

Taric, the Shield of Valoran

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/taric_originalloading_1.jpg

"That glimmer of hope you see, that's me."

Voiced by:
Dennis Collins Johnson (English/Original)
Yuri Lowenthal (English/Current)
Abraham Aguilar (European Spanish)
Bernardo Ezeta (Mexican Spanish/Original)
Sergio Gutiérrez Coto (Mexican Spanish/Current)
Masaya Onosaka (Japanese/Original)
Yasuhiro Mamiya (Japanese/Current)
Duda Espinoza (Brazilian Portuguese)
Seung-Gon Ryu (Korean)
Dmitry Polonsky (Russian/Original)
Ruslan Gabidullin (Russian/Current)
Appears In: Legends of Runeterra

"The best weapons are beautiful."

Taric is host to the Aspect of the Protector, wielding incredible power as Runeterra’s guardian of life, love, and beauty. Shamed by a dereliction of duty and exiled from his homeland of Demacia, Taric climbed Mount Targon to find redemption, only to discover a higher calling among the stars. Imbued with the might of a celestial being, the "Shield of Valoran" now stands ever vigilant, against any who would threaten the people of this world.

Taric is a Enchanter/Warden hybrid champion that excels at close-quarters, healing and protecting his allies while being much more resilient than the average support.

His passive, Bravado, causes Taric's next two basic attacks after using an ability to swing faster, deal bonus damage based on his armor and reduce his basic abilities' cooldowns.
His first ability, Starlight's Touch, passively stores charges over time, up to five; Taric also gains a charge for each Bravado-enhanced basic attack. When activated, Taric spends all charges to heal himself and nearby allies based on his max health, with the heal increasing for each charge spent.
His second ability, Bastion, passively grants Taric increased armor. When activated, Taric shields himself and a nearby allied champion based on their max health. Additionally, Taric becomes linked to the ally he used Bastion on, lasting until either of them dies or he uses it on a new target. While Taric is close to his linked ally, they receive Bastion's bonus armor, and Taric's other abilities will be replicated from their position.
With his third ability, Dazzle, Taric charges up energy for a short delay and then fires a dazzling beam of starlight in a target direction, damaging and briefly stunning enemies it hits.
With his ultimate ability, Cosmic Radiance, Taric calls forth protective starlight that descends upon him after a short delay, rendering himself and nearby allies invulnerable to damage for a few seconds.

Taric's alternate skins include Emerald Taric, Armor of the Fifth Age Taric, Bloodstone Taric, Pool Party Taric, Taric Luminshield, and Space Groove Taric. Legends of Runeterra exclusively includes Corrupted Taric.

In season 2 of Teamfight Tactics, Taric is a Tier 5 Crystal Warden. His ability is Cosmic Radiance, which after a short delay makes all enemies with a number of hexes of him briefly invulnerable. He was removed in season 3. He returns in season 5 using his Emerald Taric skin as a Tier 4 Verdant Knight. His ability was changed to Nature's Touch, which heals all allies in an area around him and grants them bonus armor for a few seconds. He was removed along with the Verdant origin in the Dawn of Heroes mid-set update, returning in season 6 using his Armor of the Fifth Age Taric skin as a Tier 3 Socialite Enchanter. His new Starlight Bastion ability heals himself and the lowest percent health ally, converting the excess healing into a shield for a few seconds. He was removed in the Neon Nights mid-set update, returning to his Emerald Taric skin in season 7 as a Tier 1 Jade Guardian. His new Bastion ability grants bonus armor to himself and the nearest ally for a few seconds. He was removed in the Uncharted Realms mid-set update, returning to his base skin in season 9 as a Tier 3 Targon Bastion Sorcerer. His Radiance ability gives himself a shield that also absorbs the damage taken by adjacent allies. In season 10, he uses his Space Groove Taric skin and is a Tier 1 Disco Guardian. His Mirrorball's Blessing ability shields Taric for a few seconds and causes his next two basic attacks to deal bonus magic damage.

In Legends of Runeterra, Taric is a 4 mana 3/5 Targon Champion with the Support ability to give both himself and the ally he supports Tough when he attacks, as well as duplicating the last friendly single-target spell cast on himself on them as well. When he seen 7 or more allies targeted by friendly spells or have benefit from a Support ability he levels up, gaining +1/+1 and making himself and the ally he supports immune to damage or destruction until the end of the round instead of gaining Tough. His signature spell is Taric's Blessing of Targon.

Above Good and Evil: Taric is the protector of Valoran. That means all of Valoran, and he doesn't care what side you're on if you're in his way. That puts him at odds with certain world-ending threats, like the Void, but he's very much above silly things like wars and right or wrong.
Agent Peacock: His "Armor of the Fifth Age" is... well... 'fabulous'.
All-Loving Hero: Literally. Taric is the assigned protector of the entire planet and all that resides on it. He is willing to wade right through two armies to defend a flower, simply because it is the last of its kind.
All-Natural Gem Polish: Justified since these are not rocks but solidified starlight.
Ambiguously Gay: Pre-VGU, Taric was meant to invoke this archetype, being a manly, yet gentle and campy badass with flashy tastes. This entire aspect has since been dropped following his relaunch as he as a character became more serious and grounded — when pressed to state Taric's romantic interests, Riot insisted that "Taric likes everyone." However, Taric has also been prominently featured in Pride artwork, which suggests he falls somewhere on the LGBT spectrum.
The Atoner: He climbed Mt. Targon seeking redemption for failing his men, and even his new role as the Aspect of Protection has hints of Must Make Amends.
Balance Buff: When Taric was introduced to the game in 2009, he built up a decent identity as a functional Combat Medic trading between smashing opponents and buffing allies, with his biggest problem being the complete lack of flash to his kit, with the highest-impact ability he had being Dazzle (which was then a point-and-click stun), the rest solely working "under the hood" as tweaking around armor and damage stats that would mostly be ignored by enemies and allies. When Taric was relaunched in 2016, he retained his durable "battle cleric" identity, but his abilities were made to be much more palpable, from Dazzle being tweaked into a skillshot-based multi-target AoE stun and his new, nigh-unignorable Cosmic Radiance allowing him to make himself and his team invincible.
Baritone of Strength: A powerful defender with a voice as gentle and uplifting as it is deep. As deep as one might expect Yuri Lowenthal to go, anyway.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: As noted above, his call to protect whatever needs protecting means his actions might seem inexplicable to those who can't see what he sees.
Brilliant, but Lazy: As a soldier. Taric didn't see himself as this trope, but Garen and most of his military superiors did. He had no difficulty learning how to fight, but he was prone to Cloud Cuckoolander-ish wanderings trying to understand why.
Call-Back: The updated splash art for Armor of the Fifth Age Taric◊ has a subtle one: the phone being used in the bottom right corner to take a picture of Taric shows a portion of the same skin's original splash art.
The Cameo: Armor of the Fifth Age Taric's splash art also shows Debonair Ezreal in the front left, DJ Sona playing in the far background, Arcade Miss Fortune dancing in the crowd, and Riot Girl Tristana in the front right.
The Cape: He's the chosen protector of all of Valoran.
Carry a Big Stick: Taric's chosen weapon, Bravado, is a three-pronged mace that he swings around effortlessly. In several of his skins however, he wields hammers.
Combat Medic: Taric can take lot of punishment, especially for a healer, and due to his passive, attacking in melee reduces the cooldown on his heal substantially, meaning he's actually a better medic when he's hitting something.
Cultured Badass: Taric is soft-spoken, gentle, and has an appreciation for beauty in all its forms. He's also fully capable of bludgeoning you to death.
Darker and Edgier: Bloodstone Taric is an Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette with menacing red gems and even more menacing red eyes. However, he's still unambiguously good and heroic.
Determinator: He simply will not abandon something once he has decided to protect it. Even in gameplay, his stun spell will fire if he gets cc'd before it finishes casting, and his ult, once started, always lands on his ally even if Taric dies.
Difficult, but Awesome: Taric's ultimate is essentially an area-of-effect Kayle ult, rendering all allies within his radius (as well as that of an ally linked with Bastion completely invulnerable to damage, but the main tradeoff is that it has a 2.5 second delay before activating with a really visible indicator, meaning a smart enemy team could try to burst him down before it activates, or let it activate but back off so it becomes useless.
Dissonant Serenity: Part of his character. He never screams or even raises his voice, and in his lore short story he walks right between two warring armies without batting an eye.
Empowered Badass Normal: He was already a capable fighter, but now he's almost a demigod.
For Happiness: His mission is to protect the world and all that is rare and beautiful in it — for no apparent reason except that the world is better for having rare and beautiful things.
Gemstone Assault: His main theme, with the gems representing the stars themselves.
Gemstone Motifs: Taric used to be called "the Gem Knight" in his original release, being an armored warrior decorated in (very low-fidelity) jewels. His full relaunch in 2016 reiterated the gem motif into a broader aesthetic, turning him into a fabulous All-Loving Hero who sees the beauty in everything around him, also now having a series of gems that float around and extend his magic abilites.
Good Is Not Soft: If you have nothing but bad intentions, he'll know, and he'll kill you without hesitation.
Taric: (taunting a Void champion) I will enjoy sending you back into the Void. In pieces.
Heart Is an Awesome Power: Protection, gems, and the stars seem lame — until he deploys them to make his team untouchable while he murders yours.
Taric: Gems hurt, don't they?
Heroic Willpower: Possibly. Taric seems to have completely retained his personality after becoming an avatar of Mount Targon, in contrast to the others. All that has changed about him is his increased power and an inherent knowledge of what needs to be protected. It may also simply be due to the Aspect of Protection being so similar to Taric himself that it felt no need to change him.
Hope Bringer: He's a somewhat more lofty and slightly more egotistical variant of one. In gameplay, his kit is built around the theme of 'protection,' letting him snatch a squishy teammate from the jaws of death with a clutch shield and heal — or rescue his whole team with a well-timed ult.
Hunk: Taric's very attractive, looking like he just stepped off the cover of a romance novel.
Taric: "Easy on the eyes"? Don't I know it.
- His Pool Party skin makes him look like a lifeguard straight out of Baywatch and losing his shirt in the process.
I Call It "Vera": Taric's hammer is named Bravado and his shield is Bastion.
It's All Junk: His preview comic, "The Ascent," shows him shedding everything he used to have as a Demacian soldier. His ring is the only thing he seems upset to lose.
Jack of All Trades: As far as supports go, Taric is pretty versatile, having access to powerful healing, protection, crowd control and decent damage. He's only lacking in mobility and ranged options.
Knight in Shining Armor: Definitely fits this trope in both appearance and personality. He wants to protect everyone and everything. He was even tested for this on Mount Targon, experiencing all sorts of visions of different disasters whereupon he unhesitatingly responded to save art, animals and people, even going through an entire Noxian army just to save Garen, who was the one who exiled him.
"Leave Your Quest" Test: Just before he reached the summit of Targon, he met a Noxian who told him there was no redemption at the top. He seemed on the verge of turning away — then wrapped the man in his cloak and kept walking.
Long-Haired Pretty Boy: He's not the typical slender "Pretty Boy" but he is INCREDIBLY easy on the eyes. And Riot described his hair as "epic, flowing, cover-of-a-romance-novel hair".
"When the Shield of Valoran struts around the Rift, his luscious mane flows wildly behind him, as if he’s constantly standing near a fan. It’s longer, wavier, more eye-catching. This is a man who could star in a shampoo commercial. And you'd buy that shampoo."
Longing Look: If one follows his eyes in his Armor of the Fifth Age splash art, he's staring directly at Ezreal.
Magic Knight: Magic? Check. Beautiful armor? Check. Hideously heavy-looking melee weapon? Check.
Martial Pacifist: As a soldier, Taric was known to try to solve his problems by wit and charm whenever possible, resorting to violence only when necessary. This trait is then exaggerated after he becomes the Avatar of Protection: he's only interested in protecting all of Valoran, so as long as you're of his world and you don't try to fight him, you don't have to worry about him. But he acknowledges that he cannot save those who do not wish to be saved, and clearly anyone willing to fight him does not wish to be saved.
Meaningful Name: Taric's name most likely originates from the Arabian name "طارق/Tariq", which means "The striker." A commonly used Quranic idiom of tariq also relates it to brilliant stars, furthering its connection to him as a character.
Mighty Glacier: A more offensively-built Taric with an Iceborn Gauntlet becomes this. His ability to constantly heal himself and throw up a shield to shrug off damage makes him tough to take down. Meanwhile, a Dazzle + double Bravado attack combo can deal surprising burst damage to an unsuspecting Marksman or Mage. However, Taric lacks any kind of built-in gap closer, forcing him to enter fights carefully.
Mr. Fanservice: Post-VGU, Taric's design veers full on into making him a rare male eye-candy champion in League. He's got a gentle yet flamboyant personality, an outfit revealing his chest muscles, luxurious hair, and a lot of sparkly VFX. Skins like Pool Party and Fifth Age play up his physique even further.
My Greatest Failure: Taric let his men rest while he slipped off to study architecture — and returned to find them all slaughtered by Void creatures.
Navel-Deep Neckline: His outfit has a wide v-neck opening over his chest. It was apparently a major aspect of his redesign that Riot decided on, and they kept making it deeper. Armor of the Fifth Age takes the trope to the logical conclusion, where his shirt is completely open to his waist like a skin-tight vest.
Necessary Fail: If Taric hadn't failed his command and been sent to Targon to do penance, he would still be a subpar Demacian soldier trying to fit a role that didn't suit him.
Noble Male, Roguish Male: The Rogue to Garen's Noble. This infuriated Garen to no end.
One-Man Army: Taric went through a series of trials to determine his true nature on the slopes of Mount Targon. One of the visions was of Garen, broken and hung over the gates of Noxus, with the entire military force of Noxus arrayed between Taric and his friend. What does Taric do in this vision? He raises his shield and goes to get Garen. And despite the forces arrayed against him, he succeeds.
Power Floats: His 'fast run' animation and recall make him hover, and his gems are constantly suspended in the air.
Power Glows: His right forearm flickers with divine light.
Power Makes Your Hair Grow: His hair was past his shoulders before he became an Aspect, but it was nothing like the waist-length mane he sports now.
Real Men Wear Pink: His Fifth Age skin is very, very pink. According to his splash art, it's apparently the outfit he wears while clubbing.
Retcon: Prior to his 2016 VGU, Taric was a traveling Knight Errant who was "erratically summoned to Runeterra from a faraway world," bringing with him a unique form of gem magic partially inspired by his father's devotion as a healer. Since then, Taric's origins were firmly set in Demacia, and his conceit was changed to involve him merging with the Targonian Aspect of the Protector.
Shoot the Medic First: Tanky or no, he will find himself the center of the enemies' attention more often than not.
Stone Wall: Taric is ridiculously resilient for a support. He can heal himself as well as his allies, and do so more often as long as he's attacking someone, his second ability passively grants him bonus armor, and his ultimate ability makes him outright invulnerable to damage. Killing a skilled Taric is no easy task.
Support Party Member: He's a Stone Wall designed to heal and shield his allies while also creating opportunities to engage and peel away pursuing enemies with Dazzle. His ultimate in particular is purely non-offensive, but the 2.5 seconds of invulnerability it provides can turn a fight around or open up otherwise suicidally risky tactics. While his damage isn't the best among supports, it's not to be ignored either, especially if Taric has the gold to invest in an Iceborn Gauntlet.
Token Good Teammate: He's very much the one who is the most morally grounded person amongst the Targon champions post-rework, dedicated to protection of all things... and actually putting a good word to his title, unlike the Solari who hid a lot of things like their Lunari genocide. After the rework, Leona lost the complete status of it thanks to her indoctrination by the Solari (though she's working on regaining it), but Taric remains as a most noble protector amongst the Targon champions from start to finish.
Took a Level in Badass: His pre-update kit was decent but nothing too spectacular. Now, he has the potential to be an incredibly powerful support.

Teemo, the Swift Scout

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/teemo_originalloading1.jpg

"Captain Teemo, on duty!"

Voiced by:
Unknown (English/Original)
Melissa Hutchison (English/Current, Omega Squad-)
María Blanco (European Spanish)
Leyla Rangel (Mexican Spanish)
Ikue Otani (Japanese)
Eduardo Drummond (Brazilian Portuguese/Original)
Mariana Zink (Brazilian Portuguese/Current, Legends of Runeterra-)
Chae-Eon Han (Korean)
Olga Shorokhova (Russian)
Appears In: Legends of Runeterra, Tales of Runeterra, Arcane (Cameo)

"Teemo rides a thin line between chipper compatriot and unrepentant killer, but there's no-one I'd rather have as a friend."

—Tristana

''Undeterred by even the most dangerous and threatening of obstacles, Teemo scouts the world with boundless enthusiasm and a cheerful spirit. A yordle with an unwavering sense of morality, he takes pride in following the Bandle Scout's Code, sometimes with such eagerness that he is unaware of the broader consequences of his actions. Though some say the existence of the Scouts is questionable, one thing is for certain: Teemo's conviction is nothing to be trifled with.

Teemo is a Specialist champion whose specialty is in map control, laying down a minefield of traps to whittle down his opponents before finishing them off with poisoned darts.

His passive, Guerrilla Warfare, turns Teemo invisible as long as he stands still without taking action for a short duration; if done inside brush, he can still move within the brush without breaking the stealth. Teemo gains the Element of Surprise upon breaking stealth, briefly increasing his attack speed.
With his first ability, Blinding Dart, Teemo shoots a poisoned dart from his blowgun at a nearby enemy that damages and blinds them for a few seconds, causing their basic attacks to miss.
His second ability, Move Quick, passively increases Teemo's movement speed as long as he hasn't taken damage from enemy champions or turrets in the last few seconds. When activated, Teemo receives double the movement speed bonus for a short duration, during which it will not be cancelled by taking damage.
His third ability, Toxic Shot, passively envenoms Teemo's basic attacks, causing them to deal bonus damage and poison the target for a few seconds, dealing damage-over-time.
His ultimate ability, Noxious Trap, passively stores charges over time, up to five. When activated, Teemo spends a charge to toss an invisible mushroom to a target location that remains there for a long duration, revealing its surroundings; if the tossed mushroom lands on a previously-placed one, it will bounce a short distance forward. When an enemy steps on a mushroom it explodes, releasing a toxic cloud that poisons surrounding enemies for a few seconds, dealing heavy damage-over-time, slowing and revealing them.

Teemo's alternate skins include Happy Elf Teemo, Recon Teemo, Badger Teemo, Astronaut Teemo, Cottontail Teemo, Super Teemo, Panda Teemo, Omega Squad Teemo, Little Devil Teemo, Beemo, Spirit Blossom Teemo, Prestige Spirit Blossom Teemo, Firecracker Teemo, and Space Groove Teemo. Wild Rift exclusively includes Hexplorer Teemo.

In season 3 of Teamfight Tactics, Teemo was added in the Return to the Stars mid-set update using his Astronaut Teemo skin as a 4 cost Astro Sniper. His ability is Satellite Traps, which plants three traps around the nearest enemy. Traps explode when an enemy nears them or after a few seconds, damaging, knocking down and slowing nearby enemies. In season 4, he is reworked into a Tier 2 Spirit Sharpshooter using his Spirit Blossom Teemo skin. His new ability, Sporecloud Dart, fires an explosive dart at the enemy with the highest attack speed, blinding and dealing damage over time to all enemies around the target. In season 5, he uses his Little Devil Teemo skin as a Tier 5 Hellion Cruel Invoker; his Cruel class is a unique trait that makes him only purchasable with 6 of your Little Legend's health, rather than 5 gold. Teemo can be sold for the same amount of gold as any other Tier 5 champion of the same star level, but the health cost will not be refunded. The Cruel class also has a hidden passive that triggers only when a round of combat has progressed to a point where the sole combatants are Teemo himself and exactly one enemy unit. If this happens, Teemo immediately executes the opposing unit, automatically winning the round for his controller. His ability is Teemo's Cruelty, which functions similarly to his season 3 ability, but also buffed to slow the attack speeds of enemies hit and increase the number of traps placed based on Teemo's star level. He was removed in season 6, returning in season 9 using his base skin as a Tier 2 Yordle Strategist Multicaster. His Noxious Trap ability throws an explosive mushroom at his current target, dealing magic damage over time and reducing the healing of enemies in a 1-hex radius. If he reaches star level 4 from the Yordle trait bonus, the explosion radius is increased by 1 hex. He was removed along with the Yordle origin in the Horizonbound mid-set update, returning in season 11 using his Firecraker Teemo skin as a Tier 2 Fortune Trickshot. His Dim-Sum Delivery ability throws a dumpling at the nearest non-poisoned enemy, dealing gradual magic damage over an extended period.

In Legends of Runeterra, Teemo is a 1-mana 1/1 dual Piltover & Zaun and Bandle City (formerly mono-Piltover & Zaun) Yordle Champion with Elusive and a Nexus Strike ability that places 5 Poison Puffcaps (a Trap that when drawn deals 1 damage to the drawing player's Nexus) on random cards in the enemy's deck. When 15 Puffcaps have been placed in their deck he levels up, gaining +1/+1 and changing his Nexus Strike to instead double the number of Puffcaps in the enemy deck. His signature spell is Teemo's Mushroom Cloud.

Art Evolution: Teemo's scheduled to receive an ASU in 2024, rebuilding every one of his assets from scratch.
Ascended Meme: Little Devil Teemo is more than obviously based on his fan nickname "Satan".
Badass Adorable: An adorable yordle scout with a lot of cute skins available. Like Tristana, his Yordle special forces rank isn't for show either.
Badass in Distress: He needs rescuing from Graves in Don't Mess With Yordles.
Balance Buff:
- In a game known for regular balance updates and reworks of all shapes and sizes, Teemo is noteworthy for his historical near-total lack of them. He's remarkably stalwart in his position as "the annoying champion" that's neither dominant at his purpose nor unusable as a character, and so Riot very rarely tweaks him aside from quality-of-life improvements. In terms of net gains, he's actually been buffed over time with occasional mini-reworks, such as season 5 introducing range and bouncing to his Noxious Trap, but overall, Riot doesn't consider him in dire need of major work, and player demand is similarly negligible.
- He ended up sort of getting a rework for Wild Rift, which features a slightly altered kit compared to the PC version^note: Poison Dart is his passive, while Guerilla Warfare became an active ability that grants him a burst of on-demand camouflage, retaining the burst of attack speed after exiting stealth.
Bee Afraid: His Beemo skin gives him an adorable bee-themed design, in which he fires bees in place of normal darts, and lays down beehives in place of mushrooms that explode in honey on contact.
Beware the Nice Ones:
- Teemo's usually a genuinely chipper, charming and sociable soldier who speaks like a typical goody-two-shoes boyscout, but he also regularly flips a mental switch to suppress the intensity of combat, something that even he realizes is slowly making him ruthless and insane. His cheery attitude notably falters with this line, where he considerably lowers his tone and sounds sinister:
That's gotta sting.
- Omega Squad Teemo is basically what would happen to Teemo if he let the loneliness in the jungle consume him. Basically, he's Shell Shocked Vietnam Veteran Teemo.
Boring, but Practical:
- There are different ways to play Teemo, some playing him as a ranged carry who pumps people full of poison darts, others playing him more defensively and using his shrooms to control the map. Either way, he isn't a remarkably dynamic champion, but he'll ideally be dishing out loads of poison to everyone on the map, becoming a horrific nuisance to everyone on the opposite team.
- Of particular note is the ability Move Quick, which passively grants movement speed if he remains untouched by the enemy, and activating it gives him... slightly more^note. Bizarrely, it's perhaps this basic ability more than others that makes him so optimal for the top lane, as it lets him more easily kite the mainly melee-focused opponents that dominate the area as he sticks poison and blinding darts into them.
The Cameo: In Arcane Teemo not only appears as a shooting dummy, but as the main character of a fully illustrated picture book for children.
The Chew Toy:invoked Due to the strong fan hatred on Teemo within the fandom, Teemo is given this treatment by official Riot staff members, usually in the form of being a victim of various other champions.
Cloudcuckoolander: In Don't Mess With Yordles his choice in pet is a soul-sucking worm of all things.
Cold Iron: Don't Mess With Yordles shows that Teemo's magic has no effect in the presence of Runic Iron.
Crazy-Prepared: Implicitly encouraged with his ultimate. It pays to have a very large number of traps prepared beforehand in high-traffic spots. The truly, truly Crazy-Prepared even cover probable escape paths with mushrooms so that pursuers get slowed as he makes his getaway.
Crutch Character: Very good at making an opponent's laning phase hell early on; not as good at team fights later on as the bruisers and tanks he often lanes against.
Damage Over Time: Through extensive use of poison and his slipperiness, Teemo excels at graudually wearing down enemies. Typically by the time you actually reach Teemo, you have taken a good bit of damage from his blow darts and mushrooms. You know exactly when you are going to die to Teemo's damage. He knows exactly when you are going to die. Very rarely can you do something about it.
Darker and Edgier: Omega Squad Teemo. Imagine if Teemo was mixed with the Helghast from Killzone, add a dash of PTSD, sprinkle in some emotional suppression, and you have a nice recipe for a legendary skin.
Dragged Off to Hell: Little Devil Teemo's death animation has him being sucked off into a portal, presumably to hell, all while scrambling to escape and pulling off a terrified and terrifying Nightmare Face. Interestingly, his recall animation has him create the same portal, except this time he enters in willingly, all while dancing, laughing maniacally and pulling off the same Nightmare Face.
Easter Bunny: Cottontail Temmo, complete with replacing his mushrooms with Easter eggs.
Eyes Always Shut: Almost always shown as this, distinct even from other yordles. The exceptions to this are in his Super Teemo skin, revealing them to be sky blue in color, and in his Little Devil skin, mostly staying closed as normal, but revealing him to have creepy Hellish Pupils in his recall and death animations. Omega Squad Teemo also seemingly subverts this, but it's only indicated by the yellow digital lights of his from his helmet's visors, and his real eyes aren't actually visible. Another exception is the "C'mon C'mon" emote in Legends of Runeterra, which depicts him with brown eyes.
Fantastic Drug: In Legends of Runeterra, it appears that Teemo's poison mushrooms, identified as "Poison Puffcaps", are a commodity in Zaun. One of the cards is of a "Puffcap Peddler", depicting someone making a shady tradeoff and — judging by the Flavor Text — is presently under its effects.
"These any good?"
"Of course! They're all top notch! Spoke to them myself!"
"Okay hand em—wait what?"
"Mmhmm! Getting married, this one!"
"How many have you had...?"
"—to a barnacle!"
Fragile Speedster: Most melee champs can beat him one on one, but thanks to several movement speed boosts and shrooms that significantly reduce enemy speed, catching him can be difficult.
Gameplay and Story Integration: Teemo's lore notes that he (unlike most Yordles, who are highly prone to Go Mad from the Isolation) specializes in solo missions. In game, Teemo significantly struggles in teamfights, but excels at sneaking around the map to do his own thing, pouncing on any unguarded objectives (or unwary champions) and turning the jungle into a minefield when the enemy team isn't looking.
Glass Cannon: When someone inevitably decides to chase Teemo, one of them isn't going to make it out alive.
Go Mad from the Isolation:
- Canonically on the verge of this, though he's taken up a friendship with Tristana to help dial it back.
- Exaggerated though for Omega Squad Teemo. He treats his equipment, especially his poison mushrooms as Companion Cubes.
Goggles Do Nothing: He keeps a pair of goggles on his cap at all times. All times. In Legends of Runeterra, he comments to the likeminded Ezreal "I never use my googles either!"
Hit-and-Run Tactics: Teemo doesn't do so great in teamfights, so many players resort to deliberately separating from the group and solo split-push unguarded towers with his high attack speed before running away. It helps that due to his various escape mechanics (including the infamous mushrooms), a Teemo is more likely than other champions to actually escape once someone tries to come and stop him.
Hope Spot: Many players barely escape with minimal life then (infuriatingly) die to a mushroom trap trying to find a safe spot to recall.
It Gets Easier:
- According to his backstory, Teemo has a "mental/emotional switch that he turns off" so the killings he does don't weigh on his conscience.
- Taken further with Omega Squad Teemo, one who has much more extensive experience and trauma on his shoulders from combat. It's rather creepy.
Killer Rabbit: Encountering an enemy Teemo can be very deadly when you are not prepared. It also doesn't help when you realize you have been killed by a furry little yordle.
Lethal Joke Character: Teemo is usually considered a joke pick in competitive play, but he's very occasionally been proven to be a deadly pick to an unsuspecting and unprepared team. Underestimating Teemo means getting locked out of the jungle (and a lot of objectives) for fear of stepping on a mushrooms and either dying (if at low health) or getting jumped by Teemo's entire team while you're vulnerable.
Magikarp Power: Teemo as a champion is generally the opposite of this, but he plays this straight regarding his Noxious Trap. Shrooms are already a pain in the tail early on, but with each level rank, his range and maximum cache capacity for shrooms increases, allowing him to project map pressure with greater ease, in turn making him much more effective at controlling zones and objectives. The fact he can hurl his shrooms at longer distances can almost make up for his impracticality in teamfights, especially if the enemy team isn't on the ball with their own vision control.
Nightmare Fetishist: "Don't Mess With Yordles" shows his idea of a cute pet to adopt is something called a soul-devouring sea worm.
Playing with Fire: While Little Devil Teemo's damage-over-time effects are still identified as poison in-game, his Poison Dart comes in the form of a fiery pitchfork, and his "mushrooms" (which are more like burning, smiling soul orbs) explode into Hellfire.
Poisoned Weapons: Toxic Shot lets Teemo wears his opponents down over extended fights with its guaranteed poison effect. His mushrooms too explode into huge poisonous clouds on detonation.
Ridiculously Cute Critter: By default, and many of his skins amplify this, with there being an amusing "Astronaut" version of him, a Santa Elf, and him dressed as an Easter Bunny (IN WHICH HE HOPS AROUND).
Schmuck Bait:
- People see dancing squirrel. People think, "Easy kill." People step on mushrooms and slow down while taking damage. Teemo then blinds them and pumps them full of darts, or leads them through a minefield of those same mushrooms.
- Players joke about his "global taunt" — his mysterious ability to make every enemy player in the game want to kill him, sometimes instead of more important targets, at the cost of other objectives, or disregarding potential traps. Then again, picking a badass warrior prince, black mage, void demon or barbarian king and getting owned by a hamster with a blowpipe is rage-inducing.
- His Blinding Dart ability makes enemies do 0 auto attack damage for a while. Come on, tower dive him, he's only got 200 health left, you can kill him before the tower does a lot of damage...
- If by mid and late game his team is about even, or doing better than your team, it's probably safe to presume he's got his Noxious Traps planted in every major brush, jungle route, lane Edges, river entrances, and dragon and Baron dens. Someone WILL run into one, and the only thing your team can hope for, is that their team isn't close enough to capitalize on it, or worse yet, that the survivors from a team fight that ended badly don't all get hit by it.
Ship Tease: He's extremely good friends with Tristana, although both deny any romantic elements to the relationship.
Skill Gate Characters: One of the most prolific cases in the game. To lower-to-average levels, Teemo has very oppressive elements to his kit that gives him a significant amount of map control and heavily punishes mistakes, sprinting around and turning the map into his minefield if left unchecked. On the other hand, once his opponents wise up and figure out how to deal with his mushrooms (including regularly sweeping them with control wards or building magic resistance to survive his poison), his weaknesses become more apparent, namely his relatively low scaling, lack of significant teamfight power, fragility, and reliance on solo operations that in turn can be easily punished by a prepared team.
Stealth Expert: Teemo's passive allows him to enter stealth when standing still or simply remaining in a bush for an indefinite period of time^note. It breaks once he enters combat, giving him a burst of additional attack speed to pounce unsuspecting enemies with.
Trap Master: Teemo's greatest utility is his Noxious Trap, bar none the most dangerous trap in the game, which stealth and deal a significant amount of damage and slowdown on any champions who step it (as well as others standing near its blast radius). A good Teemo player can make the enemy team tear their hair out in frustration as they can't go anywhere in the minefield the map has become.
Troll: Teemo has this reputation as one. This is largely due to having a blind, poison, high mobility, and the shrooms that he places are all around annoying to deal with. Some players go as far as to intentionally piss the enemy off as much as possible to provoke them into chasing him (not unlike Singed) so he can lure them into a minefield or kite them to low health.
We Need a Distraction: Need some time to destroy some turrets or do dragon/Baron uncontested? Just use Teemo, his legendary "passive global taunt" will probably buy you the time you need, even if the enemy ends up killing him.
You Are Already Dead: There is a high possibility of this when you step on one of Teemo's shrooms. If the Teemo is building burn damage (a very common build path) and your health is low, death is often inevitable as your health slowly ticks away under the effect of poison, with the player unable to do anything to prevent it.

Thresh, the Chain Warden

See his page for more info

Tristana, the Yordle Gunner

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tristana_originalloading.jpg

"Once a Bandle gunner, always a Bandle gunner!"

Voiced by:
Elspeth Eastman (English/Post-VGU)
Amber Conor (English/Current: Tales of Runeterra-)
Unknown (English/Original)
Conchi López (European Spanish)
Toni Rodríguez (Mexican Spanish)
Rina Hidaka (Japanese)
Carol Kapfer (Brazilian Portuguese)
Hye-Won Jeong (Korean)
Maria Ovchinnikova (Russian/Original)
Lina Ivanova (Russian/Current)
Appears In: Mechs Vs. Minions, Legends of Runeterra, Tales of Runeterra

"Boomer says hi."

While many other yordles channel their energy into discovery, invention, or just plain mischief-making, Tristana was always inspired by the adventures of great warriors. She had heard much about Runeterra, its factions, and its wars, and believed her kind could become worthy of legend too. Setting foot in the world for the first time, she took up her trusty cannon Boomer, and now leaps into battle with steadfast courage and optimism.

Tristana is a Marksman champion who blasts enemies from afar with her basic attacks before recklessly jumping into the fray to unleash powerful burst damage before getting back out.

Her passive, Draw a Bead, increases the range of her basic attacks, Explosive Charge and Buster Shot abilities per level.
Her first ability, Rapid Fire, supercharges Tristana's cannon for a few seconds, greatly increasing her attack speed.
With her second ability, Rocket Jump, Tristana fires her cannon at the ground to propel herself to a target location, damaging and slowing nearby enemies for a few seconds upon landing. The cooldown of the ability is refreshed whenever Tristana kills or helps kill an enemy champion.
Her third ability, Explosive Charge, passively causes enemies killed by Tristana's basic attacks to explode, damaging surrounding foes. When activated, Tristana places a bomb on a nearby enemy or turret that explodes after a few seconds, damaging the target and other enemies around them. Tristana's basic attacks against enemies with a bomb will prime the explosion, increasing its damage and stacking up to four times. Additionally, detonating a fully-stacked bomb will refresh the cooldown of her Rocket Jump ability.
With her ultimate ability, Buster Shot, Tristana fires a gigantic cannonball at a nearby enemy, dealing massive damage and sending the target and other nearby enemies flying backwards.

Tristana's alternate skins include Riot Girl Tristana, Earnest Elf Tristana, Firefighter Tristana, Guerrilla Tristana, Buccaneer Tristana, Rocket Girl Tristana, Dragon Trainer Tristana, Bewitching Tristana, Omega Squad Tristana, Little Demon Tristana, Pengu Cosplay Tristana, Hextech Tristana, Firecracker Tristana, and Spirit Blossom Tristana. Wild Rift exclusively includes Hexplorer Tristana.

In season 1 of Teamfight Tactics, Tristana is a Tier 1 Yordle Gunslinger. Her ability, Explosive Charge, throws a bomb at the enemy that explodes after few seconds or hitting the target with three basic attacks, dealing damage to them and other nearby enemies. Each basic attack increases explosion damage. She was removed in season 2. She returns in season 4's Festival of Beasts mid-set update as a Tier 1 Dragonsoul Sharpshooter using her Dragon Trainer Tristana skin. Her ability was changed to Rapid Fire, which increases her attack speed and makes her basic attacks deal bonus magic damage on-hit for a few seconds. She was initially removed in season 5, but returns in the Dawn of Heroes mid-set update using her Little Demon Tristana skin as a Tier 2 Hellion Cannoneer. Her ability was changed to Rocket Jump, which makes Tristana jump away from as many enemies as possible and increases her attack speed for a few seconds. In season 6, she returns to using her base skin as a Tier 2 Yordle Sniper. Her ability was changed to Buster Shot, firing a cannonball at her target that deals bonus percent attack damage and bonus physical damage to the first enemy hit, knocking them back and briefly stunning them if they're within two hexes of Tristana. She was removed in the Neon Nights mid-set update, returning to her Dragon Trainer Tristana skin in season 7 as a Tier 2 Trainer Cannoneer. Her Explosive Charges ability throws two bombs at the nearest enemies without one. Unlike their season 1 iteration, these bombs explode very shortly without requiring basic attacks, and deal bonus percent attack damage in a small area plus bonus magic damage to the primary targets. She is no longer a purchasable champion in the Uncharted Realms mid-set update, instead being a special summoned unit from Nomsy, her former trainee, if the Cannoneer class is her randomly assigned trait for the match. Tristana retains the same ability as well as a passive that increases Nomsy's attack damage, while Nomsy's Prodigy origin shares 100% of her ability power with her summon, grants Tristana attack speed if she dies, and allows both units to both directly benefit from and count towards the Cannoneer class's breakpoints. She returns as a purchasable champion in season 9 using her base skin as a Tier 1 Yordle Gunner. Here, her Rapid Fire ability increases her attack speed and causes her basic attacks to explode and deal reduced damage to enemies within 1 hex of her target. If she reaches star level 4 from the Yordle trait bonus, every 8th attack also passively deals percent bonus damage and ricochets to the largest cluster of enemies, dealing reduced damage in a 1-hex radius. She was removed along with the Yordle origin in the Horizonbound mid-set update, returning in season 11 using her Firecracker Tristana skin as a Tier 3 Fortune Duelist. Her Firecracker Frenzy ability increases her attack damage for a few seconds and causes her to leap to the her current target, dealing physical damage to all adjacent enemies on impact before jumping back to a safe location.

In Legends of Runeterra, Tristana is a 3-mana 1/3 Bandle City Yordle Champion with Quick Attack, who passively has +1/0 for every multi-region ally you've summoned during the game and gives multi-region allies +1/0 when they're summoned. When you've summoned 4 or more multi-region allies during the game she levels up, gaining +1/+1 and giving newly summoned multi-region allies 1 stack of Impact as well, and also gaining a stack of Impact herself. Her signature spell is Tristana's Buster Shot.

Action Girl: Her rework changed her into a headstrong commando who isn't afraid of the frontlines (despite being squishy).
Anti-Structure: Tristana has some of the fastest tower-destroying potential of any marksmen, as not only does she have solid basic attack stats, she has the ability to slap an Explosive Charge onto turrets and prime them for additional damage to more quickly blow them up.
Art Evolution: Tristana finally received a years-overdue visual upgrade in 2015. She received the usual package: splash art, avatar, model, animation, and voice-over. Her look in Don't Mess With Yordles receives a further upgrade, giving her a much fluffier appearance with curly hair and fur.
Ash Face: In her Dragon Trainer skin's joke animation, Riggle breathes fire in her face, resulting in this. Also shows up in the skin preview in the tip that advises against pointing your dragon toward your face.
Badass Adorable: She's a Yordle special-forces gunner, of course she is. Exemplified in an official short story, A Quiet Night: she sends four bandits packing, all while staying friendly and offering them fish from her campfire.
Badass Normal: Other champions have every single form of magical, divine and supernatural powers under the sun. Tristana? All she has is her cannon — and that's all she needs to put up a fight against everybody else.
Balance Buff: Tristana had a somewhat awkward early period in the game as she was almost entirely built around traditional marksmen tropes to the nth degree (namely high auto-based DPS and late game scaling), which came at the cost of having a unique identity, with effectively no real discernible strengths or weaknesses, for better and for worse. Riot gave her a light VGU in 2015 that finally settled on a direction, changing her Explosive Shot^note into Explosive Charge, designed to both absolutely crater enemy structures and create more opportunities to reset her Rocket Jump. Along with toning down her raw auto DPS, Tristana is now meant to be more of a reset-heavy daredevil, giving her windows of significant weakness and also much more significant power.
BFG: Her weapon is a cannon that's bigger than she is.
Blown Across the Room: Her Buster Shot knocks enemies it hits back.
Boring, but Practical: Almost all of Tristana's damage output comes from autoattacking enemies and very little in the way of using abilities, but it works because of her long autoattack range and immense attack speed steroid.
Cute Kitten: Bewitching Tristana resembles a white cat.
Cuteness Proximity: Dragon Trainer Tristana seems to have a degree of this towards Riggle.
Tristana: Aww, look at your little arms!
Demolitions Expert: Post-rework Tristana's massive late-game carry potential was downplayed (her passive range was reduced) to instead recalibrate her as a dedicated turret-wrecker. Explosive Charge is one of the few Marksman abilities capable of targeting turrets, allowing her to tear down undefended turrets more quickly than any other Marksman.^note
Difficult, but Awesome: The only way to mitigate her "weak" mid-game is utilize her early game burst damage from her skills. This is considered risky because it involves wasting your Rocket Jump into the enemy. Players with a poor sense of judgment will Rocket Jump into an enemy (or worse, several of them) and die quickly; those who are experienced can make good use of the extra burst and slow as they close the distance and ensure that her foe doesn't escape.
Divergent Character Evolution: Riot Girl Tristana is a skin-based one. Originally it was just a cheap Palette Swap of the default skin (stemming from the fact the skin itself is free), but with Tristana's general visual update in early 2015, it received its own distinct identity with a new model, textures and later a splash art,◊ giving it a somewhat Punk-ish look.
- Tristana herself also used to have light blue skin, like Poppy, suggesting this was the natural skin color of all female Yordles (or as they were originally known, Meglings). After Lulu was released and Trist was (much later) given a complete visual update, her skin is now distinctly purple, although still a slightly bluer shade than Lulu (while Poppy is still bright blue, even after her own visual update).
Dynamic Entry: Rocket Jump is potentially terrifying, as if Tristana gets a kill or assist it instantly cools, allowing her to use it immediately. One of the most effective strategies late-game is to watch a teamfight from the jungle, leap in when the team is close to death, ult, then leap back out if you got an assist. It works incredibly well.
Early-Installment Weirdness: Tristana suffered from the same design weirdness as Yi and Tryndamere. Early on in the game's history, it was very rare for abilities to scale off of Attack Damage, so AD-heavy champions were stuck with high AP ratios that looked more and more bizarre as AD-scaling abilities became widespread. Up until her season 5 rework, AP Tristana was an actually very solid build path that was commonly seen in ranked games.
Equippable Ally: In her Dragon Trainer skin, her cannon is replaced with a live dragon whelp named Riggle.
Eye Am Watching You: In the short story The Whispering Doodad, Tristana directs this gesture at a rabbit.
Tristana: I'm watching you, flopsy.
- Hilariously, later in the story the same rabbit gives the same gesture to Draven when Lulu blows him up to giant size to save Tristana from him.
Fluffy Tamer: Dragon Trainer Tristana.
Genki Girl: Especially noticeable in her old incarnation, when Stuff Blowing Up made her really, really excitable. She's still eager to get into the action, though less childlike about it. In "Don't Mess With Yordles", her first reaction to Graves' double-cannon shotgun while it's loaded and pointed at her is to nerd out over its design.
Glass Cannon: Like many ranged carries, Tristana is easily killed if focused. Thankfully two of her abilities can be used to keep enemies away from her.
Goggles Do Nothing: Most obvious in her Rocketeer Tristana skin.
Goomba Stomp: Rocket Jump does area-of-effect damage to enemies it lands on. Useful for Dynamic Entry.
Tristana: (after Rocket Jumping onto an enemy) Splat!
I Call It "Vera": Her gun's name is Boomer.
Hope Bringer: Her activities in defending Bandle City's gateways from pesky mortals in Runeterra have inspired other yordles to copy her with varying levels of success.
Hotter and Sexier: Tristana's reworked model has her wearing a tank-top revealing her midriff, with markedly more well-defined curves as well (just compare old vs new◊). In addition, her new voice make her sound more like a teenager instead of her old voice where she sounds more like a child.
Humanity Ensues: Bewitching Tristana is implied to be a downplayed case. She still resembles a cat-like Yordle, but Bewitching Morgana's splash art◊ features a white kitten in the background looking at a potion vat, implying that she turned Tristana from a cat into a cat-like, but more humanoid being.
Humanity Is Infectious: Her attitude and various behaviors as a protective gunner was inspired by observing human soldiers in combat and wanting to be like them, making her a bit of an outlier from other yordles. As stories of her heroics in the name of Bandle City caught on, other yordles have decided to join her and her path.
Humble Hero: She fights in the name of protecting Bandle City simply because she feels it's the right thing to do, and is rather embarrassed by the following she's amassed in doing so.
The Leader: Tristana acts ostensibly as the commander of her Yordle Gunners unit, with all of her compatriots answering to her (most of the time, anyway).
Love Triangle: She'd deny the "love" part, but she is kinda in the top of it. She's best buds (denying any romantic relationship) with Teemo, but unaware that Rumble has a massive crush on her (to the point of naming his Mini-Mecha "Tristy"), also resulting in him considering Teemo a rival.
Magikarp Power: Her passive makes her capable of hitting people at a range many champions can't even touch her from, because she gains more range as she levels up. Combined with her massive attack speed boost in Rapid Fire, the multiplicative DPS of critical strike, attack damage and attack speed items, and the fact she has two methods to keep away from you even if you do get past her massive range, a fully-built Tristana is a champion unrivaled in right-clicking you to death from afar.
- It should be noted that while her mid-game is well known to be subpar for a ranged AD, her weak early game is mitigated by her ability burst potential during the laning phase, especially if she's paired up with an aggressive support that aims to net her kills early on. The difference is that Rocket Jumping at a weakened foe then blasting them backwards with Buster Shot to secure a kill is a far better idea in a laning phase engagement as opposed to a midgame teamfight, where it is likely suicide to try.
Military Maverick: A proud Bandle City commando who includes a lot of military jargon and slang into her lines, who also admits to being lax with non shooting-related regulations.
Tristana: Orders are more like guidelines, really.
More Dakka: Press Q for Rapid Fire!
Not the Intended Use: Prior to her rework, Tristana had rather high AP ratios on her abilities for a Marksman (see Early-Installment Weirdness). The result was AP Tristana, a pseudo-assassin who used Explosive Shot, Rocket Jump, and Buster Shot to massively burst targets down then get away.
Odd Friendship: With Lulu, as shown in The Whispering Doodad, whose laid back and whimsical nature contrasts heavily with the more serious and headstrong Tristana, much to her frustration.
Or Are You Just Happy to See Me?: "Is that a rocket in your pocket?"
Pirate: Buccaneer Tristana.
Retcon: She was conceived as Megling (along with Poppy), before the Meglings were just merged into Yordles in Season 1 and her unit name was changed to the Megling Commandos. 4 seasons later, her lore and name were finally updated to reflect the change, making her the Yordle Gunner instead of the Megling Gunner, member of the Bandle Gunners instead of the Megling Commandos.
Rocket Jump: One of her abilities, Rocket Jump.
Skill Gate Characters: She's considered to be one of the easiest ADs to play as due to her self-peeling power (Rocket Jump and Buster Shot), her good farming ability to last hit on minions (her Explosive Shot), a booster that increases her attack speed (Rapid Fire) and her passive that gradually increases her autoattack range (having 669 autoattack range at level 18 as opposed to most ADs who often have autoattack range between 500-550). However, more skillful players will often take advantage of her poor range early game and her horrendous midgame.
Ship Tease: With Teemo, although they both insist they're just good friends.
Small Girl, Big Gun: She carries around a huge cannon that's as tall as she is when fully stood up.
Sound Off: Post-rework, instead of dancing for her /dance emote, Tristana marches on the spot while chanting the Bandle Gunner sound off. It's extremely cute.
"Let 'em come by land, by sea or air! Send 'em running home when the Bandle Gunners blare!"
"One stump high and ten stumps tall! Bandle Gunners show 'em all!"
"Bandle Gunners, what'd you see? Sir, just smoke and victory!"
*hums the tune*
- Dragon Trainer Tristana takes the cuteness up a notch; rather than marching and chanting the sound off herself, she holds Riggle up in front of her and swings his little paws from side to side while she hums it, making him "dance" to the tune◊.
Splash Damage Abuse: Explosive Charge deals splash damage whenever she kills a unit, meaning that she can effectively harass enemies who normally hide in the middle of creep waves. The active ability tags something with a time-delayed sticky bomb, making it possible to catch multiple opponents in the blast.
Tactical Withdrawal: Rocket Jump is excellent for blasting out of a tight spot. Her voiced lines even change if you use Rocket Jump at critical levels of health.
Trigger-Happy: Oh yes. Most of her lines that don't involve explosions involve her getting ready to light somebody up.
Tristana: If it's worth shooting once... it's probably worth shooting a lot!
Why Am I Ticking?: The active on Explosive Shot has Tristana lob a sticky bomb onto an enemy. The splash damage that ensues a few seconds later can be increased by "priming" her target with autoattacks and can be set off early by attacks or Buster Shot.

Trundle, the Troll King

^note

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/trundle_originalloading.jpg

"Time to troll!"

Voiced by:
Joshua Tomar (English)
Paco Vaquero (European Spanish)
Jesse Conde (Mexican Spanish)
Masafumi Kimura (Japanese)
Ronaldo Júlio (Brazilian Portuguese)
Ho-Cheol Kang (Korean)
Yuri Malyarov (Russian)
Appears In: Legends of Runeterra

"Outsmart anyone you can't beat, and beat anyone you can't outsmart."

Trundle is a hulking and devious troll with a particularly vicious streak, and there is nothing he cannot bludgeon into submission—not even the Freljord itself. Fiercely territorial, he chases down anyone foolish enough to enter his domain. Then, his massive club of True Ice at the ready, he chills his enemies to the bone and impales them with jagged, frozen pillars, laughing as they bleed out onto the tundra.

Trundle is a Juggernaut champion who specializes in stealing his opponent's strength and power to boost his own and reshaping and claiming areas of the battlefield to suit his needs.

His passive, King's Tribute, steals the lifeforce of enemies that die around Trundle, healing him based on their max health.
His first ability, Chomp, transforms Trundle's next basic attack into a bite, dealing bonus damage, briefly slowing the target and stealing some of their attack damage for a few seconds.
His second ability, Frozen Domain, coats an area in ice for a few seconds, inside which Trundle gains bonus movement and attack speed and increased healing from all sources.
With his third ability, Pillar of Ice, Trundle summons a huge ice pillar at a target location for a few seconds that acts as impassable terrain and slows surrounding enemies.
With his ultimate ability, Subjugate, Trundle chooses a nearby enemy champion and starts draining their strength over the next few seconds, dealing damage over the duration based on the target's max health, healing himself for the same amount and stealing a percentage of the target's armor and magic resistance.

Trundle's alternate skins include Lil' Slugger Trundle, Junkyard Trundle, Traditional Trundle, Constable Trundle, Worldbreaker Trundle, Dragonslayer Trundle, and Fright Night Trundle.

In season 5 of Teamfight Tactics, Trundle uses his Dragonslayer Trundle skin as a Tier 2 Dragonslayer Skirmisher. His ability, Subjugate, drains a percentage of his target's attack damage, health, armor and magic resistance for a moderate duration. He was removed along with the Dragonslayer origin in the Dawn of Heroes mid-set update, returning in season 6 using his Junkyard Trundle skin as a Tier 2 Scrap Bruiser. His new ability, Chomp, bites his target for bonus percent attack damage, reducing their attack speed for a few seconds and stealing a flat amount of attack damage for the rest of the round. He was removed in the Neon Nights mid-set update.

In Legends of Runeterra, Trundle is a 5-mana 4/6 Freljord Champion with Regeneration who creates creates an Ice Pillar card in hand when played. Ice Pillar is an 8-mana 0/8 Follower with Vulnerable that refills 8 mana when played and gives the strongest enemy unit Vulnerable until the end of the round when played and at the start of every round. When Trundle see Ice Pillar played he levels up, gaining +1/+1 and Overwhelm and permanently gaining +1/+0 when he attacks for each 8+ mana card he Beholds. His signature spell is Trundle's Icequake.

All Trolls Are Different: The Ice Trolls of Valoran are towering, formerly tribal creatures working on a might makes right attitude, and with very few exceptions prefer to brute force their way through problems instead of thinking around them - Trundle himself is fiercely territorial to boot, and it's unknown if the rest of the trolls shared this attitude before he united them.
Nobody trespasses in MY town
An Ice Person: Trundle is not only a frost troll of the Freljord, he is also an Iceborn (the only non-human instance of this in terms of the playable roster), giving him the ability to wield True Ice and its magical properties. Unlike most other ice-users in the game, Trundle largely uses his powers to reshape the battlefield and keep his opponents at a disadvantage while resorting to more direct means of harming his enemies.
Artificial Brilliance: When the CPU controls him, he is very annoying to fight because he'll put the pillar in the worst possible spots.
Artificial Stupidity: Unless he's trying to escape, in which case he has a habit of cutting off his own escape route or knocking himself back into the enemy team with it.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: His Worldbreaker skin in the splash art is huge, easily making him one of the canonically biggest champions. Naturally, this does not translate to gameplay; he's no bigger than the already big standard skin Trundle.
Big "NO!": He lets out a big one when Nocturne accidentally reveals his greatest fear: his ice club melting.
Book Dumb: By troll standards, Trundle is a borderline genius. By human standards, he's a complete lunkhead. He still doesn't know that "dreams" are a non-physical concept.
"I'm gonna crush your dreams... They're in your skull, right?"
Boring, but Practical: Trundle's kit is hardly flashy and most of his damage comes from auto-attacking, but every bit of him is built in such a way that he'll likely always have the upper-hand in a situation while he clubs you to death.
Call-Back: He keeps a few quotes from his previous VA, most notably his taunt
"If you want me to hit you less, die sooner."
Carry a Big Stick: He uses an icy club as tall as he is!
Characterization Marches On: Trundle was originally known as "The Cursed Troll", a scrawny Pint-Sized Powerhouse inflicted with perpetual leprosy who, in his eternal quest to find a cure, ended up becoming a champion of his people. With the 2013 Freljord event, Riot made the decision to completely reinvent his thematics (their cited reasoning that pre-VU Trundle felt too divorced from the rest of the world and didn't leave many storytelling opportunities for him), and he was reimagined as "The Troll King" that we see today.
Clothes Make the Superman: Described as being humiliated the first time he fought his chieftain, his discovery of his True Ice club turned the next fight against him into taking "a moment to enjoy the look of numb shock on his chieftain's face before he caved it in.".
Cool Crown: Not normally seen in League, but in Legends of Runeterra, he's shown wearing a small, but cool-looking armored crown into battle, fit for a troll king.
Crutch Character: Of sorts. While he doesn't fall off as hard as others, he's generally seen as one of the strongest early-game duelists against AD-focused champions, simply due to the fact that he debuffs you and buffs himself at the same time. Late-game, however, he tends to be less of a terror due to the prevalence of teamfights as opposed to 1v1s, as well as the relative insignificance of the stat debuffs as the game goes on: Losing 20 Attack Damage is pretty crippling early game, but barely anything later on. His ultimate does still serve to make him an effective anti-tank later on, though.
Dragon with an Agenda: To the Ice Witch. Trundle may be happy to serve her, but he's still looking out for an opportunity to make the trolls the dominant force in Freljord - a King doesn't serve others after all.
"I'm the troll with the plan."
Dumb Muscle: Downplayed as he's played to be much smarter and more cunning than his troll kin, but when compared to humans, he's still a bit of a Book Dumb musclehead.
Genius Bruiser: He might be Book Dumb, but he's clever, cunning, fast-thinking and witty all the same.
Geo Effects: Created by himself — he temporarily freezes a large area, which improves his stats while he's standing on it. He also may make an immovable pillar that can't be passed through while it lasts, which also slows enemies. Place in front on enemies running away or to you to keep em' stiller than they'll want.
Home Field Advantage: Standing in his Frozen Domain gives Trundle a large boost to healing, movement speed and attack speed which means trying to fight him within the area will get you beaten to a pulp and even if you get him low he'll just run away laughing.
I Call It "Vera": Officially, his club is named 'Boneshiver,' but his joke has him call it "Clubbems."
I Can Still Fight!: His ultimate heals himself for 20-28% of an enemy's health over a duration of four seconds, while stealing 40% of their resistances over the same duration. This, combined with his passive and Frozen Domain, can work to make him deceptively durable, even at low health.
I'm a Humanitarian: Not averse to eating humans, but not big on eating them either. Apparently our bones get stuck in his teeth.
"I like my human with a bit of spice."
In Name Only: Unlike the two champions before him that had a relaunch (Evelynn and Karma), Trundle's changed very little about his kit, being mainly a series of buffs, nerfs and changes not too different from what any champ might get in a normal patch. However, his entire character concept was completely dumped and recreated from the ground up, to the point that, apart from being a club-wielding troll, his name is the only thing he has in common with his original iteration. And as a first for Riot, Trundle is the first champion since the beta ended to have his title changed after his release, from "the Cursed Troll" to "the Troll King".
Incoming Ham: When he commits to a fight, he'll make sure you know it.
Insistent Terminology: Considering the Leonine Contract he had to go trough to get there, he doesn't like when others refer to him as less than Troll King; calling him 'troll chief' will just mean a club in your skull.
"Not Troll Chief - Troll King. King!"
Ironic Nickname: Sure the skin may be called Lil' Slugger Trundle, but boy, this guy is huge! This is a relic from his pre-rework version when he was a Pintsized Powerhouse.
Judge, Jury, and Executioner: Alluded (somewhat poorly) to being such in one of his movement lines. Seeing how he was able to Klingon Promote his way to the top of the hierarchy and unite the ice troll tribes, it's very likely that his word is law — and he's more than happy to carry out the summary executions.
"I'm troll judge, troll jury, and execu... troll!"
Klingon Promotion: Killed off the "foolish and cowardly" chieftain of his tribe, and took over.
Kneel Before Zod: He will sometimes yell out to "Bow down!" when using his ultimate.
Leonine Contract: Made one with The Ice Witch to save his life and grant him the power to rule the trolls — Not that Trundle minds serving The Ice Witch at all.
Lightning Bruiser: Can throw down Frozen Domain and become fast as hell on it, able to run down nearly any opponent and beat them to a pulp while using his ultimate to simultaneously make himself hardier than your toughest champion and making that guy less durable.
Literally Shattered Lives: After Lissandra granted him Boneshiver, he returned to his foolish Chieftain's tribe. Freezing him with a touch from the club and shattering him to pieces.
Man Bites Man: His Chomp ability has him bite down on foes.
My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Trolls don't like to think. Trundle does, and he frequently has to deal with his species resistance to basic planning and strategy.
The Pig-Pen:
- If the viking guarding the howling abyss is to believed that is - if so, Trundle must smell horrible, seeing how said viking's dead corpse is frozen inside a wall of ice.
  "Uuggh! Smells like something died in here!"
- Amusingly enough, his story "A Feast Fit For A King" reveals he bathes. Something apparently very uncommon for trolls.
  Trundle: “Did you hear the one about how I used the tallest tree in the Big Green Forest for a toothpick? Or the one where I ate a mammoth for breakfast and then used its skull for a bath?
  Yettu: "What is bath?"
Pride: It is blatantly obvious Trundle feels his position is meaningful.
"King of trolls, coming through."
Primitive Clubs: He wields a massive club made out of ice, and is Dumb Muscle when compared to the other characters, but is considered smarter than other trolls.
Retcon: Trundle's 2013 relaunch is very unusual among updates as while very little changed about his actual in-game behavior and kit, his design, backstory, and overall thematic was completely overhauled, changing him from a Pint-Sized Powerhouse of a leprosy-ridden troll into a brutish, self-proclaimed troll king of the Freljord.
Small Name, Big Ego: Until he actually achieves a decisive victory for control of Freljord, he's just ruler of a bunch of trolls and the pawn of the true Big Bad.
Status Buff: There may be tons within the game, but he's unique in that he causes Ability Down (Subjugate steals armor and magic resistance, Chomp steals attack damage) to his enemies while giving a proportionate Ability Up to himself.
Sword Plant: Well, Club Plant, which is his Recall Animation, fitting his insistence on being a King.
There Is No Kill Like Overkill: He certainly thinks so.
"You can never bash something too many times!"
Took a Level in Badass: From his rework. Prior to that, he was scrawny, nasally-voiced and his tribe leper (Albeit a gifted troll who became a matyr for his people). Now he's a hulking, deep-voiced goliath who makes the human-sized club he's wielding look like a baseball bat. It's even evident in his name change from "The Cursed Troll" to "The Troll King".
Troll: Carried over from his previous incarnation.
- Trundle enjoys belittling and taunting others greatly. He has a lot of character interactions where he ridicules other champions. Also his race.
"Trollmacia!"
- His wits let Trundle keep his life, gain a powerful ally in the Ice Witch, and helped him take over command of his tribe — and later the others.
Vocal Dissonance: Traditional Trundle uses Trundle's updated model, but Trundle's old voice set. This creates a decently-sized troll with a very high-pitched, scratchy voice.
Wrecked Weapon: Having run out of other things to taunt the simpleton Troll King with, Nocturne finds that this is Trundle's worst fear:
Nocturne: (upon seeing an enemy Trundle being summoned) Your club will...melt?
Trundle: Noooooo!
Your Soul Is Mine!: His passive 'King's Tribute' works on this if the icon for it is to be believed - More specifically, the 'Drained After Death' type of it. Any enemy, minion, champion or neutral monster will heal Trundle based on its maximum health if it dies in proximity of him.

Tryndamere, the Barbarian King

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tryndamere_originalloading6.jpg

"This'll be a slaughter!"

Voiced by:
Brian Sommer (English)
Roberto Encinas (European Spanish)
Roberto Cuadrado (European Spanish/Demonblade)
Miguel Ángel Ghigliazza (Mexican Spanish)
Yasuhiro Mamiya (Japanese)
Maurício Berger (Brazilian Portuguese)
Guk-Jin Kim (Korean)
Igor Tomilov (Russian)
Appears In: Legends of Runeterra

"Rage is my weapon."

Fueled by unbridled fury and rage, Tryndamere once carved his way through the Freljord, openly challenging the greatest warriors of the north to prepare himself for even darker days ahead. The wrathful barbarian has long sought revenge for the annihilation of his clan, though more recently he has found companionship with Ashe, the Avarosan warmother, and a home with her people. His almost inhuman strength and fortitude is legendary, and has delivered him and his new allies countless victories against the greatest of odds.

Tryndamere is a Skirmisher champion who decimates enemies with furious critical strikes, and who is able to outright ignore death for a short duration. He does not use mana or any other resources, with his abilities only being limited by cooldowns.

His passive, Battle Fury, generates Fury whenever Tryndamere damages an enemy with his basic attacks, increasing if he critically strikes or kills a unit, and decaying quickly when out of combat. Tryndamere gains increased critical strike chance based on the amount of Fury he has.
His first ability, Bloodlust, passively grants Tryndamere bonus attack damage, which increases based on his missing health. When activated, Tryndamere consumes all his current Fury, healing himself by an amount that increases the more Fury that was spent.
With his second ability, Mocking Shout, Tryndamere screams, reducing the attack damage of surrounding enemies for a few seconds and also slowing them if they have their backs turned to him.
With his third ability, Spinning Slash, Tryndamere dashes in a target direction while rapidly spinning his sword, damaging enemies in his path and gaining Fury for each enemy he hits. Landing a critical strike reduces the cooldown of the ability, increasing if he critically strikes an enemy champion.
His ultimate ability, Undying Rage, unleashes Tryndamere's unstoppable rage, instantly generating a large amount of Fury and making him unkillable for a few seconds; this ability can be used while crowd-controlled.

Tryndamere's alternate skins include Highland Tryndamere, King Tryndamere, Viking Tryndamere, Demonblade Tryndamere, Sultan Tryndamere, Warring Kingdoms Tryndamere, Nightmare Tryndamere, Beast Hunter Tryndamere, Chemtech Tryndamere, Blood Moon Tryndamere, Nightbringer Tryndamere, and Victorious Tryndamere. Wild Rift exclusively includes Glorious Tryndamere and Immortal Journey Tryndamere.

In season 4 of Teamfight Tactics, Tryndamere was added in the Festival of Beasts mid-set update as a Tier 4 Warlord Duelist Slayer using his Warring Kingdoms Tryndamere skin. His ability is Spinning Slash, which makes Tryndamere spin towards the largest cluster of enemies, dealing bonus percent attack damage to enemies in his path and increasing the damage dealt by Tryndamere's next 3 basic attacks by a percentage. He was removed in season 5, returning in season 6's Neon Nights mid-set update using his Chemtech Tryndamere skin as a Tier 3 Chemtech Challenger. His ability remains unchanged aside from the spin dealing an additional flat amount of physical damage.

In Legends of Runeterra, Tryndamere is an 8-mana 8/6 Freljord Champion with Overwhelm. If he would die for any reason, he instead levels up and is fully healed, gaining +1/+3, Fearsome and Tough. His Champion Spell is Tryndamere's Battle Fury (8-mana Burst spell that gives a target ally +8/+4).

Aborted Arc: Prior to his 2018 VGU, Aatrox in a taunt to Tryndamere calls him "My finest creation," implying the latter's rage powers were a result of the former. With Aatrox's plot and motivations drastically reworked since then, this thread seems to have been abandoned and Tryndamere's powers remain unexplained (the current Aatrox does have interactions with Tryndamere, but all they confirm is that he killed his tribe and considers him a potential worthy vessel).
Animal Motif: The boar; Tryndamere's people are implied to have revered the Iron Boar, one of the Demigods, and modeled their apparel after tusks. Tryndamere's own rage and perseverance evoke that of a wild boar's.
They prayed most often to a spirit-deity known to ravage the tundra—a hearty and unkillable tusklord. Since the raw materials required for armor were scarce, the clan instead put its resources toward the forging of great blades, inspired by their god's ivory canines.
"The Barbarian King"
The Artifact: He's one of League's oldest champions, and it shows. His kit is extremely straightforward with almost no mechanical skill involved; and, unlike some champions like Kassadin, who are an example of The Artifact themselves, but had skills tweaked along the years, Tryndamere's only real change other than numbers was adding more crit chance on his passive in his later levels, which only means he now doesn't end up with an awkward 85% crit chance with two crit items, but eventually gets 100% at level 16, which still doesn't change anything about his playstyle at all. He also has a comically-small amount of voicelines (to boot, both his pick and ban quotes are copied from his movement quotes, something not even other old champions can boast about), and some of his old skins, the legendary-tier Demonblade in particular, look very outdated by today's standards. He's one of the champions that Riot is looking to update/rework in the upcoming years, having already been featured on official VGU polls along with champs like Skarner, but they don't seem to consider him in as much need of it as others like Shyvana, Mundo or Corki.
Attack! Attack! Attack!: The only thing in his kit remotely resembling a tactical withdrawal is his Spinning Slash (to escape through walls). Other than that he's built entirely around running in, chasing people down, and hacking them to pieces.
Awesome, but Impractical:
- In LoL: His ultimate makes him completely impossible to balance- a manaless, high-mobility, high damage, high-sustain carry who temporarily cannot be killed is an absolute nightmare for any member of the balance team. As a result, Riot have kept him deliberately undertuned to stop him from ruining every game he shows up in single-handedly, which is why you will almost never see him in professional competitive play.
- In LoR, Tryndamere is a monstrously hard-to-block beatstick that shrugs off being killed once per game, making him very threatening in combat. Unfortunately, a giant pile of stats and keywords is all he ultimately offers, and for a unit as expensive as he is, not having a strong immediate impact on the board often makes him not worth the mana cost.
Badass Normal: Played Straight with his older lore, having nothing but sheer determination and fury as opposed to magic. Though his retconned lore implies that his duel with Aatrox instilled some blood magic in him, enhancing his physical power and granting unnatural abilities like a Healing Factor and unstoppable rage.
Barbarian Hero: Hero? check - he's allied with Ashe, who's the most unambiguously good force of Freljord. Barbarian? Check - it's in his title.
Barehanded Blade Block: In "A Smoldering Coal", he grabs an axe swung at him with his bare hand. While he suffers a large cut in his palm and bleeds, his Healing Factor kicks in and the wound's closed nearly instantly after, surprising the maiden who witnesses it.
Battle Couple: With his wife, Ashe, the two of them leading the Avarosans in battle.
The Berserker: His kit is centered around running in, slicing some faces off, and fighting on for far longer than he has any right to. He's a berserker, alright. A kill or be killed attitude to a certain death scenario is all but encouraged when he can live through it.
Beware the Quiet Ones: After his blood oath to Ashe, he seems to have become this. In "A Smoldering Coal", Sigra notes how in her initial time serving as Battlemaiden of Ashe, she felt disappointed at never seeing Tryndamere's legendary fury. He always acted as a very calm, almost bored, normal man, with nothing in his gestures or eyes that give away his supposedly terrifying temper. That's it, until they were attacked by a traitorous Warmother and her warriors. Now, the thought of ever seeing Tryndamere angry again completely terrifies her.
BFS: It may be bigger than he is. It is also heavy enough that he can't even carry it properly, instead dragging it around.
Cast from Hit Points: He used to before he was moved to the Fury system.
Cool Sword: Face it, Warring Kingdoms Tryndamere's sword is just beautiful. Blood Moon Tryndamere also has an impressive-looking one.
Crippling Overspecialization: Tryndamere's almost completely focus on using crit-powered basic attacks to be useful — everything else in his kit, from his healing, to his burst of mobility with Spinning Slash, to his invincibility ultimate, is just a means to make it a little easier for him to lay them down. If you have something that directly counters it, however, like just sheer tankiness, mobility, crowd control, or even bigger damage, he has very little else to offer beyond splitpushing. He might actually be fairly strong in that regard, but this then puts him as one of the few remaining champions in the game whose win condition comes not from the 5v5 late game teamfight.
Critical Hit Class: Entirely based around this, as his innate ability gives him critical strike chance dependent on how much Fury he has and his dash's cooldown refreshes when he scores a crit. He is also capable of not being reliant on Random Number God and scoring critical hits every single time, though that requires farming for a long time and is the main reason why he isn't really all that competitive.
Determinator:
- His Undying Rage ability makes him unable to be killed. The more damage he takes, the higher his attack damage is.
- Story-wise, his refusal to die even when his entire tribe was being wiped out and his facing down of Aatrox made him into the rage-filled warrior he is today.
- The "Still Here" cinematic takes his Determinator to its logical conclusion, as he fights Kindred (AKA Death) and wins.
Double Entendre: His joke is about how one of his arms is stronger than the other, which could be either due to him wielding his sword one-handed, or a masturbation reference.
"My right arm is a lot stronger than my left arm!"
Family-Unfriendly Death: When "killed" he falls onto his back and is impaled by his own falling sword. He remains conscious a few seconds longer, and you can see him struggling to pull the blade out before he expires. Ick.
Glass Cannon: His entire kit encourages him to build as much damage and as little resistances as possible, since he deals even more damage the less health he has and reduces the cooldown of his mobility spell with crits, with the most "tankiness" he gets being from lifesteal, which still requires you to be attacking nonetheless, and his ultimate for surviving longer than he should be able to. By level 16 and with two crit items in his build, every single autoattack he deals is a critical hit that can easily reach the thousand-mark, and with enough attack speed, he can feasibly burst a squishy target with autoattacks faster than proper assassins do with abilities, while also being able to shred tankier targets if needed. The problem is that, by focusing purely on damage, he's still incredibly squishy himself, and getting locked down with CC or bursted down when his ultimate is on cooldown are easy ways to deal with him.
Healing Factor: After the duel with Aatrox, he developed the ability to heal wounds faster than humanly possible, with both his bio and his short story "The Smoldering Coal" mentioning him healing cuts in mere seconds, to the surprise of those who witness it, the implication being that it's Aatrox infusing him with his Darkin Blood Magic to prepare Tryndamere for becoming his vessel. In game, it translates to his Battle Fury ability, which lets him consume all his accumulated Fury to heal.
Horny Vikings: His helmet in general evokes the horned look of your stereotypical Viking depiction, especially since the Freljord is inspired heavily by Scandinavian cultures. His Viking skin too features a horned helm, albeit made of gold.
I Shall Taunt You: Mocking Shout weakens nearby opponents and slows them if they're trying to run from him.
It Only Works Once: In Legends of Runeterra his Undying Rage ability to avoid death is represented by his level-up effect, automatically triggering the first time he would die. Since a Champion can only level up once in a game, if he dies after leveling up any further copies you bring out already start at level 2, meaning they can't avoid death themselves, although this isn't all that bad as he's considerably more powerful at level 2 than level 1.
Lightning Bruiser: As games go on, he will spin around moving toward you, tear you to pieces with his sword, and be temporarily unable to die, and probably be able to spin away straight through a wall when the enemy starts to give chase.
Magikarp Power: Tryndamere has two settings- "Liability to his team" and "Invincible". There is a small area in-between, but it is easily missed. A farmed Tryndamere is a split-push monster and is invincible one-on-one. A farmed and fed Tryndamere is the same, but even a full team may have trouble taking him out.
Marriage Before Romance: It was hinted before, and confirmed by his updated bio, which notes that his blood oath to Ashe was made out of praticality from both sides, but developed into genuine affection. Legends of Runeterra expands this further with his interactions with Ashe and vice-versa.
Not the Intended Use: He was envisioned as a strong frontline champion to dish out heavy damage and draw the enemy's attention from the rest of his team. More often than not he gets used as a strong split-pusher to take out towers away from where most of the action is. While counter-intuitive, he makes it work by being able to do it fast if he itemizes for it, plus having the option to either escape intervening enemies with Spinning Slash or just butcher them thanks to his handy ultimate. If coordinated well with the team, they might even be able to force the enemy into a terrible Morton's Fork by deciding who should be sent to stop the rampaging barbarian taking their lanes or the four-man team trying to contest an objective on the other side of the map.
No-Sell: The other thing about Undying Rage: It completely ignores any form of Crowd Control and can be activated at any time from when Tryndamere hits level 6. Stunned? He can activate Undying Rage. Knocked Up? He can activate Undying Rage. Slowed? Take a wild guess. Not even suppression or silence can stop him from using it.
Nothing Is Scarier: We are never told what exactly did he do to the Warmother that attacked him in his short story, "The Smoldering Coal". But the terror he instilled on the maiden who did witness it makes it obvious it's better we don't know.
One-Man Army: Becomes this once he gets enough of his build finished.
One-Handed Zweihänder: "My right arm is a lot stronger than my left arm!"
Proud Warrior Race Guy: Comes with the territory of being from Freljord.
Revenge: Both his old and reworked lore have him swearing vengeance on someone (Noxus and Aatrox, respectively) for killing off his tribe.
Reimagining the Artifact: Demonblade Tryndamere in the PC version of the game is a visual expy of Nightmare of Soulcalibur, featuring the barbarian king visually overtaken by a nondescript Evil Weapon. In Wild Rift, the skin was rebuilt from scratch with modern resources, and with the redesign of the Demonic Possession aesthetic (namely with the visceral black and red Bio-Armor and pulsating sword), the skin now makes Tryndamere appear to be halfway-possessed by a Darkin, similar to Kayn.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: The King Tryndamere skin emphasizes his royal status.
Schmuck Bait: Oh, where shall we begin?
- For starters, let's talk about his Fury and passive. Tryndamere's Fury has another purpose, besides being used to heal himself. He gains Critical Hit Chance as his fury builds. At 100 Fury, he has 40% Critical Hit Chance added to the total chance. No, go ahead, try and straight up brawl that healthy Tryndamere at match start, we're sure it'll go fine for you.
- His Ultimate Undying Rage. If he's Level 6, and charging straight at your team, he's not crazy or intending to feed your team, he's about to become a damn buzz-saw against you.
Screaming Warrior: Starts roaring when his Ultimate is activated. The icon for his Mocking Shout also has him screaming.
Skill Gate Characters: Tryndamere is a mechanically very simple champion that hinges around sword-slapping enemies with basic attacks for truckloads of critical hit damage, with a decent dash whose cooldown reduces from dealing crits and an ultimate that completely prevents him from dying, making him a complete nightmare duelist to deal with once he gets enough items by late game. However, you'll almost never see him in high-level or professional play because his early game is really sluggish, and being an almost complete stat-checker, he lacks any decisive abilities to help him really assert himself in order to get a snowball going on. He's also vastly more sensitive to matchups and counterpicks, as any champions that can outlast his damage with mobility, tankiness, and/or crowd control can make it impossible for him to find any footing throughout the game until it's too late.
Sole Survivor: It's not for nothing he's so rage-filled.
Spin Attack: Spinning Slash, Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
Surprisingly Sudden Death: Undying Rage must be manually activated by the player, so it's possible to kill him by bursting him down faster than they can react.
Sword Drag: How he walks around with his sword.
Taking You with Me: An guide for trolling your opponents in 9 easy steps!
Step 1: Challenge someone to an duel.
Step 2: Deal obscene amounts of damage to them with your high critical hit ratio.
Step 3: Press W to call them an chicken for running away from you.
Step 4: Repeat Step 2 as you get closer to death.
Step 5: Press R to flash them the middle finger as you refuse to die.
Step 6: Finish the job within the next 5 seconds.
Step 7: Get killed by one of your opponent's teammates.
Step 8: Wait two minutes for your Ult to recharge.
Step 9: Repeat Step 1 for infinite trolling.
Traumatic Superpower Awakening: He was a mighty warrior, sure, but his refusal to die and Unstoppable Rage came from his pure catharsis at his tribe dying and he himself being about to follow them.
Unstoppable Rage: Undying Rage makes it impossible to kill Tryndamere for five seconds. Even if you drain his entire health bar, he'll simply stay at 30/50/70 HP, depending on the rank of the ability. This is when Tryndamere is at his most dangerous, as he gains attack power for every percentage of health he's missing and extra critical strike rating the more Fury he has. For those five seconds, Tryndamere truly does become unstoppable.
Walking Shirtless Scene: He's a barbarian, of course he is.
Who's Laughing Now?: Bring a Tryndamere down to an inch from death? Start running, he's just getting started.
Why Won't You Die?: While Undying Rage is on, Tryndamere can ignore damage that should have killed him several times over. Only for five seconds, though.
You Fight Like A Chicken: Mocking Shout. The victim even has a chicken icon appear above their heads.

Twisted Fate, the Card Master

Tobias "Twisted Fate" Felix

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/twisted_fate_originalloading.jpg

"Lady Luck is smilin'."

Voiced by:
Owen Thomas (English/Original)
Ray Chase (English/Current, Tales of Runeterra-)
Miguel Zúñiga (European Spanish)
Víctor Covarrubias (Mexican Spanish)
Kenyū Horiuchi (Japanese)
Eduardo Dascar (Brazilian Portuguese)
Nak-Yoon Choi (Korean)
Alexander Gruzdev (Russian)
Appears In: Legends of Runeterra, Tales of Runeterra

"It's not gambling if you can't lose..."

Twisted Fate is an infamous cardsharp and swindler who has gambled and charmed his way across much of the known world, earning the enmity and admiration of the rich and foolish alike. He rarely takes things seriously, greeting each day with a mocking smile and an insouciant swagger. In every possible way, Twisted Fate always has an ace up his sleeve.

Twisted Fate is a Burst Mage champion who enhances his basic attacks with magical cards for various effects, and who is feared for his ability to teleport around the map to ambush enemies.

With his passive, Loaded Dice, Twisted Fate rolls his dice whenever he kills an enemy, gaining gold equal to the roll. Naturally, he has a higher chance of scoring a larger number.
His first ability, Wild Cards, throws three cards in a cone in the target direction, damaging enemies they pass through.
With his second ability, Pick a Card, Twister Fate chooses one of three cards and uses it to enhance his next basic attack:
- The Blue Card deals the most damage and restores mana.
- The Red Card deals medium damage to the target and surrounding enemies and slows them for a few seconds.
- The Gold Card deals the least damage and briefly stuns the target.
His third ability, Stacked Deck, passively grants Twisted Fate increased attack speed and causes his every fourth consecutive basic attack to deal bonus damage.
His ultimate ability, Destiny, predicts the fortunes of Twisted Fate's foes, revealing the location of all enemy champions on the map for a few seconds. While this effect is activate, Twisted Fate can reactivate the ability to use Gate, channeling for a short duration before teleporting to any location in a huge radius around him.

Twisted Fate's alternate skins include PAX 2009 Twisted Fate, Jack of Hearts Twisted Fate, The Magnificent Twisted Fate, Tango Twisted Fate, High Noon Twisted Fate, Musketeer Twisted Fate, Underworld Twisted Fate, Red Card Twisted Fate, and Cutpurse Twisted Fate, Blood Moon Twisted Fate, Pulsefire Twisted Fate, Odyssey Twisted Fate, Damwon Twisted Fate, Crime City Nightmare Twisted Fate, and Space Groove Twisted Fate. Wild Rift exclusively includes Stargazer Twisted Fate and Glorious Armada Twisted Fate.

In season 1 of Teamight Tactics, Twisted Fate is a Tier 2 Pirate Sorcerer. His Pick a Card ability empowers his next attack with bonus damage and a randomly chosen effect - Blue Card restores mana to him and nearby allies, Gold Card stuns the target, and Red Card damages all foes adjacent to them. He was removed in season 2. He returns in season 3 using his Pulsefire Twisted Fate skin as a 1 cost Chrono Sorcerer, now with his Wild Cards ability which tosses three cards in a cone that deal magic damage to each enemy they pass through. In season 4, he retains the same cost and ability as a Cultist Mage using his Blood Moon skin. He was removed in season 5, returning in season 6 again with his cost and ability from seasons 3 and 4 using his Crime City Nightmare Twisted Fate skin as a Syndicate Arcanist. He was removed in the Neon Nights mid-set update, returning to his Pulsefire Twisted Fate skin in season 8's Glitched Out!! mid-set update as a Tier 4 InfiniTeam Duelist Spellslinger. With his It's Time to Duel! ability, he draws a starting number of cards increasing with his star level and empowers his basic attacks to each draw an additional card for a few seconds. Once the duration expires, Twisted Fate rapidly throws all his drawn cards, each dealing magic damage to a nearby enemy, with the final card being a red card that deals increased damage in an area around the target. He was initially removed in season 9, but returns in the Horizonbound mid-set update using his base skin as a Tier 2 Bilgewater Multicaster. His Stacked Deck ability throws a hand of cards that deals magic damage to his current target, then explodes after a brief delay, dealing additional damage around the target. In season 10, he uses his Space Groove Twisted Fate skin and is a Tier 4 Disco Dazzler. His Hustle & Shuffle ability has him throw a number of cards increasing with his bonus attack speed evenly spread amongst his current target and the three nearest enemies, each card dealing magic damage and shredding 1 magic resist for the rest of combat.

In Legends of Runeterra, Twisted Fate is a 4-mana 2/2 Bilgewater Champion with Quick Attack who casts a Destiny Card of your choice when he's played- Blue Card refills 1 Spell Mana and draws a card, Red Card hits all enemy units and the Nexus for 1 damage, and Gold Card hits the strongest enemy unit for 2 damage and stuns it. When he sees you draw 9 or more cards he levels up, gaining +1/+1 and automatically casting one of his Destiny cards again (in the order Blue, Red, Gold) the first three times each round that you play another card. His signature spell is Twisted Fate's Pick A Card.

The Ace: TF learned cards at an early age, the skills eventually contributing to his legendary gambling skills.
Tobias took to the high-stakes game of Krakenhand like an old master. He could almost feel each card's place in the deck, and follow their movements through each successive hand. He was often accused of cheating, but it was difficult for anyone to explain exactly how.
Amazing Technicolor Population: His older model had light-blue skin.
Ambiguously Bi: In old versions of his lore he dated Evelynn. In the current lore, he's lifelong partners-in-crime with Graves and realizes he has feelings for him in "The Boys and Bombolini". Vi even calls Graves his "better half", which is the term usually reserved for one's spouse.
Badass Longcoat: Wears one.
Beat Them at Their Own Game: Per Fate's own joke, he's never lost a fair game. And per Legends of Runeterra, legend has that he has lost a game once. Meaning that of all the card charps, swindlers, cheats, and general inhabitants of Bilgewater, Tobias has consistently - bar that one time - been the better card sharp and outwitted each and every one of them.
Battle Couple: Cons and fights alongside his partner Graves. After a long stint of antagonism following a botched scheme and miscommunication, they've reconciled.
Birds of a Feather: He and Graves recognized each other as kindred spirits on their very first meeting.
Each immediately saw in the other the same reckless passion for danger and adventure, and together they formed a most lucrative partnership. Between Graves’ raw brawn and Twisted Fate’s brains, they were an unusually effective team from the outset. Their mutual sense of roguish honor grew into genuine trust, and together they stole from the rich, swindled the foolish, handpicked skilled crews for specific jobs, and sold out their rivals whenever they could.
Boring, but Practical: Oddly for a mage, Twisted Fate has only one damage-dealing skillshot, with his other two normal abilities being steroids to his basic attacks (one of which is a passive), and his ultimate is based solely in utility over direct firepower. Despite this barebones structure, the actual alchemy of his kit makes him incredibly efficient at waveclear, sustain, and map pressure, and while he's not built to last well in extended teamfights come late game, the power of Gold Card-boosted autos (one of the last remaining instances of a ranged point-and-click stun in the game) on key targets cannot be overstated.
Born Lucky: The general opinion of him. It's hard to know whether he would agree.
Bottomless Magazines: In-universe, he can't do any magic unless he has at least one card as a focus, but he never runs out in actual gameplay. Destiny and Fate suggests that this is normally the case in-universe as well and TF's deck can generate more cards when required.
Card Sharp: Twisted Fate met Graves in a high-stakes card-game when they both showed four aces for their final hand. His emotes also make note of this:
"Never lost a fair game... or played one."
"'Cheater' is just a fancy word for 'winner'."
"Only a fool plays the hand he's dealt."
Cards of Power: Obviously. Twisted Fate's are a family heirloom and are specifically described as old magic. Without him having one to focus on, he can't cast magic at all, though it's unclear if the cards are magic or if they are only magical for him. In the cinematic "Double Double Cross," neither Miss Fortune nor Graves could make the cards glow when they touched them, but Sentinel Graves uses a blue card to teleport away in his death animation.
Cassandra Truth: Played for Laughs in Don't Mess With Yordles. He repeatedly warns Graves that Yordles are more trouble than they're worth. Graves doesn't listen and eventually gets turned into a frog.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: See that card above TF's head? Its color tells you exactly what his next auto attack will do to you. Blue? He gets the mana cost refunded and then some. Red? He'll slow and damage everyone in a small area. Gold? You're completely stunned for a short duration as he and/or his teammates wail on you.
Consummate Liar: He claims to have never lost a fair game... or played one.
Cowboy: Wears cowboy boots, wears a hat of a similar shape to the stereotypical Cowboy hat, has a Texan-like accent, and some Western-esque lines.
Crutch Character: Needs to (and certainly can) finish games early, as his strength later on for head-on fights without a significant advantage is not nearly as good as most other champions.
Curtains Match the Window: The Double Double Cross cinematic shows that when he's not using magic his eyes are the same brown as his hair.
The Dandy: Clearly a man who likes his fancy clothes. In the "Burning Tides" story, he actually pauses in mid-escape to lament how his priceless boots are going to be ruined.
Death Dealer: He fights by channeling his magic into playing cards.
Defog of War: One of the few champions capable of doing so, and his is global.
Despair Event Horizon: Hits it in Burning Tides when he and Graves are about to be killed by Gangplank and he thinks they're going to die unreconciled. Fortunately, Graves sees he was wrong and slips TF a card, allowing him to save them both.
Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: He and Graves steal a beast-commanding crown from a powerful sea witch in Destiny and Fate, leading to the events of Double-Double Cross.
Difficult, but Awesome: On a purely mechanical level, Twisted Fate is actually one of the easiest and most comprehensible champions to pick up. However, he's considered difficult to actually play as his greater power comes from immense map pressure; his Destiny/Gate teleport has immense potential value in allowing him to gank and secure kills for his allies in different lanes, but players need to be constantly aware of the minimap to know when and where to go in without getting punished for it. TF players also need to hone their reflexes to ensure that they get the right card at the right time — there are few bigger faux pas in the game than teleporting into a vulnerable position for a crucial Gold Card stun, only to accidentally pick an impotent Blue Card and getting yourself killed.
Dirty Coward: In his youth he was exiled after hiding from pursuers, who took it out on his home community when they couldn't find him. Graves also thought this of TF when he fled to save his own skin, even though the fight was hopeless.
Embarrassing First Name: "Burning Tides" suggests that he's been "T.F." to just about everyone since he left home, with very few (Graves being one) knowing his given name of "Tobias".
Enemy Mine: Graves returned to Bilgewater after years in prison to exact revenge on Twisted Fate, only for their feud to blow up a warehouse owned by Gangplank. The two are only able to survive by putting aside their differences and working together.
Eye-Obscuring Hat: His hat covers his eyes in most of his splash arts.
Fantastic Racism: He and his people were ostracized for their unique traditions, only being tolerated for economic reasons.
Tolerated for the exotic goods they peddled, but shunned for their strange traditions, his people found only short welcomes wherever they berthed their colorful river barques. His elders would shrug, and say this was just the way of the world... but the obvious prejudice always stuck in Tobias' craw.
Foil: To his partner Graves: Graves is an attack-damage scaling ranged-carry whose kit encourages getting into your enemies' face as much as possible and his passive makes him naturally hardier than other carries to facilitate aggression. Twisted Fate is an ability-power scaling ranged-assassin whose kit makes him poor for head-on fights against most other champions, encouraging you to stay away from enemies almost all of the time save for when you can place yourself in a position where you have a significant numbers/health advantage, likely with his ultimate, and he's a rather standout example in the League for the Glass part of Glass Cannon.
Fortune Teller: To predict you're gonna die very soon at his hands. Or know that you've got healthy friends nearby, so he isn't going to go and die at yours. In his lore, his family was a nomadic clan that consisted of fortune tellers, which was where he learned his abilities.
The Gambler: Doesn't exactly gamble anymore, but he certainly evokes the trope with his use of cards, as well as his jokes. Given his joke about "never playing a fair game", it was likely never exactly gambling for him. His Loaded Dice passive gives him a random amount of gold from 1-6 when he gets the last hit on anything, with Riot emphasizing that "Naturally, it will skew toward the higher amounts".
Glass Cannon: He takes hits like a kleenex and his kit doesn't really encourage making himself able to take more.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: His in-game model in League features eyes with glowing teal-blue with no pupils. In current canon and Wild Rift, his eyes appear perfectly normal and only glow while focusing on his magic, so this design element is only an artifact of early design (with early Rioters admitting that realistic eyes were hard to draw).
Green-Eyed Monster: In “The Boys and Bombolini”, it is revealed the Twisted Fate was jealous of Graves' partnership with Vayne during the Ruination, despite knowing that Graves isn't attracted to women, and of his past flings with other men.
Hat Damage: Referenced by one of his attack lines.
"Nobody touches the hat."
Homoerotic Subtext:
- He and Graves have a close partnership and are prone to couple-like bickering. Word of God states that they were originally conceived as a gay couple before that detail was scrapped, but there are still hints of dialogue that suggest otherwise. They seem to be all but confirmed as of 2022, headlining the Pride Month event with emotes featuring the pair.
  Vi: Fate! Where's your better half?
- Legends Of Runeterra sneaks some hints in too.
  Miss Fortune: Hey TF, how's the partner?
  Twisted Fate: Pretty good. Quit smokin'.
Hope Spot: Many players have experienced making a successful getaway with low health... then the visual indicator from Destiny signifying "you are visible" comes right before the enemy Twisted Fate arrives to finish them off.
Irony:
- He's a conman who betrayed his friend, now in the League with one of the most coordination and team-reliant gameplay amongst mage characters. Of course, once his lore was edited so that the 'betrayal' was just getting out of a teamfight that was going south...
- Even though Twisted Fate lived on a river, he is unable to swim.
Ironic Name: His birth name is Tobias, the Greek version of the Hebrew biblical name "Toviyah", meaning "the goodness of God".
Know When to Fold 'Em: During his and Graves' last raid together, the deal went wrong and Graves wanted to fight it out with the law. TF decided to hightail it out of there and left Graves, expecting backup, at their mercy.
Lampshade Hanging: Gold Card is usually the most dangerous card for enemy players to be hit with, rendering them temporarily helpless for its duration. This is what Twisted Fate may say upon selecting it... You can tell his voice is just dripping with sarcasm.
Lucky them.
Like an Old Married Couple: Double Double Cross portrays him and Graves as inseparable but prone to childish bickering. Vi in Legends of Runeterra even calls Graves Fate's better half.. Fate likewise gets on Graves's case when the latter tries to collect bounties on some yordles.
TF: Well, by arrangement we always split fifty-fifty.
Graves: Now hold up, seventy-thirty!
TF: What are you talking about!?
Graves: Not the time, but I'm pretty I just saved you again!
[The two ignore Miss Fortune while they bicker, giving her time to get away]
Love Epiphany: After surviving the fight against Bombolini and his mercenaries, Twisted Fate has a moment where he notices he's attracted to Graves' features and is jealous of his past relationships. This makes him realize he has romantic feelings for his partner-in-crime, which he proceeds to awkwardly deny alongside said partner.
Magicians Are Wizards: His Legendary skin, The Magnificent Twisted Fate, which depicts him as a Stage Magician.
Mating Dance: He shares a Tango skin with Evelynn.
Meaningful Rename: After Graves was captured, he started calling himself Twisted Fate.
My Greatest Failure: His attempt to rescue Graves from the Locker, a highly-secured prison, ended with the entire crew he put together dead. He decided to start from scratch, disowning his birth name Tobias Felix, and accepting the moniker "Twisted Fate".
Outlaw Couple: He and Graves have been conning and thieving across Runeterra for years, all with a deep mutual trust and friendship keeping them going.
Poor Communication Kills: Graves' hatred of him all comes from a misunderstanding; he saw an impossible fight with the law and fled to live another day while Graves got captured. Later, Fate tries to break Graves out of prison, but it costs him their entire crew and the attempt fails. He only gets to explain his side of the story after Graves gets out himself and is hellbent on killing him for his perceived betrayal.
Prison Escape Artist: Nobody's ever been truly able to keep in in bars on account of his magic and ability to teleport.
Indeed, he was imprisoned with great fanfare too many times to count, yet no cell ever seemed able to hold him for long; Twisted Fate was always gone gone with morning's light, leaving only a mocking calling card to confirm he had ever been there at all.
Queer Establishing Moment: After years of Homoerotic Subtext and internal conflicts among Riot management, TF and Graves received full-on confirmation of being a male-loving-male couple during Pride Month 2022. On top of being featured on several Pride cosmetics (one of them baring a direct reference to Brokeback Mountain), as well as this artwork of the two hanging out on a literal gay ship, the short story "The Boys and the Bombolini" was also released, explicitly confirming them to have romantic feelings for one another, and implying they will become a couple.
Rebel Relaxation: Done by him in his classic splash art.
Redemption Equals Life: In "Burning Tides," after Graves slips him one last chance to escape death by drowning, TF chooses to go back into to sea to save him. This puts both of them safely underwater when Gangplank's ship explodes — and TF needs Graves to save him very shortly afterward (see Super Drowning Skills, below).
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The snarky and laidback Blue to Graves' more straightforward and boisterous Red.
Remember That You Trust Me: In the short story Destiny and Fate, Graves is still on the fence about trusting Twisted Fate again after Burning Tides. It takes TF several gestures, including handing Graves the crown they were stealing for safekeeping, to convince him he's worthy of trust and won't simply take off at the soonest opportunity.
Resource Reimbursement: Draw a Card allows him to pull one of three different cards to enhance his basic attacks, one of which (the Blue Card) deals slight bonus damage and restores a chunk of his mana, usually more than what it costs to cast the ability.
Required Secondary Powers: Destiny/Gate mandates very good map awareness to make the full use of it since perfect opportunities to gank a lane or cut off a fleeing enemy can come and go within moments. It also requires a good sense of judgement on his player's part as to when to use it, including predicting what the situation will look like when he actually gets there, since the difference between him making a Big Damn Heroes entrance and him teleporting into nothing (or worse, a highly dangerous situation for him) can be just a few seconds. Acclaimed multiple-title world champion "Faker" believes that every aspiring AP mid player should learn to play Twisted Fate first to develop a keen map awareness to use when playing other champions.
Retcon: In his very first lore in alpha, he was stated to be from a Romani-esque community of the Serpentine River, but this was changed in beta to him being Demacian-born, operating around it and Noxus before partaking in an experiment in Zaun that gave him magic powers. In 2015, his origins were relocated back to the Serpentine, now making him much closer to and setting much more of his background in Bilgewater, as well as now making it so he always knew how to practice magic.
The Rival: To Graves, though Twisted seems to think he's a mark above his former companion. As of Burning Tides the two are together again, albeit not without some bickering.
Screw This, I'm Out of Here!:
- His friendship with Graves didn't keep him from leaving him behind when their last raid went belly-up, though to be fair it was Graves who wanted to pick a fight with the law instead of getting out in the first place.
- In the cinematic Don't Mess With Yordles, TF refuses to get involved with Graves' plans to capture and sell yordles, calling them ticking time bombs. He does come back to collect a polymorphed Graves in a box, however.
Ship Tease: In Legends of Runeterra Vi asks Fate where his "better half" is in reference to Graves. TF answers candidly.
Twisted Fate: Pretty good! Quit smoking.
- The tease is later confirmed when the 2022 Pride emotes reveal that he and Graves are a romantic couple.
Signature Headgear: He's never without his signature cowboy-style hat; he calls it "Envy". Almost every skin builds its aestethic around his choice of headgear.
Spider-Sense: In lore, some of his cards work this way, giving him a vague sense of danger or the supernatural.
Stage Magician: The Magnificent Twisted Fate.
Stage Name: Twisted Fate's original first name, Tobias, was revealed during the Burning Tides event. His last name, Felix, was later revealed in the High Noon canon and his backstory.
Super Drowning Skills: As stated previously, despite growing up on a river, he somehow never learned how to swim.
Tarot Motifs: His deck of cards in Double Double Cross is styled more after Tarot cards than a regular deck of playing cards. His Red Card seems to have a dagger drawn on it, similar to the sword suit, while his Blue Card depicts a man in a similar pose to The Magician. In Destiny and Fate his cards flat out transform to depict future dangers.
That Man Is Dead: He abandoned his birth name in favor of his new one, Twisted Fate.
...seeking to begin again, he returned his birth name to the river's waters, and took another: Twisted Fate.
Theme Naming: Twisted Fate's ultimate is named Destiny. Graves' shotgun had the same name, at least until he lost it in the sea (he names his new shotgun "New Destiny").
Title Drop: Twisted Fate's lines after casting his ultimate, Destiny.
"It ain't luck, it's Destiny."
"No fightin' Destiny."
Tragic Keepsake: His deck of cards was inherited from his grandfather and is the only piece of his family he has left after he was exiled from his community.
True Sight: His ultimate gives him vision of all enemy champions, so visible or not, You Can't Fight Fate as you try to make your getaway.
Unequal Rites: Twisted Fate's magic is repeatedly described as "old" or "strange" despite the abundance of other, very powerful magic in Runeterra.
Visual Pun: In Tango Twisted Fate and Evelynn's splash art, just as Evelynn is ready to use Allure to charm him, Twisted Fate has a Gold Card out, ready to stun her.
Weaksauce Weakness: Without his cards he is nearly useless, as he loses his ability to channel magic.
We Used to Be Friends:
- With Graves, as coordinated swindlers, and Card Sharps, until a raid went wrong and TF fled when Graves wanted to fight it out, resulting in Graves' imprisonment. Graves interpreted this as betrayal and has been hunting TF ever since. That said, by the end of Act 3 of the Bilgewater Event they're partners again. Funny what nearly getting blown up and escaping together can do to mend old friendships.

Twitch, the Plague Rat

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/twitch_originalloading8.jpg

"What doesn't kill you just isn't finished yet."

Voiced by:
Doug Boyd (English)
Lorenzo Beteta (European Spanish)
Ricardo Tejedo (Mexican Spanish)
Koji Ochiai (Japanese)
José Leonardo (Brazilian Portuguese)
Seo-Jin Park (Korean)
Dmitry Filimonov (Russian)

"They threw this away? But it’s so shiny!"

A Zaunite plague rat by birth, but a connoisseur of filth by passion, Twitch is not afraid to get his paws dirty. Aiming a chem-powered crossbow at the gilded heart of Piltover, he has vowed to show those in the city above just how filthy they really are. Always a sneaky sneak, when he’s not rooting around in the Sump, he’s digging deep into other people’s garbage for discarded treasures… and perhaps a moldy sandwich.

Twitch is a Marksman champion who ambushes enemies from the shadows and decimates close-knit teams by skewering through them with a barrage of poisoned crossbow bolts.

His passive, Deadly Venom, causes Twitch's basic attacks to infect his targets with a deadly poison for a few seconds, dealing true damage-over-time and stacking up to six times.
His first ability, Ambush, camouflages Twitch for a long duration, making him invisible except when close to an enemy champion or turret. While stealthed, he gains increased movement speed when moving towards enemy champions, and upon breaking stealth he gains an attack speed bonus for a few seconds. The ability's cooldown is reduced whenever an enemy champion dies while afflicted by Deadly Venom.
With his second ability, Venom Cask, Twitch hurls a bottle of poison to a target location, infecting enemies inside with a stack of Deadly Venom. The vial then leaves behind a cloud of poisonous gas at that location for a few seconds that continuously slows and applies additional Deadly Venom stacks to enemies inside it.
With his third ability, Contaminate, Twitch damages all enemies afflicted by Deadly Venom in a huge radius around him, with the damage increasing depending on the number of Deadly Venom stacks on each target.
His ultimate ability, Spray And Pray, enhances Twitch's basic attacks for a few seconds, granting him increased attack damage and attack range, and making his basic attacks turn into piercing shots that damage no only their target but all enemies they pass through, dealing reduced damage to enemies beyond the first.

Twitch's alternate skins include Crime City Twitch, Kingpin Twitch, Whistler Village Twitch, Medieval Twitch, Vandal Twitch, Pickpocket Twitch, SSW Twitch, Omega Squad Twitch, Ice King Twitch, Twitch Shadowfoot, Dragonslayer Twitch, High Noon Twitch, and Cheddar Chief Twitch.

In season 2 of Teamfight Tactics, Twitch is a Tier 4 Poison Ranger. His ability is Spray and Pray, which causes his attacks for the next few seconds to gain additional damage and infinite range and pierce through all enemies in their way. He was removed in season 3, returning in season 6 as a Tier 1 Chemtech Assassin. His new ability, Piercing Bolt, fires a bolt towards his target that deals bonus percent attack damage and bonus physical damage to all enemies it passes through, while also reducing their healing for a few seconds. In season 7, he uses his Twitch Shadowfoot skin and is a Tier 2 Guild Swiftshot. His new Blast Potion ability throws an explosive flask that deals physical damage to enemies in an area around his target and shreds a percentage of their armor for a few seconds. His unique Guild bonus grants his team bonus attack speed. He was removed in season 8, returning in season 10 using his Vandal Twitch skin as a Tier 2 Punk Executioner. His Bottled Anarchy ability throws a bottle that deals physical damage in a 1-hex radius before splitting into 6 shards that each deals magic damage to a random enemy within 2 hexes. The number of shards is increased by one for every enemy that was critically struck by the initial bottle throw.

Automatic Crossbows: So very much. He has one of the most generous attack speeds in the game, and can buff that further when he breaks his stealth. In the VU, his Medieval skin wields a crossbow designed after a real life automatic crossbow.
Big Eater: He loves eating any rotten food that finds its way into the sewer. Listen to what he says when he buys a Last Whisper.
My last whisper will be... maggot pie. Ooh...
Breakout Character: A variation. Twitch was only moderately popular throughout most of league. After his visual update to his model, sounds, and spell effects, he's become one of the most popular ADCs, and has started seeing extended use in the professional scene. What's truly remarkable is that people used him, so his true power was discovered, and many think he might be overpowered (He is the only champion besides Rengar who can assassinate from extended stealth, and his stealth isn't an ultimate), even though the visual update changed nothing about his actual abilities or their numbers.
Bottomless Magazines: Invoked.
"Plenty more where that came from! Seriously, I carry a lot of ammo."
Bullet Hell: Has a high Attack Speed growth. Combined with a few items, and his Ambush, and Spray And Pray, and he can decimate entire teams.
Eyepatch of Power: Kingpin Twitch.
Goggles Do Nothing: Even if they're intended to be used while in the sewers, one of his lens is cracked open, so they probably wouldn't work anyway.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: In his very first artwork.
Green Is Gross: An overgrown sapient rat that fights with a crossbow shooting sewage, thus his outfit and poison effects are all a bright green, and he's designed to look appealingly ugly and somewhat unhinged, with his lanky proportions and bulging eyes.
Hypocritical Humor: His old taunt is simply this, saying "You smell terrible!"
Improbable Aiming Skills: Many of his quotes imply he has a hard time seeing in the sunlight, unlike the darkness of the sewers. And his eyes are on the side of his head. And has to constantly remind himself to aim, THEN shoot. It's no wonder his ultimate is called Spray and Pray.
Stand still! My eyes are on the side of my head!
Laughing Mad: Players of Twitch will notice he just seems to titter and giggle a lot while you're going about your playing. And when you activate his ultimate, it gets even crazier.
Leaning on the Fourth Wall: His Visual update gave him several lines that reference memes about the game, or related to it.
Randomly said with a movement order: "Who's following me?"^Explanation
Taunting a nearby enemy Singed: "Oohoohoo, Singed! You smell nice!" "I have this uncontrollable urge to follow you." "I see why everyone chases you."^Explanation
Random taunt: "I hear you're trash! Bow before your king!"^Explanation
Life-or-Limb Decision: Invoked, then hilariously subverted, when he gets caught in one of Caitlyn's traps.
"Now I have to gnaw my leg off... Oh, no, I'm good."
Magikarp Power: His early game is not too particularly impressive, relying heavily on an enemy being overconfident and not paying attention to their Deadly Venom stacks, and some hard crowd controls from a support. He also has low health, even by Marksman standards. However, once he gets some levels, his Deadly Venom starts putting out more damage. Combine a Blade of the Ruined King, a Runaan's Hurricane, and some items to increase his damage, surprise the enemy with his Ambush, and pop his ultimate, and he becomes a team-slaying nightmare for the other team, using his Contaminate to finish anyone trying to retreat, or put significant damage akin to a Mage AoE.
Master Poisoner: Creates various poisons, and highly toxic materials to harm others. In-game, his basic attacks poison the enemy, his Venom Cask adds stacks of said poison, his Spray And Pray allows hitting multiple enemies with each basic attack for building stacks during team fights, and his Contaminate puts out damage dependent on how many Deadly Venom stacks the enemy has.
The Mafia: Crime City Twitch, complete with a pin-striped suit and a tommy gun instead of a crossbow.
Not the Intended Use: While Twitch is clearly designed as a ranged physical DPS carry champion, his Deadly Venom scales strongly with Ability Power. This leads to the creation of an alternate hit-and-run playstyle focused around applying and reapplying Deadly Venom as much as possible to burn the enemy down with True Damage and the burst from Contaminate.
Odd Friendship: He's listed as being friends with Zac. Probably because he reminds Twitch of home.
The Pig-Pen: He's perpetually surrounded by a thick cloud of flies and green fog. How he manages to sneak around so well is anyone's guess.
"I dealt it! It was me!!"
Plaguemaster: His voice lines make him out to be a rat who loves everything about plague and rot, including eating long-expired foods.
"Don't trust any liquid you can see through."
Poisoned Weapons: He lives and breathes the idea, using Deadly Venom as his passive, applied from his crossbow's autoattacks and flinging his Venom Cask ability.
Pun: His ultimate. Originally, it was Spray and Pray, and following his 2014 visual update, it was changed to Rat-ta-tat-tat. Most players still referred to the ability as Spray and Pray, mainly because the pun is just that bad, and Riot eventually decided to switch it back years later in agreement.
Single Specimen Species: If there are other mutated rats like him, we haven't seen them yet.
The Sneaky Guy: He's much more based around stealth and ambushing enemies than other marksmen, with his basic engagement pattern being "go under stealth, wait until the enemy gets distracted, then pop out to pump as much venom as you can into them."
Stealth Expert: He skulks around the shadows, unseen by the enemy, although, because his stealth is classified specifically as Camouflage, he's revealed to enemies when he gets within smelling distance.
"I'll be right under their noses."
Stealth Hi/Bye: In his VU, whenever he's revealed out of Ambush.
"Oh, hello! Huhahahahaa!"
Technicolor Toxin: Green.
Trademark Favorite Food: Anything rotten or spoiled, but especially moldy cheese.
"I'm a connoisseur of the finer things!"
You Dirty Rat!: Poisonous, smelly, and completely out of his gourd.

Udyr, the Spirit Walker

See his page for more info

Urgot, the Dreadnought

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/urgotloadscreen.png

"You cannot know strength until you are broken."

Voiced by:
Unknown (English/Original)
Paul M. Guyet (English/Current)
Miguel Ayones (European Spanish/Original)
Richard del Olmo (European Spanish/Current)
Mario Castañeda (Mexican Spanish/Original)
Sebastián Llapur (Mexican Spanish/Current)
Taketora (Japanese)
Flávio Back (Brazilian Portuguese/Original)
Márcio Dondi (Brazilian Portuguese/Current)
Gu-In Go (Korean)
Alexey Rozin (Russian)

"There is only one way to measure a man. Tear him... into... pieces."

Once a powerful Noxian headsman, Urgot was betrayed by the empire for which he had killed so many. Bound in iron chains, he was forced to learn the true meaning of strength in the Dredge—a prison mine deep beneath Zaun. Emerging in a disaster that spread chaos throughout the city, he now casts an imposing shadow over its criminal underworld. Raising his victims on the very chains that once enslaved him, he will purge his new home of the unworthy, making it a crucible of pain.

Urgot is a Juggernaut champion who thrives in close-quarters brawls, strafing around his enemies and wearing them down before reeling them in for a gruesome execution.

His passive, Echoing Flames, causes each of Urgot's six mechanical legs to release a shotgun blast of flame when Urgot attacks an enemy in that leg's direction, damaging enemies in a cone based on their max health. Each leg has a separate cooldown, needing to reload before firing again.
His first ability, Corrosive Charge, fires an exploding canister at a target location, damaging and slowing enemies inside.
With his second ability, Purge, Urgot begins rapidly firing his machine-gun at the closest enemy for a few seconds, dealing heavy damage to them over the duration; while in this state Urgot moves at reduced speed, but becomes resistant to other slows and can move through units. These machine-gun attacks can trigger his Echoing Flames passive, and will prioritize targeting enemy champions recently damaged by Urgot's other abilities. At max rank, Purge becomes a toggled ability that can be kept active permanently at no cost.
With his third ability, Disdain, Urgot gains a shield based on his max health and dashes a short distance in a target direction, damaging and knocking aside enemies in his path. Upon hitting an enemy champion, Urgot will stop the dash, briefly stunning the target while he grabs them and tosses them behind himself.
His ultimate ability, Fear Beyond Death, fires a drill in a target direction that impales the first enemy champion it hits, damaging, revealing and slowing them for a few seconds. If that enemy falls below a certain health threshold while impaled by the drill, Urgot can reactivate the ability to launch chains at them, incapacitating the target while pulling them towards him. If he successfully drags the target to him, Urgot will grind them to bits, executing them and horrifying other nearby enemies, forcing them to flee from Urgot at reduced speed for a short duration.

Urgot's alternate skins are Giant Enemy Crabgot, Butcher Urgot, Battlecast Urgot, High Noon Urgot, Pajama Guardian Cosplay Urgot, and Fright Night Urgot. Wild Rift exclusively includes Mecha Urgot.

In season 3 of Teamfight Tactics, Urgot was added in the Return to the Stars mid-set update using his Battlecast Urgot skin as a 5 cost Battlecast Protector. His ability is Fear Beyond Death, which fires a drill at the farthest enemy in Urgot's attack range and reels them toward him. Once his target reaches him, Urgot continuously deals a massive amount of unblockable true damage to them until they die. The ability's mana cost is reduced every time it successfully executes an enemy. He was removed in season 4, returning in season 6 using his base skin as a Tier 4 Chemtech Twinshot. His new ability, Purge, has Urgot rapidly fire at the nearest enemy at a fixed rate increasing with his star level for a few seconds. Each shot deals physical damage that scales with both Urgot's attack damage and attack speed. He was removed in the Neon Nights mid-set update, returning in season 8 using his Giant Enemy Crabgot skin as a Tier 5 Threat. His Undertow ability passively empowers his basic attacks to rapidly fire at a fixed rate, dealing modified damage. On activation, Urgot summons a giant wave that crashes towards him from behind the enemy's side of the board, dealing percent max health magic damage to all enemies hit, knocking them forward by 1 hex and briefly stunning them. Each cast also has a chance of dredging up treasure chests containing loot for Urgot's player. For the final patch of season 8, he briefly gained the Star Guardian origin and his skin was changed to Pajama Guardian Cosplay Urgot. In season 9, he returns to using his base skin as a Tier 4 Zaun Deadeye. His Disdain ability passively causes each of his six mechanical legs to fire a cone-shaped blast whenever an enemy enters his attack range from that leg's direction, dealing physical damage to enemies in the area, with each leg having its own separate cooldown. On activation, Urgot gains a shield and dashes behind his current target, resetting all of his legs' cooldowns. He was removed along with the Deadeye class in the Horizonbound mid-set update, returning in season 10 using his High Noon Urgot skin as a Tier 3 Country Mosher. His Fire from his Fingertips ability modifies his basic attacks for several seconds, converting all bonus attack speed into attack damage, causing them to deal increased damage in a cone, and shielding Urgot for a percentage of the damage dealt.

Animal Motif: Spiders; his followers tattoo themselves and graffiti a spider-like symbol everywhere to spread his name. The multiple pairs of legs are another clear signifier.
Arch-Enemy: Swain. He's determined to return to Noxus and exact his revenge on the man who sold him out.
Urgot: I will not kneel to a deceiver.
Swain: If you plan on listing my crimes mind you do not die of asphyxiation.
Arm Cannon: Has a heavy-looking rifle built into his right arm that he uses for most of his attacks.
Armed Legs: Those giant crab legs aren't just for show; each one is armed with a shotgun, and when triggered, each one fires an impressive shotgun blast that tears through enemies at close range.
Ascended Meme: Pajama Guardian Urgot is Riot's response to a long-time Running Gag about a Star Guardian Urgot skin.
Badass Boast: Urgot's tactics and abilities are frightening, but its his quotes that bring his monstrous character to life.
"Raise them up on chains, Zaun will see my message!"
"Cast into a pit of despair, I climbed out on the corpses."
"Controlling them will be simple... with my hand around their throats!"
- Even Karthus gets in on it.
Karthus: (taunting a nearby enemy Urgot) Abomination, you have cheated death too long.
Urgot: (in response) Death. Could not. Break me.
Balance Buff: Before his 2017 relaunch, Urgot was infamous for being perhaps the most muddled champion Riot had ever designed, a bizarre mix of tank, ranged DPS, and caster mage elements that never sensibly cohered and when strong was known mostly for being obnoxious to deal with — if Noxian Corrosive Charge landed on an enemy, Urgot could fire basic attacks (which thanks to his passive, reduced his opponent's damage) and instantly lock on missiles from afar with no counterplay. The VGU went out of its way to salvage his "ranged juggernaut" potential into something that could actually work, resulting in the terrifying mid-ranged, positioning-heavy, shotgun-knee'd beast we know and fear today.
Bald of Evil: While its unknown on whether Urgot became bald due to his imprisonment, its relatively clear that he started his extremist paths there.
Belly Mouth: Not as noticeable as other examples. However, it definitely will be once it opens, deploys an oversized meatgrinder, and fires chains that drag his unfortunate target in for a shredding.
Body Horror: Even before his visual update, Urgot was always rooted in grotesque body horror, having been crudely stapled together as a half-machine zombie. While not undead anymore, he still has very painful-looking signifiers of his augmentations. Beyond the fact that he's removed parts of himself to become a six-legged weapons platform, there is also noticeable disfigurement on what's left of his original body, from the swollen tissue on his remaining arm to the deep scars on his face. Even worse, its implied that the metal rig attached to him is bolted on, which just brings up even more horrific implications on what's underneath all that cast iron. Brought up in the story "Child Of Zaun"
“How much of him can we remove before he dies?” Cait asks me, loud enough for the Dreadnought to hear. “I bet most of him.”
Cardboard Prison: After being foiled by Vi and Caitlyn in "Child Of Zaun", Urgot is locked away in a Piltovian Alcatraz off the coast. The end of the story implies he's not gonna be there for long. Even Vi takes note of it.
Vi: Urgot didn’t look like a prisoner to me. He looked like a spider, waiting patiently in his web.
- His followers indeed raided the prison and released him from his containment capsule as early as the "Warriors Season 2020", although Caitlyn and Vi appeared to foil his breakout and we don't get to see whether or not he got away before the music video ended.
Chaos Is Evil: An extremely brutal and horrific Social Darwinist who sees any form of order as an oppression of what he deems strong enough to be worthy of survival, and will challenge those with horrific violence should they oppose him.
Characterization Marches On: As originally envisioned, Urgot was characterized primarily by grotesque horror; a viscerally-mangled monster of a man enduring severe pain, and all to enact his revenge against those who killed him. Come his 2017 relaunch, Riot decided to explore more about the man himself, developing him into the unnervingly cunning and intense Social Darwinist of current lore.
Combat Sadomasochist: Urgot's thematic is focused on two things: strength, and pain. He himself loves pain based on his experiences down in the Dredge, and he shares this by picking victims and testing their willpower by having them endure trials of agonizing torture, on the grounds that if they survive, they'll be stronger then before. And if they fail to impress Urgot, well then...
"You will thank me, between the screams."
Comically Serious: Urgot's pretty serious, but he does seem to have a bit of humor to him as per this interaction with Karthus.
Karthus: (joking around a nearby enemy Urgot) ''Urgot, hm, I highly recommend death at this point."
Urgot: (in response) But I have so much to kill for.
Cruel and Unusual Death: Fear Beyond Death is startlingly violent for the game, even compared to other executions. It's kind of uncomfortable watching a small and fuzzy Yordle or a cute and innocent child being reduced to mulch.
Cult of Personality: After the Prison Riot that granted him his freedom, a small one developed behind him. He's intent on spreading it farther.
- The color story "Child Of Zaun" shows he's been doing just that, amassing a following large enough to attack the Spire of Piltover.
Cyborg: A half-man murder machine grafted together with mining equipment. Unlike his old lore, he actually chose to become what he is instead of being Frankensteined back to life.
The Dreaded: He's amassed a reputation in Zaun for his sheer brutality. Only the most downtrodden and desperate Zaunites revere him in any way, and even they're not immune to his "tests of worthiness". Not even imprisoning him seems to quell anyone's fears...
"Power. Fear. These are my weapons."
The Dreaded Dreadnought: His champion title. He's not a vehicle, but he is a massively-armed and imposing half-man half-Spider Tank, so the idea of the title definitely still applies.
Easter Egg: If for whatever reason you decide to look up the debuff text as you're being dragged to your death by Urgot's ultimate, you'll find it reads:
Mercy
Good bye.
"Eureka!" Moment: Like all prisoners of The Dredge, he lived in fear of execution by the sadistic warden. Until his turn came, and he realized the pain she gave was nothing compared to his torment in the Dredge. The Urgot of present was born then and there.
Evil Is Bigger: The dude is massive, dwarfing the likes of Vi and Caitlyn who are of realistic human height. While a lot of it is the cybernetics, even his human parts are still quite huge compared to other human champs. It just makes him all the more terrifying to face.
Evil Sounds Deep: Urgot has a naturally deep voice, enhanced by the filter on his mask. Giant Enemy Crabgot makes it even more deep and monstrous.
The Faceless: We never see what the lower half of his face looks like, as it's covered either by the respirator in his base design or a mask in his skins.
Fat Bastard: Urgot's pretty heavyset underneath all those cybernetics, and is incredibly indulgent in his sadism.
Finishing Move: If Fear Beyond Death is applied to a target and they go below a certain HP threshold, he can reactivate it to drag them in and execute them in a rather gory display.
Foe-Tossing Charge: Disdain grabs a champion and flips them over Urgot's body, while knocking aside any minions, pets and monsters in the way.
From Nobody to Nightmare: From a lowly dutiful executioner to an augmented, 6-legged, anarchist in the Zaun undercity. Swain never saw it coming.
Genius Bruiser: A lumbering kill-machine, with a disturbingly sharp edge of intelligence to him. He's amassed a huge cult in Zaun that follow his every word and is currently plotting his escape from his prison in Piltover.
"It is not violence. It is... philosophy."
Giant Enemy Crab: Of course, Giant Enemy Crabgot.
Grapple Move: Disdain allows Urgot to throw his opponent behind him, resulting in them eating the shotgun blasts from his hind legs.
Great Escape: His goons attempt to spring him from imprisonment in the "Warriors" cinematic after he is locked up there at the end of "Child Of Zaun". Vi and Caitlyn keep him from getting very far.
Ground by Gears: The execution his ultimate displays, mulching the unlucky victim in a series of grinding gears.
Hypocrite: Rails against the synthetic Hextech crystals his crony brings him in "Child Of Zaun", claiming the Pilties reliance on tech makes them weak. That's ignoring that he's now more machine than man himself, and the only followers who survive him gassing them are likewise augmented. One could argue that since his main "focus" is strength and survival, and that he doesn't seem bothered when Caitlyn treatens removing his robotic augments, he doesn't "depend" on them, but the point still stands.
Improbable Weapon User: All of Urgot's weapon systems are just heavily modified mining equipment ranging from corrosive blast charges to the drill beacon to the iron rod spikes that are loaded into his cannon. Heck, even his Belly Mouth could have been intended for crushing rocks rather than people.
Inadequate Inheritor: He is not a fan of Draven, the man who took his place as headsman.
"A pale imitation."
Kaiju: His updated Giant Enemy Crabgot splash portrays him as a colossal monster that makes even a tanker look puny.
Kill It with Fire: In place of gears, Battlecast Urgot's and High Noon Urgot's ults incinerate their victims in a furnace.
Long-Range Fighter: Downplayed; he's a unique case of a projectile-based juggernaut, a class that's otherwise purely melee-focused. This means he's got a better time kiting and out-spacing other fighters thanks to his auto-attacks, even if he does need to get a bit closer for his passive to trigger. Though against a more dedicated ranged champ like a marksmen or mage, he's suddenly outclassed.
Magikarp Power: An interesting case. His first two levels are actually insanely strong when played correctly, but after that, he takes a while to truly come online, with low damage, high cooldowns (especially on his passive and W, which are his main forms of damage), and mana-hungriness. However, once he starts getting some levels and items under his belt, his mana problems disappear, his W becomes a mana-free, infinite toggle that gives him three autos per second, his passive gets massively-reduced cooldowns and better AD ratios, his other skills get a lot of base damage and ratios, his ultimate turns around skirmishes and teamfights alike, and his insane build flexibility, all turn him into a literal walking turret.
Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Urgot is a ranged juggernaut, while all others from the class are melee-ranged - because of this distinction, he has a lot of different interactions with runes and items. Prior to season 11, he was notably unable to buy several items designed specifically for juggernauts, like Sterak's Gage or Titanic Hydra; the item rework changed it so he can buy them, but some of their effects are weakened.
Might Makes Right: A firm believer. His goal is to rid Noxus of Swain and its other rulers, under the idea that Noxus cannot be strong while it is ruled at all. He's eliminating the Chem-Barons in Zaun in an attempt to create a society that exists without a ruling class, before returning to Noxus to carry out his goal.
Mighty Glacier: Urgot's a little unusual for a Juggernaut in that he has a focus on ranged attacks (though his actual range is nowhere to the extent of other marksmen), but he otherwise has a similar design philosophy to others like Darius or Illaoi. Slow but durable, and if he starts getting close to you, run.
More Dakka: His Purge ability allows Urgot to unload shots at the speed of a chain gun, actually breaking the game's regular attack speed cap^note. Leveling the ability will reduce its cooldown, eventually reaching zero and becoming a toggled mode of attack.
Nail 'Em: His auto attacks are short-ranged potshots from his cannon arm, with a wheel mechanism reloading the rod iron spikes for the next volley. It can quickly go into overdrive, thanks to his Purge ability.
Necessary Drawback: His W, independently of rank, while active, disables critical hits, makes his autos deal half of normal on-hit effect damage, and makes him attack at a fixed speed of three autos per second. This means attack speed becomes a Dump Stat for him (since it's fixed attack speed, it can't be lowered or raised), which, coupled with reduced on-hit damage per auto, dissuades him from building most items that give critical chance or on-hit damage effects (especially since most of them also give attack speed), preventing him from just shredding everything in his path. He can still use these items to great effect, but at the cost of survivability and wasted gold.
Ninja Pirate Robot Zombie: His High-Noon skin turns him into an undead demon cyborg cowboy.
Obviously Evil: With his hideously augmented body and perpetual look of disdain, it's hard to read him as being the good guy of a story...
One-Hit Kill: His Ultimate executes enemies under a certain health percentage.
Organ Theft: His mechanical enhancements were poached from people he deemed weak.
Red Baron: His followers address him as his in-game title, The Dreadnought.
Reimagining the Artifact:
- Before his VGU, Urgot had an ability called Hyper-Kinetic Position Reverser, a bizarre teleport that swapped his position with an enemy champion's, forcing them behind him for punishment. Originally this was his ultimate, but has since been reimagined as Disdain, a basic ability, as well as a much more straightforward Grapple Move with no magic or high cost to it. And it retains the part of forcing his enemy into an uncomfortable position to eat more damage.
- "Giant Enemy Crabgot" was conceived as a joke skin referencing the eponymous trope. Back then it was just Urgot's original, grotesque and bloated design with crab parts used in place of his mechanical bits. After his VGU, the skin was reimagined instead as a Pacific Rim-esque Kaiju that's more of an actual crab monster and foregoing any of the Body Horror elements.
Retcon: Before his 2017 VGU, Urgot was a prized soldier-turned high executioner who met his end after being cut in half by Garen, but was so valued that he was rebuilt as a techmaturgical monstrosity, driven by endless agony and revenge. With his update, his backstory and personality got a substantial retooling, turning him into a heavily Darwinist Genius Bruiser who voluntarily modified himself into a horrific killing machine.
Sadist: Urgot is a man that loves making others suffer, especially his enemies. For example, when he impales Darius with a drill bit...
"Scream louder, I want Swain to hear it!"
Self-Made Man: Went from nothing after being abandoned in the Zaun mines to an imposing figure in the midst of chem-barons who had decades to build their credentials already. Also counts as a literal example.
"I am the very definition of a self-made man."
Shotguns Are Just Better: Shotguns built into each of his six legs, capable of tearing opponents to shreds.
The Social Darwinist: Comes with the territory of being a Noxian, though Urgot takes it to pretty extreme lengths, not just firmly believing in Might Makes Right, but that the world can only truly serve the mighty by being plunged into total chaos.
"Only those who survive this city deserve it."
The Sociopath: His obsessive fascination with pain already is enough to cue you into his mindset. Then beyond that, he shows a disturbing pride in the brutality he commits, whether it was killing in the name of Noxus or subjugating the people of Zaun, and shows zero remorse for the amount of pain he causes others. And he brings people to his side by instilling his own fanatical obsession with strength in his followers, often through torture.
Spider Tank: Walks around on six legs all equipped with shotguns in the knees. His Battlecast skin invokes this even further as a full-on robot.
Start of Darkness: While being an executioner in Noxus isn't the exact picture of a nice job, Urgot took his job seriously by holding onto Noxian values of strength and killing criminals. It was these same values of strength combined with his experiences in the Dredge that sparked Urgot's campaign in the Zaun underworld.
Test of Pain: Urgot forces everyone who joins his cult to endure brutal, unfathomable torture as a way for him to test their "worthiness".
You will thank me, between the screams.
This Is a Drill: His Fear Beyond Death fires a giant drill bit into his enemies. If they're below a certain health threshold, it reels them in for instant death.
Vader Breath: His mask causes him to produce deep hissing inhalations as he speaks.
Visionary Villain: Urgot truly believes, through his experiences in the hellish prison the Dredge, that humans can only truly live at their highest potential when not ruled over, even by tyrants, and that only in true unstructured chaos can they thrive. And he's doing his best to turn Zaun, and eventually Noxus, into examples of this.
- In the short story "The Man With the Grinning Shadow", (High Noon) Urgot explains that he was "laid low in [his] efforts to civilize this desperate land, and divorced from [his] plans for a great steel empire", which made him make a Deal with the Devil and become the Steel Monstrosity.
Walking Armory: Urgot is pretty much a sapient artillery vehicle. He's got shotgun legs, chemical explosives, a machine gun for an arm, and a grappling hook-meat grinder combo to finish off whoever he's just shot up. His design really embodies the ranged-juggernaut direction he was designed for.
Would Hurt a Child: Reacts in mock horror if he executes Annie with his ult.
Urgot: What kind of monster would kill a child? (Laughs) Oh, right.
We Used to Be Friends: Played for Laughs. While he's still listed as a friend of Sion, both of them used to be ones Riot considered My Greatest Failure. Then Sion got reworked, and then if he jokes around an enemy Urgot...
Sion: "So, uh, Urgot. We can't hang out any more. I'm cool now."
- Later on, when Urgot received his VGU, he would get a particular response when killing an enemy Sion with his ult.
Urgot: (upon executing an enemy Sion with Fear Beyond Death) Aw, Sion. You were already dead to me.
You Are Already Dead: If Urgot sticks Fear Beyond Death onto you and you're below his execution threshold, the only thing that can stop you from being dragged to your death is if someone else kills Urgot first, or you remove the suppression with Quicksilver Sash. Not even putting Urgot in stasis or banishing him to the Death Realm stops it.
You Will Be Spared: An example of the quick death variety: in his taunt towards Irelia, he promises to give her a quick death out of respect for her defeat of Noxus in the war for Ionia. Given his usual sadistic and cruel tendencies, this is saying something.

Characters / League of Legends: T-U

Voiced by:
Pat Duke (English)
Pedro Tena (European Spanish)
Arturo Casanova (Mexican Spanish)
Unshō Ishizuka (Japanese/2016-2018)
Naomi Kusumi (Japanese/Current)
Mauro Castro (Brazilian Portuguese)
Wan-Kyung Seong (Korean)
Maxim Pinsker (Russian)
Appears In: Legends of Runeterra

Taliyah of the Nasaaj

Voiced by:
Erica Lindbeck (English)
Zehra Fazal (English/Legends of Runeterra)
Sandra Villa (European Spanish)
Lety Amezcua (Mexican Spanish)
Maaya Sakamoto (Japanese)
Erika Menezes (Brazilian Portuguese)
Yu-Jeong Mun (Korean)
Julia Churakova (Russian)
Appears In: Legends of Runeterra

Talon du Couteau

Voiced by:
Travis Willingham (English)
Juan Antonio Arroyo (European Spanish)
Oliver Magaña (Mexican Spanish)
Yoshihisa Kawahara (Japanese)
Léo Rabelo (Brazilian Portuguese)
Jae-Heon Jeong (Korean)
Denis Nekrasov (Russian)
Appears in: Katarina

Voiced by:
Joshua Tomar (English)
Paco Vaquero (European Spanish)
Jesse Conde (Mexican Spanish)
Masafumi Kimura (Japanese)
Ronaldo Júlio (Brazilian Portuguese)
Ho-Cheol Kang (Korean)
Yuri Malyarov (Russian)
Appears In: Legends of Runeterra

Tobias "Twisted Fate" Felix

Voiced by:
Doug Boyd (English)
Lorenzo Beteta (European Spanish)
Ricardo Tejedo (Mexican Spanish)
Koji Ochiai (Japanese)
José Leonardo (Brazilian Portuguese)
Seo-Jin Park (Korean)
Dmitry Filimonov (Russian)

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Characters / League of Legends: T-U

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Voiced by:Pat Duke (English)Pedro Tena (European Spanish)Arturo Casanova (Mexican Spanish)Unshō Ishizuka (Japanese/2016-2018)Naomi Kusumi (Japanese/Current)Mauro Castro (Brazilian Portuguese)Wan-Kyung Seong (Korean)Maxim Pinsker (Russian)Appears In: Legends of Runeterra

Taliyah of the Nasaaj

Voiced by:Erica Lindbeck (English)Zehra Fazal (English/Legends of Runeterra)Sandra Villa (European Spanish)Lety Amezcua (Mexican Spanish)Maaya Sakamoto (Japanese)Erika Menezes (Brazilian Portuguese)Yu-Jeong Mun (Korean)Julia Churakova (Russian)Appears In: Legends of Runeterra

Talon du Couteau

Voiced by:Travis Willingham (English)Juan Antonio Arroyo (European Spanish)Oliver Magaña (Mexican Spanish)Yoshihisa Kawahara (Japanese)Léo Rabelo (Brazilian Portuguese)Jae-Heon Jeong (Korean)Denis Nekrasov (Russian)Appears in: Katarina

Voiced by:Joshua Tomar (English)Paco Vaquero (European Spanish)Jesse Conde (Mexican Spanish)Masafumi Kimura (Japanese)Ronaldo Júlio (Brazilian Portuguese)Ho-Cheol Kang (Korean)Yuri Malyarov (Russian)Appears In: Legends of Runeterra

Voiced by:Brian Sommer (English)Roberto Encinas (European Spanish)Roberto Cuadrado (European Spanish/Demonblade)Miguel Ángel Ghigliazza (Mexican Spanish)Yasuhiro Mamiya (Japanese)Maurício Berger (Brazilian Portuguese)Guk-Jin Kim (Korean)Igor Tomilov (Russian)Appears In: Legends of Runeterra

Tobias "Twisted Fate" Felix

Voiced by:Doug Boyd (English)Lorenzo Beteta (European Spanish)Ricardo Tejedo (Mexican Spanish)Koji Ochiai (Japanese)José Leonardo (Brazilian Portuguese)Seo-Jin Park (Korean)Dmitry Filimonov (Russian)

Previous

Index

Next

Voiced by:
Pat Duke (English)
Pedro Tena (European Spanish)
Arturo Casanova (Mexican Spanish)
Unshō Ishizuka (Japanese/2016-2018)
Naomi Kusumi (Japanese/Current)
Mauro Castro (Brazilian Portuguese)
Wan-Kyung Seong (Korean)
Maxim Pinsker (Russian)
Appears In: Legends of Runeterra

Voiced by:
Erica Lindbeck (English)
Zehra Fazal (English/Legends of Runeterra)
Sandra Villa (European Spanish)
Lety Amezcua (Mexican Spanish)
Maaya Sakamoto (Japanese)
Erika Menezes (Brazilian Portuguese)
Yu-Jeong Mun (Korean)
Julia Churakova (Russian)
Appears In: Legends of Runeterra

Voiced by:
Travis Willingham (English)
Juan Antonio Arroyo (European Spanish)
Oliver Magaña (Mexican Spanish)
Yoshihisa Kawahara (Japanese)
Léo Rabelo (Brazilian Portuguese)
Jae-Heon Jeong (Korean)
Denis Nekrasov (Russian)
Appears in: Katarina

Voiced by:
Joshua Tomar (English)
Paco Vaquero (European Spanish)
Jesse Conde (Mexican Spanish)
Masafumi Kimura (Japanese)
Ronaldo Júlio (Brazilian Portuguese)
Ho-Cheol Kang (Korean)
Yuri Malyarov (Russian)
Appears In: Legends of Runeterra

Voiced by:
Doug Boyd (English)
Lorenzo Beteta (European Spanish)
Ricardo Tejedo (Mexican Spanish)
Koji Ochiai (Japanese)
José Leonardo (Brazilian Portuguese)
Seo-Jin Park (Korean)
Dmitry Filimonov (Russian)