Riot Games has revealed how they created K’Sante, the Pride of Nazumah, the new tank set to be the latest champion to join League of Legends. Riot Games has released a new “Champions Insights” blog detailing the development of League of Legends’ new tank top lane champion, K’Sante.
Aside from a Riot collaboration with Lil Nas X to promote his release, the new champion is also making headlines as the League’s first gay black champion.
Riot’s process for creating K’Sante kit
Riot Games lead designer Daniel “Riot Maxw3ll” Emmons and game designer Buike “AzuBK” Ndefo-Dahl discuss how they imagine K’Sante blending into the League of Legends top lane and how NARUTO inspired them when designing his ultimate.
The core concept behind his design is a tank that is capable of fighting bruisers and brawlers who normally shred them apart.
The form-swapping fantasy depicts him as an immobile entity wielding his blunt Ntofo and a dangerous skirmisher after shattering them to reveal the blades beneath. K’Sante’s main three tools are displacement, damage, and durability.
His ultimate, All Out, is probably the most surprising part of his weapons. All Out, K’Sante’s ultimate, was inspired by a scene from Naruto. Rock Lee is a supporting character in Naruto, but he has one of the anime’s most iconic and memorable scenes.
“When designing K’Sante’s ultimate I kept thinking of that moment in Naruto where Rock Lee drops his leg weights and everyone goes, ‘Wait he can do that?’ And when I handed over K’Sante’s design, that’s how I explained his ultimate,”
“The idea was that he’d be in the front of a team fight, use all of his abilities to protect his carries and set up his team, and then once everything was on cooldown he’d go, ‘Welp, got nothing left. Time to frag,’”
During the Chuunin exam series, he competed against Gaara, both of whom were attempting to raise their rank.
Rock Lee pulled up his legwarmers after struggling with his opponent, only to reveal that he’d been fighting with training weights all along. Those that are extremely heavy. Everything about his fighting improved after they were removed, similar to how K’Sante breaks his heavy ntofos weapon and goes all out on his opponents during his ultimate.
A character who switches classes with an ultimate, particularly from tank to juggernaut, is an exciting new League of Legends option. K’Sante appears to be a new undertaking, dealing less damage than normal juggernauts until he decides to unleash the blades containing his Ntofo.