Teamfight Tactics shares plenty of DNA with League of Legends, the franchise it serves as an offshoot to. Among the many similarities is the importance of cosmetics, with new skins proving almost as exciting for the community as new Champions. Teamfight Tactics recently began the 2025 Lunar Festival, which is one of the biggest times of the year for these kinds of cosmetics.
The Best War Games recently spoke with several developers behind Teamfight Tactics. When it came to the subject of cosmetics, senior project manager Christina Jiang, senior cosmetics producer Theo Gallois, and game designer Julien Camaraza all had their own wisdom to share. The team not only brought to light their intentions for the 2025 Lunar Festival but even discussed the process behind how they select new Champions to join Teamfight Tactics.
Teamfight Tactics Devs Discuss the Magical Design Inspirations for Set 12
Teamfight Tactics' 12th set, Magic n' Mayhem, has a whimsical theme that's inspired by various media and League of Legends' skin lines.
How Teamfight Tactics Creates New Content for Annual Events and Beyond
Jiang began by discussing a partnership with the "Cosmetics team," which allows them to decide when the time is right for a particular Champion. They consider several factors, including a character's popularity, as well as whether they already have a certain Cosmetic. Then, Gallois followed up this explanation with some detail about the developers' inspiration:
"We are lucky to have an amazingly rich world with Runeterra that we can endlessly go back to for inspiration. Lunar Festival is a treasured time for millions of players around the world, so we take great care in providing a wide variety of Cosmetics experiences. From the derpy Snek, the whimsical Zoe, to the badass Dark Cosmic Jhin Unbound, we hope that players can find a Tactician or Arena that speaks uniquely to them."
The world of League of Legends is vast indeed, so it's no wonder this would prove to be such a boon for the design team. Moreover, it shows their current priority for creating more diversity among the Skins available, with the hope of pleasing everyone. Finally, this shows how designing new Cosmetics in Teamfight Tactics is connected with creating new Champions.
How Teamfight Tactics Designs New Champions
Teamfight Tactics includes plenty of characters that are not playable Champions in League of Legends, which poses the question of how the design team chooses who to include. Camaraza explained that each Set needs to fill a certain number of mechanical roles and was quick to provide some examples:
"Two examples that come to mind are Set 10 (Remix Rumble) K/DA and Set 13 (Into the Arcane) Chem-Baron. K/DA had a roster of popular champions, but none of them had the silhouette or profile needed to be a tank. So Lillia and Neeko were given Superfan skins, as they have larger character models that made them appropriate for being tanks. With Chem-Baron, we wanted it to be a large trait with lots of resonance to the show but only had Singed, Silco, and Renata to start with. We felt the best way to represent the Chem-Barons as a faction was to have characters directly pulled from the show. Sevika, in particular, was a real fan favorite, which is why she got the 5 cost treatment this time around."
After this, Camaraza was quick to assure everyone that the process wasn't always focused on the mechanical side of things. An opportunity sometimes comes by that the team simply can't pass up. And oftentimes, this means finding stories that can't be told in League of Legends. Camaraza also clarified that, even if a character exclusively debuts in Teamfight Tactics, this doesn't mean they can't eventually become a Champion in League of Legends.
- Released
- June 26, 2019
- ESRB
- T For Teen due to Mild Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Blood, Fantasy Violence
- Developer(s)
- Riot Games
- Publisher(s)
- Riot Games
- Engine
- Proprietary Engine
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- Yes
- Franchise
- League of Legends
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Strategy
