League of Legends has dozens of awesome characters, but I'm going to highlight one that's taken for granite
. Riot Games knows that something as insignificant as a pebble holds infinite potential, and I see so much potential in this character: Taliyah, The Stoneweaver.
Sorry, Malphite
Taliyah telepathically controls rocks, so her playstyle revolves around manipulating the battlefield itself; she gives stage control an entirely new meaning. Her goal isn't to simply attack opponents, but to also use the surrounding area to play to her strengths and fully utilize her special moves: many of which react to one another, and all of which are weaker while she's airborne. Taliyah is far stronger on the ground, and she can use her abilities to make it difficult for opponents to approach. Her attacks have incredible range and unique disjointed properties, and a special move that can push/pull grounded enemies farther/closer to her if it lands.
Neutral Special: Threaded Volley; Worked Ground (passive ability)
Press the special button to make 5 giant rocks twirl around Taliyah. The rocks block projectiles, but do not reflect them. Taliyah is able to move around after summoning the rocks, but she's unable to grab opponents while they are active. Press the button again to throw them. The first rock that hits deals the most damage (8%); the following deal 1% each if they land.
Worked Ground: When Threaded Volley is used on land, it leaves a circular marking around the immediate vicinity where it was used (
roughly 1/3 of Battlefield). Moving in that area on the ground gives Taliyah a speed boost!
Normally, rocks thrown by Threaded Volley fly straight forward; however, they can be launched at an upward angle by using her...
Side Special: Seismic Shove
This is a disjoint attack; its range remains constant, but its distance increases the longer it is held! Tilt
and the special button to hit opponents away from you.
However, tap
while pressing the special button to pull opponents toward you instead.
The mound created by Seismic Shove remains on the stage for up to 8 seconds, or until the opponent destroys it. Throwing rocks from Taliyah's Neutral Special causes them to fly upward at an angle.
When used in the air, Taliyah simply jumps upward off of a rock. It deals no damage, but it doubles as a vertical recovery.
Seismic Shove can be used in tandem with...
Down Special: Unraveled Earth
Taliyah stumps on the ground, and little rock traps pop up in front of her. It deals no damage on initial impact, but it slows down opponents walking over it. After 5 seconds, the rocks explode and deal minor damage.
However, opponents pushed/pulled by Seismic Shove will instantly trigger the explosion, and it will deal extra damage.
Charge to increase its area of effect; a fully charged attack takes up 1/2 of Battlefield!
Up Special: Weaver's Wall
Grounded version is an unorthodox yet useful Up Special that quickly propels Taliyah forward; use whenever you want to effectively close the gap between you and the opponent. Multi-hitting attack. Press the jump button to hop into the air, or press the special button again to cancel it. If Taliyah is hit, the attack ends prematurely.
Aerial version travels upward diagonally, and covers less distance.
Dash Animation:
Rapid Jab Attack:
She just casually stands there while throwing a bunch of tiny rocks at you.
Smash Attack: Rock(on) Smash
Taliyah throws up the "rock on" finger gesture. The rocks move behind her and deal damage as she charges the attack, similar to when Corrin revvs up her chainsaw. It's a disjoint attack with slow startup, but good range and deals a decent amount of damage.
Down Smash: LoL
It looks exactly like that, glitter and all! Stylish multi-hitting attack. If it misses opponents, it still has a very small windbox.
Up Smash:
It is Taliyah's fastest smash attack. It hits in front of and directly above her. In stereotypical geokinetic fashion, it also blocks projectiles!
Up tilt:
Two part attack. Press tilt and the button for Taliyah to raise her arm upward, which deals weak damage. Press the A button again to cause a rock pile to sprout upward.
Forward Tilt:
She steps forward and kicks rocks at you! Fast attack with decent range.
Down Air:
She drops a rock down below. It can be reflected. It's a good follow-up attack after using the grounded version of her Weaver's Wall Up Special and jumping in the air.
Back Air:
A decent multihitting attack that's good for spacing and edgeguarding.
Up Air:
A somewhat reliable tool for Taliyah to deal with pesky airborne opponents. However, it doesn't travel far before the rocks break, and it can be reflected.
Down Throw:
It would be wrong if Taliyah didn't have at least one move that buries opponents, so yeah... Down throw buries. Try to time it with her Unraveled Earth down special, for a cool combo extension!
Forward Throw: Naturally, she'd have at least one Toph reference.
Taliyah does a weak chop and then yeets you with powerful
Earthbending Stoneweaving. Is a kill throw.
Taliyah has neat little interaction
taunt things in League, so they'd use
these (the first minute of the vid is pretty much taunts), but this is basically the best one.
She happily sits on a floating rock, sways from side-to-side, and kicks her legs around!
Victory Animation:
The League of Legend developers are huge Smash fans, so I took time with this one. Many of the images I used are from Taliyah's concept art. I've never played the game, but I did a ton of research and tried my absolute best to make her as true to the character as possible, while still making her hypothetical Smash Bros. transition as fun and balanced as possible.
