Warwick/Development

Champion Update: Warwick, The Uncaged Wrath of Zaun
With feet pounding down Zaun's stone streets, prey flees in desperation. The scent of hangs in the air, guiding the beast to his quarry. All efforts to escape are in vain. In a flash of gore-soaked fur, Warwick strikes - and his target is dead in an instant. One vermin down, many more to go.


 * Abilities

I= Warwick's basic attacks deal. If Warwick is, the bonus damage heals him for the same amount.
 * Eternal Hunger

Warwick lunges forward and bites his target, healing for some of the damage dealt. Holding down the key locks onto the target, causing Warwick to leap behind them.
 * -|Q=
 * Jaws of the Beast


 * -|W=
 * Blood Hunt
 * Enemy champions with leave behind a global blood trail leading to them and are Blood Hunted. Warwick has  against Blood Hunted targets and massively increased out-of-combat movement speed when moving toward them. These bonuses are tripled against enemies with.
 * Briefly reveal blood trails leading to all champions in a large radius, even if they have . The nearest champion is then Blood Hunted. Blood Hunt's active has a long cooldown, but cools down twice as fast while no enemies are being hunted.

Warwick takes reduced damage for a short duration. At the end of the duration - or if activated again - Warwick, causing nearby enemies to in fear.
 * -|E=
 * Primal Howl

Warwick leaps in a direction and the first champion he collides with, dealing damage and applying on-hit effects throughout the duration. The leap's distance increases based on Warwick's movement speed, and he heals for all damage he deals during Infinite Duress. Warwick is immune to crowd control effects during the leap.
 * -|R=
 * Infinite Duress




 * Playing as Warwick



Warwick is a relentless diver who excels at chasing down targets. He's still your go-to pooch if you're new to the jungle, but he's learned some vicious new tricks.

Warwick's new kit trades reliability for flexibility so you have options beyond ' a poor bastard and hope they die'.  gives you the speed you need to corner your prey, trapping them while the rest of your pack moves in for the kill. Alternatively, you can flank, cut off an enemy's escape path, and clamp down on them with . Or, you can always go with the straightforward method of throwing yourself at a target with  (although it can now be body-blocked or dodged)

If you spot a squishy, plunge in with ' to lock them down, then unleash a ' to 'em silly so you can finish the job. You can then make your escape, or move on to the next tasty meal.


 * Champion Insights





In fiction, werewolves tend to focus on taming or fighting the beast inside, clinging on to what humanity they have left. The new Warwick has very little of his original humanity remaining. He's a beast embracing his newfound savagery.

"He is someone who in the past vaguely remembers doing good things, helping people, and it didn't work", says narrative writer David 'Interlocutioner' Slagle. "Zaun is so messed up that he couldn't make a difference." His newfound power allows him to clean up the streets of Zaun through brutal violence.

"Every werewolf has been done", says visual designer Larry 'TheBravoRay' Ray. "I spent a lot of time thinking 'how can we make him our own?'" The solution TheBravoRay came to was to focus on the fact that wasn't trying to turn Warwick into a wolf specifically - he was gene-splicing. He put all sorts of hyper-monster DNA in there, and the result is something more akin to a chimera. Warwick has bat ears, a longer fox-like tail, and chemical machinery to tie him to Zaun.

So much of Warwick's story is told through his visuals, particularly of his transformation and its effects: the hoses that are lodged in his body, the arm that was removed and replaced with badass metal, and that on his back. Warwick has scratched himself all over trying to remove the devices and all the tubes, but it's too painful for him to claw them out.


 * Unleash the Beast



Warwick's always been the go-to jungler for new players. He's mechanically simple and stays very healthy in the jungle, but his gameplay pattern offers relatively little depth. Approachability is great, but you shouldn't be able to totally master a champ in a few games. This new Warwick isn't a complete gameplay overhaul - more of a modernization.

"This is the first champion update where accessibility was a major goal", says gameplay designer Bradford 'CertainlyT' Wenban. Take , for instance. Instead of forcing players to constantly it on and off to avoid revealing their own location, it now globally reveals injured targets, and Warwick will see the scent of their blood as a trail leading toward them. This allows newer players who might be using a locked camera to understand what strategic options are available to them around the map.

When you play as the wolfman, it should feel good to lose control, to dive towers, and give in to your lust for blood. Playing as Warwick is all about embracing your inner savagery. "I had a main in a playtest dive two towers deep trying to kill an enemy", CertainlyT says proudly.

Warwick has all the right tools for that: massive movement and attack speed, , and the ability to enemies down as you tear them to shreds. And as you're hunting your target, you'll notice Warwick stops talking. When he closes in on a foe, he devolves into a pure, odious beast. And he only has one thing on his mind...



Inside Warwick Development


This week, artist Larry 'The Bravo Ray' Ray, designer Brad 'CertainlyT' Wenban, and writer David 'Interlocutioner' Slagle share behind-the-scenes stories on the development of.

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Warwick/Development