Poro

 are the mysterious, magical and most-loved inhabitants originating from the Howling Abyss.

Lore
Born out of love, blinded by glee

Innocent, pure, magic and free,

Faithful, trusting; often naïve,

Soft, furry; their hearts hold a key.


 * Poros are equal parts truth, valor, and innocence.
 * The color that best describes poros is “very light blue, like Freljordian snow” (Pantone P 121-3 U).
 * Poros have a heart-shaped underbelly because they’re made of love.
 * A poro’s horns perk up when it’s excited and droop down when it’s scared.
 * Poros paddle through deep snow with their front paws.
 * Some believe that poros are indestructible—though at one point we animated poros to keel over and twitch if they ran into the Abyss’ fountains.
 * Poros stick their tongue out because they are incredibly warm (hot, in fact). This is why they can survive the harsh cold environment of the Howling Abyss.
 * are frosted with Freljordian ice crystals.
 * Due to recent heroic deeds, is a friend to the poros.
 * has noted that the intelligence of people drops in the presence of these creatures.
 * Poros have a leader known as the.
 * They share some similarities with the Watchers, in terms of appearance.

The Origins of Poros
By Riot Preeti

"While wrapping up the Howling Abyss, the entire team was on the lookout for something to balance out the Abyss' cold, serious atmosphere. Unlike our other maps, the Howling Abyss had a very structural, linear cadence--it was literally a bridge without any fantasy elements, which didn't feel very League. To counter this, the whole team brainstormed about cute and fun things we could add that would remain true to League and not take away from the map's epicness. It was sort of tricky because whatever we added had to be noticeable without being too distracting--we didn't want players confusing our little critter for a minion or monster they should kill! We wanted to create something furry that looked like it could survive through harsh weather, so RiotEarp looked to mountain goats, reindeer, and polar bears for inspiration. He sketched the initial poro concept art based on a cuter version of all of those things and we ran with it! Howling Abyss is the coldest and harshest place in all of Runeterra, so you can think of poros as the manifestation of whatever warmth, happiness, and love that still exists.

After RiotOtown modeled and textured the very first poro, he and RiotCaptainLx decided to add a super huge tongue because the little guy reminded them of a puppy. Then, during the animation phase, RiotCaptainLx took it a step further and had the poro lick its whole face in one shot! With the tongue mechanic in place, he also animated the poro to run around panting with its tongue hanging out. We totally agreed that poros should pant just like that--they radiate with love, so they're extremely hot despite the Abyss' bone-chilling temperatures"!

Legend of the Poro King
This year’s Snowdown brings with it our next featured game mode… and a legend. The “Legend of the Poro King”. We’ve dramatically changed what fights on the Howling Abyss will look like, so let’s get straight into the rules: Played on the Howling Abyss, Legend of the Poro King is a 5v5 Blind Draft game mode, where your goal is still to destroy the enemy team’s nexus. However, you’ll have some Poro companions with you (to throw at each other of course), be diving deep to make #bigplays and work together to summon some help from the legendary Poro King himself.

New summoner spells
When playing the Legend of the Poro King, your regular summoner spells are replaced with two new ones, made just for the mode:

Poro King
The Poro King is benevolent and will aid whichever team has summoned him. He can be dispelled, but only to return again when enough favour has been curried with him. As a tanky siege minion, he brings an impressive power boost to whichever team he’s aiding. His powers include:
 * Tanky siege minion with a LOT of health. Let him be your front line!
 * The Poro King absorbs all Poros within his range being thrown by the enemy team, making him a powerful pushing force.
 * The Poro King will heal nearby allied champions every 5 seconds for health and a smaller amount of mana based on the team’s average level.
 * Every 5 seconds, the Poro King will lob out Poros in an arc around him, dealing magic damage to enemies where they land.

Trivia

 * Poro was designed by RiotOtown, RiotEarp, and RiotCaptainLx.
 * In Finnish, Poro means reindeer.
 * Playing as, when feeding a Poros with a , they will sprout mustaches (different colored depending on the Braum skin used at the time).
 * Previously, you could kill them by herding them into the spawn.
 * You can also kill them with . The passive of its ultimate will damage and kill them.
 * Poros got a Visual Update after 2014 Snowdown Showdown.
 * Poros celebrate The Masquerade and Snowdown Showdown.
 * A group of Poros is called a fluft.

Media
Music=
 * Related Music

The link to the Masquerade and Porofolia sites can be accessed from here and here.