Surrounded around the Shuriman Continent are several clans of Brackern, including clans in the Shuriman desert.
Dormun[]
Dormun 1
Dormun 2
A depiction of a Mwatis
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The Dormun are gigantic, slow-moving creatures protected with large chitinous plates covering their body. In the harsh conditions of Shurima they have evolved to survive the perpetual drought by utilizing an unknown sense to locate hidden reservoirs of water. Incidentally, certain nomadic tribes have built themselves a permanent home upon the backs of these beasts where they clean the creature and hunt any airborne pests who venture near.
Eka'Sul[]
Desert goats that travel in herds.
Mwatis[]
Mwatis are goatlike creatures with large plated casques on their heads. Mwati wool and plate are prised for felting and insulation.
Kmiros[]
Gigantic scarabs that roam in swarms, looking for unfortunate travelers to feed on. They seem to be common prey for Rammus.
Beside the Xer'Sai, other creatures from the Void, referred to as 'outerbeasts', can be found in the desert.
Xer'Sai: Creatures from the Void that plague the southern deserts. They are the size of big dogs on average, but can be smaller or much bigger. Rek'Sai, as the queen, is by far the largest and most dangerous of her species. Xer'sai burst from their small burrows and ravage anything nearby, to the detriment of desert caravans. Once dead, the Xer'sai decompose at an abnormally rapid rate and become inedible.
Ralsiji[]
A Ralsiji
A Shuriman Camel 1
A Shuriman Camel 2
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Large and aggressive minotaur-like creatures. They are humpbacked quadrupeds with long limbs and thick horns.
Shuriman Camel[]
A breed of camels native to the deserts of Shurima and are used by caravans as well as common folk as primary mode of transportation. Despite being well-suited for lengthy travels in the desert landscape, they are still prey to a many predator such as the Xer'Sai.
Sandswimmers[]
Sandswimmers are massive quadrupedal creatures that traverse the Shuriman desert in cyclical patterns. They got their name due to their preferred method of travel. Their narrow bodies and webbed feet are perfectly design for swimming under the sand. They feed on bugs and other small creatures most desert beasts ignore. Scavengers will often memorize the predictable paths these creatures take, and jump onto their backs to ride as far as they wish.
Skallashi[]
Skallashi
Skallashi in The Great Sai
Skallashi at The Zoantha Cascade
Skallashi near The Sun Disc
Skallashi in Nashramae
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The Skallashi are large quadrupedal herbivores. These hardy beasts of burden are common across Shurima, ideally suited to the harsh desert environment. Their key body feature is their long legs. Notoriously bad-tempered, they are nevertheless treated with great reverence. Their brown hides are often painted with sacred symbols of protection, and their horns hung with totems and charms. While these creatures are mostly used for travel and carrying heavy loads, on some larger skallashi people are able to built miniature rooms for more comfortable travel. To own one is often considered a sign of considerable prosperity.
Ever since Gangplank joined the League of Legends, we have been weathering a virtually constant influx of nepotism complaints from organizations in a certain clandestine industry. The exact source of these complaints has been difficult to verify, however, due to their reclusive and mysterious natures. Luckily, our talented public relations department (with the help of a few favors from some friends in the CIA) has managed to pinpoint the exact source of this criticism, and we have decided that it is a demographic that we cannot afford to ignore. For those who haven't yet devised the identity of this group, I am, naturally, talking about: ninjas.
In an effort to keep ninja public opinion on our side, it is with great pleasure that I, on behalf of the Riot Games Design Team, am empowered to introduce: Shen, the Eye of Twilight. For those of you who have been waiting with bated breath to sport your ninja pride, courage! Just don't let us catch you gaming in an outfit that looks anything like this.
Champion Update: Shen[]
Shen's a bit of an odd duck. He's a ninja who likes to be punched in the face (spoilers: that's not changing) and while bits of his kit are super unique and impactful, he also sports two painfullygeneric abilities. He's been suffering from a pretty severe case of old-schoolitis, basically, making him a prime candidate for some champion update TLC. So we've given him some. Alongside brushing up the big guy's model so it's closer to his awesome splash, we've also spent a bunch of time updating some of his abilities. Now Shen's power manifests as a ki blade he controls with his abilities, for example. Here's his new kit:[3]
After casting an ability, Shen gains a temporary shield. The shield has a relatively long cooldown which is significantly reduced if one of his abilities affects an allied or enemy champion.
Twilight Assault
Shen calls his spirit blade, empowering his next three basic attacks to deal damage based on a portion of Champions killed with Comeuppance (R)his target's max health. If his spirit blade collides with an enemy champion on its way to him, Shen deals increased damage and gains Champions hit with Martial Cadence (P)greatly increased attack speed. All enemies struck by the returning blade briefly suffer reduced movement speed when moving away from Shen.
Spirit's Refuge
Shen's spirit blade creates a protective barrier that allows Shen and his nearby allies to dodge all basic attacks for a few seconds. The ability triggers when there are allied champions in the zone - if there are no allies are in the zone, it waits to start until one gets close enough.
Shadow Dash
Passive: Shen Champions hit with Hookshot (E)recovers a flat portion of energy whenever he deals damage with Twilight Assault or Shadow Dash.
Active: Shen dashes in a target direction, dealing damage to all enemy champions in his path and taunting them briefly.
Stand United
Shen channels as he prepares to teleport to an allied champion anywhere on the map. As he channels, he grants his target a shield, and once he arrives, he brings his spirit blade with him.
First things first: Shen's staying largely faithful to his original design. He's still a tanky energy-based champ, and his E and R are pretty much identical. You'll still be able to pull off your last-second ults to save a teammate from death, and still surprise your enemies with those fancy-pants taunt > Flash > taunt moves. Or y'know, accidentally Flash > taunt absolutely nothing > spill drink over keyboard, if we're being real.
Then there are Shen's other abilities. We wanted to put into effect a pretty fundamental change to his combat patterns by giving Shen and his opponent more things to do and think about during each game. His old Q had some neat interactions with other champions, but ultimately it was basically a point-and-click damage ability with some bells and whistles attached. Feint - his old W - had aged even worse, and was basically a pretty bland shield (because practically no-one built AP on Shen) that just interfered with his otherwise precious energy pool. We quickly identified both abilities as prime candidates for the champion update team's efforts. Basically, we're fine with Shen engaging in extended one-on-one duels, but we want those fights to be a bunch more engaging and skill-based than they were.
So how're his new abilities different? Well, his new Q - Twilight Assault - completely changes how and when Shen wants to fight. He's purely melee now, obviously, so can't bully or last-hit from range. Instead, he's all about positioning, maneuvering around his opponent so his Q casts pull his spirit bladethrough his enemy. His opponent wants that to not happen, obviously, resulting in the two tangoing around their lane for positional advantage. Shen can force the issue by Shadow Dashing in, landing the taunt, then pulling the spirit blade through. This gives him a pretty big boost to his damage, and opens up Spirit's Refuge to parry his opponent's reply. His new W has serious implications in teamfights, too, giving his entire team the means to dodge incoming basic attacks. Again, this all requires positional smarts, and the ability's cooldown means he'll only really get one shot with it per late-game fight. It's a strong ability, basically, but only when it's used properly. Finally, Shen's new passive shield is a key part of the big man's repertoire, particularly come late game. Past level 16, his shield literally has no cooldown when he lands his abilities on other champions, meaning smart and dexterous Shen players get to morph into mighty unkillable supertanks.
This week, we sit down with Champion Designer Mark 'GMang' Sassenrath – join us as we chat with him about childhood game design, his work at Riot, and the upcoming Shen update.