League of Legends' Pyke Almost Had a Kidnapping Ultimate
Pyke already has an ultimate that takes League of Legends champions off the map in a hurry, but he [...]
Pyke already has an ultimate that takes League of Legends champions off the map in a hurry, but he at one point had a different version of the ability that allowed him to take the enemies wherever he wanted.
In an AMA that took place on Reddit where players could ask whatever they wanted about the new champion, one of the reoccurring questions that always produces interesting answers was asked. Users wanted to know what kind of abilities were developed for Pyke but ended up being cut before his release, and Riot Games playtester Arnór "Riot Hjarta" Halldórsson revealed that the Bilgewater champion could at one point kidnap enemies with his ultimate.
"We had an abillity that basically allowed you to tag an enemy and bring him back to the original ult cast location," the Rioter said. "The thinking behind this was to allow teammates to access the same amount of target access that assassins do."
Halldórsson shared a short video of the ultimate in action, though the playback for the file hosted through Google Drive appears to be having some problems. We've prepared a gif of the whole video above that shows the ability in motion as Pyke scoops up an enemy Swain and sends him right back into Ekko's waiting arms.
Like a Skarner ultimate turned up to 11, Halldórsson explained why this version of Pyke's ultimate never saw the light of Summoner's Rift.
"Well, although it had some pretty interesting usage cases, we often found the optimal play to be simply kidnapping people into the fountain or kidnapping the most valuable person on the enemy team (like a very fed swain) far away from the teamfight which allowed our team to win the 4v4. People generally disliked playing against this as well as they felt overall helpless against a stealth assassin with a dash that just teleported them to oblivion."
Though Pyke can kill enemies with ease, he's still a support first. During his early iterations, the Rioter said that they tried giving him more utility as well, something that's found all throughout supports. Sharing a different version of his ultimate, Halldórsson showed the clip below that had Pyke's ultimate ability creating an AOE spike field that caused damage and gave him a shield while slowing enemies. It also gave him stacks for a passive which would've allowed him to teleport a short distance and flip over an enemy, a series of abilities that sound like a combination of old Evelynn, old Talon, and new Talon.
The full AMA contains plenty of other interesting details about the new champ and can be read in full here.