Поппи/биография

General

Poppy, the Iron Ambassador

• Poppy was the first champion released in .
• Poppy is the first and so far only post-launch champion to be priced at 1350 on release (all other champions with the same price were already present when the game officially launched in October 2009).
• Poppy is one of two champions that went into the weekly champion rotation on the day of their release. The other one is Udyr.
• Of all champion updates in the game, Poppy has gone the longest without an update to her base splash art prior to her VGU in .

Poppy, Keeper of the Hammer

• Poppy is the first champion with full facial animation.
• Poppy is the first champion to receive splash updates to all skins.
• The splash art features the titular flower.
• Poppy’s theme resembles (instruments used include a low brass and a flute).
• Poppy’s dance references the Grunka Lunka’s dance from Futurama.

  A side-by-side comparison can be seen here.

• Poppy was initially going to wear a red scarf as a ‘heroic thing’, it competed heavily with her pigtails and was deemed way too busy on her model, the scarf was trimmed down to a muffler.
• Poppy’s favorite food / candy is the lollipop.
• Poppy finds Yordles ‘too fluffy’ and disorganized, herself preferring the orderliness found in Demacia.
• Poppy is the first champion to have a form of crowd control in all of her abilities.
• Poppy is the first and only champion to have two skins released for the Snowdown Showdown event.

Trivia

• The origin of the word «Yordle» came from a dream that Paul ‘Pabro’ Bellezza had. He had a dream about Yoda and Yaddle from Star Wars, and woke up saying «Yordles».
• Yordles were previously divided into Yordles and Meglings. The yordles were often seen furry in appearance, while the Meglings had blue skin. Since the «Yordle Unification Pass» development project, both sides of the same race have been unified to share similar features.
• While originally envisioned as a human child Amumu has been described as a Yordle for most of his presence in the game. His current state is left intentionally ambiguous, with characters in his lore commenting on the possibility of him being a yordle while others scoff at the idea.
  • Amumu might have been the first and the last Yordle emperor of Ancient Shurima.
  • Yordles have been shown to use a visual transmorgrification charm to look human, which may have a role in the ambiguity of his identity.
• According to a recognition scan made by Vel’Koz, a Yordle’s physiology appears to be «99% fur, 1% glee.»
• Most yordles were listed as rivals to Tahm Kench on
• Some say Yordles know secret ways through Runeterra others cannot perceive.
• Xayah states that Yordles are often erronously thought to be related to the Vastaya, or that humans mistakenly label them as Vastayan.
• Heimerdinger, Rumble and Ziggs are credited for the creation of Mecha Aatrox, Mecha Malphite and Mecha Zero Sion in  Mecha universe.
• There is apparently a high general bounty on Yordles in Bilgewater.

Yordle Unification Pass

By Michael ‘IronStylus’ Maurino

A while back we stated the Yordle Unification Pass of 2014 (The Y.U.P.). This kicked off with Heimerdinger. He followed some unintentional design decisions from Ziggs and Lulu. However, at the same time we sat down to do some comparisons of Yordles as a whole and are touching here and there upon a Yordle style guide of sorts. We haven’t been able to yet to write in stone any hard and fast rules, but we have gotten general aspects decided upon. Such as Yordles needing actual ANATOMY, not just being potatoes with huge heads. Another touching on how we possibly want to explain the furry/non-furry aspects of some Yordles versus others. We’re still scratching our heads on the finer points of that, but we’ve got the informal ideas settled.

Either way, as we crunch along, you’ll see Yordles becoming more coherent as a race, at least from a visual side of things where the Champion Update team is concerned. There are also larger discussions about background and other narrative stuff, but we deal mostly with visuals obviously. As we crank through these characters you’ll see some consistency emerge. We have a couple that are in our sites currently which will be touched on in due time!»

Ability Casting

Using

Hitting an Enemy with

•  
    «Shield to the face!»
•  
    «Left hand!»
•  
    «Clang!»

Upon Picking up

•  
    «Hope it’s not dented.»
•  
    «Got it.»
•  
    «Shieldy.»
•  
    Poppy giggles.

Using

•  
    «Hammer!»
•  
    «Comin’ down!»

Using

Stopping an Enemy with

•  
    «Not so fast!»
•  
    «What’s the hurry?»
•  
    «Nope.»
•  
    «No getting through me.»
•  
    «Hold up!»
•  
    «Uh uh.»

Triggering

•  
    «Hold on… «
•  
    «Keep fighting… «
•  
    «Not like this!»
•  
    «Not today!»

Using

•  
    «Back off!»
•  
    «Look out!»
•  
    «Outta’ my way!»
•  
    «Move it!»

Stunning an Enemy with

•  
    «Hold it right there!»
•  
    «You. Sit.»
•  
    «Freeze!»
•  
    «Don’t move!»

Using

Knocking Away an Enemy with a fully charged

•  
    «Look at him go!»
•  
    «Remember to roll!»
•  
    «Up goes the guy!»
•  
    «And don’t come back!»
•  
    «And stay there!»
•  
    «Huh. Didn’t know I could do that.»
•  
    «Whoa. You went far.»
•  
    «Whomp!»

When an Enemy Ekko Uses After Being Hit by

•  
    «Wait, you’re here? I thought you were there.»
•  
    «Didn’t I just knock you away?»

Skins

Original Poppy: Base Skin
1 / 25-Aug-2021

Level 1

Humility is a mark of heroism, but many historians would agree that Poppy is kind of pushing it.

Level 2

Power is a famously corrupting influence, but Poppy proves that its corruption is no match for a good heart and stubborn, steadfast obliviousness.

Battle Academia Poppy: Common SkinFeatures: This skin is available for purchase.
700 / 06-Oct-2021

Level 1

«Seems to me like you got a little more weapon there than you can handle.»»»»Huh? Oh, this isn’t mine, I’m just—«»»»Good, so you won’t mind if we take it, then!»»»»Oh! Like a practice battle? I love training!»

Level 2

«Hey, come back! I thought you wanted to fight!»

Strategy

• Due to Poppy’s tier (and thus her ability), she’s a popular Knight used in conjunction with Sejuani, if Kayle is yet unaquireable and the Knight trait is not the primary strategy, because the other Knight’s abilities don’t have crowd control.
• If Poppy is Level 2 or higher, Keeper’s Verdict has the ability to hit multiple enemies. However, unlike most abilities that are cast in a straight line, it will target the closest enemy and go from there. This opens up the possibility of using it to protect the carries (e.g. from jumping Assassins) in the backline, simply by placing Poppy on one of the flanks next to them.
• Poppy is usually most effective to be used to soak damage up so that the carries in the team can deal their damage. Thus equipping her with defensive items like Thornmail, Warmog’s Armor and Dragon’s Claw

  It is not recommended to give her offensive items, as Champions, who focus on dealing damage, could make much better use of them.

  is recommended when employing her for this purpose.

Patch History

V11.22 — Returning

• Original Poppy
  • Tier 1 Yordle Bodyguard.
  • Active — Buckler Toss: Throws her buckler at the farthest enemy, dealing 180 / 210 / 240% maximum armor magic damage. The buckler then bounces back, granting her a 225 / 275 / 325 (× AP) shield.

V11.21

Ability damage increased to 150 / 250 / 450 from 150 / 250 / 400.

V11.15 — Returning

Returning to Set 5.5 with no changes.

— June 30th Hotfix

Starting mana increased to 50 from 30.

V11.13

• Starting mana reduced to 30 from 40.
• Maximum mana reduced to 70 from 80.
• Ability damage increased to 150 / 250 / 400 from 150 / 250 / 350.
• Ability shield increased to 250 / 375 / 525 from 250 / 350 / 450.

V11.9 — Returning

• Noxus Poppy
  • Tier 1 Hellion Knight.
  • Active — Buckler Toss: Throws her buckler at the furthest enemy, dealing 150 / 250 / 350 (× AP) magic damage and applying on-hit effects. The buckler bounces back to her, granting her a shield for 250 / 350 / 450 (× AP) health.

V10.19 — Disabled

Disabled due to Set 4.

V10.17

Base magic resistance increased to 35 from 30.

V10.16

• Ability damage increased to 100 / 150 / 225 from 100 / 150 / 200.
• Ability shield increased to 200 / 300 / 450 from 200 / 300 / 400.

V10.14

• Starting mana reduced to 50 from 60.
• Maximum mana reduced to 90 from 100.

V10.12 — Returning

• Base armor increased to 45 from 40.
• Base magic resistance increased to 30 from 20.

V10.10

• Ability damage reduced to 100 / 150 / 200 from 100 / 175 / 250.
• Ability shield reduced to 200 / 300 / 400 from 200 / 350 / 500.

V10.7

Bug Fix: Updated her tooltip to specify she deals magic damage.

V10.6 — Returning

• Now uses Star Guardian Poppy instead of Original Poppy.
• New Traits: Star Guardian Vanguard.
• New Ability: Active — Buckler Toss: Throws her buckler at the furthest enemy, dealing 100 / 175 / 250 magic damage. The buckler bounces back to her, granting her a shield for 200 / 350 / 500 health.
• Tier reduced to 1 from 3.
• Base health reduced to 650 from 700.
• Maximum mana increased to 100 from 75.
• Starting mana increased to 60 from 0.
• Base attack speed increased to 0.55 from 0.5.

V9.22 — Disabled

Disabled due to Set 2.

V9.20

Base health reduced to 700 from 800.

V9.14b

Ability damage increased to 300 / 500 / 700 from 300 / 400 / 500.

V9.14

• Base armor increased to 40 from 30.
• Stun duration increased to 2 / 3 / 4 seconds from 1.5 / 2.5 / 3.5.
• Number of targets hit increased to 1 / 2 / 3 from 1 at all star-level.

— July 1st Hotfix

• Base health increased to 800 from 750.
• Maximum mana reduced to 75 from 100.

V9.13 — Added

• Tier 3 Yordle Knight.
• Active — Keeper’s Verdict: After charging for 0.75 seconds, swings her hammer at the closest enemy, dealing 300 / 400 / 500 magic damage, knocking up for 1 second and stunning for 1.5 / 2.5 / 3.5 seconds.

Что происходит в первой главе Poppy Playtime

Присущая куклам жуткость — вот что делает заброшенную фабрику игрушек отличным местом для страшной игры. В первой главе ужасного приключения Мак игры, вы бывший сотрудник Playtime Co., посещающий фабрику игрушек спустя годы после того, как все сотрудники внезапно исчезли. Похоже, это плохая идея! Тебе действительно стоит позволить спящим куклам лежать. Поверьте мне.

Ознакомьтесь с отличным введением в игру ниже. Что-то в старой колючей кассете VHS идеально подходит для создания жуткого настроения куклы, которая может разговаривать с детьми.

С другой стороны, вам не нужно рассматривать все игрушки как врагов. У вас есть собственные игрушки, которые помогут вам, когда вы начнете исследовать и решать головоломки на темной и жуткой фабрике. GrabPack — это набор игрушечных рук, которые вы можете привязать к себе, которые действуют как симпатичные крючки для захвата. Щелкните мышью, и ваша большая пластиковая рука будет метаться по комнате и зацепиться за что-нибудь. Щелкните еще раз, и он вернет его обратно.

Вы используете их, чтобы тянуть за ручки и рычаги, и даже можете схватиться за узел питания и растянуть наручные шнуры, чтобы замкнуть электрическую цепь, что полезно на заводе, который был закрыт в течение десяти лет. Как вы могли догадаться, просто включение света и запуск оборудования требует некоторой работы.

И, конечно, вы не одиноки. Собирая свой GrabPack и углубляясь в коридоры и офисы Playtime, вы заметите возвышающегося, ухмыляющегося часового по имени Хагги Вугги, стоящего на страже фабрики. Хагги Вагги большой, милый и пушистый, и я его ненавижу, у него широкая дружелюбная улыбка, и он абсолютный кошмар, он пушистый и милый, и хочет крепко тебя обнять! Крепкое объятие. Я бы не советовал ему позволять это.

Эта первая глава Poppy Playtime, названная A Tight Squeeze, довольно короткая, и я думаю, вы сможете пройти ее примерно за час. Головоломки не слишком сложны, и они недостаточно используют ваши крутые руки GrabPack, но их все равно приятно решать, особенно когда вы ползаете по фабрике в ожидании какой-нибудь ужасной вещи. Даже зная, что это должно было случиться, это напугало меня до смерти, когда это произошло. Мне не нравится здесь, в Playtime Co. И все же я определенно заинтересован вернуться, когда выйдут новые главы.

Ты можешь найти Poppy Playtime в Steam, а первая глава стоит пять костей.

Previous Abilities

Valiant Fighter

When Poppy takes non-turret damage higher than 10% current health, she reduces the excess amount by 50%.

Valiant Fighter’s damage reduction is calculated after resistances.

Devastating Blow

Active: Poppy’s next basic attack is enhanced to deal magic damage up to a cap.

Magic Damage: 20 / 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 (+ 8% of target’s maximum health) Maximum Magic Damage: 75 / 150 / 225 / 300 / 375 (+ 100% AD) (+ 60% AP)

Devastating Blow resets Poppy’s basic attack timer.

• Devastating Blow has no cast time and does not interrupt Poppy’s previous orders.
• An enemy target must have a minimum 688 / 1375 / 2063 / 2750 / 3438 maximum health in order to reach Devastating Blow’s maximum bonus damage (55 / 110 / 165 / 220 / 275)

Paragon of Demacia

Passive: Poppy gains  bonus attack damage and  bonus armor for 5 seconds every time she deals or takes damage, stacking up to 10 times.

Bonuses Per Stack: 1.5 / 2 / 2.5 / 3 / 3.5 Total Bonuses: 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35

Active: Poppy gains maximum Paragon of Demacia stacks and  bonus movement speed for 5 seconds.

Bonus Movement Speed: 17 / 19 / 21 / 23 / 25%

Paragon of Demacia has no cast time and does not interrupt Poppy’s previous orders.

Heroic Charge

Active: Poppy dashes to the target enemy, dealing them magic damage and carrying them along with her. If they collide with terrain, she deals them bonus magic damage and stuns them for 1.5 seconds.

Initial Magic Damage: 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 (+ 40% AP) Total Magic Damage: 125 / 200 / 275 / 350 / 425 (+ 80% AP)

• Heroic Charge applies spell effects twice (once when Poppy hits her target and once she stuns them against a wall)
• Poppy can use Heroic Charge to go through walls (provided her target is on the opposite side when she casts)
• Heroic Charge interacts with impassable player-created terrain ( , , , )

Diplomatic Immunity

Active: Poppy focuses the target enemy champion for the next few seconds, dealing them increased damage and becoming immune to all effects not originating from her target for the duration.

Duration: 6 / 7 / 8 Increased Damage: 20 / 30 / 40%

• Diplomatic Immunity blocks all damage from all sources (including  true damage) except the Nexus Obelisk, Diplomatic Immunity’s target, and their respective pets.
• Diplomatic Immunity can target champion clones ( , , , ) to turn Poppy invulnerable to the champion who spawned them (and by extension the entire enemy team)
• Diplomatic Immunity’s damage amplification can be removed with (the invulnerability will remain until either Poppy or her target die)

Previous Quotes

Upon Selection

 
  «Valoran will know harmony.»

Attacking

•  
    «Fighting is serious business.»
•  
    «I’ll settle this issue!»
•  
    «Their defeat is non-negotiable!»
•  
    «Let me demonstrate Hammer Diplomacy!»
•  
    «They’ll beg for peace.»
•  
    «If it is necessary.»

Movement

•  
    «If it will bring peace.»
•  
    «Valoran will know harmony.»
•  
    «We are in accord, Summoner.»
•  
    «My convictions will not falter!»
•  
    «Immediately!»
•  
    «Agreed!»

Taunt

 
  «Why don’t you just lay down your weapons now?»

Joke

 
  «Jokes? I don’t know any jokes.»

Laugh

•  
    Poppy laughs.
•  
    Poppy laughs.
•  
    Poppy laughs.
•  
    Poppy laughs.
•  
    Poppy laughs.

Previous Splash Art

• 1st Classic Poppy
• 1st Noxus Poppy
• 2nd Noxus Poppy
• 1st Lollipoppy
• 2nd Lollipoppy
• 1st Blacksmith Poppy
• 1st Ragdoll Poppy
• 1st Battle Regalia Poppy
• 1st Scarlet Hammer Poppy

1/9

• Classic Poppy
• Noxus Poppy
• Blacksmith Poppy
• Lollipoppy
• Ragdoll Poppy
• Scarlet Hammer Poppy

1/6

Taunt

•  
    «Seems you left your brave pants at home. Want me to wait while you go get them?»
•  
    «This hammer has two sides. Did you want to feel the other one too?»
•  
    «Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, uh… hammer!»
•  
    «Could you maybe get out of the way? Y’know, so I don’t have to flatten you.»

Taunting an Ally Galio

•  
    «You know, gargoyles and Yordles have a lot in common.»
  •  
       «Gargoyle? No, I’m more of a magic-nullifying colossus.»
  •  
       «Gargoyle? No, I’m more of a demonic vessel of torment.»

Taunting an Ally Garen

•  
    «Oh, wow, Garen, do you think you could sign my shield?»
•  
    «Garen, I think you might be the one!»

Taunting an Ally Jarvan IV

 
  «A pleasure to fight for you, your majesty.»

Taunting an Enemy Cho’Gath

«You sure you wanna do this? You don’t even have a weapon.»

Taunting an Enemy Jayce

 
  «That’s not a hammer! This is a hammer.»

Taunting an Enemy Leona

 
  «Look at all that shiny armor. Sorry I gotta mess it up.»

Taunting an Enemy Taric

 
  «I’m about to hammer you in the jewels.»

Taunting an Enemy Yordle

 
  «I don’t get Yordles. Too fluffy.»

Physiology

Tristana, a female Yordle

What differentiates yordles from other magical folk is that their physiology is more consistent between its members.

Yordles are sometimes sexually dimorphic and much shorter than humans; both sexes rarely exceed 1 meter tall, with most averaging between 0.5 and 0.8 meters. Their skin texture ranges from being lightly covered in fur, to moderately fuzzy, to ultimately being excessively bushy. Their hands have four digits while their feet differ greatly depending on the individual (from four to two digit feet). Their fur tones run a much broader spectrum of colors than their human counterparts; some consider this to be a sign of the yordles’ attunement to Runeterra’s magical nature; though scientists agree that this evolutionary trait is used by male Yordles (which tend to be more fuzzy) to attract females of their species (which tend to be lightly covered with fur). Their large eyes feature a large, circular iris with a vertically oval pupil, and they generally have inferior vision in the normal spectrum of light than humans. Yordles nevertheless have much better hearing, due to their large fox-like ears and are able to see into the infrared spectrum of light, whereas humans cannot. Furthermore, they are commonly characterized by their dependence on language, as well as their creation and utilization of complex tools.

Yordles do not age in the same way as beings of the material realm do thanks to being creatures of the spirit realm and therefore have different concepts of aging. In The Meaning in Misery, it was revealed Yordles also don’t die.

The yordle race have shown the possibility to be amphibious, such example would be Fizz, though it is unknown whether it is his original form or one of his choosing.

Yordles can somewhat be considered spirits due to being native to the spirit realms. They don’t need to breathe.

Due to their physiology, yordles are vulnerable to being imprisoned inside cages made of Runic Iron. Touching Runic Iron gives yordles an electrical-like shock, and will disrupt their magic.

Reproduction

It is unknown how new Yordles came to be. It appears new Yordles emerge from random wards of magic and came into certain model of family units with more «mature» Yordles.

Glamour

• Not Always As They Seem…
• Heimerdinger’s Visual Transmogrification

1/2

In less enlightened parts of the world, a yordle’s appearance could seem frightening or unnatural to mortals. Fortunately, they are adept at blending in, and often protected by a kind of supernatural glamour—subconsciously fading from the viewer’s notice, or being masked as a less remarkable individual.

Yordles do not necessarily control their glamour, and may understand it in a variety of ways. The revered inventor Heimerdinger, for example, crafted unique technological devices for himself and Ziggs, to help them blend into Piltovan society. However, some humans are able to break this charm due to their more perceptive nature.

The Arsenal: Forging Poppy’s Hammer

By Rumtumtummers

Reworking Poppy was a chance to tune up her biggest, baddest character elements while giving her completely new play patterns. We knew the , her signature weapon, would be critical in solidifying her refreshed identity; like Jinx’s , Nautilus’ , or Riven’s , Poppy’s hammer is an integral part of both her kit and her personality. We had to get it right for both to ring true.

In short, it was hammer time.

Small character; big impact

Poppy’s original and were designed to fit her small stature. «Before, Poppy had a Yordle hammer and a Yordle shield», explains concept artist Gem Lim. «But we wanted to do more with it.» The team realized that by choosing one primary item for Poppy to wield and over-emphasizing it, they could create a champion with a silhouette and style different from any other champion in League. «Instead of equal attention for the hammer and shield, we toned the down and made the ginormous», says Gem. «What struck me the most about Poppy was this sense of disproportionate power. She’s a small character who does big things. The hammer should communicate that.»

ChampUp played with several hammer designs while working on the Poppy update

Poppy’s new champion-smasher wasn’t custom-made to fit her; it’s a regular-sized hammer she wields with incredible power. «The new hammer is more than a weapon», Gem says. «Its humongous size contributes to her silhouette and her movement. No champion moves like her. When you see her swing that hammer, it’s so different from Sion with his or Garen with his .» Senior narrative writer John O’Bryan adds, «It’s almost like she puts all of herself into every swing.» The new hammer design contributed to Poppy’s new and each of her re-tuned abilities.

Gem emphasizes the idea of a tiny character packing a big punch: «We want people to feel that crazy disproportionate power. Like, ‘Oh, look at the cute little— ouch!’ It’s over-the-top and unexpected.»

A hero’s journey

Poppy’s hammer is an important part of her personal journey. ‘A Hero’s Calling’, which offers players a glimpse into Poppy’s world, is centered on the hammer and what it means to her. O’Bryan elaborates, «Even she doesn’t think it’s hers. She thinks it’s a tool for someone else.» Scaling the hammer to make it a normal hammer size helps emphasize the idea that Poppy doesn’t necessarily believe the hammer is hers to wield, that somewhere in the world is a hero meant to carry it. The hammer existed long before Poppy took possession of it.

Poppy’s hammer has hints of Demacia and a human-sized scale

Though she’s been carrying the hammer for a long, long time, Poppy hasn’t yet realized that she’s what gives the hammer its strength. O’Bryan explains, «If you were to ask Poppy, she would probably think she’s nothing special. Everything she’s doing is because of this hammer she’s carrying around. But really, it’s all coming from her.» Players know one thing Poppy doesn’t: the hammer is right where it needs to be.

The immovable object

Poppy’s new weapon is meant to emphasize core elements of her personality. «She’s purposeful», says O’Bryan. «Nothing can stop her; if you knock her down, she’s going to keep getting back up.» The team behind the Poppy update wanted to give a sense of solidity to Poppy, the idea that to get to Poppy’s team, enemies have to go through her. «When others run away, Poppy runs forward», says Gem. «She’s indomitable.»

The hammer is a symbol of Poppy’s strength, her unflinching dedication to her task, and her worldview. «Poppy doesn’t think of herself as a small character», O’Bryan says, «because she really isn’t.» Gem says, «She’s the pebble you thought you could kick, but couldn’t. There’s no one like her.»

Joke

•  
    «Jokes? Yeah, I know jokes.»
  •  
      «A Demacian, a Noxian and a Freljordian walk into a tavern.»
    •  
        «The barkeep asks, ‘What’ll it be?'»
      •  
          «The Demacian says, ‘Uh, I’ll have a wine.’ No, wait, an ale! Yeah… «
        •  
            «Then the Noxian says, ‘I’ll have a… a wine.’ Yeah, he wants a wine.»

           
            «And the Freljordian says, ‘I’ll drink anything, so long as— ‘ Wait, hold on, let me start over.»

  •  
      «A Noxian, a Targonian and a Piltie are robbing a bank.»
    •  
        «The bank guy says, ‘I’ll give you whatever you want.'»
      •  
          «The Noxian says, ‘I’ll take whatever gold you got back there.'»
        •  
            «The Targonian says, ‘Gimme’ all your gemstones!'»

           
            «And the Piltie says, ‘Can I own this ba— uh, I own this bank, so…’ He doesn’t want anything because he owns the bank… »

Movement

First Move

•  
    «The hammer isn’t mine, just keeping it until the real guy shows up.»
•  
    «I’ve heard a lot about this hero with a hammer, can’t wait to meet him.»
•  
    «Hmm… if I were a hero, where would I hide…?»
•  
    «Not coming back ’til I find that hero.»
•  
    «One time I thought I found the hero… but he died.»
•  
    «Today’s the day I find that hero.»

Moving

•  
    «What do you mean my hammer’s too big?»
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    «If you’re waiting for me to give up, you might be here a while.»
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    «Me? The hero? Nah, that’s ridiculous.»
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    «I sure do a lot of walking.»
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    «Yep, it’s even heavier than it looks.»
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    «Oh, you like to fight? So does my hammer!»
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    «Guess I’m going this way now.»
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    «Do not make my hammer mad.»
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    «Every step is one step closer.»
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    «Some things are too important to give up on.»
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    «Who knew there were so many heroes?»
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    «I gotta’ see this through.»
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    «The hammer does most of the work, I just swing it.»
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    «How Demacian of you!»
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    «I’m in one-hundred-percent! That’s everything, right?»
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    «Okay, I admit it. I’m lost.»
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    «I hope the hero likes me.»
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    «Sometimes you just gotta’ do it yourself.»
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    «Just had a thought — three pigtails!»
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    «Man, quests are hard.»
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    «Know what I could use? A cart.»
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    «I could really go for a nap.»

Dev Blog: The Animation of Poppy

By Paul ‘PartiestCat’ Jarvis

Hey everyone! Paul ‘PartiestCat’ Jarvis here. I was in charge of driving the style and direction for how Poppy moves and wanted to give you all a little behind-the-scenes look on how we approached the animation for Demacia’s tiniest delivery service.

SQUASH, STRETCH, AND SMEAR

Okay, quick animation history lesson. There’s a set of animation principles that most animators follow that dictate and drive the choices we make when building out the motion for characters and they cover topics like posing, exaggeration, and visual/emotional appeal. One principle in particular — squash and stretch — is something we’ve adapted as a fundamental aspect to League’s in-house animation style. Broadly speaking, squash and stretch helps a character feel organic and alive. It’s used to emphasize weight, momentum, and speed of objects by warping and distorting their shape. When we use more extreme versions of these distortions to connect our most important ‘key’ poses, we call them smears or ‘smear frames’; single distorted frames between broad actions. Using smears helps to sell impacts on spells, attacks, or any super-quick motion. A champion’s animation needs to feel awesome in fractions of seconds, and smears help by adding texture and flavor between exaggerated motions.

Back to Poppy.

Yordles are squishy. I don’t mean that literally, but their short stature gives them lots of wiggle room for us to exaggerate how they move. Poppy has a tiny frame, so it’s also important that we can make her motion broad enough to not be hidden under her big Yordle head. Ideally, she should never look like she’s made of rubber, but her motions should have a certain extra snap to them to keep her feeling energetic and punchy.

We kept the same mindset with the motion of her hammer, but I’ll get to that below.

EXPRESSIVE

Historically, League isn’t the kind of game that normally needs facial animation. The camera angle and distance from your champion normally means a character’s face only takes up a handful of pixels on-screen at any moment and extra detail actually makes it harder to understand what is happening. As animators, we wanted to challenge that idea, and our early tests actually showed us that her expression changes were fully readable and felt like they added a lot to her personality.

In terms of her character rig (the set of bones that allow us to move our characters around) Poppy is the first champion in League to be built from the ground up to support such a wide range of facial expressions. Every champion has a budget in terms of rig complexity, so we had to be smart about how we fine-tuned her model and facial setup. Many high-end character rigs in modern games have more bones in the face alone than all of Poppy combined, so the challenge was to give us the widest control with the least amount of resources.

Poppy’s facial rig

Just to get technical stuff out of the way, Poppy’s face is only 11 joints in all:

• 3 per eye (pupil, upper eyelid/eyebrow, and eye shape)
• 3 to shape the mouth
• 1 for the upper bridge of teeth
• 1 for the jaw

After working closely with our tech artist (and waves and waves of iteration) we landed on what you see above. We were able to get a surprising amount of flexibility out of such a simple setup!

The first thing I did with Poppy was to carve out a set of base expressions to feel out her emotional range, and then develop them until that we all felt confident about the direction. Once we had a solid foundation, we were able to focus on the expressive timing — finding punctuated moments during and after her abilities and attacks where the expressions could be clearly seen. When you only have a fraction of a second to sell an attack, communicating a clear change in mood is really important.

…Fool me twice… HAMMER!

Poppy’s hammer is just as important as she is and we really wanted to reflect that in her animations. Why not give her hammer the same degree of personality that we give to the Yordle that wields it? We spent some time going back and forth about what kind of shapes we needed the hammer to make, which parts we wanted to push and pull, and which parts needed to twist, distort, or grow and shrink.

Squashing, stretching, and smearing is just as important for the hammer as it is for Poppy, so we needed to crank it up to 11. The head of the hammer scales to cartoonish sizes for single frames so you can really feel the force behind the swing, and the neck of the hammer bends to compensate. With a little sorcery and a lot of clever rigging we were able to build really clean smear trails for the hammer that gave us a nice, stylized alternative to motion blur. It’s a more traditional animation method that meshed really well with how we normally animate our champions.

Attack

Attacking

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    «I can do this.»
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    «Here goes everything.»
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    «I hope this works.»
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    «No backing down.»
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    «Swinging from the heels!»
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    «Sorry about this.»
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    «Careful, this packs a wallop.»
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    «You should probably take cover.»
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    «Ready, hammer?»
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    «One whomp at a time.»
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    «You might wanna’ look out.»
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    «Keep swinging til’ you hit something.»
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    «Better get your guard up.»
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    «You’re in my way.»
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    «Guess we’re fighting.»
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    «You are… definitely not the hero.»

Attacking an Enemy Jarvan IV / Wukong / God-King Garen

 
  «Sorry, your majesty.»

Attacking the Dragon

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    «This guy seems nice. I feel bad about killing him.»
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    «I really don’t have anything against dragons.»
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    «Nothing personal, but… I need to squash you.»

Attacking Baron Nashor

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    «Whoa! You’re a big fella!»
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    «This should really be the hero’s job.»
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    «Wow. That’s a lot to hammer.»

Culture

“	«Yordles are the reason no-one takes us Vastaya seriously.»
— Xayah

The Yordle race have innate magic within them which helps them achieve extraordinary things usually impossible for someone of their stature. Also, they require far more social interaction with their own kind than humans do. They generally are a peaceful and amicable race, often marked with streaks of joviality and light prankishness; their moral compass is most often pointed toward goodness and benevolence. Their desire for social interaction drives them toward this ethos, as the mental health of a yordle is very much dependent on the positive company he or she keeps. This does not mean, however, that they are incapable of cruelty and evil. In fact, a yordle who is kept in isolation for too long – especially from contact with other yordles – runs the risk of becoming withdrawn and sullen. Some who already are centered more toward malevolence will become exceedingly so in due course. These yordles will often twist their desire for social interaction into a desire to seek out others to inflict pain and suffering upon them, one extreme example being Veigar, the Tiny Master of Evil. Yordles are attracted to Runeterra cultures and enjoy manifesting around certain human ideals.

Lore

Other Related Champions

• Akali fought alongside Kennen in the Kinkou Order.
• Amumu, an ancient Shuriman rumored to be a yordle.
• Jinx is a partner-for-explosions with Ziggs.
• Lissandra froze Gnar by accident when freezing the Watchers after realizing her mistake.
• Mordekaiser is the cause of Veigar’s suffering and obsession with evil, and is notably able to see right through Yordle glamours and tricks.
• Nautilus sank several Bilgewater ships that Fizz accidentally took gold offerings from.
• Rengar survived Mega Gnar’s attack.
• Shen leads Kennen and the Kinkou Order.
• Twisted Fate and Graves fought Yordles in the past. While Graves is quite willing to attempt to capture Yordles for the apparent high bounty they bring in, Twisted Fate refuses because «messing with Yordles brings a whole heap of trouble.»
• Vayne fought alongside Poppy.
• Viego was assisted by Vex.
• Yuumi is a magical cat familiar to a Yordle Enchantress named Norra.

History

Main article: Bandle City

Cave drawing of a prehistoric Yordle family (Gnar’s)

Prehistoric predator of the Yordles

Yordles come from self-contained pockets within the spirit realm, with no direct «mirror» in the material realm of Runeterra. The origin of this race on Runeterra is unknown but can be traced back to a prehistoric time when there were no civilizations on land thanks to the existence of Fizz, an amphibious yordle. Most would agree that Yordles resided on Valoran during its prehistoric times. At that time they were a nomadic race, travelling from one part of Valoran to the other. Records show they had presence in Ancient Freljord. They lived in tight neat family groups as well as near early humans. Because of their small stature, they were mostly prey for many animals. During prehistoric times they had tails and front canine teeth.

Overtime as human civilizations advanced, so did yordles’ appearances and capabilities. To easily blend in human areas, yordles at one point started using an ability called «Glamour», which gave them the appearance of short humans.

To this day, most yordles stay inside the mystical spiritual realm known as Bandle City, only venturing out on rare occasions. There are numerous gateways across Runeterra that yordles, and other knowledgeable and perceptive individuals, are able to use to get to in and out of Bandle City.