riot-disables-league-of-legends-hero-who-can-flip-right-into-a-one-shot-demise-tower-(however-is-not-alleged-to)

Riot Video games has briefly disabled League of Legends character Neeko after she unexpectedly developed the power to rework into an enormous tower that may kill enemy gamers in a single shot.

Neeko is definitely a shapeshifter: Her character bio says she “can mix into any crowd by borrowing the appearances of others, even absorbing one thing of their emotional state to inform buddy from foe instantly.” Her passive means permits her to take the type of an allied champion: Whereas disguised she will be able to make use of primary assaults, however will revert to her pure type if she takes any injury.

That is the way it’s alleged to work, anyway. However a brand new bug was not too long ago found that gave Neeko the power to rework right into a tower—particularly, a Nexus Obelisk, a sort of turret that possesses the best structural injury output within the game. In keeping with the LoL fan wiki, they’re truly designed as a defensive homicide machine: They’re positioned close to spawn platforms to maintain enemy gamers from spawn tenting them.

This clip, from League streamer Vandiril, fairly clearly demonstrates the issue:

And right here it’s from the opposite facet of the coin—a participant consuming a one-shot kill from a remodeled Neeko:

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As you may think, the power of 1 character to rework into one in every of these one-shot demise fortresses, instantly and anyplace on the map, throws the game into full imbalance. It is principally the LoL equal of Anakin Skywalker’s huge showdown with the younglings: There’s simply no protection towards it. 

Due to that, Riot was compelled to disable Neeko whereas it tries to repair no matter went unsuitable.

(Picture credit score: Riot Video games)

Some League gamers on Reddit have been shocked that this might occur in any respect, provided that Nexus Obelisks aren’t characters, however fastened turrets. “How is that even a attainable bug?” Rumbleinthejungle8 requested. “The game’s code have to be an actual mess for that to be attainable. I suppose the whole lot being coded as a minion is not only a meme.”

That is a reference to the truth that extra than simply minions are coded as “minions” in League of Legends. This Reddit publish from 2015 breaks it down intimately: Nearly the whole lot within the game shares primary, underlying traits, though their complexity varies broadly.

“The phrase ‘the whole lot is a minion’ is kind of true but it surely’s nearer to saying one thing like ‘the whole lot is an object’ moderately than ‘the whole lot is a lane minion’,” RiotXypherous defined within the publish. “Lane minions are literally fairly sophisticated, given they’ve a mannequin, animations and an AI—one thing that the essential minion object would not have (relying on which one is getting used, I feel they’re all idle cubes.)”

Some gamers have urged that the issue may be so simple as a failed or mistaken entity kind test, however the truth that Neeko has been disabled for greater than 24 hours means that the issue is extra critical than a easy scripting error. After all, the timing is not supreme both: November 24 is the Thanksgiving vacation within the US, a serious vacation that sees most companies within the nation shut down for a protracted weekend of meals, booze, and (I feel, I am Canadian so not super-clear on the small print of the ritual) soccer. In order that’s one more reason why this Neeko Obelisk enterprise may take a bit of longer than regular to repair.

No matter all that, the Neeko bug is yet one more instance of the challenges confronted by live-game builders, who should cope with a gradual stream of updates which can be continually altering characters, worlds, and gameplay. It is the character of the beast: In October, Blizzard needed to disable Bastion and Torbjörn in Overwatch 2 due to equally overpowered glitches of their ultimates, and two weeks later shut down Mei as a result of she’d grow to be just a bit bit extra cellular than she was meant to be. Riot was additionally compelled to drag the plug on Valorant’s new hero Harbor simply final week, as a result of his final had gone screwy as properly.

There isn’t any indication at this level as to when Neeko might be again: Riot Video games declined to touch upon the scenario or provide a attainable timeline for the character’s return to motion.