Riot Games has finally lifted the lid on everything included in the Teamfight Tactics 7.5 Mid-Set, and the developer has included an extra-special surprise in the form of new, TFT-exclusive unit Sohm – the first character to be created from scratch purely for the game.
As the new Lagoon trait’s dedicated dragon, Sohm commands the waves using its Tideblossom skill. According to the skill’s description, Sohm “sends out a tide to an unmarked target, marking them with a Tideblossom and dealing magic damage to enemies along the way. Tideblossoms transfer to a nearby target if the enemy dies. After three casts, his next cast instead summons a vortex under each Tideblossom, dealing magic damage to enemies in the area.”
Speaking on the unit’s development during a recent developer Q&A, senior game designer Julie Palu says the idea to have an aquatic-themed dragon came about early on in the Mid-Set’s own development cycle. “There was a lot of iteration,” she says, “we had beautiful concepts that maybe we can share at some point. Ultimately, I think it’s pretty close to what we started with, just even better.”
Meanwhile, TFT producer Christine Lai highlights the sheer amount of work put in by Sohm’s rigger and animator, who dedicated two months of solid graft to bringing the unit to life from scratch. “There’s a lot of rigging and animation required to make sure that they flow elegantly in the game”, she says.
“Even the audio design took a long time”, communications lead Rodger Caudill adds, further noting that some of Sohm’s sounds are the result of his audio designer getting creative with whale noises.
Though Sohm and the rest of the Lagoon trait’s efficacy remains to be seen when TFT 7.5 Mid-Set hits the live servers, we’ve certainly enjoyed trialling them out as part of a recent preview event. As such, we can confidently say that those soon-to-be digging into the Mid-Set on the PBE when it arrives there on August 24 are in for a treat.
Be sure to keep an eye on our Teamfight Tactics patch notes guide for when the full changelist arrives.