League of Legends game designer talks Ambessa Medarda: “Ambessa demands of the player what she demands of herself and her family — greatness.”

Riot Games recently revealed more details about Ambessa Medarda. First introduced in Arcane Season 1 as Mel's mother, Ambessa will soon enter League of Legends as a new champion. Ahead of Ambessa's arrival, the League of Legends game designer Max Perlman shared some insights about bringing Ambessa to the Summoner's Rift.

When Ambessa first appeared in Arcane Season 1, viewers got to know her in terms of her character and personality. However, this wasn't the case with Ambessa's combat style. Therefore, while adapting Ambessa to the League of Legends game itself, Perlman used three approaches to create her kit.

While the first approach was all about creating a lightweight fighter who embodies Noxian ideals, the second approach focused on the creative uses of Ambessa's weapons — her Twin Drakehounds. As for the third approach, it was centered around Ambessa's character as a military veteran.

"Ultimately, we wound up taking a lot of the best pieces of each of these approaches and used them to create what we believe is a visceral, novel, and engaging combat style that players will love to sink their teeth into," Perlman said.

He continued, revealing that his goal on the team was bring the most authentic version of Ambessa from Arcane in her gameplay in League of Legends. Perlman not only had to apture her personality and philosophy, but also make sure that he combat style felt distinctly Noxian.

"A North Star for me as her designer was the idea that Ambessa demands of the player what she demands of herself and her family — greatness," he explained. "She is primarily for players who already love League and understand it deeply. We wanted players to feel that, with deep game understanding and mastery, she is a champion with a very high skill expression ceiling and one that players can always improve at."

According to Perlman, Ambessa is expected to be seen in the top lane. However, some folks may play her as a jungler if they're not interested in the one-versus-one (1v1) action. Perlman added that while Ambessa may struggle against ranged champions, she is expected to be a counterpick against certain mid-lane melee champions.

To him, Ambessa’s gameplay style is "aggressive, opportunistic, and relentless." While in lane, she can use her abilities and passive to make good trades and look for opportunities to engage enemies. During the mid-game, Ambessa thrives in chaotic situations when the enemy team's focus is divided.

"In the late-game, she looks to threaten enemy champions by controlling space and using her ultimate to get to high-priority targets and engage the enemy team from unconventional angles." Perlman added.

In terms of tips on playing as Ambessa, Perlman advised players to make full use of her passive. This can be tricky at first, but after getting into the flow of it all, players can start learning the nuances of her spells.

"Another vital one is that her Q and passive together describe an ideal distance that she wants to stand relative to her opponents," he continued. "Internalizing that range is also important for her damage optimization. Ultimately, we know that she is relatively hard to pick up and we believe that mastering her is a lot of fun and that she isn't for the faint of heart — embrace it!"

For players who wish to counter Ambessa, Perlman said that in 1v1 situations, Ambessa struggles in drawn-out engagements. This is because her damage relies more on her abilities than on basic attacks.

Next, in larger team fights, players should know that Ambessa relies on angles to reach high-priority champions. Therefore, saving crowd control effects for Ambessa, especially after she casts an ability and is trying to regain energy, is important because that's when she's the most vulnerable.

That's all for now. Ambessa will arrive in League of Legends on Nov. 6. Stick around on esports.gg for more news and updates!