“A complete downgrade”: Viktor mains critic Riot Games for champion’s rework

The last Arcane season motivated Viktor's VGU rework, a champion launched in 2011. The events of Arcane's last season made Riot Games visually upgrade the champion as well as his old skins, something that couldn't be done earlier due to spoilers. Viktor mains are not happy with the change.

Many leaks around the new visuals are circling online and fans are not quite thrilled about Viktor's rework. They talk about Riot Games "erasing" the character and its lore's essence that will also be changed. Many others talked about how Riot could only do a skin resembling Arcane changes instead of changing the whole champion.

Fans called it the "revert-lution", a revolution that wants to reverse what happened. Viktor fans are asking the players to join their revolution in solidarity with their cause. Others think the rework is appropriate in the sense of how Viktor is about changing and embracing progress. People have been calling it a "complete downgrade". On the PBE Reddit, the post asking for feedback on Viktor’s rework has no upvotes and over 2000 comments.

They also added how "unrecognizable" the character will be from his old lore and criticized Riot Games for trying to appeal to Arcane fans who don't even play the game. "This rework has taken Viktor from a unique and compelling scientist to a generic metal mage with no clear identity. His design abandons the practicality and purpose that defined him, his gameplay doesn’t match his story, and his philosophy has been reduced to vague nods that lack meaning", a fan wrote on X.

As we predicted, many of Viktor's rework pictures have been leaked online, showing his new characteristics and design. The splash art for every skin has been already leaked. As for the PsyOps and High Noon skins, they mainly changed in-game instead of in the splash art.

In the new Viktor default splash art, we can see his old machinery and robotic version being replaced for Arcane Viktor's last visual, the "god" one. We can see his arms, torso, and legs human details as well as a new mask and new clothing. They kept the robotic arm coming from behind him, replacing the yellow laser with a blueish one, and his powerful "cane". If you don't remember, due to his illness, Viktor had to use a cane to help him walk.

Full Machine Viktor is probably the most changed skin, visually speaking. In the new version, we see a different angle, the color scheme is totally different, having more cold colors, and the armor is also different. Even the background has been drastically changed in the reworked version.

As for Creator Viktor, the splash arts are pretty much the same. However, in-game, we can see how different they are from each other.

Prototype Viktor is a legacy skin and a very old one. In the new splash art, we still see the balance between a human and a machinery Viktor. Here he is in his "scientistic version", making experiments with a weapon, instead of an arm as we see in the older version. There are other details such as Piltover behind him, instead of an office background. The color scheme is also different: in the old Viktor skin we see more yellow and brown, in the reworked version we see more green, red, and blue.

The second legacy Viktor skin, Death Sworn, also changed drastically. In the old version, we see him in a descending angle, surrounded by a cultish circle on the ground and the power getting out of his third arm. In the reworked vision, we see him as a haughty figure - we don't see him, he sees us. His third arm is not releasing power, but his body emanates it. The color scheme is the same as the older version, with blue and purple tones.

Viktor's rework is reportedly coming to League of Legends on December 11 alongside the Patch 14.24. However, they are already out on the PBE since November 26. If you are curious, you can check them there.

Viktor will have a new skin as part of the second Arcane skin wave. It will be a legendary skin which means will cost 1820 RP. If you're a Viktor main, you will probably be interested in the new skin. You can check it in the game here.

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