It was recently revealed that Seraphine had a very different ultimate in early development... but it reminds us of another champion. We just can't put our finger on quite who it reminds us of.
Seraphine has become one of the best champions in the game in recent times. She's a great support, insane APC and is also pretty darn good in the mid lane. In a recent stream by lead champion designer Riot August, it was revealed that Seraphine could have looked very different, though.
Apparently, Seraphine originally had an ability which could control other champions' minds. How insane would that have been, to be able to mind control other champions. But how exactly would that ability have worked in game and how broken could it have been? Thankfully, we got some clarification on Twitter.
What Would Seraphine's Mind Control Ability Have Looked Like?
Surrender@20 mod Spideraxe went to Twitter to ask about this exact ability after Riot August spoke about it on his most recent 'just chatting' stream on Twitch. According to Jeevun Sidhu, former Riot Games employee, Seraphine really was going to be able to control her opponents.
Sidhu explained that they were toying with a mesmerize-themed ultimate. Seraphine would dance on her platform, mesmerize one opponent with her performance and then be able to control them for a few seconds. This ability would channel for a bit before going into effect.
Once a champion was mesmerized, Seraphine could force them to attack allies nearby. But wait... doesn't that sound somewhat familiar? Just two-years later, Riot seems to have implemented this exact ultimate, but in a different champion completely and given it a brand-new name. This sounds just like Renata Glasc and her ultimate, right?
Old Abilities Re-Used for New Champions
This seems to be a case of Riot re-using ideas of an old ability for new ones. While Renata's ability is a bit more extreme since it will affect every champion hit by it, making it a very powerful AoE ultimate especially against teams with high DPS champions, it is the exact same idea as that of Seraphine, right?
According to Sidhu, this version of Seraphine's ultimate was part of her early exploration a whopping 4-years ago, which means that there could be a multitude of new abilities and effects in development right now that we, as fans, have no clue about. Who even knew that Seraphine was in development for so long, right?
Are you happy with the current ultimate on Seraphine or do you think she should deserve something unique like this mesmerize ultimate? Seraphine was one of the most hated champions upon release, but has since become a strong meta champion that is even played in the pro-scene in both the mid lane and as a support.