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League of Legends players and fans are getting familiarized with the newcomer from Noxus: Briar. She was a failed experiment by the Black Rose and was later controlled using a special pillory. After years of confinement, Briar has now broken out free from her restraints and has unleashed herself into the world. Riot Games said, "Now she’s controlled by no one—following only her hunger for knowledge and blood—and relishes the opportunities to let loose, even if reining back the frenzy isn’t easy."
Before she was shackled to the pillory, Briar killed anyone that stood in her way, including her own allies. This aspect of Briar almost made it to League of Legends, said her developers in a digital roundtable.
Riot August reveals Briar could kill her own teammates
Briar's gameplay identity is basically this: She taunts herself near enemies and as she loses control, she gains more power. Currently, she is still thirsty for blood but is also on a quest to find her own identity.
In a digital roundtable, Riot Games’ lead champion designer August "August" Browning revealed that there was a point where Briar was so hungry that she would even attack her own teammates.
If you have already taken a glance at her abilities, you will know that the marquee of her kit is her W: Blood Frenzy/ Snack Attack. When she uses this ability, her pillory is broken and she self-taunts to the nearest enemy. While taunted, you cannot move and you cannot choose whom you are attacking. However, you can use other abilities.
She also gains insane amounts of movement speed and attack speed and August compared the levels to Master Yi's ultimate stats.
Notably, players can break out of Blood Frenzy only by casting Briar's E: Chilling Scream. Riot August said, "There is only one way for Briar to get out of her Blood Frenzy aside from death and that is her E. We added this because we were finding that when Briar did not have any way to get Blood Frenzy, she would run into towers and die a lot."
Adding more details about this ability, the developers revealed that Briar's Blood Frenzy was initially a slightly different version of the current one. Riot August said, "Briar's original W used to just straight up taunt to the nearest unit, whoever it was, including allies. So she could straight up kill her entire team. That only lasted a couple of playtests."
He explained how it was not okay for the ally jungler to show up and kill the team. Riot August also said that the original ability was way too OP [overpowered] since Briar got 300% more movement speed and attack speed. While it was a really cool concept to explore, August Browning noted that it was not a good from a gameplay standpoint.
Riot August also noted that the current version of Blood Frenzy falls into the lore better since Briar is trying very hard to distinguish between her friends and foes. This was mirrored in her cinematic trailer where she tries to escape the prison along with a boy, who she considers her friend.
