League of Legends’ Star Guardians return for a big summer event

A big Star Guardians event is coming to Riot Games’ League of Legends, Wild RiftAnd Legends of Runeterraon July 14. Many characters on the rosters will get new Star Guardian skins. The cosmetics will also be available. New lore regarding this alternate universe and the different worlds of Star Guardians will be shared over two patches during the summer. Riot will release Sessions, which is centered on Star Guardian Taliyah.

Star Guardians are one of the more popular subcultures within Greater. League of Legends lore. Star Guardians are high-school students who have been given the ability to use cosmic power to defend their homes against terrifying dangers.

“The last time we revisited Star Guardian, we really saw that our players loved it and engaged with it,” said Stephanie Bedford, a narrative producer at Riot Games, in a phone call with Polygon. “So we just really wanted to deliver on that.”

For those who are just learning about these adorable skins, Riot released a “The Story So Far” timeline that encapsulates all of the established lore about this alternate universe so far. It’s a classic magical girl story, with a force known as the First Star picking guardians to defend humanity against the cosmos. Star Guardians appear as teenagers, who have to balance the roles of hero and teenage girl.

The previous waves of Star Guardians have had cinematics, animations, music, a PvE event, and short stories published on the Universe website — but story details were all quite vague. The players could see the overall story and some key events but no narrative. We learned most of what we did from skin bios and alternate voices from legend skins.

Fans fell in love even though the story was limited. These alternate characters are very indulgent, with the cute costumes, adorable allies, and wholesome friendships you’d expect from a magical girl squad.

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“This is one of our most popular thematics that we have as an alt universe,” said Bedford. “Riot really views our alt universes as a really amazing medium for narrative expression and storytelling. So it’s not just cosmetics or a skin line to us, and we’re trying to create something that has depth, breadth, and player appeal.”

Star Guardians fans are enthusiastic and create fan art with the skins.

“All of us devs are definitely out there lurking and sometimes we can’t always interact or give things away,” said Bedford with a smile. “But even within Riot, we’re such big fans ourselves that we link it in our off-topic channels and say ‘Look at this amazing art’ and ‘Oh my gosh, how did they already know?’ or ‘They’re going to be so surprised when this happens.’”

Mainline League of LegendsAccording to legend, the champions reside in dangerous fantasies that require them to excel. It’s, well, a league of legends. The Star Guardian versions of these characters aren’t as battle-hardened or world-weary. Kai’Sa and Kassadin in Runeterra They are a father-daughter pair that barely survives a fight against the Lovecraftian Void. Star Guardian Kai’Sa, on the other hand, tells her teammates not to tell her dad about this magical girl business. “He has a lot going on.” (“We love Kassadad,” laughed Bedford.)

Star Guardian is a universe that’s “really concerned with the personal aspects of relationshipAnd identity, and friendship — things that are all really important to our players in real life,” Bedford said.

Over a dozen developers have all worked on this year’s Star Guardian event, including lead concept artist Oscar Vega and principal writer Jared Rosen. There are two legendary skins, Kai’Sa and Akali, as well as some villainous additions to the cast in Star Nemesis Morgana and Fiddlesticks. The Star Guardian event starts on July 14 across Riot’s Wild Rift, League of Legends, and Legends of Runeterra