VALORANT EPISODE 7, ACT III VALIANT HERO SKINLINEDEV QUOTE SHEET

What were your goals when designing Valiant Hero?
ANSWER:
The Monkey King character is well beloved by so many people and our
goal was to create a skinline that felt as heroic and powerful as his story.
One of the main avenues we used to express this story is the clouds.
Monkey King is often depicted riding on a nimbus cloud and this was a
powerful image for us as we were creating this thematic. Additionally,
you’ll see that the staff is a main component of every one of the weapons
in the Valiant Hero skinline. Using Monkey King’s classic weapon, one
that he can change shape and size according to the battle he is fighting,
was another way we wanted to emphasize the power of the hero.
Laura Baltzer, Game Producer

What did you take inspiration from / any notable concepts you wanted to convey with
Valiant Hero?
ANSWER:
There are so many great representations of Monkey King throughout
history. We tried to take pieces of these stories, but also to make
something that felt uniquely VALORANT. I think you see that the most
with the finisher–both the model and the music we chose to create. The
finisher version of Valiant Hero feels aspirational and modern, but keeps
the established Monkey King myths and sounds close as well. Music
especially has played an important role in various adaptations and
representations of the story so we leaned heavily on traditional Chinese
instruments and familiar sounds to create the thematic core of the Valiant
Hero soundscape. You’ll hear a lot of musical elements throughout the
skinline but we pushed the hardest on the Ruyi Staff inspect. We wanted
it to feel epic, and for players to feel like a hero themselves when using it.
Drew Olsen, Sound Design

Any unexpected challenges or novelty stories you’d like to share when designing Valiant
Hero?
ANSWER:
The Monkey King finisher came with a lot of challenges. We had to get
creative to get the model and animation done in time as a lot of it was
done towards the end of the project. I animated the finisher with a
prototype rig, and worked closely with the modeler in the hope that it
would work with the Monkey King rig when it was ready. We had to go
back and forth on the rig several times to make sure everything was lining
up. As for the animation, we wanted to make it as big and epic as
possible. The idea was for Monkey King to clone himself into a bunch of
clones. Those clones would then attack the victim, and the Monkey King
would come in for the final blow. This big scope was pretty scary,
especially for game performance. We were able to come up with a clever
solution to keep those clones purely as visual effects assets instead of
individual characters, which met our performance requirements. As for
the Monkey King animation, I had to watch a lot of Monkey King movies
and monkey style kung-fu forms, to get a good idea of how he moves. I
then shot reference of myself acting like a monkey and doing the action,
which was quite fun and weird to do. Everything really came together in
the end, and the finisher turned out awesome!
Billy Lam, Animation Artist

FACT SHEET – Valiant Hero Skinline

The Monkey King myth comes to life in VALORANT with the Valiant Hero skinline. This skinline
encapsulates the adventurous hero, featuring his staff molded to match your journey in the
Vandal, Operator, Ares, and Ghost. The all new melee animations and music will make any
match epic.
Thematic Goals
Cultural, Heroic, Mythical, Beautiful
Key Features
● All-New Melee Animations
● Custom Music
● Finisher with Monkey King Animation
● Finisher Variants
● Custom Firing Audio
● Visual Effects
● Color Variants
● Custom Animations
Weapons:
● Vandal
● Operator
● Ares
● Ghost
● Ruyi Staff (new melee type)
Bundle Info:
● Bundle Price: 7100 VP
○ Guns (1775 VP each)
○ Staff Melee (4350 VP)
○ Total Bundle of Guns, Melee, and Accessories (7100 VP)
● Weapons
○ Vandal
○ Operator
○ Ares
○ Ghost
○ Ruyi Staff (new melee type)
● Accessories
○ Valiant Hero Card
○ Valiant Hero Spray
○ Valiant Hero Buddy
Levels
● Weapons
○ Level 1 – Custom model
○ Level 2 – Custom firing sounds and muzzle flash visual effects
○ Level 3 – Custom visual effects and audio, custom animations for the
Operator, Vandal, and Ares
○ Level 4 – Custom kill banner and Finisher with Monkey King animation
○ Variant 1 – Red and Orange sunset design, with matching Finisher color
scheme
○ Variant 2 – Pink and Blue dusk design, with matching Finisher color
scheme
○ Variant 3 – Deep Blue night design, with matching Finisher color scheme
● Melee
○ Level 1 – Custom model, all new animations (staff)
○ Level 2 – Custom visual effects, custom audio including custom music on
inspect, custom equip animation and swipes (attacks and heavy attack)
○ Variant 1 – Red and Orange Dusk design
○ Variant 2 – Pink and Blue Dawn design
○ Variant 3 – Deep Blue night design
Developer/Publisher: Riot Games
Release Date: October 31, 2023