Lancelot: A Closer Look

By: HiRezAjax | 2022/6/8

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WHO IS LANCELOT?

"King Arthur gathered into his Order of the Round Table knights whose peers shall never be found in any age, and foremost amongst them all was Sir Launcelot du Lac. Such was his strength that none against whom he laid lance in rest could keep the saddle, and no shield was proof against his sword dint; but for his courtesy even more, than for his courage and strength, Sir Launcelot was famed far and wide." – Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d’Arthur, 1485

Sir Lancelot is the shining example of chivalry and strength, and yet he also brought Arthur’s downfall.

Many Arthurian characters change and develop unique depictions across different sources of old English and French works of literature. Lancelot is no different.

He was raised by the Lady of the Lake herself, a fae, which perhaps led to his supernatural abilities on the battleground. He became renowned for his victories in both the real skirmishes of war, as well as the testing grounds of various tournaments. He was a skilled swordsman but was of course best known for his ability with a Lance.

As a Knight of the Round table, he was entrusted with the highest honors and responsibilities. He eventually became the personal guardian of Arthur’s wife, Guinevere. This venerated role opened a doorway to temptation, and the knight ended up falling in love with the queen. A scandalous affair transpired, distracting and discouraging Arthur, allowing for his rival, Mordred, to seize the opportunity and slay the king.

This blemish on Lancelot’s story has resulted in him being portrayed in a variety of ways, often with themes of personal conflict and duality. He is a painful reminder that people are rarely perfect, and those who seem flawless often struggle with the heaviest burdens.

OUR VISION

For SMITE we wanted to show Lancelot as the archetypal Knight. Loved, respected, and known to all. Need someone to venture out and help those in need? Lancelot is your man! Not only is he an unparalleled fighter, he also has all of the warmth and empathy of your dearest relative.

Lancelot also works tirelessly to suppress his troubled side. For this reason, his attitude and voice lines do not bring those themes up directly. However, we did design Lancelot with these conflicts in mind, and there are references to them in his cinematic and lore.

CORE THEMES

• Theme – Heroism – For his era, Lancelot is the perfect Hero. He is welcomed into the company of royalty, and he fears no foe.
• Visuals - Knight of the Round Table – Lancelot displays the shining armor, ornate crests, and the graceful demeanor of the most legendary knights.
• Personality - Charming – He speaks calmly and confidently, inspiring those or easing the tensions of those around him.
• Perspective - The People’s Champion – When you’re a charming and heroic knight, people are going to look up to you. Lancelot tries to remain above the vanity and narcissism that celebrity status can bring you, but he certainly gets that level of attention anyway.

ARTISTIC PROCESS

Lancelot had a few specific goals beyond his core themes. First, we would need to make sure to differentiate him from Arthur in visuals and gameplay. For this reason we decided that Lancelot would be an Assassin – lighter and more agile than King Arthur. We also used his physical traits to give him a unique look. His smaller stature would fit an assassin well, and his dark and longer hair made him stand out from his king.

We then worked up some heroic knight concepts for him that worked within this constraint, experimenting with various types of leather, cloth, padded and metal armors. All of these included his famous lance, of course.




Although the lighter leather armor pushed him further from Arthur, it did not uphold the themes of the true knight. We focused more on the full metal armor, while also aiming to keep it lighter and sleeker than Arthur and other medieval skins in SMITE.




One major detail can be seen at this part of the process: his horse! Lancelot was designed from the outset to be a character who would spend a significant amount of his gameplay time mounted on his horse. Being a famous jouster, it would only be fitting for him to be able to fight from horseback. His shield and other accent details also include themes of horsemanship, which was an essential skill of the Knight.

Lancelot’s complete armor set, weapons, and horse all feel royally decorated to signify his prestige and supernatural ability. This is fitting to his themes and also makes sure that he feels as powerful as the other gods he will face in SMITE!

GAMEPLAY

Lancelot is the questing knight; roaming across the lands and vanquishing foes. Sounds like an expert jungler, right?! As an Assassin this god is intended to play best in jungle, his high melee burst damage and multiple movement options make him able to roam and clear well.

While mounted he is unable to use basic attacks or relics, so Lancelot players will need to be careful with their usage of the Blink relic. Lancelot has multiple ways to approach enemies that he will need to use correctly in the right situations in order to find success.

UNIQUE GAMEPLAY FEATURES

• His horse
  - Lancelot can mount up by using a non ultimate ability
  - While mounted he gets 3 new abilities, and can still fire his ultimate
  - Unique Stance changer gameplay – In his mounted “stance” Lancelot players are incentivized to traverse the map and engage in fights, dismounting by using his mounted abilities, in order to join the fray
  - The horse has movement controls similar to the horseback ultimates of Guan Yu and Hachiman
  - He has a new system where players can knock him off his mount
  
  
• His ultimate is an ability in its own right but if unmounted will bring Lancelot back on his horse as well.
  
  
• He has a unique effect from his shield that reduces basic attack damage from sources Lancelot is facing toward
  
  
• A short dash ability that can be refired on successful hit of any enemy
  
  
• A 2 stage ability with a narrow sweet spot for bonus damage

Are you ready to rise to Lancelot’s challenge? SMITE’s next Arthurian god arrives in the next update and is willing to do battle against any willing participants. Lancelot will show the gods of SMITE why he is the most renowned knight of all time.



Source: https://www.smitegame.com/news/lancelot-a-closer-look/