Early Concept: Husk, the Hive Commander[]
Cancelled champion for League of Legends. Husk was eventually split to create 
Camille and 
Kai'Sa. She was intended to be a mercenary from Zaun, the leader of a team called "H.I.V.E", comprised of other mercenaries, outlaws and bounty hunters. She was to be 
Caitlyn's ex-partner, defecting to Zaun after Caitlyn betrayed her by paralyzing her from the waist down during a shootout.[1]
Champion Reveal: Camille, the Steel Shadow[]
Camille is an elite operative who works to maintain order for Piltover's established powers. It was her dedication to duty that led the Steel Shadow to transfigure her body into a hextech-powered death machine. When Camille's tracking a target, she's calm, relentless, and terribly precise.[2]
- Abilities
- Adaptive Defenses
- Precision Protocol
Precision Protocol for an additional strike. If she waits for a short period of time, the ability's second attack will deal 
extra bonus damage and is partially converted to true damage.
- Tactical Sweep
slowed and take additional damage based on their maximum HP, healing Camille in the process.
- Hookshot
- (First Cast) Hookshot: Camille fires a hookshot in a target direction; If she strikes a wall, she'll
pull herself to it. She'll then have a brief window to cast Wall Dive. - (Second Cast) Wall Dive: Camille dashes in a target direction, stopping at the first champion hit and stunning all enemies in an area. If Camille dashes towards a champion, the range is increased and she gains bonus attack speed.
- The Hextech Ultimatum
knocking away their allies. While the Ultimatum is active, the targeted enemy can't leave the area by any means. This arena deactivates on its own after a brief period (or if Camille leaves the zone prematurely) While in the zone, Camille's basic attacks deal additional magic damage.
- Playing as Camille
Camille is a highly-mobile fighter who's very good at pursuing and slaying single targets. When she seeks a fight, she always gets it - and she's often the better performer in a one-on-one dance.
Those who play as Camille must share the Steel Shadow's appreciation for precision. Each of her skills must be carefully placed and paced for maximum effect. If you play her properly, you'll 
slice into the enemy backline, 
dice your target, and 
grapple your way out of the fray.
- Strengths
Camille's mobility and dueling prowess make her ideal for a solo lane. With items like 
Ravenous Hydra, she's great at split-pushing, especially since Precision Protocol grants her two auto-attack resets to use on towers. She can Hookshot around the map, applying pressure and slinging effortlessly away when enemies try to stop her.
Although she has to be careful when maneuvering around teamfights, Tactical Sweep and 
The Hextech Ultimatum allow her to set up kills for bursty allies who want to drop huge spells (like 
Veigar's 
Primordial Burst or 
Xerath's 
Rite of the Arcane) into The Hextech Ultimatum's arena. Camille can simply Hookshot in, Sweep her opponent off their feet, then deliver a very painful tango lesson while her team moves in to drop the curtain.
- Weaknesses
Like other champs that demand razor-sharp ability executions, Camille is noticeably less effective in the hands of an unpracticed player. Aside from her basic mechanical demands, most team-fights require you to be particularly creative with your approach - you've got to Hookshot in at the right moment (when enemy CC is down) preferably from an unexpected angle. The Steel Shadow isn't very effective as an initiator, unless she's using her ult to hold down a lone target while her team catches up.
Since Camille's 
shield is specifically based on her opponent's damage type, it's far less effective in teamfights than it might otherwise be in a one-on-one duel. Locking down that exposed AD carry likely won't be enough when a fed 
Syndra comes storming in. AoE champs in general are tough for the Steel Shadow: she'll want to slip past enemy abilities entirely, not muscle through a wall of explosions.
Champion Insights: Camille[]
By Ryan 'Cactopus' Rigney[3]
Sometimes, when we set out to make a new champion, we start with a specific role in mind - like a 
support jungler. Or we begin with just a theme - like 
'earth mage'.
Camille began with a different sort of plan: "Let's make a champ that makes players feel like in-control badasses."
And, obviously, nothing is more badass than a lady with giant freakin' blades for legs. As a piece of concept art, Camille was pretty dope from the get-go. But to make her into a real character, we had to answer another question: what sort of person would replace their legs with a two-piece hextech knife set?
- ON THE KNIFE'S EDGE
The most important thing to know about Camille is that she's better than you. She's smarter than you, richer than you, and a hell of a lot deadlier than you. In-game, she'll taunt you with these facts as she tears you apart with slicing kicks.
Camille is from Piltover, a city enjoying the fruits of a cultural renaissance. It's flourishing, and the moneyed families who pull the city's strings want it to stay that way. So they employ 'fixers' like Camille - dark agents who work to maintain the current balance of power. One key to the current balance is that the lower city of Zaun must not rise, lest it becomes a real threat to the powers of Piltover.
"Piltover has a lot of money", says Ariel 'Thermal Kitten' Lawrence, "and when there's a lot of money you often get big differences between the classes - the haves and the have-nots." Zaun's scientists may be freer from rules and regulations, but much of the physical wealth of the two symbiotic cities have gone to Piltover. Camille stands between these two worlds, and if she fails to preserve the balance, the consequences would be tremendous. Piltover would fall, chaos would rule.
So, as you might imagine, Camille's willing to go to some pretty extreme lengths to do her job well. When she realized that replacing some parts of herself with hextech weaponry could give her a leg up over her opponents, she just went for it. The idea of bodily augmentation isn't so strange to the people of Zaun and Piltover, even though many in these cities would consider Camille's particular body-mod to be pretty damn scary.
Admittedly, Camille has had some second thoughts about her big 'blades-for-legs' transformation. "She would never admit it to anyone else", says Thermal Kitten, "but there's a little bit of a question lurking in the back of her mind: has she gone too far? How much more could she augment without losing her humanity?"
Her deepest fear is that, because she's traded in her own flesh for tools, others may see her as little more than a tool to be used. Camille is a woman straddling the razor-thin line between machinery and humanity. But none of that matters, she thinks to herself, so long as I'm still in control.
- IN CONTROL
Playing as Camille is all about maintaining control, dictating battles on her terms. When she decides she wants a fight, she gets one - zipping in using her Hookshot to force enemies into a 1-on-1 duel. "She's so confident that she can toy with you", says champion designer Jeevun 'Riot Jag' Sidhu. "That's kind of what her Q is all about. It's like 'I'm going to hit you in two seconds.' And then she does."
Camille's Hookshot was the first ability locked down in her kit, although even it went through a few weird iterations. At one point she was basically an English Spider-Woman - she could shoot five hooks in a row and dynamically loop around walls. While this mechanic was very fun, it repeatedly proved to be impractical for use in most combat situations (and it was hard as hell to get a grip on)
Camille's kit features some very important cooldowns concentrated around specific windows, and it'll probably take most players a few games to get used to these. But those who put in practice with her will reap the rewards.
"When you pull off your combos correctly, it's supposed to sort of look like a dance", says Riot Jag. "She Qs you, backs away, sweeps you with W, and lunges back in for the second Q."
There are a few some combos that'll require even more work to perfect. You can prime her W while you're in the middle of your Hookshot / 
Wall Dive combo so it goes off at the exact moment you dive in on an enemy. "That's the really flashy play that the playtest team always sends me replays of whenever they pull it off correctly", Riot Jag says.
Camille shines brightest when on cleanup duty. If you're losing a fight to Camille's team, she's gonna hunt all of you down like an unstoppable secret agent from one of those movies that gets too many sequels. She will find you, and she will... well, you know.
- POWERED BY HEXTECH
A lot of Camille's early concept art pulled influence from other 'cyborg assassin' archetypes from movies and videogames. "She's a James Bond-style agent", says concept artist Hing 'Hdot' Chui, "but she's also an elegant lady."
We came up with a bunch of early nicknames for Camille meant to capture or convey some aspects of her personality: Lady Em, The Gray Lady, The Left Hand of Piltover, or just Diver. Without question, the goofiest of these was 'Cyborg MI6 Mary Poppins'.
The hardest thing to capture with Camille's visual design was the idea that her hextech core (which powers her legs) has slowed, but not stopped, her aging process. She's actually around 80 years old, but her form suggests that she's much younger. She's not immortal, but she's older than she looks.
The secret to Camille's good looks has nothing to do with her skincare routine - it's the hextech core embedded in her chest. It takes more than strong hips to maneuver her leggy cutlery, and that means Camille's commitment to the cause has affected just about every part of her body. Even her eyes glow, betraying the inhuman source of her power.
Inside Camille Development[]
This week, designer Jeevun 'Riot Jag' Sidhu, writer Ariel 'Thermal Kitten' Lawrence, and artist Hing 'Hdot' Chui share the behind-the-scenes story on the development of Camille.
Media[]
| Camille's Theme |
- Related Music
- Related Videos
- Main article: Summoner icon
- Main article: Emotes
Trivia[]
- Camille is voiced by Emily O'Brien, who also voices Samira.[4]
- Her production names (Lady Em, The Gray Lady, The Left Hand of Piltover, Diver, Cyborg, MI6, Mary Poppins, Hookshot) were used to convey aspects of her personality.[5]
- During her original reveal, Camille had the surname Medarda. She was later renamed and placed in the Ferros clan before the official release.
- Camille and Kai'Sa were originally one champion named Husk, the Hive Commander, a female mercenary from Zaun who was once Caitlyn's partner before she defected after Caitlyn paralyzed her in a shootout.[6]
- Camille was created due to a need for a Diver champion. Hookshot was the only ability in the kit for a long time, the idea of blade legs came after the final design of Hookshot was settled.[7]
- An iteration of Hookshot could swing from a point of terrain and be recast mid-swing, this swinging could take the player halfway through Summoner's Rift.[7]
