VALORANT Episode Seven Act Two Featuring New Imperium Weapon Collection
Riot has recently announced that VALORANT’s Episode Seven, Act Two will introduce a new weapon collection called Imperium. This collection includes skins for popular weapons such as the Sheriff, Judge, Vandal, and Operator, as well as a double-bladed melee weapon. Additionally, players can get their hands on a player card, spray, and gun buddy. Each gun skin is priced at 2,175 VP, while the melee weapon costs 4,350 VP.
The highlight of the Imperium collection is its mythical beast finisher that engulfs the background and lingers until the end of the round. This large-scale animation caused some trouble during development but ended up becoming the standout feature. The collection’s design is inspired by East Asian and Chinese dragons, with ornamental jade and emerald projections on the weapons’ bodies and a sleek metallic finish.
Kerwin Atienza, Art Direction Senior Manager, revealed that the Imperium collection drew inspiration from Chinese artifacts and aimed to make the weapons feel like treasure imbued with magic. The dragons featured on the weapons are trapped inside jewels, adding a mythical element to the collection.
The Imperium skinline offers four different color variants to choose from: Imperium (Base), Pearl (White), Ruby (Red), and Obsidian (Black). Players may find it difficult to pick just one, especially with the striking resemblance between the Imperium Operator’s Pearl variant and the Forsaken Operator’s Gold variant.
Early concepts of the dragon finisher featured a smaller size to fit gameplay and environmental constraints. However, this made the dragon look more like a snake, so the design team decided to make it larger to capture its larger-than-life feel.
According to Anson Tan, Concept Art Manager, the Imperium collection had previously been shelved but was later redesigned to unlock its full potential. Jean Luc Tin Sive, Senior Game Producer, explained that they wanted to push the fantasy further and create a more captivating skinline.
The Imperium collection, along with VALORANT’s Episode Seven, Act Two Battle pass and the Sunset map, will be released on August 29.
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