There are a lot of things that League of Legends fans think of when they hear the name ‘Gragas.’ There’s that K/DA skin, sporadic pregnancies, and, of course, ‘bomba!’ But the most iconic part of his kit is, of course, his gigantic cask and his love of beer – something that Riot claims was causing issues with Europe’s age rating laws. As a result, the ‘Drunken’ part of ‘Drunken Rage’ (Gragas’ W) was set to be removed, sparking mass backlash from the fanbase. Thankfully, Riot has heard the complaints, and upon further inspection has determined that Gragas can continue drunkenly raging for the forseeable future.
In an April 18 X post, Riot’s head of League of Legends studio Andrei ‘Meddler’ van Roon confirmed that the team had updated Gragas’ ability text to remove overt references to alcohol. Targeting the word ‘drunken’ specifically, in order to comply with “age ratings across various regions,” he notes that the Freljordian “still enjoys his brews even if he’s being very slightly more discreet about it.”
While on paper, his seems like a minor change, the MOBA‘s fanbase was quick to express its discontent. Given that the character’s lore, kit, and general aesthetic all revolve around being absolutely wasted, it felt like the essence of the character would be lost as a result of these changes. Some were also quick to point out that various characters have non-PG voicelines, such as Janna’s iconic ‘for only $2.95 a minute, I will leave you breathless,’ and Evelynn’s various, violent flirtations.
League of Legends is currently rated as a PEGI 12 in Europe. This category includes “videogames that show violence of a slightly more graphic nature towards fantasy characters, or non-realistic violence towards human-like characters.” It also stipulates that “sexual innuendo or sexual posturing can be present, while any bad language in this category must be mild.”
Depictions of alcohol kick in at PEGI 16, which allows for “the use of bad language…to be more extreme, while the use of tobacco, alcohol or illegal drugs can also be present.” A 2014 document from the company notes that videogames where alcohol is “encouraged,” i.e. to provide some kind of mechanical advantage, like restoring health, buffing abilities, or expediting progression, merits a 16 rating.
While League of Legends’ depiction of alcohol is cartoon-based and subtle when juxtaposed with games like Cyberpunk 2077 and GTA, it’s likely the latter part that’s caused the issue. Gragas’ W directly states that he “guzzles down brew from his cask for one second,” and “after finishing, he becomes drunkenly empowered.”
Over the past few days the LoL fanbase has continued to rumble, with some joking that Riot would eventually put Gragas’ iconic beer barrel in a paper bag to hide it. Meddler has since confirmed, however, that the team “can go lighter on adjustments overall while still being EU compliant,” meaning that, while some elements of Gragas’ bio will change, Drunken Rage will remain Drunken Rage.
“We did some more digging into the Gragas ability name changes,” Meddler says. “Looks like we can go lighter on the adjustments overall while still being EU compliant. We do need to update the ability description (remove ‘drunkenly empowered’ and adjust ‘guzzles down brew’). We also need to tweak his in-client bio slightly.
“We don’t need to change the ability name, though, or his bio on Universe, so we’ll be sticking with ‘Drunken Rage’ and his overall bio.” So rejoice, Summoners, Gragas remains drunk, dangerous, and debauched, all in equal measure.
With Gragas’ cask safe and filled to bursting, check out our LoL tier list so that you can get ahead of the game coming into Season 2. Alternatively, if you’re rather deck Gragas out in some new looks (Music Fan all the way), we have a rundown of all the League of Legends skins that are currently on sale.
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