Kalea is a support fighter hero. These are two words Mobile Legends players would never have expected to be put together.
A descendant of the legendary Great Serpent, Kalea possesses a unique combination of abilities. Her gameplay revolves around controlling the battlefield, healing allies, and dealing damage.
Her abilities are designed to provide both crowd control and sustain to her team. She can initiate fights, disrupt enemy formations, and protect her allies, making her a versatile hero in various team compositions.
Kalea’s unique blend of healing and physical damage has clearly shifted the support meta. On one hand, her passive heals allies. On the other, her ultimate isolates key enemies for focused takedowns.
Ever wondered how a character with such a unique toolkit came to life? ONE Esports speaks with Carlo Wei, Character Designer at Moonton Games, to dive into the creative process behind the hero’s design in this exclusive interview.
An in-depth look at the character and hero design process of Mobile Legends support, Kalea
From the very start of her development, the dev team at Moonton Games had “set out to design a hero who would stand out from the other MLBB heroes,” said Carlo. “Her initial inspiration came from the design team’s brainstorming, where we focused on keywords like ‘girl’, ‘fighting spirit’, ‘Southeast Asian culture’, and ‘vitality’.”
If he could pick one word to describe her, it would be “contrast.” The team saw the opportunity to blend her fierce fighting style with an unexpectedly cute appearance.
They intentionally steered away from what players expect a traditional support hero should be, one who deals physical damage or provide healing. Kalea’s abilities merge both elements — healing her allies while actively engaging in close combat, setting her apart from other support heroes.
Kalea’s lore and abilities were developed hand-in-hand—both complemented and influenced each other, Carlo told ONE Esports.
At the outset, the design team imagined Kalea as an energetic teenage girl with a deep sense of pride. From there, their IP and art teams enriched her story, weaving in a Southeast Asian-inspired Great Serpent lore and giving her a distinctive serpent tail and a vibrant aquamarine color palette.
This ultimately helped the design team decide on her skills: to have serpent-inspired healing powers and her use of both fists and serpent tail in close combat.
“Kalea is special as she possesses both healing and Physical Damage abilities. Her passive makes her the only hero in MLBB that can heal teammates through Close Combat,” said Carlo.
“Even her attack animations are based on her backstory, such as the water wave patterns added to her arms to visually represent the power of the sea that she channels with each punch,” he added. “This fusion of abilities and design made it clear from the start that Kalea would be a unique hero.”
According to Carlo, the most challenging aspect of Kalea’s development centered on perfecting the animation for her ultimate, requiring the team to ensure that her grab and toss animation was uniquely adapted for each of the other 127 heroes in the game.
The process necessitated significant adjustments and technical work, involving the combined efforts of programming, animation, and design teams.
They even introduced variety to her animations by creating three distinct grab-and-toss animations that play randomly upon her ultimate’s activation, enhancing the dynamism of her abilities!
Packing a punch of skills, Kalea ultimately combos the best with Eudora, Harley, and Clint, said Carlo. “These heroes complement her ultimate, which allows her to isolate and pick off individual enemy heroes. Their high damage output allows them to deal enhanced damage to the enemy hero Kalea isolates,” he explained.
Overall, Kalea is raising the standard for future Mobile Legends heroes, blending unique gameplay mechanics with rich storytelling. Her innovative design not only redefines what a support hero can do but also pushes the boundaries of how characters are brought to life in the game.
“With how Kalea perfectly integrates Southeast Asian folklore into her visuals and abilities, she has set the bar for how we’ll design culturally-inspired heroes,” said Carlo. “In the future, we plan to keep drawing inspiration from diverse cultures. Our goal is to create more unique heroes that offer fresh gameplay experiences.”
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