Giant Nautilus statue buried off the Australian coast to create artificial reef

Scuba diving off the Australian coast generally involves clear waters, lots of different fish and corals. But now there’s something else lurking on the ocean floor—a giant statue of League of Legends champion Nautilus.

A year ago, League’s Oceanic server players were given a nautical-themed challenge by Riot Games, with the points earned going to the construction of an artificial reef in Australian waters. That is now a reality, with a video of the Nautilus statue—the base for the artificial reef—being placed on the ocean floor off the coast of the state of Queensland, famous for the Great Barrier Reef, being released by Riot yesterday.

The challenge, which took place during international Ocean Week in January last year, was for players to win games as any of League’s designated Ocean Week Challenge champions, including: Fizz, Gangplank, Graves, Lee Sin, Leona, Nami, Nautlius, Malphite, Renekton, Tristana, Gragas, Kassadin, Kog’Maw, Rengar, Singed, Syndra, Thresh, and Ziggs.

Depending on what type of League game players chose and how they partied up, a win would contribute one point, or one point per every member on their team. These points would then lead to rewards for the players, with 275,000 total points needed in the week before Riot would build the artificial reef. Once the points goal was reached players, voted for the subject of the statue: Fizz, Nami, or Nautilus the three choices. Riot’s hope was that if the goal was met, the statue would “become a home for sea creatures,” it said in the announcement.

Riot gave extra incentive for players that got at least three points before the goal was reached—their Summoner Name would be recorded on the statue, immortalized at the bottom of the sea for their great feats. While the summoner names have been added to the statue, Riot pointed out on the official website that they will eventually be washed away by time.

It will take a while, but eventually the Nautilus statue will become home to many different types of fish in the Moreton Bay, Australia area, making it the perfect scuba diving spot.

Let’s hope Riot’s next project is a giant statue rendition of a League esports player—just imagine Faker on the top of a mountain in Nepal.