League of Legends' Ezreal Is Getting Updated

Ezreal, the adventuring League of Legends champion, is getting an update soon to bring the character closer to fulfilling his intended theme.

The Ezreal update was brought up in Riot Games' most recent Champion Roadmap that covered topics like new champions, Nunu, and the angelic siblings Kayle and Morgana. After hinting at one of the new champs that's on the way – a colorful mage that sounds like it has some stealth and long-range abilities built in – and going over Nunu's rework, Ryan "Riot Reav3" Mireles said that Ezreal is on Riot's radar for an update. The Rioter pointed out one ability specifically, Essence Flux, as a move that would be updated to give Ezreal players a new tool to play with.

"Ezreal is an extremely popular champion, and his gameplay has held up well over the years," Riot Reav3 said. "We didn't need a map to know that dramatically changing his abilities would be a disservice to one of League's most iconic marksmen. That said, we also know that Ezreal players aren't in love with his current W, Essence Flux, so we will be updating that ability to be more in-line with his theme of an ace spellslinger—lining up shots then knocking 'em down."

Riot's wording in these Champion Roadmaps always proves to be quite intentional when they're hinting at what the new and updated champions might do, so the "lining up shots" statement is interesting. If this is indeed a teaser for what Riot has in store for Ezreal, it's hard to guess what it might mean. Ezreal could have a way to mark enemies with his new Essence Flux to ensure his attacks find their mark, or a less likely change would be some sort of soft crowd control to go along with his mobility and help him weave in and around fights to land attacks.

Whatever happens to his Essence Flux, an ability power-based Ezreal will still be possible after the rework. While Riot Reav3 didn't offer any specific details on the reworked ability when asked on Reddit, he did say "we are not planning on removing AP Ezreal."

Outside of his abilities, Ezreal's model, animations, and voiceover will all be updated as well to round out the champion's Visual and Gameplay Update.

"Ezreal's fantasy of a young, sharpshooting adventurer is pretty appealing, but once you get him in game, his model, animations, and VO don't really live up to the promise," the Ezreal talk concluded. "We'll be rebuilding Ezreal's audio and visuals from the ground up to really deliver on that fantasy."

There's no exact release timeframe for when we can expect to see Ezreal's update, but we know thanks to Riot Reav3 that it'll be out after Nunu's, the Yeti Rider's rework coming up next.