League of Legends’ newest champion, Hwei, is one for the game’s history books. Hwei is the painter champion that’s been teased over time in past Champion Roadmaps, but none of the teases embedded within those champion previews could’ve prepared players for what Hwei looks like on paper. This new League champion has 10 different abilities to his name with nine different “basic” skills capped off by an ultimate that looks relatively tame compared to the rest of his kit. He’ll be on the PBE soon for testing, and he’ll be added to the game’s live servers as part of the final scheduled update of the season so that he can join players in the preseason mayhem.
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Hwei’s abilities are housed within different “spellbooks” that contain three spells each. Pressing Q opens his “Disaster” spellbook, W opens “Serenity,” and E opens “Torment.” Once a book is opened, it converts the Q, W, and E abilities to one of three options fitting that spellbook’s theme. So, to use abilities, Hwei would have to press QQ, QE, WW, EQ, and so on to use one of those nine abilities. Pressing R when a spellbook is opened closes it and returns his HUD to a neutral state (so to use his ultimate, Spiraling Despair, you have to make sure no spellbooks are open).
Transforming champions and the arsenal of weapons Aphelios uses are the closest we’ve come to anything like this in League, but there’s still been nothing really like this before. If it sounds like it’s a lot, it’s because it is, but the cheat sheet below as well as a breakdown of what his different abilities do should help League players get started:
Hwei’s Abilities
Passive – Signature of the Visionary
- Hwei’s damaging abilities against enemy champions mark them for a few seconds. Hitting marked enemies with another damaging ability creates an explosion underneath them, detonating after a short delay and dealing magic damage to all enemies in range.
QR/WR/ER – Wash Brush
- Hwei clears his paintbrush and returns to base abilities without using mana or cooldowns.
Q – Subject: Disaster
QQ – Devastating Fire
- Hwei paints a blazing fireball that flies out in the target direction. It explodes on the first enemy hit or at maximum range, dealing magic damage plus percent max health magic damage to all enemies in an area.
QW – Severing Bolt
- Hwei paints a long-range, devastating bolt at the target location. After a delay, the bolt strikes, dealing magic damage. Immobilized or isolated enemies take increased damage based on missing health.
QE – Molten Fissure
- Hwei paints a field of exploding volcanic eruptions, creating lingering lava in its path. Every eruption deals magic damage to enemies hit. Enemies in the lava area are dealt magic damage per second and are slowed.
W – Subject: Serenity
WQ – Fleeting Current
- Hwei paints a current of swift waters in a line for a few seconds that grants movement speed to himself and allies.
WW – Pool of Reflection
- Hwei forms a protective pool at the target location that lasts for a few seconds. Allied champions inside the area gain an immediate shield, increasing in value over a few seconds while in the area.
WE – Stirring Lights
- Hwei paints three swirling lights that circle him for several seconds. Hwei’s next 3 attacks or spells deal bonus magic damage and grant mana on hit.
E – Subject: Torment
EQ – Grim Visage
- Hwei launches a terrifying face that strikes the first enemy hit, dealing magic damage and causing them to flee for a brief duration.
EW – Gaze of the Abyss
- Hwei paints an abyssal eye at the target location that grants vision and locks onto the nearest visible enemy champion. After a short delay, the eye fires at the locked-on champion, rooting the first enemy in its path for a few seconds and dealing magic damage to them.
EE – Crushing Maw
- Hwei paints crushing jaws that deal magic damage to enemies hit and pulls them toward the center, slowing them by a set amount that quickly decays.
R – Spiraling Despair
- Hwei launches a vision of pure despair that sticks to an enemy champion for a few seconds. The vision expands and overwhelms all enemies it touches, dealing magic damage per second. Enemies within the zone are afflicted with stacks of Despair over time. Each stack of Despair applies a stacking percent slow. Upon completion, the vision shatters, dealing magic damage.
During a preview of Hwei’s kit, Riot framed him as a mid-lane artillery mage, so players can think of him as something like a Xerath with many more abilities to choose from. Cooldowns are on a per-spellbook basis, so if he uses QQ, he’ll have to wait awhile to use QW or QE and will instead have to choose from one of his other spellbooks instead until the Q cooldown is completed. If it wasn’t clear from the overview of his abilities, the Disaster spellbook is all about damage, Serenity is utility, and Torment is crowd control.
Hwei will be available for testing soon on the PBE ahead of his release in Patch 13.24.
