'League of Legends' Writer Confirms Neeko Is an LGBTQ Champion

A League of Legends writer who worked on the newest champion's story has confirmed that Neeko identifies as a lesbian, a confirmation that makes the new character the first openly LGBTQ champion in the game's growing roster.

First reported on by the Rift Herald, Twitter user Spideraxe who reports on League of Legends news tweeted an image of Riot Games' senior narrative writer Matt Dunn confirming to someone that Neeko identifies as a lesbian. Dunn tweeted from his personal account in response to another user and confirmed the detail about the new champion once again for everyone to see.

She doesn’t “seem to”, Neeko *does* like female champions more than male champions. Neeko identifies as a lesbian.

— matt_dunn (@thatmattdunn) November 19, 2018

The response seems like it might've been intended for another tweet from someone who pointed out that Neeko appeared to like female champions more than male characters, but the result is the same: Neeko identifies as a lesbian and appears to be the first openly LGBTQ champion. Skin Spotlights' video below that showcased different interactions between Neeko and other champions contains several quotes and work with Dunn's confirmation to help round out the character.

When reporting on the reveal of Neeko, it was pointed out that her champion page indicated she had some affiliation with Nidalee. Dunn replied to another user to explain the relationship and said Neeko used Nidalee, a champion who has vastaya blood in her but is not fully a member of the vastaya race like Neeko, though he said the feeling wasn't mutual.

Neeko's currently single and looking," Dunn said on Twitter. "She loved nidalee, but it was unrequited."

League of Legends' lore contains backstories for every champion that often allude to their pasts and what the characters are like, but romantic relationships and interests among champions are only occasionally brought up. Players have shipped their own pairings of League of Legends champions in the past, and the closest that the game has come to having a confirmed LGBTQ champion in the past would've been with Varus' rework, but that champion is a bit more complex than Neeko. Though there are three different characters at play within Varus' identity, two of which were men in love with one another, the final component is Varus himself, the darkin entity which players technically play as.

Neeko's full abilities can be seen here as the champion heads to the PBE for testing ahead of her full release.