League of Legends Teases New Champions Releasing This Year

Riot Games shared the latest League of Legends Champion Roadmap to hint at what’s planned for three new champions releasing at some point this year. Vague details about the champs were already known before to confirm some of the roles that they’d fill in League with the latest overview of the champion plans in the June Champion Roadmap giving some more insights into what we can expect from the new champions. The teasers are as cryptic as ever, but like always, there are hints embedded in Riot’s messages that players have already begun picking up on as they try to decipher them.

Kicking of the Champion Roadmap was talks of a dreamy new jungler. Described now as a “mid-range skirmisher,” the new jungle champion is one that’ll be “frolicking in and out of the fray,” according to Ryan “Reav3″ Mireles,” the lead producer on the champions team. “Prance” and “darting” were other unique words used to describe the champion’s movements, and with past teasers like the one in the video above saying the new jungler would be one to “fawn over,” theories have suggested the champion will be a shy, animalistic one, likely a member of the Vastaya race.

Slowness and sleepiness were also mentioned in the teaser which likely indicate what kinds of abilities the champion will have. A gif shared under the teaser showed an object moving quickly down a lane before exploding into a cone, an ability which looks like it’d be a unique engage tool for the champion.

Onto the next champion, we’re reintroduced to a masked assassin who has two weapons and some internal struggles to deal with. The image below was shared showing the masked character with two different colored eyes to reinforce the cryptic test used to describe the champion. There’s talks of spiritual pulls and slamming into things, but there isn’t as much to go off of compared to what was shared about the jungler that’ll release before the assassin. Despite what players may have already thought from the teaser, the assassin isn’t a Darkin.

One of the more interesting teasers dealt with a marksman that sounds like it’ll be perfect for those who enjoy high-risk plays on champs like Kalista, Vayne, and Kai’Sa. The teaser calls all thrill-seekers who “like to laugh in the face of danger.” It talks about weaving together combos and “firing a whirlwind of blades and bullets” all while “dressed to slay.” A combo counter showing combo ranks from “F” to “S” was also shown which would be quite the interesting mechanic for League should something like that be added for the champion.

After all these champions are released, we’ll eventually get an update on Dr. Mundo. More on that champion’s rework is coming next week from Riot, and a summer event planned for July will share more on the jungler and assassin champions. In the next series of champion announcements, we’ll hear more about a “sensational mage and an ultra-heavy tank support.”