LoL’s assassins get new tools to kill through new items in 2024 preseason

To deal a single, killing blow to an enemy is the quintessential assassin trait in League of Legends. Whether these champions are played in mid lane or jungle, their thirst for blood brings them all over the map—and some new items will make that hunt easier.

Riot Games has provided League players a deep look at what to expect from the 2024 preseason, which will begin testing on the game’s PBE server today, including some new additions to the assassin item lineup that may bring out even greater strengths for this class of champions. Yet as with the other classes of items, Riot is retiring a few in order to benefit the health of the game, this time saying goodbye to Duskblade of Draktharr and Prowler’s Claw.

Assassins will be given four new Legendary-tier item options to indulge in as they progress on their one-shotting journeys, including Voltaic Cyclosword, Profane Hydra, Hubris, and Opportunity. Each of these items will build from a combination of existing attack damage/lethality items, as well as new components like Rectrix and The Brutalizer.

Voltaic Cyclosword brings the “energized” passive associated with Rapid Firecannon, Stormrazor, and Statikk Shiv into the assassin role, giving melee assassins a 99-percent slow onto enemies with a fully energized attack. Profane Hydra acts similarly to the newly-reworked Ravenous Hydra complete with an active area-of-effect slash, though provides champions with a decent amount of lethality.

The single-word-named Hubris and Opportunity both encourage players to seek champion kills, rewarding them with bonus stats and stacks for a specified duration. The former focuses on a new stack known as “statues,” with each granting 10 attack damage upon getting a kill for one minute. Meanwhile, the latter benefits those that stalk their prey with bonus lethality, then granting them movement speed to quickly flee the scene.

The sole existing assassin item being updated as of the beginning of preseason is Serylda’s Grudge, an item purchased by AD champions—even if they aren’t assassins—due to it being the AD equivalent of Rylai’s Crystal Scepter. Riot is heavily nerfing the threshold for the slow to activate, however, as enemies will now only be slowed by attacks from this item if they are below half health. To compensate, champions that build Serylda’s Grudge will get 12-percent lethality armor penetration.

For assassin players wanting to try out these new items, these and all of the other new items for other classes will be available for testing on League’s PBE starting today. But if you still want to enjoy schemes caused by Duskblade, you can continue to do so on live servers until these changes are pushed for the start of the 2024 season.