New LoL champion Hwei was born from one of Riot’s most popular internal pitches

League of Legends’s newest champion, Hwei, might be brand new to the game’s roster, but he’s been in the idea tank for many, many years. His upcoming release will be the years-long realization of an idea that’s often been stirring around Riot offices, finally coming to fruition. 

In a press briefing earlier this week, LoL’s lead champion product manager Lexi Gao shared an anecdote about Hwei’s origin and how the champion’s release is “long overdue.” According to Gao, the idea of a “paint mage” or “ink mage” is something that’s almost as old as Riot itself and countless Riot employees have expressed interest in a potential champion that fits Hwei’s theming. 

“Every Rioter when they come to Riot, they actually go through an initiation process, and during the initiation week, they actually do this exercise of, you know, pitching a champion,” Gao said. “And that particular pitch is almost as old as Riot is. Every so often, they come in, and there will be another pitch for our paint mage, so we’re long overdue.” 

It’s obviously clear that Hwei has been in the tank for a while, especially considering how many gameplay elements, abilities, and pieces of overall theming he has worked into his character and kit. Germinating so long as an idea, Hwei has had plenty of opportunities to add tricks to his arsenal. Hwei will have 10 abilities across three different forms, and will be an AP mage that focuses on both damage-dealing and protective measures. With that in mind, it’s pretty evident that it took a while for the champion to be developed, and it’s likely he accrued many ideas and influences while in that development cycle. 

Gao also mentioned in the briefing that Riot wanted to move away from humanoid mages with a blue/cool color aesthetic, such as Malzahar, Aurelion Sol, Ryze, Vex, and Veigar, and create a mid lane mage with a more diverse color scheme. 

Hwei, who was originally teased back at the start of this year as nothing more than an “artistic mid laner,” has now evolved into a full-fledged League champion. He is likely to be released at some point prior to the start of the 2024 ranked season next January.