Riot August promoted to lead champion designer for League

One of the most influential and comical members of the League of Legends team at Riot Games is stepping into a new role, now having even more influence on how fans interact with the game.

August “Riot August” Browning, the designer for champions like Jhin, Aphelios, and Zeri, has been promoted to lead champion designer of League. August previously served as the game’s principal character designer. He’s now stepping into a higher position where he’ll have the opportunity to design an even greater number of champions—hopefully not all with convoluted kits.

Recently, August undertook the designing of both Zeri in League and Neon in VALORANT simultaneously, a first for the teams of both games. Both of these characters use electricity in some capacity, as well as sharing a Philippines-inspired design and the same Filipina voice actress, Vanille Velasquez. These characters are not related in any capacity, though their development was centered on creating two characters who are thematically similar to further connect these Riot titles.

August also announced that Daniel “Riot Maxw3ll” Emmons has stepped up as the team’s design manager, likely there to keep more exuberant ideas off the table—such as August’s proposition for a Sett buff.

League’s most recent addition to the growing champion cast, Zeri, was designed by August. Though he did not design the upcoming champion, Renata Glasc, it’s expected that August will have a hand in the next champion released, which was teased to be a jungler from the Void.