Riot confirms Akshan can revive allies with his W ability’s passive—even if he dies

Riot Games has introduced the world to Akshan, the newest champion set to join League of Legends’ growing roster of playable characters. His kit is filled with plenty of new abilities that have the player base buzzing about his potential as a solo queue and pro play pick, especially over the discovery that his W ability’s passive can revive players—even if he’s died.

His W ability, Going Rogue, has been one of the most talked-about parts of his kit today due to its passive. Going Rogue’s passive, according to Riot, activates when enemy champions kill one of Akshan’s allies, which marks them as Scoundrels. When Akshan gets a takedown on a Scoundrel, he gains bonus gold, all allies killed by the Scoundrel are immediately revived at their fountain, and Scoundrel status is removed from all other enemies.

The active ability is also strong since it gives Akshan camouflage for a short while, or indefinitely when he stays near terrain. He’s even able to see a trail that leads to an opponent marked as a Scoundrel. And if Akshan follows this trail, he gains movement speed and mana regeneration.

The entire ability is already shocking for many players since he can instantly resurrect his allies, on top of the grand amount of utility that it gives Akshan. But Riot didn’t stop there. Champion designer Glenn “Twin Enso” Anderson has confirmed that Akshan can revive his allies past his death.

Popular LEC caster Christy “Ender” Frierson posed the question to Riot’s developers, who then confirmed that if Akshan has damaged the enemy champion within three seconds, the passive will still activate if the opposing champion dies. The Rogue Sentinel can’t revive himself with his own passive, but the rest of his teammates are fair game.

The only caveat is that Akshan needs to have damaged the enemy champion within the last three seconds. But with how explosive teamfights are in today’s meta, getting an assist should be easy for the flashy, high-flying gunslinger. All he has to do is get a tick of damage on the various members of the enemy team and hope that the skirmish doesn’t extend too long.

You can catch Akshan in action when he drops onto the live servers in League Patch 11.15 on Wednesday, July 21.

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