Riot disables Neeko after League players discover a bug where she becomes a tower

During the end of the year, League of Legends players are asked to remain vigilant throughout the game’s ever-changing preseason as Riot Games applies different changes to Summoner’s Rift and beyond. A game-breaking bug, for example, has been caught by various players featuring Runeterra’s resident Curious Chameleon, forcing developers to disable the champion today until the issue is fixed.

Neeko is most known for her passive ability to transform into one of her allies, making her a great pick for any team compositions that need a distraction or a way to bait enemies into carefully-laid traps. She also has a ton of damage built into her kit. But in a newly-discovered glitch, she can apparently end games in mere minutes by transforming into a turret.

Multiple players are reporting that Neeko can now choose to morph into a turret, where she can effectively one-shot enemy players who get into range. She can also transform into a turret while in range of an enemy turret, blasting it away in three short hits. The Nexus, on the other hand, takes six shots before going down.

Neeko can actually transform into other neutral objectives on the map, including a murkwolf. In a video made by popular League content creator Vandiril, the player can be seen walking around as a wolf before instantly transforming into a turret when in range of the opposing team.

It’s unknown what caused the issue behind the scenes, but it seemed like players could recreate the bug with ease, making her a prime choice for anyone wanting to rack up some easy wins this preseason. Some players were also disappointed that the bug remained untouched for almost a whole day before Riot disabled the champion. As a result, players permanently banned her in every solo or duo queue mode as a temporary solution until she was taken out of the available pool today.

Riot is now investigating the situation and working to fix Neeko so she can hop into the battle once again. It also isn’t known if any players will be punished for using the bug in their games since the preseason is usually used to weed out any in-game problems or balance issues before the start of the new season in 2023.