Riot posted a brand-new edition of Champion Roadmap in August, the semi-regular article series highlighting upcoming reworks, updates, and champions. The roadmap teased a new champion with little to no details, and the League of Legends community’s rumor mill spun into action.
Riot has remained almost completely silent on this new champion, since there seem to be a couple of major champion updates planned prior to its release. In late December, however, a leak was shared on Reddit, revealing the first potential details of its design.
We’ve compiled a list of all the details we know so far so you can be prepared for the official reveal.
Sylas, or not
Riot may have revealed the new champion in a short story called Demacian Heart the week before the image teasers went out. In the story, a young mage named Sylas works for Demacia as a militant, helping mageseekers find and destroy magic throughout the nation. Usually, that magic was in the form of other mages, which were either imprisoned or killed.
Sylas is one of a few mages permitted to practice their arcane gift in the anti-magic Demacia simply because he used his gift to assist his country in its goal to root out magic. We assume Lux is in a similar boat, but we’re not entirely sure. We won’t spell out the entire short story, because, as short stories go, it’s actually pretty long. But the long and short of it is that Sylas is driven to kill a mageseeker that he worked for, a young girl, and her father in an emotional and tragic scene in which he discovered he had more power than he thought.
The story ends with him going on the run from the Demacian hit squads, which would fit our “Demacian criminal/super villain” theory. It’s certainly possible that the champion is Sylas all grown-up with a massive grudge against his country and a more-than-slightly cracked psyche from his accidental triple-murder. It’s also possible, however, that Sylas’ story was simply written to set the stage for the real villain. Now that we know how messed up Demacia really is, it would make sense for a sympathetic villain of sorts to step in. The right intentions would be there—dismantle the corruption in Demacia. But they’d probably go about it all wrong (with murder).
Demacian villain
On Jan. 3, Riot posted another teaser of the upcoming top laner on Universe, League’s official lore platform. The teaser included four separate images that showed the person sitting atop the Demacian throne, with several Demacian champions chained up with the golden chains.
This teaser didn’t actually reveal much about the new champ, like their kit or appearance, but it did hint at their involvement in the current lore. While it did feature the new champ atop the throne, we can’t imagine they’re any sort of Demacian royalty, especially considering the fact that all of those chained up and seemingly in anguish were either actual Demacian royalty or those closely related to the throne. Therefore, it’s more likely this person is some sort of enemy of Demacia instead.
Demacia’s greatest nemesis is Noxus, so you might assume the new champ to be Noxian somehow, too. We don’t think that’s the case, either, as there was no Noxian imagery used in the teaser images. In fact, the golden chains seem very Demacian, which may mean this person comes from the same nation he was attacking in the teasers. Perhaps they’re a Demacian criminal, or a super villain of sorts. Either way, we’re looking at another rather grim champion, which wouldn’t be too odd seeing as though we’ve gotten our fill of weird and quirky with the last champion, Neeko.
Chained-up top laner
A leak was posted on the League Reddit community on Dec. 28, which outlined several upcoming skins, including many legendary skins, new Star Guardians, and this year’s Lunar Revel recipients. Although it was brief, this was also the first time anyone had heard of the new champion since August. Keep in mind, however, that this is leaked information, and there’s no way to confirm whether it’s true. It does match what little information was provided in August’s Champion Roadmap, though, so there’s that.
The champion is, according to the leak, a top laner with chains, and it can use its Q to whip a target up into the air with them and toss them a short distance. The ultimate is an AoE flip, sounding at least semi-similar to Gnar’s ultimate ability, except it’s a flip instead of a straight toss. No other information was given.
This article will be updated as more information is revealed regarding the new champion.
