All new League champions teased in Season 12 Opening Day livestream
Riot Games Riot kicked off the 2022 League of Legends season with a bang, with their Season 12 start live stream teasing some potential new champions on the Summoners Rift.
League of Legends’ champion base just keeps on expanding, with the game having hit 157 playable champions in 2021 with the release of Vex, the Gloomist. But Riot aren’t stopping there, and have teased four new champions in their live stream for the start of Season 12.
In the stream, lead champion producer Ryan ‘Reav3’ Mireles explained that the development team would be “slowing down” on champion releases for 2022, but that they would continue to aim for an even split of champion releases across all five roles in the game.
The first of League’s new champions will be none other than Zeri, the “electrifying, neon AD Carry from Zaun” whose kit sees her leaping over walls and using an assault-rifle style weapon to cut down her opponents.
None of the other teased champions have names as of yet, but here’s a breakdown of what we know so far about Riot’s 2022 releases.
The “sinister and dark” enchanter
Riot Games The first of Riot’s unnamed champions will be an enchanter support. Reav3 explained that Riot is looking to move away from the lighthearted, colorful designs of previous enchanters like Soraka and Lulu to “balance out the cheery brightness” of the role.
A zoomed-in still of what is presumed to be concept art for this new support was shown on the live stream. The still shows a mechanical-looking hand reaching out to touch some kind of mysterious robotic form, overflowing with a pink, gaseous substance.
“Terrifying” new jungler
The second champion teaser saw Reav3 possessed by some kind of mysterious force, turning his eyes purple and speaking in a guttural voice. The voice talked about a “lavender sea” and “purple cities” covering the land, making reference to an unnamed “empress” which the champion serves.
The constant references to purple are instantly reminiscent of the Void, an area of Runeterra populated by champions like Kassadin, Kai’Sa, Cho’Gath, and Rek’Sai.
It’s unclear yet whether the new jungler will be a void creature, but Reav3 described them as “swarming” onto the rift later this year, suggesting that the champion will potentially be some kind of creature as opposed to a humanoid.
“Mysterious, non-traditional” bot lane champion
The final champion is the one we know the least about. Described simply by Reav3 as “non-traditional”, the bot laner is projected to be hitting Summoner’s Rift sometime this year.
We’ll keep you updated with all the latest League of Legends champion releases in Season 12 throughout 2022.