Ambessa Medarda announced as first original Arcane character to be a LoL champion

Arcane was conceived as a story within the League of Legends universe, one that recontextualizes and expands upon the existing lore of the game. However, Ambessa Medarda is the first champion to come over from Arcane to the game that inspired it.

Though Arcane was heavily hyped ahead of its launch and was expected to be good, critics and fans alike were blown away by the sheer quality of the animated series. Several years of production and a solid foundation laid by LoL’s lore made for a final product that made waves beyond League of Legends‘ core playerbase.

As a result, Arcane’s influence could be felt within Riot’s games. Arcane skins for many of the characters within the series were added to League, as well as Jinx and Vi being added to Fortnite.

And now, League of Legends is getting a character who was original introduced in Arcane: Ambessa Medarda, mother of Mel Medarda. Arcane Season 1 spoilers ahead.

Ambessa Medarda is coming to League of Legends

Netflix

The Medarda’s family history is a core part of Arcane Season 1’s plot, with Ambessa’s relation to her daughter Mel being revealed in the tail end of the show. The Noxian family is sure to play a key role in Arcane Season 2‘s storyline, and Ambessa was set up as an intimidating villain that’d get her time in the spotlight soon enough.

That setup makes it all the more intriguing that she’s the one who’s going to be League of Legends very first Arcane-original champion. It’s true that Silco was in TFT for a set, but Ambessa will be a permanent addition to the League of Legends roster.

It’s yet unknown what her abilities do, but, considering her penchant for up-close fighting and many Noxian champions’ identities as ruthless bruisers with a high damage output, it’s safe to assume Ambessa won’t be afraid of getting her hands dirty.

She was announced in League’s Season 2024 preview along with some other crucial Arcane Season 2 details:

Her addition opens the door for other series-original characters to be added to League of Legends, whether they be characters we haven’t met yet that’ll be introduced in Arcane Season 2 or new characters from Riot Forge’s various projects.

Additionally, the devs have revealed that there’s a ton of Arcane content coming to League of Legends later this year including a VGU (visual gameplay update) for one of the show’s key characters and some tie-in content for the show’s second season.