Everything we know about Naafiri, League’s newest champion: Abilities, release date & more

Naafiri’s arrival in League of Legends looms ever-closer, with her abilities having finally been revealed alongside a cinematic and gameplay trailer. Here’s everything we know so far about League’s next champion.

The League of Legends development team have hit a fair few snags through 2023. Between multiple delays on certain champion reworks and VGUs, the development team has had a number of obstacles when it comes to releasing new content.

That said, both K’Sante and Milio came out with little issue. Other than Milio being a little overpowered on release and K’Sante dominating at an extremely high level of play, the two champions have been fairly successful on release. And now we’ve got a good look at Naafiri, the third champion coming to LoL in 2023.

She’s fairly unique in that she controls other units as a jungler, allowing her to clear quickly and dart around as she pleases. Her pack is an essential part of her kit, and every ability she has revolves around them.

Who is Naafiri in League of Legends?

Riot was pretty tight-lipped on League of Legends’ upcoming Darkin champion while she was in development, finally letting the cat out of the bag all at once with a reveal trailer.

“One of the things the League community hounds me about constantly is wanting to see more Darkin champions,” developer Ryan ‘Reav3’ Mireles said in an August 2022 video.

The community has long yearned for more monster or Darkin champions, and this is a step in that direction. Exact details about their lore weren’t made public until a later dev blog.

Riot has also released a champion cinematic for Naafiri, providing further detail before their release.

Naafiri full ability list in League of Legends

While we don’t yet have numbers for Naafiri’s abilities, we do have a full description for everything in her kit:

Passive: We Are More

Naafiri creates a Packmate after an amount of time that will attack enemies that she targets for physical damage, which is increased after she uses an ability. Hitting champions with abilities or killing enemies reduces this ability’s cooldown.

Q: Darkin Dagger

Naafiri hurls Darkin-tainted blades, dealing physical damage and inflicting a bleed for a few seconds.This ability may be recast. If enemies hit are already bleeding, instead deal the remaining bleed damage plus bonus physical damage and missing health physical damage. If the target was a champion, Naafiri restores some health. Packmates will leap at the first target hit, prioritizing champions and attacking them for a few seconds.

W: Hound’s Pursuit

After a brief delay, Naafiri dashes at an enemy, dealing physical damage and briefly slowing her target or the first champion she collides with. This ability gains range based on ultimate rank. Packmates become untargetable and dash alongside Naafiri, dealing additional damage per Packmate.

E: Eviscerate

Naafiri surges forward, dashing and dealing physical damage to enemies she passes through, then explodes outward, dealing additional physical damage. Packmates are recalled to Naafiri and are healed to full.

R: The Call of the Pack

Naafiri prepares to hunt, empowering her Packmates and spawning bonus Packmates for a short duration. Naafiri then gains a burst of out of combat Movespeed, vision, and the first time she hits an enemy champion, she gains a shield. On first champion takedown, all ultimate effects are refreshed.

Is there a release date for Naafiri in League of Legends?

Naafiri’s release date is set for LoL patch 13.14, which should be coming on July 11 according to their current patch release schedule.

We’ll keep you updated with news regarding Naafiri, the new Darkin champion, as it’s made public right here.

So, there you have it — that’s everything you need to know about Naafiri in League of Legends.

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