New League of Legends champion Akshan revealed: release date, abilities
Riot GamesRiot Games has revealed new League of Legends champion, Akshan, and confirmed his Season 11 release date: the whip-wielding Sentinel of Light is set to make his Summoner’s Rift debut during the long-awaited “Rise of the Sentinels” story update.
Season 11 has been focused around the Ruination, a Runeterra doomsday event sparked by LoL’s big bad, Viego. The Ruined King is spreading his darkness across the land in a bid to please his lost wife, Isolde, consuming regions like Demacia and Zaun with his powerful Black Mist magic.
Opposing him are the Sentinels of Light, including popular champs like Lucian, Senna, and Graves. And now, as Season 11 reaches its halfway point, another hero is joining their ranks: Akshan, the long-teased mid-lane marksman.
Who is Akshan in League of Legends?
Akshan is joining the League of Legends roster as the game’s 156th champion. He is expected to be primarily played in the mid lane.
Using a grappling hook and whip, Akshan aims to fight against Ruination and seeks vengeance for the death of his fallen mentor, Shadya. Equipped with her sacred weapon that saved him as a boy, Akshan is never willing to back down from a fight.
As one of the Sentinels of Light, he wields a tremendous amount of power. Riot writes, “Akshan always seeks to do the right thing, no matter the cost.”
Riot GamesAkshan LoL abilities revealed
Passive – Dirty Fighting
Every three hits from Akshan’s attacks and damaging abilities deal a burst of physical damage. If the target was a champion, Akshan also gains a shield.
After attacking, Akshan fires a second attack that deals reduced physical damage. The second shot can be canceled like a regular basic attack. If Akshan cancels the second shot he gains a burst of move speed.
Q – Avengerang
Akshan throws a boomerang that deals physical damage and reveals enemies hit, extending its range each time it hits an enemy. Enemies can be hit once as the boomerang goes out and once as it returns.
W – Going Rogue
Passive: When enemy champions kill one of Akshan’s allies, they are marked as Scoundrels. When Akshan gets a takedown on a Scoundrel he gains bonus gold, all allies killed by the Scoundrel are resurrected at their base, and Scoundrel status is removed from all other enemies.
Active: Akshan becomes camouflaged for a short duration, or indefinitely while near terrain. During this time, Akshan can see trails leading toward Scoundrels and gains move speed and mana regeneration while moving toward them.
E – Heroic Swing
Akshan fires a hookshot that embeds in the first terrain hit. While embedded, he can recast to swing around the terrain in the cast direction, firing physical damage bullets at the nearest enemy while swinging. While swinging, he can recast again to jump off in the direction of the cursor and fire a final shot.
Heroic Swing’s cooldown resets when Akshan earns a takedown on an enemy champion.
R – Comeuppance
Akshan locks onto an enemy champion and begins channeling power into his gun to store bullets. At the end of the duration or after recasting Akshan unleashes the stored bullets, each dealing physical damage based on missing health to the first minion, champion, or structure hit.
Akshan can move normally and cast Heroic Swing while channeling and firing Comeuppance.
Riot GamesWill Akshan have any skins on release?
Akshan will be releasing with a single skin at launch; the ‘Cyber Pop Akshan‘ cosmetic. This will be available to purchase in the League of League store as soon as he is released.
You can check out the new LoL skin below:
Riot GamesAkshan LoL release date
Akshan is set to arrive in patch 11.15 on July 21, 2021, but keep in mind these scheduled update days can be subject to change. In the meantime, you can look forward to the Sentinels of Light update, which is expected to begin in-game on Thursday, July 8.
For now, however, it’s just a waiting game for Akshan’s big LoL release.