Through a new video, Riot announced its plans for League in the first half of 2023, with champion updates, new skins lines, and much more.
Among the announcements, Riot not only mentioned the upcoming release of the next two League champions on Summoners’ Rift, Milio and Naafiri, but also another two characters for the year. Let’s see who they might be.
Riot will first release the new League champions Milio and Naafiri
The new LoL PLS video, mentions that Milio and Naafiri will be the next two champions to be released on Summoners’ Rift. After the various rumors, the company finally revealed the names and additional information on their background.
We already knew that Milio was going to be the new enchanter champion from Ixtal. In the lore, Milio travels to Ixaocan, carrying the hopes and dreams of his family on his back along with his trusty backpack. “His journey will broaden his horizons but also bring him closer to the Yun Tal’s darkest secrets” is what Lexi Gao, the Product Lead for Champions, mentioned in the video. Expect some major action and challenges for the new entry to the League roster.
After Milio, players will get the chance to play Naafiri, the new Darkin mid lane assassin. Compared to the recent champions, Naafiri is set to have a straightforward kit that will be more user-friendly. After being awakened from her slumber, Naafiri’s instinct is to track down her Darkin brethren. According to the video, Lexi Gao hinted at the chance that Naafiri will have more than one body and use them to locate other Darkins.
Aside from the two new releases, Riot also mentioned the arrival of Aurelion Sol’s CGU update, as well as Skarner VGU, which is still in the works. The video mentions that there will be an upcoming dev blog that will cover more information on his progress.
Riot teases the “hangry jungler” and an “artistic mid laner”
While no information on what the two champions would look like, Riot still hinted at us by showing some artwork at the end of the video. For the “hangry jungler”, Riot showed us a vampire castle, which looks to be associated with Vladimir and therefore a champion associated with or coming from Noxus.
For the “artistic mid laner”, instead, the vibe is much calmer and less frightening. Given the tower shown in the artwork, there are chances that the champions will be from Ionia. That said, Riot hasn’t confirmed that information.
With this announcement, League players will have a lot to look forward to this year. Unfortunately, we will have to wait a little longer for more info on the third and fourth new champions in 2023.