Riot Games just shared news about new content coming to League of Legends in 2024, alongside season 2 of Arcane hitting Netflix in November. We learned about new champions coming to Summoner’s Rift, a new game mode, the return of Arena, and new skins and champion overhauls due to arrive over the course of the year.
The first champion players can expect is Smolder, the Fiery Fledgling. Smolder is a baby dragon from Camavor, the home region of Viego, Hecarim, and Kalista. Smolder may be a baby, but even a teeny tiny dragon can cause major havoc. Here’s a look at Smolder’s abilities:
Passive – Dragon Practice: Hitting champions with Abilities and killing enemies with Super Scorcher Breath grants Smolder a stack of Dragon Practice. Stacks increase the damage of Smolder’s basic Abilities.
Q – Super Scorcher Breath: Smolder belches flame at his enemies. This Ability evolves with stacks, gaining the following:
● 25: Damages all enemies surrounding the target.
● 125: Sends explosions behind the target that deal 75% of this spell’s damage.
● 225: Burns the target dealing max Health true damage over 3 seconds. Enemy champions that drop below a total health threshold while burning are killed instantly
W – Achooo!: Smolder lets out an adorable flaming sneeze, damaging and slowing enemies hit. Hitting champions causes an additional explosion.
E – Flap, Flap, Flap: Smolder takes flight, gaining Move Speed and ignoring terrain for 1.25 seconds. While flying, Smolder attacks the lowest health enemy.
R – MMOOOMMMM!: Smolder’s mom breathes fire from above, dealing extra damage and slowing enemies in the center of her fire. Smolder’s mom also heals her son if she hits him.
Smolder will be joined on the Rift by other new champions like a Vastayan solo-laner mage as the next champion. Later on, Ambessa Medarda, Mel’s mom, who was introduced in the first season of Arcane, is slated to join the game.
Another Arcane champion will be receiving a Visual and Gameplay Update — Riot didn’t specify who, but smart money might be on Singed, the mad scientist who is visually very out of date. We can also expect Skarner’s VGU to arrive in the first half of the year, and Shyvana will receive one afterwards. Lee Sin and Teemo, two long-time champions, will recieve Art and Sustainability updates on smaller scales that bring them up to modern standards.
We’ll find out more about the systems and champions coming to League over the course of the year; right now, all we know about the year’s new gameplay mode is that it’s a “relaxed” alternative to the standard League of Legends experience.