Riot Games has had its Season 2022 Opening Day stream, teasing a new champion and lots of changes coming to League of Legends coming in 2022.
From updates on Udyr’s rework to hints at a brand new champion we haven’t heard about yet, Riot was dropping hints aplenty in its stream once the cinematic finished.
Udyr rework, Zeri details, and new champion revealed
Riot Games has lots of fantastic changes coming to League of Legends, beginning with the arrival of new champion Zeri, the Spark of Zaun. Her abilities and bio were leaked earlier this week, and it appears that this stream was the intended time for her to be revealed.
While it was mostly things fans have seen before, Riot Games did reveal some new information about Zeri. As it turns out, Zeri’s Q ability is the one producing her cone of electricity. Riot says Zeri’s Q will serve the purpose of auto attacks most of the time for Zeri, so expecting to be slamming that key a lot. Zeri’s proper auto-attack is meant to be weaved between her other abilities at just the right time. Zeri’s auto-attacks are unique in that they will proc spell effects like Liandry’s burn or Rylai’s Crystal Sceptre’s slow. This may enable Zeri to be a proper AP marksman, the first since Kai’Sa’s release.
Udyr’s upcoming rework has also gotten some additional changes, with the removal of his decorative antlers on his back. Riot Games has realized that Udyr doesn’t need the apparatus to have a distinct and recognizable silhouette. Instead, Riot has added more hair and a bit more mass to Udyr to really sell the spirit-walker shaman aesthetic.
New champions teased in 2022 stream
In the same section, Riot Reav3 pretended to be possessed by the new void jungler, as well as making reference to an upcoming dark and gritty enchantress. There’s not much information available on the femme Void jungler we’ll be getting after the new support champion, but Reav3 purposefully used words like “swarm” to imply that this champion may be able to summon AI pets.
A brief look at the new enchantress only solidifies the possibility of it being Corina Veraza, a Chembaron introduced in League of Legends. While it may look slightly different, Corina has a prosthetic arm as is shown in the teaser image. At the same time, the strange bronze and silver device glowing with purple energy could easily be one of Corina’s traps based off her Magnus Opus, a powerful purple flower that feeds off of the grey fog of Zaun.
Finally, Riot decided to tease the new champion coming after the void jungler with an image. This image depicts ice-white and blue hands spiraling outwards from a central point to form a strange pattern. There are a couple of possibilities for this champion’s theme and origin that seem likely given the brief tease fans received. The champion in question will be an unusual bot laner, perhaps a mage or a melee champion.
This teaser could be relating the champion the Watchers and Freljord. The Watchers are ancient Void beings often depicted with many extra hands, which would explain the icy aesthetic as well as the large number of hands. The other is the possibility is an Ionian monk that summons spiritual hands to batter their opponents from a range, and this could allow a melee champion to better function and eventually carry in the bottom lane.
Riot Games also announced event changes after a negative reception to its Debonair event. Challenges, which are achievements for in-game actions unrelated to ranked play, will be making their way to League of Legends in the coming year.
