Tryndamere, Skarner among LoL champions in next VGU poll

The candidates for the next champion to potentially receive a Visual Gameplay Update, or VGU, have been leaked.

Riot Games has been building a tradition of polling fans on which champion should get a brand new look and gameplay pattern in the coming year. Images leaked earlier this week show Shyvana, Noctune, Skarner, Tryndamere, and Kog’Maw as 2022’s candidates.

Shyvana, Skarner, and Nocture return to VGU poll

Three champions are making their return to the list of options fans will be able to vote for later this week as to who gets a VGU. Nocturne, Shyvana, and Skarner were all champions featured in the 2021 VGU poll that didn’t get selected. Instead, Udyr was chosen as the community’s requested rework, and will be the first VGU of 2022.

The one champion from that poll that hasn’t made a return is Quinn. Season 11 clearly showed enough change in Quinn’s general health as a champion that Riot Games was ready to take her off the menu for another year. Replacing Quinn and Udyr are Kog’Maw and Tryndamere.

Tryndamere is a hyper-linear champion who can feel supremely unfun to play against, while Kog’Maw’s design seems to be from another era of League of Legends entirely. Each of these champions has aged in distinct and unhelpful ways over the years, and each will eventually need a VGU. Shyvana was almost as popular with Chinese players as Udyr, and she’s a prime candidate to get the rework this year judging by last year’s metrics.

However, fans have been complaining about Tryndamere’s built-in critical strike chance making lanes a matter of RNG for years, and Kog’Maw’s passive is the subject of much mockery from players. Either one of the new additions could triumph over the repeat contenders given that both are feast-or-famine hyper-carries. The VGU poll is expected to drop on January 7 alongside the season 12 cinematic.