Two new champions were announced in the Season 2023 season start video, Milio and Naafiri, but who are they and what can fans expect from their release?
At the start of every year’s ranked season, Riot Games gives fans a peek at the content coming down the pipe for League of Legends players that year. For 2023, two newcomers to the League of Legends have been announced ahead of their release. One is a male enchanter from the elemental kingdom of Ixtal, and the other a Darkin Huntress with mysterious multiple forms. Here’s everything we know about who Milio and Naafiri are in League of Legends.
Milio and Naafiri will be the first League of Legends champions released in 2023, with Milio being the first, closely followed by Naafiri. Each of them has had a synopsis of their lore and role in the game released, but there’s still lots to learn about each of these mysterious members of the League. Here’s what we already know about each of them and what we can extrapolate about their gameplay, class, and role in League of Legends once they do eventually arrive.
Milio will be the first League of Legends champion released in 2023, as a male enchanter from Ixtal focused on elemental fire magic and fulfilling the dreams of his family. Ixtal is a hidden kingdom filled with elemental magic that sealed itself off from the rest of Runeterra during the Icathian war, where the kingdom of Icathia summoned the Void to do battle against Shurima and its Ascended god-warriors. Ixtal is slowly reemerging into the world and Milio is one of the only characters we’ve seen who was created from the ground up to be Ixtali. As an enchanter, Milio will focus on buffing, healing, and protecting his allies with the “Axiom of Fire”, the Ixtali term for the fiery aspect of elemental magic.
Milio will focus exclusively on fire magic unlike Qiyana, who channels fire, earth, water, and air magic. Some art associated with Milio’s teasers has depicted adorable fire spirits, so it’s possible that he will send out glowing elemental companions to empower his friends and allies.
Naafiri will be the second champion released for League of Legends in 2023, a Darkin Assassin contained within a blade and implied to have multiple bodies, on the hunt for her Darkin siblings. The Darkin are Ascended god-warriors, the Shuriman demigods who fought against the Void in Icathia, who were corrupted by blood magic and the trauma of fighting the Void. Those god warriors had their spirits trapped in immensely powerful weapons, which now take over hosts that wield them in order to achieve their destructive ends. Naafiri is contained within a dagger that has an enormous eye in the middle of its blade.
As an Assassin, Naafiri will focus on upfront burst damage and the ability to detonate squishy targets with ease. Given the art that seems to tease her as a swarm of hounds or similar predators, and the implication that she can spread her “hunt” wide, it’s possible that she will be able to split into multiple forms and then choose from which one she appears, or roam across the map as multiple figures. No matter how her multiple-body gimmick is pulled off, you’re probably going to get one-shot by Naafiri a lot when she’s released.
That’s all we know about Milio and Naafiri in League of Legends right now, more details are sure to come as the year goes on.
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