‘League of Legends’ Next Champion Swings on to the Rift in Style

After months of teasing, Riot has finally revealed the next champion to join the League of Legends roster. Armed with his charm and an ancient weapon, Akshan the Rogue Sentinel enters the fray in the battle against Viego and the all-consuming Ruination.

League of Legends’ Season 11 has been centered around the Ruined King Viego and his quest to bring back his dead wife Isolde, no matter the cost. His pursuit has allowed the Ruination to start, an event in which the Black Mist begins to encompass the lands of Runeterra. The only thing standing in his way are the Sentinels of Light, a faction of warriors armed with ancient weapons created to combat the Black Mist. The Sentinels include popular champions such as Lucian and Senna, and now Akshan will be joining their ranks.

Akshan is a mid-lane marksman with high mobility and roaming potential. Unlike most traditional marksmen, Akshan focuses on burst rather than sustained damage. His assassin-marksman playstyle grants him positioning tools to help eliminate his targets while still being useful in team fights. Riot also showcased his abilities alongside his announcement and suffice to say, he seems pretty busted.

Akshan’s three-hit passive, Dirty Fighting, applies to his attacks and damaging abilities, granting him an additional attack that he can cancel for a burst of movement speed or a shield on the third hit. His Q ability, Avengerang, sends out a boomerang projectile that has its range extended with each enemy hit. His E, Heroic Swing, lets him grapple to terrain and swing around, allowing him to reposition during fights. His Ultimate ability, Comeuppance, charges shots that deals increased damage enemies based on their missing health.

These abilities alone are strong but Akshan’s W, Going Rogue, is what really stands out as being overpowered. Akshan’s W has a passive effect that causes enemies who kill one of his allies to become marked as a Scoundrel. If Akshan kills the Scoundrel, he gains bonus gold and instantly revives all allies killed by the Scoundrel. On top of that, Akshan’s W can be activated to grant him invisibility for a short duration, an effect that becomes indefinite if used near terrain. While he’s invisible, Akshan can see a trail that leads toward nearby Scoundrels and gains move speed mana regeneration while moving toward them.

Wow, and here we thought Viego’s kit was overloaded when he was released. Akshan’s abilities and his unique playstyle make him seem like he’d be an exciting champion to welcome to Summoner’s Rift, but his kit is definitely excessive. His three-hit passive gives him a lot of dueling potential and survivability thanks to the damage and shield he gets from it. The mobility from his E ability is a powerful repositioning tool that can help him chase down kills or escape from a bad fight. He has everything a marksman would want and that’s not necessarily a good thing.

Akshan’s W ability could completely turn games around just from its passive. The extra gold from killing enemy Scoundrels could increase Akshan’s lead early, but a potential team-wide revive could easily change the outcome of a game. Quite frankly, Akshan just has way too much going on in his kit.

As with all new champions, we can’t be sure about how strong Akshan will be until he is officially released. Akshan is scheduled to hit live servers during Patch 11.15 on July 21, 2021. In the mean time, he should be heading toward League’s Public Beta Environment server sometime within the next few days. Until his official release, here’s a rundown of all of Akshan’s abilities.

 

Passive – Dirty Fighting

“Every three hits from Akshan’s attacks and damaging abilities deal a burst of physical damage. If the target was a champion, Akshan also gains a shield.”

“After attacking, Akshan fires a second attack that deals reduced physical damage. The second shot can be canceled like a regular basic attack. If Akshan cancels the second shot he gains a burst of move speed.”

Q – Avengerang

“Akshan throws a boomerang that deals physical damage and reveals enemies hit, extending its range each time it hits an enemy. Enemies can be hit once as the boomerang goes out and once as it returns.”

W – Going Rogue

“Passive: When enemy champions kill one of Akshan’s allies, they are marked as Scoundrels. When Akshan gets a takedown on a Scoundrel he gains bonus gold, all allies killed by the Scoundrel are resurrected at their base, and Scoundrel status is removed from all other enemies.”

“Active: Akshan becomes camouflaged for a short duration, or indefinitely while near terrain. During this time, Akshan can see trails leading toward Scoundrels and gains move speed and mana regeneration while moving toward them.”

E – Heroic Swing

“Akshan fires a hookshot that embeds in the first terrain hit. While embedded, he can recast to swing around the terrain in the cast direction, firing physical damage bullets at the nearest enemy while swinging. While swinging, he can recast again to jump off in the direction of the cursor and fire a final shot.”

“Heroic Swing‘s cooldown resets when Akshan earns a takedown on an enemy champion.”

R – Comeuppance

“Akshan locks onto an enemy champion and begins channeling power into his gun to store bullets. At the end of the duration or after recasting Akshan unleashes the stored bullets, each dealing physical damage based on missing health to the first minion, champion, or structure hit.”

“Akshan can move normally and cast Heroic Swing while channeling and firing Comeuppance.”