Exactly 13 years have passed since the official release of League of Legends. The exact date of the celeation is uncertain, as the first official patch of season 1 was released on October 21, 2022, but only a few days later Riot Games officialized the date of this milest1. However, in addition to this curiosity, we wanted to enjoy the event to remember more about the history of the game and its champions, focusing on the original list of the first characters Mob received and how they have changed since their releases.
The original League of Legends champions
The first curious fact contradicts a story that is usually told. League of Legends debuted with a total of 40 champions. Admittedly, only 17 of them was part of the version available in the early test phases of the game, but the first season did not officially start until there were 40 playable characters, a minimum number that Riot considered it essential to ing different rhythm and possibilities to the game. Harbinger and Shack were the last two characters to arrive before the game’s official debut on October 10, 2009.
The launch of these champions allows us to unmask some of the first myths about LOL’s essential champions. Although it is true that many of them have received changes, there are still those who remain faithful to their original playable design. For example, Shack maintains the same four active skills. Of course, they have changed their duties, but they are essentially almost the same as always.
Something similar happens with Hammer. Since his debut, he had towers, Granada, a missile dam. His ultimate has also changed, moving from a buff to towers to affect all other spells as well.
This way, if we want to talk about how LOL’s 40 original champions have changed, we have to be a little flexible. We will consider a champion as intact when his skill kit is the same as 13 years ago, receiving only minor adjustments. The slightly altered category is for characters that have seen some of their modified spells with function adjustments. Rework for those who saw at least one of their skills disappear or received a new 1. Great Rework is for those who have received many changes and there is still the Rye category… for Rye.
Intact: Anita, Blitz crank, Tax, Arthur, Morgan, ASUS, Shack, Civil and Teems.
slightly altered: Alistair, Alum, Annie, CHO’Path, Harbinger, Janna, Assassin, Master Yi, Malachite, Singed, Twitch, Hagar and Clean.
Rework: Ashe, Cork, Dr. World, Fiddlesticks, Gangplank, Katarina, Nun, Ram mus, Tristan, Tryndamere and Twisted Fate.
Great Rework: Evelyn, Kyle, Sion, Soraya, Tarim and Warwick,
Rye : He is the only League of Legends champion who has received two major reformulations, and it seems that he is on his way to the third.
The change of appearance in LOL Champions
In addition to skills, something that also changed a lot is the appearance of the champions. All members of the original LOL cast received visual updates and had their art reformulated. Particularly interesting are the changes in splash arts. Before, all the champions had a background with their characteristic colors framed in a predominant black. However, the illustrations are currently more complex. A good example of this is Fiddlesticks, who received a large Rework two years ago.
Most of the adjustments happened between the start of season 4 and the mid-season 5. Thus, it has been eight years since the big changes, something that makes, for example, LOL game models seem so bad on sides Wild Rift, the mobile version of MOB. Maybe a new change can happen when the game turns 15?