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New free champion rotation: Akali, Lucian, Viktor and more!

Riot·1/14/2017, 12:22:57 AM·1 votes·24,357 views

Greetings Summoners!

Here are this week's free champions:

 

Akali - the Fist of Shadow
Attack
Defense
Ability
Difficulty
Primary Role Assassin
Evelynn - the Widowmaker
Attack
Defense
Ability
Difficulty
Primary Role Assassin
Secondary Role Mage
Ezreal - the Prodigal Explorer
Attack
Defense
Ability
Difficulty
Primary Role Marksman
Secondary Role Mage
Jax - Grandmaster at Arms
Attack
Defense
Ability
Difficulty
Primary Role Fighter
Secondary Role Assassin
Karma - the Enlightened One
Attack
Defense
Ability
Difficulty
Primary Role Mage
Secondary Role Support
Leona - the Radiant Dawn
Attack
Defense
Ability
Difficulty
Primary Role Tank
Secondary Role Support
Lucian - the Purifier
Attack
Defense
Ability
Difficulty
Primary Role Marksman
Singed - the Mad Chemist
Attack
Defense
Ability
Difficulty
Primary Role Tank
Secondary Role Fighter
Skarner - the Crystal Vanguard
Attack
Defense
Ability
Difficulty
Primary Role Fighter
Secondary Role Tank
Viktor - the Machine Herald
Attack
Defense
Ability
Difficulty
Primary Role Mage

Wondering how we picked this week's free champions? Read up on it HERE.

See you on the Fields of Justice!

69 Comments

72409691_DEL1/16/2017, 7:39:37 PM15 votes

Singed is finally free but where isTaliyah she hasn't free for 7 months already and alsoKled

The Last Zica1/16/2017, 7:19:05 PM12 votes

So how many weeks has it been since we've seen much of anything on the Support-being-underplayed and poorly-played issue? [slayer-jinx-unamused] I remain very disappointed we're back to no additional Supports; only 2 just isn't enough for good team compositions with the playerbase League of Legends has, ESPECIALLY WITH AUTOFILL ENABLED. While Brand and Blitzcrank were bad picks for the list, the rest of the list was pretty solid and made for better games IMO, especially SonaSona and TaricTaric which are relatively new-player-friendly and don't lend themselves to stealing CS. While a full extra 10 isn't necessary, I think at least 2-6 extra slots to provide a better variety of Supports and account for the ever-increasing number of champions is a really good idea that should be implemented permanently.

I think simply fixing the # of champions in the free rotation at 10% rounding up of the number of total champions would strike a good balance going forward. 14 for now with 6 of the slots dedicated to serious Supports, rising to 15 sometime in 2017-2018 when champion 141 comes out. Probably keeping the % of Support slots roughly proportional... around 3/8ths perhaps? Attention should probably be given to ensuring there's always a tank Support, a heal-ally Support, a strong shield-ally Support, and a Crowd Control-heavy Support (it usually won't take 4 champions to fill all these slots since there's a fair bit of overlap, such as with Morgana being strong in both CC and shielding,) and that at least 2 of the 6 Support champions are highly new-player-friendly.

I believe this will strike a fair balance between consistently giving users enough options to play Support when they get Autofilled while still selling Support champions to people who grow attached to them. That's the main reason I'm not suggesting keeping the rotation at 10 Supports long-term (though I'd be OK with that) - there aren't really enough Support champions to fulfill quite so many without severely devaluing buying any of them. That is something however that needs addressing itself - there need to be more good Support champions in the next few new champions released! I do definitely want to see the rotation permanently raised at least a little from the previous 10 total to fit a greater variety of Support champions in and improve the average team comp. Either that or Autofill absolutely needs to be turned off, permanently, because attempting to force people to play Support when they'll just dodge because they have no good options handy and have no desire to spend IP/RP on buying any when they don't want to play Support in the first place is CLEARLY NOT WORKING and only further increases queue times due to dodges. The bottom-line is Riot needs to encourage people to want to play Support, not try to force them to. Autofill does not work, especially not without a lot of free Supports. Either the number of free Supports must be raised again or Autofill has GOT to go. At least some of the Supports should also be made available in Ranked unless Autofill is removed, too. Sooner or later Riot's going to have to address these issues, even though they decided to largely ignore it through the end of 2016. Remember, the rotation applies to Normal Draft Pick, where people practice and learn for Ranked, and which has assigned positions and Autofill.

Talon Gerrard1/17/2017, 2:38:22 PM8 votes

Akali Rip sideboob Evelynn Was rejected for the lead roll in the Now You See Me movies. Ezreal Ezreal as it gets. Jax A real weapon wouldn't help. Karma Shields for dayz. Leona Countered by sunglasses. Lucian Oh sure. Give the first black champ the driveby ult. Singed Deadliest game of tag you'll ever play. Skarner SKAR SKAR SKARNER! Viktor General Grievous?

50000000000000001/16/2017, 7:03:35 PM6 votes

Fun 1v1 Rating Akali The two-hit passive means that carefully managing your passive and checking for the enemy's passive is key to winning trades. All-ins are not very likely to happen pre-6. I give her 2/5 fun for 1v1. Evelynn Avoiding Q and using keystones (I recommend Fervor or Thunderlord's) properly is key to Evelynn 1v1. The passive allows you to regenerate mana, and potentially ambush the opponent after tricking them into thinking you've backed. I give her 4/5 fun for 1v1. Ezreal Long range poke wars. Low waveclear means that they must split focus into farming/pushing and poking, and W-E combo in all ins can be very powerful. I give him 4/5 fun for 1v1. Jax Mostly stat check, but using E properly to get full damage off will be the key to this matchup. I give him 3/5 fun for 1v1. Karma She can poke but also shield, and they have the same range for the tether. It'd be similar to the Ezreal 1v1, except the range is shorter, and the poke damage can be shielded. I give her 1/5 fun for 1v1. Leona Nobody can proc the sunlight passive. Attacking while the opponent is stunned is how to win trades. No sustain and situational defensive steroid means all-ins are the only ways to go. Still, in an all in situation most of the damage is targeted, so I give her 2/5 fun for 1v1. Try doing a 2v2 with bots instead. Whoever gives their ADC a kill wins. I give this version a 4/5. Lucian This doesn't need explanation. 5/5 Singed This 1v1 requires a special setup. You can't just 1v1 in lane. Make it a proxy Singed 1v1, and whoever gets to a certain number of CS (higher than the standard 100 recommended) wins. Don't worry about kills. You know it's never going to happen. For lane 1v1, I give him 1/5 for fun. For proxy 1v1, I give him 5/5. Seriously, try this. Skarner Skarner is the strongest near the crystal pillars, but in lanes pillars don't exist. This means that Skarners can't fight at their maximum potential. The ranged slow into stun is the key to winning, and that's skillshot based? So I give him 3/5 for fun. Viktor Kinda like Karma 1v1, but actually decent. Choosing between pushing and poking at the right time, as well as using the shield properly (use it to both do damage and block damage) is important in this 1v1. I give him 4/5 for fun.

grarrrg1/17/2017, 3:53:50 AM4 votes

Singed is finally off the list (for now), who's next? Taliyah > ~32 weeks since last free Xin Zhao > ~25 weeks Cho'Gath > ~21 weeks And, as usual, honorable mentions to Tristana and Alistar

God Raijin1/17/2017, 10:01:53 AM3 votes

Evelynn DIFFICULTY LEVEL 10!?....Idk about that one....She has one of the simplest kits in the game

the weeaboo1/17/2017, 9:17:08 PM2 votes

Skarner - the most forgotten champion in League

KitsuneChaos181/16/2017, 11:43:50 PM2 votes

Finally. Viktor is free. Time for some fun!

zamorak271/18/2017, 5:14:39 PM1 votes

why does Yorick never appears in the free champions??? I want to try him.

ReaGam1/16/2017, 11:27:21 PM1 votes

is anyone else not able to play these champions?

DbBested3421/17/2017, 12:53:07 AM1 votes

when is this live?

Cösmic Lightning1/18/2017, 5:02:21 AM1 votes

Why does Rito decide that putting immobile champs (mid especially) against mobile champs for the same lane. This week Akali Akali vs Viktor Viktor, a few weeks ago TwistedFate TF vs Yasuo Yasuo, like is Rito challenged or?