New free champion rotation: Ahri, Garen, Aurelion Sol and more!

Riot·Mar 4, 2017·2 votes·23,835 views

Greetings Summoners!

Here are this week's free champions:

Ahri - the Nine-Tailed Fox

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Mage

Secondary Role Assassin

Aurelion Sol - The Star Forger

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Mage

Secondary Role Fighter

Garen - The Might of Demacia

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Fighter

Secondary Role Tank

Kalista - the Spear of Vengeance

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Marksman

Leona - the Radiant Dawn

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Tank

Secondary Role Support

Quinn - Demacia's Wings

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Marksman

Secondary Role Fighter

Rek'Sai - the Void Burrower

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Fighter

Shyvana - the Half-Dragon

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Fighter

Secondary Role Tank

Sona - Maven of the Strings

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Support

Secondary Role Mage

Teemo - the Swift Scout

Attack

Defense

Ability

Difficulty

Primary Role Marksman

Secondary Role Assassin

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

See you on the Fields of Justice!

33 Comments

King DellronMar 6, 201724 votes

#A Corporate Matter Episode: Upseting Space Dictators Is Usually A Bad Idea

LeeSin "And so then I says to 'em, botlane Ziggs is great cause it means more variety. And then they just stopped complaining, hahahahaha."

Varus "Corporate Lee Sin, you are under arrest!"

LeeSin "I'm gonna need to call you back. Under arrest? For what reason!"

Varus "gross negligence of your job. It's your job to balance the league of legends. If this is what you call balanced, I'm afraid you belong in much worse places than where I am taking you."

LeeSin "Damn, he actually has a valid reason. You think you can bring me in on your own?"

Varus "Well, thanks to you I can build full lethality. TRY ME!"

LeeSin "Alright alright, I'm coming. What kind of police department hires a Darkstar anyways?"

Varus "Oh, I'm not police. I work for Dreadnova Gangplank. We are going to his space prison. Come, my bow shall open a black hole that leads there."

LeeSin "Open a black hole? That doesn't sound very- ahh AHH AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" "Gets sucked in."

Gangplank "Ahhh, Corporate Lee Sin, glad you could make it."

LeeSin "Well, lethality is overpowered. So I didn't get much of a choice."

Gangplank "AND WHO'S FAULT IS THAT!!! You are going to be imprisoned here for all eternity. Maybe then they will find someone to balance the game that actually knows what he is doing."

LeeSin "I don't understand why you seem to be taking this so personally?"

Gangplank "Really? You have no idea? NAME ONE THING ABOUT ME THAT YOU HAVEN'T NERFED IN THE LAST YEAR AND A HALF!"

LeeSin "Well there was, I didn't, no. Okay, I'm coming up blank."

Gangplank "Okay, how about an easy question. Name one buff you have given me since my rework. Any buff at all."

LeeSin "Th-th-there isn't any."

Gangplank "What's that? speak up."

LeeSin "I HAVEN'T GIVEN YOU ANY BUFFS SINCE THE REWORK."

Gangplank "AND FOR THAT YOU WILL ROT IN THIS PRISON!"

LeeSin "Now Planky, we can talk about this. Just send me back, I'll buff any part of you that you want. It wouldn't be the first time I screwed up balance for personal gain."

Gangplank "YOU CAN'T TALK YOUR WAY OUT OF THIS ONE! I can ensure that your replacement gets me my buffs. No, I'm imprisoning you here for revenge, nothing more. Take him away, Darkstars."

A brief walk through the prison later:

Thresh "Here, go in the food court with the other scum from this block. And don't even try and think about escaping. I helped build this prison out of a dead star. No one gets out." "Throws Corporate Lee Sin in the room."

Warwick "Look, fresh meat."

Trundle ""Hey there, pretty boy. How about I take you back to my room and show you who runs this cell block."

Galio "Well, it sure ain't you."

Trundle "Is that so? You wanna feel my pillar too?"

Maokai "I am Maokai."

Trundle "What, is he your friend?"

Maokai "I am Maokai!"

Galio "I'd listen to him. I once saw him blast a man's skull clean off, with just one Q."

Trundle "This ain't over little guy."

LeeSin "You didn't need to do that. I could have handled him."

Galio "Sure thing kid. Come Maokai, let's go get some food."

Maokai "I am Maokai."

LeeSin "So I have heard."

Maokai "I am Maokai."

LeeSin "You are a true poet."

Galio "Look, he no es speak nice like we. His vocabulary consists of I and am and Maokai. Exclusively in that order." "Sits down at table with food."

Sejuani "Oh, hey there Galio."

Zac "Who is this puny human you have brought?"

Galio "That's Corporate Lee Sin. He's the guy in charge of balance."

LeeSin "How do you know who I am? I have tried my best to pretend that Galio doesn't exist."

Galio "I'm a Gargoyle, I see and know all."

LeeSin "So, what's our escape plan? I don't think this place has my brand of hair gel, and I can't be seen in public without it."

Galio "Yeah, we aren't breaking out."

LeeSin "What, but this is a prison. Every hero always has a plan to break out of prison."

Sejuani "Hate to break it to you, but we aren't heroes. We are in prison for a reason after all."

Zac "It is very nice here. I get to arm wrestle anyone I want. And I get daily meals full of protein. Which is great for a growing boy like me."

LeeSin "Do I wanna know where all that protein comes from?"

Galio "No you do not, sometimes it's not great seeing all."

LeeSin "Okay, how about this. You four have all fallen by the wayside. How about I do a tank update and get just you guys in it."

Sejuani "You mean like what you did to Malzahar or Mordekaiser? No thanks, I like myself the way I am."

LeeSin "No no, I have gotten better at it since then. Besides, you always come out Overpowered and people play you a ton."

Maokai "I am Maokai."

Zac "If he's in, then so am I."

Sejuani "Fine."

Galio "I'll do it, but I want more than a class update. I want a full VGU. And I want it soon. I'm tired of looking at this ugly thing staring back at me in the mirror."

LeeSin "Deal! Now what's the plan?"

Galio "I'm sure I will think of something."

To be continued:

(So I have had more delays than I can count. But I can say that the website is nearly ready to launch. I will get it done sometime this week, and will officially launch it next Monday. I am truly sorry it has been taking this long. I have had a much busier month than I anticipated. But unless I get hit by a truck, this thing will be ready next week.)

OhmeiMar 6, 20178 votes

"But unless I get hit by a truck"

Don't Jinx yourself, man!

IHateTeemo12012Mar 7, 20172 votes

[slayer-pantheon-thumbs] This is totally not a copy of guardians of the galaxy.

ShadòwMar 6, 20176 votes

nice!

finally Garen is free again!

i wanted to try him out for ages!!

FayettevilleMar 6, 20175 votes

can't tell if sarcasm [zombie-brand-mindblown]

Impulse27Mar 6, 20177 votes

Dude he is so hard to try: 1 He like never goes on the free rotation 2 He is not like available if you are low level. 3 He is very expensive. 450IP is like 3 games worth. 4 Also there is no way to get him for free. [slayer-jinx-wink]

IHateTeemo12012Mar 7, 20173 votes

You can get him for free. Follow LoL on twitter.[slayer-jinx-unamused]

SamSchoolsUMar 7, 20172 votes

Ahem Sarcasm Ahem

grarrrgMar 7, 20173 votes

Me thinks you missed the sarcasm dripping from the last post.

IHonkForYordlesMar 14, 20171 votes

You know, I just realized... let me go that one better:

He's not available for free, permanently, any time you want, with an alt skin even, by simply liking League on Twitter, without so much as email verification needed. (You need to verify email to contact support for Alistar, which limits your ability to save the free IP Boost for when you feel like using it.)
He's not part of the intro rotation for level 1-5 accounts, so most new players won't have already played him multiple times since they probably only had access to 9 other champions for 5 levels.
He's not one of 3 champions along with Ashe and Ryze used in the Battle Training Tutorial that remains available permanently even at level 30 and lets you try all 3 in the tutorial setting that showcases them explicitly at any time. This clearly does not mean at least roughly 1 in 3 of all players who completed Battle Training have played him in it, since there are so many other options besides not even playing the tutorials.
He's not a common, super cheap champion shard drop (along with the even more common and also super cheap guaranteed Ashe) from the intro Hextech Chests that are literally thrown at you for free while you still have the intro rotation.
He's not super cheap at 450IP/260RP (as are Ashe and Ryze,) so it will clearly take more than a handful of games to buy him normally (and clearly lots of people do so.)
He's not also in the main rotation for no apparent reason other than to waste main rotation slots that could be going to something that isn't on a permanent free promotion. (Ashe and Ryze are also in the main rotation, while Tristana and Alistar are not.)

For reference, Garen is officially graded difficulty 5 by Riot. Tristana and Ashe are both 4, lower. Alistar and Ryze are 7, but it's easy to argue Alistar is overestimated since basic Alistar play can be summarized as RAWR HULK SMASH ME USE ULT ME TAKE LESS DAMAGE NOW.

Really, there's pretty good argument for removing or at least reducing Ashe (who is the only possible option in the Basic Tutorial complete with spoonfed ability usage) and possibly even Ryze's presence in the main free-to-play rotation.

IHonkForYordlesMar 7, 20171 votes

Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Did the guy who insists on spamming Garen all over League in every rotation and also making him cheap and free while comparatively concealing Alistar put you up to this? Because the joke is old. Very old. Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen I'm half surprised he didn't show up in the assassins rotation. Just wait, next time BM runs, they'll probably release a BM Garen... Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen Garen DEMACIA! DEMACIA! DEMACIA!

Alistar Garen is a load of bull.

grarrrgMar 7, 20171 votes

"Did the guy who insists on spamming Garen all over League in every rotation..." Ummm...Garen is not "spammed" in the rotation. If you go by averages for the past couple years he's in the bottom ~30 (top of bottom 30, but still bottom 30). 3/4 of all other champions appear more frequently than he does.

IHonkForYordlesMar 8, 20171 votes

How many of those 3/4 are also in the intro rotation? How many of them have a free promotion? You're completely missing the point. And he appears to be in the fast, 2 month rotation anyways, but that's immaterial with how overavailable through other means he is.

The only other champs with promotions, working or otherwise, aren't in the main rotation at all. Period. At all. Think that over. Neither of them are in intro, either.

grarrrgMar 8, 20171 votes

I'm not missing the point. You are grossly over exaggerating.

(all numbers are rounded, and are based on the last ~1.5 years of free rotations) Garen has been free every ~4 months (on average). He has only been free 8 times in the past 2 years. https://rotation.lukasjoswiak.com/champion/garen

Starter champs, which aren't available after a certain point, so I don't feel they should be as big a factor as you think they are. Ashe: 9.5 weeks Garen: 16.4 Jinx: 8.4 Kha'Zik: 13.6 Lissandra: 14 Lux: 14.4 Ryze: 15.5 Shyvana: 13.5 Varus: 8.4 Wukong: 18.5 Of the "starters" only Wukong has a worse rotation rate.

They like keeping Garen available for the rotation because he is a good starter/learning champ. Tristana and Alistar are a fair deal less newb-friendly.

If your main point was "Put Tristana and Alistar back in the rotation, no matter how infrequent" I would agree with you. Instead your main point is much more "Garen is in rotation way too much", which is just not true.

IHonkForYordlesMar 14, 20171 votes

You really are missing the point. NONE of the other starters have a promotion to get the champion PERMANENTLY for free. NONE! Not even a single one.

Alistar: Infinity, less available in other forms as well Tristana: Infinity, less available in other forms as well, and officially rated less difficult to play than Garen

Garen does NOT need to be in the main rotation while he is BOTH on the intro rot (where people who are actually using him as a starter/learning champ will play him) AND a perma-free with a working promotion (where anyone 6 or higher can just get him anyways without ever needing him in the main rotation for any legitimate reason whatsoever.) Hell, he shows up in early boxes quite often as well. He's just so utterly over-represented it's insane. Even your "easier to play" argument falls flat against Tristana.

DragonismMar 9, 20171 votes

Garen is not a load of bull. Sincerely, a Garen main

IHonkForYordlesMar 14, 20171 votes

Oh, but Alistar sure thinks so, with the short shrift he's being given...

IlumsiaMar 6, 20175 votes

Why put Garen in the free champ rotation if he's always free?

IHonkForYordlesMar 6, 20172 votes

Because some jerk who makes decisions thinks that despite Alistar, whose promotion IS BROKEN, being out of the rotation permanently, giving no one who doesn't email support a chance to try him, it's fine to spam Garen in the rotation constantly despite Garen being in the intro rotation as well and having a free promotion that works.

Side note: Tristana is also not in either rotation. At least her promotion works, UNLIKE ALISTAR'S.

Garen is stupidly overavailable and he needs to be removed from the non-intro free rotation, permanently. Let's all push for it, and for Alistar to either be fixed or put back in rotation.

PigabeenMar 6, 20175 votes

It takes like 5 min to send an email about it... and you get Alistar immediately after, because a bot will reply to you immediately after you send it.

IHonkForYordlesMar 6, 20171 votes

I'm sure a lot of people don't even realize you CAN. Making a big deal of it helps ensure people are on an even footing there.

grarrrgMar 7, 20172 votes

Because he's a good beginner champion, which is one of the goals of the rotation. And not everyone (especially new people) know you can get him for free.

TheLastLeviathanMar 6, 20174 votes

The person in charge of alphabatizing the splashes didn't do so well...

grarrrgMar 7, 20172 votes

WOW. Normally there's maybe one out of place, this is just bad.

RalanrMar 6, 20172 votes

Oh top lane is going to be so fun this week.

Otter FireMar 6, 20172 votes

Top is not going to be pretty for melee champions. RIP

AgeOfTheMageMar 6, 20172 votes

me: sees quinn me: oh cool, if i'm fiora and i parry her E and stun her with it it'll look cool me: realizes it probably goes out of her range ;-;

Morning RavenMar 6, 20171 votes

I love how Ahri and Sona (my mains) are always on free rotation within a week of each other. It's so consistent.
I love how the free mage slots are a champion and one of the best counters to said champion.