Nearly 15 years after its original release, League of Legends remains one of the most popular games in the world, with millions playing every month. That is primarily down to new champions, with the Riot Games team regularly adding new characters.
Every few months, Riot teases the release of a new League character coming. Each champ has various abilities and is intended to be played in specific roles around the Summoner’s Rift map, as well as in limited-time modes like Nexus Blitz and more recently the extremely popular League Arena. The development team also issues “reworks” for champs who have been around for a long time and need some additional updates to their visuals and abilities. How many League of Legends champions are there that you can play as?
How many champions are there in League?
You can find over 168 unique champions for you to pick from throughout the League of Legends roster. This number of characters to choose from is extremely daunting for many new players, especially with Riot gradually adding more throughout the year. The team expects to drop roughly five to six new champions each year.
This gradual drip when it comes to new Rift debuts should continue through 2024 as well, so we can expect to hit the 170 mark by the time the end of this next League season wraps up. Then, if things stay on a similar path through the ’20s, the MOBA’s ballooning roster could boast 200 unique characters by around 2029. However, this might be overly ambitious, given that’ll happen in another five years. Still, the Riot Games team is eager to continue expanding this ever-growing roster.
For anyone new interested in jumping into League of Legends, a good way to tackle a game with this many characters is to focus primarily on a role or two to specialize at when playing. This way, you can narrow down the number of characters you want to learn to play, and you don’t feel overwhelmed. However, you won’t always be able to play as the role you want, which means learning to play one or two champions in the other roles could help you. Take your time with each champion, and gradually focus on others.
Which new League champs came out recently?
The three most recent League champions added to the roster were Aurora (July 2024), Smolder the Fiery Fledgling (January 2024), and Hwei the Visionary (December 2023). You can check out the always updated who’s new in League of Legends article, where we highlight the latest additions to the game and their upcoming release date.
Each has brought something new to the League experience, ranging from Smolder’s ultimate where he summons his mom to battle to Aurora’s Spirit-themed powers or Hwei having a dozen abilities to use instead of the usual three to four.
The 2023 League season was actually one of the quieter years when it came to new debuts too. On top of those listed above, only Briar, Naafiri, and Milio landed on the Rift. The 12 months before were a little busier, with K’Sante, Nilah, Bel’Veth, Renata Glasc, and powerful AD carry Zeri all arriving from January to December. Hopefully, 2024 ends with a large bang, and we can hear from the Riot Games team about setting further expectations for 2025.
This article will be updated as new League of Legends champions are released. Expect to hear more details whenever Riot Games begin drumming up excitement from the community about the newest Champion.
