Riot's plans for League of Legends in 2021 have been released. A Mandarin version was leaked previously, and quickly deleted, but the official release has just happened; four days earlier than expected.
It starts of by giving us a glimpse of Dr. Mundo, the next Champion to be reworked; and it looks like he's quite a way through the process.
Mundo’s new voice lines will be “slightly more intelligent” than his current ones to “better live up to his doctor title” according to Riot. But the aim is to keep his dark but silly personality intact.
The visual update and rework will also included updates to his skins. We have the official release of his Rageborn Mundo splash art; as well as the 'inspiration' for the team working on Corperate Mundo; could it turn into his Homeguard effect?
All but confirmed to be a new Sentinel of Light Champion and part of the Ruination storyline. The next Champion could be related to the symbol found by Poppy and Vayne in the Ruination cinematic.
Joining Lucian and Senna, who are the only Sentinels of Light we know, this Champion could be the one that Lucian wants to find to help fight Viego. It could potentially be Lucian's father who we know was a member of the Sentinels of Light, all we know is that Urias died and his birthplace was "far away from Demacian lands", so Shurima?
This Champion is said to be coming in the near future, and will be a 'non-traditional midlaner marksman'.
Riot is aware that we've seen a lot of midlaners recently, but this Champion is specifically designed for the role in a way that others aren't. They even reference Corki, who has been seen as a midlaner only for years, as not being made for the position.
The grapple-like image says that this Champion might have strong roaming potential meaning, like Talon or Galio, the mid lane is the optimal position to be so they can reach more of the map.
The finish it off is a 'gloomy' Yordle. This Champion has been delayed as the developers are looking for new tech for her abilities. However, she will be an important part of the Ruination storyline, so shouldn't be too far down the line.
She will reportedly be a classic mage, a shift from the previous artillery mage we were initially told. She still gets 'annoyed with hyperactive Champions dashing all around her' and general happiness, and she will 'get serious and start clobbering all lifeforms'. These lines, mixed with her need for 'some new tech to help visually sell her source of power' is making me think of Gnar's anger management issues, and Veigar's evil-ness and abilities.
The images given seem to show the Freljord, with a frozen waterfall similar to that in the Braum animation for Legends of Runeterra. Will it be a Freljordian mage? Either way, her name might be Vex.
To round out the roadmap, we have a taster on some of the designs for Udyr.
Since Udyr won the player choice VGU poll, the team has been working on giving him a huge makeover.
It is still in early development, so not a lot of content is available, but we should expect a full blog to come in the next few months.
In a similar way to Volibear, we may find that the VGU is directed by players, as the early sketches are to ''see what's resonating with all of you''.
It ends with a teaser for another Champion, one that isn't part of the Ruination story. This is for a botlane marksman, seemingly from Zaun, and potentially with an electric theme.
At this point, the Mandarin leak apparently said there was a botlane marksman and someone who belongs to 'the strongest race/species on Runeterra', and the phrasing made it sound like they were two separate Champions. The official release does not show this, but does mention this new marksman is from "one of Runeterra's most tenacious regions" so it could be an issue with translation, or be another Champion that is being hidden from us.
Riot Games' fighting game is set to start playtesting later this month, inviting members of the community to take part.
