League of Legends/Characters/Two

This is part of the character sheet for the game League of Legends. Check back often, as new champions are added regularly. This page contains all champions beginning with the letters G through K.

Galio the Sentinel's Sorrow


""There is no such thing as redemption. Only penance.""

Galio is a golem in the shape of a gargoyle crafted by the artificer Durand to guard him while he made other magical golems to protect the border villages of Demacia from Noxus. Durand was assassinated by Noxians, causing Galio to fall into deep depression until he saw Poppy stoically delivering her cargo of a Demacian helm, which inspired him to fight for the city-state his master loved.

Galio is a tank-type champion based around absorbing magic damage. He can shoot a slowing blast out of his eyes, place a shield on an ally that boosts their defense and heals him when they take damage, flap his wings to create a damaging gust that leaves behind a movement-increasing path for him and his teammates, and turn into a statue that taunts enemies before exploding, the damage going up for every time he gets hit. He gains ability power by stacking magic resistance.

Galio's alternate skins include Enchanted Galio, Hextech Galio, Commando Galio, and Gatekeeper Galio.

Associated tropes:


 * The Atoner
 * Big Red Devil: Gatekeeper Galio.
 * Blow You Away: And afterwards he and his allies can surf the jetstream it leaves behind to gain a speed boost.
 * Cool Shades: Like all members of the Demacian Commando unit, Commando Galio has a pair.
 * Eye Beams
 * Energy Absorption
 * Gameplay and Story Integration: His "everlasting shame" is that he failed to protect his charge Durand. In game, Galio is a tank, a class meant to protect the damage dealers - and his greatest drawback is that he has no way to draw attention to himself and away from said damage dealers.
 * Except for his ultimate, which mind controls nearby enemies to force them to attack him and then blows them up. Unfortunately it has the longest cooldown of any champion ability in the game and if it is down during the big teamfight you will have to sit there and watch helplessly as the enemy runs past you and plows through your carries... and you will lose the game and it will be all your fault.
 * Heroic BSOD
 * Mage Killer: Naturally turns magic resistance into ability power and vice versa, as an ability to temporarily raise himself or an ally's armor and magic resistance for a massive amount for a few seconds. Properly timed, it can largely invalidate the burst damage that makes up mages' value.
 * Mighty Glacier
 * My Greatest Failure: His inability to protect Durand.
 * Our Gargoyles Rock
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: He serves the well-meaning (but very lawful) Demacia after his master of the city-state was killed, so the trope's impressions of evil is pretty much averted.
 * Glowing Eyes of Doom
 * Taken for Granite
 * Too Awesome to Use: His ultimate is one of the best abilities in the game, capable of locking down an entire enemy team and heavily damaging them. It also has the longest cooldown in the game, so long that it will probably not be up by the next teamfight... which may well be game deciding and you may well lose because you cannot ult yet.
 * Top-Heavy Guy: Galio has a huge torso and a buff set of arms...and tiny little legs that couldn't ever hold all that up. Thankfully, he seems to fly everywhere he goes.
 * Weaksauce Weakness: His ultimate is a channelled ability and can therefore be interrupted by any stun or silence effect. Enemies spellbound by it cannot use abilities, but there are a few champions (Xin Zhao, Leona, Udyr) that can activate a stun that will go off on their next auto attack. If there is one on the other team, you will likely stun yourself every time you use your ultimate and you be rendered almost completely useless.
 * Winged Humanoid

Gangplank the Saltwater Scourge


""Yo ho, blow the man down. Or at least shoot him when his back is turned and steal all his booty.""

The son of the world's most famous pirate who was raised to follow in his father's ruthless, greedy footsteps. Aware that the pirate city of Bilgewater needed a representative in the League in order to survive the changing times, he volunteered for the position.

Gangplank is a fighter-type champion who can shoot enemies with a flintlock that gives him extra gold if he kills his target with it, eat oranges to heal himself and remove crowd control effects, fire a shot into the air to give him and his teammates a movement and attack speed buff, and call down a hail of cannonballs anywhere on the map. His sword attacks also inflict a slowing poison as a passive ability.

Gangplank's alternate skins include Spooky Gangplank, Minuteman Gangplank, Sailor Gangplank, and Toy Soldier Gangplank.

Associated tropes:


 * Art Evolution: Received an upgrade to his classic model, artwork, and character portrait.
 * Bad Boss: His Raise Morale ability used to require him to kill one of his own team's minions to give himself and nearby teammates a stat boost.
 * The 1st volume, 17th issue of the Journal of Justice makes this especially clear when he was about to shoot one of his own crew after losing a contest, only stopping when Miss Fortune offered her grog stores in exchange for the man's life. A witness found it very surprising that he didn't go through with it since he's never stopped from killing his own men before.
 * Booze-Based Buff: Weaponized for Gangplank -- his passive "Grog-Soaked Blade" causes hits basic attacks and Parrrley to do damage over time and slows targets.
 * Critical Hit: His Parrrley ability is famous for its potential with them -- most abilities cannot critically hit, or technically may critically hit from the attack the ability modifies, but completely ignores the ability's damage numbers. Parrrley can both critically hit and adds in the ability's base damage numbers before multiplying to lead to some very devastating damage bursts if he's lucky.
 * Death From Above: The aforementioned hail of cannonballs.
 * Evil Laugh: If the cannonballs raining down to flatten you didn't catch your attention, Gangplank's laughter will inform you of a Cannon Barrage in your midst.
 * Firing in the Air a Lot: Well, it's really just once, upon casting Raise Morale or Cannon Barrage.
 * Ghost Pirate: Spooky Gangplank takes the translucent-with-glowing-blue-smoke approach.
 * Jack of All Stats: One of Gangplank's strongest draws is how well he fits into a variety of team roles. He can be a carry, a jungler, a tank, and even support Gangplank isn't completely unheard of.
 * Lightning Bruiser
 * Magikarp Power: His mana limits him from being exceptionally dangerous against many opponents early-on, but his abilities' utility and Parrrley's extra gold upon last-hits as well as its range allow him to get by in even some of the worst match-ups for him to later become a useful team member and terrifying enemy, especially when his Parrrley critically hits and applies Trinity Force.
 * One-Hit Kill: When fully built, Parrrley essentially becomes one.
 * The unique way that Parrley works also allowed him to literally pull this off by abusing the now-remade Madred's Razors. Tiamat splashes your attacks for 50/33% of your damage (depending on if you're melee or ranged) and Razors give you a small chance of inflicting several hundred damage extra to a minion. It was possible, since Parrley still applies effects like the splash and since Gangplank counts as a melee character, to shoot a minion for 800-900 damage and obliterate an adjacent champion with the splash effect from five Tiamats.
 * One-Man Army: He's a melee carry; this is generally what melee carries become.
 * Pirate
 * Self-Made Orphan: On his 18th birthday, Gangplank stabbed his father in the back and took control of his ship. Having raised him to be the most ruthless pirate possible, this made his father quite proud.
 * Sword and Gun: Of course, he's a pirate!
 * Talk Like a Pirate: Just completely ignoring the fact he actually is a pirate, he has an ability called "Parrrley". It just goes on from there.
 * Trademark Favourite Food: Oranges, based on his "Remove Scurvy" skill during which he eats citrus fruit.
 * You Have Failed Me...: Mentioned under Bad Boss.

Garen the Might of Demacia


""The most effective way to kill an opponent is to slice through the man next to him.""

- Garen, on front line strategy

The paragon of Demacia, who leads his men in the code of his city -- never make excuses, retreat, or surrender in combat. In a battle against Demacia's rival Noxus, Garen fought Katarina, the Sinister Blade. Their clash was described as the two being "locked in a mortal waltz set against a symphony of clashing blades." Both survived, Garen left breathless after the battle for the first time in his career -- rumored to be for reasons other than exhaustion. While Garen did not entertain this gossip, he consistently sought to fight her again thereafter, personally considering the pursuit of a Worthy Opponent on the battlefield the validation of a true warrior's existence.

Garen is a fighter-type champion who automatically heals quickly while out of combat and can boost his speed and strike a powerful blow that will silence his target, gain defense stats by killing enemies, place a temporary shield around himself to take less damage, spin his blade in a whirlwind, and deliver a strong finishing blow that deals extra damage for every point of health his target is missing. He is semi-unique in the game because he can cast all of his abilities without any cost; if they're off of cooldown, he can cast them.

Garen's alternate skins include Sanguine Garen, Desert Trooper Garen, Commando Garen, Dreadknight Garen, and Rugged Garen.

Associated tropes:


 * Ascended Meme: Garen is now teaching Demacian soldiers the ways of Battle Regiment of Ultimate Soldier Heroism.
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: Garen commands an elite Demacian unit called the Dauntless Vanguard, and leads it from the front. He's the paragon for all Demacian military leaders for a reason.
 * Badass Beard: Seen in this little trailer. Time will tell if it will stick at all.
 * Badass Cape: His blue Scarf of Asskicking is long enough to be wrapped in a way to make it as work as this.
 * Badass Family: The sixth issue of the Journal of Justice states Garen's entire family have spent long careers in the Demacian military, his sister in particular is currently working as a very skilled magician.
 * Badass Normal: According to League standards.
 * Battle Cry: His Courage skill can cause him to shout "DEMACIA!" Otherwise, he'll yell out "CHARGE!"
 * Boring but Practical: His laning phase consists of jumping out of bushes using Decisive Strike, Judgement, maybe Courage, then right back to bushes to rinse and repeat. Insanely effective.
 * Blood Knight: Of sorts, he does consider the possibility of fighting of a Worthy Opponent to be the reason to get up in the morning for a true warrior. Otherwise, he remains allied and under the banner of Demacia.
 * BFS: His sword is practically as tall as him.
 * Blue Eyes: Though he certainly doesn't have a dreamy personality, isn't described as having a piercing gaze, and is neither innocent or The Hero of the game. But considering how he's a Demacian general, uses a sword and is a hand-to-hand warrior who's shown with speed and strength alike, the hero characteristic of Blue Eyes seems to fit.
 * Brother-Sister Team: One of his best partners in a team is his sister Lux, who can snare or slow victims into Judgement, shield the melee warrior and fire a double rainbow in case Demacian Justice isn't enough.
 * Captain Ersatz: His 'Sanguine' skin was explicitly made to evoke a Blood Angel Space Marine from Warhammer 40,000.
 * And his Commando skin evokes the Imperial Guard.
 * His Dreadknight skin is a few letters and a space away from being a Death Knight.
 * Cool Shades: Commando Garren.
 * Cool Sword: His own sword, a cool sword appears over enemies hit by a Critical Hit from him, his Decisive Strike causes one to appear over enemies when hit by them, an even bigger one appears over enemies hit by his ultimate Demacian Justice... he's pretty much Cool Sword the League of Legends champion.
 * Crutch Character: With some crowd-control assistance, he's extremely lethal during the early-game phase - or against enemy champions whose kits require them to fight Garen at a range where he's probably going to be much stronger in the beginning, sometimes to the point of securing a game-winning edge. But if enemy team plays it safe enough, Garen will not scale well enough to make him a particular threat later in the game.
 * Darker and Edgier: His Dreadknight skin.
 * Dating Katwoman: Possibly. On the surface their rivalry puts them as bitter enemies, but the amount of subtext confuses the issue somewhat.
 * Dynamic Entry: His Decisive Strike is practically made for this -- it speeds him up, silences and does extra damage on his hit to his target.
 * Environment Specific Skin: Desert Trooper Garen
 * Finishing Move: His ultimate ability is made for this, doing more damage for health the target is missing.
 * Gameplay and Story Segregation: The ninth issue of the Journal of Justice's first volume states that Garen's sword striking from above when he finishes off an enemy is just what it appears to those watching, rather than his ultimate being just that in the game.
 * Gradual Regeneration: His Perservance ability, if he is not damaged while using it.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Some players have noted his english voice sounds just like the english voice for Iron Tager. Or Algol.
 * I Can Still Fight: The idea behind his passive ability, shrugging off his injuries, backing off a little and catching his breath when he's supposed to be retreating back to base... but he can't still fight immediately.
 * Large Ham: He speaks with such confidence he arguably borders on this trope. It still seems to work for him.
 * Incoming Ham: As an initiator, using Decisive Strike and Courage usually means he's charging straight into the enemy team, shouting "Demacia!" along the way.
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The ninth issue of the first volume of the Journal of Justice discussing him and outlining a training program he made to overhaul Demacian's military training is pretty much this, mentioning his in-game abilities constantly.
 * Lightning Bruiser: A durable melee fighter who charges to his enemies and then spins around with his sword.
 * Light'Em Up: While Garen's abilities are canonically completely physical, his abilities' animations bright golden colours give an aesthetic which would imply this, especially his Decisive Strike on-hit effect which causes his hilt to glow with light while active.
 * Love At First Punch: Katarina fought him to an apparently epic standstill and he constantly sought to fight her again. The Subtext in the official bio is obvious enough to make it this trope.
 * Meaningful Name: Garen is a name that means guard or guardian in Germany. Combining that with his last name for extra meaning toward guarding the crown.
 * And he actually has acted as a guard of a royal family of Demacia, as Urgot's League Judgement has him and his forces attacking Urgot, saving the life of Jarvan IV, the Crown Prince of Demacia, by a hair.
 * Megaton Punch: One of Garen's auto attack animations is punching something, works just as great as swinging his sword instead.
 * Probably done as a parallel to Kat, since one of hers is a kick.
 * One-Handed Zweihander: His sword is almost as long as he is, yet most of his animations have him swing it with one hand (save for the animations of critical striking autoattacks or Decisive Strike. His signature Judgement ability has him do this in a Reverse Grip, as can be seen below.
 * Reverse Grip: While not easily apparent in-game, it can be seen in still screenshots of Garen using his Judgement ability that he holds his sword in this manner for the ability's duration.
 * Scarf of Asskicking: A large and long blue one wrapped around him in a way that makes it look a lot like a Badass Cape.
 * Screaming Warrior: DEMACIAAAAAA! If you don't hear this every few minutes, its not Garen - it's an imposter.
 * Ship Tease: According to a Journal of Justice article, Blitzcrank's dating service found that he and Katarina are a good match for each other.
 * Shoulders of Doom: They cover his shoulders and the sockets they're in. Some of his alternate skins amplify this with shoulder-pads that are large enough to go outwards off him in the air and cut a figure off from his body.
 * His depictions in the Chinese artwork tend to amplify this even further. They aren't too far away from the main article's picture of that Space Marine.
 * Spin Attack: His Judgement ability in a nutshell.
 * Walk It Off: His passive ability, Perseverance, is for this; if he spends a few seconds not taking damage, he starts regenerating health at a pretty fair rate.

Gragas the Rabble Rouser


""The Rabble Rouser leaves a path of drunken destruction in his wake, both in the Fields of Justice and off.""

A highly skilled brewer whose distillery was too close to a magical nexus, imbuing his beverages with magical energy. Imbibing too much of his magical wines and beers has bestowed upon him superhuman size and strenght, which he uses to regularly fight against authority, or people in bars.

Gragas is a fighter-type champion who can throw two types of exploding wine barrels (one that slows enemy's attack speed and another that knocks enemies back), drink his own grog to give him super strength and reduce the damage he takes, or body slam groups of enemies. His passive has him take a drink any time he uses an ability, restoring health.

Gragas' alternate skins include Hillbilly Gragas, Scuba Gragas, Santa Gragas, Gragas Esq., and Vandal Gragas.

Associated tropes:

""The only time I have a drinking problem is when I spill it!" (laughs)"
 * The Alcoholic: To be consise...


 * Badass Beard: It's almost as enormous as he is.
 * The Big Guy: Gragas is only a human, but he's MASSIVE. This is due to all the magically-afflicted liquors he'd brewed over the years.
 * Booze-Based Buff: He restores health due to drinking from his cask every time he uses an ability, and Drunken Rage restores mana, as well as greatly increasing attack damage and reducing damage taken for 20 seconds.
 * Bash Brothers: With Jax, according to some of the lore.
 * Drunken Master: He restores mana, gains attack damage and takes reduced damage after getting a drink from his Drunken Rage ability.
 * Expy: Every stereotypical dwarf ever. Although he sure as hell ain't no dwarf!
 * Gargle Blaster
 * Gasshole: Every completed use of his Drunken Rage abilities is accompanied by a loud burp.
 * Gonk
 * Hair-Trigger Temper: Every single time he enters Noxus for supplies, he gets into several fights in taverns, lays out several people, and has to retreat back to the mountains from the authorities. Every single time.
 * The Hermit: Gragas largely lives alone in the Great Barrier mountains. Considering his Hair-Trigger Temper known to Noxian tavern epmloyees, this is probably best for everyone.
 * Lightning Bruiser: Despite his massive size, he can still charge at you and Body Slam you, as one of his abilities can attest.
 * Made of Explodium: His Barrel Roll and Explosive Cask abilities. Unlike most examples, his kegs don't explode with any sort of fire or heat in its animations. Explosive Cask explodes with such force it knocks enemies back farther than the range of most champions.
 * Sophisticated As Hell: Gragas Esq. retains all the drunken uncouthness of regular Gragas in a high-class suit.
 * Stout Strength: He even lives in mountains! He's pretty much the fattest character in the game by far and is stated in his background to loom over the tallest man. Nonetheless, he holds his own amongst experienced soldiers and deadly assassins. Justified Trope - the magic from a nexus nearby his home has seeped in his brews; and trust us, he drinks his own brews plenty.
 * Super Serum: His brews have been affected by a magical nexus nearby his home, which have made him grow in width and height over the years.
 * Violent Glaswegian: Pretty much what his character design is going for.

Graves the Outlaw


""They got a sayin' in the locker: ain't got nothin' but time to plan.""

Malcolm Graves was a conman and gunslinger who formed a partnership with Twisted Fate years ago. When Twisted Fate sold Graves out to a business man he had robbed in exchange for a chance at magical power, Graves spent his time in prison plotting his eventual revenge. Once he got free, he came to the League to settle his score and let his hextech shotgun do all the talking.

Graves is a ranged DPS-type champion with an incentive to get up-close and personal in battle. His passive lets him gain armor and magic resistance the longer he stays in combat. He can fire three bullets in a cone that damage all enemies they hit, throw up a smokescreen that damages, slows, and limits the vision of opponents, and dash in a chosen direction, increasing his attack speed in the process. His ultimate fires a shell that explodes when it hits an enemy or reaches maximum range, sending fire and shrapnel in a cone behind the point of detonation.

Graves' alternate skins include Hired Gun Graves, Jailbreak Graves, and Mafia Graves.

Associated tropes:


 * Badass: Seriously, it has to take some balls to be a ranged-DPS with an incentive to actually get up close to your enemies. Also has the Badass Beard and Badass Cape to go with it.
 * Badass Beard: As pictured.
 * Badass Cape: Bit shorter than most, being more of a shawl.
 * BFG: His shotgun is stated to be unnecessarily large, but it suits him just fine.
 * Berserk Button: Twisted Fate. When Graves realized Twisted Fate was the one holding his league judgement it sent him flying into a blood-boiling rage, screaming his intentions to his ex-parter-in-crime right then and there. He even noted he didn't know much much seeing Twisted Fate again would get to him.
 * Cool Shades: Hired Gun Graves wears a pair.
 * Covered with Scars: As stated in his League Judgement.
 * Expy: His being an essential cowboy combined with his first name seems like a probable reference to Firefly and Malcolm Reynolds.
 * Fandom Nod: He was made in response to demands for a masculine ranged-carry champion.
 * Gallows Humour: His taunts and jokes in a nutshell.
 * I Call It Vera: Or in this case, Destiny. Probably to contrast with Twisted Fate's luck theme.
 * Or it's his way of saying how Twisted Fate will die.
 * Irony: He has lines in-game for noting the irony of using his Smokescreen ability on Nocturne (which blocks off vision for enemies inside it to just within the smoke, while Nocturne has an ultimate that globally cuts off the vision of all enemy champions to only what they personally can see [and Nocturne is especially known for his disturbing laughter or taunts upon using his ultimate])
 * Splash Damage Abuse: His ultimate is a skill shot, so as a squishy you'd probably think that standing behind the tank and letting him soak it or just getting out of range would be a good idea, right? Try it; it's just what Graves wants you to do. You'll realize it once a third of your HP gets hacked off by the ensuing explosion.
 * His Buckshot ability is intended to benefit from this. From a distance, it does rather below average damage that is only really worth being used when you really don't want to get any closer to your enemies or when you expect to be able to hit multiple targets. At a point-blank range target, its damage basically increases by 50%.
 * Outlaw: Natch.
 * Revenge: He joined the League to ruin Twisted Fate. Possibly kill him too. Maybe both.
 * Short-Range Shotgun: His attack range is slightly shorter than the average range for carries, but averted with Buckshot, of all things, having a seriously respectable poke range.
 * Shotguns Are Just Better: He carries a shotgun of the Magitek variety.
 * Shout-Out: His passive is called True Grit.
 * One of his lines: "I ain't got time to bleed."
 * Clearly, the team on him had good inspiration for making a manly ranged-carry.
 * Smoke Out: His Smokescreen ability stops enemies within it from seeing anything outside unless they are being attacked by them. It doesn't tend to work all that well for an escape, but it can work.

Hecarim the Shadow of War


""You don't understand... the shadows will consume us all...""

- Former Demacian Commander

A ghostly, undead centaur from the Shadow Isles who brings fear, suffering, and death wherever he goes. After appearing out of nowhere in Valoran, he initiated a relentless march towards the east, causing death and madness all the way through, until he reached the League and demanded entry into it.

Hecarim is a fighter-type champion adept at mobility and initiating fights. His passive lets him naturally path through units and gives him extra attack damage based on his current movement speed. He can slash all nearby enemies with an ability that can be cast more often if it repeatedly hits, activate a ghostly aura that damages all nearby foes and heals him for a percentage of all the damage they take while in it, increase his speed to cause his next attack to knock enemies back and deal more damage based on how far he's charged, and summon spectral riders to charge into a magic shockwave that causes enemies to run from him in fear.

Hecarim's alternate skins include Blood Knight Hecarim and Reaper Hecarim.

Associated tropes:


 * Attack! Attack! Attack!: His Rampage ability is meant for this, lowering the cooldown by a second each time it hits an enemy down to a cap, and can be spammed almost endlessly due to its low cost.
 * Blade on a Stick: Wields a barbed lance.
 * Cold Flames: He and his lance are wreathed in spectral fire.
 * Foe-Tossing Charge: His Devastating Charge ability knocks enemies back.
 * The Juggernaut: Hecarim's passive allows him to ignore any' unit collision by way of running over them.
 * Lightning Bruiser: The more movement speed he gains, the stronger he gets. And he can be built to be tanky as hell. Good luck.
 * Non-Human Undead: A spectral centaur.

Heimerdinger the Revered Inventor


""Science is on the march. Look out!""

Heimerdinger is a brilliant inventor who studied in Piltdown, starting his own science academy. He's the most respected and brilliant engineer of the modern age, essentially Runeterra's combination of Leondardo Da Vinci and Albert Einstein. He dreams of building a weapon so powerful, it would make war a moot point. In order to test his experiments on real fights, without permanently damaging anyone, he joined the League.

Heimerdinger is a mage-type champion who can build sentry guns that get stronger as he upgrades them, throw flash grenades that stun enemies, and shoot homing missiles. His ultimate reduces his cooldowns and briefly improves all his abilities significantly, causing his turrets to shoot slowing bullets, increasing the speed of his grenades, and increasing the number of missiles he shoots.

Heimerdinger's alternate skins include Alien Invader Heimerdinger, Blast Zone Heimerdinger, Piltover Customs Heimerdinger, and Snowmerdinger.

Associated tropes:


 * Difficult but Awesome: May be somewhat squishy, but once you upgrade his health and magic damage, his missiles eat enemy reinforcements for breakfast.
 * Stop Helping Me!: Heimerdinger is arguably the most awkward champion in the game to play, being very good at stalling a losing game for what seems like forever but not particularly effective at actually winning. Additionally, killing him kills his turrets, which gives extra gold. Put these together and you have a character who can easily benefit his enemies more than his allies.
 * Joke Character: Right now. He's getting a rework so he won't be one of those imbalanced champions
 * Gadgeteer Genius
 * Herr Doktor: He isn't actually German, but his name definitely invokes this trope.
 * Mad Scientist
 * Magitek
 * More Dakka: Your turrets can be upgraded.
 * My Brain Is Big: He went through an experiment that supposedly would allow him to use more of his brain simultaneously. It worked... but made his brain swell to the point where he looks like a yordle with a brain-shaped head.
 * Non-Fatal Explosions: Blast Zone Heimerdinger shows all the signs of being in one.
 * Shout-Out: His making war a moot point mirrors the belief of Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb (as well as any number of other people who felt that a truly horrible weapon would end war). Also, Piltdown refers to a scientific hoax.
 * The other half of his name is a reference to Schrodinger.
 * His 'Alien Invader' skin is based on Mars Attacks!.
 * The Turret Master: His unique ability. He can have two placed at most.
 * Weak Turret Gun: Their HP is about at par with the melee minions', and that's at their best. The damage starts off at caster minion level, then it gets better - the base damage can't match champion autoattacks, but it does scale with Heimerdinger's ability power. At least they fire somewhat rapidly. Of course, they're meant to supplement Heimerdinger's attacks, not be self-sufficient.

Irelia the Will of the Blades


""The sword flourishes, as though painting with blood.""

- Taken from a Noxian Field Report

The daughter of a famous Ionian martial artist, Irelia attempted to repel a Noxian invasion alone. Taking up her father's blades, she was killed in battle by dark magic but resurrected by Soraka, also gaining the ability to control her family's swords with her mind. She was then made the captain of the guard for Ionia, and subsequently joined the League.

Irelia is a bulky fighter-type assassin champion who naturally resists status effects when around enemy champions. Her abilities include a dash attack that instantly refreshes if the target is killed, an ability that briefly charges her attacks to true damage and bypass enemy defenses, an attack that slows slows or stuns enemies based on whether or not they have more health than she does, and an ultimate that lets her throw her blades in piercing lines, restoring a portion of the damage done as health.

Irelia's alternate skins include Nightblade Irelia, Aviator Irelia, Infiltrator Irelia, and Frostblade Irelia.

Associated tropes:


 * Action Girl
 * Back from the Dead
 * BFS: A Logical Extreme to being able to wield it effortlessly -- she doesn't even hold it!
 * Somewhat of a subversion as it's actually four smaller swords in one.
 * Bring My Red Jacket: Her clothing's copious use of red kinda brings this trope up since she practically died in her background, along with her death animation being rather violent and explicit compared to other champions.
 * The Captain: Well, In Name Only, as her character doesn't really have any other use of the trope.
 * Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Unlike other melee assassins whose gap closer / Crowd Control is "E", her charge is her "Q" and her crowd control and damage is her "E".
 * Death by Origin Story
 * Determinator: She was described rising from the brink of death due to being unwilling to relinquish her home to the Noxian invaders. Although, that a fellow champion from the league used her magic to anchor her soul to Runeterra probably helped.
 * Empathic Weapon: "The sword flourishes, as though painting with blood." It's not stated, but it could be why Irelia can use the weapon without touching it. It has a mind of its own.
 * Family-Unfriendly Death: Upon falling in battle, her psychic blades seize up for a moment... and stab her in the chest. Possibly a Shout-Out to the Demon Hunter of Warcraft, who did the same.
 * Heir to the Dojo
 * Homage: With her bright red clothing, ability named "Hiten style," and elements of blinding speed kills in her Bladesurge ability, Irelia may be one to Himura Kenshin. Her femininity arguably still helps this as Kenshin's a guy caused much Viewer Gender Confusion and was voiced by a woman in the Japanese anime.
 * Xypherous confirmed that she is indeed based on Kenshin.
 * Implacable Man: Her passive, combined with Mercury's Treads, allows her to shrug off a SHITLOAD of crowd control when surrounded by enemies; it still affects her, but it lasts for such a short amount of time that it barely even matters.
 * Implausible Fencing Powers: Her character and gameplay gives a bit of reference to this trope -- her easy use of her BFS is a Justified Trope since she wields it telepathically, and using Bladesurge as long as she has enough mana on weak targets when she's strong enough will lead to a razor storm of One Hit Kills.
 * Implacable Woman: Her passive works with crowd-control reduction from items, meaning that, once she gets one tenacity item she can not be disabled in a teamfight. Combined with Olaf and there is a duo of berserk chargers coming your way.
 * Lady of War: Her use of her sword without even holding it is a practical Logical Extreme to the stereotype that females don't rely on strength to fight. In spite of that, she takes hits like she was made out of goddamn diamond.
 * Lightning Bruiser: Has a dash, is tough as hell, and can dish out good damage.
 * Living Weapon: Her father's ability with swords was rumored to "make them able to breathe." Now she uses one without even touching it.
 * Mind Over Matter: After being brought Back from the Dead by Soraka, her sword rose along with her, and she fought without even touching it. It has not been stated if she can do this over other objects, so it's assumed she can't.
 * Ninja: Nightblade Irelia.
 * One-Man Army: After she gets going, she can easily charge into mobs and slice her way through without any fear of dying thanks to her massive damage output, enormous crowd control reduction, natural tankiness, and sizable lifesteal, not to mention that she's one of the few characters in the game capable of dealing all three types of damage (attack, magic, and true), making it extremely difficult to itemize against her.
 * Shout-Out: She's named after one of the lead developer's usernames, who herself gets her name from Shurelia of Ar tonelico.
 * Seppuku: One possible interpretation of her death animation is that she commits this instead of dying. Although another interpretation is that she loses control of her blades.
 * Soul Jar: It's not stated why Irelia was suddenly able to use her sword from being brought back to the dead, and how or where Soraka managed to anchor her soul. A possible interpretation is that her soul is in her sword.
 * Storm of Blades: Her Transcendant Blades flings some around.
 * Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Especially if you can move it with your mind.
 * White-Haired Pretty Girl: In her Nightblade skin.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Her default splash depicts her hair as being a light, almost silvery blue, but her in-game sprite and Chinese art have it as dark blue.

Janna the Storm's Fury


""Do not be captivated by Janna's beauty. Like the wind, she is one gust away from terrible destruction.""

A beautiful orphan and thief who discovered her elemental ability to control the weather and became an avatar of the element of wind. Seeking to right the injustice in the world, specially the horror her native city had become, she brought her talents to the League.

Janna is a support-type champion who globally increases her allies movement speed and can fling tornadoes that throw enemies into the air, use an air elemental to grant her movement speed or slow enemies, create a shield made of air to protect an ally or a building, or summon a monsoon which throws all enemies back and heals allies.

Janna's alternate skins include Tempest Janna, Hextech Janna, and Frost Queen Janna.

Associated tropes:


 * An Ice Person: Frost Queen Janna.
 * Blow You Away: Yes, it's true -- for $2.95 a minute, she'll leave you... breathless.
 * Er, we mean she has wind powers.
 * Captain Ersatz: Her backstory and design is very similar to Storm. Her Tempest Janna skin basically is Storm.
 * Does Not Like Shoes: Her classic skin has her not wearing shoes, which makes sense given as the avatar of air she doesn't walk she floats/flies to an area.
 * Fragile Speedster: One of Janna's skills grants her a speed buff when it's not on cooldown, and her passive gives her whole team a slight speed buff. Between the two, she's virtually impossible to run down.
 * Pointy Ears: A response to this from the developer Shurelia to this says that kind of thing happens after being changed or 'ascended' from magic. Another example is Morgana, whose ears are clearly unlike her sister's.
 * Rapunzel Hair: Very tellingly so with her hair being permanently flung up over and behind her head.
 * Sexy Backless Outfit: One of the differences between her basic and Tempest skins is that the Tempest skin is completely backless -- the front part of her top just adheres to her boobs. Yes, they took an outfit that was already virtually underwear and made it skimpier!
 * Well, until her model was updated. Then it was something that resembled a tubetop. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 * Shoot the Medic First: One of the reasons that you don't often see her because smart players will just go right for her.
 * More of a Difficult but Awesome case really. With three ways to keep enemies off you and/or stun them in the middle of your team you should never die helplessly like certain other support champions. However, if you get even slightly out of position you will be dead before you can cast any of them.
 * Shout-Out: While this may be a coincidence, the Steampunk inspired Hextech skin makes Janna look a bit like Agatha Heterodyne.
 * Squishy Wizard: Unless she uses her shield on herself. Then she's much less so.
 * Steampunk: Hextech Janna has the looks down pat.
 * Stripperiffic: Competes with Evelynn for the most so in the game.
 * Vapour Wear: See Sexy Backless Outfit.

Jarvan IV the Exemplar of Demacia


""There is only one truth, and you will find it at the point of my lance.""

- The "last words" of Jarvan IV at his failed execution

The fourth of the Demacian royal line of Lightshield, a bloodline of which have all known war against those opposed to Demacian values, and a Warrior Prince through and through. Jarvan barely escaped execution after Noxian forces outmaneuvered his soldiers. Blaming himself for the failure, he gathered a group of twelve soldiers and traveled the world, slaying Demacia's enemies and venturing to parts unknown. After two years, he and the two surviving soldiers returned after avenging Shyvana's father at the cost of most of his men. A much stronger man, he vowed to bring the foes of Demacia to their knees.

Jarvan is a fighter-type champion who can deal extra damage to enemies based on their health, pitch battle standards to damage enemies and buff allies, brandish an armor-piercing lance that can also hookshot his flags to pull him to them while knocking enemies in his path into the air, shield himself while slowing nearby foes, and entrap his enemies in an arena of rubble.

Jarvan's alternate skins include Commando Jarvan, Dragon Slayer Jarvan, Darkforge Jarvan, and Victorious Jarvan.

Associated tropes:


 * Awesome McCoolname: Jarvan Lightshield IV!? You know you want to be named that.
 * The Atoner: His reason for leaving Demacia was to find "atonement", for the perceived failure of getting himself captured and his forces being defeated.
 * Badass Family: Seems to be a prerequisite of the Demacian royal family.
 * Battle Cry: DEMACIA!
 * Blade on a Stick: Called a lance... and doubles as a Grappling Hook Gun!
 * BFS
 * Bling of War: His armor is rather excessively gold-colored, and has a rather unnecessarily fancy amount of jutting ends on his shoulder pads. Looks cool, though.
 * Commissar Cap: Commando Jarvan wears one.
 * Cool Shades: Commando Jarvan, like any good commando soldier.
 * Dare to Be Badass: A Subverted Trope in one of his jokes, were in he appears to be starting this by saying "Sunder any army, crumble any mountain, leap the great-" after which he accidentally hits his foot with the bottom end of his lance (which has a metal pointed end also) and says "Oowwww... my toesies."
 * Determinator: Demonstrated in his League Judgement. Swain ambushes him and swarms him with his demonic ravens. Feeling trapped and getting rended by ravenous birds, he yells out a battlecry, grabs Swain and attempts Taking You with Me by strangling him before the ravens overwhelm him. Luckily for the both of them, a summoner managed to intervene. Jarvan still manages to walk through the doors alone.
 * Expy: With a line that is a lot alike from Arthas, a few other lines about destroying evil, being also clean-shaven with his hair going past his shoulders, the same voice actor as his appearance in Warcraft 3, goes into an unknown foreign land and returns with only two of his original soldiers accompanying him, and the fact his icon in his Champion Spotlight resembled the Lich King that Arthas becomes seems to make Jarvan IV one for Arthas. Let's hope he doesn't have a Moral Event Horizon...
 * He was possibly considered to be even more of him at one point, since Urgot's Judgement described him as blonde and blue-eyed. It was essentially RetConed to the colors they are now.
 * Flag Drop: Using Demacian Standard buffs Jarvan and allies in a radius.
 * Foe-Tossing Charge: By hooking his telescopic spear to his Demacian standard and pulling himself to it, knocking enemies in his path into the air.
 * Ground-Shattering Landing: A particularly extreme example through his Cataclysm ultimate -- ground temporarily rises up around him after impact!
 * Large Ham: You can tell he and Garen are best friends by how they both speak grandiosely.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Arthas's voice actor.
 * Hypocritical Humor: One of his jokes has him encourage awareness... which is interrupted by him accidentally hitting his foot with his lance.
 * Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: his spear-launched Flag Drop does a decent amount of damage on impact and has a long range, perfect for finishing off an opponent that is just about to escape.
 * Rated "M" for Manly: His weapon is an impressively-serrated lance, his armour bling-blinging, he can hookshot onto his flag, he killed a dragon, he can leap to a target and create a ring of rubble around the impact zone, and he speaks in grandiose assurance of brotherhood, steadfastness, nationality or to be Not Afraid to Die.
 * Shoulders of Doom: The only part of his armor that really goes into excessive in terms of shape is his shoulder pads, complete with spiky ends coming from it for extra cool.
 * Shout-Out: One of his lines is "Today is a good day to die!". As well, one of his lines is "For my father, the king," similar to Arthas Menethil's unit response from Warcraft 3. It is also claimed his voice actor (Justin Gross) is the same as Arthas' in that game.
 * Slice-and-Dice Swordsmanship: Despite using a lance, most of his basic attacks animations are swings.
 * Took a Level in Badass: While presumably being rather Badass as a general, he apparently did some really awesome stuff during his training journey.
 * Warrior Prince: Runs in the family, it seems.
 * Whip Sword: His sword-spear-thing is actually chain linked, and can grapple him to any of his flags that he has placed down.
 * Wise Beyond Their Years: After his return, his eyes were described as bearing the wisdom of someone twice his age (though he was an adult by then).

Jax the Grandmaster at Arms


""Be advised -- there has been an outbreak of lamppost-shaped bruises in the League of Legends.""

- Gragas

Jax is the world's greatest weapon master. He was so deadly with all kinds of weaponary that he caused an international imbalance in political power. The League began to issue special sanctions on Jax, and he wound up making them look like fools by uprooting a brass lamppost and continuing his winning streak with it.

Jax is a fighter-type champion who excels at dueling. He gains attack speed with each blow and can charge up his lamppost to deal more damage, lunge at an enemy, and briefly dodge all attacks directed at him before landing a counterattack with a stunning shock. His ultimate passively adds extra damage to every third strike on a target and can be activated for a massive defensive boost that scales off of his offensive stats.

Jax's alternate skins include The Mighty Jax, Vandal Jax, Angler Jax, PAX Jax, Jaximus, and Temple Jax.

Associated tropes:


 * The Ace: Such an Ace, the Doors of Acceptance just led him in before his League Judgement was even completed.
 * Badass
 * Bash Brothers: With Gragas.
 * Carry a Big Stick: Vandal Jax weilds a wooden club with nails in it.
 * Counter Attack: His Counter Strike ability, dodging basic attacks for a short duration, then striking to stun and damage all enemies around him, doing more damage for the damage he avoided while dodging.
 * Game Breaker: An in-universe example, eventually resulting in "special sanctions" being "placed against" him.
 * Gladiator Games: Jaximus is dressed in the garb of a Roman gladiator.
 * Implausible Fencing Powers
 * Improbable Weapon User: Even more so when you count the skins.
 * Taken Up to Eleven with the original story.
 * Lethal Joke Item: Incorporated into his backstory and several of his skins: Angler Jax weilds a fishing rod, and Pax Jax carries a cardboard tube.
 * Lightning Bruiser: Gains attack speed for a few seconds by hitting basic attacks that stacks up to a cap, can leap towards a target, has an ability to dodge all basic attacks for a short while and then stun enemies around him, and his ultimate passively causes extra damage every three attacks which can be activated to give him bonus armor and magic resistance.
 * Magikarp Power: The downside with Jax is that he's very easily harassed at low levels and is dependent on his passives and key items before he begins to kick ass. It's not a bad idea to play him very defensively during those levels. His harassment also puts him right next to the target, and usually players will focus on him since he's got low defense during the early levels. However, he's one of the best examples of this trope in the game as a fully fed and equipped Jax is almost completely unstoppable, capable of ripping through entire TEAMS single-handedly. It's just VERY hard to get him fed to that level because teams usually surrender by that point.
 * Again this is on Summoner's Rift, on Twisted Treeline he's one of the most dangerous characters to go up against from the start.
 * Mythology Gag: Angler skin is a nod to Jax's original story where he was restricted to using a spatula, a lamppost, a fishing rod, and a chicken's foot as weapons.
 * Nerf Arm: When he was told that he'd have to fight with restrictions placed on him, he tossed aside his weapons, uprooted a brass lamppost, and continued his winning streak with it in mockery of said sanctions. Eventually, the restrictions were lifted, but he continued fighting with the lamppost anyways.
 * However, recently he was seen wielding a polearm as his optional weapon. Must be really scary if he had a REAL weapon.
 * Shout-Out: To Garet Jax, the armsmaster who was an expert with all weapons, in Terry Brooks' The Wishsong of Shannara, who've received a Shout-Out in DotA already.
 * One of the skins is one to The Mighty Ducks, another one, of all things, to Cardboard Tube Samurai subplot of Penny Arcade.
 * Smug Snake/Smug Super: Oh yeah. He makes Fiora look humble
 * Tier-Induced Scrappy: His backstory is an in-universe example of this trope. When you solve political struggles by gladiatorial combat, having an unbeatable fighter in the mix can cause quite a few concerns.
 * A Worldwide Punomenon: Jaximus, a play on the Roman name Maximus.

Jinx, the Loose Cannon

 * Fashionable Asymmetry
 * Peek-a-Bangs: Occasionally. But things like the camera angle usually prevent this trope from being played straight.
 * Rapunzel Hair: She has braided pigtails that goes lower than her knees.
 * Stripperiffic
 * Bare Your Midriff
 * Who Wears Short Shorts
 * Terrorist Without a Cause: Its her way of having a good time.
 * Too Many Belts

Karma the Enlightened One


""Her fan technique is a deadly art of grace and poise, but her truest strength lies in the hearts of those willing to die alongside her.""

- Irelia

An Ionian leader and diplomat, Karma possesses almost supernatural composure. Karma was an extremely important figure in the Ionian resistance to the Noxus/Zaun invasion, at the end of which she decided to join the League. She fights with twin fans and channels a supernatural resource called Mantra.

Karma is a hybrid mage and support-type champion who can unleash a spray of blades from her fans, create a bond of energy between her and another unit that speeds up allies and slows and damages enemies, and place a shield on a friendly unit. Karma is unique in that her ultimate skill, Mantra, is available from level one. Over time, she stores charges of Mantra and expends them to add a powerful secondary effect to her other 3 skills: healing to her blade attack, doubling the slow/haste of her bond, and an area of effect blast to her shield. Her passive gives her extra ability power based on how much health she's missing.

Karma's alternate skins include Sakura Karma and Sun Goddess Karma.

Associated tropes:


 * Ambiguously Brown: Karma has much darker skin than the average Ionian champion, most notable on her Sakura/Lotus skin.
 * Animal Motif: Her Mantra fans fly around her in a shape similar to butterflies. Her attacks also release a small burst of flowers.
 * Battle Ballgown
 * Combat Medic: She's a magic damage and support hybrid champion. All of her abilities have both a directly offensive component along with a defensive or support component when using her Mantra passive with them. She also takes hits like her dress is made out of Kevlar -- making it even better, because unlike other support champions, she has to be within melee range to heal someone.
 * Difficult but Awesome: Mastering Karma is incredibly difficult as she is by orders of magnitude the most complicated support character to play. You have to keep an eye on her Mantra and know when to best deploy it offensively or defensively. She also requires considerable amounts of farm to be effective (where the majority of support champions do not and are often deliberately played with NO farm to let their lanemate have it all) as she is highly dependant on cooldown reduction to keep her Mantra on hand when she needs it. Still, she can do some pretty neat things once you've got the hang of her...
 * Awesome but Impractical: ...then you realise that, even though she can do some pretty neat things, her pros still don't outweigh her cons. Not having an ultimate ability sets her behind the other supports just for STARTERS. Not for nothing is she one of the least-played champions in the entire game.
 * Flip-Flop of God: Her Sakura skin was originally referred to alternately as either "Sakura" or "Lotus" in different parts of the game until Riot settled on "Sakura".
 * I Can Still Fight: Gains extra ability power corresponding to the percentage of her health she's missing. Combined with her shield and Mantra heal, this makes her deceptively more durable.
 * Violation of Common Sense: This means that oftentimes, people want you to harass her because then they'll put a shield nuke up and hurt you, or heal their lane partner for a boatload of health. She can also be quite tanky, meaning that if you Shoot the Medic First, you'll really regret it.
 * Impossibly Cool Clothes: And how.
 * Kimono: Sakura Karma wears one.
 * Mayincatec: The theme behind Sun Goddess Karma.
 * Paper Fan of Doom: She throws the blades from her her fans at enemies for her basic attack, which was actually done in real life.
 * Sexy Walk: An ironic example. She's probably amongst one of the more conservative girls in the game, yet her moving animation has her swish her hips quite a lot.
 * Shoot the Medic First: Unless they're focusing a carry such as Gangplank, expect to be focus-fired first if you're playing as Karma. not only can she throw shields with huge amounts of health on, but she can also heal... and it's not a fixed amount, it's a percentage. It doesn't help that she winds up having to practically be in melee range to use her heal.
 * She is also a much tougher nut to crack than the typical healer, because she can cast all the above goodness on herself as well and it even gets more powerful when she is about to die.
 * The Stoic: Her background itself states her composure is virtually superhuman. Her League Judgement, showing her inner thoughts, clearly shows she does feel emotion, but she probably doesn't show it very much. She cries out in pain from being struck by corrosive acid, but quickly changes her outward reactions to that pain to blinking.

Karthus the Deathsinger


""Come visit my home, and I shall sing a dirge of your life as it once was.""

An extremely powerful wizard who transformed himself into a lich by bathing in the cursed waters of the Howling Marsh. After his transformation, he appointed himself overlord of the Marsh, which he rules with iron fist. He's a strange one in the League, in that he does not seek power or influence, and simply wishes to be there. Nonetheless, no one wishes to ask him why, nor ask him to leave, so he's there to stay.

Karthus is a mage-type champion who can create small magic explosions, erect a wall of painful magical force that slows and weakens enemies who pass through it, emit an aura of necromantic energy around himself, or channel an energy bolt that hits all enemy champions, regardless of where they are on the map. His passive lets him continue casting spells with no cost for 7 seconds after dying.

Karthus' alternate skins include Phantom Karthus, Statue of Karthus, Grim Reaper Karthus, and Pentakill Karthus.

Associated tropes:


 * Affably Evil: Sure, he's a lich and all that, but he actually seems to be a pretty decent guy in spite of it.
 * Awesome but Impractical: His Lay Waste ability has literally unmatched damage potential, but is so breathtakingly difficult to hit an active target consistently with it (with a seventy percent hit rate being considered amazing by tournament players) that you'll likely never see the full benefits of its massive damage output short of him having the target held down for him.
 * Banned in China: Similar to the issue with the Forsaken in World of Warcraft, Karthus was redesigned from a skull-faced lich to a withered, shadow-wrapped figure for the Chinese art, due to taboos about representations of skeletons in media.
 * Cryptic Conversation: Karthus makes a habit of replying with these when asked any question.
 * Dark and Troubled Past/Mysterious Past: An... interesting one.
 * Death From Above: With red lightning, no less.
 * Difficult but Awesome: He is damn hard to play properly, because his Q needs some quick wit to land (with a half second delay and roughly half the area of effect of Cassio's famously obnoxious Ao E spells), he has no escape ability and he needs to watch his positioning...
 * It's Easy, So It Sucks: But his ultimate is nicknamed "Press R to Win" for a reason, and his passive actually makes him more deadly if he gets killed. It's quite literally the antithesis of Soraka's.
 * Evil Overlord
 * Evil Sorcerer
 * Eyes of Gold: Pretty much averts the typical trope.
 * Glowing Eyelights of Undeath
 * Grim Reaper: Grim Reaper Karthus, in case you couldn't guess.
 * Herd-Hitting Attack: Lay Waste's explosions technically qualify as one, but they hit much harder when there's only one target. The real Herd-Hitting Attack is his E ability, Defile - what can only be described as a huge swirling gyre of screaming, ghostly hell-worm-leech-things centered around Karthus. Don't deliberately get into a pitched teamfight while on top of an enemy Karthus who is using this.
 * Hidden Agenda Villain: Nobody in the League knows what he's actually doing there and he is a master at deflecting questions with intimidation and confusing replies.
 * Hope Spot: #1 in the game at these. Got away with low health? Not anymore.
 * Kill Sat: His ultimate ability is this to all enemy champions.
 * Leeroy Jenkins: One of Karthus's common playstyles is to charge into people and die, as in the next 7 seconds, if his teammates provide enough crowd control, he may be even more useful to the fight, as you can't prevent him from casting that way.
 * Odd Friendship: Is in a band with Sona, Mordekaiser and Yorick.
 * Our Liches Are Different
 * Spam Attack: This is how Lay Waste works.
 * Taking You with Me: Even if you kill him, there is a small time frame to cast spells for him after dying to take you out, especially if his ultimate is up.
 * The Undead
 * Villainous Rescue: This may have been what he was doing when he was found "dead" on the scene of a fight between Malzahar and Kassadin outside the League. Since he was already dead to begin with, reviving him wasn't a big problem, but he still won't actually say what he was doing there outside of an ominous remark about "defending the inhibitor."

Kassadin the Voidwalker


""If you look upon the Void, you can't put it behind you. If you look upon Kassadin, he is probably already there.""

Old lore: A mage who gazed into the void between worlds and went mad from the revelation. Kassadin is convinced that magic has to be eliminated from the world to protect humanity from the eldritch abominations from the void.

New lore: A man who was a seeker of forbidden knowledge, but discovered what he shouldn't have in the Void -- he was forced to look upon its face and part of him died that day. He now knows that he must protect Valoran from the creatures clawing at its door, wishing to get in and visit their torments upon it.

Kassadin is a mage-fighter hybrid champion who excels at disabling mages. He can silence enemies, slow them with a pulse of force, restore his own mana and deal extra damage with his nether blade, and rapidly teleport short distances. His passive reduces magical damage taken, using it to boost his own attack speed.

Kassadin's alternate skins include Festival Kassadin, Deep One Kassadin, Pre-Void Kassadin, and Harbinger Kassadin.

Associated tropes:


 * Anti-Magic: His innate passively decreases magic damage taken to augment his own attack speed, on top of having a silencing move.
 * Badass Crew: Has a private army of followers devoted to aiding him in his war against Malzahar and his mad Void cultists.
 * Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Attempted to prevent a crazed cabal of Void worshipers led by Malzahar from sacrificing his daughter. He caused a blackout in the process, and is now wanted by the city of Zaun, which, Wretched Hive that it is, is much more concerned with the latter than the former.
 * Fragile Speedster: With his teleport ability, he is almost impossible to catch or escape from.
 * Eyes of Gold
 * Glowing Eyes of Doom: He's definitely powerful, but he's not evil.
 * Go Mad from the Revelation: In his old lore. His new one doesn't really imply madness, but he does say the Void changed him.
 * Humanoid Abomination: Became one after witnessing the Void, but maintained his free will. As such, while he may be one of these, he's completely good in nature.
 * Ignored Expert: The Void? Bah! It's nothing but baseless superstition! Why, what kind of mad fool could think such a thing exists in our orderly world full of Magitek airships and three-foot-tall people exhibiting Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism! Malzahar is certainly a powerful mage, but he is also quite mad, his prophesies baseless! Pay no attention to the world-devouring Eldritch Abomination! Clearly, this phenomenon deserves neither attention nor research on the part of the Institute!
 * Jack of All Trades: RiotGames themselves say Kassadin has multiple item paths.
 * Mage Killer: It depends on whether the player is fast enough to do a surprise teleport directly in front of the mage and land the silence orb before the mage player can react. A bad Kassadin will walk into his death if he times his ports at the wrong time. A good Kassadin can kill their target before the silence wears off.
 * Story-wise, his old background lore before it was changed.
 * Magikarp Power: Very early he's not that durable, therefore it's not too difficult to gank him (unless you have a good opening item combination or are doing a Tank build). Know what you're doing with your build, though, and enemies can kiss their Health goodbye.
 * Laser Blade: Made of nothing. It even uses a special "punchthrough" particle effect to emphasize that Kassadin is slicing people with a tiny piece of the Void.
 * Retcon: His old back story said that he went mad from the revelation, and made his goal the elimination of all magic. His new one paints him in a more heroic light and makes his goal the elimination of all creatures of the Void.
 * Shout-Out: His Harbinger skin is somewhat reminiscent of Emplate.
 * He also looks a lot like Exdeath and Darth Vader. When his Force Pulse is ready, you WILL think Darth vader.
 * Between his arm blade, ability to blink, constant references to the Void, and the effects on his voice, Kassadin is quite a bit like a Protoss.
 * Silence, You Fool: One of his quotes is a booming SILENCE! Usually followed by a literal silence projectile that prevents the target from using spells.
 * But he massively regretted it when he tried to silence his mother.
 * Spontaneous Weapon Creation: His Laser Blade
 * Teleport Spam: Kassadin has the shortest-cooldown blink in the game. Each successive one in a short span of time costs more mana but also deals more damage.
 * Tron Lines: Creates them on the ground under him as he moves.
 * Unmoving Pattern: Zoom in and take a close look at Kassadin's Nether Blade. It's not a sword, it's a sword-shaped window into the void.
 * Vader Breath

Katarina the Sinister Blade


""The Sinister Blade of Noxus is like a black widow -- beautiful, but deadly.""

- Garen, following a skirmish in the field

The daughter of the feared General Du Couteau, Katarina grew up obsessed with blades and knives. She was raised by her father to be her city's greatest assassin and his second in command. Katarina is a fighter-type assassin champion who gains bonus gold and reduced cooldowns by helping kill enemy champions. She can throw a blade that ricochets from one target to another, Flash Step to a nearby unit (damaging it if it's an enemy), toss a deadly hurricane of daggers while spinning, and increase the potency of her next ability.

Katarina's alternate skins include Mercenary Katarina, Bilgewater Katarina, Red Card Katarina, Kitty Cat Katarina, High Command Katarina and Sandstorm Katarina.

Associated tropes:


 * Ax Crazy
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: It's unknown whether it approaches canon, but she does have a "High Command" skin.
 * Badass Family: Her father is an infamous leader of the Noxian army, and her sister Cassiopeia is another League champion.
 * Badass Normal: Inexplicable teleportation abilities aside, she has no explicitly magical abilities, mana meter, or supernatural strengths; she's just a blademaster and Blood Knight of the highest calibre.
 * Bare Your Midriff
 * Belly Dancer: Sandstorm Katarina is dressed as one
 * Blood Knight: Her selection quote is "Violence solves everything"; no wonder she's a good match for Garen.
 * Bounty Hunter
 * Card-Carrying Villain
 * Catgirl: Kitty Cat Katarina
 * Crutch Character: Katarina is the quintessential "pubstomper" -- due to her ult being utterly devastating but easy to interrupt and most of her damage being loaded onto her ult, Katarina can easily be quite uncivilised to a team of beginners or unskilled players with a bad team comp, but is easily shut down, rendered almost useless and killed by anyone semi-coordinated who knows how to deal with her.
 * Daddy's Little Villain
 * Daddy's Girl
 * Disappeared Dad: As of Issue 11 of the Journal.
 * Evil Redheads
 * Fan Service: Although she's long been considered sexy by the fanbase, the Halloween Kitty Cat skin just went all-out. The Red Card skin is considered to be blatant fanservice as well.
 * Flash Step: The skill is even called Shunpo. The creators must be fond of Bleach.
 * Good Scars, Evil Scars: A long one running over her left eye.
 * Sometimes. The scar seems to be gone in most of the newer skins and art.
 * Green Eyes/ Green Eyed Red Head
 * Hell-Bent for Leather
 * Lady of War: Subverted, as she was said to not like wearing dresses and took to combat training with her father. She does have some gameplay elements that make her less of a brute-force character then other ones, though.
 * Knife Nut: We said "obsessed with blades and knives," right?
 * Meaningful Name: "Katarina" means "pure", and "Du Couteau" literally translates to "of the knife" in French.
 * Ms. Fanservice: Rivaling Ms. Fortune for the position. Just look at her skins!
 * Ninja: Certainly has some common elements of them.
 * Pirate: Bilgewater Katarina
 * Rapunzel Hair: Longer than the length of her head and torso.
 * Series Mascot: She is almost always a prominent character in the series' official art, particularly the login splash pages
 * Ship Tease: According to a Journal of Justice article, Blitzcrank's dating service found her to be a compatible match for Garen.
 * The Vamp: Even when compared to others, she was even more Obviously Evil than LeBlanc, her previous voice just highlighted how plain damn evil she was. Now she is just a bit less evil than LeBlanc, or at least more obvious.
 * Unusual Euphemism: Katarina has the most amazing pair of big, round Phantom Dancers. Started by the Season 1 Cinematic Commentary at 1:38.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Her Red Card skin utilizes the 'hotpants' variation.

Kayle the Judicator


""In the League of Legends, Justice comes on swift wings.""

Old Lore: Kayle is an Archangel of Fire who was fired by her superiors for questioning orders and cast out of Heaven for wanting better information on her missions. However, she was too pure of heart to become a true fallen angel and instead became a rogue archangel, brutally smiting anything with a hint of corruption that stands in her way.

New Lore: A tireless warrior and bringer of justice from an ancient conflict in a world far from Runeterra, she was suddenly summoned to Runeterra one day. While she was at first enraged by this sudden plucking of her from her world and people, she took upon to the cause of dispensing justice and helping salvaging the survival of the planet. However, a part of her still yearns for her home.

New New Lore: The mightiest warrior in a race of immortals, Kayle was locked in a desperate struggle with her sister Morgana. Near victory, Morgana turned the tides by acquiring the aid of summoners from the League, threatening Kayle's people with her dangerous new abilities. To save her people, Kayle offered herself in servitude to the League for a millennium if they ceased all interaction with her world, leaving her with the task of bringing Morgana to justice herself.

Kayle is a hybrid offensive/support champion. Her attacks shred a percentage of her target's armor and magic resistance and her abilities allow her to smite foes with a slowing and damage-amplifying light, heal and boost allies' movement speed, briefly increase her range to deal extra damage that splashes onto enemies, and cause a teammate to be briefly invulnerable to damage.

Kayle's skins include Silver Kayle, Viridian Kayle, Unmasked Kayle, Battleborn Kayle, and Judgement Kayle.

Associated tropes:


 * Action Girl
 * Ancient Artifact: Her armour is stated to be enchanted, and the only existing masterpiece of an extinct race of craftsmen.
 * BFS: She wields it one handed. Her sword specific for the Battleborn Kayle skin is even bigger.
 * Beautiful All Along: Weren't kidding about this in the lore.
 * Bizarre Angel Biology: In Issue #19 of the Journal, a magical disease is released at the Institute of War, making many summoners and champions sick. Exposure to the same disease gives Kayle the equivalent of a sugar rush. The Journal explicitly mentions this is due to Kayle's unusual biology.
 * Blue Eyes: Seen on her Unmasked skin, to help her angelic image.
 * Breast Plate: Her old model barely had any feminine features other than a slim wasteline. Her new model pushed out her features somewhat. She remains completely covered, but her anatomy is more feminine.
 * Cain and Abel: With Morgana.
 * Combat Medic: She has an ability that heals and speeds up whoever it targets, also did we mention the armor and the sword?
 * Church Militant: In her old lore. In her new lore, any religious context to her role is unknown and unhinted aside from her being an angel.
 * Difficult but Awesome: Her ultimate, Intervention, which makes an allied target immune to all damage for a few seconds. Properly timed, this ability can largely nullify the abilities of the enemy team and pretty much the very purpose of the mage and assasin champion archetypes.
 * The Faceless: Was always fully-armoured with a face-concealing helmet in official pictures of her and in-game. Now there are two skins that can be bought with her helmet off. Her background states she avoids showing her face -- this is due to her constant fighting for thousands of years taking a toll on her spirit, and wearing her helmet constantly to fittingly match how she feels the justice she dispenses to be an ugly thing.
 * Fallen Angel: More like a slightly drooping angel.
 * Flaming Sword: An ability which temporarily makes her attacks affect enemies within an area around her target, become ranged and do extra damage.
 * Informed Attractiveness: Was officially described as "incredibly beautiful," but she's also always covered head to toe in offical sources... Well, she was.
 * Knight Templar: In her old lore. Although she was cast out for not showing enough Honor Before Reason, she still retains all the qualities. In her new lore, it's implied she may wonder if all the evil she's slain in her centuries of combat to be truly beyond redemption as she thought at the time.
 * Lady of War
 * Light Is Not Good: Something of a theme in her lore (but not entirely clear). Morgana definitely feels this way about her. At the same time though she's one of the few very good champions.
 * Master of None: She has decent scaling with attack damage and attack speed, as well as with ability power and having some good support abilities... but most players find her inability to be as good from specializing as other potential champions for that slot in a team makes her a liability.
 * Nigh Invulnerability: Her Ultimate gives an herself or an ally this for a few seconds.
 * Our Angels Are Different: Kayle's people appear to be a natural race of Winged Humanoids with an obsession with enforcing order and destroying evil, rather than divine servants of any kind of god.
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: It's easy to miss, but according to her new lore she was fighting in the war in her own world for over ten thousand years so she's obviously at least that old. Morgana's background state their species are immortal. She also offered herself for a thousand years of service to the League.
 * Palette Swap: Her Viridian and Silver Kayle skins.
 * Samus Is a Girl: Her color scheme is even based on Samus's.
 * Viewer Gender Confusion: Leads to many jokes on the forums.
 * Shoulders of Doom: She has some pretty big shoulder pads in any skin, especially her Battleborn Kayle skin.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Compared to Morgana, she's seems to be more of a tomboy -- she's heavily armoured and utilizes her physical attacks more, though both use their abilities heavily as part of their gameplay.

Kennen the Heart of the Tempest


""The Heart of the Tempest beats eternal... and those beaten remember eternally.""

Kennen is one of the members of the Kinkou, an order of assassins devoted to killing off those designated by predictions they see in the stars. Kennen was chosen by the order for his prodigious speed he gained by being the most hyperactive Yordle in Bandle City. He has the ability to use lightning-empowered magic shuriken.

Kennen is a mage-type champion who uses a set Energy Meter instead of a Mana Meter. He can throw electric shurikens, summon lightning to hit nearby targets that he has already damaged, turn into a ball of lightning while gaining speed, and call forth a thunderstorm that strikes nearby enemies at random. Each of his abilities add a "Mark of the Storm" to his target which stun the opponent and returns Energy to Kennen once enough of them stack.

Kennen's alternate skins include Deadly Kennen, Swamp Master Kennen, Karate Kennen, Kennen, M.D, and Arctic Ops Kennen.

Associated tropes:

""Yes they make Shurikens this small!""
 * Ancient Tradition
 * Badass Adorable
 * Because Destiny Says So
 * Blue Eyes
 * Environment Specific Skin: Arctic Ops Kennen
 * The Faceless: He's a ninja. DURRR. Mostly subverted in his Karate skin... though he still wears a mask over his eyes in it.
 * Fragile Speedster: Of the Kinkou, out of the other champions, it's more confusing.
 * However averted because Kennen can be easily built into a tank champion, and even if you go for pure damage, he can take a couple hits.
 * Fuuma Shuriken: Although it's mostly to the size of a Yordle.


 * Highly-Visible Ninja: Has little advantage over most other champions to make a tricky surprise attack.
 * Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja: He's a flippin' ninja!
 * Keet
 * Power Trio: With Akali and Shen.
 * Shock and Awe
 * Shout-Out: His two alternate skins, Deadly Kennen and Swamp Master Kennen, resemble Deadpool and Yoda respectively.

Kog'maw, Mouth of the Abyss


""If that's just hungry, I don't want to see angry.""

- Tryndamere

Some sort of Cosmic Horror that came into the world through the ruins of Icathia when Malzahar was "reborn" there. Fascinated by this strange new world, Kog'maw was eventually drawn to Malzahar. Along the way, he familiarized himself with the flora, fauna, and the native population of this strange new world the only way he knows how: by eating them. When he finally arrived at the Institute of War, Malzahar greeted him and invited him to sample the amazing tastes he could only find by joining the League.

Kog'maw is a hybrid caster/ranged-DPS champion who is set up to be an anti-Tank. He can shred the armor and magic resistance of a single target, temporarily boost his damage and range, lay down a lane of ooze that slows his targets, and launch a very long-range nuke which can be spammed. When he dies, he starts a chain reaction in his body, allowing him to run around for a few seconds before violently exploding.

Kog'Maw's alternate skins include Caterpillar Kog'Maw, Monarch Kog'Maw, Sonoran Kog'Maw, Reindeer Kog'Maw, Lion Dance Kog'Maw, Deep Sea Kog'Maw, and Jurassic Kog'Maw.

Associated tropes:


 * Big Eater
 * Body Horror: He attacks by vomiting.
 * Breath Weapon: The League of Legends champion. All of his abilities involve spewing corrosive bile, except his passive, which involves detonating violently to distribute that same corrosive bile.
 * Captain Ersatz: Resembles a Squig.
 * Cosmic Horror
 * Dem Bones: Jurassic Kog'Maw
 * Expy: Minus the Mega Manning, he's not a million miles away from Kirby.
 * Extreme Omnivore
 * Foreshadowing: "Terror coming... Daddy coming!"
 * Gameplay and Story Segregation: His background is a Big Eater, yet none of his abilities use that characteristic (though they do all involve spitting stuff up). Ironically, his Void-based predecessor Cho'Gath is actually the one who eats people.
 * Justified Trope: He's still in "larval phase" and can't digest solid food, ergo the green acidic fluids he vomits. Since you can get killed at any given moment in the Fields of Justice there's really no time to slurp up whatever got broken down by said fluids.
 * Glass Cannon: He's pretty unique in that he has very few ways to stop people coming to kill him, so he relies on his team to do it for him...or you know, just killing them before they get close enough to hit you.
 * Guardian Entity: Possibly to Malzahar. When the latter was fighting Kassadin outside the League, Kog'Maw was instinctively drawn to his aid.
 * Hollywood Acid: Whatever alien chemistry it is he brings to the League, it sure doesn't care how tough the thing it's eating away is. It's also a wonderful array of hues from green to purple.
 * Magikarp Power: Starts off slow, becomes a walking minigun later on.
 * More Dakka: Because he has an ability that deals bonus damage based on the target's HP on every hit while active, building a great deal of attack speed gives him terrifying damage. This is typically an inefficient way to build on almost any other champion.
 * Overlord, Jr.: Word of God says that Kog'Maw is only an infant, and his father is on the way to Runeterra.
 * Stealth Pun: In his portrait, he looks like he's got gears in his mouth. Geddit. Cog-Maw.
 * Taking You with Me: Often gets to invoke this with his passive.