Hi, dev team. There are over 60 champions in League who could use an ASU or VGU due to outdated visuals, themes, or gameplay. Currently, the pace at which we’re receiving these updates is roughly 1-2 per year, which means we may be waiting several decades for our favorite champions to get their much-needed overhauls.
While I know the most strategic avenue for the business is to space these updates out to keep players invested and looking forward to something new every year, is there anything being done to make sure some of us get to see these reworks within our lifetimes?
Here’s a list of champions who could at the very least use an ASU, if not a full-blown VGU:
1.) Alistar
2.) Amumu
3.) Anivia
4.) Ashe
5.) Blitzcrank
6.) Brand
7.) Cassiopeia
8.) Cho’Gath
9.) Corki
10.) Darius
11.) Diana
12.) Draven
13.) Fizz
14.) Gragas
15.) Graves
16.) Hecarim
17.) Janna
18.) Jarvan IV
19.) Kassadin
20.) Katarina
21.) Kennen
22.) Kog’Maw
23.) LeBlanc
24.) Lee Sin
25.) Leona
26.) Lulu
27.) Lux
28.) Malphite
29.) Malzahar
30.) Master Yi
31.) Nami
32.) Nautilus
33.) Nidalee
34.) Nocturne
35.) Olaf
36.) Orianna
37.) Quinn & Valor
38.) Rammus
39.) Renekton
40.) Rengar
41.) Riven
42.) Rumble
43.) Shaco
44.) Singed
45.) Syndra
46.) Talon
47.) Thresh
48.) Tryndamere
49.) Varus
50.) Vayne
51.) Veigar
52.) Viktor
53.) Vladimir
54.) Wukong
55.) Xerath
56.) Xin Zhao
57.) Zed
58.) Ziggs
59.) Zilean
60.) Zyra
While some of these champs may feel “fine” to some, they certainly don’t hold up to the standards of today’s releases, be that in terms of gameplay, visual fidelity, realization of thematic potential, overall uniqueness/integration into the League IP, etc.
This isn’t even counting champs like Fiora, Shen, and Miss Fortune, who received impartial VGUs without the voiceover updates or animation work that would normally accompany an update of this scale, or champions like Vi and Jinx, who are just as old as some of the champions on the above list and should probably get something to bring them into the new canon. Similarly, there are champs who’ve already received large VUs in the recent past, like Annie, Garen, Sona, Soraka, and Twisted Fate, but would probably be good candidates for another ASU or VGU anyway due to the fact their designs were created before the big League universe reboot/reimagining and thus have untapped potential or just no longer fit as well in the current setting.
To be honest, I don’t play much League anymore so I don’t have a stake in this game, but if there’s one thing that keeps me interested and coming back to this community, it’s getting to see these old, janky, yet beloved characters get the proper treatment they deserve by reviving them and bringing them forward into the new world. While I know redesigning what is essentially 60+ online products at once isn’t necessarily smart or realistic, I hope you guys at Riot are listening and taking note that we do want to see more of these reworks faster, because the characters and world you’ve built matter to us.
