Reav3 has revealed some more information regarding the upcoming mystery champion update.
This year Riot is still going to release a brand-new void jungler, a mysterious new bot laner and the Udyr rework, but since 2021 we’ve also been hearing about a mystery VGU. With the first quarter of 2022 coming to an end, we want to know more about all the upcoming champions in 2022.
In a recent post on Reddit, Ryan “Reave3” Mireles, Lead Champions Producer for League of Legends, gave a few answers as to when we can expect everything and even hinted at the mystery VGU.
Which Champion Will be Released Next?
According to Reav3, the next champion to release is going to be the Void jungler. Many fans have been excited about a new monster champion, since the last full ‘beast’ champion we received was Yuumi.
After the Void jungler, Riot is expecting to ship their new bot laner as well before releasing the Udyr visual and gameplay update. The Skarner VGU is going to be released sometime in 2023, so we won’t even think that far ahead just yet.
Who Could the Mystery VGU/Project Be?
In the same Reddit thread, Reav3 also quickly touched upon the upcoming mystery project the champions team is working on. According to him, this will be a project similar to a VGU, but not exactly. What does that even mean?
Some fans on Twitter speculate that the update will be based around a champion's kit rather than the visual aspect of it. This means champions that are newer can be included. Some fans believe that the mystery project could be Aurelion Sol.
Aurelion Sol came out in 2016 and has lost his identity. In concept, he’s a cool champion, his lore is interesting and unique and his visuals aren’t bad either, but his kit is almost unplayable. Some fans think that Aurelion Sol won’t have too many visual updates, but Riot will take his entire kit, throw it in the garbage — let’s be real it’s where it belongs — and give him a whole new identity.
Aurelion Sol also doesn’t have that many skins to update, which could be another reason why Riot chose him. With Udyr taking up much of the skin department's resources, a champion with fewer skins could be selected for the mystery VGU/update.
When Will the Mystery VGU Be released?
It seems like this mystery project could come either late 2022 or in 2023. Reav3 said himself that there is still a chance for the project to be stopped. It is likely that it will be greenlit soon, though, and he could write about it in the April 2022 Champion Roadmap.
So we will have to wait until April to know more about this champion update… personally, I do wish it would be a VGU for Cho’Gath, but we will just have to wait and see to find out more!