Akshan Revealed as Next League of Legends Champion

Akshan, the Rogue Sentinel, will join League of Legends as its next champion in Patch 11.15, set for release July 21.

Akshan is positioned as a midlane marksman. Riot Games designed him as a "roguish assassin," according to Riot Games editorial writer Riot Cashmiir. Here are his abilities:

Akshan Abilities

Dirty Fighting (Passive)

• Every three hits from Akshan’s attacks and damaging abilities deal a burst of physical damage. If the target was a champion, Akshan also gains a shield.
• After attacking, Akshan fires a second attack that deals reduced physical damage. The second shot can be canceled like a regular basic attack. If Akshan cancels the second shot he gains a burst of move speed.

Avengerang (Q)

• Akshan throws a boomerang that deals physical damage and reveals enemies hit, extending its range each time it hits an enemy. Enemies can be hit once as the boomerang goes out and once as it returns.

Going Rogue (W)

• Passive: When enemy champions kill one of Akshan’s allies, they are marked as Scoundrels. When Akshan gets a takedown on a Scoundrel he gains bonus gold, all allies killed by the Scoundrel are resurrected at their base, and Scoundrel status is removed from all other enemies.
• Active: Akshan becomes camouflaged for a short duration, or indefinitely while near terrain. During this time, Akshan can see trails leading toward Scoundrels and gains move speed and mana regeneration while moving toward them.

Heroic Swing (E)

• Akshan fires a hookshot that embeds in the first terrain hit. While embedded, he can recast to swing around the terrain in the cast direction, firing physical damage bullets at the nearest enemy while swinging. While swinging, he can recast again to jump off in the direction of the cursor and fire a final shot. Heroic Swing's cooldown resets when Akshan earns a takedown on an enemy champion.

Comeuppance (R)

• Akshan locks onto an enemy champion and begins channeling power into his gun to store bullets. At the end of the duration or after recasting Akshan unleashes the stored bullets, each dealing physical damage based on missing health to the first minion, champion, or structure hit. Akshan can move normally and cast Heroic Swing while channeling and firing Comeuppance.

Game design lead Jeevun "Jag" Sidhu said the team was inspired by watching players in regular and pro play take marksmen into the mid lane, and seeing how the role was occasionally ill-suited to the task.

"They don't provide the things that champs designed for mid should, like crowd control or target access," he said in a blog post. "So we wanted to craft an experience that would feel like a distinct assassin style, but also clearly feel like a marksman... and put those two worlds together in mid lane.”

Akshan's kit is designed around the importance of positioning, using his grappling hook to maintain that perfect distance from his enemies. This ties in with his identity as a flashy, charming rogue, playing the part of assassin with flair and panache.