'League Of Legends’ Adds A Scary Teenage Yordle As Its Latest Champion

After roughly five years and several overly-complicated heroes later, “League of Legends” is finally getting a new playable yordle to terrorize the game’s mid-lane as a close-ranged caster who can shutdown mobile champions.

Vex, the Gloomist, was recently revealed on the official “League of Legends” Twitter account by Riot Games. Shortly after, her full kit was released to the public.

Unfortunately for players who love high-mobility champions like Yasuo, Fizz and Ahri, Vex’s kit is designed specifically toward punishing anyone who comes too close for comfort, especially those with any sort of dash or gap closer.

The SkinSpotlights YouTube channel has a video covering Vex’s abilities, including descriptions for each skill. While this tiny emo yordle’s kit isn’t as overloaded as Akshan or Gwen, she’ll still be able to make an impact thanks to her unique anti-mobility niche.

Vex was designed to resemble an angsty teenager, as made apparent by her exasperated, anti-social voice lines and large hoody, but Riot said there was more going on beneath her lore. In their champion insights blog post, principal narrative writer John O’Bryan said that they wanted Vex to resonate with players who have a history of being an angsty and apathetic teen.

O’Bryan and the rest of the team placed a clear line between representing teen angst and depression.

“We weren’t sure if we were dealing with normal teenage hormones, perpetual bad moods, or actual clinical depression. And this is something the team poured into Vex, because they wanted to create a genuinely relatable experience that isn’t often done in media,” O’Bryan wrote.

Riot designed Vex around her angsty theme, giving her a demonic shadow that she uses to cast spells and inflict Fear on enemies. Her abilities revolve around punishing champions with dashes, especially those who dash too close to her.

Ironically, Vex herself can do plenty of dashing. Her ultimate ability can mark enemies and send Vex hurtling toward them. If an enemy dies shortly after getting marked, Vex can cast her ultimate again.

Riot acknowledged that an edgy teenage yordle champion won’t appeal to many people, but it emphasized that releasing Vex was a gamble that it was fine with taking.