Marine biologists found a new crab species in the coral reefs of the South China Sea and decided to name it after Teemo, one of League of Legends’ most infamous champions. The crab, now officially called Gothus teemo, was given this name due to its appearance. This crab from the Xanthidae family is described as small with a “densely covered short setae” and has a brown-striped coloration.

The discovery was published in the journal Zoosystematics and Evolution. It was made during an expedition to the coral reefs of the South China Sea by marine biologists Zi-Ming Yuan, Wei Jiang, and Zhong-Li Sha.

During scuba diving expeditions, they carefully photographed and collected a few specimens of the crab, which are now housed at the Marine Biological Museum in the city of Qingdao.

Teemo is a fluffy, brown, and white-colored champion in League of Legends, known for his small size. His cute appearance has made him popular, resulting in various plushies and figurines. However, in the game, he is often disliked due to his frustrating spells that poison other players.

The Gothus teemo crab has a small, fluffy appearance similar to the Swift Scout. Its key features include a “dense coat of short setae” and brown-striped coloration, which reminded scientists of Teemo’s furry coat and his camouflage abilities.

This is the first time an animal has been named after a League of Legends character, though it’s not the first instance of a video game inspiring a scientific name. Gothus teemo joins a list of species named after characters from popular media like video games, including names from The Legend of Zelda, Street Fighter, and even Pokémon.

Those who are choosing to ignore the new League of Legends Hall of Fame skins are fighting a losing battle. The game’s “whales” – big spenders – have shown just how much demand there is for Faker’s expensive Ahri skin, with over $600,000 worth of bundles sold in just an hour.

On June 23, Faker, along with Bin and Elk, appeared on a Douyin stream to promote various physical and in-game League of Legends products. According to a report by Sohu, more than 100,000 concurrent League viewers tuned in to watch the stream and try to get their hands on these exclusive items. Some of these items were sold at a discount but were available only in limited quantities.

During the stream, Faker spent time showcasing the Hall of Fame Ahri skin and its custom effects. He mentioned that he was considering using the skin, but so far, he hasn’t used his Ahri skin in an official match, staying true to his stance on skins.

After an hour of answering questions and promoting the items, every version of the bundle available on the Douyin stream had sold out.

In total, including the bundle’s base and signature versions, Sohu reported sales figures as high as 4.81 million yuan, which is approximately $660,000 USD. Considering the sale of these products only started an hour before the stream began, this is an impressive number.

It shows that despite the significant online backlash the bundle has received, Faker and the Ahri Hall of Fame bundle remain hugely popular, especially among Chinese fans.

Many players have publicly committed to critize the purchase of the bundle, calling its high price tag an “insult” to the League of Legends community and its esports fanbase. However, if the figures from the Douyin stream are correct, it is clear that there is still a massive market for even the most expensive versions of the skins.

This does not look promising for those hoping the backlash would be enough to force Riot Games into lowering the price of future Hall of Fame bundles. In the meantime, we will keep an eye out to see if Faker will stick by his word and use his Ahri skin in a match.

League of Legends recently introduced the most expensive skin ever seen in the game. The Immortalized Legend Ahri skin is priced at approximately $450 USD and was created to celebrate the achievements of Faker.

The player base reacted negatively to the high cost of the skin, demanding that Riot reduce the price. They threatened to continuously ban Ahri in matches to prevent anyone from using the new skin if the price wasn’t lowered.

However, Riot stood by their decision, with developers justifying the pricing. Now that the skin has been officially released, the player protests have begun in earnest, causing Ahri’s ban rate to soar.

LoL streamers pointed out this trend, and according to the League of Legends statistics website Lolalytics, Ahri’s ban rate has sharply increased. After the release of her Immortalized skin, her ban rate jumped from around 8% to approximately 16%.

Similar statistics websites also reported a similar trend. Her ban rate in Patch 14.11 was about 8.3%, but it suddenly doubled to 15.97% following the skin’s release. At the time of writing, the ban rate has reached to an insane 23.94% at its peak!

It’s clear that this method of protest has struck a chord with some of the player base, as the significant increase in Ahri’s ban rate is quite noticeable. It’s likely that the developers are aware of this protest and are seeing its effects.

Since the protests are still in the early stages, it’s difficult to predict if they will impact the sales of the skin. It’s also unlikely that Riot will change the pricing now that the skin has already been released.

Riot is introducing a new RP bundle and skin tier specifically for the Immortalized Legend Ahri skin, but it seems the player protests are not going to stop anytime soon.

Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel is currently one of the most popular streamers. Even though thousands of people watch him every time he goes live, he sometimes breaks the rules while gaming.

During a broadcast in May 2024, xQc logged into League of Legends and got a message saying that a player he reported for abusive text chat had been punished. The French Canadian streamer admitted he reported the player out of frustration, calling it a “false report.”

“Dude, the only person I reported, I falsely reported them. What?”

As his chat accused him of snitching on another player, xQc explained more about the false report.

“The only person I reported, I was malding and I falsely reported them. He didn’t say anything bad!”

This isn’t the first time the famous streamer has misused a report feature. In 2017, he was banned from Overwatch for a similar issue.

While streaming, the former Overwatch League pro received a message from Blizzard stating his account would be banned for 72 hours for “misuse of reporting system” to stop innocent Overwatch players from being banned.

xQc would fill out his reports with comments like “ur such a piece of sh*t,” which led to Blizzard giving him a three-day suspension.

Since xQc only reported one player in League of Legends, it doesn’t seem like Riot will suspend his account like Blizzard did. However, that could change now that he has admitted to making a false report.

It’s surprising to think that Riot Games, with its extensive experience spanning 200 years collectively, would let these mechanics endure in League of Legends. However, let’s delve into the champion abilities that have caused historical uproar due to their overwhelming nature.

Mechanics that got removed from League of Legends

Irelia’s disarmed ultimate

Take the original version of Irelia, for example, which birthed the infamous “Better nerf Irelia” meme within League of Legends. This version of Irelia, with her powerful mechanics, seemed to excel in every aspect a champion needed.

From bonus damage and attack speed upon landing abilities, to dealing increased damage to shielded opponents, and even possessing healing abilities and cooldown resets, Irelia seemed unstoppable. Her kit, featuring reductions in all incoming damage and a disarming effect that left opponents helpless, made her nearly unbeatable in duels. Consequently, Riot Games had to continuously trim her abilities and apply nerfs to maintain balance.

Akali’s smoked bomb

Similarly, the original Akali remake stirred controversy with its overwhelming kit, including high damage output, healing abilities, and the ability to maneuver through terrain. One particularly contentious feature was the stealth mechanism within her Smoke Bomb, making it nearly impossible for opponents to navigate.

Despite player outcry, it took Riot Games several iterations and seasons to address these issues, gradually toning down Akali’s abilities and restoring balance into a normal champion in League of Legends.

Mordekaiser’s pet

The Gladiator of the Bottom Lane, Mordekaiser, introduced one of the most polarizing versions in League of Legends history. His ability to summon a dragon spirit as a pet and push lanes with ease became a staple strategy, dominating professional tournaments with near-perfect ban/pick ratios.

Mordekaiser’s overwhelming strength in the bot lane, coupled with the supportive meta of League of Legends that time, allowed him to snowball to victory effortlessly. Eventually, Riot Games had to remove this mechanic in subsequent versions in preparation for a Mordekaiser rework.

Aatrox revival

The post-rework version of Aatrox tackled the problem of his previously straightforward kit by introducing flashy abilities. These abilities encompassed everything from hard CC, to soft CC like slowing and pulling opponents, and even increased mobility with a dash.

Additionally, he could heal from both basic and ultimate abilities. Perhaps most frustratingly, he gained the ability to transform into an untargetable target (in the first rework) and then resurrect upon his death (in the second rework).

Although Riot Games eventually removed the resurrection aspect from his kit, Aatrox remains a strategic pick in League of Legends, favored by many professional players even today.

Jax ‘doging’ turrets

Jax recently underwent a rework, but his signature ability, Counter Strike, remained unchanged. This ability allows him to dodge all basic attacks (excluding those from towers) for a brief period. However, this ability is now considerably weaker compared to its original iteration.

Initially, Jax’s Counter Strike was a passive ability that granted him a bonus dodge chance of 10-18%. Upon successfully dodging an attack, he could activate the ability to stun nearby enemies. Coupled with items and runes that further boosted his dodge chance, Jax could achieve a dodge rate of up to 34.5%, meaning he could dodge at least one out of every three attacks.

Furthermore, this ability even allowed him to dodge attacks from structures like towers and inhibitors. Recognizing the imbalance, Riot Games removed the passive dodge chance and reworked Jax to prevent him from dodging attacks from structures.

In fights where champions need to stay alive while dealing damage, having gear that can steal back health is really important. One of the most popular items for this is the Ravenous Hydra, which many fighters rely on to stay tough in team fights.

Some champions, like Aatrox or Lee Sin, have their own built-in abilities to life steal, and they become even stronger when they get their hands on items like the Ravenous Hydra. But lately, players are saying that dealing with all this healing stuff is getting harder. When they face champions with these abilities, it’s like facing the toughest bosses in hard games like Dark Souls or Bloodborne.

One champion causing a stir is Lee Sin, who’s equipped with a Ravenous Hydra, a Doran Sword, and a few other things. Players are sharing stories on Reddit of fighting against him, like one where Ahri faces him and manages to chip away at his health, only to see it shoot right back up again. People are comparing it to fighting a tough boss in a game.

Lee Sin’s second W is a big reason for his crazy healing. It boosts his healing power by 26%, and with the two items he has, that’s another 42%. And when he activates the Ravenous Hydra, his healing gets even stronger—up to 150% more! So every time he hits someone, he’s getting back a lot of health. In one example, his move called E is enough to heal him by a huge amount—almost bringing him back to full health in the middle of a fight!

There are ways to deal with this, like using champions who can stop healing. But not everyone has access to those champions, like Ahri. So, lots of players are saying the game’s balancing team needs to step in and make some changes. They hope that by adjusting Lee Sin, things will be fairer for everyone, making the game more fun and balanced for all players.

Reports have surfaced on the official League of Legends subreddit detailing encounters with players who, prior to the match, request ‘financial assistance’ under the pretext of needing a meal or facing financial hardship until a certain date. Payment options such as Venmo or PayPal are suggested.

In the event that their appeal is disregarded or met with refusal, these players resort to holding the lobby hostage by threatening to intentionally int during the entire match. Once it becomes evident that their plea for funds will not be heeded, they solidify their intent by selecting a deliberately disruptive champion, such as Nunu or Yuumi with Smite, thereby compelling one of their teammates to dodge the game.

The phenomenon of intentional feeding and other forms of disruptive behavior has long plagued the League of Legends community, often stemming from frustrations over banned or contested champion picks, or personal motives such as account deranking.

However, this particular manifestation of trolling introduces a humorous yet concerning dynamic, wherein players find themselves coerced into donating or risking the outcome of the game.

While Riot Games continues its efforts to combat toxicity and trolling within the game, the challenge of detecting and penalizing offenders without inadvertently ensnaring innocent players persists. Should the prevalence of these “donate or lose” tactics escalate within the community, it could pose yet another obstacle for League of Legends players in their ranked matches.

While Riot continues to fine-tune the champion for balance, one particular interaction has emerged, showcasing the devastating synergy between Skarner and Kalista. This newfound wombo combo revolves around Skarner’s ultimate ability and Kalista’s unique mechanics, offering an insane wombo combo that can wreak anyone in teamfights.

Skarner and Kalista insane wombo combo

When Skarner’s ultimate is activated while Kalista initiates her ultimate, allowing her to pull in a bound ally and then launch them toward a target, the result is a formidable crowd control chain reminiscent of hook champions like Blitzcrank and Thresh.

Reddit user Phallanxar recently demonstrated this synergy in action, employing Skarner’s ultimate to capture multiple enemies, then having Kalista pull them even further away from their team.

The effectiveness of this combo is not only attributed to the seamless integration of their ultimates but also to Skarner’s reworked abilities, which now allow him to engage and control multiple opponents while remaining resilient with his usual tankiness.

Despite Skarner’s struggles to find his footing in his traditional role as a jungler post-rework, his newfound potential as a support alongside Kalista opens up exciting possibilities for the champion. While Riot aims to balance his viability in top lane, where players have been exploiting his W max strategy, the bot lane synergy with Kalista presents a promising alternative avenue for Skarner to shine.

As players continue to experiment with this dynamic duo and Riot continues to refine Skarner’s balance, the League community eagerly anticipates how this newfound synergy will impact the meta and redefine Skarner’s role on the Rift.

August, known for his involvement in the creation of Jhin, has been advocating for a change that would align the champion’s abilities more closely with his lore, particularly his fixation on the number 4.

Jhin, a meticulous Ionian artist whose entire thematic revolves around the number 4, has garnered a dedicated fan following for his unique design. From the number of bullets in his gun to the bounces on his Q ability, the thematic coherence of Jhin’s kit is paramount. Even the cost of unlocking him in Blue Essence, standing at 4444, is a testament to his obsession with the number.

August’s proposed adjustment to Jhin’s Q ability, reducing its damage output by a mere 1 point across all levels, was met with both amusement and anticipation among the League community.

This minor tweak, while seemingly inconsequential in terms of gameplay impact, would introduce meme-worthy numbers such as 69 into his repertoire, adding a playful touch to the champion’s identity.

In Patch 14.8, Riot’s balance team granted August’s wish, implementing the subtle reduction in Jhin’s Q damage alongside a series of buffs aimed at enhancing his overall performance. With his Q now dealing 44 to 144 damage instead of the previous 45 to 145, the champion’s thematic consistency is further reinforced, much to the delight of his dedicated fanbase.

While the numerical adjustment may not significantly alter Jhin’s in-game effectiveness, it serves as a nod to his lore and underscores Riot’s commitment to maintaining thematic integrity within the game. In addition to the damage nerf, he also received substantial buffs to improve his kiting capabilities and enhance the potency of his Bouncing Grenade ability.

Even champions like Smolder, initially designed to embody the standard marksman archetype, often end up defying expectations by leaning more towards spellcasting or even tankiness, depending on the builds.

Zeri’s release was met with a mixture of excitement due to her unique mechanics, particularly her Q ability. Unlike most marksmen whose basic attacks are tied to their auto-attacks, her Q functions as a basic attack while her autos behave more like abilities. This distinctive feature sets her apart but also results in players constantly mashing the Q key, sometimes to the detriment of their keyboards and fingers.

Early on, her interactions with items like Tiamat and Sheen led to unconventional builds, turning her into a ranged bruiser with exceptional mobility. While she has since transitioned more towards a crit-focused build, the issue of excessive Q spamming remains, prompting some players to advocate for a quality of life improvement.

Small Zeri modification that could help players with their fingers

One League subreddit user suggested a potential solution: allowing Zeri to hold down the Q key to automatically fire on cooldown.

They argue that Zeri’s gameplay requires constant Q spamming, especially during high-attack speed moments like her ultimate ability or when farming minions, engaging in team fights, or taking down objectives.

The player humorously acknowledges the toll such repetitive actions can take on their physical health, jokingly attributing it to the effects of aging and expressing a desire to prolong their ability to enjoy League without risking repetitive strain injuries (RSI).

The potential impact of such a change on Zeri’s gameplay remains uncertain, and whether it would be a viable solution is open to debate. However, it underscores the ongoing dialogue between players and developers regarding the balance between champion uniqueness and player comfort in the game.