As keeping with traditions, Riot is releasing merchandise and in-game skins to celebrate each year’s Worlds champions. This year it’s DRX after their miraculous run from play-ins all the way to defeat T1 3-2 in a breathtaking Grand Finals.

The cute mini drake is available on League of Legends’ official website with limited quantities. The merch will be shipped within 2 weeks after purchase and go for $39.99 each.

After months of anticipation, Riot has finally released the long-awaited DRX skins. To commemorate the 2022 Worlds finals winner, Riot created the DRX skins with seven new skins, one for each of the team’s players and an additional Worlds Prestige skin.

Riot, as everyone knows, permits world champions to create their own skins. As a result, BeryL requested that the DRX Ashe skin be modelled by Elysia, a character from the game Honkai Impact. In answer to the player’s request, Riot created the gorgeous DRX Ashe skin.

Despite the skin’s beautiful appearance, the support player has some worries about it.

BeryL discussed some of his disappointments with the skin during a recent live stream. In it, he stated that Riot had ignored some key design components in Elysia.

BeryL’s Elysia basic model, which she gave Riot as a reference, featured a stylish cut on the left side of her clothing. According to BeryL, it is an important part of her style and was considered during the skin’s development process. It is, however, missing from the final version of the DRX Ashe skin. As a result, he was quite unhappy with his skin.

Riot Raiko, an image Artist at Riot Games, has made a stunning image of Elysia, on whom DRX Ashe is based, to honour the debut of the skins. The artwork depicts how Elysia might seem if she were a League of Legends champion. Beryl might even like the version better than the original DRX Ashe.

But the first thing that most fans noticed was that BeryL, the team’s supporter who enjoys gacha games, once again received his fantasy skin.

League of Legends DRX World skin inspired by Honkai Impact 3

The fact that Beryl wants the DRX Worlds 2022 skin to have a design inspired by one of his favourite characters from a game he adores is not a surprise.

After winning the Lol Worlds 2022 championship, DRX’s support, BeryL, declared that Ashe should be his choice for the team-specific champion skin. Furthermore, he reportedly requested that the cosmetic be modelled after Elysia, one of the heroines in Honkai Impact 3.

BeryL had said he wanted a skin that resembled the popular character Elysia, who is happy-go-lucky, constantly upbeat, and has a somewhat tragic history.

This skin was carefully designed by Riot, who successfully combined Ashe’s colouring scheme with Elysia’s fashion sense. Fans like it, with some claiming to have played League again only to obtain this skin.

But what makes this even better is that BeryL brought one of his favourite characters from gacha games into League for the second time.

Saren, a character from the mobile gacha game Princess Connect, served as the inspiration for his Leona skin after he won Worlds with Damwon Gaming in 2020.

Given that BeryL is undoubtedly one of the best support players in League of Legends ever, this is not really a problem for him. He managed to win twice while making it to three World Championship finals in a row with two different teams.

Last year, we received the EDG skin line, which has been a fantastic cosmetic addition to League of Legends. The splash image alone for that release is fantastic, and the skins themselves support that.

Moving on to the current year, skins celebrating DRX’s amazing run at the 2022 World Championship will soon be available in League. Riot has officially released the new skins, with the first Worlds Prestige skin arriving this year.

Riot Games stated that the champions receiving skins are Aatrox, Kindred, Maokai, Akali, Ashe, and Caitlyn.

The Aatrox skin emphasises Kingen, Kindred presents out Pyosik’s dedication, Maokai serves as the skin for the team’s substitutes Juhan, Akali as Zeka, Caitlyn to finish Deft’s story of a nearly decade-long climb towards the title, and BeryL efficiently piloted the much-loved meta support Ashe.

Each of the champions picked to receive a memorial skin was played at least once by the DRX players—and were all their best selections, as they acknowledged just a few weeks after Worlds ended.

Each of these skins is coated in blue and white to match the DRX emblem and jerseys. Furthermore, the players collaborated with the creators on these skins, thus their effect can be seen in the appearance of these skins as well as their recall animations—complete with their signatures. The DRX emblem and the Summoner’s Cup may also be seen throughout the champions’ animations.

Furthermore, these DRX skins would be the first in the world champions skin line to contain a Prestige Edition, which would be earned during an in-game event or purchased in the Mythic store. The finals MVP Kingen is the recipient of this unique edition, which depicts Aatrox with diamond-like characteristics.

The skins will be available for testing on the PBE in the next days, with an official release scheduled for June 1 with Patch 13.11.

The League of Legends Worlds 2022 tournament was won by DRX, who surprised everyone. Since then, the DRX 2022 team has selected which champions would receive skins in the annual Worlds skin collection.

Kingen, the DRX 2022 team’s top laner, recently went live. Questions concerning the DRX 2022 skins were raised, and he stated when the skins could be available. Here’s what we know thus far.

DRX Worlds 2022 skins

During the post-final news conference, the DRX players announced the champions they are contemplating for their Worlds 2022 skins. As a result, these six champions will receive skins from their respective players.

• Kingen (top lane): Aatrox
• Pyosik (jungle): Kindred
• Zeka (mid lane): Akali
• Deft (bot lane): Caitlyn
• Beryl (support, tentative): Ashe
• Juhan: Maokai

The skins will most likely match the team colours (blue and white). Riot has stated that a Prestige skin will be available starting this year, so there’s something more to look forward to. Worlds 2022 will also get a ward skin, icons, chromas, and borders. There is a lot in store for the Worlds 2022 winning content package.

According to Kingen, the skins will be available in early June. If we look at the patch schedule from Riot, Patch 13.11 will go live on June 1, 2023. That corresponds to the timeline Kingen mentioned, so the skins should be available around May 17, when the new PBE update is released.

“We felt it was important to keep the roster together – this is a World’s winning roster and hopefully we will be able to show it in 2023.”

In a recent Patty Yu’s interview, T1 CEO, Joe Marsh, explained why the club retained the same lineup for the 2023 season. He stated that T1’s current team is capable of winning the League of Legends World Championship, and that this is the company’s aim for this year.

“We have had these players in our system for over four years at this point. Oner, Zeus, and Gumayusi all came up through our Academy system.”

“We saw glimpses of their potential in 2021 once we made the coaching change in summer. 2022 we took another step forward – the first year where all five of the guys had the chance to play together consistently for an entire year.” 

At the same time, he mentioned that T1 players had been a member of the organization for a few years, with Oner, Zeus, and Gumayusi, going via the organization academy, implying that they have worked effectively side by side.

Marsh also emphasized how time-consuming re-signing Faker would be, therefore the organization decided to give new contracts to Keria, Oner, and Zeus in the spring in order to focus in the summer on keeping its renowned mid laner under its fold.

Overall, Joe Marsh stated that the current squad is the greatest T1 has had in years.

T1 was one game away from winning the Mid-Season Invitational and Worlds in 2022, but fell to Royal Never Give Up and DRX, respectively. The current T1 group may undoubtedly achieve new titles and win international championships with additional practice.

For many players, Zac is the usual tank jungler champion with strong crowded-control skills and a reliable combat start. However, it is quite interesting that in the Preseason 2023, he emerged as one of the strongest mid-lane champions.

According to League statistics op.gg, the win rate of the champion in the mid-lane is up to 54.59%, currently one of the highest in League of Legends.

So how did Zac reach this place? According to many players, the direct cause of the rising of this champion in the mid lane was the new preseason item Jak’Sho, The Protean. Possessing this item after Sunfire Aegis will make Zac incredibly hard to kill, while still dealing huge damage to the opponents.

Moreover, The Secret Weapon’s ability to reach ideal positions helps him create huge pressure in the middle of the combat. At this time, normal midlaners usually had to stay in their lane to clear troops, heading for main items. Meanwhile, Zac is a resistant champion with cheaper, more reliable items, so he can roam comfortably through other lanes to help them.

Creating high pressure is extremely important as Zac will help teammates occupy the map. From there, the opponent will be gradually pushed to the base, thus, creating more advantages for your teammates. This will help the whole team create a big difference with the opponent and win in the end.

In fact, this gameplay has been around for a long time when it was used at the Worlds 2022 by the VCS representative, Saigon Buffalo. However, it wasn’t until Jak’Sho, The Protean appeared that this gameplay really became powerful and highly effective.

In summary, with Jak’Sho The Protean’s greater strength, Zac mid is incredibly powerful in the current meta. If you need a good climbing alternative for the new season, this one is a great option.

Esports Charts has released its figures for 2022, and it is evident which esports tournament was the most popular, both in terms of time watched and peak viewership. The League of Legends Worlds 2022 continued to reign dominant over all other esports in this year 2022.

League of Legends Worlds 2022

With the League of Legends World Championship, the esports team managed to sweep in another year of amazing viewership figures while also hooking people on the biggest esports competition of the year.

According to esports charts, the finals on November 5, 2022 drew a peak of more over 5 million viewers watched the finals at the same time. This is astounding when you consider where and when the finals were held in certain locations…

In terms of peak viewers, the second-placed event, MPL Indonesia Season 9, a mobile gaming event from Indonesia, with a total of 2.8 million. The 2022 Mid-Season Invitational also peaked at 2.19 million viewers, placing it sixth on the scale. 

The League of Legends Worlds 2022 not only had the highest viewership peak, but it was also the most viewed esports event in terms of hours watched. The World Championship has collected little over 143 hours of airtime and 142 million hours of viewing.

While the LoL Worlds numbers have decreased in contrast to the 2021 World Championship (19%), they remain much higher than the rest of the esports world. So, while some may say that 2022 was a disaster, it appears like League of Legends will continue to dominate in 2023.

Before Worlds 2022, Riot decided to give him major adjustments to nudge him into a Bruiser/Fighter build. The champion then had evolved into an all-purpose unit capable of tanking hits, moving at breakneck speed, and killing enemies at ease

And as of patch 12.17, he is one of the deadliest champions on the Summoner’s Rift, and numerous players have criticized Riot Games for implementing these changes.

Hecarim after Patch 12.13b nerfs

Q – Rampage

• Base damage amplification per stack reduced to 3% from 4%.
  • Maximum base damage amplification reduced to 9% from 12%.
• Damage amplification bonus AD ratio per stack reduced to 4% per 100 bonus AD from 5%.
  • Maximum damage amplification bonus AD ratio reduced to 12% per 100 bonus AD from 15%.

As a result, Riot Games has cut Hecarim’s strength from his Q abilities in patch 12.23b. The damage increase impact of Q is lowered to 9%.

This immediately affected Hecarim’s gameplay and strength. This champion had now shown to be below average and unable of killing the primary opponent in a short period of time. Instead, Hecarim will have to play the role of sacrifice, opening up fights for his teammates.

This may not have harmed the competitive play, but Hecarim has suffered greatly in the solo queue. The above nerf had reduced the champion’s ability to impose the game. According to League statistics u.gg, the champion now holds a 47.85% win rate at Platinum+, which is extremely low compared to before.

Despite having a relatively low win rate, it is very difficult for him to increase his strength in the near future. Hecarim is an easy champion to play, if the basic stat is too high, it will be difficult to control. Hopefully, Riot Games will find the best way to balance him in the 2023 season.

After a busy year of patching, charity work, and esports, Riot Games, the developers of League of Legends, Valorant, and other games are taking a vacation to close out the year.

Riot Games does this on a regular basis to show their appreciation for their staff and to provide them with time away from their families. Riot also takes this opportunity to thank the individuals that make their company possible, including workers, the community, and, of course, all of the players.

So, let’s take a look back at all of Riot Games’ efforts this year, as well as the details for their time away.

Riot Esports   

The most viewed League of Legends game of all time took place in 2022. From the Play-In Stage in Mexico City to the World Championship, versus Faker and T1 in San Francisco, DRX and Deft completed their journey with the 2022 World Championship.

As they prepare for esports in 2023, we may expect new League of Legends esports formats and associated teams to shake up VALORANT esports.

International

Riot continues to expand its presence in key locations such as Shanghai, Seoul, Singapore, Dublin, and Berlin. Those Southeast Asia locations will service League players who previously played through Garena, the company’s long-term partner in the area. With that collaboration coming to an end, they are delighted to provide the entire Riot experience to players throughout Southeast Asia.

To welcome players to the new Riot servers, there will be a large in-game celebration.

Funds raising

In 2022, players raised millions of dollars for charity with events such as Star Guardian and VALORANT’s Give Back Bundle.That money is transferred directly to Riot’s Social Impact Fund, where it is distributed to worthy charities all across the world.

And right now, as the year comes to a close, they are ensuring that players have a vote in where their money is spent. Over $6 million has been awarded to organizations in 28 different areas.

Riot partnerships

Joining Xbox Game Pass puts two of the world’s largest gaming communities together on one platform. Speaking of making online places healthier, they launched a new collaboration with Ubisoft to do precisely that. On the esports front, they joined together with AWS to deliver additional stats to esports enthusiasts.

And this is only a small portion of what Rioters did last year. We’re looking forward to the year 2023 and everything that it will offer.