Naafiri, the Hound of a Hundred Bites

After an eternity imprisoned inside a dagger, Naafiri is released!

The newest Darkin in League of Legends is drawing nearer, and her abilities as well as a cinematic and gameplay trailer have been released.

The development team for League of Legends has run into a number of roadblocks in 2023. Among the long list of difficulties that have slowed the release of new content, we can count repeated delays on specific champion reworks and VGUs, huge criticism from the player base, and even big names such as content creator Necrit claiming that League of Legends is dying and has become nothing more than a cash cow, with "shirtless men and beautiful women" champions and their overcharged kits being released constantly, as opposed to creative new characters who feel immersive and fit the game.

This year, Riot decided to fix the issues that the LoL community found and try to boost the game's popularity with players who have been around for a long time.

As League of Legends game designer Glenn "Riot Twin Enso" Anderson put it:

“A while back, our champion design lead, August Browning, did an analysis of our whole roster and categorized each champ by role, class, and difficulty in order to find some opportunity areas for players. He ended up finding two major holes: a higher skill tank, which ended up being K’Sante, and a relatively simple and beginner-friendly assassin, which became Naafiri.”

Nonetheless, both K'Sante and Milio emerged relatively unscathed. Both champions have done well since their releases, with the exception that Milio was a bit powerful at release and K'Sante dominated at a very high level of play.

Naafiri, the third champion joining League of Legends in 2023, has finally been revealed, and fans are pleased that Riot is going back to their origins by releasing a simple champion that anyone can play and who can focus on a specific style of gameplay. Has Riot finally achieved the "200 years of collective experience" they claimed to have back when Gwen and Viego came out?

Who is Naafiri?

Naafiri's spirit is attached to a blade like that of all the Darkin. A long-lost throwing dagger from a desert crypt was her ultimate weapon. As a grave robber took her, Naafiri had hoped that the unknowing guest would touch the knife, thereby exposing his body to her Darkin power, but he was well aware of the contents of his bag. To avoid becoming Naafiri's new corporeal vessel, he was very careful not to touch the blade or its hilt.

However, a pack of Shuriman Dune Hounds soon attacked the man, and by occupying them, Naafiri discovered a whole pack of fresh bodies to inhabit.

The newest Darkin will be boosting the ranks of League of Legends junglers! Naafiri is unusual among junglers due to her ability to command additional units for faster clearing and more freedom of movement. Every one of her abilities is based on the contents of her pack of dark hounds.

As for her skills, here's what Riot has disclosed so far:

Naafiri Ability List

Passive: We Are More

Naafiri spawns a pack of hounds that follow her and attack her targets.

Q: Darkin Dagger

Naafiri throws up to two daggers at a target. If they're already bleeding, Naafiri's Q receives a damage boost and adds extra bleeding. The pack will lunge at the target and attack them.

W: Hound's Pursuit

Naafiri and the pack dash a long distance at an enemy; they can even dash over walls, and they collide with the first champion they hit. The champion is damaged and then focused by the pack.

E: Eviscerate

Naafiri dashes and deals AOE damage. The pack dashes back to Naafiri and heal themselves to full HP.

R: Call of the Pack

Naafiri boosts her pack with extra hounds as well as increased stats and gains extra speed, vision, and a shield when attacking an enemy champion. If she gets a takedown, the buff effects are applied again.

When will Naafiri be released?

There have been quite a few delays this year in the release of champions, and Riot has not yet announced when Naafiri will be available. However, the amount of information they released recently is an encouraging sign that she may be getting a release date very soon. According to Riot's roadmap, we should expect the third champion of 2023 to come out sometime before the end of the Summer.

That's all there is to know about Naafiri so far. Stay tuned for more League of Legends, Valorant, and TFT news!

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