Riot Games revealed the next champion coming to League of Legends is a time-manipulating young man named Ekko. An animated trailer from the studio gives us a glimpse at his powers.
Ekko looks like a resident of Zaun, the steampunk nation that Zac and Urgot also hail from. Like many of his fellow Zaunites, he's in possession of advanced technology. An electric hourglass on his back allows him to rewind time like the guy from Braid. He's a pretty small guy but he's agile and handy with a sword as well.
He uses this rewind ability several times in his battle to learn his enemy's weaknesses and finally deliver a killing blow. His hourglass drains each time he uses the power, though, so there's a limit to how often he can use this trump card to get out of trouble. The power also doesn't seem to heal his previous wounds at all.
On a side note, his opponent in the trailer isn't Urgot. The artist handling the upcoming rework for Urgot confirmed on Twitter that it's someone else:
Ekko's talent could be very useful in League of Legends matches. There are always choices that you want to take back, moments when you zigged when you should've zagged. I'm not sure how exactly they'll implement this time manipulation in LoL, though. Is every player going to rewind by several seconds, or just Ekko?
I'm also curious how they'll differentiate Ekko from Zilean, another character with power over time. Zilean can speed up or slow down allies or put a friendly character into stasis when they're about to die. Ekko certainly doesn't look a think like Zilean but he'll need a distinct set of time powers to make him worth the money or Influence Points.
Riot hasn't announced a release date for Ekko yet. However, I'm sure we're just a short time away from a Champion Spotlight video that will give a full run-down on his abilities.
In the meantime, LoL players have plenty of reason to play the champions they already own. Last week Riot released the Champion Mastery system, which provides rewards to players for completing matches and performing well with specific characters.
