Arcane has made League of Legends and all LoL champions known worldwide. But League of Legends has been around for more than a decade, which means, there are a lot of them. In this article we will be covering their origins, how they made it to Season 1 of Arcane, and what it takes to obtain them.

League of Legends Release Date

League of Legends is one of the most popular multiplayer games in the world. Most of this boils down to being a free-to-play title, a trademark for Riot Games’ intellectual property. But nobody can deny its rise to stardom, quickly becoming the most-played MOBA on the market. League of Legends was released on October 27, 2009, and Riot Games have been adding to the pool of champions ever since.

How many champions are in LoL?

By the end of May 2023, 163 unique champions have joined the League of Legends roster of champions, with Milio, The Gentle Flame being the most recent addition. We’re a long way removed from the early days of League of Legends, where there were only a handful of playable champions in each role. 

League of Legends Original Champions: 2009 LoL Champs

The original roster was composed of just 17 LoL champions when League of Legends was released in its Alfa phase in February of 2009. 

League of Legends Original Champions: 2009 Champions LoL

In the following months, Riot Games released another 23 champions throughout the Beta phase of the game. This is when the game was still being tested, before being put on a golden disk. In total Riot Games had prepared 40 pioneering champions for the official launch, with these being considered legacy champions. 

Nidale and Udyr were added near the end of 2009, and are considered pre-season champions, because they were added after the release and before the official start of League of Legends.

League of Legends Champions by Release Date

Season 1 LoL Champions 2010

Season 1 of League of Legends began on July 13, 2010, when Riot Games officially announced it had plans for organizing competitive League of Legends play, or what we know today as LoL Esports. Season 1 ended on August 23, 2011, so we will count LoL champions from both 2010 and 2011 as season 1 champs.

Season 1 LoL Champions 2011 

Riot Games added another 24 champions by the end of 2010, amassing a total of 65 LoL champions or characters. Another 11 were released ahead of the League of Legends Season 1 World Championship in June of 2011. A total of 23 LoL 2011 champions were released that year, bringing the number of 2011 champions League of Legends to a total of 88 LoL characters.

Season 2 LoL Champions 2012

Season 2 in League of Legends saw another 19 meta-defining champions join the club, with Jauce being the 100th League of Legends champion to be released.

Season 3 LoL Champions 2013 

Just 8 new League of Legends characters were released as champions in 2013 and season 3, but they turned out to be some of the most impactful. Jinx was the main protagonist in Arcane alonsgide Vi, which was the last champion released in season 2. Those two would go on to achieve worldwide recognition by starring in the animated series Netflix special called Arcane.

Season 4 LoL Champions 2014 

By the end of season 4, with the release of Rek’sai, League of Legends had amassed 126 champions in its portfolio. It’s evident that Riot Games slowed down the pace of production, and started focusing more on the game itself.

Season 5 LoL Champions 2015 

Season 6 LoL Champions 2016

Season 7 LoL Champions 2017

Season 8 LoL Champions 2018 

Season 9 LoL Champions 2019 

Season 10 LoL Champions 2020  

Season 11 LoL Champions 2021 

Season 12 LoL Champions 2022 

Season 13 LoL Champions 2023 

League of Legends champions in Arcane

Multiple LoL champions found themselves on the small screens with Arcane becoming a worldwide hit. This drew many new fans to League of Legends, most of them wanting to try out their favorite characters.

Powder and Violet were the main protagonists in Arcane, but in League of Legends they are known as Jinx and Vi. Viktor, Caitlyn, Ekko, Heimerdinger and Singed also make an appearance in Season 1 of Arcane. Silco has not been introduced to League of Legends officially but he has been included in the Teamfight Tactics (TFT) roster.

How to unlock champions in LoL?

If you are new to League of Legends, there are a few ways to get your hands on all LoL champs. Firstly, after you finish all of the tutorials, you will get the option to unlock one of 3 champions of your choice. 

Once you reach Level 5 in ‌League of Legends, you will start receiving Champion Capsules every time you level up. These LoL Champion Capsules contain LoL Champion Shards, which you can disenchant into Blue Essence LoL. Champion Capsules can be activated using this Blue Essence, to upgrade them and permanently unlock the desired champion.

You can also use Blue Essence to purchase specific LoL champions from the Store, but that’s not the most optimal way. Completing daily and weekly missions will also give you Blue Essence. Unlocking Loot Boxes or Hextech Chests is another way to obtain LoL Champion Shards. 

How much does it cost to buy all the champions in LoL?

You can also choose to purchase any LoL champion through the Store using Riot Points or RP LoL, but that will cost you. Considering each LoL champion is priced around 500 to 1000 RP, purchasing all 163 League of Legends champions will cost you over 130,000 RP or just over $700.

How to get free champions LoL with Xbox Game Pass?

But there is a way to get around this system, but only if you are an Xbox Game Pass subscriber. As of December 2022, Riot Games has partnered with Microsoft to enable all Xbox Game Pass subscribers access to a lot of League of Legends content. Users can play and unlock any character in League of Legends as soon as their Riot and Xbox accounts are linked. These and similar benefits extend to all Riot Games titles like Wild Rift, Teamfight Tactics, VALORANT, and Legends of Runeterra, so make sure to take full advantage of them.