Riot has launched a brand new teaser for the upcoming League of Legends aggressive season, and the developer is as soon as once more collaborating with Fortiche. The brand new trailer, “Welcome to Noxus,” reveals an assortment of Noxian champions scheming and battling — together with Mel, the council member from Piltover, who’s travelling to the Immortal Bastion in the hunt for solutions.
Welcome to Noxus is, in some methods, precisely what you would possibly count on from a pre-season cinematic. There are some cool battles between champions, with Katarina and Elise duking it out at a elaborate ball in Noxus whereas Trundle and Darius interact in a bare-knuckle brawl up within the icy area of the Freljord. However there’s a startling quantity of story growth right here, and the cinematic ends with the leaders of the Black Rose scheming about their subsequent steps.
The following season of League of Legends, which begins on Jan. 9, will deliver a Noxus-themed season to the map, altering the terrain and turrets to suit the militant nation’s themes. There’s additionally a brand new pores and skin line, the Masque of the Black Rose, which has a handful of champions attending a elaborate dance ball hosted by the Black Rose. Welcome to Noxus reveals us bits and piece of this celebration, which is rudely crashed by Katarina. Katarina is an murderer loyal to Swain, the present chief of Noxus, so it appears there’s nonetheless loads of in-fighting amongst the Noxian energy gamers.
Intriguingly, we get to see LeBlanc and Vladimir seem on the finish of the cinematic. They don’t match their in-game appearances, sadly, however they’re nonetheless recognizable as characters. This can be a teaser to a future visible replace for these champions. It additionally appears to substantiate LeBlanc because the mysterious mage who confronted Mel in season 2 of Arcane. In reality, this new season, the Masque of the Black Rose, and the dialog between LeBlanc and Vladimir appear to be a direct continuation of the top of Arcane season 2. This implies that Arcane is unquestionably the mainline canon, which is an attention-grabbing revelation.
Should you’re enthusiastic about studying extra concerning the Black Rose, League of Legends lore, and the way Arcane ties into all of it, the above video by Necrit is a strong deep dive into the subject from a long-time curator of the sport’s advanced canon.
We’ll must see extra of Noxus and the way this cinematic wrestle performs out all through the primary season. There’s loads of narrative potential round Noxus: the ticking time bomb of Mordekaiser hidden inside the Immortal Bastion, Swain’s cut price with a devious demon named Raum, Thresh’s pilfering of souls from unfortunate Noxian bar employees, and the continued battle led by Darius into the Freljord.
The brand new season of League of Legends releases on Jan. 9 at 12 p.m. PST/3 p.m. EST.
