Every League Of Legends Champion In Arcane Ranked

With Arcane Season 2 officially ending and our tissue boxes emptied, it’s time to take a deeper look into the cast of characters we’ve grown to love or despise.

In case you don’t remember (or haven’t been paying attention), almost the entire main cast are pre-existing Champions in the hit MOBA League of Legends.

While each of them has interesting backstories in the game’s lore, how does Arcane treat their character arcs by the end of Episode 9 of Season 2?

What are some differences between their in-game and Arcane counterparts? Did Studio Fortiche do them justice, or were they completely snubbed from a happy ending?

In this list, we’ll be taking a peak into how they’ve grown throughout the season and how well they were written. Each of them deserves a much more in-depth analysis worthy of a college essay, but for the sake of brevity, this will mostly be opinions backed up by some evidence.

Warning: Contains MAJOR SPOILERS!

10 Singed

Constantly Escapes Justice

Singed is by far the least popular character on this list, not just because he has committed the most horrendous atrocities, but also because he is nothing more than a driving point for much of our protagonists’ suffering.

Singed sits at the center of Zaun’s issues but is also a driving force for its rise to power, as his creation of Shimmer boosted the undercity’s economy but ruined a lot of lives in the process.

His morality is practically nonexistent because he justifies his evil acts with: “Why does anyone commit acts others deem unspeakable? For love.”

We also learn that his real name is Corin Reveck, and is the father of fellow League Champion Orianna. In his obsessive pursuit of curing his daughter, he’s ruined the lives of countless others.

The fandom collectively hates him, especially when he hasn’t suffered the consequences of his actions just yet. Not only does he survive the final battle while our heroes are thoroughly traumatized, but he also gets to have a happy reunion with his daughter.

9 Warwick

“He’s Your Dad Too.”

Oh boy, the writers enjoyed desecrating Vander’s corpse, didn’t they?

In Episode 4, we get to see just how terrifying Warwick is when he’s in a blood frenzy in a display of the show’s goriest scenes.

Combined with the soundtrack “The Beast” by Misha Mansoor, Warwick’s fight against Jinx best showcases how scary he is. His savagery is unmatched, but underneath all that bestial ferocity, we still see the bits of humanity remaining in Vander’s face, struggling to regain control.

Warwick is a tragic character intended to be a plot device in Season 2 that would bridge the gap between Vi and Jinx.

Studio Fortiche’s writers knew exactly what they were doing in Episodes 5 and 6, where they show bits of Vander’s tenderness resurfacing before destroying it all.

8 Heimerdinger

Our Favorite Yordle

Heimerdinger is best relegated as a supporting character in the show, serving as a mentor figure for Jayce and then Ekko.

After his 3-year stint in the parallel timeline, Heimerdinger’s perspective has completely shifted, growing from a narrow-minded politician to an advocate and cultivator for young minds.

Every time he’s on the screen, his wisdom shows through his actions and words. He sees the value of trusting in the judgment and intelligence of the younger generation.

I do have to wonder about how League lore ties into Heimerdinger’s sacrifice. As spiritual creatures composed of magic, Yordles can’t truly die, instead, they just respawn back in Bandle City.

But if Heimerdinger dies in an alternate reality, does this mean he is stuck in that reality forever?

7 Ambessa

Marked By The Wolf

Ambessa is a character original to Arcane, and Riot seems proud of how popular she became because they put her in the game with a really powerful kit.

While she’s a ruthless warmonger on the surface, deep down, she is a scared mother who would do anything to protect her daughter, even going so far as ruining their relationship.

The Medarda patriarch is a complex character. Noxians believe that strength is everything, and Ambessa’s worldview is unfortunately a product of that brutal culture.

Now, let’s not pretend that Ambessa still isn’t a cunning villain. From grooming and manipulating Caitlyn to waging war against Piltover, Ambessa is more emotionally driven than she lets on.

Ambessa’s story had come to a close pretty well, and I would love to see how her death changes and directs Mel’s character growth if the story continues with her in Noxus.

6 Jayce

The Man Of Progress

Jayce is a dreamer, starting off the story as a bright-eyed academic who only wants to study magic through scientific inquiry.

Since then, he’s become a politician, an inventor, and a weapons manufacturer. Even though he’s adamant about making sure Hextech doesn’t get weaponized, he’s had to make a lot of compromises in his principles to achieve what he believed to be the greater good.

Outside his career, he’s a great guy to his loved ones. The fanbase tends to forget that outside of his relationship with Viktor, he was a big brother figure to Caitlyn, and has a deep bond with Mel. He is also a surprisingly great teacher, as evident in his explanation of wild runes to Ekko in Episode 2.

Above all else, Jayce is an idealist. He believes the best in people, and though he has made many mistakes along the way, he is truly a Man of Progress.

5 Caitlyn

Shakespearean Villain Arc

Caitlyn has had a tumultuous relationship with her morals throughout the show, and she’s changed a lot in Season 2.

Grief can change people, and in Caitlyn’s case, it changed her for the worse.

Driven by anger and hatred for Jinx (and by proxy, the undercity and anybody who lives there), Caitlyn launches a campaign of police brutality in search of her, inadvertently insulting her mother’s memory by using the toxic Grey to smoke out Jinx.

But Caitlyn isn’t irredeemable. She even admitted that she had lost herself to anger and hatred. Somewhere deep down, she wants to do the right thing, which is why she lets Jinx go in Act 3 and betrays Ambessa.

As one of the main cast, Caitlyn is an incredibly well-written character, and her story in Season 2 is so Shakespearean that even Studio Fortiche puts a Macbeth reference in the opening.

4 Vi

God’s Strongest Soldier

You know that Rocky quote? “It’s not about how hard you can hit, but how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.” Vi is the perfect representation of that, as she’s still chugging through after several years of trauma and heartbreak.

Underneath that rock-solid exterior is a scared girl who is deathly afraid of losing the people she loves. Several times that shell has cracked, showing that she is an incredibly loyal person who would go to hell and back for her loved ones.

That vulnerability is so well-written and effective and is such a huge improvement from her League of Legends version.

Even though Vi has been through some tough times, her principles have never wavered. She may be brash and reckless, but she has a kind heart and wears it on her sleeve. Vi has all the justification to go on the same path of vengeance as Jinx or Silco but never goes down that dark path.

Instead, she directs that anger inward, self-sabotaging and isolating herself in self-pity, most notably when she and Caitlyn “broke up” after episode 3.

Vi doesn’t have lofty ideals or ambitions like some other members of the cast. All she wants is to protect her loved ones and do the right thing for her people.

3 Viktor

The Techno-Messiah

Of all the League of Legends champions, Viktor is the one who has undergone the most change, both visually and lore-wise.

Before this change, Viktor was the “Machine Herald,” a revolutionary who believed that mankind would be much better off with cybernetic enhancements.

In a somewhat controversial move, Riot has decided to change Viktor’s story, completely doing away with the robotic, cybernetic vibe.

Thankfully, his (hex)core has remained pretty much the same: a disillusioned scientific visionary who adopts the mantle of a religious figure to bring the people his version of salvation.

Viktor’s “villainy” (if you can even call it that), thankfully, didn’t last long. All he wanted to do was to rid the world of suffering and heal people as he would have wanted to be healed, though it was corrupted into obsession.

Scientists with lofty ideals who inadvertently become religious figureheads will always be fascinating to me (looking at you, Osiris from Destiny 2).

Viktor’s messiah-like characterization reflects a lot of the religious imagery scattered throughout the show: his crutch looks just like a shepherd’s cane, his blanket becomes a robe, and he performs miracles through his new Hexcore powers. (like fixing Huck’s receding hairline)

Viktor is a departure from his villainous self in League of Legends, and I think that’s a good thing. While the whole Warhammer 40k tech-priest look is pretty cool, Viktor was due for another glorious evolution.

2 Jinx

On Her Way To Demacia

As one of the most iconic characters in League of Legends, Jinx has come a long way since her League of Legends debut in 2013.

Initially introduced as a Harley Quinn-esque loose-cannon criminal who loves nothing more than causing mayhem, Jinx’s story now has the much-needed complexities and nuances that fit an amazing story such as Arcane.

Whether she wants it or not, Jinx’s entire life has been chaotic. She has understood control through violence for most of her life, and Jinx also has some fascinating representations of mental health.

According to some fans (who know what they’re talking about), Powder has long had an undiagnosed mental illness before she became Jinx, speculating she could have schizophrenia or Borderline Personality Disorder. Thankfully, the story treats her trauma and mental illness with respect and nuance.

Regardless, her anger is palpable – towards herself and the world, and she hides behind a façade of false bravado to cope with her pain.

But when Jinx is at her best, she’s a blast to see on screen. She quickly embraces the role of Zaun’s hero, and she’s incredibly witty with a brilliant mind.

1 Ekko

From Little Man To Boy Savior

Ekko’s characterization remains mostly unchanged from his League of Legends counterpart. Both versions depict him as a time-bending, scrappy vigilante with a strong sense of justice, and he leads a group of street kids through Zaun.

Even though he didn’t have as much screen time as the rest of the main cast, Ekko is undeniably the hero of Arcane. Without him, Act 3 would have gone in a different direction.

Ekko might have the most compelling journey in Arcane. Throughout his childhood, he had the nickname “Little Man” and was a scrappy little kid who later would grow into a strong leader.

His selfless actions earned the respect of countless fans throughout the story. He could have stayed in the other timeline where he could’ve been happy – he was with Powder, Benzo was alive, and Piltover and Zaun were at peace.

But instead, he chose to leave it all behind to save his timeline.

That selflessness is the mark of a true hero, but heroism doesn’t pay off, because Ekko ends up alone when the story concludes.