League of Legends Rewind: Ranking Every Champion Released in 2020

With the end of 2020 almost here, we rank all of the new champions that were released this year.

2020 has been a long year for League of Legends players, with starts and stoppages to the professional leagues and games being played online. But one thing that hasn’t slowed down this year is the new champion releases!

Riot released six new champions this season along with two full visual and gameplay updates. For these eight brand “new” champions that were released in 2020, let’s rank each of them, based on the hype around their release, how innovative their kit is, and how they’ve done after release in solo queue and pro play.

8. Seraphine

Of all the champions released in 2020, Seraphine is the one that just felt the most like a cash-grab. Not only was she released in conjunction with a new K/DA album and skins, but her introduction on Twitter was also marred with some controversy.

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In addition, on launch Seraphine has also been fairly underwhelming as a pick in solo queue, though she hasn’t had a real chance to be played professionally in a major reason. Her kit is solid, but it’s been criticized as simplistic and a hybrid between Neeko and Sona. Unfortunately, her lack of identity in League of Legends makes her the worst release of 2020.

7. Rell

It feels a bit unfair to rank Rell this low, considering that she was only launched a week ago, but it’s for that reason that we must make her put her towards the bottom. We simply haven’t gotten the chance to see how she can perform in solo queue or pro play to evaluate how her kit impacts the overall game. That said, her kit is very unique and interesting, with her being one of the more mechanically-challenging tanks we’ve seen released recently.

Her theme and lore are also top-notch, tying her to the Black Rose Order and Leblanc lets us explore an aspect of Runeterra we haven’t seen much recently. I think in time she’ll be looked on far more favorably, but for now, it’s just too soon to rank her higher than this.

6. Yone

Yone is the answer to the question, “what if we made bruiser Yasuo into its own champion?” Yone borrows many qualities from his in-game brother, including his knockup, dash, and crit doubling.

However, Riot did a good enough job in making Yone’s skills unique to Yasuo and to the game at large that he does feel like a good champion. And I think his aesthetic and lore is one of the best that Riot released this year, along with the Spirit Blossom Festival, and maybe my favorite champion teaser video in recent memory.

5. Samira

Even though she was released a fairly long time ago (she was released about three months ago on September 21), Samira has one of the weakest followings of all the new champions. Her subreddit, Samira mains, is the smallest of the new champions with the exception of Rell who, again, has only been live for one week. This seems to indicate that, although she came out of the gate strong, her kit and lore don’t seem to have grabbed a lot of players.

That is surprising to me, given that Samira is the only ADC released in 2020 (Aphelios was released in December of 2019) and that her kit is exceptionally unique with the style grades. She is a champion with a lot of flashy, play-making potential and I do think that she could be a pick in pro play once that starts up again. For now, though, she’s nothing but lost potential.

4. Fiddlesticks

People were gushing about the look and feel of Fiddlesticks when his rework was teased. The champion teaser video was frightening and gave us a look at the Ancient Fear that the champion is supposed to represent. That, unfortunately, did not translate to his kit.

Although Riot did a wonderful job of balancing adding new elements to his kit while retaining his iconic abilities, the champion never caught on in pro play. In solo queue, he has been a consistently decent jungler, but nowhere near to the point that these other champions have been at points during their release.

3. Volibear

The better of the two reworks this year, Voli’s release didn’t come with a new teaser video or a lot of hype. It also didn’t come with a mind-blowing new kit, but what felt like more of a modernizing of his previous kit.

Luckily, all of that came together to create one of the most fun and interesting champions in League of Legends. Whereas before, Volibear was just a hunk of meat blocking skillshots, the rework transformed him into an honest to goodness playmaking champion. He’s one of the best divers in the game with his new ult, actually has meaningful crowd control, and feels more smooth to play.

The rework not only brought Volibear into pro play consistently and made him a menace in two roles during Season 10 solo queue, it also gave us his best skin.

2. Lillia

The most unique champion released in 2020, Lillia came as a breath of fresh air to a stale jungle meta that was desperately lacking for AP champions. Lillia gives junglers the chance for eye-popping plays with her ult and Q, and made herself a force at Worlds 2020 as one of the most popular junglers.

Aesthetically, Lillia also stood out as one of the few animal-hybrid champions in League of Legends, and certainly one of the most recent. With her prancing through the jungle like a deer, it’s easy to see why so many players were fawning over her on release. Bad jokes aside, she’ll definitely be a staple of the game for years to come.

1. Sett

With a nickname like “the Boss” and how he dominated the game during 2020, it’s no surprise that Sett tops our list. He was a monster of both the mid and top lanes, even being flexed to jungle and support, in professional play as well as solo queue. No matter how many times he got nerfed, pro players made him work in their games.

Not only that, Sett’s kit is ridiculous for playmaking. With his crowd control, ult displacement, and massive damage, Sett is one of the most creative juggernauts. That is why he was the best new League of Legends champion that was released this year.