League of Legends New Champion Hwei: Release Date and Abilities

Updated on: November 20

A palette of endless opportunities and possibilities awaits players with the new upcoming League of Legends champion! Earlier this year, LoL developers teased all the new champions coming to the Rift, with Milio and Naafiri released first in March and July, respectively. The previously-teased "hangry jungler," aka Briar, was later released in August. 

Keeping their promise to deliver four champions in 2023, the next champion was revealed by Riot Lexical to be an "artistic mid-laner," employing the delicate mastery of art. This previously unknown champion now has a name, Hwei, with rumors he'll be released this month.

Without further ado, here's everything we currently know about the next LoL champion Hwei, including when he'll be released and his potential abilities. Let's show you the 'Hwei'!

League of Legends Next Champion: Hwei Release Date

Though Riot Games' champion release frequency is no match for the early days of League of Legends, champion releases are still an incredible event, with the immense build-up and crumbs of teasers dropped by Riot Games bringing the community together. 

No character models or visuals for Hwei are out but Riot have shown a complimentary art Hwei teaser featuring bold and bright colors and abstract stylizations. Riot Gao in the Developer Update said, "(Hwei) owes much of his skills to his previous masters but after time and exploration, he has transcended their skill and created his own unique style." 

As some eagle-eyed players have noticed, Riot Games has been leaving Hwei hints on the current Public Beta Environment (PBE), implying his arrival will be sooner rather than later. His artistic signature is dotted around Summoner's Rift, playing into his creative playstyle. Fans have been quick to craft fanart depicting what Hwei could look like, with a paintbrush as his weapon of choice.

As the last champion coming out in 2024 after Milio, Naafiri, and Briar, and the end of the year swiftly approaching, we expect Hwei to be on PBE on November 21, 2023, with an official live-server release date of December 8 with patch 13.24, the final update of the year.

League of Legends Next Champion: Hwei's Abilities

Being described as a "high-complexity champion," Hwei has been revealed to have over 10 different abilities and skills, as listed on the official League of Legends site. His kit has been described as being similar to Invoker in Dota 2 as he weaves magic with intricate combos and abilities, but only time will tell.

(Passive) Signature of the Visionary

Hwei marks enemy champions with his signature finishing touch by damaging them with his abilities. Hitting an enemy with two different damage-dealing spells places Hwei’s signature on the ground beneath them. The signature detonates after a short delay, dealing magic damage to all enemies in range.

Hwei's passive encourages players to use different spells and combinations, as opposed to using the same skill like QQ over and over again.

(Q) Subject: Disaster

Hwei paints visions of disaster that deals a large amount of damage to enemies.

Hwei's Q ability is the foundation that a lot of his spell combinations come from. From flickering flames to a molten lava surge, Hwei's Disaster book has a whole palette of damage abilities that player get to deep-dive into.

(QQ) Devastating Fire

Hwei paints a blazing fireball that flies out in the target direction. It explodes on the first enemy hit or at maximum range, dealing magic damage plus percent max health magic damage to all enemies in an area.

This ability is Hwei's bread-and-butter. It's a large AoE fireball that's perfect for the laning phase for both harassing the enemy laner and also last-hitting minions. It has a low cooldown and can be used to poke down the enemy, chunk by chunk.

(QW) Severing Bolt

Hwei paints a long-range, devastating bolt at the target location. After a delay, the bolt strikes, dealing magic damage. Immobilized or isolated enemies take increased damage based on missing health.

As another AoE spell, Severing Bolt is good for attacking enemies from a distance, with its long range. While it's not great against grouped-up enemies, it can be used to prevent an enemy from recalling or for picking off a low-health target without them suspecting anything.

(QE) Molten Fissure

Hwei paints a field of exploding volcanic eruptions, creating lingering lava in its path. Every eruption deals magic damage to enemies hit. Enemies in the lava area are dealt magic damage per second and are slowed.

Molten Fissure is another one of Hwei's core abilities. In essence, it creates a line of explosives, similar to Rumble's Ultimate. It's great for zoning off objectives like Baron or Dragons, and for quickly pushing in waves.

(W) Subject: Serenity

Hwei paints visions of serenity that provides utility for himself and allied champions.

Serenity's abilities are all about utility for Hwei and the rest of his team. This ranges from shields to movement speed and mana sustain.

(WQ) Fleeting Current

Hwei paints a current of swift waters in a line for a few seconds that grants movement speed to himself and allies.

This swift ability is all about crafting a fast math for Hwei in his allies. As such, it has two functions: for escaping, or chasing.

(WW) Pool of Reflection

Hwei forms a protective pool at the target location that lasts for a few seconds. Allied champions inside the area gain an immediate shield, increasing in value over a few seconds while in the area.

Pool of Reflection is a good ability to stand your ground with. As a static pool that grants a shield ramping up over several seconds, it's essentially Hwei's "last stand" for himself and his allies to defend a spot or even attack an Inhibitor or Tier-3 turret. This ability increases Hwei's value as a potential Enchanter support, so it'll be interesting to see how he's played upon release.

(WE) Stirring Lights

Hwei paints three swirling lights that circle him for several seconds. Hwei's next three attacks or spells deal bonus magic damage and grant mana on hit.

Using this ability allows Hwei to regain some mana. If he spends all three charges of this buff, he even becomes mana positive, which works well for sustainability during the laning phase, especially as he'll likely be a mana-hungry champion.

(E) Subject - Torment

Hwei paints visions of torment that control enemies.

As the official sample text implies, Hwei's E abilities and combinations all revolve around crowd control and limiting enemy movement.

(EQ) Grim Visage

Hwei launches a terrifying face that strikes the first enemy hit, dealing magic damage and causing them to flee and be feared for a brief duration.

This is a straight-shot line ability that fears the first enemy hit. Grim Visage is a great ability to use in a pinch, so you can fear an enemy that's too close.

(EW) Gaze of the Abyss

Hwei paints an abyssal eye at the target location that grants vision and locks onto the nearest visible enemy champion. After a short delay, the eye fires at the locked-on champion, rooting the first enemy in its path for a few seconds and dealing magic damage to them.

Gaze of the Abyss has many strengths, like gaining vision and even CC'ing a target. Although the root can be unreliable, the ability to gain vision and even zone enemies is immensely strong.

(EE) Crushing Maw

Hwei paints crushing jaws that deal magic damage to enemies hit and pulls them toward the center, slowing them by a set amount that quickly decays.

Crushing Maw has some devastating AoE damage that pulls nearby enemies together. Combined with his other spells, Hwei can create a masterpiece of destruction leading with this ability.

(R) Spiraling Despair

Hwei launches a vision of pure despair that sticks to an enemy champion for a few seconds. The vision expands and overwhelms all enemies it touches, dealing magic damage per second. Enemies within the zone are afflicted with stacks of Despair over time. Each stack of Despair applies a stacking percent slow. Upon completion, the vision shatters, dealing magic damage.

As his Magnum Opus and grand masterpiece, Spiraling Despair is Hwei's Ultimate. It's a large (but not global) damage-over-time spell that slows enemies immensely before the ability explodes and deals more damage. The idea behind this spell is "artist's expression," and how Hwei wants people to "experience the emotions they deserve." We can't wait to see this ability in action on the Rift!

Hwei's Lore and Backstory

The inspiration for the upcoming champion can be traced back to a mysterious character eager to showcase his talent and passion for colors to the world. Riot Games has explained that Hwei is on an "artist's journey," which usually consists of three stages:

• Following one's master's principles and learning the rules and intricacies of art. 
• Exploration and rile-breaking to find their own path of self-discovery. 
• Finally, they transcend their art to a new level.

Brave enough to share his visions of art and not back down from a fight, Hwei will be an interesting Mid-lane champion added to the growing pool. 

League of Legends: Next Champions for 2024

The League of Legends Champion Roadmap for 2024 teased some other upcoming champions for the new year, including a monster champion, described as being "cuter" than any other recent releases. 

A Vastayan solo laner was also hinted at, joining the likes of other Vastayans like Ahri, Neeko, Rengar, Wukong, Rakan, and Xayah. Supposedly, "they can see what others overlook," implying they may have vision skills like Quinn or Ashe. 

Final Thoughts

That's everything we know about Riot Games' next champion Hwei, designed to be a Mid-Lane mage. We can't wait to see his impact on the meta, as Hwei's mastery of his craft will break the mold unlike any other champion seen before.

Want more League of Legends content? Check out our ARAM guide, Your Shop, Summoner Spells, the latest patch notes, the rarest skins, news on Arcane Season 2, the best Lux runes, and all dragons and their buffs!