LoL: Why was Gragas' W, "Drunken Rage", renamed?

Riot Meddler, Head of the League Studio at Riot Games, announced on social media on Thursday that one of Gragas' abilities will be renamed. His W ability, currently called "Drunken Rage," will be renamed "Raucous Rage" to align with certain international standards. Riot Games is making this change to help ensure the game's age rating remains as low as possible across all regions of the world.

The Rioter clarified in response to a Reddit comment that the changes will be purely semantic. "We're not looking to change anything about Gragas as a character (who he is, how he acts, what he does, etc). The use of the word 'drunken' specifically has been flagged though," he wrote.

Several other champions have undergone similar modifications over the years due to regional content restrictions. For instance, Vladimir’s signature blood magic was famously toned down in certain regions, where it was visually altered to resemble a purple or grape-colored liquid instead of blood. Thresh’s "Unbound" skin also exists primarily to censor his skull-like face, even though other skins like Blood Moon or High Noon, which feature stylized skulls, were allowed to pass—likely because they aren't considered "human" skulls.

These changes affected Khartus a decade ago and turned his skeletal appearance into an undead one with flesh. Another well-known example is Graves, whose iconic cigar was removed from his in-game model to avoid raising the game's age rating due to depictions of tobacco use.

Some visual changes, like Jinx’s bandaged top or Janna’s more modest outfit, have been generally well-received or at least understood, especially considering Wild Rift’s more stylized and exaggerated art direction. Ultimately, these changes are driven by the need to meet the content guidelines of specific countries. Unlike Legends of Runeterra, where individual versions of a card can be region-locked, League of Legends must maintain a unified character model across all regions in a single match.