The release of the 2025 Season 3 Cinematic brought the newest addition to the League of Legends roster. After the conclusion of Game 2 of the Worlds 2025 Finals, Zaahen The Unsundered’s abilities were revealed. According to LoL Executive Producer, Paul “Pabro” Bellazza, this new champion is expected to slot into the toplane.

Zaahen became available to the Public Beta Environment (PBE) on November 10, 2025, for players to test. He is expected to be released on live servers for version 25.23, which will probably be released on November 18, 2025.

Zaahen's Kit and Gameplay

Passive: Damaging champions grants one stack of Determination of a total of twelve, each stack grants Attack Damage. At max stacks, Zaahen doubles the acquired AD, and if he were to die, he would enter a four second stasis, afterwards he revives with 30% of his max Health.

Q: Upon activation, Zaahen's next auto attack slashes twice, dealing extra AD and heals for 5% of his max health. After a small delay, Zaheen can recast this ability so his next auto attack deals extra AD and knocking up for .75 seconds.

W: Zaahen stabs forward dealing damage. Any enemy hit will take the same amount of damage, then be then pulled back towards Zaahen.

E: Zaahen dashes then slices dealing damage around him. Enemies at the edge of the ability will take increased damage plus 4% of their maximum Health as magic damage. Zaahen can dash through small terrain, and deals 100% extra damage to monsters.

R Passive: Zaahen gains 10-30% armor penetration

R Active: Zaahen rises gaining 50% Damage Reduction while casting. Zaahen then stabs downward dealing physical damage and restoring 33% of the damage dealt to enemy champions as Health.

What could Zaahen's gameplay look like?

Experienced players may feel acquinted with the newest addition to the Darkin family, even evoking a feeling of déjà vu. Three of his five spells have a strong resemblance with pre-rework Aatrox's kit.

Zaahen has strength in both his spells and his auto attacks thanks to his passive. He has two auto-attack resets, which suggests a possible synergy with Trinity Force. Three of his spells can damage multiple targets at once, which pushes him to fight and sustain against several enemies at once.

During the early game, Zaahen can play for an early dive if he is able to fully stack his passive before or during the execution of the play as he is able to drop tower focus when he enters stasis while reviving.

One of his glaring weaknesses is his low crowd control, which is tied to landing a skill shot. Zaahen looks to work better following up a big engage or by keeping other enemies busy as he sustains through damage or is forced to utilize his passive revive.

Community Reception

The release of a new Darkin champion plus Zaahen's appearance teased throughout Season 3 lore content had the community pumped for a visually different champion. The last monster-like champion released was Smolder back in January 31, 2024. Bel'veth, released in June 9, 2022, is the last monster champion that strays away from a cute motif. The last Darkin champions released was Naafiri in July 19 2023.

Many fans have noticed how Zaahen seemed to retain Xin Zhao's facial features. This visually contrasts with most of his fellow Darkin, and does not align with his ascended form we first saw in The Truth's Motion comic or the human form we saw on Twilight's End, the 2025 Season 3 cinematic.

According to Shurima and Azir lore, darkin is a word from the ancient Shuriman language that was used to describe the corrupted ascended. It roughly translates to "the fallen".

What we know about Zaahen

Role: He is a Fighter/Bruiser intended to be played in the toplane as confirmed by Riot Pabro.

Region: He is reborn in Ionia after Xin Zhao sacrificed his soul by touching the weapon, as shown on Twilight's End Cinematic.

First Reveal: Zaahen first appeared in The Truth's Motion comic in version 25.19, although with a much different appearance.

Release: Zaahen will be released in version 25.23 to live servers, expected to come on November 18, 2025.

Skin Release: Immortal Journey will be the skin Zaahen is released with.

Weapon: During the Darkin War, every time a namesake was defeated, they were sealed inside a weapon. Zaahen was different, as he helped seal his kind away, though decided to share the same fate. He was sealed in a glaive.