On Tuesday, Riot Games nailed down its only
League of Legends champion of 2026.
Locke, the Ashen Exorcist,
is the new midlane assassin whose deadly rituals, chained executions, and demonic aesthetics will make him one of the game's most striking champion reveals in recent memory.
Part occult executioner, part anime heartthrob, Locke looks tailor-made to capture the attention of the new generation of League players firstly onboarded with Arcane.
League players first caught a glimpse of Locke during the opening act of the Pandemonium season through Vayne's comic, but Riot has now fully revealed the champion ahead of his arrival in Patch 26.13. Known as the Ashen Exorcist, Locke joins the roster as a melee AP assassin designed specifically for midlane players, a group Riot says has been "underserved" in recent years.
An AoE execution ultimate
Locke's gameplay identity revolves around setting up enemies for execution by stacking ritual nails on them before sealing their fate inside a skull-like artefact. His kit combines burst damage, mobility, and chain-kill potential — read our opinions on his kit here.
His Q, Ritual Nails, mark and slow opponents while amplifying his damage; his W, Soul Ignition, grants a risky movement speed steroid that trades health for survivability; and his E, Ashen Pursuit, allows him to blink and dash through enemies. And everything culminates in Locke's Purgatory, his R, which is an AoE execution ultimate that traps marked enemies inside a cursed artefact if they fall below a health threshold — and yes, it has the potential for increasing the execution threshold infinitely.
Author’s opinion:
Assassins have always been among League's most popular champions, and Locke checks pretty much every box Riot could want: flashy executions, highlight-reel moments, and a design that practically screams "main character energy" — and honestly, I believe Riot knows exactly what it's doing here.
The Ashen Exorcist’s aesthetic feels tailor-made for modern League audiences.
It's hard not to see some familiar inspirations in the design: the calm confidence, the sharp suit-like look, the bright blue eyes, the supernatural powers — players are inevitably going to compare him to characters like Dante, Vash, Gojo, Nanami, and more, because the similarities are right there. Add demons, exorcism themes, and a giant execution ultimate, and you've got a champion that is engineered to generate fan art, cosplays, and social media clips from day one. Which is good! We want more players to play League!
That’s said, a small part of me can't help but feel like Riot missed an opportunity win Locke.
Pandemonium is arguably the perfect season to dive deeper into Runeterra's darker side. For years, Riot has teased the Ten Kings and the ancient demons lurking behind some of the universe's most terrifying stories. If there was ever a moment to finally introduce another one of those entities — something genuinely unsettling, monstrous, and maybe even a little grotesque — this was probably it. Imagine a champion that fully embraced the horror side of Runeterra, not another stylish anti-hero, but something closer to a nightmare.
League doesn't get many chances to explore that corner of its universe anymore, and it probably never will again.
But then again, there's a reason Locke is the champion we're getting.
As much lore fans — and I — would love to see another one of the Ten Kings, the uncomfortable reality is that the audience for a horrifying eldritch monster is infinitesimally smaller than the audience for a cool exorcist assassin with anime-protagonist energy.
So while Locke might not be the boldest champion Riot could have made for the Pandemonium season, he may very well be the smartest one. He's stylish, easy to understand at a glance, and built around some of the most popular fantasies in League. Sometimes the obvious choice is the obvious choice for a reason.
What League developers can tell us about Locke
In a Q&A session with press members, Game Designer Blake "Squad5" Smith — whose previous work includes champions such as Ornn, Fiddlesticks, and Aurora — and Senior Game Product Manager Ed Zhao, answered some questions about Locke.
According to them, Riot specifically wanted to create a champion that appealed to midlane assassin players, an audience the team felt had become "underserved" over the years. Zhao described Locke as a stylish character with inspirations also drawn from "popular media," aimed at players who enjoy flashy, high-risk carries.
Visually, Locke went through several iterations before landing on his final look. Riot initially experimented with "a much bulkier version" of the character, but eventually slimmed him down to better reflect his agile, mobility-focused gameplay.
“His skills and abilities are based on a lot of mobility”
“There was a pretty late edit to the splash art where he had pretty massive biceps, thighs, and stuff like that. Like, he was really bulked out. But we changed that maybe he should be a little slimmer, since his gameplay fantasy is like that, he’s very agile, very light on his feet. His skills and abilities are based on a lot of mobility,” said Zhao.
“I think our designers had a lot of fun just looking though how he looked, kinda the vibes, there is a lot of almost Dante-esque vibes, he's more of a cool, stylistic character that we think relates well to the target audience which is mid lane assassins players,” concluded Zhao.
From a gameplay perspective, Smith said one of the biggest challenges was maintaining assassin lethality while giving opponents clearer visuals to understand what Locke is doing. Riot wanted more visual clarity and counterplay than many of the traditional assassins offer. The result is what Smith describes as a “medium-difficulty” assassin — slightly more demanding than average, but not overwhelmingly complex.
Coming on June 24
Much of his skill expression comes from mastering Soul Ignition, a self-damaging ability that grants movement and attack speed while storing a portion of incoming damage to later heal back. High-level players who can manage that risk-reward mechanic effectively will likely separate themselves from the pack.
A few additional information Riot confirmed on Locke:
- Locke currently has no special in-game quest interactions with champions such as Fiddlesticks or Nilah despite his demonic themes.
- His execution effect won't stack with Elder Drake's execute mechanic: whichever threshold is higher will take priority.
- Riot recommends traditional assassin rune setups such as Electrocute, though auto-attack-focused setups can also work thanks to Silver Stake.
- Suggested team comps include "wombo-combo" setups with Amumu, Brand support, and Miss Fortune, and dive comps that can follow up on Locke's AoE engagements.
Whether Locke becomes a solo queue terror or simply one of League's most stylish assassins remains to be seen. He'll make his debut in Patch 26.13 on June 24, shortly before MSI kicks off — though pro players won’t be able to add the Ashen Exorcist to their champion pools during the tournament.
