Riot warns new League champion Lillia will have “steep learning curve”

New League of Legends champion Lillia ⁠— and her release partner the ‘masked assassin’ ⁠— will have “steep learning curves,” Riot developers have warned ahead of the duo’s expected debuts on Summoner’s Rift in Patch 10.14 later this week.

Riot has announced they’re shifting their ideas about champion releases and reworks slightly heading into the tail-end of Season 10. According to the devs, who shared their new direction in a blog post this week, they’re now eyeing “long term balance” for new roster additions.

That includes LoL’s 149th champion Lillia, who is expected to land in-game later this week as part of the Patch 10.14 cycle. It also includes the “masked assassin” ⁠— who could be Yasuo’s brother Yone ⁠— who will be released alongside Lillia.

“Our upcoming dreamy jungler and masked assassin are both likely to appeal to players looking for more novel experiences, and will require a pretty heavy investment to get over the initial learning curve,” the League dev team warned.

• Read more: Everything we know about Lillia so far: abilities, release date

“While we’re confident that mastering these two new champions [expected to arrive together later this week] will be worth the effort, there will likely be some bonus ‘feels bad’ feels too, especially in comparison to simpler future champion releases.”

Riot also touched on the ‘Aphelios problem’ ⁠— namely, new introductions to the huge League roster taking over a role with their “over the top” power. The devs want to avoid this as much as possible, they admitted, but said it was “tricky.”

“We don’t want players to worry about us releasing new/updated champs that consistently dominate like they have in the recent past,” the devs said. The ability to take a longer-term approach should mitigate this, they added.

“Without a pressure to make these champs win at the same rate as the rest of the champion pool at release, we can better ensure they’re not running away with games as players become more experienced on them.”

• Read more: League Patch 10.14 to feature Varus & Ezreal nerfs, more

A 55% win rate on debut “shouldn’t happen,” the devs concluded. On the other side of that argument, however, a champion landing on Summoner’s Rift with a 45% win rate may not be a bad thing “if they have a long tail of mastery.”

Little is known about the ‘masked assassin’ that is arriving in the Summer event this patch cycle. We do, however, know a bit about Lillia. She seems to be based around sleep abilities, just like 2017 release Zoe, and is a jungler.

Her splash art and in-game animations were also allegedly leaked earlier this week, as the devs continue to test her ahead of her arrival on the PBE. Here’s everything we know about Lillia so far, wrapped up in one dedicated hub.