Could Yasuo’s brother Yone be the next League of Legends champion?

Riot has confirmed there are still at least two more new League of Legends champions to debut in 2020, and all signs ⁠— from dev updates to an upcoming event ⁠— point to one of the new arrivals being Yasuo’s long-dead brother Yone.

Champion releases in League are a big deal. After a deluge of unique characters released in the title’s early years, Riot have massively slowed down development. Just five champs were released in 2019. Only three debuted in 2018.

According to Riot, who revealed in a Jan 14 dev video, three more champions are set to join LoL’s roster 2020. There are reworks planned ⁠— Fiddlesticks has already arrived and Volibear is next ⁠— but the new three are the headliners.

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The question then is, who joins the ranks on Summoner’s Rift? Players have already got their hands on Sett. Some are even taking him bot lane, despite Riot’s plans to have him dominate top. But two more new faces are coming soon.

• Read more: Sett support has become one of League of Legends’ best picks

At the moment, all signs are pointing to one place: Yone, the fallen Ionian warlord killed by Yasuo in the infamous champion’s original lore. From Riot’s sneaky teasers, to an upcoming event, here’s why he might be Champion 149.

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Yone could be “returning from the dead”

In the January 14 development video, Riot champion producer Ryan ‘Reav3’ Mireles revealed League’s summer event would involve two generals at war. On top of that, he confirmed one would be “returning from the dead” as well.

Reav3 added the “masked stranger” champion would remind players “some demons should remain in our past.” Considering Yasuo murdered his older brother, it makes sense Yone may come back for vengeance eventually.

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Returning from the dead seems a little bit too deus-ex-machina, of course, but remember its a storyline Riot has enjoyed tapping into recently. Six years after Lucian was released, he was finally reunited with his wife Senna in 2019.

• Read more: Could the next League of Legends event be Pulsefire 2020?

A masked revenant returning from the dead for revenge against his brother would also set up the summer event perfectly. Yasuo may be a bit of a loner at the moment, but he could easily raise an army to fight his brother if needed.

This theory was also compounded recently, when LoL players began seeing Yasuo drop a different colored sword when dying. This color change matched artwork shown in the roadmap clip, which sees a blade change from white to red.

For mobile readers, the related segment begins at 4:10 in the video below.

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What kind of LoL champion could Yone be?

If resurrected on the lore side of things, Yone would still need to be fleshed out in-game as well. An earlier Riot gameplay roadmap, released around October 2019, may hold a clue to his game style; it’s quite similar to his brothers.

The roadmap describes a champion “in early stages of production” which would eventually be an “edgy solo-lane melee carry.” Sound familiar? It should ⁠— it basically sounds like Riot are making a second Yasuo in 2020.

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Sett could fit that hint as well, but his personality is more focused around being a ‘Boss’ than it is being an edgelord. He was just two months from debut when that roadmap aired though, which doesn’t really fit the production timeline.

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If we consider this 2019 mention points towards Yone, it looks like he could play similarly to his brother. Lucian and Senna share similar animations and effect traits, and they are heavily linked. Maybe Yasuo and Yone will be too.

Finally, Yone’s Legends of Runeterra card “Yone, Windchaser” shares the same Stun keyword as brother Yasuo. This may be less to go on, but considering the Unforgiven uses wind and crowd control on the Rift, they could match there too.

When will Yone potentially be released?

It’s all well and good to know which League champion might be coming next. The question is when can players actually get their hands on them. In that regard, it looks like there may still be a little wait until Yone lands on the PBE.

Volibear’s rework is currently underway, and that could likely be the next new-look champion to arrive in League. Once that’s live ⁠— likely in Patch 10.10 or 10.11 ⁠— we could see Yone in the spotlight soon after that.