A visual & gameplay update is where we redesign a champion from the ground up, including their gameplay, visuals, story, animations, voice acting… the works. It’s an opportunity for us to bring older champions up to modern standards while amplifying what players already love about them. And this time, we want your help choosing one of the champions we’ll update in 2020! We’ve selected five champs we see as high-priorities for updates, and we’re committed to working on whichever one you choose.

You have until 11:59 p.m. PT on May 15 to vote. You may cast your vote at the bottom of the page, and you cannot change your vote after submission, so choose wisely.

Let’s talk about how we’d approach updating each of these champions.

Fiddlesticks

Fiddlesticks has been on the list of champs we’d like to update for a while now, as not much about him has aged well. Our main goal with updating Fiddlesticks would be to push his theme of “terrifying scarecrow that comes out of nowhere” to a whole other level through both his visuals and gameplay. We’d want to preserve his unique mage jungler playstyle as well as his iconic ultimate Crowstorm. We’d also want to add more counterplay and satisfaction to his base kit while building in more synergies with Crowstorm.

Shyvana

While Shyvana’s overall visual and kit quality isn’t as low as some of the champions in this poll, she falls under the category of champions like Irelia or Akali, who weren’t fully delivering on their thematic promise before being reworked. If we were to update Shyvana, we’d be looking to really bring the fantasy of “warrior who transforms into a fire-breathing dragon” to life. We’d do this by keeping her damaging fighter playstyle while making her dragon form better express the theme of a destructive fire-breathing dragon, differentiating it much more from her human form.

Nocturne

Nocturne is an interesting case: He’s one of the most popular champions among players just starting out in League, but most of those players quit playing him shortly after trying him out. This suggests that Nocturne’s gameplay and visual fantasies are very strong, but he’s not quite delivering on them in game. If we updated Nocturne, we’d really want to drive home the promised fantasy of a living nightmare, leaving his enemies in total darkness. To accomplish this, we’d want to preserve his iconic ultimate but create a more deep and satisfying base kit to go along with it. We’d also enhance his visuals so that he lives up to his title as the Eternal Nightmare.

Dr. Mundo

Dr. Mundo’s art and animations need a lot of work, but his kit has held up pretty well over the years, relative to some of the other candidates. If we were to update Mundo, we’d want to execute much better on his theme of a horrifying-yet-hilarious masochistic madman who goes wherever he pleases and does whatever he wants. For his gameplay, we’d want to preserve his niche as an unkillable self-healing super tank—since that’s currently what makes him stand out on the roster—as well as his iconic cleavers. His W and E don’t currently offer all that much satisfaction or decision-making, so we’d be looking to replace or upgrade both of these abilities.

Volibear

When Volibear launched, his kit didn’t really land well, and his gameplay has proven unsatisfying to the point where he’s the least played champion on this poll. His role in Runeterra has also evolved a lot since he was released, and if we were to update Volibear, we’d want to make sure he delivers as an imposing, lightning-fueled demigod of the Freljord. For his kit, we’d be aiming to make him less feast-or-famine, while giving Volibear a more unique gameplay identity that stands out in League’s champion roster. His kit changes would have a secondary goal of pushing his gameplay to feel more like playing an unstoppable force who charges his foes with the power of a ferocious bear.

Some other helpful things to know: The champions who don’t win the vote certainly aren’t out of the running to receive a VGU, and they’ll all be considered for future updates. These champions aren’t necessarily the next five champs we’ll update—we may choose to update other champs first. Depending on how this vote is received, we may consider doing it again, but we don’t plan on deciding every future VGU with a vote. And finally, there’s a chance that whatever champion wins won’t actually be the first VGU released in 2020, mostly because it depends on how smoothly early exploration goes.

With that… Which champion would you like to see updated in 2020?

Thanks for voting, and stay tuned after the polls close for the results. We can’t wait to see which champion you all choose!