Ekko, League of Legends’ newest champion, is a time-travelling assassin

League of Legends Ekko

Blooming time travel, it causes all sorts of problems, making people fade out of existence or getting Biff Tannen super-rich. And now Riot’s at it, introducing a new champion, Ekko, who can rewind time. 

He’s about to be plonked into the PBE, so you’ll be able to put him through his paces yourself. 

Ekko’s an assassin who is designed for extended battles. His passive, Z-Drive Resonance, allows him to build up resonance with magical attacks, which then gives him bonus damage, slows enemies and gives him a movement buff.

Timewinder is a neat attack which launches a device at enemies, slowing them down. It’s like a boomerang, though, which heads back to Ekko, damaging enemies in its path. Ekko can slow one group, and then move, making the device rush through another pack of them.

Parallel Convergence lets Ekko deal bonus damage to low health enemies, but when activated it also opens up a rift in time, summoning a copy of Ekko who then tosses a device to a targeted locations, slowing enemies in the area. If the real Ekko enters that area, he gets a shield and the enemies are stunned.

Ekko can also dash to a targeted area with Phase Dive and, as an added bonus, his next basic attack has greater range, and he can blink towards an enemy.

Chronobreak is where things get a bit crazy. It’s Ekko’s ultimate, which lets him rewind time, making him invulnerable until he reappears where he was, seconds before, with a portion of his health recharged (if he lost any within those seconds he’s rewinding). It also deals damage to enemies in the area.

“He feels smart through the idea of predictive gameplay,” explained Riot’s gypsylord. “Basically, instead of reacting to what happens, I wanted you to feel good about predicting what will happen – call the shot right and you get a reward.”

League of Legends also received its 5.9 patch today. You can read the patch notes here.