Update, August 14: Riot Games has now officially lifted the lid on their lovely rework of Nunu and his yeti buddy Willump, who are shown off in an equally sweet trailer.
The adorable trailer also reveals a few new abilities coming to the characters, which include rolling a giant snowball into enemies and some sort of ice explosion, which is presumably his ultimate ability – the one holdover from the previous version of these characters.
The trailer ends with a reference to Nunu Bot, the fan-favourite legendary skin for the character, which suggests that, despite the rework, already owned character skins will still be valid after the new version of Nunu and Willump go live. The changes to the character were accidentally leaked yesterday on the official Brazilian League of Legends page, which presumably jumped the gun and put the news up early. It was immediately taken down, but not before the entire internet got a look at it.
League of Legends’ official website in Brazil dropped the curtain on Nunu’s forthcoming rework, posting an image of the yeti-riding champion’s new look (along with that of his steed, Willump) on its home page.
The unveiling appears to have been accidental, because it was immediately taken down. This is, however, the internet, so a number of screenshots were quickly captured and disseminated by the League of Legends subreddit.
Nunu’s rework has been teased a couple of times before through official channels. Alongside two newcomers and revisions for Ezreal, Kayle, and Morgana, the latest League of Legends champion roadmap reconfirmed that a new Nunu was incoming. With the 8.17 patch cycle is due to hit the PBE later this week, we can probably expect an official Nunu teaser to drop in the next day or two – or perhaps sooner, after this slip of the tongue from Brazil.
As you can see in the trailer, new Nunu (and especially new Willump) is much friendlier than his current guise. Nunu himself looks a lot more human, while Willump has grown an extra pair of arms and a big, cheerful smile. It’s all very Where the Wild Things Are.
The League of Legends subreddit has largely embraced the rework, with the top-voted comment archly commenting “four arms to carry each of his teammates”.
If you’d like to catch up on the state of the game as-is, here are our comprehensive League of Legends 8.16 patch notes. Highlights include the introduction of Nexus Blitz, a brand new game mode, and a host of balance changes to utility tanks such as Leona, Nautilus, and Tahm Kench, among others. We’ll have news on the Nunu rework teaser and the 8.17 patch notes as soon as they drop, so keep your eyes on PCGamesN this week.