On the evening of January 4th, Riot released the splash art for the new champion that will soon be introduced to the LoL community. Specifically, this champion will be a Marksman from Zaun named Zeri. According to what Riot revealed from her biography, she has the nickname “Spark of Zaun,” and her skill set will relate to electricity. Notably, she is described as a highly mobile Marksman, characterized as “always on the move.”
Additionally, the new champion is described as making the whole team feel like they are in a shooting game. Furthermore, Riot mentioned that the new champion was designed with the intention of re-examining the role of basic attacks in the mechanics of Marksman champions, similar to Graves, Jhin, and Xayah. “For this new champion, we want to explore the role of basic attacks for Marksman champions and we also want to see if we can shift their purpose (of these basic attacks) or not.” – Riot stated.
However, across forums, the gaming community has started buzzing about this new champion named Zeri. Accordingly, her electric-themed abilities immediately reminded veteran LoL players of an item that Riot had removed: Statikk Shiv.
Moreover, some pointed out that Zeri bears a striking resemblance to the new Valorant agent – Agent 18 named Neon (codename: Sprinter). Neon is also a highly mobile character in Valorant, and her abilities are related to lightning bolts, while Zeri’s are associated with electric sparks.
Currently, Riot has not officially announced the skill set of Zeri or her exact release date. However, it is likely that this champion will appear on Summoner’s Rift after patch 12.2, as patch 12.1 is set to be released soon and Zeri is not included in the changes for this version.