A few days ago, patch 14.7 officially arrived in League of Legends, featuring a complete overhaul of Skarner’s appearance and abilities. Almost immediately, this scorpion champion rose to prominence in the Top Lane with a solid damage output and powerful crowd control. In fact, in the latest hotfix, Riot had to nerf Skarner’s laning capabilities to steer the champion back into the Jungle role.
Not stopping there, a series of introduction videos for the reworked Skarner accidentally revealed the next character slated for a comprehensive overhaul. Specifically, in the video showcasing Skarner’s “new” abilities, players noticed that Malphite had a drastically different appearance compared to the official version. Instead of the somewhat outdated look, Malphite in the video appeared rugged and prickly, resembling a mountain in the lore.
If you pay attention, League of Legends players may notice that this new look for Malphite is largely taken directly from the game Wild Rift. Essentially, when brought to the mobile version, Malphite received a much more attractive design compared to League of Legends. It’s highly likely that Riot Games also recognized the inconsistency with Malphite’s appearance and decided to refresh this character.
Moreover, Malphite being “rebuilt” like this also opens the door for a rework of this character’s abilities. In reality, aside from his ultimate ability Unstoppable Force, Malphite’s basic skills feel quite outdated at this point. Furthermore, the current ability set doesn’t really highlight the resilience that Malphite is known for.
Therefore, designing a new set of abilities for Malphite to match his new look is something Riot should consider. Perhaps for this reason, during the introduction video for Skarner, Malphite was the “main character” and got the League of Legends community excited.
In summary, with Riot actively revealing Malphite’s new look, it seems that the rework for this character is very close for League of Legends players. Hopefully, Riot Games will make meaningful adjustments to help Malphite have a new appearance and be stronger after the rework.