Briar, the new upcoming Champion in League of Legends, is a hot topic among MOBA and LOL fans. While most players already know that this new Champion is going to be a female vampire jungler, not much else has been revealed, such as how Briar will play and when will she appear. This League of Legends guide will tell you everything currently known about Briar’s info and release date on LOL.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated on 08/01/2024 to include the confirmed release date.
When Is Briar Release Date in League of Legends? Answered
Update: Briar was added to LOL on September 14, 2023, following Patch 13.18.
Original article continues below.
On Reddit, the head of League Studio, Andrei van Roon aka RiotMeddler, wrote that we’ll be seeing this new character soon. The team promises that Briar will appear in League of Legends before LOL World Championship 2023. The event, held in South Korea, will run from October 10 through November 19. However, since she is a brand-new character, she won’t be playable for playoffs, unlike Naafiri.
RiotMeddler also added that Briar will be released in the Public Beta Environment between “now and the next” Dev Update. Usually, Dev Updates are four to six weeks apart from each other. But depending on how much content the League team is ready to reveal, the timing may vary.
League of Legends: Briar Champion Info, Explained
Updated: YouTube channel Big Bad Bear has leaked the splash art of League of Legend‘s Briar. Judging from this leak, she has a petite body but a rather monstrous face. With huge, white, beady eyes and sets of sharp teeth, almost resembling a female Gollum. She’s described as “blind” and “psychotic.” The art also seems to indicate her chaotic nature as she’s depicted sitting on top of Demacian soldiers with Noxian helmets scattered around. In terms of gameplay, Big Bad Bear wrote that she won’t have health regen. Instead, Briar will have lifesteal, fear debuff, frenzy mode, and a dash stun. As a diver jungler she plays similar to Vi. Watch the video below.
Just like Briar’s release date, the League of Legends team is keeping their lid quite tight regarding her gameplay and lore. But, from very small tidbits shared by the developers, we can get a glimpse of her character and playstyle.
LOL Product Lead Lexi Gao aka Lexical said during the “Season 2023 | LoL Pls” Dev Update that Briar is a “hangry jungler.” Hangry is a combination of hungry and angry, which fits the vampire archetype that needs to feed on blood often. Nevertheless, she seems to be a reformed vampire. While the Noxus vampire harbors an insatiable hunger, she has it under control. And with it, she’s learned who her friends and foes are, according to the April 2023 Champion Roadmap.
In terms of looks, Lexical added that the team is planning to differentiate her from other “femme fatale junglers.” The community assumes this means Riot is designing her like Annie, Gwen, or Zoe, as in, “a thousand-year-old vampire trapped in a child body” meme, but we’ll see how she’ll turn out.
Speaking with Millennium.gg, Lead Champion designer August Browning said that the team has always wanted to make a vampire-type Champion. While the game already has Vladimir, he’s not exactly the real deal despite all the vampire references. He’s named after Count Vlad, sure, but he’s a Blood Mage. August implies that Briar will fill in that niche in League of Legends instead. She might have classic “cool” vampire moves such as turning into a bat and sucking the blood out of enemies.
If League of Legends‘ Briar might be able to steal health from enemies, she could compensate for her low health or optimize her role as a jungler and transform into a bat. Doing so might give her a speed boost, giving her the ability to hit-and-run targets easily. Briar can also be considered the second diver jungler in LOL ever since Rek’sai was released in 2014.
That’s all we know of Briar in League of Legends for now. We will update this article once the LOL team releases new information on the character. Stay tuned to The Nerd Stash for more guides and news on your favorite online games.
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