Is Zaahen The Next LoL Champion In 2025?
As the rumored next League of Legends (LoL) champion, Zaahen has gathered real momentum: Darkin whispers, a gleaming glaive silhouette, and Demacian petricite flourishes that fit neatly into 2025’s seasonal cadence. While nothing is official yet, the puzzle pieces keep snapping together in ways that fuel excitement.
In this article, we’ll unpack the clearest threads about Zaahen in LoL, including who he is, how the rumors tie into lore, what the kit and lane sketches suggest, and the most likely release window. The goal is to distinguish between what’s canon, credible, and pure speculation.
Image source: Riot Games
Who Is Zaahen In League of Legends?
Community discussion has increasingly framed Zaahen as a possible new Darkin—a weapon-bound remnant in LoL. While that framework is canon, linking it to a new LoL champion named “Zaahen” is still speculative. The name itself gained traction through roundup posts and discussion threads in late summer 2025.
There are four Darkin on the Rift: Aatrox, Varus, Kayn/Rhaast, and Naafiri. If Zaahen joins, he’d be the fifth—slotting between Aatrox’s duelist bruiser, Rhaast’s drain-tank fighter, Varus’s corruption-themed marksman, and Naafiri’s pack pressure—adding another frontline Darkin with distinct engage and skirmish tempo.
A widely repeated visual pairs Zaahen with petricite (the magic-dampening material tied to Demacia) and a glaive-like profile that reappears across leaks. Petricite and Demacia are long-standing lore pillars. The twist is the idea of a Darkin animating a petricite body or vessel, which has not been confirmed.
Image source: Riot Games
Zaahen Lore: Why Demacia & Petricite Matter
Petricite originates from a petrified, magic-nullifying forest and is woven into Demacia’s walls, armaments, and constructs. A Darkin bound to or wearing a petricite shell would be thematically on-brand for Demacia, even if gameplay implications remain unknown.
This is where “petricite body with gold ornamentation” rumors try to connect lore logic to art direction. Now, some PBE players flagged a tweak to Atakhan’s test-realm model, noting an arm that resembles a wedge-shaped blade or glaive tip.
From there, a narrative bridge gets drawn between Atakhan, Darkin weaponry, and the rumored new LoL champion. It is a plausible tease, not a confirmation, but it helps explain why the glaive motif keeps resurfacing in headlines about the “next champion.”
Role And Position: Where Would Zaahen Lane In LoL?
Most roundups converge on a bruiser champion with lane flexibility between top and jungle. A smaller set of posts suggests a tank-support angle, although some players question that path given the sustain and revive elements cited in the leak summaries. Riot has officially confirmed none of this.
Beyond that, weapon descriptions alternate between “glaive” and “spear,” but the gameplay throughline is similar either way: reach, front-to-back control, and windows to start or peel. That aligns with the modern bruiser template that can flex between top and jungle depending on patch tuning.
Zaahen’s Rumored Kit
The most detailed Zaahen outline circulating today can be traced back to Big Bad Bear (BBB), a long-running community leaker whose videos often seed the early news cycle. Aggregators tend to mirror the same summary:
- Passive: combat stacks; at max stacks, a revive effect with lifesteal.
- Q: Empowers the next attack and applies crowd control, often noted as a short stun or a light knock-up.
- W: Pulls targets toward Zaahen, with some summaries also pointing to lifesteal interactions.
- E: Dashes a short distance, dealing area damage and applying a slow.
- R: Unknown in current leaks.
Zaahen’s rumored kit reads close to another Darkin, Aatrox—commit-heavy, front-to-back pressure, and momentum once he sticks. The E and W echoes blend a quick reposition with forceful control to carve out a threat zone. His passive nods to pre-rework Aatrox’s brief revival, bringing back that old cheat-death tension.
Big Bad Bear’s Credibility
While these leaks should be taken with a grain of salt, Big Bad Bear has notable credibility in the LoL leaks ecosystem. He isn’t official, yet his outlines have landed before: Bel’Veth (name/model/kit shape) and Nilah details matched later reveals, and his Hwei “within a month/two patches” timing aligned with Riot’s official releases.
When Will The Next LoL Champion Be Released?
The prevailing guess is that Zaahen (or, at least, the next LoL champion) will likely be released sometime in Season 3 of this year, with many skeptics narrowing it down to Act 2. That timing would naturally coincide with Worlds 2025, drawing on peak viewership and the game’s late-season cadence.
Riot’s move to three Seasons with two Acts means champions usually land within those arcs rather than sit on long roadmaps. As precedent, Ambessa Medarda launched on November 6, 2024, with Patch 14.22 amid the Arcane Season 2 rollout.
Similarly, K’Sante arrived on November 3, 2022, alongside Worlds 2022 content, with his Prestige Empyrean skin earnable via Worlds Tokens until November 14. Having said that, Riot has not officially confirmed exactly when the next champion will come out in LoL (nor would they).
Image source: Riot Games
Rumors vs. Confirmed Facts
| Category | Claim | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Confirmed | Darkin exist, weapon-bound remnants. Petricite is used in Demacian architecture. 2025 Roadmap: three Seasons, two Acts each; champions tied to Seasonal arcs. | Canon lore baseline. Established worldbuilding. Official release structure. |
Rumor | The next LoL champion is a Darkin named Zaahen, featuring a glaive/spear silhouette and petricite styling. Kit outline: • Revive + lifesteal passive • CC on Q • Pull on W • Dash + AoE slow on E • R unknown Release window: Season 3, Act 2 (~mid-October) inferred from seasonal model/teasers. | Widely repeated, not Riot-confirmed. Provisional until PBE. Timing inference, not announced. |
Speculation | Bruiser top/jungle potential. Detailed visuals (gold wing ornaments, full petricite body). Any ability numbers or ultimate description. | Needs PBE or dev confirmation. Unverified without splash/insights art. No reliable data yet. |
FAQs
Who is Zaahen in League of Legends?
A widely discussed rumor suggests that Zaahen is a Darkin-style champion with a glaive profile and Demacian petricite motifs.
Does Zaahen belong to the Darkin in LoL?
According to rumors, Zaahen is likely a Darkin—but that’s yet to be confirmed. While Darkin are canon, Zaahen’s status is still a mystery.
When does the next LoL champion come out?
The next champion is expected to be released in Season 3, Act 2 of 2025, which falls in mid-autumn. Riot hasn’t confirmed the date, but past releases suggest a Worlds-aligned launch in early November.
