Arcane season 2 has finished, and while you can check out our Arcane season 2 ending explained to get the full picture, I’m already wholly convinced that Riot has already shown off a new League of Legends champion in all their glory, and I can’t wait to play as them.
This article contains spoilers for Arcane season 2.
In the course of Arcane season 2, Mel Medarda is captured by the Black Rose. She’s able to escape their magical chains, however, thanks to her innate magical abilities – glowing gold, she bursts free of her thorny prison, before returning to Piltover with a series of spells at her disposal. Most relevant to the plot is a magical shield, which is able to withhold various weapons, even dispelling and reflecting a bullet at close range. Elsewhere, she’s able to move enemies around, and make use of some bursts of damage too.
Mel’s reveal is 100% champion material. She’s got a full roster of spells that’s perfect for a League of Legends character, she’s got a series of visual effects that would be ideal for an ultimate ability, and her magical form even comes with her launch cosmetic ready-made. She fits snugly into the stories of several different characters, and you’ll never convince me that she’s not set-up to be the game’s next champion.
Riot has stayed awfully quiet about its new arrivals this year. The last we heard about what was to come was in January, when the company introduced Smolder, who arrived on the Rift at the start of the year, and Aurora, who was teased ahead of her release in July. There was also a tease of the newest arrival, Mel’s mother Ambessa Medarda, who was released just before the start of season 2, and a mention of a visual update that’s almost certainly about to be made to Viktor. Beyond that, however, the only clue we have about anything to come in 2025 is from that January video, when we learned there was another champion in the works who “should be a familiar face to all of you.” Perhaps that was Ambessa, but maybe it was Mel – Riot’s silence is likely to have been an attempt to ensure Arcane didn’t get spoiled because any clues could have given the story away.
Actually, I’m so convinced it’s Mel that I even know what type of character she’ll be. A character who’s less physically able but defends herself with magical shields and disruptive abilities, and is shown fighting in close connection with Caitlyn, an in-game Marksman? Mel is an Enchanter Support, a long-running stalwart of the League of Legends roster that’s gone largely underserved over the years. 2023 offered us Milio and 2022 introduced Renata Glasc, two anti-engage enchanters, but I’d argue you need to go back to 2019’s Yuumi to find a reasonable Mel-equivalent (apologies, Senna and Seraphine fans), and back to 2012’s Nami before that.
I might be more of a tank player nowadays, but I love an enchanter – Lulu remains one of my most-played champions, her shields and disruptive spells a quintessential example of the class. My needs have felt a little underserved in the past few years by a handful of releases that try to do very different things with what these characters do, but Mel seems as though they’re back to that highly protective part of the archetype. Arcane might be over, but its characters are still making their impact on the world, and I can’t wait.
I’m also quite the fan of a certain Zaunite loose cannon – so what happened to Jinx in Arcane season 2?
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