Riot Games reveals champion design process for 2XKO

Riot Video games has shared insights into how its improvement group selects and designs champions for its upcoming tag-team fighter 2XKO, with Knight ‘Arucelli’ Zhang detailing the collaborative course of behind character choice.

In a submit on X (previously Twitter), Arucelli, who works on 2XKO’s idea group, outlined how the design, narrative and artwork groups collaborate to find out which League of Legends champions make it into the combating sport roster.

“First issues first, we at all times begin with DNA, which is when design, narrative and the artwork group get collectively to actually speak via a champ and work out what we actually need them to be in 2XKO,” Arucelli defined.

The choice course of includes a number of issues past merely porting standard League champions. In response to Arucelli, the group evaluates which combating sport archetypes champions may match, what aesthetics or mechanics are lacking from the present roster, and what unexplored facets of every champion they may showcase.

As soon as the route is established, the idea group creates costumes that spotlight every character’s deliberate moveset. Arucelli supplied examples of how this interprets to gameplay design: “A quick character may need equipment that fly out behind them after they sprint, assume Yasuo. Or perhaps a heavier character may need a very robust point of interest so that they really feel very grounded, assume Illaoi.”

The reveal comes as 2XKO continues its closed beta testing part, with 9 characters at present accessible: Ahri, Blitzcrank, Braum, Darius, Ekko, Illaoi, Jinx, Yasuo and Vi. The sport is about to launch with 10 playable characters later this 12 months, with extra fighters deliberate as post-launch content material.

The champion choice course of ties into broader balancing challenges that Riot has been addressing. In a earlier Esports Insider interview at Evo 2025, Josh ‘NerdJosh’ Jodoian, member of the Sport Evaluation and Dwell Stability group, revealed that 2XKO initially began as a small venture with a restricted roster. Because the venture grew in scope, the group started engaged on extra champions, although sustaining their ‘prime quality bar’ has meant some characters stay in improvement.

The 2v2 format provides complexity to champion design, as every fighter should work successfully alongside any potential accomplice. This requirement means the event group should guarantee all champions really feel distinct whereas sustaining balanced gameplay throughout all doable group mixtures.

After the idea part, Arucelli famous that character creation includes a number of specialist groups. “As soon as we discover a idea that we actually like, it will get put collectively by a beautiful group of character artists, animators, tech artists, and VFX artists in order that it seems superior in-game so that you can play,” he acknowledged.

The detailed course of highlights Riot’s strategy to adapting its MOBA roster for a combating sport format. With League of Legends that includes greater than 170 champions, the choice and design course of turns into essential in figuring out which characters will translate successfully to 2XKO’s tag-team fight system.

Whereas Katarina was proven in early footage, builders confirmed she gained’t be a part of the launch roster. The tenth launch character stays unannounced, although hypothesis continues throughout the combating sport neighborhood about which League champion will full the preliminary lineup.

2XKO continues closed beta testing with no confirmed launch date, although the complete launch is predicted someday in 2025.