Champions Released in 2009

In 2009, Riot released 42 new champions: Alistar, Amumu, Anivia, Annie, Ashe, Blitzcrank, Cho'Gath, Corki, Dr. Mundo, Evelynn, Fiddlesticks, Gangplank and 30 more. That is the launch-era roster — everything playable during the 2009 beta and release — and by far the biggest year in the dataset: 42 of 173 champions (24%), against 24 the following year.

The most commonly listed position in this batch is Jungle (14 of 42), and the champions span 15 regions, with no region contributing more than 7. 18 of the 42 are Human, with Yordle next (6). By range there are 24 melee and 20 ranged listings; by gender, 12 female and 28 male. 39 of 42 use Mana; the exceptions are Dr. Mundo (Manaless), Katarina (Manaless) and Tryndamere (Fury).

Because this is where the roster starts, almost every category debuts here: 19 different species and 15 regions are already represented among the 2009 champions.

The best first guess among the 2009 champions is Zilean, ranked 17th of 173 on the strategy page, leaving 2.6 candidates on average — a solid opener. A 2009 guess lights the year cell yellow for anything from 2009 to 2011 — 90 champions, 52% of the roster. Nothing on the roster is older, so a red year here always points up, toward the 83 champions released after 2011. Play a round to try it.