Champions Released in 2012

In 2012, Riot released 19 new champions: Darius, Diana, Draven, Elise, Fiora, Hecarim, Jayce, Kha'Zix, Lulu, Nami, Nautilus, Rengar and 7 more. That ranks 2012 4th of 18 release years by volume, down from 24 in 2011 and against 8 in 2013. The average across every year is 9.6, so 2012 sits above the norm.

The most commonly listed position in this batch is Jungle (8 of 19), and the champions span 13 regions, led by Ionia (4). 10 of the 19 are Human, with Undead next (2). By range there are 12 melee and 9 ranged listings; by gender, 9 female and 10 male. 17 of 19 use Mana; the exceptions are Rengar (Ferocity) and Zed (Energy).

Firsts: 2012 introduced the first Darkin (Varus), Spider (Elise) and Plant (Zyra) species tags and the Ferocity resource (Rengar).

The best first guess among the 2012 champions is Zed, ranked 2nd of 173 on the strategy page, leaving 2.3 candidates on average — one of the strongest first guesses in the whole game. A 2012 guess lights the year cell yellow for anything from 2010 to 2014 — 81 champions, 47% of the roster. Beyond that, the arrow splits the rest into 42 older and 50 newer, and both directions cut the pool meaningfully. Play a round to try it.