All The Champions That Appeared In Arcane, Ranked

Key Takeaways

• In the animated series Arcane, several League of Legends characters are given a deeper backstory and more complex personalities. Here is a ranking of the main characters based on their impact on the story and their character development:
• Vi and Jinx: The two sisters are the central focus of the story, and their characters have been greatly developed, making them some of the most complex characters in League of Legends.
• Caitlyn: After the time jump, Caitlyn becomes one of the more complex and interesting characters in the series, showing her care for Piltover, Zaun, and her connection to Vi.

In Arcane, quite a few beloved Champions from the League of Legends MOBA have shown up. Sure, it’s a small percentage compared to the 160+ Champions in the game’s roster, but still. Obviously, the story is mostly centered around characters like Vi, Jinx, Caitlyn, Viktor, and Jayce, but there are a good handful of other well-known LoL Champions that serve as the supporting cast for this series.

So, it seemed like a good idea to go over all of the League of Legends Champions and rank them from best to worst in terms of how likable or interesting they were, what their impact was on the story of Arcane, and how they grew (or devolved) over the course of the first season.

Updated October 14th, 2024 by Jacob Buchalter: With all the promotional material coming out for the second season of Arcane (which is coming out in about a month at the time of writing this), it seems like just about all of the cast for the first season are appearing again in the second season. Although, there also haven’t been any sneak peeks at any new League of Legends characters coming in season 2 either, which is a bit of a shame. Not every character that appeared in Arcane was characterized equally, and some are more beloved by the fanbase than others. So, let’s take a look at all the champs in Arcane and rank them, in terms of how they are written, how they’re characterized, and more.

10 Warwick

Finally Confirmed As Vander In Season 2

Originally when this article was first published, Vander being Warwick was just a fan theory. Now, after all the promotional material that’s come out for the second season of Arcane it’s confirmed that Vander is Warwick.

All of the main cast of Arcane have been through the wringer in between seasons 1 and 2, some more than others. But, Vander has been through the worst of it and most people would agree. Now, after the timejump between the seasons, he’s known as the Uncaged Beast of Zaun.

9 Teemo

More Of A Storybook Legend Than An Actual Appearance

Next up is a Champion that doesn’t directly appear in Arcane, but is one of the only ones to ever get referenced directly outside of just actually showing up. Of course, this is Teemo, the loveable little mischief-maker Yordle assassin. There are two primary examples of references to Teemo in Arcane.

One is the Poison Puffcaps of his that show up next to those caged Kurgs in the first episode, and the other is the image of Teemo himself in that children’s book Silco’s goon is reading when they’re invading Chief Police Marcus’ home. Obviously, because he doesn’t actually show up in the show at all (as of yet), Teemo just barely passes Warwick, but still, the little references to him are all pretty great and it’s very likely that a certain other Yordle who loves explosives will appear in season 2.

8 Singed

The Perfect ‘Mad Scientist’

This doctor working with Silco doesn’t really directly call himself ‘Singed’ at any point, but the closed captions sure do spoil it anyway. After the explosion at Silco’s warehouse, the doctor is now bald like Singed, he’s obsessed with Shimmer (AKA Chemtech) like Singed, and he’s likely the one who will turn Vander into Warwick, as Singed basically did in his origin story. Now, in the trailer for season 2, fans can see that he has a burned face which is also very iconic for Singed.

That said, for one of the most toxic (literally) characters in LoL, Arcane has done a fantastic job of making Singed more understandable and giving him an actual character arc, so much so that he’s becoming a fan-favorite character in all of season 1. In season 2 it’s likely his experiments will play a large part in the plot of whatever is going on, but he himself likely won’t do much. In fact, in the brief glimpse of him that fans are given in the Arcane season 2 teaser trailer, he’s being arrested by Piltover’s finest.

7 Heimerdinger

Adorable & Well-Meaning, But Not Much Else

Here’s the thing, Heimerdinger is basically part of the main cast in Arcane, and he does a fantastic job. He’s intelligent, has a great voice actor, adds a lot to specific scenes, and is just straight-up adorable. But, in regards to his actual impact on the events of Arcane, or his character growth, they’re both pretty lacking.

Heimerdinger serves as the voice of caution to everyone in Piltover, be it Jayce, Viktor, or even Ekko. He doesn’t exactly change his approach at any point, contribute to anything himself, or make any big decisions. He’s adorable and well-meaning, but his reputation makes more of an impact on the events of the show than he does. This makes sense, given that he’s a super genius Yordle who has lived for quite a long time, but it would be nice to see him get a bit more unhinged like the in-game Heimerdinger or at least switch up his tactics. In the season 2 teaser trailer, it’s clear that he’s still hiding himself (likely somewhere in Zaun), and everything suggest that he’s working with Ekko, likely on the device that’ll eventually give Ekko his time-based abilities.

6 Ekko

The Most Rational & Understandable Character In The Show

Ekko, AKA ‘Little Man’, is a character that showed up early in Arcane just to get watchers hyped and then wasn’t seen again for quite a few episodes. But, now that he’s shown up as the leader of the Fireflies, he’s become such an integral part of the story.

Without him, Benzo is a much less important character, and Vi would have less info to go on for just about every major development. Ekko eventually gains Chronomancy-type abilities that allow him to manipulate time, as is seen during his in-game moveset, but as of right now, he’s just one of the more relatable characters in the show. Season 2 will likely showcase Ekko’s true inventive abilities, and his chrono powers. It would be great if this also led to the invention of Blitzcrank, but as more promotional material comes out this is becoming less and less likely.

5 Jayce

Piltover’s Own ‘Tony Stark’

Obviously, Jayce Talis was going to be in the higher-ranked half of this list, being basically the tertiary main character at this point behind Vi and Jinx. Before Arcane, Jayce was just one of the pretty-boy Champions without much character depth (but a surprisingly high skill ceiling). But after Arcane, Jayce is one of the more beloved characters overall and has since received quite a few new skins (likely due to his popularity).

In regards to his actual impact on Arcane, it’s massive. The guy has a big character arc with his rags-to-riches storyline, goes through multiple highs and lows throughout the story, and is now the actual inventor of Hextech overall. Without Jayce in Arcane, the show basically can’t exist, and his brotherly partnership with Viktor is one of the emotional highlights of the show.

4 Viktor

A Reserved Character With A Bombastic Character Arc

Speaking of Viktor, huge kudos to Riot Games for managing to make one of the most robotic characters in League (literally) so incredibly likable in Arcane. Not to spoil too much of what happens with Viktor to anyone unfamiliar with the MOBA, but he does go through a rather drastic change that makes him a lot more powerful.

But, in this animated series, Viktor is also a rags-to-riches scientist, just like Jayce, but with even more hardships to deal with, considering his origins in Zaun. And even more than that, Viktor doesn’t have god-given luck or naturally good looks, he’s just an incredibly smart yet reserved inventor. So, to see him flourish so much next to Jayce, and to get a look at his backstory with Singed, this character has become much more of a focal point for the show than most people likely expected going into Arcane. In the season 2 promo material, Viktor is basically absent, so it’ll be interesting to see how he’s part of the plot of the second season when it drops in November.

3 Caitlyn

The Moral ‘Core’ Of The Show

Ah Caitlyn, the Cupcake Cop herself. Caitlyn Kieramman was always going to be in Arcane, that much was obvious from the start. If Vi is a central character in this story, then Caitlyn had to show up at some point, given their connection to each other. And, when she first showed up in Arcane, fans liked her, but they didn’t ‘love’ her. She was one of the only ones who still believed in Jayce before his Hextech idea took off, but she was still basically a spoiled rich kid.

But, after the time jump, Caitlyn is by far one of the more complex and interesting characters in the series. Sure, she doesn’t seem to be the best with diplomacy, especially with a certain blue-haired misfit, but she obviously cares a great deal for Piltover, Zaun, and Vi especially. Plus, in the season 2 teaser trailer she’s moved up, works closely with Vi, and even has a team of her own (though they seem to run into some trouble).

2 Vi

The Boxer With A Heart Of Gold

It’s pretty obvious that the two prodigal sisters were going to be the top two, it just doesn’t make sense otherwise, given how much this story is centered on them. The story of Arcane is literally about them, and the team at Riot Games has done a fantastic job turning what was originally just a ‘punch-girl’ archetype character and a ‘like Harley Quinn…but’ reference character into two of the most complex characters in League of Legends.

Vi in particular is leaps and bounds deeper than what she initially was in the MOBA. In League, she’s just a hard-boiled cop who likes to punch stuff, but Arcane adds so much more to this. Plus, all of her action scenes in Arcane are nothing short of incredible, as Riot has really put a lot of focus on making sure her fights aren’t just all ‘one punch and it’s over’ but rather play out as actual bare-knuckle street brawls with a lot of technique and interesting choreography. Now that Vi is confirmed to be an Enforcer for Piltover in season 2 of Arcane, it’ll be interesting to see how, if at all, her choreography changes. With what’s been shown so far, Vi is obviously not in a good place mentally, so we’ll see how this affects her decision-making and fighting style.

1 Jinx

Arcane’s ‘Main Character’

Where else could this end but with Powder AKA Jinx? Jinx has always been a fan-favorite character in League, ever since she was released as a Champion back in 2013. But, even back then, fans always compared her to Harley Quinn or even the Joker and never gave any thought as to why she was unhinged.

Well, Arcane dives headfirst into exploring this, and it does it so well. While most people don’t exactly agree with how immediately off the deep end Powder goes, everyone can at least understand it. The transition from Powder to Jinx, her way of approaching problems, and every part where she’s almost coming apart at the seams, are all just so perfectly understandable but tragic. And what’s even worse, in the teaser trailer for season 2, Vi finally calls Jinx by Jinx instead of Powder, drawing a clear line between them as enemies. It also seems like the misbegotten of Zaun end up pushing Jinx up as their symbol of rebellion, or at least something similar, so we’ll if Jinx takes on this mantle or just attempts to destroy everything altogether.