League of Legends to begin Art & Sustainability updates for older Champions

League of Legends has been around for over a decade now. The game has evolved quite a bit since its early days, both in terms of gameplay and overall art direction.

While older champions may still hold their own in battle, they’ve sort of fallen behind in the graphical department. These OGs lack the modern quality standards of Riot’s newer design philosophy. Or in some instances, they’ve got technical issues that date way back. Or their original design makes it harder for new skins to be developed for them. Whatever the situation, Riot is looking to modernize these older champions through a new type of champion update that they are calling the “Art & Sustainability Update” (or ASU).

Unlike Riot’s Visual and Gameplay Update (VGU) champions, the ASU update serves as more of a visual refresh. They won’t be reimagining a champion’s lore or making changes to their gameplay. Rather, they are “bringing the champion closer to modern expectations” and “current art and visual standards.”

A champion ASU can range from fixing certain elements of an older champion like outdated animations or broken body parts (wrists, necks, etc.), outdated outfits and voice overs, or gameplay clarity improvements. Base champion and the oldest skins for that champion are likely to undergo the most change.

In some instances, an ASU can be used on a champion to make them match their representation in other areas of League IP. With Riot expanding the League of Legends universe to other platforms, and even television, ASUs could help unify everything.

The first ASU is scheduled to launch later this year. Riot didn’t mention which champions will be the first to undergo an ASU, but you can probably imagine the older ones that are due for an update. Which champion would you like to see modernized?