League of Legends has come a long way.

Riot officially began servicing their game in October of 2009, and if you only count the years - that's 9 years since its release. In the current generation, where new games are released daily across many different platforms, nobody would argue if you called a 9-year old game a "classic" or just old. In spite of this, League has been popular all throughout its service - and the reason is that the game "renews" itself with each and every update.

With time, almost every champion that was released during the early phase of the game saw small or major makeovers. Small changes included skill ratio and effect alterations - and larger changes include major redesigns to some champions' skills. And out of the many that were updated to stay up-to-date, there are a couple of champions who were heavily altered - such as the recently-altered Swain. 

Every change was brought forth for different reasons. Some were made to fix bugs while some were used on characters that simply lacked "uniqueness" and individuality as a champion. A couple of them had lore behind them that didn't really fit in with the rest. And lastly, some were just simply visually unattractive and therefore were unpopular among the users. 

Out of the many champions that were introduced in the game,  quite a number of them were changed for the better. Here are 10 champions that saw the biggest changes.

※ A lot more than 10 champions were changed throughout the course of League's history, but to list them all will be too long. The ten champions covered in this article will be the ones that saw the largest change.

1. Evelynn

Both before and after the rework in September of 2017, Evelynn had always been a scary champion to face in both normals and ranked.

Evelynn always stood on the border of being overpowered and underpowered - even the simplest change pushed her over to one side. During the 1st half of Season 1, she was considered overpowered, but in the latter half, she was quickly considered a troll-pick. As she was a part of the league since the game's official release, it's no surprise that she saw many changes throughout her existence.

Her design as an assassin jungler still remains the same to this day, but her rework was still significant. In the early days of the game, Riot released new champions at a rapid pace - a champion almost every 2-3 weeks. And those released at this time had strange/insignificant backgrounds and lore. But through this rework, Evelynn went from being a blue-skinned part-time assassin to a transcendent being. 


2. Galio

Currently, Galio is quite popular in both ranked and professional play. But before his rework, he was a rare sight. It's true that his old passive - converting 50% of his MR to AP - could've been utilized as a gimmick to hard-counter other AP champions, but having to go against 2+ AP champions was rare. In addition, you were countered by AD champions - this was somewhat preventable in ranked, but not in blind-pick normals. 

After being treated with contempt for a considerable amount of time, Galio saw a complete makeover and came back as a completely new champion. The biggest and most positive change was his character design. His former version was honestly way too ugly - despite being called a "sentinel", he was the last thing I would want to have as a guardian angel. 


3. Graves

After his debut in 2011, Graves was consecutively hit with the nerf bat - 6 times in total - before he was even remotely considered balanced. He was a weapon of mass destruction in the botlane, before being moved to the jungle after his rework. Aside from Kindred, an ADC was the last thing you'd expect to see in the jungle, so the entire experience of playing Graves in the jungle was rather awkward at first. But traditionally, Graves always had powerful burst-damage potential, and he proved himself to be a formidable jungler. At one point, he even reached the point of being a 1st tier jungler in professional play. 

The fascinating thing about Graves is that he's one of the few champions that was moved to a different role through a rework. An outlaw of the west that feels like he should roam the monument valley is in the jungle fighting raptors - but then again, who cares? At least he's not a tiny mummy or a beer-bellied drunk.


4. Poppy

A champion that used to be very strong for 1 on 1 fights. Her past concept of being a tank-based assassin was also a rather strange one. When Looking at her current state and comparing it to her old self, you can see that she went through a very large change. Firstly, her weapon changed. She used to carry a one-handed hammer with a shield, but now, she throws her shield as a ranged form of an attack and fights with a two-handed hammer. Poppy's hammer not only saw change in-game but also had its lore altered. In the past, Poppy's hammer used to be a "good" hammer that was gifted to Poppy by her father. But now, it's a weapon that is to be delivered to some legendary hero. So in a way, the main character of Poppy's lore isn't really Poppy herself, but her hammer.

Poppy's background also saw some change. Before the rework, Poppy was an immigrant who, despite being an outsider, climbed the ranks to become the yordle ambassador to Demacia - a talented yordle indeed. Though she was accomplished, she inappropriately used public money for her own desires (Poppy's Big Vacation) - she was a character with no definite personality. But now, she's a character that doesn't even know her age - an ancient yordle that's searching for a warrior for thousands of years. She travels across the land, wielding and fighting with the hammer she's destined to deliver. The change to her splash art was definitely welcomed, however, since her face in her old splash art looked like it was smashed in by her hammer. 


5. Rengar

Rengar is the champion that had the smallest amount of change through his rework - if his change is even considered a rework at all. The reason I included him on this list is that he was reworked in desperation. Before Rengar made his first appearance on the Rift, many people were waiting impatiently to play him. An item-based passive, and an easter egg that alters his stats; at the time, it looked like he'd be the most interesting and fun champion to play.

But it was fun in a completely different way. After his release, Rengar was found to be extremely buggy - and it was discovered that some of his bugs played out in favor of our furry fighter. With his new-found bugs, Rengar laid waste to Summoner's Rift. Whenever his bugs were hotfixed, another was discovered, and again and again. It even reached a point where he was globally banned. Fixing one brought forth two, like a Hydra. After consecutively fixing bug after bug, Rengar became what he is today. Just a talking lion.


6. Ryze

Similar to Rengar, Ryze also has a history of major changes, but Ryze's rework happened for different reasons. 

Ryze is League of Legends' original mage character and has been with the franchise since the very beginning. With his concept being a "mana" mage, Ryze's attack power saw an increase whenever you built mana items to supplement his total mana pool. Due to this, Ryze's item build consisted of items that raised mana - regardless of whether it was an offensive item or a defensive one. With that alone, it was hard to judge Ryze as a broken champion, but in the eyes of Riot, he likely seemed to be way too tanky for a mage. 

In the end, he was remade, but he ended up becoming insanely powerful - a champion that can beat almost anyone in a 1 vs 1 fight by simply spamming all of his skills. After some consideration, Riot changed his Q into a non-target skill, but he still remained powerful. At one point, after multiple, consecutive nerfs, he even hit rock bottom and became the champion with the lowest winrate in the entire game. Currently, he's become a champion that is used once-in-a-while in professional play, but I'm not sure if that's where Riot wants Ryze to stand. If not... I guess another change will be coming in the future.


7. Taric

The old Taric was definitely an oddball. 

With his 'outrageous' voice lines and blindingly shimmering hair, he was not the sort of character you'd expect to see in the world of Runeterra. This gem nerd, that always entered the rift with a freshly shaved chin, became quite a meme. 

Taric's background story used to be... very strange. First of all, he's not a native to Runeterra. He was a young man that was summoned from a faraway world.

If you told Taric's tale in modern fashion, it'd go something like this: you are a doctor who dreams of opening your own hospital. One day, you suddenly wake up in a different world known as Runeterra. That's how the legend of Taric started. Despite this sudden change in environment, he just went with the flow, establishing a new life without a hint of homesickness - quite a character. Then suddenly, he threw away his shield and came back as a demigod; his actual strength as a champion increased too. He did become a bit more arrogant through his rework, but I'll let that one pass because he used to be very humble before his changes.


8. Trundle

There isn't a finger on your hand that you can cut off and feel no pain. If you had 20 sons and daughters, there would not be a single one that you don't feel love for. The first problem with the character was that he was ugly. In many games, there is always that one character who is exceptionally ugly and/or dirty - it's a rather a common design. But even then, Trundle lacked the "charm" that other dirty mascots have. His kit and effectiveness in-game weren't exactly stand-out either.

Then in 2013, following the appearance of Lissandra, Trundle's festering skin was replaced with a handsome muscular body. Although he didn't see too much change following his visual update, his skill kit was never really considered bad. In the past, Trundle was poorly treated, but he was always a great counter-pick to utilize in any given tank-oriented meta. A professional gamer in the past, CloudTemplar, once accidentally picked Trundle at an important professional match. At the time, it was considered a massive crisis, but in today's time, people wouldn't think too much of it.


9. Urgot

Before the rework, many were disgusted at the sight Urgot. His concept involved him having a half-mechanical body, so he lacked normal legs and his entire character design was sewn in patches. Thanks to that, Urgot was considered the ugliest champion in the entire league. Despite having a fairly useful kit, no one played him. But then again, even the "useful" parts of his kit were really situational at best.

in 2015-2016, his true potential was recognized by pros in professional play. But even then, few to no people played him in normals/ranked. In the end, he was reworked. 

As a result of the rework, the game introduced a merciless, 6-legged killing machine. Putting aside the new Urgot's actual effectiveness in combat, his new character design and the ability to merciless grind up the enemy with his ultimate brought him the attention that he needed. He is no longer a champion that is too ugly to pick and play.


10. Yorick

Yorick was a creation of Riot that was cast aside for the longest time. There was a time when his pre-rework state was highly regarded as one of the best laners - but the problem was that harassing in lane was all that he could do. In addition, many new champions were added one after another, and Yorick fell behind in many ways. An odd torso to leg ratio followed by an odd walking animation... not to mention his quite unflattering facial features... He was right behind Trundle and Urgot in terms of character design. His number of skins also reflected on his popularity - from 2011 to 2017, Yorick only had 2 skins. 

But now he's completely changed. The rework didn't exactly make him popular, nor did it make him a stronger or a weaker champion. But the important thing is that Riot actually cared about the champion. That thought alone is actually quite pleasant. His hunch back was straightened, and he received the cool title of being the last remaining member of a forgotten religion. But his popularity has remained the same...