With the upcoming MSI skin line, Inkshadow, reveal players wonder if Naafiri will be announced soon.
Riot uploaded the preseason 2023 roadmap for League of Legends earlier this year. In regards to champions, they revealed four upcoming champions. They are Milio, Naafiri, an unnamed “hangry” champion, and an unnamed calligrapher champion.
Last year, in their preseason 2023 roadmap, Riot mentioned that they wanted to release Naafiri before Milio, but her release date got delayed due to technical issues.
Regardless, Riot released the first champion of the year, Milio, in March. He is an enchanter support champion from Ixtal. His main gameplay gimmick revolves around his healing fire. But he still has a strong CC at his disposal. Milio received positive feedback after his release. However, he was too strong in the solo queue, so Riot hotfix nerfed him within 24 hours after release.
After Milio’s release, the next champion on the list is Naafiri. Naafiri will be a Darkin assassin. Moreover, from previous teases, she will be designed around the mid-lane. As for her appearance, she will be a canine, like a dog or a wolf. Riot has also teased that she might have multiple bodies that players could control. But the only gameplay part that they confirmed is that she would be a straightforward champion to learn and master.
And now, recently, Riot revealed the newest skin line releasing for MSI 2023, Inkshadow. This skin line is inspired by easter calligraphy. But some fans realized how similar the latest skin line is to the cult classic game Ōkami. And due to Ōkami’s protagonist, Amaterasu, and Naafiri being canine and Ōkami’s visual looking identical to Inkshadow, fans wonder if Naafiri might release during MSI 2023 alongside an Inkshadow skin for her.
Read more: Inkshadow Master Yi Legendary Skin.
Will Riot Unveil Naafiri During MSI 2023 With New Inkshadow Skin?
This theory comes from a fan on Reddit. They suggested that Riot might release Naafiri during MSI 2023. The main reason is that the upcoming MSI 2023 exclusive skin line’s art style looks similar to a classic game Ōkami.
Ōkami is an action-adventure game developed by Clover Studios and published by Capcom. It was initially exclusively released on PlayStation 2 in 2006. But it later got ports in many other platforms in subsequent years. Not too long ago, Capcom released an HD remaster of the game on Steam.
In this game, you play as Amaterasu, a Celestial Brush God. But her appearance is a dog, similar to Naafiri. Moreover, both Naafiri and Amaterasu are female. And that’s where similarities end.
It is not uncommon for Riot to make skins based on pop culture or other IPs. For example, the Odyssey skin is a reference to Guardians of the Galaxy, Warring Kingdoms is a reference to the Dynasty Warriors series, etc.
However, it is currently unlikely that Riot might release Naafiri anytime soon, as it hasn’t even been a month since Milio was released on the live servers. So it might take Riot more time to release her.
The Inkshadow skins will be distributed in patches 13.9 and 13.10, scheduled to release on May 4, 2023, and May 18, 2023, respectively. So if Riot does reveal Naafiri during MSI 2023, it could be during one of those dates.
