When Arcane first dropped, it blew away both long-time League of Legends fans and casual viewers who had never touched a MOBA in their life. The gritty, emotional story of Piltover and Zaun’s conflict felt universal, but it was packed with little nods and character beats that left new viewers curious about the game’s existing lore. If you’re one of those people asking what characters from league of legends are in arcane, you’re in the right place. We’ve broken down every playable champion that appears across the first two seasons, plus hidden easter eggs, lore retcons, and what you can expect from future seasons of the show.
What Characters From League of Legends Are in Arcane’s First Two Seasons?
The first two seasons of Arcane center almost entirely on Piltover and Zaun, so almost all the LoL champions that appear are tied to those two regions. Some are front and center as main cast members, while others are small cameos that only dedicated fans will catch. Below is a quick breakdown of the core playable champions that have major roles in the show so far:
- Vi: The Piltover Enforcer is a top lane brawler in LoL, known for her massive Atlas Gauntlets that let her punch through walls and take down tanks with ease. In Arcane, we see her origin story as Powder’s older sister, growing up in Zaun’s undercity before making her way to Piltover’s enforcer force.
- Jinx: The Loose Cannon is one of the most popular ADCs in LoL, famous for her chaotic playstyle, rocket launcher, and tendency to leave explosions wherever she goes. Arcane dives deep into her trauma as Powder, showing the exact events that turned her from a scared little girl into Piltover’s most wanted criminal.
- Caitlyn Kiramman: The Sheriff of Piltover is a long-range ADC who pairs perfectly with Vi in both game and show. Born into one of Piltover’s wealthiest families, she turns her back on privilege to root out corruption across both cities, and her slow-burn partnership with Vi is one of the show’s most beloved arcs.
- Jayce Talis: The Defender of Tomorrow is a flexible mid/top lane mage bruiser who uses Hextech technology to switch between melee and ranged attacks. Arcane shows his rise from a disgraced inventor to the face of Piltover’s progress, and his complicated relationship with power and accountability.
- Viktor: The Machine Herald is a high-damage mid lane mage who uses augmented technology to control team fights. Unlike his more villainous original lore, Arcane frames him as a sympathetic, terminally ill Zaunite who wants to use Hextech augmentation to end human suffering for good.
Beyond these core cast members, there are a handful of other playable champions with smaller roles. Heimerdinger, the Yordle inventor who’s a popular mid/support pick in LoL, is a long-standing member of Piltover’s council and one of the only characters who understands the true risk of unregulated Hextech. Ekko, the Boy Who Shattered Time, is a high-mobility mid laner who leads the Firelight gang in Zaun, using his time-warping Z-Drive to protect his community from Shimmer and enforcer raids. Singed, the mad chemist support, is the creator of Shimmer, and his experiments drive much of the conflict across both seasons. Even Warwick, the ravenous jungle bruiser, gets an origin story reveal as Vi and Powder’s adoptive father Vander, transformed by Singed’s experiments into a rage-fueled monster.
Key Lore Differences Between LoL Champions and Their Arcane Counterparts
You might be surprised to learn that a lot of the character beats you love from Arcane didn’t exist in LoL’s original canon. Riot retconned decades of existing lore to fit the show’s story, and those changes have since been rolled into the game’s official canon for all future content. That means even if you’ve played LoL for 10 years, you might not recognize some of these adjusted backstories.
For example, Vi and Jinx were never written as sisters before Arcane. They were both Zaunite characters with a chaotic rivalry, but there was no mention of a shared childhood or family bond. The creators added that dynamic to give the show an emotional core, and it’s been so well received that it’s now the official backstory for both champions in the game. Viktor’s original lore also got a major glow-up: he was originally written as a cold, villainous figure who stripped people of their free will to turn them into augmented machines, but Arcane frames his mission as a deeply personal fight to end the pain that comes with being human.
That doesn’t mean all the lore is different, though. A lot of core character traits stay the same: Vi is still brash and loyal, Jinx is still chaotic and traumatized, Caitlyn is still sharp and committed to justice. The changes just make their stories more accessible for people who haven’t spent hours reading through LoL’s wiki pages. I’ve been playing LoL since 2016, and I honestly prefer the Arcane versions of most of these characters. They feel more human, and their motivations make way more sense than the old, one-note lore we had before.
Hidden League of Legends Champion Easter Eggs in Arcane You Might Have Missed
The show’s creators packed every frame of Arcane with tiny nods to LoL’s wider universe, and most of them fly right over the heads of casual viewers. You don’t have to be a diehard fan to enjoy the show, but catching these little easter eggs makes rewatches way more fun.
One of the easiest to miss is a neon sign in Zaun that reads “ZERI’S REPAIRS” in the background of a few season 2 scenes. Zeri is a Zaunite ADC who uses electric technology to fight, and that small nod confirms she exists in the Arcane universe, even if we haven’t seen her on screen yet. There’s also a poster for a fighting tournament in Zaun that features a silhouette of Garen, the Might of Demacia, a popular top lane champion from the distant kingdom of Demacia. That’s a small nod to the wider Runeterra universe beyond Piltover and Zaun.
You can also spot references to Shaco, the Demon Jester, in a lot of Jinx’s graffiti scattered across Zaun. Shaco is a chaotic assassin who’s tied to pranks and unexplained violence, so it makes sense that Jinx would look up to him as a sort of icon. Even Mel Medarda’s mother, Ambessa, is a Noxian warlord who’s been teased as a future playable champion in LoL, so her appearance in season 2 is both an easter egg and a setup for future content.
Don’t feel bad if you missed all of these on your first watch. Most of them are only a few frames long, and you’d have to be very familiar with LoL’s champion roster to pick up on them. I only caught the Zeri sign on my third rewatch of season 2, and I mained Zeri for a full ranked split last year.
Which LoL Champions Might Appear in Future Arcane Seasons?
Riot has confirmed that future seasons of Arcane will expand beyond Piltover and Zaun to explore other regions of Runeterra, so we’re going to see a lot more LoL champions on screen in the next few years. Even before we leave the twin cities, there are a handful of champions tied to Piltover and Zaun that are almost guaranteed to show up sooner or later.
Zeri is at the top of most fans’ wishlists, given the easter egg we already saw in season 2. Her backstory as a working class Zaunite who fights to protect her neighborhood from corrupt officials and Shimmer dealers fits perfectly with the show’s existing themes of class conflict. Camille, the Steel Shadow, is another almost sure bet. She’s the head of Piltover’s secret police, an augmented noble who uses her blade legs to eliminate anyone who threatens Piltover’s social order. She’d make the perfect antagonist as the council cracks down harder on Zaun after the events of season 2.
Orianna, the Lady of Clockwork, is another champion that fits perfectly with the show’s existing story. She’s a young Piltover woman who was dying of a terminal illness, so her father turned her into a clockwork machine to save her life, only for her to lose all her memories of her old self. That tragic arc fits perfectly with Viktor’s ongoing story about augmentation and the cost of progress. If the show does expand to Noxus in season 3, we’re also almost certainly going to see popular champions like Darius, Draven, and Katarina, who are all core to Noxus’ military leadership.
I’m personally holding out for Orianna to show up in season 3. Her backstory is so tragic and ties so closely to the themes of loss and transformation that Arcane does so well, and it would be amazing to see her interact with Viktor as he explores more augmentation technology. There’s no official confirmation yet, but it feels like a perfect fit.
At the end of the day, Arcane works because it’s a good story first, and a love letter to LoL fans second. If you were wondering what characters from league of legends are in arcane, you now have a full breakdown of every major and minor champion appearance across the first two seasons, plus the context to understand how they tie to the game’s existing lore. Whether you’re a casual viewer who wants to know more about the characters you love, or a long-time LoL fan looking for hidden easter eggs, there’s something new to notice on every rewatch. As new seasons drop, we’ll keep updating this guide with every new champion appearance and lore detail we find.