Champion

A Champion is a warrior reigning from the vast regions of the universe that has come to wage war in the Fields of Justice. Riot Games develops new champions for League of Legends, and each champion is individually designed to have unique abilities and traits that a player must use wisely. Some champions use brute strength and power, others use deadly and cunning precision, while others still use supernatural vision and magic.

There were 40 champions released at launch, and there is one added approximately every two weeks. About 8-10 champions are in development at any moment. Each week there is a rotation of ten champions that are available to play for free. For those that bought the Collector's Edition, 20 champions are automatically unlocked; another 20 can be unlocked by buying the Champion Bundle through the game client. All champions, however, can be unlocked with Influence Points or Riot Points at the Riot Store ingame.

Champion status

 * Unlocked: This means that the champion has been unlocked and can be used at any time.
 * Free to Play: This status is reserved for the 10 free champions of the week. They are indicated with an (!).
 * Locked: This status is accompanied by a gray square or picture of the champion, which means the champion is unavailable for use.

Pools
Every champion can be assigned to a price class, which is determined by it's level of difficulty as one of many factors. The champions with more depth are mostly the more expensive ones.
 * Heroic (450 IP):
 * Epic (1350 IP):
 * Legendary:
 * 3150 IP:
 * 4800 IP:
 * 6300 IP:

The costs are placed into their corresponding  price class.
 * Tier 1 "Heroic" (260 RP):
 * Tier 2 "Epic" (585 RP):
 * Tier 3 "Legendary" (975 RP):

List of champions
As of February 1st, 2012 there are currently released champions, with the latest one being.

Concept
The following champions have been hinted to be under development by Ezreal, Game Designer, on his Twitter, or otherwise by other Riot staff ("Reds") on the forums:
 * A new support champion.
 * Tempus, a male time-themed melee DPS assassin (formerly known as Aeon)
 * A Void creature caster (possibly "daddy")
 * Zelos, brother and a sergeant in the Ionian military.
 * Kassadin's daughter, whom Kassadin was tricked into sending into the void by Malzahar.
 * Dr. Aregor Priggs, a high-ranking Zaunite official and businessman.
 * A male non-fighter champion by Ezreal.
 * An archetypal "nature mage" caster character being developed by Morello.
 * Lissandra the Ice Dervish, one of the Three Freljord Princesses alongside and.

Other
The following champions were cancelled, placed on hold or otherwise:
 * – April Fool's "mascot" (Made into the skin for  in '10 and  skin for  in '11).

Cancelled

 * Avasha
 * Eagle Rider
 * Iron Engineer
 * Komachi, a pure tank Champion being developed by Xypherous.
 * Omen - Omen was a cancelled champion that eventually made way for . The cancellation of Omen was the cause of the eventual Riven patch delay since Riot had to push back their production schedule to make a whole new champion (Riven) from scratch.
 * Plant King (probably remade into )
 * Tiki (likely incorporated into the skin)
 * Twin Yordle champion - was being developed by Feral Pony.
 * Tiki (likely incorporated into the skin)
 * Twin Yordle champion - was being developed by Feral Pony.
 * Tiki (likely incorporated into the skin)
 * Twin Yordle champion - was being developed by Feral Pony.
 * Twin Yordle champion - was being developed by Feral Pony.