Champion

A Champion is a being or person that has been summoned to wage battle on the Fields of Justice.

Lore
As the League of Legends was established to prevent further Rune Wars on Valoran, the neutral aligned summoners called forth exceptional individuals, referred to as "Champions", to battle on the Fields of Justice in order to settle disputes. These champions have joined the League for various reasons. Some are soldiers who have pledged their allegiance to a particular nation and fight in their nation's interests. Some are renowned warriors who seek to prove themselves against Valoran's most powerful beings. Some are prisoners of the League, forced to do the League's bidding as punishment. Some may even be strange creatures from other worlds, hoping to bring stability or further discord to Runeterra. For whatever the champion's reason, they have gained the interest of the League of Legends.

In order to join the League, a potential champion, who has proven to possess extraordinary qualities, must travel to the Institute of War to undergo a Judgement. There, a designated summoner will probe their mind in order to determine the individual's motives. In truth, the intentions of the potential champion has little bearing on whether they are accepted into the League or not. The primary purpose of the Judgement is to determine whether the individual is capable of exposing their mind to the summoner, which would allow the two to share their mental thoughts and act as one. Should the potential champion pass their Judgement, as well as agreeing to the call of the summon, they will have become an official League champion.

Development
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 use supernatural vision and magic, etc.

There were 40 champions released at launch, with one released 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 in-game.

Champions Retrospective
Announcement made by NeeksNaman:

''Between a, a , a , a and a , the League of Legends has seen the introduction of some crazy, unconventional, and downright badass characters over the years.

''Creating compelling champions is our passion, and a great deal of care and effort goes into handcrafting every one of them. Your passion fuels our own, and we learn a lot from your forum discussions and heated battles on the Fields of Justice. In this Retrospective, our co-founders, Brandon “Ryze” Beck and Marc “Tryndamere” Merrill team up with some of the Rioters behind the champions to give you a taste of the “secret sauce” that makes a League of Legends champ.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs1yD8m2fvE&feature=player_embedded

Attributes
Champions generally fall into certain categories based on their skills. These are also called tags and are used on the attributes space on each champion main page and Ability Details page.

Status

 * Unlocked: The champion has been unlocked and can be used at any time.
 * Free to Play: Reserved for the 10 free champions of the week. They are indicated with a (!) sign in the top right corner of the champion icon.
 * Locked: The champion is unavailable for use. They are indicated with a grey picture of the champion.

Pools
Every champion is assigned to a price class, which is generally determined by the uniquity of its design:
 * 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 August 7th, 2012 there are currently 102 released champions, with the latest being.

The following champion concepts have been hinted to be under development

 * An Elemental Hydra champion hinted by Ezreal..
 * FeralPony mentions that multiple female champions upcoming.
 * A champion is being worked by Guinsoo.
 * Next Champion is going to be from the Void.
 * A Shapeshifter hinted by Morello.

Other
The following champions were placed on hold or otherwise:
 * – April Fool's "mascot" (Made into the skin for  in '10 and  skin for  in '11, as well as the  for  in '12).
 * Lissandra the Ice Dervish is a prospective champion, though Ezreal has mentioned that she isn't actually in development yet.
 * Tempus

Cancelled

 * Avasha
 * Eagle Rider
 * Iron Engineer
 * Komachi, a pure tank champion being developed by Xypherous.
 * Plant King (several abilities later implemented on )
 * Tiki (likely incorporated into the skin)
 * Twin Yordle motorcycle champion - (one with bombs, other with rocket launcher); was being developed by Feral Pony. (Half of the character concept turned into )
 * Tiki (likely incorporated into the skin)
 * Twin Yordle motorcycle champion - (one with bombs, other with rocket launcher); was being developed by Feral Pony. (Half of the character concept turned into )
 * Tiki (likely incorporated into the skin)
 * Twin Yordle motorcycle champion - (one with bombs, other with rocket launcher); was being developed by Feral Pony. (Half of the character concept turned into )
 * Tiki (likely incorporated into the skin)
 * Twin Yordle motorcycle champion - (one with bombs, other with rocket launcher); was being developed by Feral Pony. (Half of the character concept turned into )