Tawan
Ekko shares the Radiance box art with Seraphine, front and centre (Riot Games, 2026), so it feels right that his Legend is one of the most unusual in the set. It’s all about timing, which is about as on-brand for Ekko as it gets.
Boy Who Shattered Time
Fury · Mind
Disempower me, exhaust: Reduce the cost of the next unit you play this turn by 2 Energy and 1 Power, and give it “Kill me at end of turn.”
RAD · 139/167 · EN · Art by Envar Studio
What his Legend does
Ekko’s Legend works in two steps. First you Empower him by paying one Energy and exhausting him, and later you can Disempower him and exhaust him again to make the next unit you play that turn much cheaper, with one catch, which is that the unit dies at the end of the turn (Riot Games, n.d.-a).
In other words, you spend a turn charging him up so you can drop something big well ahead of schedule, for one turn only. It’s a bit like a cheat code in a video game, where you get something far too powerful for the moment and the game takes it back right away.
His champion card
Ekko, Ingenious asks you to return one of your own units to your hand as an extra cost to play him, and he has Ganking, which lets him move from battlefield to battlefield (Riot Games, n.d.-a).
Ekko, Ingenious
Zaun
Ganking (I can move from battlefield to battlefield.)
Why the pair matters
Here’s the part I find really exciting. His Legend creates a unit that’s doomed to die at the end of the turn, and his champion card asks you to return a friendly unit to your hand. On paper, that means Ekko, Ingenious could rescue the very unit his Legend cheated out, sending it back to your hand to be played again later. Whether that line holds up depends on the final rules and timing, so treat it as a theory for now, but it’s the kind of loop that could define how he’s played.
The Overnumbered version
All nine Radiance Legends get an Overnumbered alternate art version (Riot Games, 2026), but Riot hasn’t revealed Ekko’s yet. Once it’s out, I’ll add it right here.
In League of Legends
Ekko, the Boy Who Shattered Time
Assassin / Mage · Zaun
Ekko is a prodigy from the rough streets of Zaun who can manipulate time. Using his own invention, the Z-Drive, he explores the branching possibilities of reality to find the perfect moment, which makes him seem to pull off the impossible on the first try, every time. When someone he cares about is threatened, he and the Firelights will do whatever it takes to protect them (Riot Games, n.d.-b).
From the Rift to the table
His Legend carries his exact League title, and the mechanic is a really nice translation of his kit. In League, Ekko is all about bending time to get a better outcome, and on the table he lets you borrow from the future, with a big unit now that is gone by the end of the turn. His full story is on his official League of Legends champion page.
What we don’t know yet
The rescue loop above is the big open question, along with how Empower and Disempower play out across longer games, and we’ll find out once Radiance releases on October 23. Until then, catch up on our Orianna Spotlight and the full Radiance reveal, and every Spotlight so far is on the Cards page. Next up is Jinx, who turns an empty hand into a weapon.
It are what it are.
References
Riot Games. (n.d.-a). Card gallery. Riftbound: League of Legends Trading Card Game. Retrieved October 1, 2026, from https://playriftbound.com/en-us/card-gallery/
Riot Games. (n.d.-b). Ekko, the Boy Who Shattered Time. League of Legends. Retrieved October 1, 2026, from https://www.leagueoflegends.com/en-au/champions/ekko/
Riot Games. (2026, September 25). The Radiance overview. Riftbound: League of Legends Trading Card Game. https://playriftbound.com/en-us/news/announcements/the-radiance-overview/
Tawan was created under Riot Games’ “Legal Jibber Jabber” policy using assets owned by Riot Games. Riot Games does not endorse or sponsor this project.