Take heart, League of Legends pirate fans: Champion Gangplank didn’t actually “die,” he was just ... maimed.
Last week, developer Riot Games killed Gangplank off during its big crazy League story event, Bilgewater: Burning Tides, which added new related game modes and rewards while spooling out new lore about League’s characters. Gangplank was murdered in Act 3 of the event’s related story, blown up by rival Miss Fortune, and boom—literally—he was gone. Players couldn’t use him in the game, because he was, you know, dead.
It was a pretty big deal, and the first time any changes in story had had quite such an effect on the game itself.
Today, though, Riot released the epilogue to the Burning Tides story, and it turns out Gangplank survived the assassination attempt, although one of his arms didn’t. So his return is imminent, just as Yannick LeJacq predicted, a little worse for wear and with a new limb to replace his old one.
From now on, the base version of Gangplank will look like this:
And like this:
Riot announced it is also taking the opportunity to hand out a free skin to everyone who owns Gangplank in honor of his near-death experience:
Since this is the first time we’ve done something so dramatic with story and theme, we’re commemorating the event with the Captain Gangplank skin depicting the dread pirate from before the events of Bilgewater: Burning Tides. All players who own and play (or have already played) an entire matchmade game as Gangplank during the event will receive the Captain Gangplank skin for free.
Captain Gangplank reflects a simpler time, when one uncrowned reaver king ruled over Bilgewater with an iron cutlass and a fearsome love of scrimshaw. While base Gangplank has been irrevocably changed by Miss Fortune’s masterful scheme, the Captain Gangplank skin hearkens back to before the pirate’s bloody fall.
The Burning Tides event ends on Aug. 10, so players looking to try out any of the game modes, buy any of the exclusive stuff or win any of the rewards associated with it still have a week to do so.
Phil Hornshaw is a freelance journalist and co-author of So You Created a Wormhole: The Time Traveler’s Guide to Time Travel and The Space Hero’s Guide to Glory. You can follow him on Twitter at @philhornshaw or contact him at philhornshaw@gmail.com.