Firelight Ekko, an upcoming League of Legends skin based on the champion’s appearance in the animated series Arcane, has had its release date delayed.

The main reason behind the delay of Ekko’s new skin lies in its sound effects, according to a Reddit comment from Riot Games’ lead skin producer Ambrielle “Katana” Army. 

“We completely agree that SFX are a standard and expected part of an Epic (1350) skin, and leaving them out was an unfortunate mistake on our part due to a miscommunication internally,” Army said on Reddit. “While we do everything we can to avoid delaying content, we’re going to hold off from shipping this skin for a few patches to work on adding new SFX.” 

Riot will be taking Firelight Ekko off of the League PBE for the time being to address players’ feedback on the skin. The League skins team at Riot will also be taking extra time to develop a Homeguard animation for Firelight Ekko, as well as some “small adjustments” to his visual effects, according to Army. 

With the update, Firelight Ekko will receive a hoverboard to fly out of base on whenever his Homeguard boots are active. Throughout the second half of Arcane, Ekko is seen flying around Piltover and Zaun on his trademark hoverboard on multiple occasions and Riot feels that “adding this animation strongly contributes to Firelight Ekko’s story and the celebration of Arcane.”

Firelight Ekko has not been given an updated release date, but with the delays in mind, it’s possible that the skin may not hit the live League servers until 2022. Firelight Ekko will be the first skin that pays tribute to Arcane that will cost Riot Points. Jinx, Vi, Caitlyn, and Jayce were all given free Arcane skins in League earlier this year.

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