‘Dead’ League of Legends champion Gangplank returns, players get a free skin

By Kris Wouk August 3, 2015

League of Legends new Gangplank skin — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Last week we reported that Riot Games had seemingly done the unthinkable and killed off a League of Legends champion for good. The pirate Gangplank had not only been killed of in a story event, but the champion and his skins were removed from the game.

Of course, since plenty of players had poured money into acquiring said champion and skins, it didn’t seem very likely that Riot would actually remove the character for good. Sure enough, the epilogue to the Bilgewater: Burning Tides event saw the champion return intact … mostly.

While Gangplank is alive and well, the champion is now missing an arm. The lost limb has been replaced with a metal one, because this is a game we’re talking about. If you’re already missing the old Gangplank, don’t worry, Riot has already thought of a solution.

“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,” Riot Games’ Pabro wrote in the blog post announcing Gangplank’s return. “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,” the post continues. ” 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.”

Players’ reception of the new revelation have been mixed. While the actual removal of a champion would no doubt anger players who’d not only invested money but a fair amount of time into learning how to play the champion, Gangplank’s return has some players complaining about the storyline’s lack of stakes.

The Bilgewater: Burning Tides event comes to a close August 10 at 2 a.m. PDT, so if you’re looking to snag the Captain Gangplank skin for free, you’d better get playing.

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Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…

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