A recent intervention from Californian state regulators could lead to an amendment in Riot's gender discrimination settlement from the initial sum of $10 million to over $400 million.

The original amount, which was publicly announced back in December 2019, was to be divided between approximately 1,000 women who had worked at Riot between November 2014 and the time at which the settlement was finalized.

However, according to a recent report from the Los Angeles Times, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a document on January 8, 2020 proposing that the women in question were owed a lot more than the amount Riot had agreed upon.

The report also mentions the agency in question's argument that "no enforceable changes to employment policies, at a company alleged to be rife with sexism, are part of the settlement.”

In response to the agency’s intervention, Riot spokesperson Joe Hixson claimed that Riot “worked hard to negotiate with the lawyer representing the class to reach an agreement that we collectively believe is fair for the class members.” In his eyes, the interference of external agencies is a disruption "filled with inaccuracies and false allegations.”

"We are particularly dismayed that the filing downplays and ignores the efforts we have made with respect to diversity, inclusion, and culture over the past 18 months," Hixson added. "We look forward to making our case to the Court.”

Whether or not the amount will be adjusted is currently unclear. The intervention of an external party will either be allowed or dismissed during a separate case on January 31, 2020, while the amendment to the $10 million settlement itself will be presided over by a judge on February 3.

League of Legends Season 10 begins tomorrow, and to celebrate a new year and a new season, Riot's released another flashy music video. The cinematic features plenty of fights and a new cover of Imagine Dragons' Warriors, originally made for League of Legends World Championship 2014. Check out the video above. 

I've spent a lot more time watching cinematics, music videos and live acts inspired by League of Legends than I've spent playing the game—I played for an hour, I was crap and everyone was awful—so I'm more invested in the metaverse than League of Legends itself. The latest is a good 'un, and I admit it almost makes me want to try the game again. 

Yesterday, Riot also teased its 2020 plans, which you can get a sneak peek of below.

Over the next week, Riot will spill the beans on new skins it's been working on, champion updates and new champions, and the launch of the Clash mode. Riot will also be sharing details on the future of Teamfight Tactics, as well as revealing more information about Legends of Runeterra and the tabletop game. 

It looks like it's going to be a busy year.

League of Legends' Sett, and Season 10, is nearly upon us. As well as a whole host of changes to Summoner’s Rift ushered in over the course of preseason, the new ranked season heralds the arrival of a new champion: Sett.

While many of the champions from LoL’s in-game nation of Ionia are denizens of peace, harmony, and a decent helping of elemental magic, Sett is a little different. The Boss is the leader of an Ionian crime syndicate whose greatest strengths are his physical prowess and damage threshold.

When is Sett coming out?

Sett should make his way onto the Rift with League of Legends patch 10.1. That makes the League of Legends Sett release date Friday, January 10.

Sett abilities

As a tank, Sett doesn’t have the same level of complexity as some of League of Legends’ more technical fighters, but his abilities do introduce a few new mechanics into the game:

• Pit Grit (Passive): This ability is split into two parts. Heavy Hands causes Sett’s basic attacks to alternate punches between his left and right hands. He’ll always start a fight with a left-handed punch, but Sett is no southpaw: his right-hand punch gains 50 bonus range, attacks eight-times faster than a left-hand punch, and deals bonus physical damage scaling with his attack damage stat. If Sett doesn’t perform a right-hand punch within two seconds of a left-hand punch, the cycle resets. The second part, Heart of the Half-Beast, draws on Sett’s wild past, allowing him to gain bonus health regen based on his missing HP.
• Knuckle Down (Q): A fairly simple concept, but Knuckle Down does various things at once. Once activated, Sett gains +30% movement speed while moving towards enemy champions. It also reset Sett’s basic attack timer, and causes his next two basic attacks in the next five seconds to deal bonus damage.
• Haymaker (W): The Boss’ other three abilities are all a little flashier. Haymaker has a passive which allows Sett to store all the damage he takes as Grit, up to the value of 50% of his max HP. After four seconds, Grit decays by 30% every second. When Haymaker is activated, Sett blasts an area in front of him, dealing physical damage to enemies on his right and left, but the most potent damage to those caught in the centre. Sett also gains a rapidly-decaying shield equal to the Grit expended. 
• Facebreaker (E): This pulls in enemies to Sett's front and back, briefly slowing them and dealing physical damage. If Sett manages to grab at least one enemy on each side, all those affected will be stunned for one second.
• The Show Stopper (Ultimate): Here, The Boss suppresses a target enemy champion, before leaping forward and slamming them into the ground. During this time, Sett can’t be stopped, and when he hits the ground, all enemies in the impact area take physical damage and are slowed by 99% for 1.5 seconds.

Sett gameplay tips

Sett is a quintessential League of Legends juggernaut. When it comes to damage, he can dish it out just as well as he can take it, but he’s not particularly fast. The speed boost from Knuckle Down offers The Boss’ only real mobility, but it's really only helpful when it comes to starting fights: you need to be moving towards an enemy to activate it. Even when compared to the other members of his largely-immobile subclass, Sett struggles to close the gap on more slippery opponents. And you can forget trying to use him to cut and run.

What The Boss lacks in speed, he redeems in strength and perseverance. The lower Sett’s HP, the greater threat he is. Heart of the Half-Beast means the more health you’re missing, the more you’ll gain back in regeneration. Thanks to Haymaker, the more damage you take, the more you deal when you activate the ability—and the bigger the shield you’ll gain. 

In lane, running away from a bad trade probably won’t work, but Sett can take a beating before shielding himself from the killing blow and responding with a powerful punch. Unlike most champions, he also benefits from fighting inside minion waves: Facebreaker works on all enemy units, allowing Sett to wade into the fray and use opposing creeps to activate his stun. Once you’ve started a fight, pay close attention to your passive: right-punch hits much harder than left punch, but using Knuckle Down at the right time ensures your damage output stays as high as possible by resetting your basic attacks.

When it comes to teamfights, Sett’s ultimate changes the types of champion you'd normally target. In many fights, players are looking to lock down ADCs or Mages who have the potential to deal lots of damage, but have relatively low HP. By contrast, The Show Stopper deals more damage based on the bonus health of Sett’s primary target, meaning its most effective when Sett grabs a tank and launches it into the enemy backline. It sounds risky, but the CC offered by Facebreaker and the shielding provided by Haymaker should be enough to help Sett survive until the rest of his team can provide backup.

For itemisation, opt for choices that keep Sett alive long enough to deal as much damage as possible. When the need to leap into the fray arises, Gargoyle Stoneplate or Sterak’s Gage are sensible choices: they’ll stop The Boss from getting burst down as soon as he lands. Trinity Force and Titanic Hydra also seem decent picks, as they benefit both health and damage. If you’re struggling to pick yourself up after your ultimate, Guardian Angel could round out your build, but only as a late-game addition to help in major teamfights.

Riot tweeted out two images on Sunday, the first showing Urgot using his chains over the words "in 5 days we break them" and the second declaring that the 2020 season begins on January 10.

Season 10 will begin with a soft reset of ranked, with new ranks calculated based on performance during the pre-season as well as placement matches. Just like in season nine, you'll get a provisional rank after your first match of the season and only after eight matches will it become visible.

The first League of Legends patch for 2020 will roll out on January 8, two days before season 10 starts, and will bring with it new juggernaut Sett, a former pit fighter according to his bio. The Mecha Kingdom skins should be rolling out soon as well.

A cinematic trailer is traditional for these things, and that image of Urgot's chains might well be a tease for it.

Recently, League of Legends developer Riot Games announced Riot Forge, an effort to publish singleplayer projects set in the League of Legends universe, but made by other developers. Revealed at The Game Awards, the first Riot Forge-published game will be Ruined King: A League of Legends Story, which is being created by Darksiders Genesis developer Airship Syndicate.

Ruined King is a turn-based RPG set after Burning Tides, and we'll play as LoL champions as we explore Bilgewater and the Shadow Isles.

According to Airship Syndicate CEO Joe Madureira, they've cooked up "a new take" on turn based combat. I'm not sure what that could be, but as a fan of turn-based combat I look forward to finding out. 

Check out the announcement trailer above. There's no release date yet, but there is an official site.

Tens of millions of people play League of Legends every single day, and almost none of them will be able to afford even a simple t-shirt from the game's new fashion range, created by Louis Vuitton. A simple black t-shirt with some character art, for instance, will set you back $865, and it's not even close to the most expensive item of clothing. 

The collaboration is oddly extensive, with Louis Vuitton also designing a trophy case and several new skins. It's not the first brand I'd associate with a free-to-play MOBA predominantly played by young men, but I guess some of that tournament prize money could be spent on some overpriced gear.

Louis Vuitton's League of Legends range includes 13 'looks' made up of 47 items that can be bought separately. I confess that I do quite like the look of some of them, like this flashy leather biker jacket. It's also $7,250, so no thank you. Even this wee key holder and bag charm is $595. 

Aside from the t-shirts with character art, none of the items are noticeably connected to League of Legends. Who is any of this for? Wealthy League of Legends fans who are willing to drop thousands on a bum bag but don't want anyone to know it's got anything to do with League of Legends? That's some niche.

League of Legends’ Aphelios is the game's newest champion, and he's a little more complicated than his predecessors. Riot has come out with plenty of hard-to-master characters over the years, but none of them are quite like The Weapon of the Faithful. But if you’re dead set on making Aphelios your new main, my LoL Aphelios guide will get you up to speed and onto the Rift as quickly as possible.

Aphelios is a member of the Lunari, a moon-worshipping religious order from Mount Targon, a group cast out by the sun-worshipping Solari. While Aphelios trained as an assassin, his sister Alune became a seer: she's able to channel her powers through her brother to assist him in battle. Aphelios was rendered mute by a poison which helped give him his powers, but Alune speaks through him, conjuring the multitude of weapons that her brother uses.

LoL Aphelios release date: when is Aphelios coming out?

Aphelios was available on the testing server for a little while, but he made his debut in the main game in patch 9.24 on Wednesday, December 11.

What are Aphelios’ abilities?

Here’s where things get complicated. All champions in League of Legends have five abilities—a passive, and four spells assigned to the Q, W, E, and R keys on your keyboard. Aphelios, however, doesn’t have an E, and his W is used to cycle between his five different weapons. Each of those weapons has its own Q, and interacts with his ultimate, Moonlight Vigil, in a different way. While Aphelios is holding one weapon in his ‘main’ hand, he’ll also have a backup in his ‘off’-hand.

• Moonlight Vigil: Sends forward a moon bomb that explodes on the first enemy hit and damages all those nearby. Aphelios follows-up with enhanced basic attacks on all enemies hit with shots from his main-hand weapon. Moonlight Vigil is automatically learned at level 6, and upgraded at levels 11 and 16.
• Calibrum: A rifle that offers Aphelios’ basic attacks extra range. Its Q, Moonshot, fires a skillshot that damages and marks the first enemy hit, while its effect on Moonlight Vigil marks all enemies hit by follow-up attacks. Aphelios can right-click a marked enemy anywhere on the map to deal and attack from his off-hand weapon, detonating nearby marks, and dealing more damage if they were marked by Moonlight vigil.
• Severum: A scythe-shaped pistol that heals Aphelios for a portion of the damage it deals, converting extra healing into a small shield. Its Q, Onslaught, offers bonus speed, and fires reduced-damage basic attacks from both main and off-hand weapons at nearby enemies, prioritising champions. When used with Moonlight Vigil, Severum heals Aphelios for a flat amount.

• Gravitum: A cannon that applies a decaying slow to enemies on basic attack. Its Q, Eclipse, damages and roots all enemies currently affected by the slow. When used to cast Moonlight Vigil, follow-up attacks apply a much larger slow.
• Infernum: A flamethrower best used for area of effect damage and waveclear. Basic attacks and abilities deal extra splash damage behind enemies hit, as well as dealing more damage overall. Infernum’s Q unleashes a wave of flame outwards, damaging enemies, then basic attacking all enemies hit with Aphelios’ off-hand weapon. When used alongside Moonlight Vigil, all follow-up attacks replace damage cones around enemies hit with damage circles, helping scatter the enemy team.
• Crescendum: A high-damage Chakram. When basic attacking with the weapon, Aphelios can’t attack again until the boomerang-like weapon returns to him. Crescendum is affected by attack speed in the traditional sense: items that normally grant the stat now increase the weapon’s travel speed, allowing it to return to Aphelios faster, letting him deal damage more often. The closer Aphelios is to his target, the quicker the weapon will return. When its abilities or follow-up attacks deal damage, they create temporary copies of the weapon for each enemy hit, increasing the strength of its basic attacks. Crescendum’s Q deploys a sentry turret that shoots the nearest target with your off-hand weapon. When Crescendum is used alongside Moonlight Vigil, its follow-up attacks deal damage equal to three enemies being hit, even if Aphelios’ ultimate hits fewer than three.

Each of Aphelios’ weapons has its own strength, but that doesn’t mean that you get to use your favourite one all of the time. You can cycle between your main and off-hand weapons with W, but each one only has 50 ammo. When a weapon runs out, it’s shuffled to the back of the order, and the use of your W means the order changes throughout the game.

Since Aphelios' abilities are automatically learned, his level-up points are attached to his stats instead. Over the course of the game, players can put points into attack damage, attack speed, and bonus armor penetration. The new champion also comes with a custom HUD, displaying his current weapons, their ammo, and the weapon he swaps to when the next runs out of ammo.

Aphelios gameplay tips

In the video above you can see some Aphelios gameplay from the PBE, courtesy of former Cloud-9 ADC, Sneaky. As you can see, Aphelios is similar to any other League of Legends marksman. The key to success is staying out of trouble while ensuring you’re close enough to do damage to the enemy team. With no self-peel (Aphelios has no movement abilities, and both his crowd-control and healing are highly situational), it’s more important than ever to focus on positioning.

When it comes to items, don't drift too far from traditional marksman builds. That said, there’s a little extra room for tweaking that depending on your favourite weapons. Attack damage is essential, of course: if you’re a fan of the rifle or the pistol, consider attack speed or items to further augment your range, like Runaan’s Hurricane or Rapid Firecannon. If you’d prefer a spellcasting build based around the flamethrower, include an Essence Reaver. For runes, focus on Precision as your primary choice. In champion select, Aphelios is going to benefit from a strong frontline, so consider supports like Alistar, Leona, or Braum. Alternatively, healers like Soraka or utility supports like Lulu are also useful.

Calibrum is good in lane or during sieges, but is much less useful than Infernum when it comes to teamfights. Crescendum is great in skirmishes or 1v1. Keep a weapon that’s useful for the phase of the game in your off-hand as long as possible, and swap to it only when needed to ensure you maximise its effectiveness. Different weapon combinations have divergent strengths and weaknesses, so keep an eye on what you’re holding, what’s coming up, and when you’ll be forced to swap to make sure you’re not caught out by an unexpected change in your arsenal.

League of Legends studio Riot Games recently announced plans to move beyond the mega-MOBA League of Legends with a pile of new games including a fighting game, an FPS, a card game, and even a management sim. But it's also looking to broaden the appeal and footprint of League of Legends with a new publishing label announced today called Riot Forge, through which it will partner with other developers to create "bespoke games that enable players of all types to experience League in new and exciting ways."

The FAQ at riotforgegames.com says that Riot Forge releases will be "completable," which Riot's Bret Forbus nailed down more precisely on Twitter as "single-player/story-driven games" set in LoL's Runeterra universe. There are no specifics yet on individual projects or partners, but Riot said that its focus is on working with "experienced" independent studios, and that development of some projects is already underway.

"Our developers are still early in the process of creating these great games," the FAQ states. "When they’re a little further along, we’ll announce the games that they are making."

The initiative could be similar to the one that led to Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer Featuring The Legend of Zelda, the 2019 rhythm roguelike developed by Crypt of the Necrodancer studio Brace Yourself Games and published by Nintendo. It's not an obvious crossover, and definitely not something expected from Nintendo, but in spite of that it came together quite well.

At least one of the promised game reveals is coming soon: Geoff Keighley said on Twitter that a Riot Forge project will be revealed next week at The Game Awards. We'll be covering the big show as it happens on December 12, beginning at 5:30 pm PT/8:30 pm ET.

In August, League of Legends studio Riot Games announced an agreement to settle a class action lawsuit filed against it in 2018 over pervasive sexism and gender-based discrimination at the studio. The studio said at the time that its internal investigation found that "gender discrimination (in pay or promotion), sexual harassment, and retaliation are not systemic issues at Riot," but acknowledged that "some Rioters have had experiences that did not live up to our values or culture."

The Los Angeles Times reported today that the settlement will cost Riot at least $10 million, which will be divided between approximately 1,000 women employed by the studio between November 2014 and the finalization of the settlement, which still needs to be settled by the court. Individual payouts will vary depending on the length of the employment period, as well as whether the workers were full-time employees, or on contract.

The settlement also commits Riot to continuing to improve its internal culture through better channels for reporting harassment and discrimination, a review of all pay, promotion, and hiring practices, and creating employee groups to track the company's progress. Riot hired its first-ever chief diversity officer, Angela Roseboro, in March 2019.

"We’re pleased to have a proposed settlement to fully resolve the class action lawsuit," a Riot rep said. "The settlement is another important step forward, and demonstrates our commitment to living up to our values and to making Riot an inclusive environment for the industry’s best talent."

Analyst firm Superdata estimated that League of Legends pulled in $1.4 billion in 2018.

Riot Games says Aphelios, the "big brain, sad moon boi" who's now making his way to League of Legends, is "the most complex champion" it's ever created. That complexity is the result of his unique kit, which is so different from those of other characters in the game that Riot created a unique HUD for Aphelios to support it.

Aphelios carries five weapons, each with a unique basic attack. He attacks with the one in his main hand (Q), and carries another in his offhand (R) that he can swap to at any time with W. The catch is that he can't choose which weapons he's packing: Each of them has 50 ammo, and when it runs dry it's automatically swapped out for the next weapon in line that's not currently equipped, while the empty weapon goes to the end of the line to "recharge." And because the swap bypasses the offhand, the order in which they cycle will change throughout the game.

His ultimate, Moonlight Vigil, will also vary depending on the weapon equipped. It begins the same for all of them, with a "moon bomb" that explodes on contact with the first enemy it hits, doing area-of-effect damage to nearby enemies. But after the detonation, he follows up with "enhanced basic attacks" from his main-hand weapon against all enemies caught in the explosion.

His arsenal:

Calibrum, the Rifle

• Calibrum is a poke/harass weapon. Its basic attacks have extra range. When abilities deal damage with Calibrum, they mark enemies hit. Aphelios can right-click marked enemies anywhere on the map to follow up with a basic attack from his off-hand weapon (or his non-Calibrum weapon, in cases where he swaps Calibrum to his off-hand before firing). This attack detonates other nearby marks for bonus damage against the marked targets.
• Q: Moonshot - Fire a skillshot that damages the first unit hit and marks them.
• R: Moonlight Vigil's follow-up attacks mark all enemies hit. These marks deal higher damage when consumed.

Severum, the Scythe Pistol

• Severum is a sustain weapon that heals Aphelios for a portion of the damage it deals. Overhealing from Severum is converted into a small shield.
• Q: Onslaught - Gain movement speed and rapidly fire your main-hand and off-hand weapons at the nearest enemy, prioritizing champions. Onslaught shots behave like basic attacks but deal reduced damage.
• R: Moonlight Vigil grants Aphelios a flat heal.

Gravitum, the Cannon

• Gravitum is a utility weapon that applies a decaying slow to enemies.
• Q: Eclipse - Damage and root all enemies on the map affected by Gravitum's slow. Eclipse doesn't use Aphelios' off-hand weapon.
• R: Moonlight Vigil's follow-up attacks apply a massively increased slow.

Infernum, the Flamethrower

• Infernum is an AoE/waveclear weapon. It deals increased basic attack and ability damage and creates a damage cone behind enemies hit.
• Q: Duskwave - Spout a wave of flame, damaging enemies. Then basic attack all enemies hit with your off-hand weapon.
• R: Moonlight Vigil's follow-up attacks create damage circles around enemies hit instead of damage cones behind them.

Crescendum, the Chakram

• Crescendum is a close-range DPS weapon that behaves like a boomerang. Once Aphelios basic attacks with Crescendum he can't attack again until it returns to him, but his attack resets when it does. Attack speed increases Crescendum's travel speed instead. The closer Aphelios is to his target, the less distance Crescendum has to travel—and the faster Aphelios can attack. When abilities or their follow-up attacks deal damage with Crescendum, they create temporary copies of it for each enemy hit that increase the strength of Crescendum's basic attack.
• Q: Sentry - Deploy a turret that shoots the nearest target with your off-hand weapon.
• R: If Moonlight Vigil hits fewer than three enemies, its follow up attacks still increase the damage of Crescendum's basic attacks as if at least three enemies were hit.

Aphelios' custom HUD indicates the equipped weapons and remaining ammo, and any time remaining on a Q cooldown. It also indicates basic attacks and effects, has an ammo tracker (once ammo in the current weapon is down to ten shots), and indicates which weapon will come up next once the main hand runs dry.

Aphelios is currently in testing on the League of Legends PBE and expected to move to the live servers with the 9.24 patch coming in December. You can get a more detailed look at the character at leagueoflegends.com, or of lore is your thing, dive into the story of The Weapon of the Faithful.