After months of teasing, the latest void Champion to join the League of Legends roster is finally close at hand. Bel’Veth, the Void Empress has been revealed on PBE and will be joining the live game with patch 12.11 on June 8. With her finally making an appearance, we got a closer look at the manta-like Champion’s kit and can start speculating on her power level, her role within the game, and her build style.
To start off, let’s take a look at her abilities first and how they would be utilized.
Bel’Veth’s Abilities
Passive – Death in Lavender
After using an ability, Bel’Veth’s next 2 attacks have increased attack speed. Additionally, whenever Bel’veth takes down a large monster or champion she gains permanent bonus Attack speed in the form of Lavender stacks. Bel’Veth attacks faster than normal and does not have an attack speed cap, however, her attacks and on-hit effects deal reduced damage and she does not gain attack speed on level up.
Q – Void Surge
Bel’Veth dashes in one of four directions, dealing damage to all enemies she passes through and applying on-hit effects. Each direction has its own unique cooldown that scales with attack speed.
W – Above and Below
Bel’Veth slams her tail down, dealing damage, knocking up, and slowing enemies hit. Upon hitting an enemy champion, this ability reduces Q – Void Surge’s dash cooldown in the direction of the champion hit.
E – Royal Maelstrom
Bel’Veth channels a storm of slashes around her, gaining damage reduction and increased life steal. Each slash strikes the lowest health enemy within her Maelstrom, dealing more damage the more health they are missing. The amount of slashes scales with her attack speed.
R – Endless Banquet
Passive: Every second attack against the same target deals additional True Damage, stacking infinitely. Takedowns against Epic Monsters and Champions leave behind a piece of Void Coral. Epic Monsters from the Void like Rift Herald and Baron Nashor drop special, voidier Void Coral.
Active: Bel’veth consumes a piece of Void Coral and explodes, slowing and dealing True Damage to nearby enemies based on their missing health. Upon consuming Void Coral, Bel’Veth temporarily changes into her True Form. Consuming Void Coral left by Epic Monsters from the Void (Rift Herald and Baron Nashor) grants Bel’Veth her true form for an extended duration and causes minions that die in her presence to be reborn as faithful Voidlings. Voidlings are small minions that will serve Bel’Veth by marching down the lane in which they were spawned.
True Form: When Bel’Veth unleashes her True Form, she gains increased max health, out-of-combat move speed, attack range, and total attack speed. While in her True Form, she also gains the ability to dash through walls with Q – Void Surge.
Bel’Veth’s role and playstyle
Riot has technically classified Bel’Veth as a Fighter champion. With her infinitely scaling Attack Speed and the way her kit is designed, it is a no-brainer to see that she would fit perfectly as a Jungler. Her Q gives her plenty of mobility, while E provides AoE and sustain, especially when supported with Jungler items. Her E has a deceptively long reach and quick animation speed, making bush ambushes on lanes dangerous for opposing Champions.
With the way her ultimate and abilities work, she should be able to scale perfectly into late-game, letting her leave the jungle to roam around and set up massive pushes with the use of her R. Speaking of pushes, it’s important to bear in mind that using that strategy from mid-game onward, Bel’Veth would be able to build up massive tower pushes if left unattended — her spawned minions, Void Remora, last forever and disappear only when killed.
Bel’Veth Build
The Void Empress’ attack speed does not scale with levels, but instead stacks without a cap through her passive, Death in Lavender. That means that Attack Speed items would be a prime choice for her build, especially paired up with items with on-hit effects, such as Trinity Force, Lich Bane, and others. It should also be noted that her abilities primarily scale off of Attack Damage.
Bel’Veth doesn’t use mana, rather, she relies on her cooldowns, while her purple lower bar instead displays the amount of Attack Speed that she’s stacked through her passive. Therefore, it might be a good idea to look at some cooldown reduction or reset items, while avoiding those that work off of Champion’s mana pool.
Conclusion
Bel’Veth looks primed to take over the jungles of the Rift by storm. Her kit seems very powerful, especially as we know that the new Champions nearly always come out overtuned. Her role as both a Jungler and a Pusher could prove to be a deadly combo if enemy teams don’t coordinate to prevent her from fulfilling her game plan. We’re excited about the meta shift and are waiting with bated breath to see what the reign of the void manta-queen will bring to the game.
