Shout Out / League of Legends

League of Legends has so many Shout Outs to other works, that they had to be split off onto one page. Enjoy the links.

---

Champions A-G

Aatrox

• Quotes from before his VGU:
  • "Rage against the dying of the light."
  • "I know what lurks in the hearts of man."
  • "Peace is the greatest lie of all" sounds very similar to the Sith Code's "Peace is a lie, there is only passion..."
• Post VGU:
  • "No beast so fierce, but knows some touch of pity... But I know none... and therefore am no beast."
• Skins:
  • His general appearance both before and after his visual update have brought to mind Amon from Devilman, bonus points later on due to the Retconned-in Demonic Possession nature of the Darkin. Ironically his VGU gave him a head silhouette that looks even closer to Amon.
  • His skin, Mecha Aatrox, seemed like a simple reference to the mecha genre... until the splash art was revealed◊, and it was shown to be an homage to Pacific Rim, specifically the main Jaeger Gipsy Danger◊, complete with dark blue and orange color scheme and chest turbine. When recalling, he transforms into a jet plane reminiscent of the Seekers.
  • Victorious Aatrox bares an odd resemblance to Jedah from Darkstalkers.

Ahri

• Dance: Befitting the Korean origins of her inspiration, her dance is Run Devil Run by Korean pop group Girls' Generation. A side by side here.
  • To complement this, Ahri has gained a "Popstar" skin, which is another nod to this particular reference. On top of this, the announcement of this skin coincided with the release date of a Girl's Generation album, and the skin comes with another unique dance referencing them.
• Skins:
  • Her Arcade skin's splash art has her Goomba Stomping a minion in a Super Mario Bros.-style setting.
  • One of Star Guardian Ahri's taunts to Warwick is "Stop trying to make fetch happen."
  • Star Guardian Ahri’s spawn animation is a reference to Sailor Moon, as is her longer transformation sequence in the trailer.

Akali

• Dance: Pre-rework Akali jams out to Single Ladies by Beyoncé.
• Skins: Her classic skin strongly resembles Jade, Stinger Akali resembles the Bride, and Headhunter Akali comes from the Headhunter skin line, which is a general reference to Predator.
• Quotes: "Exit the dragon" (when killing Lee Sin)

Alistar

• Quotes: "Mess with the bull and you get the horns!"
• Skins:
  • Matador Alistar is a reference to The Story of Ferdinand, which is about a bull who'd rather smell flowers than fight in a bullfighting show.
  • Longhorn Alistar was clearly inspired by Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa.
• Dance: Moo Cow Alistar directly references Gene Frenkle on Cowbell in Saturday Night Live.

Amumu

• Skins: The splash art for Emumu features posters for Death Cab for Corki, Anivinescense and Cho'Gath Eat World.
• Dance: Dances like the goths do in an episode of South Park.
• The original ability icon for his Bandage Toss has him doing the Spider-Man web-shooting motion.

Annie

• Skins:
  • Pretty obvious. You've got Red Ridding Annie, Annie in Wonderland, and FrankenTibbers Annie.
  • Sweetheart Annie resembles Shirley Temple, while Tibbers resembles a Care Bear and the heart on his chest resembles one of the heart symbols in Kingdom Hearts.
  • Super Galaxy Annie has a Haman Karn-esque hairstyle.
• Her (possibly now non-canon) surname as shown in the Journal of Justice was Hastur.

Ashe

• Skins: Sherwood Ashe gets her name and primary colors from Robin Hood, Woad Ashe looks like Guinevere, and Marauder Ashe looks like she's wearing Daedric armor right out of Skyrim.
• Quotes:
  • One of PROJECT: Ashe's taunts for an allied PROJECT: Ekko is "May the odds be ever in our favor."
  • PROJECT: Ashe gets in two Evil Dead-related taunts for an enemy PROJECT: Ashe, both of them references to a couple of Ash Williams's most famous quotes: "You must be Bad Ashe." and "Good, bad, I'm the one with the bow."
  • PROJECT: Ashe also has this gem: "Rapid Firecannon - when you've absolutely, positively got to kill every cyborg supersoldier in the room, accept no substitutes."
  • In one of PROJECT: Ashe's jokes, she and her drone reference "War", a song first written by The Temptations and made famous by Edwin Starr.

Ashe: War. What is it good for, Avarosa?
Drone: Absolutely nothing.
Ashe: Say again?

• Dance: PROJECT: Ashe performs Just Dance 2014's routine for Get Lucky by Daft Punk. See here for a side-by-side comparison.

Aurelion Sol

• Quotes: "The stars look very different today."
• Aurelion Sol's designer, Luke "RabidLlama" Rinard, cited 2 central inspirations for his design: The Great Owl from The Secret of NIMH and David Bowie.
• His joke animation has him pull out a pair of of Kamina shades from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.

Azir

• Quotes: "What is a Baron to an emperor?" may most likely be a reference to "Human beings in a mob. What's a mob to a king? What's a king to a God? What's a God to a non believer?" from Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild.
• Skins: Warring Kingdom Azir's recall has him pull out a Go board, and on it, all the pieces are in the exact same positions as they were◊ during the first game of Danghu, documented all the way from 1739.
• In general, Azir seems to have taken inspiration from Paul Muad'Dib and his son Leto II. Both were emperors associated with deserts and a relentless desire to lead humanity to its inevitable greatness, who would be lost without them. His avian form even resembles the House Atreides emblem.
• Dance: "Remember the Time" by Michael Jackson.

Bard

• Just from their appearances, he and his Meeps look like a Studio Ghibli character.

Blitzcrank

• Dance: The Macarena.
• Quotes: "Exterminate! Exterminate!"
• Skins:
  • iBlitzcrank's design is much like the Apple Macintosh, and was released alongside LoL's beta client for Macs. The name itself is a reference to Apple's line of electronics which have a similar naming scheme (e.g. iPhone, iPad, iPod).
    • Ironically enough, when iBlitzcrank dies he suffers a Red Ring of Death; a reference to the Xbox 360 made by Microsoft, Apple's main competition.
  • Battle Boss Blitzcrank's recall has him pulling out and blowing into what appears to be an NES cartridge.

Brand

• Dance: Zombie Brand's dance is directly based off of Michael Jackson's Thriller dance.
• Quotes:
  • "Some say the world will end in fire," which references the Robert Frost poem Fire and Ice.
  • Zombie Brand has a few exclusive shout-outs to his skin:
    • "Every day I'm shambling" is a reference to the line "Every day I'm shufflin'" from the LMFAO song "Party Rock Anthem," which in turn is a reference to Rick Ross' "Every day I'm hustlin'."
    • "Not easy being green... and dead."
• Skins:
  • The suit Zombie Brand wears makes him resemble Stubbs the Zombie.
  • On death, Zombie Brand ends up re-buried, but his hand sticks up out of the ground, much like the hand in Left 4 Dead.
• Brand's origin seems to have been born out of Surtr, with Brand's body being an essential viking, his appearance being similar a common description of Surtr (blackened skin with lava crackling in it), and his claims that him burning the world will renew it, as would follow Surtr's role in Ragnarok. Regrettably, Brand has no Flaming Sword.

Braum

• Quotes:
  • "The darker the night, the brighter the stars."
  • "Mother always said: Float like iceberg, sting like thrown iceberg!
  • The Latin American server has the phrase "Si te portas mal, hay puerta!" (If you misbehave, that's a doorin'!), referencing "That's a paddlin'" from The Simpsons.
  • "Sometimes, shield must become smashing board," might be a reference to this Dorkly short.
  • Skins: El Tigre Braum has more than a passing resemblance to Tiger Mask. He also has special voicelines in the Latin American dub which reference El Santo.

Caitlyn

• Dance: Pulsefire Caitlyn's dance has her play out a hologram of herself dancing to Madonna's "Don't Tell Me", complete with inexplicable cowboy attire.
• Quotes:
  • Her Boom, Headshot! quote is one to Pure Pwnage.
  • From Pulsefire Caitlyn:
    • "Alright, you primitives, listen up! This... is my boomstick."
    • "If faulty, please return to the Ministry of Love."
    • "Do you feel lucky, punk?"
    • "Where I'm going, I don't need roads." She also plays the line into "Where I'm going, I don't need hats."
    • "I don't want to talk about time travel... it always ends in diagrams."
    • "This truly is their darkest timeline."
    • When starting her /dance, Caitlyn does well to remind us that "It's just a jump to the left."

Camille

• Rioters have cited Lin Beifong and Gazelle as major inspirations.
• On attacking Zilean: 'Oh look, it's the worst of times.'
• When Program Camille enters the enemy base, there is a chance that she'll say 'All your base are belong to us'.
  • On getting a kill: 'How do you say it? Hasta la vista, baby.'

Cho'Gath

• Skins: The splash art for Jurassic Cho'Gath, with Cho'Gath in a museum-style building with a large banner hanging overhead, is a reference to Jurassic Park.
• Quotes: "Ah, the tangled webs we weave..." is a reference to the Walter Scott poem Marmion.
  • Gentleman Cho'Gath has several appropriately British references:
    • "I'll bite your legs off!"
    • "It's funny, isn't it? How your best friend can just blow up like that."
    • "I like a man who grins when he fights!"
    • "One can survive everything, nowadays, except death."
    • "Cake or death?"
    • "Anything less would be uncivilized!" is a reference to Gillette's Right Guard deodorant commercials.
• Some people can't help but look at his design and think "Violator." Other people think he looks a lot like a Carnifex. In early beta, his title was "The Red Terror", a type of Tyranid.

Corki

• Dance: "Do a barrel roll!"
• Quotes:
  • "This is Major Tom to Ground Control!"
• Skins: His Arcade skin takes some inspiration from Space Invaders and Galaga.
• Possibly a coincidence, but the fact that Sheen is a common powerful item on Corki makes this rather uncanny.
• Corki's flying machine is called the Reconnaissance Operations Front Line Copter (or ROFL Copter).

Darius

• Dance: God-King Darius' dance comes from a "Dance Till You're Dead" meme video.
• Quotes:
  • From Dunkmaster Darius:
    • "From the fountain, off your face, nothing but dunk" is a reference to the 'Larry Bird vs. Michael Jordan' McDonald's commercial.
    • "I'm in the business of dunking, and business is good," is a reference to "Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!" by Megadeth.
• Dunkmaster Darius' shoes appear to be Noxus Air, most likely referencing Nike's Air Jordan shoes.

Diana

• Quotes:
  • "The Moon will rise! The night will last forever!"
  • "The moon also rises!" is a cross-reference to Leona's "The sun always rises!"
• Skins:
  • Lunar Goddess Diana is a reference to the Chinese moon goddess Chang'e. In the Chinese server, she's even flat-out named "广寒仙子 嫦娥" (Moon Fairy Chang'e).
  • Dark Waters Diana looks eerily near-identical to Lady Maria of Bloodborne, from her outfit to her hat. One of the Chromas even have her with blond hair.
• Her name is a direct reference to the Roman goddess of the moon, also named Diana.

Dr. Mundo

• Quotes:
  • "Mundo smash!"
  • "Mundo smash like a boss!"
  • PC load letter? What the Mundo does that mean!?"
• Skins:
  • His Toxic Mundo skin is a recolor based off of The Incredible Hulk.
  • His Rageborn Mundo skin references Garrosh Hellscream.
  • El Macho Mundo = Ultimate Warrior.
  • Executioner Mundo makes him look like Astaroth.
  • The Flavor Text with the Pool Party Mundo skin^*Click on the skin under the Collection tab, then cycle through the bar at the bottom says that Mundo's favourite thing about the Pool Party is his shorts. They're comfy, and easy to wear.

Draven

• Quotes:
  • Gladiator Draven has 3 unique quotes in the Italian client referencing Gladiator:
    • "Al mio segnale, scatenate Draven!" ("At my signal, unleash Draven!")
    • "Ciò che Draven fa in vita, riecheggia nell'eternità... già." ("What Draven does in life, echoes through eternity").
    • "Date a Draven ciò che è di Draven... e anche tutto il resto!" ("Give to Draven what Draven owns... and everything else!")
• His death animation is incredibly similar to a motion Ocelot does a lot throughout the Metal Gear series.
  • It could also be seen as a reference to Spike Spiegel's "bang" as he dies.
• Primetime Draven, which is a reference to sports/e-sports shoutcasters in general, has him directly reference EU LCS host Eefje 'Sjokz' Depoortere.

Ekko

• Quotes:
  • "Never go full robot."
  • "Reversing polarity", and possibly "Don't blink."
• Skins:
  • His Classic appearance bears more than a little resemblance to The Kid (note the red scarves, the hand wraps, and the utilitarian armour, as well as the white hair), while his weapon is reminiscent of Red's Transistor sword, with it's green edges being similar.
  • His Sandstorm skin is a reference to the Prince, specifically his Sands of Time incarnation where time manipulation becomes a large part of his arsenal.
• Some have likened Ekko to either Shulk or Chrono.
• Some of his in-game abilities take cue from existing MOBA skills. In particular, his Reset Button ultimate is very much taken from the ultimates of Weaver and Chronos.
• His title of "The Boy Who Shattered Time" is a reference to The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

Elise

• Quotes: "Ah, the tangled webs we weave..." is a reference to the Walter Scott poem Marmion.
• Skins: In her Blood Moon skin, her spider form bears a resemblance to Ariados.
• Her dance animation is the Can Can.

Evelynn

• Dance: In her old, pre-VGU version, it was lifted from the movie Flashdance.
• Quotes:
  • "Girls just wanna tear your throat out with their teeth."
  • Prior to her rework, she had "I may be bad, but I feel good."

Ezreal

• Dance: The Hare Hare Yukai from the ending credits of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.
• Quotes:
  • From his default voiceover:
    • "Noxians, I hate those guys..." and "You belong in a museum!"
    • "Yordles... why did it have to be yordles?"
    • "Reports of my death were greatly exaggerated."
    • "Gauntlet! You're embarrassing me in front of the bad guys!"
    • "Wow, that escalated quickly."
  • From his Pulsefire skin:
    • His taunt recognizes that no enemies in the vicinity have a power level over 9000.
    • One of PEARL's recall announcements is "Leaving the grid."
    • "Now THIS is research!"
    • One of his lines for defeating Pulsefire Caitlyn is "Back to the Future with you!" Another line has him wondering where the hoverboards are.
    • "If I'm not back in 30 seconds, wait longer!"
    • "It seems the cake is in another timeline."
• Skins:
  • Pulsefire Ezreal has many similarities with Mega Man X, right down to his evolving armor resembling X receiving his Ultimate Armor upgrades.
  • Arcade Ezreal resembles Neku Sakuraba.
• His energy bow looks a lot like the bow used by the Quincy.
• Riot Games's advertisement on YouTube for his Pulsefire skin is a love song to Konami's Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner. Watch the PS2 video game intro trailer and have fun finding inspirations/similarities.

Fiora

• Dance: Fiora does her best impression of Fred Astaire dancing to Puttin' on the Ritz.
• Quotes:
  • "Prepare to die," and "I like you. I hate to kill you."
  • PROJECT: Fiora's "Let them eat swords" is a reference to "Let them eat cake."

Fiddlesticks

• Dance: Pre-VGU, his was the Scarecrow dance from The Wizard of Oz.
• Quotes:
  • From before his VGU, his joke was "I haven't got a brain, and soon neither will you!". Following the VGU, this was transferred to Surprise Party Fiddlesticks as "I haven't got a brain, and soon, neither will anyone else!"
  • Its kill line against Soraka is "Staaarrrssss...", said in an eerily similar fashion as Nemesis' Catchphrase.
  • Surprise Party Fiddlesticks has more direct references:
    • For first encountering Gragas, he might say "Kiss me, fat man!"
    • "It's the most fun in the park when you're laughing in the dark!"
    • "I used to think my life was a comedy... now I know... it's a horror show!"
    • "Do the monster mash!"
    • "It's my party and everyone will die if I want them to!"
    • "I'm Fiddlesticks, and I'm my own thing!"

Galio

• Skins: Pre-rework, his Gatekeeper skin was clearly based on Illidan Stormrage.

Gangplank

• Quotes: Captain Gangplank's "What should we do with a drunken sailor?" is based on the eponymous sea shanty.
• Skins: His Special Forces skin brings Captain Price to mind.

Garen

• Dance:
  • His old dance had him dance along to "Bye Bye Bye" by *NSYNC. His new dance encourages you to do The Monkey with him.
  • God-King Garen's dance has him roping his lion into doing an impromptu impression of Keyboard Cat.
• Quotes: One of his old jokes ("Summon me and you'll like the way you look. I Garen-tee it. Get it?") is a reference to Men's Wearhouse commercials.
• Skins:
  • Sanguine Garen was explicitly made to evoke a Blood Angel Space Marine from Warhammer 40,000, and his Commando skin evokes the Imperial Guard.
  • Rogue Admiral Garen might have been inspired by General Smoker.
  • Steel Legion Garen is explicitly a Space Marine. Sadly, there's no chainsword, but there are giant Shoulders of Doom and his sword does resemble a Storm Glaive from Warmachine's Space Marine equivalents, the Stormblades.
  • His Dreadknight skin is a few letters and a space away from being a Death Knight. The skin's blurb in a player's collection is pretty much just Arthas Menethil without saying any names.
  Once a valiant hero, Dreadknight Garen fell to the promise of power great enough to save his land. Now, twisted by the corrupting magic of his Master, he commands the frozen legions in their march upon the living. Only desolation remains in his wake.

Gnar

• Dance: His Mega Gnar dance will likely remind you of a famous gorilla.
• Skins:
  • Dino Gnar's Mega Gnar form makes him look like some famous kaiju monsters, like Godzilla and Lizzie.
    • Some of his Dino Gnar chromas make him resemble Totodile/Feraligatr, a Care Bear and Barney, the Dinosaur.
  • Super Galaxy Gnar also gets the Kamina shades.
• Taunt: Gnar's taunt wouldn't be off from resembling Experiment 626 himself, Stitch.

Gragas

• Skins:
  • His Caskbreaker skin is what you get if you mix Solaire of Astora and Bombur.

Graves

• Quotes:
  • "Knock knock," and "I ain't got time to bleed."
  • "Feelin' lucky?"
  • He has additional lines in the Polish client:
    • "Ciemność widzę." ("I see darkness.")
    • "Zawsze sikasz przez zapięty rozporek?" ("You always pee with the slit closed?")
    • "W imię zasad" ("In the name of the rules"), "Co Ty wiesz o zabijaniu?" ("What do you know about killing people?") and "Wyrwałem chwasta" ("I pulled out the weed") are references to the Pigs film series.
• Being an outlaw with the first name Malcolm could be a reference to Malcolm Reynolds.
• His passive half of his "Quickdraw" ability is called "True Grit."
• His ability names from the Chinese localization combine this with localized idioms of criminal activity:
  • End of the Line is named 人在江湖, literally meaning "a person in river and lake", figuratively a euphemism for a dead person, and also a reference to Young and Dangerous (its full original title is 古惑仔之人在江湖).
  • Smoke Screen is named 隻手遮天, literally meaning "to cover the sky with a hand", used to describe a criminal so powerful they can halt justice, and also the original subtitle for Young and Dangerous 3.
  • Quickdraw is named 猛龍過江, meaning "ferocious dragon crosses the river", used to describe a ruthless foreign criminal, and is both the subtitle to Young and Dangerous 2 and is the original title of Way of the Dragon.
  • Collateral Damage is named 龍爭虎鬥, meaning "struggle of dragon and tiger", used as the subtitle to Young and Dangerous 5 and the original title to Enter the Dragon.

Gwen

• Dance: "PONPONPON" by Kyary Pamyu Pamyu.

Champions H-M

Hecarim

• Quotes: "Suffering is magic!"
• Dance: Though it could be seen as a reference to Discord's memetic dance, it bares the closest resemblance to Dope Zebra.
• Skins: His Arcade Hecarim skin turns his axe into a Guitar Hero controller, complete with buttons and strum bar. He also gets a rainbow-colored unicorn horn.

Heimerdinger

• Quotes:
  • "Back, you dirty ape, back!"
  • "42, there's just something about that number!" and "Aha, 42, I knew it! Now - er, what was the question again?"
  • "I prefer a battle of wits, but you're unarmed!"
  • "FOR GREAT SCIENCE!!"
  • "Not enough variables. Hmm, not nearly enough variables" is a reference to Mordin Solus' "Too many variables."
  • These two gems as Dragon Trainer Heimerdinger:
    • (Pythagoras squeaks.) "I'm not calling you "Queen of the Monsters"". (Pythagoras groans.) "Grow another two heads and we'll talk."^note  Also a nod to King Ghidorah.
    • (Pythagoras squeaks.) "Your name is fine. "Queen Under the Mountain" is incredibly excessive."
• Skins:
  • His Alien Invader skin is based on Mars Attacks!.
  • His Dragon Trainer skin is a nod to How to Train Your Dragon while his female dragon companion is called Pyhtagoras.
• His making war a moot point mirrors the belief of Oppenheimer, and the other half of his name is a reference to Schrödinger.
• While UPGRADE!!! is active, Heimerdinger gains a buff called "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger."

Irelia

• Skins: Frostblade Irelia gives her a unique quote: "The cold? Eh, never bothered me."
• She's named after one of the lead developer's usernames, who herself gets her name from Shurelia.

Ivern

• Quotes:
  • "Oh look! A happy little cloud!"
  • "You're my boy, Blue!"
  • "Are you going to Treemoot this year?" is a reference to Entmoot, aka a gathering of Ents.
  • "Obviously, you're not a gopher" and "The druid abides."
• He's equally based off of the Treants and the Ents.
• His name is a reference to "Inverness Castle."

Janna

• Dance: From this Dance Studio video. Forecast Janna's dance is from Singin' in the Rain.
• Skins: While this may be a coincidence, the Steampunk inspired Hextech skin makes Janna look a bit like Agatha Heterodyne.
• Pre-VGU Janna's entire backstory highly resembles that of Storm.

Jarvan IV

• Quotes:
  • "Today is a good day to die!" could be one to Star Trek, but possibly instead to Sitting Bull or Crazy Horse.
  • He says a line from The Charge of the Light Brigade verbatim: "Ours is to do and to die."
  • "For my father, the king" is a direct reference to Arthas Menethiel.
• Skins:
  • Warring Kingdoms Jarvan makes him look like Lu Bu.
  • His Commando skin is based on an Imperial Guard Commissar from Warhammer 40,000.

Jax

• Skins:
  • The Mighty Jax skin's name is taken from The Mighty Ducks.
  • PAX Jax, which was released for the Penny Arcade Expo, appropriately wields a cardboard tube and has a Pac-Man logo on his clothes.
• His name and character are a reference to Garet Jax, the armsmaster who was an expert with all weapons, in Terry Brooks' The Wishsong of Shannara.

Jayce

• Dance: Does the famous MC Hammer slide. Yes, it's hammer time.
• Skins:
  • With his Full Metal skin, he could either pass as Iron Man or Samus Aran at a glance. His Debonair Jayce skin even gives him more than a passing resemblance to Tony Stark.
  • Forsaken Jayce highly resembles a Sith Lord, and was even released on May the Fourth.

Jhin

• Quotes:
  • "Happiness is a warm gun."
  • "Sing for me!"
  • "This performance needs more... zazz."
  • "I live for the applause, you will die for it" seems to partially be a reference to the Lady Gaga song "Applause."
  • "It is by my will alone I set my mind in motion" is a reference to a Mentat mantra said exclusively in Dune (1984).
  • (Taunting Illaoi): 'I thought diamonds were a girl's best friend.'
  • Several of the quotes in his High Noon skin are shout outs to a number of westerns, especially when killing champions with his ultimate, Curtain Call:
    • For killing any Noxian: "Kill Noxians and get paid for it? What's not to like?"
    • For killing Caitlyn: "You shoot to kill, you better hit the heart."
    • For killing Fiddlesticks: "People scare better when they're dying."
    • For killing Teemo: "I like the way you die, boy."
    • For killing Rek'Sai: "It's better to be above ground doing this than below ground doing nothing."
    • For killing Yasuo: "It's fun to kill a man, to take all that he had, and could ever have." (For bonus points, Yasuo's title is The Unforgiven.)
• His "murder as art" ethos is very reminiscent of Jack Nicholson's portrayal of The Joker in Batman (1989).
• High Noon Jhin's Whisper resembles Boba Fett's EE-3 carbine rifle.

Jinx

• Dance:
  • Her normal dance is based off of Jake's dance showing the dancing bug "how to shake it" from Adventure Time.
  • Star Guardian Jinx's dance is inspired by this popular MMD video called "Go home Homura, you are drunk!!!". More specifically, the dance itself is based off of the Leekspin dance.
• Quotes:
  • "Say hello to my friends of varying sizes!"
  • "Three guns means never having to say I'm sorry."
  • According to Sarah Anne Williams (Jinx's voice actress), her "HRRRRRK... bleh" death sound was inspired by Red vs. Blue.
  • For Star Guardian Jinx:
    • "So Shiro, what was in that Star Guardian contract I signed?" *Shiro chatters* "Yeah, TLDR." Also doubles as an Actor Allusion as Sarah Anne Williams is the English voice of Sayaka Miki.
    • "To infinity and - uh, oops. Wrong catchphrase!"
    • "Say hello to my little friends."
    • When casting "Zap!": "Starlight Express!"
    • When recalling: "They say parting is such sweet sorrow... they're idiots."
    • When killed: "The horror... the horror... ha ha... "
    • When she gets a pentakill: "You get a bullet! You get a bullet! Everyone gets a bullet!"
• In the "Get Jinxed" music video, one of the first images you see is Jinx surfing on what's probably one of her Super Mega Death Rockets. Taking a page from Dante, huh, Jinx?
• Skins:
  • Mafia Jinx having a gun in her violin case is a reference to the guitar case gun in Desperado.
  • Odyssey Jinx looks a great deal like Gaige the Mechromancer.

Kai'Sa

• Quotes: One of Bullet Angel Kai'Sa's unique quotes is "Come with me if you want to live."
• Her symbiotic biosuit is similar in look and idea to a Kamui.

Kalista

• Quotes:
  • "We had a name, once" and "Kalista... yes, that was our name."
  • While attacking dragons, she says "Serpents are creatures of betrayal," which actually might be a reference to The Bible.
• Her backstory and M.O sound almost exactly like Ai Enma. Some of her details (avatar of vengeance who needs to be bound to a wronged host) are also very reminiscent of The Spectre.
• Dance: Performs an Oberyn Martell-esque series of flourishes with her spear.

Karthus

• Quotes:
  • "I am become death" is a reference to J. Robert Oppenheimer, who was in turn quoting the Bhagavad Gita.
  • "I'm putting your name in my little black necronomicon."
  • Taking after his voice actor, Jørn Lande, Pentakill Karthus has many heavy metal references:
    • "You can't kill the metal!"
    • "Silence, groundwalker!", "What have I done? Created beauty by simply rocking! That's all," and "What is that sound? It's the pounding of creation's hammer on the anvil of time!"
    • "Tower diver! Gotta' get away, get away!"
    • "Die for metal!"
    • "Death is blacker than the blackest black... times infinity."
• Skins:
  • Phantom Karthus wears a mask that hides half of his face ala The Phantom of the Opera.
  • Pentakill Karthus looks a lot like Gene Simmons, as well as King Diamond to a lesser degree. Also, his face somewhat resembles Iron Maiden's Eddie.
• A somewhat elaborate example; Karthus' innate passive's icon, Death Defied was originally a picture of a sheep crossed out. One of the most powerful items in DotA is Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyze, which turns people into sheep. Guinsoo uses Karthus' icon in the official forums. You make the connection.

Katarina

• Dance: Taken from the famous dance scene at the end of Napoleon Dynamite.
• Quotes: "Why? Because I can."

Kayle

• Dance:
  • Her current dance references Elaine's "Little Kicks" dance from Seinfeld.
  • Her previous dance (before her 2019 VGU) is just like the dance Will and Carlton do in an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
  • The dance for her Aether Wing skin (both before and after her VGU) is the one from Night of Fire by Hinoi Team, best known from its use in Initial D.
• Quotes: Aether Wing Kayle has several:
  • "Stop right there, criminal scum."
  • "You're coming with me, dead or alive."
  • "I am the judge, I am the jury, and I am the law!"
• Her main joke animation has her sitting down in front of her Flaming Sword in a manner nearly identical to sitting by a bonfire in Dark Souls.
• Her updated Riot skin resembles Cassie Cage at max level.

Kayn/Rhaast

• Dance: Kayn does a Reebok dance.
• Quotes: "Zed's dead, baby. Zed's dead."
• The orbs he picks up after fighting enemies resemble pickups in Spectacle Fighter games like Devil May Cry or God of War.
• An ambitious young sorcerer on a quest to rule who uses a living weapon (that's actually one of the last living members of an ancient race of demons) that would very much like to take him over entirely and use him as a vessel to walk the earth once more and is generally just as much of an adversary as his actual enemies? The parallels with Elric of Melnibone couldn't be more obvious.
• Skins:
  • : Kayn's Odyssey specific line "Ora, Ora, Ora!" is one of the most famous catchphrases in Jojos Bizarre Adventure.

Kennen

• Quotes: "I am the wind!"
• Skins:
  • Deadly Kennen is a fairly obvious Deadpool costume.
  • Swamp Kennen is Yoda.
  • Super Kennen takes some inspiration from Static.

Kha'Zix

• Skins: He's heavily based off of a Xenomorph and Scyther, while his ability to assume the most desirable characteristics of the prey he devours is right out of the Kroot and Tyranid playbooks.
  • His Odyssey skin turns him into a Space Pirate.

Kled

• Quotes:
  • "Of course, you realize this means war."
  • "I don't need nothing but this axe ...and this gun ...and this hat."
  • "That voice in my head won't stop making god-awful puns!" is a reference to David "Phreak" Turley, host of the League of Legends Champion Spotlight and NA LCS shoutcaster, renowned for his ridiculous and often terrible puns.
  • "This! Is! Noxus!"
• Skins: His Sir Kled skin makes him and Skaarl heavily resemble an Onion Knight and a Chocobo.

Kog'Maw

• Dance: Does the kicking dance done by the frog from the animated classic One Froggy Evening.

LeBlanc

• Skins: Her Wicked skin resembles Cruella de Vil. Her Prestigious skin makes her look like Zatanna.
• Quotes: "Classic Misdirection" and "Lying is, like, 95% of what I do."

Lee Sin

• Dance: Taken from a scene from Shaolin Soccer.
• Skins: His Muay Thai skin just screams Sagat, right down to Resonating Strike becoming a flying knee attack.
  • His God Fist skin has elements of Saitama and Gene.
• His selection quote ("Your will, my hands") was originally spoken by Oenomaus.
• An entry in the Journal of Justice featuring him had a shout out to The Last Leaf.
• His act of setting himself ablaze in protest of the Noxian invasion of Ionia is a reference to the Vietnamese monk Thich Quang Duc.

Leona

• Quotes: "The sun always rises!"
  • Eclipse Leona upon encountering Nocturne: "Night man, I must fight thee!"
    • After killing an enemy Leona, she may say "How grossly incandescent".
• Skins:
  • You'll take one look at her Valkyrie skin and expect her ult to turn into Nibelung Valest.
  • Her Eclipse Skin - especially the Solar Eclipse version - looks like someone straight out of Dark Souls. More specifically, a Ringed Knight.

Lissandra

• Quotes: "Plans within plans."
• Skins:
  • Her appearance brings to mind both the Nova and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite.
    • She's also strikingly similar to Vayl Halyr: Both are ice witches (with similar color schemes to boot), hail from the Grim Up North, swore loyalty to their respective Eldritch Abomination masters, and finally betrayed and corrupted their kin to spread the influence of their respective masters.
• Her backstory is equal parts Queen Jadis and Nyarlathotep.

Lucian

• Dance: His dance has him rapidly spinning his guns in circles and then throwing one into the air and catching it, much like Revolver Ocelot.
• Quotes: "Death at the door? Hmph, no. I am the one who knocks."
• Skins:
  • Hired Gun Lucian looks like a mixture of Blade and Raven.
  • While High Noon Thresh has the appearance down pat, High Noon Lucian's status as a vengeful Anti-Hero whose powers stem from a demonic entity is 100% Ghost Rider (specifically Carter Slade, given his western motif). He also resembles a cross between Reaper and McCree.
  • His Demacia Vice skin makes him the Tubbs to Garen's Crockett.
• His recall animation has him strike a Gun Kata pose straight from Equilibrium.
• His joke creates an evilly-grinning smiley face, which looks nearly exactly like The Guy's.

Lulu

• Quotes: "Yep, that tasted purple!" is most likely a reference to Fry's "Hey, did everything just taste purple for a second?"
• Casting Help, Pix! on an enemy causes the faerie to annoyingly follow an enemy and damage them. The debuff is titled "Hey! Listen!"
• Her Wicked Lulu resembles the Dark Magician of Chaos from Yu-Gi-Oh!.

Lux

• Quotes:
  • "With your power level, I suggest you forfeit instead."
  • "I love it when a plan comes together!"
  • "In the name of Demacia, I will punish you!"
  • "Light mage? I'm just an ordinary mage," and "I never think about losing."
  • "Double Rainbow? What does it mean?" and "Shhh! I'm charging my laser..."invoked
  • Lux's respawn line "We all shine on— like a diamond!" is probably a reference to either Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" or Rihanna's "Diamonds".
  • The ice form of Elementalist Lux sometimes questions "Why does everyone always assume I have Turkish delight?", referencing Jadis.
• Skins:
  • Her Commando skin is based on the Imperial Guard from Warhammer 40,000. Bonus points for having a wand that's pretty much a laser gun on each end.
  • Star Guardian Lux is an homage to Magical Girl Tropes in general, but some specific references:
    • Her outfit largely resembles that of Sailor Chibi Moon.
    • Her hairstyle resembles that of Madoka Kaname. Heck, Star Guardian Lux in general might very well be an Actor Allusion for Lux's voice actress, Carrie Keranen, who provided the English voice of Mami Tomoe in the same anime.
    • Her wand/staff resembles that belonging to Sakura Kinomoto.
    • Her recall animation is a reference to transformation sequences, particularly those from Sailor Moon.
    • Her dance is a reference to this dance from Doki Doki! PreCure.
  • Elementalist Lux's fire form gives her a very similar haircut to Lina the Slayer, which in turn is based Lina Inverse.
    • One of Elementalist Lux's reaction quotes to killing a champion in Storm form is 'The same thing that happens to everything else.'
• Lux was —by admission from her creator— largely based on Marisa Kirisame. Her ultimate is named after Marisa's Final Spark^note Before that, it was even called "Finales Funkeln" and more explicitly a Touhou reference. Riot opted to rename it to the reference-less "Infinite Light" in 2012, but after fan backlash, they met them halfway and changed it to "Final Spark", which is also a giant rainbow laser beam. Lux also calls herself an "ordinary witch," while Marisa is The Ordinary Magician, and both are known for copying spells from other people. Finally, Lux's Sorceress and Spell Thief skin may be based off of Marisa: her Sorceress Lux skin looks like PC-98 Marisa, and her Spell Thief Lux outfit and wand look like Marisa's outfit in UFO.
• Her ultimate's name and its animation also resemble Vegeta's Final Flash.

Malphite

• Malphite bares a great resemblance to Tiny.
• Dance: Malphite's dance resembles a type of Capoeira called Ginga.
• Skins:
  • Shamrock Malphite is a clear reference to the Blarney Stone.
  • Obsidian Malphite skin looks a great deal like the Destroyers.
  • Glacial Malphite is possibly based on Ymir.
  • Mecha Malphite seemed like a general reference to the mecha genre... until the splash art was revealed◊, and it was shown to be an homage to Pacific Rim, with equal parts Metal Gear and Transformers added in.
    • Also, when recalling he transforms into a drill that is similar in appearance to both the Labyrinth Tank or the Gurren.

Malzahar

• Dance: Does the famous MC Hammer shuffle.
• His backstory is reminiscent of the Abdul Alhazred.

Maokai

• His saplings look, move, and sound quite a lot like Pikmin.

Master Yi

• Dance:
  • Before his visual update, it was based on a brief segment of the dance at the end of Napoleon Dynamite. His new one ever since said rework is instead The Running Man dance.
  • The one from his PROJECT: Yi skin is Japanese band World Order's "HAVE A NICE DAY" dance.
• Skins:
  • His Chosen skin makes him a Jedi Knight, complete with a blue, green, or red lightsaber depending on how much his attack damage is increased by his Wuju Style ability.
  • As with other skins in the line, his Headhunter skin is based on Predator.

Milio

• Milio's design and aesthetic clearly draw from Latin and South American-inspired Disney films like Coco. In his Champion Spotlight, Phreak quotes lyrics from "Waiting On a Miracle" from Encanto.
• Also from his Champion Spotlight, Phreak mentions "backpack, backpack!", referencing the similarly Hispanic Dora the Explorer.

Miss Fortune

• Quotes:
  • Several of her quotes are references to Han Solo:
    • "I always shoot first!"
    • "Don't get cocky."
    • "I've got a good feeling about this."
    • "Watch your mouth, kid, or you'll find yourself respawning at home."
  • Her Brazilian translation has the line "Continue a andar" ("Keep walking."), referencing Dory's "Just keep swimming." This doubles as an Actor Allusion, as both Miss Fortune and Dory share the same voice actress, Maíra Góes.
  • For Gun Goddess Miss Fortune: "Bang bang, I shot ya down."
• Skins:
  • Road Warrior Miss Fortune is a direct reference to Mad Max, specifically Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior.
  • Arcade Miss Fortune's recall animation is playing something similar of Duck Hunt... with Gangplank being the equivalent of the Duck Hunt dog.
  • Battle Bunny Miss Fortune's "dance" emote is Subaru's duck dance.
• Her Bullet Time ability is a direct reference to the term coined and codified by The Matrix.

Mordekaiser

• Quotes:
  • "Misery loves company" is a doozy, notably being a name of songs by Anthrax and Nirvana, as well as notable lyrics in "My Guitar Lies Bleeding in my Arms" by Bon Jovi, "My Friend of Misery" by Metallica, and "Home of the Blues" by Johnny Cash.
  • "No pain, no drain!"
• Skins: Lord Mordekaiser is equal parts Arthas and Sauron with equal parts Chaos Lord thrown in for good measure.
• His former title is The Master of Metal. And he actually looks like the incarnation of The Metal.
• A tradition with Mordekaiser is naming as many abilities after Heavy Metal songs/bands as they can.
  • Current:
    • Passive: Darkness Rise.
    • Q: Obliterate.
    • W: Indestructible.
    • Ultimate: Realm of Death.
  • Pre-VGU:
    • Passive: Iron Man.
    • Q: Mace of Spades, aka Ace of Spades. In the German client, it's Morgenstern.
    • First W: Creeping Death. Alternatively in the German client, it was named Metallische Luft, or "metallic air."
    • Second W: Harvester of Sorrow.
    • E: Siphon of Destruction aka Symphony of Destruction.
    • Ultimate: Children of the Grave, whose debuff was called The Prisoner, also including a passive called Dragonforce.
  • His mace is called "Nightfall," which may either be a reference to the Candlemass album of the same name or the Greek gothic metal band.

Champions N-S

Nami

• Typing "hat" in the store search bar will bring up the Boots of Speed.
• Dance: Her Coven skin has a chance to do the "Squidward Dance".
• Skins: Her Space Groove skin is inspired by the humanoids that star in Interstella5555, being more evident with her Prestige Space Groove skin.

Nasus

• Quotes: Infernal Nasus has a chance to say "By fire be purged!" when he activates his ultimate.
  "By fire be purged!"
• Dance: His Infernal skin wants you to "drop it like its hot".
• Skins: Whenever you ult as Lunar Guardian Nasus, he'll go Super Saiyan.

Nautilus

• Dance: Who ordered the pizza with extra Peeparoonie?
• Skins: The Chinese splash art for Subterranean Nautilus features in the distant background, oddly enough, Black★Rock Shooter.

Neeko

• Skins: In the Light And Shadow trailer for Season 3 of the Star Guardian skin line, Star Guardian Neeko can be seen in the constellation doing the memetic Nico Nico Ni pose from Love Live.

Nocturne

• Quotes:
  • Vanilla Nocturne's "Embrace the darkness," "Cross over," "Cut them from this world!" and "Suffer eternally!" are references to the Shrike.
    • Eternum Nocturne also adds "We transcend time."
  • Eternum Nocturne's "Their existence is a mistake," "The end of days draws near" and "We are one" scream Sovereign. "Fate cannot be averted" and "We are one" also bring to mind Harbinger from the same series. The sinister-sounding mechanical distortion to his voice certainly helps.
• Skins: His Ravager skin bares more than a passing resemblance to Carnage.

Nunu

• Quotes:
  • Pre-rework Nunu has "Don't make the yeti angry! You wouldn't like him when he's angry." Willump gains a first-person version of this line in the post-reworked Nunu Bot skin while attacking epic monsters.
  • Post-rework Nunu Bot has a lot of references to media as well as community memes. In no particular order:
    • For starters, both Nunu and Willump reference "Riot Corp", as well as one of their old games... that being League of Legends.
    • The general conceit of the skin is that the duo are in a widely-broadcasted robot-fighting show called Rift Wars.
    • "Oh, hi Marc," and "AC:Love me some Tryndamere," are both references to Marc "Tryndamere" Merrill, president and CMO of Riot. The former line doubles as a reference to The Room (2003), and the latter references Merrill's infamous "Love me some Regi" debacle-turned-meme.
    • There's several references to the famous "pro as heck guide to master yi" video, including "Watch out! He has sword-boots!", "Master Yi. You kill things fast, and are honorable,", "Those guys were worthless. Get dunked,", "Now watch as this intense boss battle unfolds,", "Not so rude now, are you?" and "Now we have the blue circle, which looks really sweet."
    • "Can't killean the Zilean."
    • "Welcome to the Destroyed Monster Club, appreciate it a lot," a reference to a similar Catchphrase by popular League of Legends streamer/former LCS player Imaqtpie.
    • "Jungling is so easy," referencing the "Support is so easy!" video by LCS player Aphromoo.
    • "Now watch and learn from my moves, as I have learned from FakerFan420," referencing famed LCK player Faker.
    • "Tell those monsters they are trash. I can't do that 'cause I'm chat-restricted," which partially references famed former LCS player Doublelift and his infamous tendency to call opponents "trash".
    • "Woah, a hamster piloting a mech!" might be a reference to Wrecking Ball/Hammond of Overwatch, who was announced less than two months before Nunu's VGU.
    • One line has Willump claim he's learned the value of friendship. It's 43.
    • A taunt to enemies with Mecha skins is "There is an action movie somewhere that wants its mech designs back."
    • "Dragon down, dream drop destruction!"
    • "Apply wrench directly to forehead!"
    • "Chiggity-check yourself before you get wrecked yourself."
    • "Slash-dance on them haters."
    • "I am become death. Destroyer of noobs."
    • "Rock 'em and sock 'em."
    • "Only you can prevent forest fires. By killing Red Buff."
    • "I have a need for speed."
    • "Party in the front. Brambles in the back."
    • "I have a bad feeling about this."
    • "They had no chance to survive."
    • "Super Robot Wars: Begin."
    • "The fourth law of robotics is punching."
    • "I'm in your code, hacking your healthz."
    • "Put your right fist in. Take your right fist out. Put your left fist in. Now they're dead."
    • "Willump-mania runs wild!"
    • "To damage, or not to damage. Let me thi- thi- thi- thi-To damage."
• Skins: Pre-VGU, Grungy Nunu has Nunu and Willump dressed like Oscar the Grouch and Cookie Monster. Post-VGU, they resemble characters from Monsters, Inc..

Olaf

• Dance: His dance is a direct reference to Technoviking.
• Skins: His Pentakill skin seems to be based off of Vinnie Paul.
• Quotes:
  • "Urge to kill, rising..."
  • His Brolaf skin features several shout-outs:
    • "I came here to kick butt and drink Graggy! Looks like I'm all out of Graggy."
    • "You can't arrest me, my dad owns a dealership!"
    • "Hey, dude, I'm kind of a big deal."
    • "Beatdown City, population - you."
• His entire title, "Olaf the Berserker" seems to be a reference to Clerks, where the character Silent Bob has a cousin who plays in a heavy metal band by the stage name "Olaf the Berserker."

Orianna

• Quotes:
  • "I know what makes them tick. I know how to make the ticking stop."
  • "When you fall, you get right back up."
• Her voice distortion in general is heavily reminiscent of GLaDOS.

Pantheon

• Skins:
  • Ruthless Pantheon looks a lot like He-Man. Its updated version resembles Lord Humungus.
  • The splash art for his Dragonslayer looks like the Black Knight set from Dark Souls.
• Quotes: He's obviously a walking reference to 300, and both his taunt and his joke reference the movie. To wit:
  • "They will not enjoy this!" refer to Queen Gorgo's "You will not enjoy this!" when she murdered a Spartan emissary that kept blackmailing her.
  • "Getting kicked into the well is the least of your worries!" refer to the famous "THIS! IS! SPARTA!!!" scene where Leonidas kicked the Persian Messenger to the well. Apparently, Pantheon knows worse things. His 2019 VGU added another reference by changing his critical hit animation to said kick.
  • Lastly, in response of "SPARTANS! What is your profession!?" ^note "HAOOH! HAOOH!! HAOOH!!!", Pantheon has this gem: "MY PROFESSION!? You know, now that I think of it, I've always wanted to be a baker..."

Poppy

• Skins:
  • The face paint on Noxus Poppy looks an awful lot like the members of KISS.
  • Lollipoppy looks just like one of the Oompa Loompas.
  • Ragdoll Poppy looks just like Raggedy Ann.
• Quotes: "That's not a hammer! THIS is a hammer!"

Pyke

• Dance: Like Rengar, Pyke's dance is none other than the haka.
• Quotes:
  • One of his voice lines for his teammate collecting their Cut is a take on a Fitting Madness Mantra.
    "Part of the kill...part of the gold."
  • From his PROJECT skin:
    • "YOU get a snake! YOU get a snake! EVERYBODY gets a snake!"
    • "Why are you running?!" from Nigerian film Pretty Liars 1.
    • "Come on out! We've got a city to burn!"
    • "Make me feel alive again."

Qiyana

• Skins: Battle Boss Qiyana's description says that she was "a princess in constant need of saving in the 1981 arcade port of Super Ixaocan Bros". The splash art features Final Boss Veigar sliding down a flagpole in a Mario-esque way, and Qiyana herself is visually somewhat evocative of Bowsette.

Quinn

• Dance: Dances to 'Are You That Somebody?' by Aaliyah.
• Quotes: "We Demacians are not easy prey."

Rakan

• Dance: Rakan's dance sees him rocking out to Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley.

Rammus

• Skins:
  • King Rammus changes his color scheme to closely resemble Bowser.
  • Ninja Rammus is a reference to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, specifically Raphael.
• His lore states that he was paired with a cactus by Blitzcrank's Fleshling Compatibility Service, likely a reference to Plants vs Zombies's Cactus bio.

Rek'Sai

• Skins:
  • Rek'Sai's default design in general is reminiscent of the Graboids.
  • Pool Party Rek'Sai's recall seems to be inspired by Jaws. When detecting hidden enemies with her Tremor-Sense, it even plays music similar to the Jaws theme.

Renata Glasc

• Her animations for her Loyalty Program and Hostile Takeover skills are blatant references to signature poses of Joseph Joestar and Dio Brando respectively from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
• Her joke emote is a reference to Arrested Development.

Renekton

• Skins:
  • Outback Renekton is quite an obvious homage to "Crocodile" Dundee.
  • Renektoy's description references the plot to Arnold Schwarzenegger's Jingle All the Way, down to the film's release year (1996).

Rengar

• Skins: He's basically a walking homage to Predator. His Headhunter skin makes this more apparent.
• Dance: His dance is the Haka. This may further be a reference to the similar looking Charr race in Guild Wars, as they also use the Haka as their dance animation in Guild Wars 2. Very possible as the Lead Champion Designer Morello worked on Guild Wars 2, and Rengar's release very closely coincided with Guild Wars 2's.

Riven

• Dance: Her dance is based on the Water Dance of Braavos.
• Skins: Her Arcade skin looks as if Sora, Kairi and Goofy merged together, and its recall animation has her select her sword from a circle around her among the swords from her other skins, a la Secret of Mana.
• Quotes: "You are beyond redemption".
• A character named 'Riven' who's an exile...which main protagonist of a certain Star Wars game series does this remind you of?
• Riven the Exile, you say?

Rumble

• Skins: The name of his "Rumble in the Jungle" skin references a historic boxing match held in the African country of Zaire in 1974, where Muhammad Ali fought George Foreman.
  • His Super Galaxy Rumble skin is a huge shout out to many, many Super Robot shows, though primarily Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Several of the quotes reference it, and Rumble's shades greatly resemble Kamina's.
    • It also kinda looks like Kouji Kabuto. He also says "UNIVERSE!" when he recalls.
  • His Badlands Baron skin turns him into the yordle equivalent of Immortan Joe.

Samira

• Quotes:
  • Among her many references to Devil May Cry: "Jackpot!", "Showtime!" and "You're dead weight." are direct line-drops.
  • "Oh! Did I step on your moment?"
• Samira is effectively Dante of Devil May Cry but as a human, one-eyed Middle Eastern-esque woman, sharing their arsenal of a black handgun, a white handgun, and giant sword, jovial and thrill-seeking attitude, and ridiculous Stylish Action combat styles. Samira's "Style" gauge was directly inspired by Devil May Cry's "Stylish Rank" system.

Sejuani

• Skins: Her Bear Cavalry skin is blatantly named after this Fauxtivational Poster.

Seraphine

• Her platform will turn into a panel with four arrows during her dance emote, just like in DanceDanceRevolution.
• Quotes:
  • In her vanilla voiceover, she shouts out "You're all breathtaking!"
  • K/DA ALL OUT Seraphine features several music in-jokes beyond the likes of League's own bands, alluding to several artists such as Lady Gaga, Dua Lipa, Carly Rae Jepsen, Music/Blackpink and Red Velvet.:
    • Two specific references to BLACKPINK: "Seraphine! In your area!" (referencing their Catchphrase) and "Like sour candy!" (referencing their crossover with Lady Gaga, "Sour Candy").
    • "Wonder if that third guy from the left^note A Fan Nickname based on Jin, one of BTS' members came here... oh! I need to focus!"
    • "Let's cut to the feeling!"
    • One interaction with Kha'Zix is "Let's go, mantis shrimp!", a Chinese nonsense phrase/internet meme (the phrase "皮皮虾, 我们走", which thanks to homophones can mean "let's go, mantis shrimp").
• Sera's level 1 artwork for Legends Of Runeterra was heavily inspired by ChilledCow's Lo-Fi Girl, emulating the relaxing atmosphere of the girl's studying room.

Sett

• Quotes:
  • "Everyone's got a plan, 'til they get slammed into the ground," a spin on Mike Tyson's "Everyone's got a plan, until they get punched in the face."
  • "A wise master once said: 'be like water.' guess I'm kind of a tsunami."
• His whole design seems pulled out from a Shonen/Seinen anime, like "Baki the Grappler", "Kengan Ashura" and "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure". Hell, even Takehito Koyasu voices him in the Japanese dub! His movement animation while slowed has him steadily walk like the memetic scene of Dio Brando and Jotaro Kujo approaching each other.
• "Maybe you expected this season's MVP,◊ but it was me, Sett!!"

Shaco

• Quotes: "Why so serious?", "How about a magic trick?" and "For my next trick, I'll make you disappear!"
  • After using Deceive, his tooltip while invisible ends with "It's not about the gold, it's about sending a message".
• In general, Shaco's a walking homage to The Joker, from his appearance, backstory (or lack thereof), and even voice lines as seen above.
  • His lore describes him as "Valoran's first fully-functioning homicidal comic," akin to the Joker from Tim Burton's Batman (1989) describing himself as "the world's first fully-functioning homicidal artist".
  • An extradimensional being that chooses to take the form of a Monster Clown and delights in terrorizing mortals and eventually killing them horribly? Isn't that Pennywise's MO?

Shen

• Skins: Not one, but two skins that reference Mortal Kombat; Yellow Jacket Shen looks like Scorpion and Frozen Shen looks like Sub-Zero.
• Quotes:
  • "If light travels so fast, how come it's never caught a ninja?"
  • "You're already dead, you just haven't caught up yet."
  • "Enforced equilibrium" and "Tread carefully."

Shyvana

• Dance: Does the same dance as Japanese idol group AKB48 in the music video for their song RIVER.

Singed

• Skins: Augmented Singed is a very obvious reference to Bane, who was the main villain in The Dark Knight Rises, which was released at about the same time as the skin was.
• Quotes:
  • "Shaken, not stirred."
  • "Mix, mix, swirl, mix."
  • "To shake, or not to shake."
  • His biography quote is "My deadliest dose shall bear my patron's name!"

Sion

• Quotes:
  • Pre-visual update Sion had Arnold Schwarzenegger references abound:
    • "Who is your summoner and what does he do?"
    • "Get on my Chopper!"
    • "What is best in death?"
    • "I'll be back," which actually made it into the visual update, complete with 2 different lines: One in his normal gravelly voice, and another in a very "Ahnold" accent.
  • "It's murdering time!"
  • "Fire... good..."
  • Mecha Zero Sion has these lines referencing Transformers:
    • "Roll out - and over!"
    • "Change shapers mecha incognito!"
    • "Death is the right of all sentient beings!"
• Skins:
  • Warmonger Sion looks very close to a Chaos Lord.
  • Mecha Zero Sion is a huge reference to Humongous Mecha in general, inspired by works such as Pacific Rim, Transformers, and Aldnoah.Zero.
• Dance:
  • Imitates Chris Farley's Chippendales audition from SNL.
  • Mecha Zero Sion's dance is based on Quad City DJs' "C'Mon 'N Ride It (The Train)".

Sivir

• Skins:
  • Warrior Princess skin is Xena.
  • Spectacular skin is Wonder Woman.
  • Her PAX skin takes inspiration from TRON.
  • Her Huntress skin resembles Zhu Rong, which turns her weapon into a boomerang (her preferred weapon until 6).

Skarner

• Quotes: He'll randomly say "Skar! Skar! Skarner!" if he idles in brush for long enough.
• Skarner's designer, Michael 'IronStylus' Maurino, stated his head was designed after Evangelion Unit-01's.

Sona

• Dance: DJ Sona's dance is the legendary and memetic Caramelldansen!
• Quotes: Vanilla Sona's taunt "line" has her play the "Finish him!" theme from Mortal Kombat.
  • "A wrong note is just...a happy little accident."
• Skins:
  • It's generally accepted that her standard skin was inspired by Hatsune Miku.
  • Pentakill Sona might been inspired by Simone Simons.
  • Arcade Sona's ultimate (which sends out a wave causing enemies to dance) resembles a DanceDanceRevolution screen, with a flow of arrows pointing in different directions.
  • DJ Sona has a few references:
    • Her helmet resembles that of Daft Punk.
    • The cube appearing on her console while in Concussive mode is a reference to the Button Beats Dubstep Cube.
    • Her joke may be a reference to the Flipping Tables meme.
    • Using Crescendo for the first time while in Kinetic mode plays a fragment of the theme from Metroid.
  • PsyOps Sona might have been inspired by psychics like Sarah Kerrigan, Jean Grey or Carrie.
  • Star Guardian Sona looks quite similar to Fuu Hououji, save for the hair color and style.

Soraka

• Dance: The Chiquita Banana dance.
• Skins: The Order of the Banana Soraka is NOT Carmen Miranda.
• Her Wish ability functionally resembles a high-level spell from Dungeons & Dragons of the same name, one of its effects being to heal her entire party.

Swain

• An elderly military man who historically has worked from behind the scenes and became a ruling figure through extremely questionable means, whose methodology blurs the lines between diabolical machinations and ruthless, "ends justify the means" pragmatism while truly believing that what they are doing is for the greater good of their people, and who has an abnormal arm that holds horrifying power taken from something else and grafted on. Is this Danzo Shimura we're talking about?
• An elderly leader of an (somewhat in this case) evil empire dressed in black and using magic lightning can also bring Emperor Palpatine to mind. He also resembles Grand Moff Tarkin.
• The demon that Swain killed to gain its powers was named Raum, who according to demonology is a Great Earl of Hell who primarily manifests as a crow.
• Quotes:
  • In the Polish pre-rework voiceover, his selection quote is "Rozdziobią was kruki, wrony" ("You gonna be pecked out by crows and ravens"), referencing Stefan Żeromski's 1895 novel of the same name.
  • Post-update, if Swain gets a Pentakill during his ultimate, he says "This is not even my final form".
  • Also post-update, he says "Any man who must say 'We are winning,' is not truly winning" and "A one-armed man needs all the help he can get."
• Skins:
  • Pre-VGU, his form while using his ultimate is awfully reminiscent of a Lord of Change. His Tyrant skin makes this even more obvious.
  • Post-update Swain's striking resemblance to Lucius Malfoy hasn't gone unnoticed.
• One of his abilities is called Nevermove, a pun on Nevermore that was only supposed to be used during development, but ended up sticking.

Sylas

• One of his quotes is "A mage-seeker tried to test me once..."
• His name is one letter away from Sylar, another character with Power Copying.

Syndra

• Dance: Dances to the song Hoot by Korean pop group Girls Generation.
• Her hat looks fairly similar to the one worn by Midna.
• Her purple color scheme, floating ability, name, and white hair can remind people of Sindel.

Champions T-Z

Taliyah

• Quotes:
  • "Diamonds really are a girl's best friend."
  • "Stick them in the pointy end!" and "Brace yourself! I hear winter is coming."
• Skins: Freljord Taliyah makes her heavily resemble a Northern Tribe Waterbender.
• Her backstory and powers may bring to mind that of Terra's.

Talon

• Dance: "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson, complete with moonwalk and crotch-grab.
• Skins:
  • Dragonblade Talon makes him greatly resemble Strider Hiryu.
  • His Crimson Elite skin makes him look like a certain Judge.

Taric

• Skins: His Armor of the Fifth Age skin is based on the World of Warcraft Paladin class's bright pink fifth-tier armor.
• Quotes:
  • "Gems are truly outrageous. They are truly, truly, truly outrageous."
  • "These gems aren't just for show."
  • "Shine on, you crazy diamond."
  • "I have seen the light too clearly to be ever afraid of the darkness" is almost an exact quotation of Galileo Galilei's "I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night."
• Pre-visual/lore update, he was reported to have designed costumes for a play titled The Sound of Magic.

Teemo

• Dance: A Badger Song reference.
• Emotes: One of his emotes looks like the Surprised Pikachu meme.
• Quotes: Omega Squad Teemo has a few:
  • "The war never ends; the battlefield just changes."
  • "This one's for Johnny!"
  • "Take the pain!"
• Skins:
  • His Badger skin has to be a reference to the Badger Song, especially given his association with mushrooms.
  • His Superhero skin is pretty much Superman's costume with a T instead of an S.
  • His Astronaut skin's description is a reference to Elton John's "Rocket Man":
    And I think it's gonna be a long long time
    'til touchdown brings me round again to find
    I've stepped on another Teemo landmine!
    Oh no no no!
  • Omega Squad Teemo has a few military video game references:
    • His helmet resembles that of T-45 Battle Armor and a Helghast trooper.
    • His stance while using his camouflage passive is based on Sam Fisher's stealth stance.

Thresh

• Skins: Between High Noon Thresh's Skull for a Head being surrounded by red hellfire (as opposed to his usual green flames) and his chain-based weapon, the comparisons to Ghost Rider were all but inevitable.

Tristana

• Skins:
  • Her character is based on Tank Girl, with her Riot Girl skin as a further reference.
  • Dragon Trainer Tristana is a clear reference to How to Train Your Dragon.
  • The unreleased "Arm Cannon" Tristana skin seems to take some inspiration from Mega Man (Classic).
• Quotes: One of Dragon Trainer Tristana's lines to Riggle is "Did you get into the sugar again?"

Trundle

• Skins: Post-rework, Junkyard Trundle looks fairly Mad Max-esque.
• Quotes: "The trolls are going to war!"

Twisted Fate

• Dance: The dance from PSY's Gangnam Style.
• His general aesthetic resembles that of Gambit, from his playing card weapons to his general speech and Cajun accent.

Twitch

• Quotes:
  • "I hear you're trash! Bow before your king!" is a reference to famed NALCS player Yiliang Peter Peng, aka "Doublelift," who's infamous for his trash-talk, specifically through the phrase "Everyone is trash."
  • "Who's following me?" is a reference to the broadcasting/livestreaming website of the same name.
  • He hums the Underground theme from Super Mario Bros. while using Ambush.
• Skins: Pickpocket Twitch heavily resembles Sly Cooper.

Tryndamere

• Dance: Before his visual update, a segment from "Bye Bye Bye" by *NSYNC.
• Skins:
  • Highlander Tryndamere, complete with kilt.
  • His Warring Kingdoms skin turns him into Guan Yu.

Udyr

• Skins: Spirit Guard Udyr bears a striking resemblance to Akuma. His maxed-out Bear Stance appearance even looks kind of like Akuma's Oni form.

Urgot

• Quotes:
  • "The world does not need gods."
  • "Say "Shurima" one more time!"
  • "You've betrayed me for the last time!"
  • "We will make Zaun great again."
  • One of his lines for killing an enemy champion with his ult is "Get over here!"
• Dance: Pre-rework Urgot does Kirby's victory dance. Yes, we know.
• Skins:
  • Butcher Urgot is a straight reference to Leatherface.
  • Giant Enemy Crabgot is a reference to the infamous Giant Enemy Crab from the Genji series.
• In his old biography, Stanwick Pididly's ending quote is "We Can Rebuild Him. We have the techmaturgy."

Varus

• A bit of a subtle one: Varus is an archer who appears to have a deformity of the knee...
• His archetype of an archer slowly succumbing to corruption was directly inspired by Ashitaka, as well as some of his animations.

Vayne

• Dance: Appears to look a little like the poses the Ginyu Force pull off, though it might also be a Gunkata.
• Her character and background draw heavy inspiration from Batman, albeit if he didn't adhere to his Thou Shalt Not Kill rule. She even has bats flying around her when activating her ultimate!

Veigar

• Quotes: Just about every line Final Boss Veigar speaks is a reference to a video game, ranging from Final Fantasy, Street Fighter, The Legend of Zelda, and many, many others. A full list can be found here.
• Skins:
  • Veigar's default look is basically that of a Black Mage (or Vivi) in all but name, with the color of his hat being the most substantial difference. White Mage Veigar also just as obvious.
  • As is Veigar Greybeard.
  • Final Boss Veigar has a few visual references in his design:
    • His voice has a distortion similar to that of a Shadow Self.
    • Him having appendages, but no arms or legs seems to be a takeaway from Rayman.
    • His Q, Baleful Strike fires an orb in the exact same fashion as Agahnim's attack from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.
    • His W, Dark Matter summons a Tetrimino.
    • For his recall, he appears to punch in the Konami Code into his Power Glove.
• Elderwood Veigar resembles the Skull Kid from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and his eyes resemble the eyes of the titular artifact. His recall animation also has him summon what looks to be a Deku Baba.

Vi

• Dance: She dances the Dougie.
• Quotes: "Here I come to save the day. Or wreck it."
• Skins:
  • Neon Strike Vi's recall animation is based on Franky's poses. Her hair also somewhat looks like Franky's.
  • Demon Vi was directly designed after Hellboy, sans the sawed-off horns.

Viktor

• Dance: Does the Melbourne Shuffle, a rave dance that originated in Australia.
• His thematic design in general resembles Doctor Doom.

Vladimir

• Quotes: Blood Lord Vladimir has the simple line "Kneel before Vlad!"
• Skins: His Count, Marquise, Nosferatu, and Vandal skins are references to Dracula, Lestat de Lioncourt, Graf Orlock, and Spike, respectively.
• One of his skills, Tides of Blood, may be a reference to an old MOBA-style War Craft III custom map of the same name. Said map had a "Blood Mage" hero who had more-or-less the same gimmick as Vladimir.
• Vladimir's name and not-vampire aesthetic are references to Vlad the Impaler.

Volibear

• Dance: Imitates Sam B's energetic audition on America's Got Talent.

Warwick

• Quotes:
  • One of his normal attacking lines is "Heroes always die!"
  • One of his joke quotes is "I'll do a trick for a Warwick Snack!"
  • Hyena Warwick, on top of having an appearance that wouldn't out of place in a Mad Max film, he has a few references to Mad Max: Fury Road when he begins the game with "Oh, what a day! What a bloody day!" and "Blood and chrome!"
• Dance: In both his pre- and post-VGU designs, he does the "zombie dance" from Michael Jackson's Thriller music video.
• An artificially-enhanced bestial killer with metal claws, a healing factor, and incredibly powerful senses who was painfully converted against his will by a mad scientist, escaped, and became an incredibly violent and brutal vigilante with a tenuous grasp on his remaining humanity. Are you sure we're not talking about Wolverine? Also, his modus operandi and motives are similar to Frank Castle's, minus the guns.
• PROJECT: Warwick's alternate purple-and-green 'Amethyst' colour pattern is clearly Evangelion's EVA-01, whilst his blue-and-yellow 'Aquamarine' is loosely reminiscent of Monster Hunter's Zinogre.

Wukong

• Skins:
  • Volcanic Wukong appears to be a reference to Havoc in Heaven, the prequel to Journey to the West featuring the original Sun Wukong. In it, he was locked in a cauldron by Lao Tzu to be burned by sacred fires for 40-50 days and distilled into an elixir, but he emerged even stronger, with an ability to see evil with 金睛火眼 (Jīnjīng Huǒyǎn/Kinshou Higan, "Gold Pupil Fire Eyes"), which Volcanic Wukong also features.
  • Radiant Wukong's outfit and larger, spikier fur is most likely a reference to another Monkey King Lite, Son Goku.
• Wukong's entire design in general is directly inspired by Sun Wukong of Journey to the West, with his aesthetics all being directly inspired by elements of the character.
  • Many of his strikes use his variable-length staff.
  • His Nimbus Strike and Decoy abilities are inspired by Sun Wukong's abilities to summon and ride a "Somersault/Nimbus Cloud" (筋斗雲, Jīndǒuyún/Kinto'un) and to create clones of himself with strands of his hair.
  • His passive, Stone Skin, and his death animation where he turns into stone are an inverted reference to his origin, in where he was born from stone.
  • Interestingly, the Chinese client forgoes any sort of subtext and flat-out states that this is the Sun Wukong himself, not just a similar character.
• The Japanese client has him voiced by Masako Nozawa, who voiced another well known Expy of the Monkey King.
• His ultimate in the Chinese servers is actually named after the prequel tale of the original Sun Wukong, Havoc in Heaven (大鬧天宮/大闹天宫, Dànào Tiāngōng).

Xerath

• Dance: Taken from the music video for "Pong" by Eisenfunk.
• Quotes: His jokes reference Disney's Aladdin and this infamous LARP session. He also had a now-removed joke referencing this Power Thirst commercial.

Xin Zhao

• Skins: His Warring Kingdoms skin makes him look like Zhao Yun. His Commando skin is based on the Imperial Guard from 'Warhammer 40,000''.

Yasuo

• Quotes:
  • "Ninjas, I hate those guys..."
  • "A wanderer isn't always lost" is a reference to "All that is gold does not glitter," a poem by J. R. R. Tolkien.
• Skins:
  • PROJECT: Yasuo looks a great deal like a Cyborg Ninja from the Metal Gear series, taking hints from Gray Fox, Raiden and Jetstream Sam.
  • Odyssey Yasuo has drawn several comparisons to Kakashi Hatake, particularly in the trailer, where he's seen reading an erotic romance novel.

Yorick

• Skins: His Pentakill skin is an obvious reference to Slash.
• Yorick's name is based on the deceased jester from Shakespeare's Hamlet.
• Each of the alters on the Twisted Treeline have a shout out when Yorick captures them. The west alter will say "Alas, poor Yorick" and the east altar will say "Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead!"

Yuumi

• Quotes:
  • "It's okay, we've got 6 left... or was it 5?" (when respawning).
  • "Do the secret five claw technique!" (when an allied she's attached to attacks)
• Skins:
  • Her Battle Academia skin is a big nod to Nezu from My Hero Academia, while her splash artwork makes her look like Minerva McGonagall's cat form.
• Her joke is a nod to "cat breading".

Zac

• Bears a strong visual resemblance to Majin Buu, and his backstory is equal parts Superman and Hellboy. His classic look is also referred to as Flubber.

Zed

• Quotes: Galaxy Slayer Zed has a few:
  • "Before us, there was nothing. Before nothing, there were monsters."
  • "You're already dead."
  • "Look at the skills, look at the moves, Zed, what was that?" references an Phreak's commentary during the infamous HOT6iX 2013 brawl between pro players Faker and Ryu (both playing Zed).
• Skins:
  • Bears a strong resemblance to Lord Zedd, with a little bit of Shredder thrown in.
  • The Shredder similarity is further driven with PROJECT: Zed, who shares some design cues and color scheme from Cyber Shredder of the same series.

Ziggs

• Dance: From the viral video Midget Superstar.
• Quotes: The Latin American client gives him the line "Me encanta el olor de los explosivos por la mañana!" ("I love the smell of explosives in the morning!")
• Skins: Battle Boss Ziggs is a homage to Bomberman; more specifically, his design loosely resembles the Bomber Shitennou/Four Bomber Kings from Super Bomberman 4 and his recall has him accidentally trapping himself with his own bombs, much like an inattentive player can do in the multiplayer modes of traditional Bomberman games.

Zilean

• Zilean's passive is named 'Time in a Bottle'.
• Skins: Shurima Desert Zilean looks a bit like Gwonam.
• Zilean's case of "chrono-displasia" seems to be a take on Billy Pilgrim's Unstuck in Time situation from Slaughterhouse-Five.

Zoe

• Quotes: Attacking a Yordle may prompt her to say "You're — so — FLUFFY!!!"
• Skins: Cyber Pop Zoe's hairstyle, black hoodie, and glasses make her heavily resemble Futaba Sakura. Also counts as an Actor Allusion, as both of their English voiceovers are by Erica Lindbeck.

Zyra

• The flavor text of a Zyra's Deadly Spines-affected Thorn Splitter reads "They shoot little 'friendliness pellets' at her enemies."

Other

NPCs

• If two or more champions perform their dance emotes in front of Vilemaw, the giant spider boss of Twisted Treeline, he'll lift his legs up as if surprised, look around to make sure no one's watching, and start doing the Carlton Dance.
• The two new shopkeepers on the Howling Abyss map will occasionally reference movie quotes:
  • Greyor (Blue Team shopkeeper):
    • "THIS! IS! FRELJOOOORD!"
    • "You're makin' me angry! You won't like me when I'm angry!"
  • Lyte (Purple Team shopkeeper):
    • "Have fun storming the bridge!"
    • "It's dangerous to go alone...take this!"
    • "What are you buying? What are you selling?"
    • "Excelsior!"
  • Lyte and his Robot Buddy "Geeves" are named after former Lead Designer of Social Systems Jeffrey "Lyte" Lin and Game Designer Kevin "Geeves" O'Brien.
    • The character Lyte is a doctor, making him "Dr. Lyte," another Mega Man reference for his nephew, Ezreal.
• The NPC storyteller in Amumu's lore was a young man who entered an ancient crypt and got inadvertently cursed by its undead inhabitant. He's named Khaldun.

Masteries

• Prior to the Runes Reforged system, the icon for Mastermind in the support mastery tree was a reference to the box art from Deus Ex.

Items

• Trinity Force is the most expensive item in the game, created by combining three different mid-level items into one hybridized one. Both its name and its in-game icon are a shout-out to the Triforce.
  • The description "Tons of Damage," is a catchphrase by NA LCS shoutcaster and host of Champion Spotlights David "Phreak" Turley, who cites Trinity Force as his favorite item.
• Youmuu's Ghostblade is one letter off from Youmu, who also wields a ghostly sword. Specifically, a katana with sakura petals flying around it.
• Rylai's Crystal Scepter is named after the lore name of Crystal Maiden from Defense of the Ancients. The item icon is almost identical to the one for Rylai's Brilliance Aura ability.
• The Manamune is highly reminiscent of the Soul Calibur sword from the first few games.
  • Its name is also derived from Masamune, a legendary Japanese swordsmith. Its upgraded form, Muramana, is the same case; Muramasa was also a famous Japanese swordsmith.
• Guinsoo's Rageblade is half shout out and half internal homage, as Steve "Guinsoo" Feak, one of the big names at Riot Games, used to develop Defense of the Ancients before passing it on to current developer Icefrog. For that matter, a number of champions and items take their moniker from Riot developers' screen names. But the most convoluted Easter Egg is the fact that Karthus's passive used to have a sheep as an icon. This referred to "Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse," an item from Dota which conferred Forced Transformation, and was snuck in because Karthus is Feak's favorite Champion.
• The Talisman of Ascension is one of the few items in the game with flavor text, saying "Praise the Sun!".
• Wriggle's Lantern shares a name with a firefly in Touhou Project, although it was initially named after a user via the Refer-A-Friend reward system.
• Kage's Lucky Pick, a magical guitar pick item, is based upon Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny.
• Atma's Impaler references the "Atma Weapon" mistranslation of Final Fantasy VI. Just like the weapon from the Final Fantasy game, the strength of Atma's Impaler is based on the wielder's HP.
• The now-discontinued Refer-A-Friend system allowed players who referred at least 1,000 friends had at least one item named after them. The few included are:
  • The "Total Biscuit of Rejuvenation" was named after TotalBiscuit.
  • Tim Buckley, author of Ctrl+Alt+Del, instead of opting to use his name, used his comic's character "Zeke," which was then immortalized with the "Zeke's Herald" and later "Zeke's Harbinger" items.
  • Let's Player Ohmwrecker (The Masked Gamer) had an item of the same name as well as a track by Pentakill.
  • A player named "Grez" had a Twisted Treeline monster and the item "Grez's Spectral Lantern" named after him, both now removed.
  • "Athene's Unholy Grail" was named after a player named "Athene."
  • "Maw of Malmortius" was named after "Malmortius."
  • "Wooglet's Cap" was named after "Wooglet."
  • As listed above, the "Wriggle's Lantern" item was named after a user named "Wriggle," which was in turn a reference to a Touhou Project character. When it was eventually removed, it was immortalized as Dragon Trainer Tristana's pet dragon named, this time spelled "Riggle."
• The Patch 5.22 notes on one of the new items, Hunter's Talisman:
  (Knowing that Brand can finally jungle... It fills you with determination.)
• Searching "last shadow" or "ls" in the item store will bring up Liandry's Anguish, which is a reference to former LCK caster Nick "LS" De Cesare (formerly known as "LastShadow") and his notoriously passionate advocacy that Liandry's Torment (Anguish's predecessor item) was a better purchase than Morellonomicon^note Prior to season 11, Morellonomicon had a mix of Grievous Wounds and magic penetration, but Liandry's Torment dealt powerful max-health-based burn damage that amplified on enemies hit with crowd control.

Meta

• An update for a more exact queue status now shows your place more precisely. Initially, when the queue was long enough, it just reports your current place in the waiting line as Over 9000. The queue is now more exact (Over 20,000), but lost the reference.
• The in-game chat displays kill streaks using Unreal Tournament lines, such as "Killing Spree!" "Dominating!" and "Godlike!"
• In ARAM, every champion has a "Champion Balance Buff" with the mode's changes (usually to damage given/taken). If there aren't any changes, the tooltip will simply read "Perfectly balanced, as all things should be."

---