Back in 2022, I was grinding ranked, sipping my third coffee of the day, when Riot dropped not one but two cryptic videos that made the entire LoL community lose its collective mind. "Message to the Eye of the Void" and "Message to the Prophet of the Void" – holy moly, they were literally sending direct threats to Malzahar and Vel'Koz, and the voice? Pure empress vibes. I remember thinking: this is it, the Void is finally getting its queen.

Now, fast forward to 2026 – I've still got that teaser artwork burned into my brain. The shattered Sun Disc of Shurima, the Watchers being name-dropped… it was a lore nerd's dream. And low-key, it set the stage for one of the most game-warping releases in modern League history. Let's rewind the clock and unpack how Bel'Veth, the Empress of the Void, shook Runeterra – and our solo queue nightmares.

🌀 The long wait for a new Void champion

Before Bel'Veth, the Void had been ghosting us since Kai'Sa dropped way back in 2018. Four years without a new purple monster? Criminal. The 2022 champion roadmap teased that a new Void champion was cooking, and OG fans like me were absolutely starving. Cho'Gath, Rek'Sai, Kha'Zix – they're iconic, but we needed something fresh, something that screamed true Void royalty.

Riot low-key loves to drop breadcrumbs, and the roadmap confirmed we'd get a champion straight from the Void, the first in nearly half a decade. The hype was legit off the charts.

📹 The teasers that broke the internet

On May 20, 2022, at 12:00 PM PT, Riot officially unveiled the prize. Those two videos weren't just random – they were lore-bombs. The "Message to the Eye of the Void" was aimed at Vel'Koz, the floating eyeball of doom, while "Message to the Prophet of the Void" threw shade at Malzahar. The new champion, speaking with this hauntingly elegant tone, called herself The Empress.

She mocked the Void's old guard for being blind, slow, stuck in their ways. And then – boom – visuals of Shurima's Sun Disc splitting in two. Talk about a power move. It was clear: Bel'Veth wasn't here to play nice. She wanted to consume everything and reshape reality in her image.

👑 Bel'Veth's kit: transformation, swarms, and sheer chaos

When her kit leaked and then officially dropped, I was shook. Her ultimate, Endless Banquet, let her transform into her true monstrous form – that manta-ray-meets-eldritch-horror beast you see in the splash art. She could summon Void remora to push lanes, dash through walls with her Q, and execute low-health targets like a boss. Her passive granted insane attack speed scaling, making her a late-game monster. Riot basically said: here’s a hypercarry jungler who snowballs like crazy and takes over the map.

And let's be real – she was absolutely busted on release. I remember picking her up, going for a cheeky level 2 invade, and just melting people. The community was split between "perma-ban her" and "first-time Bel mains going 0/10." Good times.

⚔️ The impact on 2022’s champion pipeline

Bel'Veth was champion #160, a mighty milestone. But she didn't arrive in a vacuum. 2022 was stacked: Zeri, Renata Glasc, and the long-awaited Udyr rework were all part of the plan. Riot even hinted at major overhauls for Aurelion Sol and Skarner later that year. In fact, a Champion Roadmap dropped in April 2022 giving us the scoop on Ol' Sol's upcoming CGU and Skarner's eventual VGU (which, spoiler, finally dropped in 2024 – but that's a story for another day).

Bel'Veth was the crown jewel of the Void comeback. She turned the faction from a scattered bunch of monstrosities into a serious, world-ending threat with a unified purpose. The Watchers might have created the Void, but she was about to command it.

🕶️ Bel'Veth in 2026: still the Empress?

Now, here we are in 2026. Bel'Veth has been through the wringer – nerfs, buffs, meta shifts, you name it. She's no longer the "pick-or-ban" terror of 2022, but she's carved out a solid niche. The pro scene still picks her situationally, and in solo queue, OTPs (one-trick ponies) can absolutely 1v9 with enough skill. Riot tuned down her early-game skirmishing a bit, but her scaling fantasy remains intact.

The Void storyline also advanced – remember the teasers referencing the Watchers? 2024 gave us some more lore updates tying Bel'Veth's grand plan to the Frozen Watchers in the Freljord, and honestly, I'm still waiting for the ultimate showdown. She's become one of those champions who represents League's evolution: complex, high-skill, and dripping with narrative potential.

💭 Final thoughts

Looking back, Bel'Veth's reveal was a masterclass in hype-building. From cryptic videos to a world-class cinematic (the one where she monologues while destroying Shurima – chef's kiss), Riot reminded everyone why they're the kings of champion teasers. For an obsessed Void fan like me, it was a glorious moment. And yes, I still get chills watching that old teaser where the Sun Disc cracks.

Whether you love her or hate her – or love to hate her – Bel'Veth left a permanent mark on League. She's the reason I still lock in jungle at 2 AM, just praying to pull off a clean Ult transformation and devour the enemy ADC. Here's to the Empress, and to many more years of void-touched madness. GGWP.

In-depth reporting is featured on Game Developer, and it’s a useful lens for understanding why Bel’Veth’s 2022 rollout landed so hard: tight teaser cadence, clear narrative stakes, and a kit built around scaling power spikes and map pressure all align with broader live-service champion design patterns that aim to create a “must-learn” moment for both solo queue and pro play.