Wanted 2XKO Characters for Years 2-5

With Lux and Samira on their way, I am going to share the wanted posters for future 2XKO characters for 2027-2030 and my wish list of 2027 characters I have made. You know, instead of saying 2027-2030, I'm gonna say Years 2-5. I think you can connect the dots. Before I share them, let me make myself clear that the wanted posters don't confirm that the characters are coming to 2XKO. They represent characters I want. Now, let's get to the nitty-gritty of sharing the wanted posters.

Originally, I was supposed to have 25 wanted posters, but due to the things in the background referencing non-playable characters in stages and non-playable characters in the background of certain stages, there are now 30 wanted posters. But the Years 2-5 timeframe remains. How this works is that if one of the wanted characters is announced, I cross them out. Simple as that. I won't talk about all of them, but I'll be talking about the characters that I found interesting while picking the characters for my Year 2 wish list.

First off, I have to talk about the elephant in the room, Katarina. I put her as the most wanted character because she was Thanos-snapped from the game's earlier stages of development. To fix this, Arucelli submitted Katarina's concept art to the designers for her redesign stage and that's something we've been chasing for and why she is the most wanted character. I want to add her to my Year 2 wish list, but I'll be let down again if she is not one of the Year 2 characters, so to play it safe, I think I'll leave her out of my Year 2 wish list.

But something hit me. Remember the Luigi trailer for SSF2 Beta? He was confirmed because they realized that they were one character short of the N64 cast. But what does the SSF2 Luigi trailer have anything to do with Katarina?

Well, here's a look at the list of confirmed characters so far in the Wiki. The list currently has 17 characters, but Lux and Samira are not out yet. That's why you're seeing the ??? to be replaced by a final archetype once it has been revealed on the week when their full trailers drop. If they realized that the list of characters is missing a character that starts with a K after Lux was revealed, there is evidence that Katarina could coincide with Samira's launch when she is teased at the end of the Samira trailer since they are Noxians. I think we can see our red-haired Noxian coincide with our stylish Noxian daredevil, which contributes to her being a Dante-like, courtesy of the buzz in 2XKO Pools at Evo. I'm not confirming anything, just saying it's a possibility.

If she is shadow-dropped as the extra 7th character of Year 1, an extra update will be posted. That's why I put Katarina as the most wanted character since she is the most ambitious after seeing her Thanos-snapped from the roster in the earlier stage.

Leona is gonna be peak in 2XKO with her giant shield, sword and starfire imbued powers. I'm not talking about a DC heroine. However, she could use Wonder Woman's playbook in Injustice. In fact, her picture is shown on the League of Legends homepage when you clicked on the Tank symbol, meaning that the Radiant Dawn is likely. For that, Leona deserves a guaranteed spot in my Year 2 wish list and she is likely to be a Bruiser. I love to see Leona make her way into 2XKO in some way, shape or form. She is, in fact, in the background of Kiramman Yacht donning her Pool Party skin just waiting to be playable.

Now, since Leona is a Targon character, she will come with a Targon-themed stage, like how Lux will come with a Demacia-themed stage at launch and Senna came with a Runeterra-themed stage, Abandoned Armory. However, Thresh launched, but didn't launch with a Shadow Isles-themed stage since it is coming out at the start of Season 3.

The boy and yeti wombo combo of the Freljord can really do well in a fighting game by being a Ferra/Torr-like to make Nunu stand or sit on Willump throughout the match. I know I have already talked about this in the past, but there is one thing I actually didn't not cover. It's how S1 and S2 specials would work for Nunu and Willump. S1 specials would focus on Willump while S2 specials would focus on Nunu. This can definetely work in 2XKO. It may be quite a balancing act.

See, Ferr/Torr's inclusion in Mortal Kombat X inspired other fighting games to have a small character and a big character wombo combo. Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite had Rocket Raccoon and Groot and Smash Ultimate had Banjo-Kazooie. So what will 2XKO answer with? Nunu and Willump.

Evo 2026 had a booth that sells Jayce cards at the 2XKO booth. That didn't confirm Jayce, and it's a good thing because they are done with Arcane characters for now because if they added another Arcane character this year, it'll defeat the purpose, so he'll probably come either in Year 2, 3, 4 or 5. Let's get to the main meat of how Jayce would perform in 2XKO.

I have talked about him, but there is one thing I did not talk about. That is his S1 and S2 specials. Since Jayce's hammer can shoot magic, S2 specials would focus on shooting magic out of his hammer while S1 specials would focus on physical hammer attacks, making him a All-Rounder. I do want to see Jayce in 2XKO, but his cards sold at the booth didn't even mean he's confirmed yet and they are done with Arcane characters for now. But do not worry, he will be at some point. This pitch to how Jayce performs in 2XKO is obvious.

• S1 specials to involve physical hammer attacks
• S2 specials to shoot magic from hammer

In the past, I have talked about Gangplank, but I did not talk about are his S1 and S2 specials, so I'm gonna highlight them now. Gangplank is known for having his cutlass, pistol and powder keg in his arsenal, so like how Teemo shoots his slingshot with S1 and places mushrooms with S1, Gangplank would shoot his pistol with S1 and place powder kegs with S2, classifying him a Trap character. What about Trial by Fire? Is it gonna be scrapped? No, of course not! Trial by Fire would come with a gauge that fills up from his cutlass attacks. Land a certain number of attacks and Trial by Fire would be activated for the remainder of the match. My pitch to how Gangplank would perform in 2XKO makes it clear.

• Normals to involve cutlass attacks
• S1 specials to shoot his pistol
• S2 specials to place powder kegs
• Trial by Fire to activate after landing a certain number of cutlass attacks

I have already talked about the red-haired pirate in the past, but there's something in regards to Miss Fortune to get off my chest. If Miss Fortune is revealed and her trailer drops, a teaser for Gangplank could be experienced at the end of the trailer to result in both Miss Fortune and Gangplank launching on the same day to honor the lore surrounding Miss Fortune taking Gangplank down, like how Senna and Thresh's simultaneous launch honored the lore behind Senna breaking out of Thresh's lantern to gain powers of the Black Mist's dark juju. I decided to put both Miss Fortune and Gangplank on my Year 2 wish list. It's not a guaranteed confirmation. It's a guess.

I mean, you got to admit, there are literally two Bilgewater-themed stages. Miss Fortune needs to be one of the Year 2 characters because of the tavern in Bilgewater, right? She is literally sitting right there in the background of Kiramman Yacht in her Pool Party skin with Leona just itching to be playable!

X's Grok written some information about me explaining how Sona would play in 2XKO, so I decided to lean more into her. If you don't know how Sona would perform in 2XKO, let me give you an example. Let's take Ulala from Space Channel 5. Ulala is essentially straight up confirmed to be a playable character in SEGA vs. Capcom, courtesy of FaRe'N'HiTe. A music based character with musical sounds that occur when landing hits. It's safe to say that Sona is likely, not certainly, likely to be the Ulala of 2XKO with sounds of landing hits played from her etwahl and musical moves that can give matches a lot of flair it needs and have a new archetype.

I know I said that Lucian is likely to be the 5th Year 1 character because of Senna. Well, it's not the case. See, what is really cool is that like how Miss Fortune could be a Noel Vermillion-like, it's highly likely that Lucian will be a Star-Lord-like in 2XKO since we are getting a Dante-like being Samira and that's the buzz I have been hearing when I was watching 2XKO Pools at Evo 2026. Now, because we have Senna and his lore mentioning Thresh slaying his wife, he earns a guaranteed spot in my Year 2 wish list, indicating that he is likely, not certainly, likely to debut to 2XKO as his wife did.

When Thresh makes his way into 2XKO, he became our first full-fledged villain to ever make it, so I think it's time we get another villain in the roster, and that is Veigar. The Tiny Master of Evil is gonna be peak with his dark magic. In fact, I like to see Veigar in 2XKO in some way, shape or form. S1 specials focus on his wand and S2 specials focus on using his right claw, which just might work.

Ashe will not be the only bow and arrow character I want in 2XKO because Vayne is the second bow and arrow character I also wish for. I have explained how Ashe would perform in 2XKO by having the same treatment as Caitlyn with the kicking, S1 to fire, cartwheel kick and fluid combos. However, Vayne would be different story because she has a wrist crossbow and a heavy crossbow, which can work in the specials department, so here's how the Night Hunter would perform in 2XKO.

Vayne's S1 specials would be for her wrist crossbow while her S2 specials would be for her heavy crossbow. While yes, it can be done because Vayne is a Marksman and she can have fluid combos accompanied by her punches and kicks, kind of like MvC3 Jill Valentine, who has fluid combos and it's something that Vayne would have. But her combos are gonna be more fluid and faster than Caitlyn's.

What is really cool is that like how Samira is classified as a Dante-like, Vayne could be classified as a Bayonetta-like since she is a Night Hunter. I have talked about this in the SEGA vs. Capcom post. Picture this, a 2XKO character that is a combination of MvC3 Jill Valentine and Bayonetta accompanied by fluid combos and being one with the night.

Riot said that they are done with Arcane characters for now. But that doesn't mean no more Arcane characters to come to the roster and Viktor is among them. Since selling Jayce cards at the booth didn't mean his confirmation at the time, decided to put Viktor in my Year 2 wish list. He will launch with an Arcane skin like others and is earned through purchasing the Ultra tier of the Battle Pass. I am choosing one Arcane character for my Year 2 wish list, which is Viktor.

With Luxanna Crownguard on her way to 2XKO as the first Demacia character, her brother, Garen Crownguard, is highly likely to come to 2XKO as his sister did and will be an All-Rounder, to bring in the might in 2XKO, something that Darius would do. It's a possibility for Garen to be in the 2XKO roster and have intro dialogues with his sister.

And then, something hit me. I went to Katarina's bio to look at the list of characters she is related to. And can you guess who is on the list of characters Katarina is related to? Garen. Huh, unreal.

I did talk about how the Dark Child would perform in 2XKO in the past. Talked about that Tibbers would be present throughout the match for S2 specials that would be for Tibbers to classify Annie a Carl Clover-like. However, after some thought, decided to change that.

Annie being a full-fledged Carl Clover-like will not work in 2XKO, so we have think her performance in League of Legends where Annie is alone and make her a partial Carl Clover-like. What do I mean by that? Annie would summon Tibbers with neutral S2, Tibbers would move when holding S2 and pressing S2 again while Tibbers is present makes Tibbers attack and is influenced by any direction and would disappear immediately. This is gonna classify her a Strategist like Thresh.

The pitch to how Annie performs in 2XKO sums it up with the bullet points.

• S1 specials for Annie herself
• S2 specials for Tibbers
• Pressing S2 summons Tibbers
• While Tibbers is present, pressing S2 and any direction makes Tibbers attack and holding S2 makes Tibbers move
• The above points classify Annie as a Strategist

Here is my 2XKO Year 2 wish list containing Leona, Lucian, Miss Fortune, Gangplank, Garen and Viktor. I wanted to have five characters in my Year 2 wish list, but in case if Riot decides to release six characters per year, I decided to put in six characters. I wanted to put an Ionian up there, but I had to choose the characters that are highly likely to debut.

For context, I put Miss Fortune and Gangplank next to each other because since they launched Senna and Thresh simultaneously to honor the lore surrounding the part where Senna breaks out of Thresh's lantern to gain dark juju powers of the Black Mist, they could launch Miss Fortune and Gangplank simultaneously to honor League of Legends' Bilgewater lore surrounding the part where Gangplank becomes a ghost after Miss Fortune killed him. I think this calls for a possibility of a match that has Senna and Miss Fortune against Thresh and Gangplank that is a battle of the sexes match. Pretty cool to experience that in 2XKO, huh?

You think I'll stop at showing you my Year 2 wish list? Well, think again because I also have my Year 3 wish list containing Ashe, Annie, Lee Sin, Kayle, Nunu and Willump and Jayce.

As I said before, the wanted posters don't confirm what characters are confirmed. However, there is one thing I can confirm. One that is obvious is that with Senna out, Lux on her way and the Demacia-themed stage having a statue of Kayle in the background, Garen, Lucian and Kayle now have a high likelihood because of it. Just hone in on the pieces of evidence for context.

This is just part one in regards to the wanted characters for Years 2-5. Expect subsequent posts to this post to be posted once all of the Year 2, Year 3, Year 4 and Year 5 characters have been revealed. If the sequels are up, you can click the links to them below.

-Part 2 releases when all Year 2 characters have been revealed-
-Part 3 releases when all Year 3 characters have been revealed-
-Part 4 releases when all Year 4 characters have been revealed-
-Part 5 releases when all Year 5 characters have been revealed-