5 Characters Who Should Have Been on the 2XKO Roster - Could They Have Saved the Game?

Riot Games has officially announced that they are stopping development on their 2D fighting game featuring League of Legends champions, 2XKO. Sadly, this isn't much of a surprise to gamers worldwide, as 2XKO has struggled with a low player count since launch.

Some fans blame skin pricing; others blame not enough marketing was done to get the game off the ground at launch. Others, though, believe that the roster is at fault. Some discussions online have highlighted several characters who were expected to be in a fighting game due to their playstyles, origins, or designs, yet were not included in the roster. Could the game have had a stronger presence with the involvement of these characters?

The bigger issue tends to be that it launched with a restricted roster of 11, compared to the usual 20-30 fighters that games tend to have, but that's another can of worms. It's hard to say if character choice also made this lack of choices even more of a downfall for sure, but let's take a look at who the community believes was wrongfully left out of 2XKO.

Katarina

Katarina is perhaps the biggest disappointment voiced by the community when it comes to the 2XKO roster, and honestly, the reason why is pretty valid. Way back during initial prototypes, Katarina was confirmed to have been in development. However, as game production went on, she apparently had to be completely rebuilt and reworked in the new engine.

Sadly for Katarina fans, she has not been seen since these initial prototypes and was missing from the launch roster. Well, in this case, you'd expect her to be one of, if not the very first post-launch addition, right? Nope. She just never made it to the game, and now further development has been cut off. This is quite a shame too, as she is understandably a perfect character for a fighting game such as this, known as an assassin dual-wielding daggers, and an extremely popular character with the League community.

Riven

In League of Legends, Riven was designed as an aggressive combo character, inspired directly by fighting games. She wields a huge greatsword and is specifically created to play as much like a fighting game character as possible, with many fighting game enthusiasts enjoying her as a main champion in League due to this playstyle.

So, it's not really a surprise to see why fans are so disappointed that she didn't seem to be considered as a roster pick for 2XKO. This would have perhaps created even more crossover between fighting game lovers and League players (since, according to community discussions, this overlap exists through Riven players already) and helped the game get off the ground, but it's too late now, sadly.

Lee Sin

Lee Sin is literally a blind martial arts master, and as many discussions have pointed out, perhaps one of the most obvious characters you'd expect to be in a 2D fighting game set within the League of Legends universe, so fans have been absolutely baffled as to why he was left off the roster.

Some have argued that because he's such an obvious pick, that's exactly why he doesn't need to be included, but honestly? It's understandable to see why others feel so disappointed. Sure, perhaps he didn't make it to the launch roster, but in that case it still feels somewhat wrong that he wasn't considered for one of the very first additions to the game. There are very few characters that scream "classic fighting game" as much as Lee Sin.

Udyr

Discussions involving Udyr have commented that he would have been a great addition, not only because of his powerful stances and unique silhouette - some have even referred to him as the stance character. Fans also mentioned that if not Lee Sin (or in some cases, even preferred over him), Udyr would have been an incredible choice because of how unique and fun these stances would have been in a fighting game.

This would have enabled him to have a fun layer of complexity in 2XKO, especially if each stance was implemented in a way that relies on different movesets, combos, and finishers. With his four stances, many fans believe he was simply made for this game, so it's a shame he'll never get a chance to make it to the roster.

Sett

Sett happens to be another major disappointment for League of Legends fans when it comes to 2XKO. After all, Sett's whole thing is basically being a street fighter, so he feels like a natural choice for the roster. Sadly, he somehow didn't make the cut for the launch roster, and due to the popularity of Arcane, characters such as Caitlyn were implemented before he was considered.

Considering Sett's whole lore is fighting, it really does feel like a missed opportunity that he isn't in the game, with many community discussions on the same page that he should have been a priority fit. Though, there have also been comparisons that his moveset may have been too close to Vi, with the likes of a punch-based moveset - so that may have had something to do with Sett's absence, despite him being a natural fit.