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This is based on opinion. Please don't list it on a work's trope example list.

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Nightmare Fuel / League of Legends

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https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tumblr_inline_p8ix1lnoep1r5ioas_1280.png
"You. You look familiar..."

Runeterra, the world that League of Legends takes place in, is known for its colorful brightness. It is also known to have some creepy stuff...

As per page guidelines, all spoilers below are unmarked!

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    Gameplay 
  • The general feeling of trying to escape from a large mob of enemies when you're outnumbered.
  • Any time Nocturne uses Paranoia. It basically removes your vision of friendly champions. This is usually followed up by Nocturne flying across the map to murder someone, and you won't know who until he latches onto his target. To make matters worse, it's implied that it's a spell that affects the summoners themselves, making them mistrustful towards each other for a short moment. And if that wasn't bad enough, it's revealed in the "A Twist of Fate"-cinematic that the champions affected by it also get to see some rather damn creepy stuff similar to that of Dante's Inferno.
  • Gangplank's laugh when he fires his ult.
  • Fiddlesticks' Ult. is perhaps one of the scariest as well as the most dangerous. Made worse in that a good Fiddlesticks player WILL do it when everyone least expects it.
  • The huge-ass shark that Fizz summons is quite scary the first time. Doesn't help that it's a huge game breaker.
    • If the shark finishes off a small champion, it eats them, as in, it takes the whole body and doesn't leave behind a corpse.
  • That moment in midair after a Singed fling/Blitz grab as you travel towards the enemy team.
    • Skarner's ult is the worst with it- before the bug was fixed, teleport used to be considered a debuff. So Skarners would hide in the bush, ult you, use teleport, then hit cleanse to reach their base instantly, taking you for the ride.
  • Cho'Gath's feast ability. He EATS YOU. ALIVE.
    • Cho'gath claims to have far worse things in store for you than merely eating you.
    DEATH, is NOT the end for you. I have seen to it. For eternity; YOU. ARE. MINE.
    • Cho at full size stamping down the lane towards you is unsettling - but a juggling Cho'Gath can be the stuff of nightmares.
  • Any character that turns invisible is this and Paranoia Fuel. Especially Shaco with his boxes, and Twitch with his creepy laugh and devastating ult.
    Twitch: Uehahauahahuaeuh!
    Announcer: Pentakill!
  • Being taunted by Galio, Rammus, and Shen when you least want it.
  • When you're losing a match and your jungle is unwarded, suddenly the entire map is a very large, empty place, with the entire enemy team hidden just ahead in the fog of war. In every direction.
  • Any time there's a skilled Rengar on the opposing team. That bush you're running by? He could be in there, waiting to pounce and take your head for his collection. Similar case with Kha'Zix except he doesn't even need a bush - and he'll likely leave less than a head behind.
  • Cassiopeia's ultimate ability, which petrifies nearby enemies that are facing her; and to top it off, it's accompanied by an almost demonic shrieking sound.
  • Zac. Oh, sure, he's a nice, friendly blob monster who's actually one of the straight-up good guys among the champion roster. He's also capable of coming from literally anywhere when he initiates ganks. With careful movement, he can avoid the common ward spots on the map, thereby likely bypassing your vision, and then come flying at you from odd angles. While he's far from the only champ with a wall bypass, nobody can bypass walls with the same distance and frequency as Zac. The entire game, you're left wondering if, when, and from where he's going to come at you.
  • Annie turning her teddy bear into a giant flaming monster. You're chasing Annie, you think you're a safe distance away, and then suddenly GIANT FLAMING BEAR OUT OF NOWHERE, which is likely to stun you while it wails on you with its fiery paws.
    • And then suddenly Doom Bots Of Doom makes Tibbers THREE TIMES ITS NORMAL SIZE!
    • The "Legend of the Poro King" mode is even worse (or better if you like to play Annie), giving her a massively-increased initiate range. Your whole team can be safe one instant and stunned underneath a flaming teddy bear the next. Oh, and the same mechanic that gives her an initiate takes away Flash, your best escape.
  • "Oh, you're gonna B while low on health? Here, Let me play the song of my people" - every Twisted Fate/Pantheon ulting an unfortunate sap that's low on health.
    • Similarly, any AD Carry with a Global ultimate. Low on health? "Wanna recall back to base? Here, have a rocket/crystal arrow/glimmering wave/whirling axes in your face!" What makes it even scarier is the fact that, unlike Pantheon's and Twisted Fate's ultimates, you have literally no idea when and where you can expect these.
      • Karthus's ult is similar. Just escaping from a fight with little health, starting to base, then seeing the green light above your head, signifying that you will die.
      • Pyke's ult. Executes low-health targets + flat damages targets above threshold + lasts for 15 seconds and resets with every kill Pyke gets = PENTAKILL. And did we mention the Scare Chord that plays each time he ults?
      • Urgot's ult is also surprisingly good at this, it's a rather long-range skill shot on an otherwise close-range character, and there's less warning for it than even Pyke, you probably won't see it until your champion has been impaled and is already being dragged towards him to be mulched.
  • The music that plays when you are dead in the Howling Abyss.
  • The Doom Bots of Doom really lives up to its name. First, you are plunged into a darkened Summoner's Rift complete with Ominous Pipe Organ. Then you start seeing the bots in action, and unless you're a pro player, you can only despair as they blow you out with overpowered abilities.
  • DOTs. There's literally NOTHING you can do if you're hit by one and you're low on HP, except if you have some kind of heal up your sleeve. Becoming untargetable won't help you either, so relax and just watch your health bar being slowly eaten up
  • Any champion with a skill that announces their presence from a distance or can be heard globally. Just when you think you're safe you hear the howl of a Warwick and know you can't hide, or see the eye of Rengar over your head and know he's *somewhere* but not where. Alternatively, the maddened screaming of Sion as he comes charging towards a lane, and the unholy 'SKREEEEEEE!" of Rek'sai's original ultimatenote  as she tunnels literally anywhere on the map. Even Riot acknowledged the latter scares the bejeezus out of people and even hearing the sound is enough to break up teamfights.
  • Some champions' death animations are surprisingly brutal for a T-rated game:
    • Braum tries to grab onto his shield to hold himself up, only for it to fall over and crush him.
    • Cassiopeia lets out a shrill scream as she's turned to stone, before falling over and breaking apart into several pieces.
    • Heimerdinger's mechanical arm, which according to concepts is implanted into his brain, explodes in his face.
    • Before her rework, Irelia would lose control of her blades as they all fly into her torso, before falling over in a way that would drive them in deeper.
    • Rumble gets launched into the sky from Tristy, his mech, and poor little Yordle falls to his death, while being on fire during the flight.
    • Sejuani is thrown from Bristle's back as he thrashes about, before the massive boar falls backwards and crushes her.
    • Thresh loses control of his lantern as it sucks his own soul in.
    • Tryndamere falls down and tosses his blade into the air, which abruptly impales him through the chest. He actually struggles for a moment afterwards before expiring.
    • Varus's bow explodes, impaling him on both halves of it.
    • Ziggs' bomb on his back malfunctions, launching him into the air like a faulty jetpack, and he shouts 'no no no' in increasing panic until he abruptly explodes... leaving behind nothing, not even a body. The scariest and last moment of his life spent being flung about by his own creation, desperately trying to remove it or shut it down.
  • Kindred's passive, Mark of the Kindred, was designed specifically to invoke Paranoia Fuel and leads itself to some horrifying opportunities for the enemy team. With her versatile kit, if you are marked, you have to consider your strategy for several possibilities: 1) Kindred's about to hunt you down and kill you at any moment, 2) They are not, and are going to target somebody else, leaving you handicapping yourself preparing for a gank that'll never come while your teammates die while their guard is down, or 3) They disappear for a while, and once you think you're safe, THEN they'll come and gank you.
    • It also probably doesn't help that one of their unique quotes only heard if you're being marked is the only instance that Lamb and Wolf speak in unison, which could be labeled for being a Jump Scare for how suddenly loud it is.
    Kindred: The masks of the Kindred seek you!
  • Following his 2017 rework, if at any point the enemy team has a Warwick amongst their ranks and your health falls low enough to trigger his Blood Hunt passive, a slow drumbeat accompanied by wolf howls that wouldn't be out of place in Amnesia: The Dark Descent overtakes the game's normal BGM and a bloody silhouette of a wolf's face appears above your character, gazing quietly at you. This is to remind you that if you're not near some kind of help, you're not safe. Warwick knows where you are, he knows your health is getting low, and he can be running at your direction right now at frightening levels of movement speed. And he could also pounce from the fog of war at any time. Sweet dreams.
  • Pulsefire Ezreal got a surprisingly disturbing death animation following his 2017 visual update. Before the VU, he was covered with a ton of particle effects and exploded in a pretty Mega Man-esque fashion, but post-VU in what fans nickname the "Seizure Death," the particle effects were removed, and it shows him wildly spasming in place as he dies before exploding. His bloodcurdling, increasingly-bitcrushed scream really doesn't help.
  • The manner in which Kayn transforms into his Darkin form. His transformation into his Shadow Assassin form is fine — he simply plants the scythe into the ground and channels his shadow magic into its eye, purging Rhaast. If Rhaast takes control however, he suddenly wrenches the scythe free from Kayn's grip. Kayn backs away slowly, but before he can get anywhere, the scythe plunges blade-first into his chest, lifting him off the ground as he's consumed and transformed into a Darkin. Making things even worse, Rhaast's dialogue implies that Kayn isn't merely dead when this happens; he's thrust into a gap between realities to suffer eternally.
    • Made scarier with Odyssey Kayn, who doesn't know Rhaast's true intentions and has voicelines expressing his shock, fear, and betrayal just before he's killed by the blade he thought he could trust, and the transformation sequence is arguably more graphic as well, whilst spared from being impaled, Kayn instead begins to collapse inward, with his arms being sucked inside his body before spaghettifieing into Rhaast's core. Unlike the base skin, the tranformation has voice lines showing Kayn's terror at what happens:
    Kayn: WHAT IS THIS?!
    Rhaast: THE DARK- STAR!
  • Urgot's reworked ultimate really pushes the game's T-rating to its limits. He fires a drill onto an enemy that damages them and slows them down. But the worst part is what happens when they fall below the health threshold. When that happens, Urgot can re-activate the ultimate to reel his unfortunate victims in and grind them to chum with a pair of sawblades. Nothing the character or player can do will prevent this from happening once it starts, and there won't be enough left to bury afterward. It's also fear-inducing in-universe, as the victim's allied champions close to Urgot become terrified and run away from him.
  • Rek'Sai's screeches when she casts Recall. Just... listen to this.
  • In-game, Aatrox's personality is violent and challenging, but weirdly yet entertainingly gleeful enough that you almost forget the fact he's an Omnicidal Maniac who challenges even gods. As a result, the moments where he lets his true wrathful nature slip through become surprisingly disturbing, especially regarding Zoe, of all champions.
    Aatrox: (first spotting Zoe) I know it was you, trickster! You gave them the tools to trap me! Come! Let me kill you! A THOUSAND TIMES ISN'T ENOUGH!
    • Surprisingly, Zoe has no quotes relating to the Darkin or any of the Darkin champions, despite her role in teaching the mortals how to trap his kind. Given that Aatrox's lore implies that Zoe didn't meet him face to face, he may be something that Zoe actually fears. When even a normally chatty goddess is quiet about the Darkin, you know they're dangerous.
  • The lead-up to Briar's revealnote  involved a sneaky, yet intricate teaser in the game's client, making a striking first impression of Riot's latest "hangry" champion.

     Lores 
  • Singed, as silly as he may seem in-game, is a remorseless Mad Scientist with none of the theatrics. He won't zap a corpse or animal while boasting about his genius, he'll instead kidnap some random thug, strap them to an operating table, fill them with chemtech, and torture them until something happens, all For Science!; just ask Warwick.
  • While Dr. Mundo is still a goofy character even after his rework, it doesn’t hide the fact that he was essentially tortured during his stay at Oswald Asylum. Coupled with what he does to his “patients”, even if he thinks he’s helping them, the contrast between his goofiness and his dark story makes him very unsettling.
  • Nocturne is a demonic being who feeds on fear, and he's very good at scaring you. You're asleep, having a pleasant dream, and suddenly that dream attracts his attention from the depths of the spirit realm. "The Shadow Door", gives us a chilling look at what kind of fate awaits those unfortunate enough to encounter this monster in their dreams.
    • You don't wanna see what Paranoia actually does to the champions it effects. Ryze did. He didn't enjoy the experience.
    • His lore makes him even more nightmarish, as detailed in his bio. - He's a shadow assassin construct that, somehow, gained sentience.. and immediately murdered anything it could find. Its fellow shadow constructs, his creators, and anyone not affiliated with the shadow magic whom he could get his hands on. It's because of him that anything related to shadow/spirit magic has practically been Unpersoned.
  • Urgot's fate. You're basically immortal while being horrendously disfigured. He even laments that it sucks in his current position.
    • And what comes with his disfigured body? Eternal pain. Literal eternal pain. The only thing keeping him going is his near-endless hatred for Demacia, especially Garen.
    • Urgot's 2017 rework manages to make him far scarier; in addition to his vastly more intimidating appearance, he's become a vicious, cybernetically augmented Combat Sadomasochist and cult leader/crime lord intent on not only exacting revenge on Noxus (especially Swain), but throwing all of Runeterra into chaos.
  • Renekton. He'd been around evil people for too long, destroying his mind and making him go insane.
    • Even worse with his new lore. Locked away for thousands of years with an even more insane being screaming at him and potentially torturing him. No wonder the guy was crazy when he was released.
  • Orianna's judgement, among other things. She redefines Uncanny Valley Girl.
    Orianna: [after reliving her implanted memories of the death of the original Orianna Reveck] Yes, I died.
    Summoner Carin: We have entered your mind, Orianna. How did this make you feel?
    Orianna: [creepy mechanical giggle] It was fun. I like memories. Don't you?
  • Fiddlesticks is bad enough in-game. His lore makes him much worse. He had to be sealed into the summoning chamber because they couldn't get rid of him. Everyone who went in was either cut down or driven mad.
    • Even worse, all anyone knows about his origins is that a summoner attempted an extra-planar summoning. No one knows what happened or where the summoner went; all that's left of the event is Fiddlesticks.
    • Also, in the forums, many people had asked for more information about Fiddlesticks; his designer said two words, "He waits."
    • Some people think Fiddlesticks is silly, with his design that looks like a sack held together with crudely roped-together sticks and his cackling voice. See him in the "A Twist of Fate" cinematic and you'll realise just how nightmarish he actually is.
    • "To Our End" gives us a firsthand look at just how horrifying being hunted by this ghostly scarecrow would be, as the bandits soon learn the hard way.
    • With his 2020 rework, any silliness Fiddlesticks once hadnote  is gone. Once a mere sack of straw with a funny voice, the new Fiddlesticks is a twisted nightmare of scrap metal and sackcloth, bristling with blades and barely contained rage.
      • "Terror in Demacia." Just like reworked Warwick's trailer, it's set in first person, through the eyes of an unfortunate Demacian watchman. As his partner is whisked away by the demon, things get more and more unnerving, as it becomes clear that Fiddlesticks is using the voice of the guard's friend to lure him to his doom. Finally, we get our first official look at the rechristened Ancient Fear as it snaps to life and rushes the guard with demonic ferocity. Made worse when the watchman turns to look at Fiddlesticks, because if you pay attention you can see the demon look away. Meaning that it was watching as the watchman found his friend, and only looked away to build the terror.
      "Tedric": HELP ME!
    • Fiddlesticks now sports a character theme that rivals "The Chain Warden" in spookiness.
    When fields lie calm and wind stands still
    (Run home, Run Home)
    As the crows make night of the fading sun
    (Hide now, Hide Now)
    When the Trees do bow, as if they weep
    (Stay down, Stay Down)
    Though its light beckons forth, a Melody calls out
    (Too late, Too Late)
    • Then there's its Rework's voicelines. Not only does its voice sound absolutely ruined, but almost none of its lines are its own speech; rather, they're mimicking things said to others.
      • Against other champions, it'll mimic their loved ones or their greatest fears. It's particularly cruel with it too, from declaring Riven guilty, to copying Nunu's mother talking to him, and even parroting the last words of Annie's step-sister.
      • The vast majority of its dialogue seems to be its victim's last words, which is arguably even worse.
      Fiddlesticks: DON'T BE SCARED. IT CAN'T HURT YOU.
    • On top of it all, according to Word of God, Fiddlesticks isn't even in the same class of demons as Nocturne, Tahm Kench or Evelynn - it's something even more ancient and inhuman. And if its voicelines are any indication, it's not the only one.
    Fiddlesticks: FIDDLESTICKS, END OF MEN... FIDDLESTICKS, FIRST OF TEN...
    • There's also one other noticeable but terrifying difference between Fiddlesticks and League's other demons. The others Must Be Invited. You need to accept one of Tahm Kench's deals, fall for Evelynn's seductions, stay in Nocturne's nightmares for too long, etc. They need some kind of invitation in order to claim their victims. Fiddlesticks doesn't.
  • Some champions have to go to extreme lengths, if not divinely blessed, to get their magical powers. Syndra was some ordinary farm girl who was born with enough power to wipe out her village, and managed to raise a huge floating castle with sheer magical willpower alone.
  • Mordekaiser has been given new lore that paints him in a more horrifying light. A being of pure agony and suffering that predates the Shadow Isles, Mordekaiser is a master of using pain as a weapon and is on a horrifying quest across the land. A story from a young mage in training describes him interrogating her teacher. He said he would die before talking. Mordekaiser promptly kills him and tears out his soul to get the information.
    • Here comes a new lore change, and dear god, is it horrifying. A ruthless and terrifying warlord in life, Mordekaiser died laughing on top of a mountain of his enemies' corpses, swearing that one day, he would be back for their souls. And when a group of necromancers decided to bring him back, oh boy, did he do just that. After enslaving said necromancers as liches, he went for the heads of those who killed him, enslaving their souls to his will and rebuilding his empire. The guy would simply never stay down on the off-chance that someone did manage to defeat him, thanks to his liches just bringing him back again. This went on for centuries. For a time, there was some peace when his skull was stolen and he was unable to be revived... But that skull happened to be on the Blessed Isles, and when the Ruination hit, Mordekaiser was revived in the newly-formed Shadow Isles, where he's amassed an army of the undead, and even worse, the Black Mist makes him even stronger. Now, he's set his sights on the rest of Valoran, specifically Noxus, and god help them when he decides that the time has come to make his move.
    • His short story doesn't really help matters, as he kills a knight who swore to protect a village, enslaves said knight's soul, and commands him to slaughter everyone in the village. All while he's perfectly aware of what he's doing.
    • Mordekaiser's 2019 rework changes the Iron Revenant from the heavy metal pun-spouting Large Ham originally seen in the game to the imposing, terrifying, sadistic Evil Overlord he is in-story, and gives him a deep, menacing baritone voice, to boot.
  • Elise, the Spider Queen. Outside of being a horrifying Spider Creature, her lore is pretty nightmarish. As the leader of a cult worshipping a Spider God, she'll occasionally take a pilgrimage of her followers to the Shadow Isles to find a shrine to their god. Once there... She lures them into a cave where a gigantic, undead spider lays in wait, which eats all the followers and gives Elise venom that staves off mortality a little bit longer. The kicker? Elise does this every few weeks.
    • Just watch her introduction video sometime, where she recounts the story of how she first set foot on the Shadow Isles. It ends with her in the middle of one of her "pilgrimages", during which one of her followers collapses from sheer terror:
      My companion cried out in terror and fell to his knees! I embraced him, I told him he had nothing to fear; he was going to a better place. I will take them all (her voice suddenly changes to her spider-form echo) to a better place.
    • Her Blood Moon splash art skins also shows how it's like, with her sitting atop of her throne surrounded with webbed people screaming in horror. Those are the fates of those following her.
  • Evelynn is a total mystery, and the only thing people can gather from her is that she likes to kill. And she's very good at it. What makes this very scary is that nobody knows the real reason for why she's in the league, but whatever the reason may be, it's big and she will probably affect everyone with it.
    • Though if she and Twisted Fate could get along, maybe she's not the worst thing to step into the League.
    • Her rework makes her much more terrifying. She's a demon who gets her kicks from seducing men with her charms, then viciously slaughtering them. And she's also responsible for turning Vayne into the utterly ruthless and terrifying hunter that she is now.
  • The Shadow Isles, the home of Mordekaiser, Evelynn, Yorick, Hecarim, Elise, Karthus, and Thresh...that is all.
    • It gets better. Almost all of them have specific dialogue for when they capture the West or East Altar. The spirits of the East altar beckon them to let loose their powers, and the spirits of the west either hold them in contempt or tries to reason with their better nature. The spirit of the West Altar also implies that Mordekaiser is actively using Hecarim to his own ends.
  • Thresh is a fairly eerie champion all around, being a merciless prison Torture Technician that was unceremoniously hung from chains during a jailbreak. His theme song is, appropriately, incredibly distressing, utilizing all the worst parts of Ironic Nursery Rhymes and Creepy Children Singing to create something that wouldn't be out of place in A Nightmare on Elm Street.

    Cling, clang, go the chains
    Someone's out to find you
    Cling, clang, oh the chains
    The Warden's right behind you

    Quick now, the seeking chains
    Approach with their shrill scrape
    Don't stop, flee the chains
    Your last chance to escape

    Drag the chains, drag the chains
    With all the strength you may
    Drag the chains, drag the chains
    Ere they'll drag you away

    Cling, clang, go the chains
    There's no more time for fear
    Cling, clang, oh the chains
    The last sound that you'll hear.
    • It doesn't help that he was horrifying both in life and after, as Thresh. In life he was a sadistic jailer. After death, he only got worse - now he tortures you and then imprisons you in his lantern to be taken to a forsaken ghost-hell-island.
    • Then came his reworked lore. Instead of a warden, he was a keeper of captured magical artifacts. He learned to be cruel by tormenting them. Then he was given as a prisoner a warlock who had enchanted himself so that he could not die. Thresh spent years amusing himself with this new toy, acquiring his hook and chains as the tools of his trade. Then he died and was reborn as a revenant, giving him an eternity to walk the earth and perfect the art of cruelty.
    • If you want something that makes a spectral Torture Technician seem tame, Dark Star Thresh turns him into an omnicidal cosmic horror who wants to drag everything into absolute nothingness, with his lantern turning into a black hole. His teaser is also horrifying, as it perfectly encapsulates exactly how minuscule and helpless everyone is before him.
  • Kog'Maw is an Eldritch Abomination who wants to consume everything. One of his taunts? "Terror coming... Daddy coming!"
    • Keep in mind, someone once witnessed what Kog'Maw does when he is hungry and was both awestruck and chilled by what he saw, claiming "If that's just hungry, I don't want to see angry." Who was the person? Tryndamere.
    • Word of God stated that Kog'Maw is still an infant, which makes his above taunt so much worse. If he's a child, what kind of Eldritch Abomination is his "Daddy"? Whatever it is, you sure as hell don't wanna be near Runeterra when he arrives.
  • Many backstories tie to The Void. Not much is known about the place, which only makes things worse. It must be a rough area if its residents include Kog'Maw, Cho'Gath and Kha'Zix. Not to mention both Malzahar and Kassadin beheld visions of the Void entering Valoran and were forever changed by what they saw. Malzahar was driven completely insane and Kassadin had a part of himself die when he let the Void inside to survive the visions, and both are two of the most dangerous mages in the League (although Kassadin's part was lessened that he still resolved to become one of the most heroic characters in Runeterra and trying to protect its citizens from these terrors that he gained power from).
    • The latest abomination to enter Valoran, Vel'Koz, may well be the most terrifying of all. A multi-tentacled creature obsessed with the pursuit of knowledge, Vel'Koz is effectively an Eldritch Abomination Mad Scientist which studies other life forms through deconstruction. And just in case that doesn't scare you compared to the man-eating monstrosities like Cho'Gath and Kog'Maw, just watch his debut video, "First Contact"...
  • Vilemaw, a spider which makes Elise seem tiny, and Elise herself is tall and slender. Speaking of Elise, she worships the creature because drinking the venom it produces keeps her from aging for a time. Effectively, Elise is immortal so long as she keeps drinking the venom periodically. Elise can gather the venom after she lures a group of followers to Vilemaw's lair, where the beast eats them alive. And it's not confirmed but we can rather safely assume that Vilemaw is immortal for two reasons: it naturally produces anti-aging venom and is referred to as "the spider god" both in lore and by the game developers. Added bonus: you can see a Dragon/Drake skull in Vilemaw's webbing. Yep, a giant, likely immortal, venomous, dragon-killing spider deity.
  • Baron Nashor. Killing a Dragon/Drake is heralded as a big achievement by warriors throughout the land and is something that can be boasted about for life. Nashor is far worse than the notable Rift dragon, being a large wurm capable of devouring Annie's Tibbers in a single gulp. It usually takes an entire team to take down Nashor, and occasionally, a person may be able to solo it with difficulty. But what we see in the Rift is actually an incomplete version of what's known of the Baron based on myths and supposed eyewitnesses. Yes, this already-tough creature is even stronger out of the Rift and it's somewhere by the Serpentine River. Noxus and Demacia will fight each other in many places, but both sides make sure to stay away from the Serpentine River. This thing has armies afraid of it.
  • The new cinematic, "A New Dawn" is much Darker and Edgier than previous ones, as well as being much Bloodier and Gorier. Darius drives his axe clean through Leona's shield and deep enough into her body to draw blood (though it wasn't fatal), Rengar leaps on Draven and gruesomely shreds him apart, Katarina has her head blown totally off her shoulders (thankfully offscreen) by Graves' explosive-shell-firing shotgun and Nautilus is a terrifying, unstoppable juggernaut that simply lumbers through Graves' best attacks without even slowing down until a critically-injured Graves blows himself up to collapse a giant stone pillar on him.
  • In the new Shurima cinematic, Cassiopeia's transformation is far more unpleasant than it was in her old lore, apparently feeling like being melted alive.
  • Twitch doesn't come off as scary to most people since he's mostly comedic. But then you read how he was first discovered and what he did to the people who found him and then the idea of having an acid-lobbing giant rat with a poisoned crossbow becomes a lot more frightening.
  • Sona's etwahl is hinted to have a mind of its own, as seen in Sona's judgement and reflection... And with that judgment... well, you gotta wonder what are the fates of those who bought the etwahl (before Lestarra adopted Sona) and then the instrument went back to Sona...
  • The Tales of the Black Mist video released for the 2014 Harrowing event is genuinely nightmarish as a creepy puppet show becomes a terrifying assault.
    Puppeteer: (as the audience boos the Downer Ending of his show) Well, what were you expecting? There ain't no happy endings when the Harrowing comes for you. (the Black Mist begins to billow up from behind his stand, sending the audience fleeing in terror) Right on cue... Prepare yourselves, friends. The Harrowing is here!
  • Kalista is the first champion since Jinx to get her own fully-rendered CG movie. And she's not happy.
    Kalista: Such is the price of betrayal!
  • We don't know what the hell this THING is yet. And we're not entirely sure whether we want to...
    • Now we know. It's another Void champion, Rek'sai. She's a burrowing, savage creature that'll eat anyone ever crossing her desert dunes. The fact that she's more primal and incapable of speech as opposed to other Void champions like Cho'Gath or Kha'Zix just makes her a lot more terrifying.
      • A scary thing to remember is that Rek'sai is the 'Queen of the Xer'sai.' Shurima has an area of the desert infested with tiny versions of this monster. Imagine the horror of being ambushed by these things.
  • Teemo has done things he's not proud of...
    • It's not clear what's more disturbing- the fact that this skin portrays Teemo as something other than a cuddly furball, or his dialogue and how dark it is.
  • In relation to this, the lore makes quite clear that pretty much all Yordles can become living nightmares if they're subjected to prolonged isolation from others. Teemo managed to avoid the effects of this by quickly befriending Tristana, but some aren't so lucky, such as Veigar. Though his evil is portrayed in a more comical light in-game, the lore shows the darker undertones of this effect front and center. He was imprisoned and locked in isolation specifically because of how this affects Yordles, and was gradually driven insane as a result. By the time he managed to escape, he was a twisted shell of the curious young boy he once was and went on to study dark magic until he ended up becoming one becoming one of the most powerful sorcerers in the world. Now imagine living in a world where someone whose sanity was sadistically torn away has become one of the most powerful magical entities in the world.
  • "The River King" is a classic case of a Deal with the Devil. But just because we all saw it coming doesn't make it any less horrifying. Just ask the man's bride. Oh wait...
    • Even creepier is near the end when the narrator's voice drops to a sinister pitch and he switches from 3rd to 1st person and you realise he's the monster.
      Tahm Kench: She screamed, just once. As I snapped her bones and crushed her limbs! Now that meal? <Evil Laugh> It left me satisfied. So cry if you want boy, 'cause you had a chance to walk away. Instead you're the fool, the fool who let me in.
    • Another story describes an aspiring Piltover inventor. All she needed was one break. Tahm offered her that break for a mere lock of her hair. But she needed another. That cost all her hair. And another. Which started costing body parts. By the end of her dealings with the River King, there was barely anything left of her. Except a helpless snack for Tahm.
  • While most of Curse of the Sad Mummy is very, well, sad, it also justifies why in Amumu's old lore, there was an interesting quote at the end of it from Ezreal. When Amumu finally gets angry about his curse preventing anyone from being his friend, he explodes with such force that it wipes out a small town.
    Ezreal: "Things are bad when Amumu is crying, but they're much worse when he's angry."
  • Post-VU Gangplank has taken to scrimshaw as a hobby. Sounds fairly normal, albeit slightly creepy, enough. What makes it worse is that in the Burning Tides event, Gangplank actually decides to practice scrimshaw on the bones of a living crewmate that defied him.
    Gangplank: "It's a dying art, scrimshaw."
    • What Gangplank went through at the climax of the Burning Tides, if you look at it from his POV. Looked like a normal day for the pirate king, when all of the sudden, cannon balls rained upon his prized ship, sinking it with him, and the price of survival? One arm and one leg. And not only that, his status went rock bottom, with him being announced dead, what matters isn't that Bilgewater's in chaos, but the fact that a pirate king like him lost all his properties and was reduced to just another small fish in the big pond. All in a span of a few seconds.
    • Following this up is the reveal of the culprit: Miss Fortune. Turns out, beneath her flirty attitude lies an extremely ruthless planner who wouldn't mind doing amoral things such as murder to execute her plans, not just on Gangplank, but anyone loyal to him, and her next goal was to burn down every last one of Gangplank's properties and kill off his loyal crewmates without mercy. Any past thoughts of her being probably the closest thing for a 'good' force on Bilgewater may be gone now, making Bilgewater truly a chaotic hellhole. To wit, the transformation of Miss Fortune's character from old to new lore is awesomely terrifying.
    • And how did Malcolm Graves and Tobias "Twisted" Fate get involved in all this? Why, that would be Miss Fortune's own doing as well. She hired Twisted Fate to steal a prized dagger from one of Gangplank's warehouses, while simultaneously passing word to Graves that Twisted Fate was going to be there. She knew that the two of them would get into a massive fight that would bring Gangplank and his crews running, giving her men time to sabotage his ship. If Graves or T.F. got killed because of her, either from their fight or at Gangplank's hands, well, that's just pirate business, right?
    • Thankfully, this is very much lessened down or fixed in Shadow and Fortune, when Miss Fortune eventually showed that she still cared a lot of her crew, and admitted that she let herself be blinded with vengeance and screwed up Bilgewater when all she meant was to let it stand up without clutching on Gangplank's rule and mostly would try to fix Bilgewater herself. Of course, considering that's the current Harrowing event of 2015, she had to practically earn that by surviving the horrors of Shadow Isles. However, before that comes in, it kind of counts that for that time, people would be fearing for Bilgewater's safety because there seemed to be no one who gave a damn for any events of the Shadow Isles' assault until MF showed otherwise (Lucian's arrival was just a lucky factor).
  • Kindred's presence can be generally very unsettling, essentially a divided Grim Reaper, with Wolf being a relentless, animalistic Blood Knight, and Lamb being an eerily calm Emotionless Girl, with a passive mechanic that's designed to evoke Paranoia Fuel. And despite Wolf's Manchild and Lamb's Don't Fear the Reaper aspects, they have some very chilling interactions.
    Wolf: Who's next?!
    Lamb: Everyone.
  • Jhin. Oh good god, Jhin. Where do we even begin with this guy...
  • If Jhin represents the previously-unseen dark side of Ionia's authority, Camille the Steel Shadow represents Piltover's. Unlike the professional, by-the-books Caitlyn, or the rambunctious yet efficient Vi, Camille is a scarily proficient death machine who sees Piltover as a moving machine, criminals as defects, and her blades as the cure. She reaches a weird form of Uncanny Valley not helped by her vast amounts of hextech augmentations, in that unlike Orianna, who's creepy, but at least somewhat oblivious to her potential carnage, Camille is human enough to know what she's doing yet machine enough to be unfeeling, precise, and mechanistically brutal while doing it.
    Camille: (taunting Vi) Ever wonder how you became an orphan?
  • The reveal cinematic of the updated Warwick, The Wrath of Zaun, leaves one hell of an impression. For starters, it's a constant POV shot of an obviously terrified Zaunite and his thug companion, running for their lives from Warwick, who we just barely see. Even when he makes it onto the gondola, with a bioengineered wolf man getting closer and closer to both of them, he has to lock the door an instant his friend gets slaughtered right behind it, which Warwick pierces through. Just when it looks like our Zaunite is about to make it free as the gondola activates, he accidentally cuts his hand, getting Warwick's attention, causing him to roar as his green augmentations turn red. He disappears into the Zaunite fog... then he makes a massive leap towards our poor, screaming cameraman.
    • Even before that, it was shown in a prior teaser that Singed was experimenting on a former cutthroat (who was most likely Warwick still in human form)....the details of what he's done to him were quite horrific....and that was before the augmentation had Warwick's bestial transformation kick in (as a result of gene-splicing that resulted in a cyborg-wolf). Once it did though, when Singed thought that he died from the experiment failing and then tossing him away, Warwick was somehow still alive and managed to make short work of Singed's lab afterwards before disappearing. Now, Warwick is pretty much roaming Zaun's streets, killing any hapless criminals who dare to come across him, and he's most likely having an antagonistic relationship towards Singed as opposed to the prior friendship pre-retcon.
  • This animation of Zed shows just what his Death Mark does to kill somebody: his shadows get into the victim's body through their orifices and wounds, before violently bursting out. You can see puffs of his shadows popping out of their ears and even their eyes. It really drives home just how terrifying Zed's shadow techniques really are, and makes you think the Kinkou had a valid reason for condemning it as a Dangerous Forbidden Technique.
  • Ahri's lore borderlines on tear-jerker territory, only realizing what she was doing until after she killed hundreds of people, and that was after she began hearing rumors about herself killing them, and even then, she still is addicted to eating souls.
  • Vayne's new lore makes her MUCH more terrifying than she was in her old lore. After her family was slaughtered by Evelynn, she was taken in by a woman who raised her like a daughter. Eventually, said woman would save Vayne's life by resorting to unleashing her black magic. Vayne's response? Shoot her dead. No hesitation. No doubt. No remorse. No shame. It doesn't matter if your intentions were noble. It doesn't matter if you're not even a bad person. If you use black magic, SHE. WILL. KILL. YOU. Vayne is every bit the monster her prey is, the only difference being that she only targets dark magic users.
  • Swain's rework teaser video, The Noxian Grand General demonstrates Swain's sheer arcane power over dark magic. He's shown watching ominously from a balcony over the Noxus metropolis with the Immortal bastion looming in the distance, as the viewer approaches slowly from behind him. Swain's cold voice declares his intention of leading Noxus through a coming threat and towards triumph as his signature ravens dot the skyline, and he reveals a demonic, pulsing red hand, before two massive raven wing burst from his shoulders emanating dark mist and red energy, as the doors are slammed in the viewer's face. The video shows Swain not just as a near peerless military leader but also as a dangerously capable warlock.
  • The end of Annie: Origins shows what happens if you try to take Tibbers away from Annie, especially if you try to destroy it, as her stepmother, Leanna, learns the hard way. The next shot only shows Leanna's charred hand. We don't exactly know what Tibbers did to her, but it definitely wasn't pretty.
    • Think of how it all happened from Annie's perspective: she had to watch her stepsister get washed away downriver even after she tried to use Tibbers to save her, her dad died to save her life, and Leanna blamed her for everything. Little wonder why Annie used her ult.
    • After everything she went through, Annie is pretty much broken, the oddly cheerful, giggling little girl personality she has in-game capable of tipping in a second into violent psychopathy and then snapping back again. It makes her profoundly creepy, as seen in the short story "Trouble".
      “That’s a mighty big purse for a mighty small girl,” the bounty hunter growled, far too loudly.
      “Tibbers found it,” the girl replied.
      The bounty hunter snorted. “Is that so?”
      “It was on the man who stopped me in the road. He was a real meanie.” The girl took a sip of her milk, her attention back on her bear.
      “That’s too bad…” The bounty hunter leaned in closer on his stool, hand sliding towards the purse.
      The girl looked up at him, a playful smile dancing across her face.
      “Tibbers ate him.”
  • Kai'Sa: Breach. Aside from the Xer'Sai, Shurimas deserts has other void-based Paranoia Fuel: The underground is full of caves inhabited by void creatures. If you are unlucky, you can find yourself pulled down through the sand, alone in the burrows except for alien predators.
    • While it was always known that the void had traces of The Assimilator, it's disturbing to see how quickly it happens.
  • You wouldn't think Fizz could make for a scary story, but as a victim of his mischief reveals in "Fizz And The Lucky Kraken", being stalked by a talking fish man can be extremely unnerving.
  • With his teaser video alone, Pyke (whose face currently provides this page's image) quickly and chillingly establishes himself as Bilgewater's Bloodharbor Butcher.
  • The teaser for Aatrox's rework shows just how pants-soiling his presence in a battle looks in lore. Not to mention his new moniker of WORLD ENDER.
  • Recent lore updates to champions (specifically Aatrox and Varus) and background stories have given a more specific grasp upon what a Darkin actually is; being once accended warriors who climbed the ranks and became heroes that lost their way after Xerath killed Azir thousands of years ago. Becoming blinded by grief and anger, they took their anger out on Shurima's people until they were stopped and sealed within their own weapons. With context taken from Aatrox's new voice lines and a Reddit commenter to put it into perspective, the life of a Darkin would be horrible for anyone, let alone heroes.
  • Ryze: Call Of Power gives us a glimpse of the sheer destruction of the Rune Wars. And makes it very clear how powerful the World Runes are.
  • The short story "Where Icathia Once Stood" reveals how the Void came to become such a huge threat to Runeterra, and it's unsurprisingly horrifying. Out of desperation to defeat the Shuriman Empire and their Ascended warriors, the Icathians opened a portal to the Void. Upon their arrival, however, the monstrosities that emerged proceeded to lay waste to both sides in a terrifying fashion, destroying Icathia in the process. And to top it all off, the survivor whose point of view the story's told from is left with his sanity completely in tatters.
  • "At The Edge Of The World" shows that even the mighty Noxus can't conquer the jungles of Shurima.
  • "The Monster Of Kalduga Outpost" is funny to the reader. For the Noxian outpost in story however, it's like a Runterran version of The Thing. By stories end, only 4 are left after Neeko's abilities sent the outpost into brutal paranoia.
    • Such is their paranoia that they decide to part ways to save themselves; each heading in a different cardinal direction of the world with their commander giving them express orders to kill each other if they ever see any of the other three again - because if they see each other that would either mean one of them disobeyed orders, or, worse, is The Monster Of Kalduga Outpost.
  • "Awaken" gives us the most advanced look at Sion yet. And really drives home how scary an 8 foot tall, nigh-unkillable zombie with a giant ax looks up close.
  • "Silence For The Damned" shows us the Ursine tribe in all their horrifying glory. And their sheer, unparalleled brutality.
  • While Qiyana's massive ego and overall brattiness usually cut her as a rather comical character, her sheer ruthlessness in her pursuit of Ixaocan's throne is honestly terrifying.
  • The "Zed" comics are host to more than a few terrifying things.
    • For starters, they give us the first look at Jhin's handiwork outside of text. It's not pretty. People are left crippled in both body and mind. And some of his actions are so horrid, it's not shown on page. Shen orders Akali not to look, just to save her from suffering like he did.
      • The first issue does finally describe what Jhin does to his victims — he uses enchanted knives to carve their faces into a fleshy flower! And just to Kick the Dog, he specifically sought out a woman who'd survived one of his rampages nineteen years ago thanks to Zed saving her life (at the cost of her mangled leg), solely to send a message to Zed that he's back and looking to continue where he left off.
    • We get to see more of Kayn and Rhaast, and as befitting of a violent killer and his Omnicidal Maniac Living Weapon, they're both pretty damn creepy.
      • Kayn is actually quite easy-going and amicable, even with Akali - until he's angered or preparing for a fight, where he drops all pretenses and makes it clear how violent and unhinged he is. Creepier still is how Rhaast is capable of talking only to him, making Kayn come across as even crazier when describing Rhaast's nature and what he wants - which is for Kayn to slaughter everyone around him.
      • Then there's the matter of actually wielding Rhaast. His arm is purple and blighted when Rhaast isn't in use, and upon unsheathing him, the Darkin's true body manifests around his arm and eye like in-game, which is insanely creepy.
    • In the last issue, we get the subtler, "ordinary" horror that Master Kusho was the one who set Jhin loose on Ionia to keep it from getting complacent. In keeping with the theme that "some truths are too terrible for the minds of good people," Zed dispatches him to spare Shen the burden of knowing. Worse still is the unholy thing he is transformed into upon consuming the ichor which fuels Zed's shadow powers.
  • Lissandra's story "The Dream Thief" details her dream-walking abilities, also revealing that this is how she keeps The Watchers at bay. As a result, we see just what exactly they dream of: a black sun across an infinite landscape that grows to consumes everything, which even a goddess-sized Lissandra is helpless to stop before she too is reduced to nothingness. Even worse is that not only is this what The Watchers consider appealing, the real Lissandra is forced to play into the horror to keep their slumber at ease, which is demonstrably taking a huge toll onto her after thousands of years.
  • And now we have a teaser for Volibear's upcoming VGU. You'll never see thunder the same way again.
  • Demons in general. Aside from the aforementioned Nocturne and Fiddlesticks who feed on fear, there are 'charming' demons like Tahm Kench and Evelyn who entice you into wanting them and then flay you alive. Then there are azakana: 'minor' demons who attach to you like a parasite and nurture your worst emotions until they gain enough power to take over entirely.
  • Sona of all champions gets a genuinely disturbing moment in her color story "One Last Show", where she inflicts her signature Involuntary Dance spell on a group of approaching mageseekers. It's played as creepily as it would were it real life, with the description calling emphasis to Sona unnaturally and painfully contorting the bodies of the terrified mageseekers like puppets until they're all incapacitated. Sona only did it out of self-defense, but wow.
    It was painful, she knew that much. But she had to make them hurt. She had to make pain the only thing they could remember.
  • As to be expected of a story starring Singed, "The Host" is a nightmare inducing story. Mostly thanks to it being from the perspective of the test subject, a man reduced to some form of parasitic monster that Singed tries forcing to bond with another experiment. The closing line just adds to the horror as this is far from the first time he's performed this experiment.
    Singed: Oh, well done, Thinker Four. That puts you... yes... more answers than even Thinker Two! You’ve been most helpful.
  • "Feast Of The Prophet" gives the reader a small but horrifying glimpse into Malzahar, his powers and what being from beyond he serves.
    • Malzahar himself is described by the unlucky protagonist as a horrific sight to behold.
    "Malzahar's entire skull was thin, fleshy webbing, with something... horrible inside. A light within a light, pulsating outward. Spreading. Hungry.
    • We get to see exactly what getting hit by his Malefic Visions does to one's mind, and what it shows them.
    An enormous shape, looming behind the prophet and filling the entire night sky. Buildings... or something like buildings, but inverted and crooked beneath a vast, unnatural ocean. Thousands of voracious creatures swimming in schools so large they block even the dappled light from the not-sun, creating their own currents in the not-water.
    • The closing line of the story, as Mier is sacrificed with countless others to The Void.
    A man once named Meir closes his eyes, emptied of all things.

    He touches the bottom of the Void.

    And then he is gone.
  • "All That Will Ever Be" is full of nightmarish imagery.
    • The first bit being this is the first time the Void is actually shown, and it's just as alien and unnerving as you'd expect. An M.C. Escher-esque world of madness, full of walls made of grappling purple arms.
    • And the real meat and potatoes of fear, the introduction of Bel'Veth. Whose appearance alone, a deeply unconvincing human façade, is just a cover for the real, Lovecraft-like horrifying thing underneath her false face.
  • On the surface, Nilah seems like the least likely candidate you'd see on this page. A peppy, perky girl who fights demons and monsters with a smile on her face. And then you read her backstory. The woman we known as Nilah is, for all intents and purposes, a shell being commanded by a demon of joy after she reemerged from the Runeterran version of the seventh layer of Hell. She's always happy because she's literally incapable of feeling any other emotion, and all memory of who she was originally was completely erased from record, memory, everything.
  • Briar's reveal trailer, "Feeding Frenzy", picks up immediately after she kills the guard in her teaser and the situation goes From Bad to Worse. The prison is immediately thrown into chaos as the other guards fearfully shout that she's gotten blood, and after Briar busts out of her cell and gets enraged by her "friend" being roughed up by the soldiers, the results, while stylized, aren't pretty. She goes into a frenzy and begins butchering every single guard that gets in her way as she makes her escape, with the visuals indicating she's very literally slicing them to pieces if not bisecting or decapitating them, with one guard in particular getting his head cut in half. And while all this is happening, the horrified janitor, unaware that he's been designated as her "escape buddy", desperately tries to flee as Briar slaughters the guards as she pursues him to keep up.

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