League of Legends Cinematic: The Ones Worth Knowing

1 min read

From Get Jinxed to Arcane, Riot has built its identity on animated shorts. Here is where the tradition started and where it sits now.

A League of Legends cinematic usually means one of two things: a short trailer built around a champion or event, or — since 2021 — Arcane itself.

The trailer tradition

Riot built its identity on these long before Arcane existed. "Get Jinxed" (2013) introduced Jinx and set the template: a fully animated short tied to a champion release rather than to gameplay footage. "Warriors" (2014) did the same for the first World Championship anthem, pairing Imagine Dragons' track with animated Summoner's Rift action.

Tales of Runeterra

Do not confuse this with the card game Legends of Runeterra — Tales of Runeterra (2020–2021) was a separate run of animated shorts on YouTube, each focused on a champion or region's lore rather than a single cinematic moment.

Where Arcane sits

Arcane (2021–2024) is the scaled-up version of the same instinct: a full series instead of a single trailer, made by Fortiche for Netflix. It did not replace the shorter cinematics — Riot still releases them around major events — it just became the biggest one.