It’s almost April 1, which means Urf day is nearly upon us. Riot has told us we aren’t getting U.R.F. mode this year , but something else is coming. Urf is the weirdest inside joke in League of Legends , and the game is filled with them. You can find Urf in the backgrounds of splash arts, inside abilities and in jokes, but where exactly did it start. Before you could see a manatee flying around inside Forecast Janna’s tornado, what was he?
In March of 2010, Riot released a champion teaser on their forums for “Urf the Manatee .” Urf has a bib with a lobster on it, a spatula, a fish and a Gatling gun. His lore has him obsessed with Jax, hoping to one day match his level of skill. The reason Jax has to fight with a lamppost is because he is just too powerful to use a normal weapon and the League wouldn’t let him compete unless he had a handicap. My favorite line from Urf’s bio is: “Urf now begins his aquatic journey as the League's first Manatee champion, hoping one day he will have the opportunity to cross fish and spatula with chicken’s foot and lamppost.”
Urf also has a full kit , with the abilities originating from lines in Lonely Island’s hit song “I’m on a Boat.” Flippy Floppy is the best name of an ability, and it is a shame it was not added to the game. At one point League had an actual story, so what actually happened to the manatee? Well, Riot, with their sick sense of humor, decided it was a good idea to have him murdered by the malicious werewolf Warwick. In the Journals of Justice, which was an old newsletter fleshing out the lore of League of Legends , told the story of how Urf was swimming along the Rift, minding his own business until Warwick ate him.
One of the rarest skins in the game is Urf Warwick, a skin that has not been re-released since it returned back in 2010. Warwick wears the hide of the proud manatee, standing on a beach in the splash art. The skin was on sale for 99 percent when it came out, only costing 50 RP. After the first week it rose to 500 RP, and on the last day of its availability it cost 5000 RP, the most of any skin in existence.
Since then, Urf has appeared all over League of Legends . Fisherman Fizz summons him with his ultimate and Urfrider Corki rides him. Nami and Tahm Kench both have skins that look like our favorite sea cow. Urf is also the only non-playable character to have his own figure, which was released on the Riot merchandise store last April fools. It’s no longer available, but it may be available again this year.
Even though Urf is no longer with us, he will always be remembered. Ultra Rapid Fire is Riot’s April Fools game mode that pretty much gets rid of all the rules so that the players can just have fun. That’s really what Urf stands for, even after he was maimed and eaten.
