True Damage’s “Know My Name” connects Faker and SOYEON: five characters, human voices and Worlds 2026
The group’s return after seven years is the 13th Worlds anthem. A guide to Akali and SOYEON’s roles, the retrospective of Faker and T 1, and the upcoming November 14 opening performance in New York.
True Damage performs “Know My Name,” the anthem for the 2026 League of Legends World Championship, bringing Faker, SOYEON and the character Akali into the same musical narrative again. It is the first Worlds anthem performed by one of Riot’s virtual artists and the 13th Worlds anthem overall. Seven years after 2019’s “GIANTS,” the useful distinctions are who the characters are, who supplies their voices, and how the past victories and defeats revisited by the song differ from this year’s ongoing championship.
Why do five characters not mean five human singers?
True Damage consists of five in-game champions: Akali, Ekko, Qiyana, Senna and Yasuo. Their fictional roles are distinct: Akali and Ekko rap, Qiyana sings and raps, Senna sings, and Yasuo is the DJ and producer. The virtual collective reimagines champions through musical identities. Its artwork should not be read as a photograph of human band members, nor does each of the five characters necessarily need an individual vocalist.
An official illustration of the True Damage characters together, rather than a photograph of five human singers.
Riot’s announced collaborators include i-dle’s SOYEON, Coco Jones, Vic Mensa and Sofía Reyes. SOYEON returns as Akali’s voice, placing the performance skills of a real-world artist within a game character. Once that division is understood, streaming artist credits, character styling and the figures performing in the music video can be read as different creative layers, rather than as a conventional physical band.
Revisiting Faker: more than the trophies
The “Know My Name” video centres on Faker and T 1’s journey to three consecutive Worlds victories, including success and the process of adjusting after defeat and returning to the summit. It looks back on an existing journey rather than announcing the winner of Worlds 2026. By connecting collective memories through a player’s long experience, the song also offers an entry point for people who know the characters but are less familiar with professional competition.
In an editorial published in October, Faker discussed continuing to adapt to patches and new champions while correcting playing habits, hoping to leave viewers with positive experiences to remember. SOYEON said she wanted to retain Akali’s edge while making the performance more mature than seven years earlier. Both perspectives connect a name with daily adjustment: familiar characters and stars still have another performance to prepare for beyond their previous successes.
The single is out; the Final’s opening performance is still ahead
Riot originally announced the video and streaming release for October 8 at 18:00 PDT, corresponding to the morning of October 9 in Taiwan. The video is now available through the official League of Legends YouTube channel, and the full title can be searched on major streaming platforms. Watching only the interviews can obscure the song’s place within Worlds’ audiovisual production. Character design, music and Faker’s competitive story are three interconnected ways to approach it.
Riot also announced that True Damage will perform at the Worlds 2026 Final Opening Ceremony at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on November 14, local US time. That upcoming live appearance is separate from the released recording and video. For audiences crossing gaming, hip-hop and popular culture, the work illustrates how fictional characters carry human voices; the next point to watch is how it becomes a performance on the Final’s stage.
