What is Hextech, Hexgates and Hexcores in Arcane?

League of Legends players may already be familiar with Hextech. The game requires players to use this fictional technology to upgrade. In Arcane, Hextech forms the basis upon which the entire story is based. 

The first Act comprising three episodes starts with the two sisters, Vi and Powder (Jinx) completing a seemingly simple job, one that goes horribly wrong. 

Powder discovers volatile blue crystals and in her clumsiness, drops a crystal. A massive explosion blows out the shop and starts a hunt that changes the sisters’ lives forever. 

Act 2 starts with a conversation between Heimerdinger and Jayce, one that sets the precedent for Act 2. Jayce is a big name in Piltover now after pioneering the use of Hextech. 

Jayce and Victor, whose health is continuously and mysteriously deteriorating, have finally achieved a scientific breakthrough with Hextech, something that they believe will benefit society immensely. 

Jayce developed the Hexgates that have helped Piltover reach new heights, bringing in an era of prosperity and a renewed interest in arts and science. While the Hexgates have made the world a smaller place, increasing speeds beyond previous imagination, they have also further increased the differences between the two cities.

Built upon Hextech, Hexgates are ports to the rest of the world. The Hexgates have allowed Piltover to act as a global shipping lane, thereby ensuring the councill…. the City’s prosperity. 

Hextech is the most important governing factor in Piltover, from money to power to politics. As the pioneer of Hextech, Jayce Talis was soon rewarded with a Council seat, a rare honor in Piltover (in fact, the council has always featured seven seats, according to the show). 

But as Jayce drowned himself in intricacies of power and fame, Victor continued his research. He continued trying to further the Hextech technology, which he believed could adapt and learn. With noble intentions of using Hextech to help the masses, Victor stumbled upon the Hexcore!

As a scientist, Jayce has developed the next chapter of Hextech, and he is excited to show it off during his Progress Day speech. According to League of Legends lore, Hextech is a fusion of elemental and spirit magic. Anyone can use this technology, and magic need not remain in the realm of a select few. 

In the show, Hextech harnesses the power of magic in extremely rare crystals, the very ones that Vi and Powder stole in Episode 1.

The crystals hold immense power but they are extremely unstable. Anyone using them outside of a secure environment is putting everyone, including themselves at risk. 

Jayce Talis and Victor set out to bring the magic of the crystals to the common man. They have developed Hextech Gemstones, spherical in shape, but more importantly extremely stable and usable. 

The Gemstone can power virtually anything and its use is limited by the user’s imagination. 

Here are some examples of equipment powered by the Hextech Gemstones:

But Jayce stops short of announcing Hextech Gemstones and their myriad uses in this Progression Day speech. The deviation comes as a massive surprise to Victor, a close ally and friend. 

Despite his initial efforts, Victor was unable to harness the full power of Hextech. His belief that Hextech could adapt and learn was stumbled upon a lack of progress in his experimentation. A bout of illness and a few drops of blood meant Victor stumbled upon one of the greatest discoveries in Piltover.

The Hexcore is an adaptive rune matrix or as Victor calls is “hextech that evolves” Hexcore reacts to organic matter but in the initial experiments, the mutations were unsustainable and collapsed soon after.

But there is a lot more to yet to come in Act 3 and Victor, the only human to have touched the Hexcore to activate it will play a crucial role in Act 3.

Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest coverage on Arcane Act 2.