League of Legends to introduce seasonal model, major gameplay changes

MANILA, Philippines — Riot Games' League of Legends will implement a “seasonal” structure in their future game updates starting 2025. In a span of a year, the game will have three seasons (two acts per season) lasting 16 weeks, with each season focusing around a theme and following specific champions across different regions in Runeterra.

January 2025 will kick off Season 1 in the Empire of Noxus as the Noxian Invasion spreads throughout Runeterra, seeing Noxian-themed upgrades as well as other gameplay changes. This includes an instance wherein if Nexus turrets spawning after a set period of time after they're destroyed, the Summoner Spell Teleport will no longer teleport the champion after its channel but will visually travel across the map; while Unleashed Teleport will cause the champion to travel at a faster rate while teleporting.

Season 1 will also introduce a new jungle monster, Atakhan Bringer of Ruin, spawning once per game at the 20-minute mark on the side of the map that has seen the most champion damage and kills by the 14th-minute mark. Atakhan’s dark influence will also cause Blood Roses to grow periodically in the areas where champions have been killed. Each team gains a small amount of XP and a permanently stacking Adaptive Force buff for every Blood Rose collected.

Higher action games spawn a Ruinous Atakhan, who grants Bloody Petals to the team that defeats him and spawns a grove of Blood Roses in the area for anyone to collect. Taking down Ruinous Atakhan also grants increased effects from all Epic monster rewards. Atakhan's Voracious form, on the other hand, spawns in lower action games and imparts a one-time Rebirth buff, which resurrects its bearers in base upon taking fatal damage, to the team that takes him down.

With the addition of Atakhan in the map, spawn times of Rift Herald and Baron Nashor will be moved to the 16-minute and 25-minute mark, respectively.

Other updates include the ranked system only seeing a single reset at the beginning of each year; the introduction of a new game mode Swiftplay (potentially replacing Quickplay) that allows players a low-stakes yet quick competitive experience; and a multi-player practice tool set to be tested in the near future to allow players to practice in a closed setting.

In line with the recent finale of the animated series Arcane, champion Viktor will see a Visual and Gameplay Update in line with Viktor's portrayal in the series. The upcoming Season 1 update will see an updated skin design, backstory and slight adjustments to Viktor's ultimate.

League of Legends Season 1 Noxus will be released in January 2025.