Out with the old, in with the new! Welcome one and all to Season 2024!
We’ve got quite a few changes to share, from terrain adjustments
to new monsters and items. Ready to see what’s coming? Let’s get into it!
Wait, where are we?! Oh, it’s top lane! These walls are different. And would you
look at that—the brush is now in the middle of the river. That will make for a trickier gank
path from jungle, so you top laners can focus more on your lane opponent instead of hungry junglers.
We’ve got terrain changes across the entire map, actually.
Like in mid-lane. The brush is farther back from the lane now, and we’ve adjusted the walls to
both red and blue side for better symmetry. Overall, these adjustments should make it a
little safer to play a variety of champions in midlane—especially those mages with zero dashes!
Speaking of safety, we’ve also changed the walls opposite Baron and dragon
pit for a bit more security while you’re moving between lanes through the jungle.
Finally in bot lane, there is a new gank path on Red side to make the map
more symmetrical. We’ve also shifted the brush to the middle of the river
so both teams can more reasonably fight for vision control. Look alive down there!
New jungle paths aren’t the only thing to keep your eye on this season. A new
Void monster has found its way to the Rift. During the early game,
a camp of three Voidgrubs will now spawn inside the Baron pit.
When you attack a grub, smaller Voidmites appear to join the fight. Killing one of
the Voidgrubs grants a PERMANENT buff to your entire team that deals damage over
time when attacking turrets. For every grub you slay, the buff becomes more powerful.
After the first three grubs are killed, three more will spawn a few minutes later. If your
team manages to kill ALL SIX, then you unlock the maximum buff: When you attack a turret,
you’ll apply the damage over time AND spawn some Voidmites of your own to help take it down.
Keep in mind that these grubs are an incremental camp—not all or nothing. So slaying even one can
give your team a small boost (and keep the enemy from collecting all six)!
At 14 minutes, any remaining grubs disappear,
and the beloved Rift Herald enters the game… with a fresh new look. Maybe they’re born with it,
maybe it’s the hideously vile influence of the Void from whence they came!
If you slay the Herald, you can summon them as before to march down lane and
whack turrets. Or…any member of your team can hop on board to play Summoner’s Drift,
steering the monster as they charge forward like a battle sled.
Ramming Herald into a turret this way deals some extra damage, and you can run into enemy champions
to damage and knock them up. On collision with terrain or a turret, the driver pops out nearby,
and the ability to steer goes on cooldown. This cooldown resets if you hit a turret,
but takes longer if you hit a wall. All aboard the Shelly demolition train!
Now let’s talk about— what was that?
Baron Nashor, Voidborn tyrant of the Rift,
is back and badder than ever before. When he enters the game, you’ll know it.
Baron takes one of three forms when he emerges. Each form provides the same
classic buff, but alters how he fights and determines the shape of his pit.
But wait there’s more! With Baron’s entrance, the Void’s influence spreads
across the map, infusing the Scuttle Crab, Brambleback, and Sentinel with dark power.
Voidborn Scuttle Crab becomes tankier and tougher to kill. On death,
she sends out a massive burst like Scryer’s Bloom,
revealing all enemy champions and wards in a large area. Bet you didn’t see that coming.
Likewise, the Voidborn red and blue buff require a little more muscle to take down,
but in exchange, they grant the buff to every teammate who’s alive at the
time. So no more fighting over who gets blue buff, alright?
Speaking of cool new buffs, let’s talk Infernal Rift. All versions of the elemental rift have
been refreshed to accommodate the new base terrain, with Mountain Rift losing a few
walls that didn’t quite fit anymore. But we’ve changed up Infernal Rift completely.
We don’t have gameplay footage quite ready at this time, so let me paint you a word picture.
Instead of a burned-out firescape, Infernal Rift will scatter infernal cinders all across the map.
Picking up these cinders gives a small burst of move speed and a stat buff. On death,
half your collected cinders explode out for others to snag for themselves. I mean,
you weren’t using them anymore, right?
As in years past, we’ve made some item adjustments for this new season. Like,
a lot of adjustments. For one, mythic items are out! Gone! Poof!
In their place, we’re adding, removing, and updating a bunch
of items across several champion classes. Mages, assassins, tanks, enchanters, fighters,
and marksmen will all notice quite a few changes when they gear up this season. For example:
the new Stormsurge for those AP assassins and burst mages who really want to shock the enemy.
In addition, we overhauled the support quest items. Supports now have a singular item they
pick up at the start of the game with minimal stats. You earn gold with this item by executing
minions of any type for a flat amount or hitting enemy champions with abilities or attacks. At the
middle tier, you unlock refilling wards as before. And when you reach the final tier,
you can choose between several upgraded items to suit your playstyle. Whether you prefer
protecting your carry or more… aggressive support tactics, we’ve got you covered.
While you’re running around the new map with new monsters and new items,
you should keep your eye out for old grudges. We’ve added a handful of Champion Quests that
will trigger when certain champs are in the same game. Defeating your quest rival on the
enemy team will grant a tiny buff. While it won’t significantly impact the game,
it will be a nice reward for you Renekton mains to finally stick it to Nasus.
Many of the changes we’ve made this year are aimed at making gameplay mechanics and systems
easier to understand. This goal includes a lot of the adjustments mentioned previously,
or smaller changes like simplified tooltip language.
We also just want to make it feel better to be on
the Rift! Listen closely and you might notice the music changing throughout
the game based on where you are or what you’re doing. Baron boss music anyone?
And now you can celebrate (or commiserate) with your teammates
in a language everyone understands: the fist bump.
Oooookay that was a LOT to
cover! In summary: new terrain means new gank paths in every lane
Voidgrubs are now a thing you can drive the Rift Herald into battle
Baron looks scarier And the Void is everywhere
Infernal Rift is totally changing there’s a bunch of new items
Some champs are bringing their beef to the Rift and fistbumps explode into sparkles
and fireworks—phew! Got all that? Good.
If you want ALL the nitty gritty details, we unpack everything in the article linked
below. So study up, friends, and we’ll see you in January when Season 2024 kicks off!