Riot Games released a new Dev Update video today covering League of Legends matchmaking LP gains and losses, the status of Arena, Teemo’s Art and Sustainability Update (ASU), LoL Player Days, and their plans for the 2025 season.
Head of League Studio (League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics, Legends of Runeterra and Wild Rift) Andrei “Riot Meddler” van Roon, Product Lead for League of Legends Modes Eduardo “Riot Cadmus” Cortejoso, League of Legends Lead Gameplay Designer Matt “Riot Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison, and Executive Producer Paul “Pabro” Bellezza gave more details about what’s to come in the video. Here’s a comprehensive summary of all the announcements.
Riot Games decides on Arena and Swarm status
Arena won’t be a permanent mode. Instead, it will be part of the rotating mode pool and return in the first half of 2025.
Likewise, Swarm will not be permanent. Sharing a graph showing the total weekly hours players spent in PVE game modes, it’s good to know that Swarm was at the very least more successful than Star Guardian and Odyssey. Nonetheless, it will not be sticking around permanently.
League of Legends matchmaking: ranked LP gains and losses
Negative LP states — where players lose more LP in losses than they gain per win — should no longer be happening when climbing.
What’s more, ranked games with 2:0 or 3:1 autofilled players ratios have been effectively eliminated.
The game devs are evaluating a system called “TrueSkill2,” which will hopefully better place smurfs in matchmaking.
Teemo’s Art and Sustainability Update (ASU)
Teemo’s ASU, which releases in LoL patch 14.20, was first announced alongside Lee Sin’s, which went live in May 2024.
In a 2023 Dev Diary, Concept Artist Megan “Ze Ocelot” O’Rourke highlighted that Teemo’s stubby build is part of his charm, but the team wants to make him a bit more agile. In his ASU, he’ll have longer limbs, allowing him to move around more easily while still retaining his signature yordle roundness.
Design wise, the details and accessories are now more distinct. His colors and tones are more balanced, and the shapes and divisions are easier to see.
As part of the Teemo ASU, his Happy Elf, Recon, and Badger Teemo skins will be increased to 750 RP from 520 RP. Players can purchase them for 520 RP until the change goes live.
There’s also a new Teemo theme song (but can it replace badger badger badger mushroom mushroom!?), which will be released next week.
LoL Player Days free and purchasable skins
A new campaign called LoL Player Days kicks off on October 9, 2024, celebrating League of Legends player journeys over the last 15 years.
Complete in-game missions to earn content, the highlight of which is a special Ann-Sivir-sary Sivir skin. It’s a free reward given to players as long as you manage to complete the missions.
There’s also purchasable LoL Player Days skins: Cosplayer Neeko, Esports Fan Trundle, and Music Fan Gragas.
Riot Games is contributing 100% of the proceeds from Player Days Skins purchases from October 9 to October 28, 2024 — and match it three times over — to the Riot Games Social Impact Fund, the company’s philanthropic initiative that aims to make a positive impact on global social issues.
It’s a platform that allows players to contribute to various causes and organizations around the world, with a focus on areas like education, opportunity, citizenship, and sustainability.
New era for League of Legends: introducing 2025 themed seasons
League of Legends players will get to experience something new in 2025 — themed seasons.
There will be three distinct thematic seasons, each with their own narrative, progression, and content updates, including a thematically-tied champion during each season.
“Each season will have gameplay updates, and one thing the team is planning to explore in the first season is the feeling of a game being doomed when the losing team has an exposed Nexus,” the game devs stated.
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