As the 10th anniversary of League of Legends brought in a handful of new game announcements, Riot Games dropped a major preseason update for the main game itself, completely altering Summoner’s Rift.
The reveal is part of the upcoming Preseason 2020: Rise of the Elements major patch. It directly refers to the battleground map that gamers play on. Simply put, Riot wants to rework the entire map to add even more layers of gameplay depth.
LoL players can expect changes to Summoner’s Rift to mostly affect gameplay strategy. Among the major changes, the Elemental Drakes and Elder Dragon take-downs for their buffs have been significantly altered.
When an Elemental Drake appears — be it Infernal, Ocean, Cloud, or Mountainous — the pit will take on a new look and change Summoner’s Rift in specific ways:
- Infernal: Opens up new pathways into buff camps and burns away brushes
- Ocean: Grow more bushes to boost ambush opportunities and increase Honeyfruit plants appearance at each jungle quadrant
- Cloud: Boost air-flow through the jungle and around the dragon pit to speed up champion movements
- Mountainous: Create more rock outcrops that block familiar pathways and cause other choke-points to appear
Once the same drake appears for the third time, it will lock the element characteristic for Summoner’s Rift, permanently affecting the map.
The rules for Elemental Drake buffs have also changed:
- Infernal Might: Slight boost in Attack Damage and Ability Power
- Oceanic Will: Regenerate health points every second
- Cloudbringer’s Grace: Faster cooldown for champion ultimates
- Mountainous Vigor: Marginal increase for armor/magic resistance
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That’s not all — after a team earns its fourth drake kill, they will pick up a Dragon Soul instead. Unlike the drake buffs, this drop will remain with the team until the end of the match, even if the entire team is wiped out.
The abilities for each Soul are:
- Infernal: For every three seconds, the next attack or damage spell will create a small area-of-effect explosion, dealing adaptive damage. This will scale based on bonus damage, ability power, and bonus health
- Ocean: Dealing damage to enemy champions will trigger large health and resource regeneration for three seconds. Attacking minions will provide lower regeneration values
- Cloud: Hitting enemies with abilities or attacks will reduce cooldown of base abilities
- Mountain: If not damaged for more than five seconds, players will gain a shield that will last until it’s destroyed. Its defense magnitude will scale with bonus attack damage, ability power, and bonus health
The Elder Dragon will only appear once a team secures their Dragon Soul. When defeated it will drop the Elder Immolation buff. Enemy champions with low-health, when hit by this buff, will be killed instantly.
As for those afflicted with the Elder Immolation, they will sport a marker that indicates an execution threshold. When the health drops to a specific level, it’s instant death for them.
These are not the only major changes with the upcoming major Elements patch. Lane influence, jungle diversity, side lane and brush alcoves, support items, lethal equipment, and Keystone Runes have been modified to make the gameplay experience even more interesting.
All the details about the upcoming changes can be found here.
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