Riot Games has revealed a major change to the way League of Legends seasons will work in the new year, with each season now revolving around a "unique theme" that will dictate its narrative, champion focus, and gameplay updates.
As revealed on Riot's official website, the studio is calling the next season in January "Season One", indicating a pretty major reboot for the long-running MOBA.
This first season will revolve around a Noxian invasion, which feels pretty appropriate given the arrival of Noxian general Ambessa in League of Legends. It'll result in some pretty important gameplay changes, including a visual change for Summoner's Rift, new item upgrades, and more.
A brand new Epic Monster along the lines of Baron Nashor or the Rift Herald will also be introduced as part of this Season. Atakhan spawns at 20 minutes into the game, and he can either appear at the top or bottom of the map depending on who's got more damage and kills at 14 minutes.
If the kill count is high, Atakhan will become Ruinous Atakhan, and taking him down will grant extra buffs from other slain Epic Monsters. He'll also leave a field of the new Blood Rose plants around him, which grant extra XP and an Adaptive Force buff to your whole team.
The gold rewards from First Blood and First Turret will also be replaced by a new Feats of Strength system, which sees your team granted a tier 2 boot buff if you score First Blood, First Tower, or First Three Epic Jungle Monsters bonuses.
Other big changes in this Season will include new runes, a new Teleport mechanic that sees players physically rocketing across the map instead of simply blinking in and out of existence, and respawning Nexus Turrets to help you recover a game that's going south.
A new game mode, Swiftplay, is also being introduced. It's designed to replace Quickplay in certain regions, and it's effectively a combination of classic quickplay and ARAM; it's designed to be a faster-paced experience that doesn't lose any of League of Legends' traditional strategic appeal.
Not only that, but to celebrate the second season of Arcane (which won't be the final show based on League of Legends), the Machine Herald Viktor is getting a visual and gameplay update.
His update is intended to retain the gameplay Viktor mains know and love, but with a new eldritch, ethereal visual style, as well as an updated ultimate that gets larger with each kill.
There are tons of other changes heading to League of Legends as part of Season One. You can check them all out over on Riot's news portal, which has plenty of information regarding each change that's being implemented.
