Catch up on what you missed!
League is constantly evolving, especially in the last year. Some things have gotten makeovers, some are brand new, and others are gone entirely!
If you’re coming back to League after a bit of a break, you’ve got a little catching up to do. Here’s a breakdown of some of the most important changes so you can hop back onto the Rift ASAP!
Items
Half the fun of a match is buying items to beef up your champion. The shopkeeper has a bunch of new stuff to spend your gold on, and you’ll notice a few things have been sold off for good.
Trinkets
Trinkets are free items that go in their own special slot, separate from the normal six. They provide extra utility and can be upgraded once you hit level nine, giving them bonus attributes.
Warding Totem generates yellow wards, which last a minute. You can upgrade this trinket to produce Signt (green) wards, which last three minutes, or Vision (pink) wards, which reveal invisible units.
Scrying Orb reveals a small location within a certain range for a short period of time. When upgraded, the casting range increases and a visible ward is placed as well, which lasts a minute.
Sweeping Lens reveals and disables all invisible traps and wards in a small area for a short period of time. When upgraded, the area revealed is expanded and the champion can detect invisible units for a short time.
Boots
Boots now have tier 3 upgrades!
Hover over the icons for details.
- Furor
- Alacrity
- Homeguard
- Distortion
- Captain
Elixirs
Many of League’s original potions have been replaced with a new set called elixirs:
Hover over the icons for details.
- Elixir of Iron
- Elixir of Ruin
- Elixir of Sorcery
- Elixir of Wrath
Other
Other items have been added to the game as well!
Hover over the icons for details.
Read more in the patch notes about:
Removed Items
Items you won’t see anymore include:
Hover over the icons for details.
- Deathfire Grasp
- Sword of the Divine
- Executioner’s Calling
- Atma's Impaler
A Summoner Spell was removed, too:
- Revive
Jungle Items
There are now jungle specific items added to aid our friendly neighborhood gankers!
Hunter’s Machete can only be purchased if you have Smite, and it has two tiers of upgrades.
Read more about Hunter’s Machete.
Initial Upgrades:
Hover over the icons for details.
Read more in the patch notes about:
Each of the initial upgrade items can be upgraded again into any of these four final items:
Hover over the icons for details.
Read more in the patch notes about:
For the most up to date values and costs of items, please look here.
Jungling
As you can tell from the new item sets mentioned above, Jungling is a lot different than it was, thanks to new creatures, buffs, and some changes to Smite.
Smite
Smite has some new behaviors!
Once the new jungle-specific item (Hunter’s Machete) has been bought, players can store two charges of Smite. It has a 15 second cooldown between charges, and can gain even more attributes with the upgrades described above.
Primary Buffs
The two big jungle camps, which grant red buff and blue buff, have been adjusted. Experience granted, buff duration, and elements of the buffs themselves have changed slightly.
Secondary Buffs
Secondary buffs have gone through some big changes!
A new jungle camp, Gromp, is a large, single target frog. His buff will cause anyone who auto-attacks you to be poisoned, taking DoT magic damage.
The Wraiths are now Raptors—still one large creature surrounded by three smaller ones. Their buff provides true vision for a short period of time upon walking into range of a Vision or Sight ward.
The wolves are still wolves—their buff provides a vision lantern for 60 seconds that roams that section of thejungle.
The Krugs (Replacing Golems) give a buff that will stun a monster or minion on your 6th attack.
Dragon
Dragon has been buffed!
Nowadays he only gives gold to the person who killed him, but provides a stacking buff for the entire team, which grants the following bonuses:
- First Dragon Kill gives Dragon’s Might: +6% AD and AP
- Second Dragon Kill gives Dragon’s Wrath: 15% damage to towers and buildings
- Third Dragon Kill gives Dragon’s Flight: 5% movement speed
- Fourth Dragon kill gives Dragon’s Dominance: 15% damage to minions and monsters
- Fifth Dragon kill give Aspect of the Dragon: Doubles other bonuses and attacks reveal and burn enemies for 150 true damage over 3 seconds. This lasts 180 seconds.
Killing Dragon will send a message to both teams, regardless if one team can’t see it.
Baron
Baron Buff has changed!
Baron buff now grants a variety of bonuses instead of regen:
- Bonus AD and AP
- Recall time is reduced by half
- A successful recall instantly restores a large chunk of mana and grants a short burst of movement speed
- All minions move faster and take reduced damage against AoE, DoT, and persistent effects
- Minions are temporarily buffed with effects including speed, attack range, damage, defense, and size.
Killing Baron will send a message to both teams, regardless if one team can’t see it.
Champions
The League of Legends roster has grown and transformed! Take a look at the changes so you don’t get caught off guard by new champs and you can recognize your old favorites!
New Additions
The League has a few new faces:
Remakes and Kit Updates
A few champions needed tweaking, so their gameplay style and abilities might be quite different from what you remember.
Champions who’ve been remade, or gone through significant kit updates include:
Visual Updates
A few champions needed a bit of a makeover, so they received texture updates or new splash art and portraits—so if someone looks a bit different than you remembered, that’s why!
For a full list of changes and abilities, look at the Champion database.
Towers
Towers act slightly different now. All towers have had changes in their HP, AD, Armor, MR, and attack speed.
Outer and Inner Towers
The Outer and Inner towers have 30% armor penetration. Attacks from these turrets cannot be dodged and each consecutive turret hit does a bit more damage than the last. When no enemy minions are around to attack them, these turrets gains armor. Fortified turrets block 30 damage from basic attacks, but this effect expires after 7 minutes. These turrets now reveal invisible units within a certain range of the structure.
Inhibitor and Nexus Towers
Inhibitor and Nexus turrets have even more armor penetration and shoot constant beams instead of individual shots, which still cannot be dodged. As the beam hits a champion, it does more damage over time. These turrets also gain armor when minions are not around to attack them and can see invisible units as well.
Map Update
One of the biggest changes you’ll notice is that the Summoner’s Rift map has been updated! Look around, get acquainted with all the new textures, colors, landscapes, creatures, weather, and more!
Read more about the Summoner’s Rift Update:
- http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/game-updates/features/sru-beta-comes-close
- http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/game-updates/patch/patch-55-notes#patch-sr
- http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/game-updates/patch/patch-55-notes#patch-sr2
HUD Update
We’ve updated the HUD! Much of the on-screen data in-game has been repositioned for clarity and quick visual navigation.
Read more about the HUD Update:
- http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/page/game-features/hud-update
- http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/game-updates/patch/patch-515-notes#patch-hud-update
In Conclusion
What we’ve mentioned here just touches on the really big changes, the stuff that might blow your mind if you tried to hop in a game without any context. For a complete list of all the changes League of Legends has undergone, as well as more detailed descriptions about those discussed above, check out the patch notes.
"My cigar!"
in the new items section!
updates aren't mentioned
NO NO NO
What's the difference? I'm clearly not seeing it...
feels saturated
Cmon you dont need to update him because of the new tank items, hes really good now, just pls give him a visual update!
Can be in the game but