ARAM - Back to Bilgewater!

Riot·Apr 2, 2019·3 votes·71,340 views

Butcher’s Bridge is back for all you blubberin' scallywags! Starting on April 4, 2019 at 8:00 AM PT, ARAM will be transformed to best fit the high seas, with scurvy-filled missions, treasure in the form of loot rewards, and brand-new changes that we're experimenting with and may be made permanent based on your feedback!

All ye pirates will have until April 15, 2019 at 11:59 PM PT to complete the missions and brawl it out on Butcher's Bridge. The map will sink back to the depths of the sea at that time. The experimental changes themselves may linger for a patch or two, as we assess the feedback on each one.

For more information on the experimental changes during ARAM - Back to Bilgewater!, please check out the /dev post.

Missions (to be completed in sequential order)

Ahoy, Sailor!: Win 1 game of Bilgewater ARAM
Get Yer Sea-legs: Win 1 game with having cast Backtrack at least one time OR Win 3 games of ARAM
Send 'Em to the Deeps: Get at least a 4 kill streak OR Get 60 takedowns
Fire Broadside!: Throw your snowball Mark 10 times in a single game OR Deal 5,000 damage to enemy towers
Prove Yer Worth: Destroy the first tower as a team 2 times OR Collect 40,000 gold
Yer the Captain Now - Win a game of ARAM in under 15 minutes OR Win 3 games of ARAM

Rewards

1500 Blue Essence
1500 XP
1 Hextech Key
1 Masterwork Chest
1 Bilgewater 2019 Icon

113 Comments

zRageFuryzApr 2, 201946 votes

Wow! Finally an event without $100 golden chroma skins !

vladìmírApr 2, 201924 votes

bUt iTs RArE aNd PriEsTgOUs

EltApr 2, 20197 votes

Inb4 pyke prestigious

Creme de La FucApr 2, 201917 votes

Why can't we keep the Bilgewater Bridge? Howling Abbyss is old news.

StiylMagnus931Apr 3, 20193 votes

And what would this say about Summoner's Rift?

Zen WooApr 4, 20199 votes

we need a new map

xXMoeSauceXxApr 2, 201915 votes

Sweet now I can be kayn with every champion

Vhan8765Apr 2, 201915 votes

Still don't care for these changes but I'm fair enough to try them out. Personally thought ARAM was fine the way it was, but we'll see.

Love the map skin though; always fun to play on Butcher's Bridge.

GojuApr 4, 20192 votes

Don't mind the ban idea - though giving 5 might be push. I agree though I like ARAM - other then bans not a huge fan, but ill still be on that bridge.

YordleChanApr 3, 201914 votes

I honestly hate the idea of banning champions in an all random mode your still going to get stomped either way. It's just stupid if you can't even pick your champion.

DamnitDiezren Apr 3, 201910 votes

Same! It just feels weird as it is SUPPOSED to be an all random game mode, and banning champs defeats that purpose.

GojuApr 4, 20198 votes

Its "Random" within your pool of champs - not really "all random" thus people can abuse that by only unlocking what is generally considered "good" champs. Thus the person with all the champs unlocked gets screwed over the guy that just built a aram account with 10 unlocked champs - at least now if bans are there, they will get a "Free week champ" - Its worth the shot to see if it helps seeing the same champ over and over

666Xeran666Apr 5, 20195 votes

I personally have been just choosing "none" as my ban option. At the start of the event I never saw anyone else do it, now it's not uncommon to see 1-2 others do so as well. Hoping it catch's on and has a snowballing effect on removing bans from ARAM.

All the other changes...Well I'm willing to give them a try, even if some are slightly unpalatable to me. But banning in ARAM literally removes the central theme of the mode. If people desire a mode/map that allows bans, or certain champs or whatever, more power to them. Just don't take away the ARAM mode to get it. Some people were perfectly happy with it being exactly as advertised, not riddled with except-for's and caveat's. One of the big reasons I unlocked every champion was to make ARAM incredibly varied, something now tamed by these changes. If I want a meta that evolves patch to patch, I play rift. If I want one that evolves match to match, I use ARAM. Adding in bans removes that, and I personally won't use them. I would be fine continuing to do so without comment, except for the fact that this lengthen's the time from queue to match, which previously had been one of the strength's of ARAM.

JvalishereApr 2, 201913 votes

Give more BE

VortexInCortexApr 2, 20193 votes

True, it would be really nice [slayer-jinx-wink]

ShineJrApr 2, 201913 votes

when will another URF be back

Jackeylov3CrystaApr 3, 20198 votes

same question here!!!! MISS URF ALREADY

ShackledKneeGearApr 2, 201910 votes

Bye until next urf

Equ1no0xApr 2, 20199 votes

The amount of BE as rewards of events keeps being underwhelming as always. That's sad.

ll3lackbeardApr 2, 20198 votes

Last Bilgewater event was one of the best. Can't wait till it drops!! Hopefully they change the login screen with the update because these Cats vs Dogs events were garbage.

leaguewutApr 3, 20198 votes

Really dislike the addition of bans -- I enjoy the rare chance I get to play Vel'Koz, my SR main, but he's getting banned a decent bit in spite of most players not playing him well.

Maybe if bans only prevented the champ from being traded around or put on the bench? But randomly getting it still was allowed.

MD HobbesApr 4, 20198 votes

I hate the idea of banning champions in ARAM. It is not Some Random Some Mid and it takes away from the fun of having all champions as an option.

GojuApr 4, 20196 votes

Except it was never "all" the champions - it was only all random, from the pool you unlocked.

PeopleLibArmyApr 4, 20192 votes

I agree. Leaving all the dull champs!

ZzaffApr 4, 20197 votes

what does this mean 'Win 1 game with having cast Backtrack at least one time'?

LiamNeeson42Apr 2, 20195 votes

Yes, please buff akali whenever you can, while you're at it, please bring back her heal :C. Akali [slayer-jinx-catface]

22cheezApr 4, 20195 votes

I really don't like the ban system and the nerfs/buffs. When Riot tries to balance something, they usually just make things OP and other things shit. Just let it return back to the old ARAM where everything wasn't stupidly OP and I could actually HOPE to get a champ without it being banned 24/7.

AntApr 2, 20194 votes

Good thing I'm on an ARAM kick as of late. Bring on those missions!

KokujhinApr 4, 20194 votes

Really dislike the champ banning in ARAM. It feels very counter-intuitive. I don't want to ban champions I have the potential to get. Yeah Ziggs, Lux, Xerath are all pretty annoying when they are on the other team, but banning them out means I'll never have the opportunity to see them for myself. It seems like regardless of dropping some power levels on certain champs in ARAM only, people still ban the same usual suspects due to cc/ults they just don't want to deal with. The game mode does not need a ban mechanic unless it's seriously considering a ranked mode.

GojuApr 4, 20194 votes

Love the ban idea, cant say I am 100% on board with shorter games - you rarely had a issue with "long" games unless the teams actually had a good fight. Making the game "faster" will just allow strong early champs to snowball harder, and thus limit the options for comebacks.

Either way killer event.. back to the Murder Bridge!

(edit +15% damage Nid spears -- LAWL)

Armegedon KnightApr 5, 20194 votes

How is it ALL RANDOM if you ban 10 champs off the bat? Not like it mattered much since RANDOM to riot is Darius 3 games in a row.

AethielleApr 6, 20194 votes

So...

I’m one of those ppl that play ARAM for 80% of my league games. I just played a few over the past few days and I probably won’t play aram again until the changes are reverted.

Balancing aram seems like a waste of time, since it’s a random game mode. Lux and Sona are banned 90% of games, which makes rolling them, and other similar champions, even more impossible. I liked to gamble on whether I could get a good champion, and that’s one of the intrigues of the game mode. Pokes now also suck, I just played heimer and my W did no damage to a full lethality Zed (like <100 hp). It’s now a game mode that’s completely dominated by assassins.

TL;DR: From someone who only plays ARAM: Don’t try to balance a game mode that’s based on randomness. It was fine the way it is.

theANIMAULApr 2, 20193 votes

Prestige Nautilus please. I'll... I'll pay $300. Do I have that cash? No. Will I be saving just in case my wish is granted? Bewwwaaree the depths of my golden anchor!

SesshruApr 3, 20193 votes

"April 4, 2019 at 8:00 AM PT" but it's the 3rd, map is active, and no missions are....

JorbanApr 4, 20192 votes

yeah I am annoyed that the mission are inactive.

Zen WooApr 4, 20193 votes

Remember when we were thinking about having multiple maps in the game?

OpenMinded JFKApr 4, 20193 votes

I wasn't expecting missions to complete, and i love the masterwork chest reward to give players who don't want to pay money on a free to play game a chance to earn skins as well (I've lost track of how much money I've spent on the game at this point). Also, Butcherer's Bridge is, in my opinion, much more aesthetically pleasing to me than Howling Abyss is. (P.S. make the next vs. event edgy and last longer like the Yasuo vs Riven and Garen vs Darius events. I want to see a Zed vs Shen event!)

Clayblob2Apr 2, 20192 votes

Actually, im only "not going to say rework him" next patch. Because of the ult change. Other than that, Yeah rework him I wish champion size increased Tenacity or change with ults that have "Mega form" ults it buffed, because when thiers a champ like that, best believe thiers a lux or brand waiting to take 6/9's of thier health away

Clayblob2Apr 2, 20192 votes

I meant revert

Light SovereignApr 2, 20192 votes

Is item 4004 back too?

Skins ProjectApr 2, 20192 votes

Yes and no, they changed the barrier rune so it's like the same idea of teleproting back after awhile... It's weird, on patchnotes from awhile back

EtyApr 3, 20192 votes

Micah00Apr 3, 20192 votes

This is going to be good 😎

Daaamn GinaApr 3, 20192 votes

So this sounds super awesome and I’m excited for this experiment. Do you have thoughts on the structure of rune pages on 5v5 and ARAM? I like to put an aram in every now and then and the thought of needing to constantly calibrate runes hurts my brain haha. Have you considered using “mirrored” rune pages? I have 8 or 9 rune pages right now for ranked and 5v5s, and I imagine the same 8-9 pages but duplicated and in ARAM only. What does dev think? Will constant calibration of runes be a potential frustrating thing for players?

FancyPants ˉApr 3, 20192 votes

Anybody know what the bilgewater icon looks like?

EnisumApr 4, 20192 votes

Are the missions out yet? I haven't received any.

RägnarøkApr 4, 20192 votes

Love the Bilgewater map. wish we could buy it and others in the shop. the new spell is alright but im really not liking these Bans. Actually makes me not want to play. and I only really play aram. everyone always bans the same champs. so you never get an opportunity to play your favourite ones anymore :( The whole point of aram is to have fun playing and going against random champs. whether they are op or not . It gives you an opportunity to learn. sometimes you get stuck against cancer champs. but thats aram. i think having the bans ruines that experiance.

hypnothiccApr 4, 20192 votes

Banning makes the All Random mode not all random and takes away the fun of the surprise. ARAM was the one chill game mode because you couldn't ban and got left with what you got

WatusaApr 10, 20192 votes

This game mode is terrible. Please stop doing missions for it.

stoparislavFeb 16, 20201 votes

Hello i play mainly just aram. I mean seem's to me like fastest and best mode in LOL. Don't you think that mode after many years of succesfull past deserve RANKED ARAM ? Or kind of league ? Sinceraly stop44