Rotating game mode queue now live!

Riot·Apr 14, 2016·5 votes·153,131 views

From the original clone-tastic One For All to the frenetic manatee magic of Ultra Rapid Fire, featured game modes provide unique spins on the classic League formula. It’s time to kick off the next game mode in the rotation: Legend of the Poro King is now live!

As a refresher on the mode, let’s go over the basics:

When you jump into a match, you’ll be joined by two poro pals in your quest to call forth and aid the majestic Poro King
The Poro King is a mega-classy super minion that heals your team, regenerates mana, and deals AoE damage while handing out royal beatdowns to enemy towers
The King will serve as a sieging dynamo for you until he is killed by the enemy team in a regicide most foul
Activate Poro Toss once to toss your teeny poro pal across the map, if the lil fella hits a target, you can reactivate Poro Toss to Poro Dash, which will send you soaring towards an unlucky enemy
Land 10 Poro Tosses as a team and the Poro King himself will plop down to begin his royal wreckery
Once you or your team has summoned the Poro King, activate To The King! To transform into one of the king’s loyal (fluffy) subjects and fly to his side

As with Ascension, we haven’t changed too much about Legend of the Poro King, although we did make it so you can ping the King to coordinate sieges with him or assaults on his royal person. Just as in any rotating queue game mode, we’ve specially tuned Champion Mastery so you can earn points in the mode. You’ll also be able to earn keys for your wins and loot chests for your (or your premade’s) S-, S, and S+ games.

Legend of the Poro King is now available and lasts through the evening on Sunday (we’ll shut it down very early Monday morning--usually between 1:00 AM and 3:00 AM).

Up next is Ultra Rapid Fire next weekend, followed by Hexakill: Twisted Treeline and One For All. If you need to catch up on the rules for any game mode, check back at leagueoflegends.com each Friday, and we’ll give you the lowdown in a quick post like this one.

We’ll be trying out different things with the rotating game mode queue over the next few months, such as potentially turning it on longer depending on how popular it is, changing the mode cadence or what modes are available. We’re looking for your feedback as we go, so let us know. GLHF, and we’ll see you on the snowy battlefield of Legend of the Poro King!

296 Comments

KyoricApr 15, 2016201 votes

*To be honest, Riot Games, I wish that instead of doing it on the weekend why don't you just do it over the whole week because majority of us have other plans or work to do over the weekend. So, instead of making it Friday to Sunday, why not make it Sunday to Saturday and then when Sunday comes back around start a new game mode. I don't know about other people but I would really appreciate if you guys changed it to where it was like what I explained instead of what it is now.

Bullsi1234Apr 15, 201615 votes

MY plans are league

òvvóApr 17, 201619 votes

Man, fuck now. The majority of us players have finals to worry about anyways.

Supa SqueeksApr 17, 201612 votes

I'm going to have to agree with you, Kyoric. What about people that work split shifts? My husband only gets 3-4 hours on the weekends to play and it is completely unfair that he is unable to play due to the RGM being ONLY on the weekends. Sun-Sat FTW summoner 3

JFKNApr 21, 20164 votes

I have to work 12 hour shifts this friday saturday and sunday. No URF for me :(

maas joeApr 18, 20163 votes

Yeah, I'm at work 14 hours a day 5 days a week and sometimes on weekends, the rest of my time is tied up taking care of personal stuff and the necessities of home and a family. Even this past weekend I had a full house because family members stopped by for a funeral, a funeral that I had to attend as well, my birthday will be during URF weekend so I expect I'll be occupied then as well. Best solution? Unlock all game modes (or the most popular ones) permanently, let people play what they want when they want, or at least run them for 2 weeks at a time. Sometimes regular summoner's rift or aram is just boring af and I'm not a fan of ttl, lots of times I just elect not to play at all, maybe if urf was available I'd hop on for a couple matches. Make League more flexible.

JediSSJApr 15, 201678 votes

The rotating queue is great, but the weekends-only thing stinks. I can understand Riot wanting to put some breaks in between modes--the excitement and anticipation would probably wane is there was a mode constantly active with no breaks. Additionally they want to maintain a good ratio of available/unavailable for each mode--even URF started losing some appeal near the end and Riot needs to make sure there is plenty of time for each mode to be a bit forgotten and then build up hype again before it come back around. Additionally, modes like URF and Doom Bots need extra time for Riot to tune and balance them as the game and champs are always evolving.

Still though, I feel weekends only is a bad call. Instead, I think it would be better to have each mode last a little over a week; it starts on Friday, is active through the weekend, the following week, the next weekend, and the ends early morning on that FOLLOWING Monday. Then there is a work week with no Rotating Queue active until the Friday, when the next mode goes live.

This system would give us more time with each mode--and give us some non-weekend time with it. It would also ensure there was a break as long as the current one between each new queue. Lastly it would put modes on a 2 week rotation (a weekend, a week, and another weekend on; followed by a week off) which helps ensure that there is still plenty of time between each mode coming around again, allowing any meta that had begun to assert itself time to fade (from memories and through champion and item updates/releases). This would ensure that once we get through a cycle of all the available modes and ones start coming up again, they remain fresh.

tl:dr - please Rito, make rotating queue a week on/week off cycle instead of weekends!

Thanks anyone who bothered to read all that and thanks Riot for a great game (even when there is always room for improvement)!

AsherenyxApr 17, 20166 votes

I am in agreement here - a lot of people can't play on weekends and also you need more than a weekend to really enjoy a game mode and find your favorite strategies etc.

Light SovereignApr 15, 201662 votes

I am really against using Poro's as weapons, but Throwing Teemo's would be nice tho

Gamebird8Apr 15, 201614 votes

QUICK SOMEONE CALL PETA.

SoirealApr 15, 201624 votes

if peta asks the poros are fake Udyr

Jason SephtApr 15, 20167 votes

Peta really doesn't give a shit if they are fake they will still be mad

TrashkuunApr 16, 20165 votes

I always love these comments when PETA is involved and someone brings up Udyr

StexeApr 15, 201656 votes

Why don't you just leave them up all week and rotate them on a weekly basis? What about people who can't play during the weekend?

º LB ºApr 15, 201647 votes

The modes are only available Friday through Sunday, those are the only days where I can't play league. I work in retail and I'm almost always needed on the weekends due to the nature of retail. Would you guys reconsider making the mode available on other days so we can play them please?

LeoriteApr 15, 20166 votes

They promised urf to be permanent a few years ago i think it's time riot...

Rakans Side GirlApr 16, 201610 votes

I don't think they did.

KageOfShadowsApr 16, 20168 votes

Actually on release URF was stated to be permanent. Of course it was a part of their April Fool's Day joke, but still they did say it would be permanent.

SG KiureApr 16, 20161 votes

You dont work every hour of the day on the weekend gtfo item 3009

º LB ºApr 17, 20169 votes

You're right, I don't. I only work 8 and a half to 10 hours, depending on the shift. When I get home I make dinner for my boyfriend and myself, and spend some time with him. That gives us both about an hour to play before doing the dishes and heading to bed.

HingedmosquitoApr 18, 20166 votes

I agree with zombie doll! There is a large population that work that shift or a compressed work week which ends up working 12 to 13 hours a day on the weekends. And with family being a priority over games, which it should be, leaves little time on weekends to play League. This leaves out some of the players who have been playing this for the majority of the time it has been around. Please be toxic somewhere else Naproxenz.

DendrenApr 15, 201643 votes

Will you guys ever bring back doom bots?

HadesBladesApr 15, 201611 votes

Doom bots was really hard to make since coding had to be tuned for specific champions, considering all the reworks that have happened/nerfs and buffs it probably wont come back ;-; AND I REALLY LIKE THAT GAME MODE

Gamebird8Apr 15, 201630 votes

Dear Riot, I really like the idea of the Rotating Queue, but I still think that Feature Game Mode Events should be a thing.

One of the most special things about URF was that it came on April 1st, (At least for me). I loved the idea of such a rude and somewhat mean spirited day, could take on a more fun and crazy twist.

One of the main reasons I like the Rotating Queue is because it gives us a chance to play those Featured Game modes that just can't happen this year. If we honestly look at the past years, not every Featured Game Mode had gotten its Two weeks of glorious craziness. I love the idea, but I also loved getting to play the Game Modes drawn out over the course of two full weeks, instead of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

I'm generally not the best person when if comes to the comment sections, and I generally get hate on what I post, but for once I really hope that the community is behind me, or with me on this one.

Signed, The Icaran Flames aka Gamebird8

Forbidden FetishApr 15, 20164 votes

dude you are not writing PhD Essay just enjoy the gift and stop complaining , every time riot makes something people complain and not a single thanks .....

DeathBot666Apr 15, 201617 votes

I may be a simple person, and don't read complemacated things...

But I'm PRETTY SURE that WAS a thank you.

Black HayateApr 15, 201629 votes

TBH: you guys made a mistake bringing back Legend of the Poro King so early, since we just had a few months ago.... I'm sorry to say but this is one game mode I will not be playing since it lacks something.. it was actually really boring of the holidays. Honestly I'm not feeling it.. I spoke to a few other friends and they share that sentiment.

WeissesApr 15, 201618 votes

I feel like the game modes should be slightly longer than 2 days, perhaps a work week? (Monday to Friday)

LoborosApr 16, 20165 votes

I think all week except monday and tuesday, like hearthstone. .

PikaCHU567Apr 15, 20169 votes

Poro King, Hexakill, URF, and One for All are great. But will Doombots come back as a rotating gamemode? :3

Sonic1013Apr 15, 20169 votes

Riot, you should do a poll each week asking which mode we'd like next. I like Poro King, but there are others that are probably more wanted..

RisenDarkKnightApr 15, 20169 votes

I feel like that would discourage innovation, as people would just want URF every other week. Riot intends to create some new modes as well, and the community doensn't really understand what is feasible for them to do as a new game mode, so I'd rather Riot comes up with new ones than is forced to just recycle the ones we like.

PissedWalrusApr 16, 20169 votes

I think lots of people would be willing and able to play the rotating game mode queue if it was an entire week, rather than a weekend. Put rotating game queue on the same schedule as the free champions and have them last an entire week and change on Tuesdays.

Also, Doom bots?