Riot Games Announces Sweeping Summoner's Rift PBE Changes

Riot Games announced a wide-ranging list of changes set to arrive on the League of Legends Public Beta Environment on Tuesday in the coming Preseason 2020.

The changes, collectively referred to as Rise of the Elements, aim to add variety to League of Legends gameplay by altering the landscape of Summoner's Rift according to which of four possible dragons spawn in-game.

Each game will begin with the standard Summoner's Rift geometry. The first three dragons spawned will be chosen at random from among the Infernal, Ocean, Cloud and Mountain Drakes, with repeats excluded. When the third drake spawns, it will transform the Rift according to its element and lock in as the only drake type to spawn for the rest of the game.

Each drake, and each Rift, will emphasize different gameplay styles. The Infernal Rift will create new paths through buff camps and remove brush. The Ocean Rift expands and generates brush as it grows Honeyfruit plants. The Cloud Rift speeds up champions who pass near the drake itself. Finally, the Mountainous Rift dramatically changes the jungle configuration to create more choke points and ambush locations.

The drakes also have their own unique buffs:

• Infernal Might: Gain a percentage increase of Attack Damage and Ability Power.
• Oceanic Will: Regenerate a percentage of missing health every second.
• Cloudbringer's Grace: Gain cooldown reduction for your Ultimate ability.
• Mountainous Vigor: Gain a percentage increase of Armor and Magic Resistance.

When a team kills their fourth drake, they'll earn a Dragon Soul — a new buff that persists through death through the end of the game. After a Dragon Soul has been claimed, the Elder Dragon takes over the pit. As a result, only one team can have a Dragon Soul.

• Infernal Dragon Soul: Every 3 seconds, your next attack or damaging spell creates a small AoE explosion, dealing adaptive damage that scales with bonus attack damage, ability power, and bonus health.
• Ocean Dragon Soul: Dealing any damage triggers strong health and resource regeneration for 3 seconds. Damage to minions provides less regeneration.
• Cloud Dragon Soul: Hitting enemies with abilities or attacks lowers the cooldowns of your base abilities.
• Mountain Dragon Soul: After not taking damage for 5 seconds, gain a shield that lasts until destroyed. The shield’s magnitude scales with bonus attack damage, ability power, and bonus health.

The Elder Dragon will provide its own buff. Rather than scale with Elemental Drake buffs, it will now offer the ability to execute low-health enemy champions instantly. The execution offers victims a brief window to escape.

The Rift has also been changed by the addition of alcoves in the top and bottom lanes and new patches of brush opposite the Baron and Dragon pits.

These changes to the map are just the start of Riot Games' enormous list of gameplay changes coming in the preseason. To check out the full list of changes, head to Riot Games' blog post explainer. Players will have an extended four weeks to test out the changes on the PBE before it hits live servers Nov. 20 in Patch 9.23.

Photo courtesy of Riot Games