League Of Legends Gets a Huge Preseason Update

Riot Games has announced that League of Legends’ most recent update is one of the biggest in the game’s history. The Preseason Updates of the past have always been major overhauls of the game. For instance, a couple years ago, the whole mastery system was reworked; this year, everything that you thought you knew about League of Legends has been turned upside down. For example, that new mastery system has been rendered obsolete, along with the runes of the past. Plus much more. Check out the video, which was released to detail these changes, below to find out what you can expect moving forward.

Runes and masteries have been combined into one simple system. In the past, there were two different systems designated for each respectively, and you were tasked with strategically picking which masteries and runes to use. While the whole system was very complicated to get the hang of–especially to new players–it was built around strategy and preparedness. Specific masteries and runes would primarily give you a number of different passive abilities that would take effect after you perform a specific action. For example, Thunderlord’s Decree–a mastery now of the past–would deal damage to your enemy if they were hit with an ability or basic attack three times before the 3-second stacks wore off. And furthermore, this mastery’s effect would be amplified if you, for example, had a rune page dedicated to ability power or attack damage.

Now there are five different paths you can take based on the champion build you want to take into battle. You get to choose a primary path and a secondary path (refer to the video for more details on these paths) in place of the mastery and rune pages you’d previously bring with you. I didn’t know what to think about this change at first, but then I started tinkering with it and realized just how much simpler it made things. You still have to be strategic on which paths you take depending on the role you’re playing, but now it’s in a more concentrated format. Plus, if you spent a bunch of IP or RP on rune pages or runes then Riot will be rewarding you with some cool stuff relevant to the new system based on how much you spent. I made my own rune page for Vel’Koz to test the waters and to show you all an example. See what you think.

In addition to the huge changes for runes and masteries, League of Legends will now have uncapped leveling, meaning that you can level up to the highest number you can think of and beyond. No more staying at level 30. In addition, you’ll receive an Unlocked Capsule–aka Loot Box–everytime you level up instead of gaining IP after every game. These capsules can contain anything you have previously seen in the “Loot” aspect of the game that was introduced last year: from champion shards to skin shards to new emotes. What you receive is dependent on your level.

It appears that League of Legends is taking an approach similar to Overwatch in this new update. Uncapped leveling and the Unlocked Capsules are quite similar to the latter game’s style. But, in all honesty, I don’t think it’s a bad idea by Riot Games to do this. This style of the game leaves players wanting to play more because they’ll get to rank up to higher levels without having to play in ranked matches (ranking higher in the ranked ladder was the only way to “move ahead” with your leveling after reaching 30). Staying at level 30 was pretty boring, but now you have the opportunity to push the limits of your success, ranked or not. If you’re currently level 30, then you’ll start at level 30 in the uncapping process, regardless of the amount of time you put into the game already.

For more details on this update, make sure to check out the video above. There’s a lot of new elements of League of Legends to explore. So whether you’re an avid or casual player of the game, it’s bound to affect the way you prepare for battle.