League of Legends developer and publisher Riot Games has teased its plans for its popular franchise this year, including a whole lot of new content for the game, its esports roadmap, as well as the second season of its animated series Arcane.
“Season Start is a moment to set the stage for the weeks and months ahead and provide a sneak peek at some of the content the team has been working on. We hope you’re excited about what you’ve seen so far for 2024. This year is also extra special because we’ll be celebrating League’s 15th birthday in October! Best of luck on your climbs, and welcome to Season 2024,” said Andrei van Roon, Head of League Studio.
Some of the most exciting updates that are coming to League of Legends in 2024 include the introduction of new champions, major champion updates, changes to the Mastery system, the comeback of Arena, a brand-new game mode, and more.
Riot Games also announced that season two of Arcane will be released in November 2024. To celebrate the upcoming new season of the animated series, Ambessa Medarda will be joining the game’s roster alongside a VGU (visual and gameplay update) of an existing champion that is also featured in the show, both of which will be released later this year. Arcane-inspired gameplay as well as new skins will also be released near the start of the new season.
Here is a list of plans Riot Games has announced so far for League of Legends in 2024:
Champions in 2024
- Skarner’s visual gameplay update (VGU) is finishing up and will be heading to the Rift in the first half of the year!
- After Skarner, the team will work on two other champion updates: a champion featured in Arcane which will be updated to better match their depiction in the show and Shyvana who will be receiving special attention around her gameplay.
- Smolder the Fiery Fledgling will be going to PBE on January 9!
- After Smolder, players can expect a Vastayan, solo-laning, mid-range mage as the next champion.
Skins in 2024
- In 2024, Rammus and Olaf will be getting skins!
- The first half of 2024’s Prestige skins will be for Rakan, Ezreal, Kindred, Evelynn, and Kayle (in that order).
- The team is working through Lee Sin’s skin catalog now and his art and sustainability update (ASU) will be available to players in early May.
- Teemo’s ASU is taking the team longer than intended and will have an updated timeline to be shared later this year.
- Lunar Revel, the first event of the year, will feature new skinline Heavenscale and returning thematic Porcelain. Players can look forward to the following skins in patch 14.3 and 14.4:
- Heavenscale Lee Sin
- Prestige Heavenscale Ezreal
- Heavenscale Ezreal
- Heavenscale Kai’Sa
- Heavenscale Master Yi
- Heavenscale Diana
- Heavenscale Janna
- Heavenscale Smolder
- Prestige Porcelain Kindred
- Porcelain Graves
- Porcelain Darius
- Porcelain Miss Fortune
- Porcelain Morgana
- Porcelain Irelia
- Porcelain Aurelion Sol
- Other skinlines returning in the first half of 2024 are Porcelain, Faerie Court, PROJECT, and Blood Moon.
- Older Legendary skins will receive borders (Brolaf, Corporate Mundo, Dragon Trainer Tristana).
Systems in 2024
- The team will focus on making improvements to how the Ranked system evaluates player skill, reducing situations where a player is matched up with someone in a vastly different rank, and how much LP a player loses LP in relation to how much they gain in the new season.
- Additionally, there will be changes coming to the Champion Mastery system in the first half of the year.
- Vanguard is coming to League as a response to the feedback around high number of bots in games, disruptive smurfs in Ranked, and an increase in scripting. The implementation will allow for live match termination and will refund LP to players in games with/against detected cheaters and bots.
Modes in 2024
- Arena will be coming back in the first half of the year with more improvements:
- The number of teams in a game of Arena will increase from four teams of two, to eight (for a total of 16 players)
- Changes to the UI will be made accordingly and there will be new Augments, maps, and other improvements.
- URF will be back for Lunar Revel in patch 14.3 and 14.4, and One-For-All after that.
- A new game mode coming later this year will be a different take on core League gameplay and will be a more relaxed way to spend time with friends.
Riot Games also announced changes to League of Legends esports this year, including awarding a guaranteed spot at Worlds for the winner of the Mid-Season Invitational, which also counts as an additional slot for their region. The second best performing region at MSI will also secure an additional seed for their region as well.
For the 2024 LoL esports season, there will be a base of three Worlds slots for the LEC, LCS, LCK, and LPL. As for the PCS and VCS, they will each still have two Worlds slots while the LLA and CBLOL still get one Worlds slot each.
MSI 2024 will be held on May 1-19, 2024, in Chengdu, China while Worlds 2024 will be held from September 25 to November 2, 2024. Worlds 2024 will take place in Berlin at the Riot Games Arena for the Play-Ins and Swiss Stages, the Adidas Arena in Paris for the Quarterfinals and Semifinals, and at London’s O2 Arena for the Finals.
Riot Games is also introducing its own hall of fame, dubbed the LoL Esports Hall of Legends. According to Riot Games, an independent voting panel of esports industry veterans and experts from every region will be voting to select the very first inductee. More details on the LoL Esports Hall of Legends will be announced at a lter date.
Riot Games also released a new cinematic video to celebrate the start of the 2024 season, dubbed “Still Here.”