League of Legends Patch 14.23 Bridge of Progress Map Changes

The Bridge of Progress update for ARAM players has been a mixed bag. Fans of the game mode have been torn by numerous decisions, as a fair chunk of players have asked for the Howling Abyss back, while others are excited that ARAM is getting any love at all, especially with such a major update as Arcane.

Listening to the feedback, Riot Games is moving forward with a few changes that might make regular players happy, concerning some of the unique mechanics added to the Bridge of Progress and clarity concerns that players had, alongside a few changes to some of the rising roles that have been getting better win-rates.

First, we'll look at the system changes that are happening. The first set of significant changes are for the numerous buffs, specifically, Raidboss and Mad Scientist, which are the ones you get for destroying the Inhibitors. Since there were very snowball-heavy buffs that could lead to an earlier victory for the side that already had an edge, they had to be toned down a bit (and some had massive changes). The Inhibitor buff duration has been reduced by a third, bringing it from the daunting 180-second duration to a mere 60-second one, giving players a better opportunity to turtle and save their Nexus turrets.

That isn't everything, though — death times have been increased slightly in the early game (to 9–40 based on level), the Speed Zone has been nerfed, and the health relic has also received some adjustments. These are all aimed at ensuring a more balanced and Howling Abyss-like playstyle that ARAM enjoyers have come to love.

Next up is terrain and texture changes. 15 total changes were made to the readability in the Bridge of Progress, with changes to the Ground Textures, Terrain, Brush/Smoke, Snowball (Mark), the minions, health relics, Inhibitors, performance, and even the oft-complained Announcers. All of the changes are meant to make the experience more readable.

Lastly, balance changes are bringing some buffs to Blade of the Ruined King and Kraken Slayer to tone down Bruiser and Tank roles, who have been seeing a rise in win rate. Singed, Voliber, and Yorick were singled-out with nerfs to their survivability as well.

The Bridge of Progress update is live now on League of Legends as of Patch 14.23.