League of Legends Season 2024 Gameplay Spotlight Trailer Overview

As the year comes to a close, Riot Games prepares to close out their year with a brand-new season that'll overhaul League of Legends as we know it and turn it into a drastically different experience over the years. Now, with 2024 just around the corner, the official League of Legends YouTube channel has revealed its gameplay spotlight for Summoner's Rift, featuring all of the main changes that are coming.

This seven-minute video gives us a great look at everything that's coming, though not all gameplay footage was ready to be shared. This season is proving to be quite a drastic change, as previous ones have been as well, and if you want to watch the video, you can check it out above. If you're interested in a quick summary, keep reading — we gathered a few noted for you!

Map Changes

The first thing that's changed is the entire map. Whether you're playing top lane, middle lane, or bot lane, new opportunities for ganking have changed, and the trusty brushes — that have been in the same place for pretty much the entirety of League of Legends' lifespan — have been changed. Now, it'll be safer to play as immobile champions, making it slightly more challenging for junglers to make their plays, with brushes being closer to the river and equal terrain adjustments that ensure both red and blue sides have the same look. 

Bot lane and top lane, specifically, have received some major changes. While bot lane has a new gankable route, making ADCs' lives just a bit more difficult by giving blue-side junglers a flanking gank opportunity, the river bushes have been moved to the middle (as opposed to beside a wall). Not only does this make it harder to hide whilst coming into position, weakening junglers, but it also ensures that both sides have equal control over the bush and encourages skirmishes for vision control.

Lanes aren't the only change that League of Legends has in terms of terrain adjustments, as now, the areas opposite both Baron Nashor and Dragon's Pit have been changed to add an extra wall, ensuring that junglers can move around lanes safely. 

New Monster — Voidgrubs

Oh look, Riot brought Lernie from Hades!

Aside from Rift Herald and Baron Nashor, a new void creature awaits you in Baron's pit, and this time, they'll spawn even before everyone's favourite Shelly. Meet the grotesque Voidgrubs, a new "boss" that joins the Summoner's Rift until 14 minutes (when Shelly spawns) and will grant a permanent buff. There are three Voidgrubs that spawn at first, and for each one that's defeated, you grant your entire team damage over time to turrets that stacks the more of these void creatures you kill.

They aren't one-and-done, though, as Voidgrubs respawn a second time, meaning that you can take control of six stacks of the buff in total, and once you have them all, you will be able to spawn your very own Voidmites that attacks the turrets. This will be a strong advantage to any team that can get the most of them, and considering these are individual camps (meaning you can kill one and walk away), you can ensure that you take down at least one to prevent the enemy team from collecting all six.

Rift Herald

SHELLY, NO!!!!

Shelly is also getting not only a visual upgrade, but also a couple of gameplay upgrades! Now, instead of plopping them down to charge at the nearest turret, allied members can hop aboard and drift the Rift Herald into an enemy turret a la Sion, dealing increased damage and jumping out to catch enemies by surprise. Hitting a wall, however, will put Shelly's charge in a cooldown. Meanwhile, you can also charge into champions to knock them up and deal damage, giving you a new unique way to charge into battle!

Baron Nashor

Baron Nashor, Voidborn Tyrant of the Rift is basically a DARK SOULS name, and no one can convince me otherwise.

The meanest of the bunch has received yet a new visual upgrade, and this time, Baron Nashor looks mean and menacing. The big boss of the Summoner's Rift makes a return with an all-new look and global map effects that everyone will notice.

The first noticeable change is that this Voidborn tyrant takes one of three forms at the 20-minute mark when he spawns. Though the classic buff will remain the same, Baron's form will now affect not only how he fights, but also the shape of his pit, giving a new, unique take on the battlefield for those who are going to contest it when the enemy team has started it. 

However, this tyrant comes with more power than ever before — Baron Nashor now affects most of the significant buffs across the map, turning the lovable Scuttle Crab into a Voidborn Scuttle Crab, that is harder to kill and grants a burst of vision upon being slain. Or, what about the Red Brambleback and the Blue Sentinel? Well, they now get taken over by the Void and become even tougher to defeat, forcing a greater challenge to take them down. However, once defeated, all players who are alive will get the Crest of Cinders (red buff) and the Crest of Insight (blue buff), meaning that there is no more need to fight over who gets what.

Infernal Rift

Dragon has a few tricks up its sleeve as well, as the Infernal Rift variant has now been changed to include a slew of Infernal Cinders that spawn across the map. Collecting these gives you a slight buff to your movement speed and a stat buff (think Bard's chimes), but once slain, you drop all of your Infernal Cinders, leaving them up for the taking to anyone nearby.

Item System

Goodbye mythic items and hello... well, we don't really know yet. The item system has received a massive overhaul that removes the mythic item system we've come to know and hate, but instead, we're getting all-new options to purchase for every class and champion. There is the mage-assassin item for AoE that was showcased — the Stormsurge — and the support quests have been overhauled to let you buy only one, earn gold over time, and then change according to your desired playstyle.

The Season 2024 Gameplay Video doesn't share a lot of the new items that you can get, but the blog post for it gives us a great look at everything there is — and believe me, there are a ton. In total, there are:

• Nine new support items
• Five new mage items
• Seven removed mage items (including Crown of the Shattered Queen, Night Harvester, Everfrost, and Demonic Embrace)
• Eight mage item changes
• Six new assassin items
• Two removed assassin items (Duskblade of Draktharr and Prowler's Claw)
• One assassin item change
• Three new tank items
• Six removed tank items (including Gargoyle's Stoneplate, Aegis of the Legion, and Evenshroud)
• Two tank item changes
• Two new enchanter items
• Two removed enchanter items (Chemtech Putrifier, Chalice of Harmony)
• Two enchanter item changes
• Three new fighter item
• Three fighter items reverted
• Four fighter items removed (including Goredrinker and Divine Sunderer)
• Six fighter item changes
• One new marksman item
• Two marksman items removed (Rageknife and Galeforce)
• Two marksman item changes

Champion Quests

Remember the times when it was a common occurrence that champions would have unique quests? Well, those are back and bigger than ever, with a handful being triggered when certain champs appear in the same game. Defeat your rival and you get a small buff that, although not significant, will be a nice reward to ensure that you are finally encouraged to take champion grudges in your hands.

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And there you have it! Every change that was announced during the Season 2024 Gameplay Spotlight! Feel free to let us know how you feel about these changes in the comments below, and best of luck in the rift!