Today was the start of the new season across the League of Legends franchise. During the Opening Day live stream, Riot Games shared a glimpse of what’s in store for League of Legends, Wild Rift, Teamfight Tactics, Legends of Runeterra, and esports. Leading up to the launch of the new season, Riot Games made a number of changes to the game including an overhaul to the item system, the shop, changes to Ranked, adjustments to provisionals, and improvements to matchmaking. Updates were also made to Clash making it so everyone who wants to play Clash this year can.
Looking forward to 2021, Riot Games is focusing on improving the systems that exist around the game. “Spending time in League should feel meaningful no matter how you’re doing it. And we want to bring all these complex systems together in a way that gives you clear progress and rewards for everything you do,” Jeremy Lee, Lead Producer said. More will be revealed later this year. New Champions set to be released this year include Viego, The Runed King, a magic damage fighter suited for top lane, an artillery mage, and a marksman. The Champions team is also hard at work on the Dr. Mundo update that will go live later this Spring. The team wanted to lean in on Dr. Mundo’s dark comedy theme as well as provide a visual update to the character. You can find out more information about his update later this week. You can expect more than 140 new skins including something for Fiddlesticks, Tahm Kench, Corki, Camille, Galio, Lulu, Nautilus, Wukong, Nunu, Sejuani, Rumble, Yuumi, and Twitch. The next thematic will be celebrating the Lunar New Year in February. It will be set in 2057, the Year of the Ox. It’s called Lunar Beast and it’s a world where futuristic cityscapes and ancient temples collide. The second major thematic of 2021 is Space Groove, an eccentric take on a sci-fi universe. Regarding events in 2021 for League PC, featured game modes will be kept running alongside every major event. A new mode will also be coming this year.
The big news regarding League of Legends Wild Rift is that Riot Games will be starting service in the Americas in March. In December, the beta became available for more countries than when it initially launched. Right now, Wild Rift has 50 Champions for players to choose from. The goal for 2021 will be to release an average of two Champions every month. Champions coming later this year include Katarina, Rammus, and Dr. Mundo. Wild Rift will also be getting a version of All Random, All Mid (ARAM). The first competitive season kicks off later this year too.
The developers behind Legends of Runeterra is focusing on leveling up the approach to Champions, bringing more social features, and introducing new regions in 2021. The next region will be the ancient land of Shurima. New mechanics from seeking buried relics to predicting the future, or tapping into the godlike power of the Ascended will come with the new region. Aphelios will be coming to Runeterra next month. Champion Mastery is coming. As you level up each Champion, you level up your Champion Mastery and get new rewards such as cosmetics. The first Cooperative Lab will be coming on January 13. You and a friend have to team up to fend off the Noxian army who is advancing.
This year, the team behind Teamfight Tactics will be shipping 2 new sets, updating the competitive experience, and experiment with new ways to play the game. The Fates Mid-set will be available with the next patch and brings back Aurelion Sol and Swain. Changes were made to the primary carries from the first half of the set to ensure players can discover new team comps that they can master. Two new arenas, Club 2 and Lunar City will also be coming with the new set. The next set will be released in Spring and will bring players to TFT‘s most dramatic setting yet. Teamfight Tactics will be getting a new game mode as well. This mode will focus on shorter game matches. Another set will be released later in the Fall.
Esports for League of Legends kicks off with the LPL this weekend starting tomorrow, January 9. League of Legends: Wild Rift will be getting an esports league starting this year. Teamfight Tactics esports will be evolved this year with each set having a Global Championship event and Riot Games will be investing in regional qualifying events and prize pools. In Legends of Runeterra, players can compete in region-wide tournaments. The 2021 World Championship will take place in China. The 2021 World Finals will be hosted in Shenzhen.