Riot Games officially reveals their plans for the upcoming Preseason 2022 changes for League of Legends.
In every preseason Riot brings some significant changes to the Summoner’ Rift. In season 10 preseason, they brought changes to the Elemental Rifts which eventually changed the landscape of League of Legends. Likewise, in season 11 preseason, they brought some new item updates, new item class, and item system overhaul that shook up the meta in League of Legends.
As we are more than halfway through season 11, it is also the time of the year when Riot reveals their early plans for the upcoming preseason.
“This year rather than focusing on re-envisioning one particular area of the game, we are focusing on places in our current systems (both in- and out-of-game) to strengthen and expand on,” Riot on the 2022 preseason.
Unlike the last two preseasons, season 12 preseason is not going to have any massive overhaul, rather it will improve existing game systems and reward progression in a more meaningful way.
Here are some of the changes for the League of Legends Preseason 2022:
Dragons
Season 10 preseason, Rise of the Elements, was one of the biggest changes for the Summoner’s Rift. It brought map terrain transformations, new powerful Dragon Souls, and a game-changing Elder Dragon buff. While currently, those changes are still in a good spot, Riot thinks there’s room to expand the possible “unique environments.”
Potential changes are:
- Creating new terrain features that contribute to unique matches and alter how the game plays out after the map transforms
- Expanding the thematic possibilities of what empowers a dragon and how that empowers champions on the Rift
Items
Similar to Season 10 preseason, Season 11 preseason also brought some meta-defining item changes in League of Legends. Because of so many changes pushed into one patch, the season 11 changes have been receiving mixed reactions from the players.
However, for the upcoming 2022 preseason, Riot ensured that they have heard the feedback and they will try to make a meaningful choice at the Mythic level for every champion.
In 2022 preseason, Riot will try to bring:
- More Mythic options for support champs
- Improved Legendary item options for mages, assassins, and tanks
Runes
“We’ve continued to monitor both the use rates and power levels of runes across the system and we think there are some good, targeted changes we can make to the system,” Riot on Runes. “We feel the Inspiration tree’s identity has been fairly unclear, and we’d like to broaden its keystone use cases.”
During Preseason you can expect:
- Reworked Inspiration keystones
- Secondary rune balance adjustments
New & Updated Systems
Challenges
One of the new systems Riot is hoping to implement during Preseason 2022 is Challenges. Through the Challenges system, players will be rewarded for all of the challenging, unique, and fun goals they achieve throughout their games.
Some specific goals Riot want to accomplish with the final version of Challenges are:
- Players can track their general mastery and investment in League of Legends
- Players can visualize and compare a variety of League accomplishments
- Players have many different types of Challenges and accomplishments to progress and strive towards
Progression Identity Updates
Last month, Riot introduced the League of Legends Progression Identity changes featuring new Identity Customization, UI Updates, Ranked Emblems, and Prestige Levels.
“Part of the concepts and explorations we showed you included a series of identity changes that’ll allow you to customize who you are to others at a glance,” Riot on the Progression Identity updates. “This includes showing off your accomplishments in specific Challenges through tangible elements in and around the game with things like titles, tokens, and rank.”
