After several earlier teasers, League of Legends‘ major 25.S1.1 update is here. This first update of the 2025 competitive year will include a visual map rework, a new boss, fresh in-game mechanics and plenty of Champion changes. Let’s explore everything we know about Patch 25.S1.1’s most important highlights and what players can expect in upcoming games.
Here’s a quick summary of the 25.S1.1 update’s most important points:
To drive home the 2025 theme, Riot Games is remodeling the classic Summoner’s Rift map with a Noxian flair. The map’s environment reflects Noxus’ gritty and stark landscape. Even turrets and minions will join in on the change — turrets will sport fresh targeting animations and shopkeepers and minions will display elegant new textures with fashion from Noxus’ capital city. The visual changes will remain until Season 2 begins.
The new Ranked season will begin on January 9 2025. It will have a staggered rollout and appear at 12 PM local time on each in-game server. APEX Duo MMR restriction is disabled until Patch 25.S1.2. The Seasonal Ranked Reward Tracker no longer functions, but players can track their reward progress with a Ranked mission. Players will receive a hard rank reset in this patch, but it will be the only hard reset for the rest of the year.
League of Legends’ pro scene will now use Fearless Draft, a system that prevents using any Champion more than once in a series. For more information on Fearless Draft, check our quick guide here.
Legends of Runeterra fans may recall Atakhan, Bringer of Ruin’s fearsome image. In Patch 25.S1.1, Atakhan is bringing bloodshed to the Rift as a new Epic Monster. He will spawn in the game’s jungle 20 minutes in and appear in one of two unique forms, Voracious and Ruinous, depending on how many damage and kills have occurred. Atakhan’s presence also spawns Blood Roses and Petals, which grant Champions XP and buffs.
Importantly, Atakhan’s addition means the Rift Herald’s appearance will shift to 16:00 and Baron Nashor’s to 25:00.
Voracious Atakhan
Ruinous Atakhan
Atakhan’s Mechanics
For more in-depth info on Atakhan’s lore and stats, check the related article below.
Related Article: Who is Atakhan? Meet League of Legends’ New Jungle Boss
Alongside their visual changes, Turrets and Minions will behave differently. Nexus turrets will now respawn after a 3-minute delay, and turret damage will increase while fortification drops. Minion HP and damage changes will allow waves to clear each other faster while also ensuring they can scale and perform in late-game.
Riot Games comically notes: “Because we don’t want them to steal the show, this minion scaling is still capped, especially in the case of cannon and super minions, who now stop scaling at 90 minutes instead of up to 7 days (not including the Flyquest minion that scales in our hearts forever).”
Teleport will also now move a Champion across the map to their destination instead of instantly blinking them there. Since the change nerfs the mechanic, devs are balancing it out by allowing it to target Wards and Minions once again. For an exact list of new Teleport stats, check the official Patch Notes.
Turrets
Minions
League of Legends devs are slightly clarifying Champion Bounties for smoother matchups:
Players will now complete three Feats of Strength (First Blood, First Turret and Monster Slaying) to gain various early-game buffs. The Feats will replace First Blood and First Turret gold bonuses. The team with two of the three Feats’ Tier 2 boots will automatically upgrade to a Triumphant version with additional benefits. They can also upgrade the boots to Tier 3 and buy unique item upgrades after completing at least two Legendary Items.
Triumphant Forms: Berserker’s Greaves grant +5% Attack Speed;
Ionian Boots of Lucidity grant +5 Haste;
Sorcerer’s Shoes grant +4 Magic Penetration
; Plated Steelcaps grant +5 Armor
; Mercury’s Treads grant +5 Magic Resistance
; Boots of Swiftness grant +5 Movement Speed
; Synchronized Souls grants +5 Movement Speed
For a full list of item upgrades, check the official Patch Notes.
Players can now experience more relaxed matches with a new Swiftplay mode. Swiftplay will replace Quickplay in most regions: North America
, LatAm, Europe West, Europe Nordic & East, Brazil, Russia, Turkey, Taiwan and Vietnam will all be affected.
Twitch will receive a small buff to his Venom Cask W ability. This will complement previous adjustments that made him competitive as an AD and counteract a 14.9 AP nerf.
Twitch
Riot Games is adjusting Ashe, Kalista and Varus to nerf their laning phase performances while streamlining their engagements. Ashe’s Frost Shot will now always slow enemies. Kalista’s poke capability has been lowered to prioritize her speed and mana regen. Varus’ poke potential will similarly reduce while lower Piercing Arrow mana costs encourage him to practice skill-based battle.
Ashe
Kalista
Varus
Patch 25.S1.1 is bringing a slightly tweaked version of the arena item Bloodletter’s Curse into the main game to accommodate AP bruiser Champions. In addition, Riot Games is “making several item changes aimed at specifically serving a class of health-stacking tanks” by adjusting Heartsteel, Unending Despair and Warmog’s Armor. A host of fresh runes including Deep Ward, Sixth Sense, Grisly Mementos and Axiom Acanist will also cycle into the game.
Bloodletter’s Curse (New Item)
Heartsteel
Unending Despair
Warmog’s Armor
Runes
ARAM’s Arcane event has ended, and the Bridge of Progress will no longer appear as an in-game map. The League of Legends developers are also fine-tuning several Champions with small adjustments mainly focusing on damage. Karma, Swain, Diana, Elise, Master Yi and Warwick will all face changes. The team notes that major ability shifts will follow after these preliminary stat fixes.
ARAM Buffs
ARAM Nerfs
Riot Games will now rotate the in-game Mythic Shop selection after every Patch to ensure constantly flowing skin options. According to the Riot Games team, the next Patch’s Shop will include “a celebration of previous Lunar New Year related content including Prestige skins, chromas, and icons.”
In addition, new Masque of the Black Rose skins for Samira, Ezreal, Elise, Renata Glasc, Vladimir and Katarina will become available. The skins are red and black with gold accents and sharp motifs.
For a full list of 25.S1.1 League of Legends alterations including bug fixes and minor quality-of-life changes, visit Riot Games’ official Patch Notes here.
