LoL preseason 2022 brings changes to dragons, runes, and more

The preseason has long been a staging ground for League of Legends’ biggest gameplay changes, and 2022 will be no different.

Riot Games released a preview of the 2022 preseason updates and it is set to be just as big as in past years. But unlike 2021 and 2020, the 2022 preseason updates won’t just be felt on Summoner’s Rift.

Alongside changes to the game, an overhaul is coming to the reward and challenge system that will likely encourage players to log in more frequently. Granular details weren’t given, but Riot still delivered a lengthy post that paints a clear picture of what fans can look forward to this winter and into early 2022.

LoL items, dragons set for changes in 2022 preseason

When it comes to gameplay changes, Riot Games honed in on four areas where things are set to change. The list includes runes, dragons, items, and bounties.

Runes are largely confusing for new players, and once players are experienced they quickly realize that some are generally more useful than others. Both of these areas are set to be remedied in the preseason through “reworked Inspiration keystones and secondary rune balance adjustments.”

Dragons were given a shakeup last preseason in an effort to better make each game of LoL feel unique. Riot Games said that it was successful in accomplishing this, but that things can still be kicked up another notch. New terrain features and changes to dragon buffs are both being considered, though nothing specific was yet confirmed.

While Riot says that the dynamic nature of dragons in the 2021 preseason was well-received, the dynamic nature of itemization wasn’t. The company said that fans haven’t been especially keen on putting thought into their itemization and things will be adjusted accordingly. On top of that, there will be a broader offering of items specifically for supports, as well as probable buffs for go-to item choices for tanks, assassins, and mages.

Finally, bounties are going to be changed in a way that offers a greater chance of making a comeback. Champion kill bounties aren’t going to be changed in significantly, with Riot Games instead focusing on objectives. The difficulty in this is ensuring that superior teams are able to close out games consistently and quickly if they have the opportunity, but Riot feels as though there’s room for greater freedom here in providing an avenue for making a comeback.

LoL adding challenges, are missions gone?

The change that players will likely feel most directly is the introduction of challenges. The idea behind challenges is to offer rewards for players more consistently in a way that is better tailored to their individual style of play.

Challenges will allow players to “track their general mastery and investment…visualize and compare a variety of League accomplishments…[and] have many different types of Challenges and accomplishments to progress and strive towards.”

It’s unclear whether these will be added as a complement to missions or whether challenges will replace missions entirely. Listed as an example of a challenge is reaching S-rank in ARAM games a certain number of times, with different levels of accomplishment based on how many times the player ranks S in their games.

There is plenty more discussed in the blog post so make sure to check it out on the official League of Legends website.