No matter if you play League of Legends or not you must have heard of Summoner’s Rift. For those that don’t know it is one of the core maps of the game. Furthermore, with season 14 starting in 2024 being around the corner Riot has made some major changes. This is big because, throughout the game’s history, it hasn’t received an update on such a grand scale.
Not to overhype anything, but the map has not only undergone basic visual upgrades. There are now new monsters, changes to the placement of various brushes & terrain, and more. If that wasn’t enough, many items have also been replaced. So in order for you to go into the new season prepared, here are some things you should look out for.
What is New in League of Legends Core Map Update?
To give a very quick summary below are some of the biggest and notable changes.
- Terrain Changes
- More Symmetric Top and Bottom Lanes.
- Void & Monster Changes
- Voidgrubs and Voidmites help you deal more turret damage.
- You can now ride Rift Herald.
- Void Blue Sentinel and Red Brambleback give buffs to the entire team.
- Rift Scuttler reveals all champions in the nearby area.
- Baron Nashor now has three forms.
- Misc. Changes
- Music and Sound changes based on your location and activities.
- Fist Bumps.
One of the biggest changes is to the game’s items. With the biggest change being that mythic items are being removed. However, they will balance it out by adding, removing and updating other items for different Champion classes. Since there are a ton of them I suggest you check out their official post on how it would work.
Terrain Changes
- Top: The top side is has been made more symmetrical from the blue to the red side. So ganking the lane will be harder. There is also a new wall and brush combination at the center of the river.
- Mid: These changes work in favor of the champions that lack escape abilities, especially mages. This is achieved by aligning brushes closer to the river, this will make it harder for opponents to surprise you when using one such champion.
- Bot: As mentioned before, it looks more symmetrical and similar to the top lane. Both in terrain’s placement and with the addition of wall and brush at center.
Void Changes
- Voidgrubs and Voidmites:
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- New enemies known as Voidgrubs will now spawn at 5 minutes at the place of the first Rift Herald. When you attack them they will spawn Voidmites. However, fighting them is worth it as slaying one of them gives you and your team Hunger of the Void buff. This is very useful when you are trying to take down turrets.
- If you or your team manages to get all 6 of them then the buff is maxed out. So while your goal should be to get them all, if your enemy has a headstart with them, then you can try slaying some when the next one spawns so as to deny them the the full effect of the buff. The first three spawn at 5 minutes, and then the next three spawn 4 minutes after them. Although they will despawn at 14 minutes.
- Rift Herald:
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- Rift Herald has a new void-themed look. The big difference is when it summons after defeat, you or another team member will now be able to ride it. Charging with Rift Herald at a turret deals additional damage to the turret. You can also use it to charge at an enemy. They take damage and get knocked airborne.
- Void Blue Sentinel, Red Brambleback, and Rift Scuttler:
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- At 20 minutes when Baron Nashor spawns, so will voidborn Sentinel, Brambleback, and Scuttler. These enemies are now tankier and you may require the help of fellow champions to take one down. However, when you eliminate a Sentinel or Brambleback, then all team members alive at the time receive the red or blue buffs.
- As for the Voidborn Scuttler, upon death it Scryer’s Bloom effect. This reveals the location of nearby champions in a considerably large area. The revealed wards will also have their HP brought down to 1.
Baron Nashor
There are now three variants of Baron Nashor. At 20 minutes randomly one of them will spawn. Its 3 forms are as follows:
- Hunting Baron: His pit remains unchanged but he uses lightning attacks to blast enemies from above.
- Territorial Baron: This version makes the pit have a wall in front and will grab champions with its hands to pull them closer.
- All-Seeing Baron: Finally, this Baron variant creates a tunnel with the pit. He also opens a Void Rift to make a damage-over-time zone to trap and attack enemies in this pit.
Miscellaneous Changes
- Sound and Music changes: This is mainly to add more immersion when you are fighting Baron and other void monsters.
- Fist Bumps: You and your teammates can now use the fist bump emotes. Activate it and whenever another teammate does the same the fist bump happens leaving behind stars and fireworks.
That’s it for some of the biggest changes that come with the core map update in League of Legends. While you are here I suggest you also check out our gaming section. Here you can find plenty of other useful guides for this and other games.