Major changes coming for League of Legends in 2024 Split 3

League of Legends

11 Sep

Martin Arévalo-Östberg

Riot Games has recently announced several innovative changes coming to League of Legends for Split 3 of 2024. Besides the numerous additions, Riot will also look to change directions for one specific area of the game.

Azir's latest skin release, Attorney Azir, has shown Riot's willingness to listen to their players and adapt accordingly. (Credit: Riot Games)

Split 3 of League of Legends in 2024 will come with patch 14.19, which is expected to go live on September 25th. That's right, Split 3 begins the very same day that Worlds 2024 starts!

Join us as we go over the major highlights coming into Split 3.

Pace of the game and item nerfs

Riot is seemingly not content with the current pace of the game in League of Legends. In order to slow combat down and reduce snowballing, Riot will be carrying out a set of global item nerfs.

"We’re removing 5-15% stat efficiency from almost every Legendary item in the game."

While the exact stat reductions have not been announced yet, expect some major changes to come into some of your favorite items with Split 3.

One of the major expected benefits from the global item nerfs will be champions themselves taking up a larger part of the power budget.

With items being nerfed, how well you perform will be far more dependent on your champions' kit and your ability to effectively utilize that kit. Items, and snowballing, being toned down means that there should be more room for skill expression in the build up to grabbing leads and winning games in Split 3.

"We want more time for players to play out their champion’s gameplay fantasy and to put more emphasis on champions than items."

Why slow down?

As for why these changes are necessary, well, the reason is rather simple. League of Legends has been out for 15 years now (feeling old yet?), which means players have had a long time to develop their skills and figure out the game. Likewise, information on how best to play the game is readily available for newcomers all over.

This all means that gold in a game of League of Legends is acquired faster than ever before, increasing the value of items and the damage these provide.

"In the final game of the 2012 World Finals, the ADCs had 133 and 165 minion kills at 20 minutes. They were both on one completed Legendary and weren’t remotely close to their second. Nowadays that’s below average for Platinum players, let alone the world’s best."

In order to avoid this getting out of control, Riot is looking to tackle the problem now by taking some value away from gold, and back into champion mastery instead.

Lethal Tempo returns!

One of League of Legends' most problematic runes is being reworked and brought back!

Lethal Tempo is coming back to League of Legends. Just how powerful will it be this time around? (Credit: Riot Games)

Champions, and especially AD carries, that looked to stack Attack Speed haven't had any particularly desirable rune as of late. Now, Riot is looking to fix that.

Here's what the reworked Lethal Tempo rune is expected to do:

Attacking an enemy champion grants you [5% melee / 4% ranged] Attack Speed for 6 seconds, up to 6. At max stacks, attacks also deal [9-30 melee / 6-24 ranged] bonus adaptive damage, increased by 1% per 1% Bonus Attack Speed.

One crucial thing to point out is that, unlike the previous iteration of the rune, Lethal Tempo will not allow the user to surpass the Attack Speed cap (sorry, Kog'Maw).

While the rune may still receive some small tweaks before it's release, it stands as an exciting option for champions hungry for Attack Speed.

Quality of Life changes coming into Split 3

In order to make playing the game efficiently a more seamless experience, particularly for newer players, Riot will be looking to add several QoL changes into League of Legends in Split 3.

Item Queuing

With the amount of item components and different stats available in the shop, buying the right items can be a daunting experience.

To address this issue, League of Legends will implement an Item Build Queue feature to its HUD.

Credit: Riot Games

At the shop, one will have the ability to queue up an item build. Once queued, the item will be displayed to you at all times, indicating your gold progression towards completing that item. As soon as you have enough gold to buy your item, the new feature will let you know.

Forgetting starter items

If you have played League of Legends for long enough, then you know what it feels like to walk to lane at the start of the game only to realize you have no items when you get there.

Riot will be implementing a new alert notification in Split 3, letting you know immediately if you leave your base at the start of the game without having bought any items.

Always drink your potions, kids

Similarly, Split 3 will also introduce a new notification alerting players to drink their potions. This new alert will only take place when a player is on low health and out of combat.

Jungle invasion!

Another big new addition in Split 3 will be that of an automatic ping that goes off when combat takes place on your side of the jungle.

The addition aims to make life slightly easier for weak early game junglers being invaded. Teammates will now be immediately notified when someone comes to mess with you in your own jungle. Hopefully, this time they will help!

Split 3: Continuing the trend

League of Legends is a game that has endured the test of time largely due to it's ability adapt and change. While the general idea has always been the same, Riot Games is constantly adding new features into the game.

Whether it's through changing the map, reworking complete sets of items, or the frequent addition of new champions, League of Legends has shown a remarkable ability to stay fresh, even 15 years down the road.

With the exciting set of changes coming into the game in Split 3, Riot has shown they understand the need to keep the League of Legends wheels moving.

For the latest League of Legends news, follow Strafe Esports. Also, follow the Strafe YouTube channel for exclusive interviews with players and coaches.

Image source: Riot Games

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