LoL players have already learned about the news that will appear in the 2023 season. Riot has not been idle, new characters, remakes, and much more have been revealed.
In the latest video, Riot shows what LoL players can expect.
Ahri graphics and reliability update
It took us a year, but we finally have for you an update of Ahri’s graphics and reliability. Her basic version, her skins, new visual effects, graphics, and… all nine tails! All of these have been updated and will be coming to you in a few weeks. We can’t wait to see what you think of her new look.
Skins and themes
There are still several heroes in the game who haven’t received any new skins for a long time, such as Aurelion Sol, Ivern, Kled, and Kalista. However, I have some good news. Each of them will receive a new skin this year. Kalista’s skin will come to us from the world of beauty and magic, nature and majesty. The Fairy Queen oversees all four kingdoms of the seasons, and the creatures that reside in them are endowed with the power of the natural world and the magic that lies within. However, not everything in the land of fairies is luminous and beautiful straight from these magical lands, we will return to your favorite realms. To a series of skins whose beauty is overshadowed only by its sweetness. A series that has so far given you cuties like Mops’Maw, Corgi Corki, and Yorick in cat pajamas. So get some catnip and your favorite chew toys ready, because the next characters are about to get a little fluffier. This is just a fraction of what we have planned for the 2023 season.
Ranked games, reset and rewards
Last year we shared an update on our blog that talked about some of our plans for the future, such as anonymous hero selection, swapping the order of selection, and recommending equipment. Since then, we’ve also been working on several other projects, and there’s an important issue I’d like to tell you about today. It’s about the mid-year ranking reset. The mid-year ranking reset Ranking splits have been in the game for several years, but until now they have only served as a way to break the ranking season into three parts so that players can better control their progress.
Starting this year, two ranking splits will introduce an additional ranking reset and awarding of prizes. We are making this change because many players return to League of Legends at the start of a new season, ready to fight for a ranking position. However, after analyzing the data, we found that they don’t need a whole season to reach their target ranking – as long as they played consistently in each patch. If you don’t slow down after you start climbing the rankings in January, you will most likely be able to reach the top position around the middle of the year. After that, things may get a little more complicated. For players with higher ranks, the middle of the year can mean one big festival of stress, forcing them to play just enough to stay in position. To make matters worse, often when players notice that they are no longer able to continually advance, they either stop playing ranked matches or switch to their side accounts. None of the above is very good for a fair selection of opponents or enjoyable gameplay – especially for players who started climbing later in the season.
The reset with the start of the 2nd split will not be as drastic as the one in January. We don’t intend to introduce another preseason, so the changes made to the game won’t be significant enough to equally force you to get the ranks from the beginning. And if for some reason you can’t play League for the first six months of the year, don’t worry.
The mid-year reset will be even less important if someone hasn’t played many games since January. We know it’s a huge change, but we think it will make League gameplay more fun and modern, and that it will solve some of the problems we’ve seen over the years.
Each split is a chance to win a full range of ranking rewards, such as icons and emoticons, ranking frames, and ranking skins. Yes, this means that this year we will have two ranking skins, as well as some additional prizes worth climbing for and earning progress during your ranking matches. In addition, ranking skins will no longer require you to have at least a gold division. Now everyone who plays ranked matches will have the opportunity to earn a skin and its subsequent colorful variants as you climb up the ranks. The unblocked skin will continue to reflect your ranking achievements, but we also want to make it possible to get it through sheer dedication to climbing.
Nevertheless, it is not enough that you play 10 matches and the skin is already yours. The number of games needed to achieve it will be much higher for players without gold. So the mere fact that you can get it now in silver or lower does not mean that you will succeed. That’s it as far as I’m concerned. Now it’s time for Riot Lexical to tell you about our plans for heroes this year.
Champions
This season we are going to introduce more minor updates to deal with those characters who are starting to cover themselves with a layer of dust. We are committed to developing the fantasy of our older characters, so we will be rolling out more minor updates throughout 2023. These won’t just be gameplay changes, though, as we’re also going to be addressing characters like Nidalee and Varus who need dubbing updates, and whose paths cross with our upcoming heroes.
Aurelion Sol’s gameplay update
The first change this year will be an update to Aurelion Sol’s gameplay. In the last LoL Pls, we showed you some updated skills that further fan the flames of his dragon fantasy. However, we didn’t delve into those elements of his skill set that support this character’s theme as an Architect of the Stars. Not only can Aurelion Sol create new stars, like a nebula in the depths of space, but he can now also drop them from the sky – straight at his enemies on Summoner’s Rift.
As we mentioned in the last video, his new passive ability makes his abilities bigger and bigger as time passes in the game. Including his new super-skill. Tell us, could there be anything more enjoyable than unleashing a huge star you forged in the depths of space right on someone’s head? We can’t wait to see what you think of the new and improved version of Star Architect.
Milio in LoL
It is with great joy that I would like to introduce you all to our new spellcaster from Ixtal. Although he demonstrated an incredible understanding of the fire axiom at a very young age, Milio uses fire not to set cities on fire, but to soothe wounds. Now he’s embarking on a journey to Ixaocan, carrying the hopes and dreams of his family on his back – right alongside his trusty backpack.
Soon he will face the biggest challenge of his adolescent life – Vidalion. This trip to Ixaocan will broaden his horizons and allow him to meet new places and people. However, it will also bring him closer to the darkest secrets of Yun Tal… But regardless of the challenges in his path, he will always nimbly jump back into action and be ready for his next adventure.
Naafiri in LoL
Once we’re done dealing with the lovable spellcaster, we’ll move on to something a little darker. I know that many of you love complex heroes and complicated skill descriptions. But others prefer to focus on the macro game and rely on an easy-to-understand set of abilities in combat. If you belong to the latter group, I have good news – Naafiri is the Darkin for you! She’s a middle-lane assassin, made for anyone who prefers to focus on hunting. Having been awakened from her sleep, her first goal is to track down her Darkin brothers.
Her new body… or bodies… will initially be like a cruel twist of fate, but will eventually prove to be quite a useful tool for tracking down other Darkin and a powerful source of knowledge. After all, it’s always better to hunt in a group. I have some bad news for you, however. Unfortunately, Naafiri is the only shirtless heroine this year. However, we know how much you love six-packs, so no worries. We won’t forget about you next year.
Future champions
Somewhere on the horizon we also have a certain hungry jungler and an artistically gifted middle character waiting for us. At the moment, however, it’s too early to talk about these topics, although we will certainly return to them in future announcements.