Patch 8.16 Notes

New Skins

Mecha Aurelion Sol

Mafia Braum

Cosmic Queen Ashe

Cosmic Enchantress Lulu

Cosmic Defender Xin Zhao

Experimental Mode - Nexus Blitz

"Starting sometime in patch 8.16, we'll be live playtesting a new experimental mode: Nexus Blitz. The test will run for four weeks and everyone can participate—no invitation needed. If the community loves Nexus Blitz, we'll keep developing it after the alpha ends, but we need your input to make that call! 

Welcome to the (double) jungle

Nexus Blitz is a fast-paced (~15 minutes) experimental mode designed for those of you seeking fresh ways to play League and low-pressure fun. It emphasizes exciting and surprising moments over intense competition, while still rewarding the skills you've learned from other League modes, like Summoner’s Rift. 

In this 5v5 mode, each team consists of a duo jungle who share gold/XP along with three laners who flex across two halves of a split lane. The compact map makes for constant action, and a roulette of map-wide, mayhem-inducing events—like King of the Hill, snowball fights, or Bardle Royale— amplify the frenzy even more. 

Winning an event unlocks one of several powerful team-wide rewards, like a base cannon that shoots you halfway across the map or a one-time Guardian Angel. 

Additionally, racking up killstreaks lights you on fire, giving you tons of damage and shorter cooldowns but making you more vulnerable to damage in return. Champs on fire are worth a TON of gold to their enemies if ever they're shut down. 

Nexus Blitz also brings back some classic items from League's past. Jump to the primer below for a list of those, or keep reading for some more info on what to expect from the alpha (and experimental modes in the future). 

What exactly does alpha mean? 

It means Nexus Blitz isn't a polished, complete game mode. As a work-in-progress, you can expect reused models, textures, and music from elsewhere in League. At this stage, even the gameplay is up for iteration and development! 

Don’t take that to mean we won't be paying close attention to the state of the game. In fact, it's the opposite. Lots of champions and runes have had their numbers tuned to fit Nexus Blitz's pace of action—in particular, stacking mechanics on abilities like Nasus's Siphoning Strike and activation timers on runes like Magical Footwear have been sped up. 

We'll be aggressively patching Nexus Blitz across the four-week test to keep up with you and the global community of players who will define the first ever meta. These mid-patch updates could run the gamut from balance adjustments all the way up to new events and rewards, so make sure to check our weekly dev corner threads on the Boards every now and then. 

Which also means your feedback is crucial. We need you to play and tell us what you think about pretty much everything, from the core game loop to ideas for additional mechanics to map visuals and theming. If you see potential in Nexus Blitz, this is your opportunity to help shape its development! 

Beyond Nexus Blitz: Experimental Modes

Nexus Blitz is the first of its kind, but it won’t be the last. An experimental mode is basically a gameplay prototype designed to deliver a different kind of experience than Summoner’s Rift, Twisted Treeline, or ARAM. We're looking for something that could last a while—maybe even as a permanent addition to League. By sharing experimental modes with players early on, they’re also a great way to test the water and get an initial community response before delving into additional months of development for a final version. 

Experimental modes won’t happen super frequently. At most, you’ll see a couple in a given year. We’re designing them from the ground up instead of customizing and modifying existing modes, and the vast, vast majority of the League team is still focused on SR, with a much smaller group working on experimental prototypes. 

We’re very excited to share the first of these modes with you, and hope you have a blast playtesting Nexus Blitz. 

Nexus Blitz Primer 

Miscellaneous 

• Syndra's in client bio was tweaked:

Old: "Syndra is a fearsome dark mage with incredible power at her command. As a child of Ionia, she disturbed the village elders with her prodigious but reckless use of magic. They sent her away to be trained under strict supervision, but she quickly surpassed her mentor and discovered he was restraining her powers. Betrayed and disgusted by such cowardice, Syndra eliminated her teacher and struck out to destroy all who would try to limit her potential, dark spheres in hand." 

New: "Syndra is a fearsome Ionian mage with incredible power at her command. As a child, she disturbed the village elders with her reckless and wild magic. She was sent away to be taught greater control, but eventually discovered her supposed mentor was restraining her abilities. Forming her feelings of betrayal and hurt into dark spheres of energy, Syndra has sworn to destroy all who would try to control her."

• Karma's in client bio was also tweaked to match her recent bio update:

Old: "No champion exemplifies the spiritual traditions of Ionia more than Karma. She is the living embodiment of an ancient soul reincarnated countless times, carrying all her accumulated memories into each new life. With this insight, she serves as a spiritual beacon to her people, bestowing boundless wisdom and healing in times of crisis. Despite being blessed with power that few could comprehend, she rarely uses her magic for destruction, as it always comes at a considerable cost-- both to her, and to the land she holds most dear." 

New: "No mortal exemplifies the spiritual traditions of Ionia more than Karma. She is the living embodiment of an ancient soul reincarnated countless times, carrying all her accumulated memories into each new life, and blessed with power that few can comprehend. She has done her best to guide her people in recent times of crisis, though she knows that peace and harmony may come only at a considerable cost-- to her, and to the land she holds most dear."

• As noted by Riot Stellari, the SSG Xayah and Rakan loading screens (both normal and signed) have been updated to fit better when they are together on the loading screen:

"Update on the SSG Xayah & Rakan load screen. Splash artists did a tweak to align them better when they load-in together. There's a version floating around we couldn't do because they're off center when loading alone, and other places in game. This will be live in patch 8.16"