Riot Games has made a plethora of changes in the recently released League of Legends patch concerning ARAM and its maps. After the long-awaited return of Butcher’s Bridge, the map is sinking back to the depths of the sea. With its removal, Riot made a few important changes. Let’s take a look at what they are and what they mean moving forward.
Goodbye, Butcher’s Bridge!
The changes are tied both to the Butcher’s Bridge map as well as the ARAM game mode in general. With the removal of Butcher’s Bridge, the Howling Abyss will be making a return to ARAM. Riot also noted the map is “gone until next time,” which hints at a possible return in the future.
Furthermore, Butcher’s Bridge brought in a few items that are now being removed with the map. Items such as Mariner’s Vengeance and Ghostwalkers will not be available for purchase on the Howling Abyss. Another feature being removed is the Backtrack summoner spell, which we recently talked about. It is unclear whether the spell will be making a comeback, should the map be reintroduced to the game.
Butcher’s Bridge was first introduced during the Bilgewater: Burning Tides event. The map brought a new aesthetic, representing the Bilgewater region from League of Legends lore. Fans of the map also loved the Gankplank announcer that replaced the default ARAM announcer. Seeing it return makes us hope that it will reappear in the future.
In addition, the ARAM game mode will be getting some changes regarding balance and game flow. The team announced the mode will be receiving balance changes to champions on a monthly basis.
A few tweaks that were made to runes back in 9.7 were also made permanent. One of the bigger changes is the adjustment to minion waves’ spawn rates and damage to structures. After 15 minutes in the ARAM game mode, the minions will have more movement speed and champions will deal more damage to towers and inhibitors. Bans, a change experimentally used during the Butcher’s Bridge event, won’t be made permanent either.
Buffs & Nerfs
The last changes were a couple of buffs and nerfs to champion stats. Champions being nerfed will either have their damage taken increased or their damage dealt decreased. The buffs change the same stats as the nerf, but decrease the damage taken and increase the damage dealt.
For more League of Legends and esports news, stay in touch with Daily Esports!
