League of Legends is a lot. First, you have to choose a role to main. Then, you need to learn that role’s item combinations. Then, you have to learn how that role positions and utilizes the map. Then you have to find an ideal team comp to play with – the list goes on, and on, and on. But what if the reliance on objectives was removed, and gameplay was streamlined down to a simple base race? That’s what brand new mode Brawl hopes to do, and it’s a welcome departure from the MOBA’s traditional fare.
Brawl is Riot’s answer to “what could League of Legends‘ team deathmatch look like?” In groups of five, your overarching goal is to ferry minions to their respective portals at each end of a one-lane, Bandle City-inspired map while annihilating anything that gets in your way. There are no towers to stop you, no Nexuses to explode: it’s a multiplayer game of push and pull where whittling down the enemy’s overall HP nets you the win.
Each team starts with 250 health, and you primarily deal damage by defeating enemy players. A champion takedown takes five HP off of the total, and pushing your minions into the enemy’s portal deals one damage per creep. At the beginning of the game when both teams have high HP, takedowns on enemy minions also deal one point of damage.
In order to help ferry your blue and red friends to their respective end of the map, you’ll find camps on either side of the lane that can provide different buffs – effectively jungle camps, but without the complexity of having to rotate around. Sneaking one away from an enemy will net you some extra gold, too, so watch out for rogue Evelynns and Auroras.
Unlike ARAM, you’re free to recall whenever you like, and there are no champion restrictions. All you have to do is head back to base, fill up your HP and buy some new items, then get back into the fray. For me, it’s somewhat reminiscent of the Push mode we see in games like Overwatch, and is built to be fast-paced (games should last around ten minutes) and accessible to new players and veterans alike.
League of Legends’ Brawl mode is set to drop alongside patch 25.10, Riot confirms, which is currently pencilled in for Wednesday May 14.
In addition to Brawl, there are a slew of changes in the works, too. The most important are adjustments to Atakhan, who now only has one form instead of the original two. Ditching Ruinous and Voracious for Thornbound, he still spawns Bloody Roses like Ruinous, but now the team that takes him down receives all of the remaining petals on the map, too. These are converted into Spirit Petals, which grant 25% increased effect. Additionally, for the rest of the game, players will receive the all-new Spirit Purification buff, which slows and damages nearby enemies when you kill a champion.
Void Grubs will now only spawn once, and with only one Void Mite and three grubs in an attempt to decrease the amount of early-game objectives that players need to scramble for. Rift Herald will now appear at 15 minutes, and her damage is harder to avoid.
Perhaps the biggest (but least consequential) of all of these is that the ever-iconic gray death screen has been removed, replaced by a spectator-style UI similar to what we see in Valorant. We’ve also got our first peek at the Spirit Blossom map for Season 2 and, I won’t lie, it’s looking gorgeous.
As someone who adores Spirit Blossom, I can’t wait for Season 2 – I need that Morgana skin. In the meantime, however, check out our LoL tier list to ensure you’re locking in the best champs for the job, as well as our rundown of the current League of Legends Mythic shop cosmetics.
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