What We’ve Learned from League of Legends Updates in 2025
If you’re a regular League of Legends player, you’ll understand the following scenario. You log in feeling comfortable with your game, then Riot releases another patch, and everything gets thrown in the air.
2025 was a year of interesting new features – but it’s also meant a lot of patches have come our way. Feeling overwhelmed? Read on to find out what we’ve gotten from LoL patches this year, and how we can make the most of them.
Patch machine go brrrrrr
Riot announced a rapid-fire patch schedule this year, which meant around one update every two weeks. Such little time means we barely have a chance to get used to new champs, runes, items, and even visuals before another tweak comes along.
It’s exciting for players who love living on the edge of the meta, but it’s also a little stressful. One week you feel you’ve got everything going according to plan, the next, you’re wondering why your damage chart looks like you forgot to build items.
Full thematic seasons
2025 has brought full thematic seasons that really affect gameplay, compared to the more cosmetic seasons of the past.
Season 1 started with an injection of Noxus energy, including visual touches and a new late-game jungle threat.
This includes Atakhan, that mid-game monster who jumps out and tests your confidence.
It punishes passive macro and forces teams to commit or collapse. It’s also spiced up the map in a way Dragon and Baron timers haven’t in years.
The teleport era nears the end
Teleport hasn’t died just yet, but Riot is definitely pushing it toward its mortal end.
It’s now much harder to perform, with a longer wind-up, higher risk, and less snap-play potential. It basically encourages planned rotations instead of spontaneous decisions.
Players who loved synchronized TP dives are still angry because of this change. Slower plays are quickly replacing those four-man bot collapses!
Changes to Champions and Rune
There have been big changes to many key gameplay elements this year.
Champions like Aurelion Sol got some early patch adjustments that made him faster and more active around the map. Support characters were reworked a bit to keep them from just sitting back and shielding all game, while a few key runes (the little perks that shape your playstyle) were rebalanced to make healing and sustain feel more natural.
This means laning matters more this year. Those who prefer to just scale are learning to trade again, as painful as that might be for some of them!
New high-pressure objectives
Objectives are now pressure cookers, rather than just timers.
With Atakhan, rotating jungle changes, and changes to map pacing make decision-making feel heavier. Those good at macro will perform better, while their autopilot colleagues are more likely to get exposed.
League is still a fight game, of course, but there’s now a whole lot more thinking involved!
QoL changes
They may not have made the headlines, but QoL changes have helped games feel smoother, including:
- Sound polish on champs like Kai’Sa
- Cleaner VFX across abilities
- Reduced input jank and fewer animation bugs
These may not be big changes, but you’ll be thankful for them when you’re mid-teamfight at Dragon!
Top tip: Be adaptable!
2025 League has taught us that it’s not about mastering a champ but being willing to re-master them every two patches.
This year rewards players who experiment and read (or at least skim) patch notes. They should also try off-meta before it becomes meta, and avoid tilt-spiraling when their main gets bonked.
This intense concentration means it sometimes makes sense to play a mental reset game. While killing your queue anxiety by spinning some USA free-to-play casino games might not be the best choice, you can always hop in ARAM or queue Flex.
Little mental palate cleansers work – as long as you don’t return and immediately flash-E under tower at Level 3!
What you should do now
The advice is clear for established LoL players.
Start with trying new rune paths. Sustain and scaling have shifted, so this is the perfect time to experiment. The builds you trusted last season might not hit the same, but that just means there’s room to discover something better.
Also, lean into aggressive jungling. Objectives are everything right now, and confidence pays off. If you’ve been playing safe and reactive, it might be time to take the fight to the map and set the tempo yourself.
Map awareness has also never mattered more. The new objective rotations punish tunnel vision hard, so keep an eye on your minimap and trust your instincts. The difference between a win and a wipe can be a few seconds of attention.
Don’t be afraid of bad games, either. The patch cycle resets the landscape every few weeks, so a rough match today could be irrelevant by next Tuesday. Every loss is just another data point for the next update.
Above all, play curious, not scared. When everything is changing, the most overpowered skill is flexibility.
League 2025 feels more alive and may just take you out of your comfort zone. You might see it as a constantly changing puzzle which brings a mechanical mindset to the fore.
The best thing to do is stay adaptable, like we said, and stay calm. When the next patch arrives, remember to take a deep breath and switch to the practice tool. This is the best way to embrace the chaos!
