Riot Games has released League of Legends 2026 Season 2 Dev Update with some pretty big announcements for the MOBA.
The publishers have previewed the next champion in the game and announced the return of Ranked 5s for full premade teams.
Plus there are major changes to ARAM Mayhem, including the removal of Traits and a new ARAM Mayhem purchasable.
Here are all of the announcements.
Locke
Riot has officially confirmed that LoL’s next champion will be Locke, an AP assassin.
While not mentioned in the dev update, it has been confirmed that he will be the only new LoL champion released in 2026 as Riot focuses on VGUs.
Riot hasn’t released any other information, though alleged Locke gameplay screenshots leaked earlier this year.
ARAM Mayhem
Riot has also announced a lot of changes to ARAM Mayhem, including the removal of the Traits system in Patch 26.12.
“Rather than provide increased strategy, it often felt like you lost options because it was trolling not to choose a traited augment.
“And beyond this illusion of choice, it felt gigabad in games where you just get unlucky and can’t level up any of your traits,” Ezra ‘Riot Phlox’ Lynn explained.
However, Riot has acknowledged that some traits were still popular and will return to the game mode in the form of new augments.
In fact, Riot has promised to add around 50 new augments to ARAM Mayhem, including one that turns snowball into a Sharknado.
And there will also be a new type of augment: Ability Augments.
These will enhance a player’s champion’s abilities. For example, Multishot will split a projectile into three projectiles in different directions, allowing for three Blitzcrank hooks at once.
Riot also wants to focus on Quest Augments, with a new one called Quest: Tooth Fairy, which means that dealing a chunk of damage within a short window to an enemy champion will cause them to drop a tooth which grants Lethality and Magic Pen for every tooth you’ve extracted.
Additionally, Riot is testing a new purchasable on the Brazilian and Oceania servers called the ARAM Wardrobe.
This will cost 1350 RP and temporarily give players access to most Epic and below skins, including legacy, released before 2026 in both ARAM and ARAM Mayhem.
Ranked 5s Return to LoL
Riot has also announced the return of Ranked fives, allowing players to play ranked in pre-made five-player parties, no matter their friends’ ranks.
The mode will use the same pick and bans system as pro play: three bans > three picks > two bans > two picks.
However, this will now be an experimental queue that isn’t available permanently. Instead, it will be playable on weekends at set times, between June 26 to Setepmber 6.
Riot found that having Ranked 5s as a permanent mode led to a lot of games where the teams weren’t balanced because of the number of players queuing up.
The publisher believes keeping it to a temporary release will lead to better queue times and fairer matchmaking.
What do you make of Riot’s announcements? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord.
Additionally, Riot has also released LoL Patch 26.11 with big updates for tank supports and ranged toplaners.
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