'League of Legends' Is Overhauling the Loading Screen

11/19/2018 04:46 pm EST

League of Legends' loading screen is getting updated in a big way with new features like the ability to chat as players head into the game and new tooltips for runes and champions.

Riot Games revealed the new look of the loading screen on Monday, a day packed with other news such as the reveal of the new champion named Neeko. Previewed in the image below, League of Legends design director Riot Meddler broke down what the new loading screen has to offer in a post on the game's boards.

First outlining the goals Riot Games had in mind when it worked on the new loading screen, the Rioter said the team wanted to make it easier for teams to strategize, for players to size up their opponents and allies, and to clean up the visuals and make the loading screen more appealing. Riot Meddler highlighted a few improvements in particular that Riot Games made to help accomplish those goals, each of those defined below.

• Team Chat - Now you'll be able to chat with your team while everyone's loading. Use this to talk about lane matchups, plan an early invade, and get coordinated with your team! No talking to your opponents though, as you can't use All Chat.
• Voice Controls - While loading, you could ALT+Tab to control voice before, but who wants to do that? Voice controls will now be just a click away, right next to chat.
• Spell and Rune Tooltips - No need to memorize every rune icon anymore. Now you can hover your opponents' spells and runes to see more details about their builds right there. We also hope this is a particularly big plus for players just learning the game.
• Click a champion to see more info - We're introducing the "back" of the player card as a place to see more details about players and their champions. Click any player to see their honor, ranked armor or level border, and champion mastery. You'll only be able to see your teammates' border and icon, not your opponent's, but you will be able to see your opponent's champion mastery and honor.

There will also be a new carousel of tips on the side of the loading screen that'll server as the new home for the tips that usually appear in the middle of the screen between the two teams.

The new League of Legends loading screen has come to the PBE servers for testing first and will go live for all players at a later date.