League of Legends Is Bringing Back an Updated Arena Mode

Following the return of League of Legends' Nexus Blitz game mode, Riot Games is bringing back another experience that was received quite well by players the first go around. Riot announced this week that the Arena mode is coming back to League, the mode where players fight in round-based 2v2v2v2 matches. Compared to the first iteration of the Arena mode, however, this one has more than a few changes to take note of based on feedback from players. It's been added to the League of Legends PBE servers now, so Arena fans have time to test out these changes ahead of the mode's return which should happen within the next two weeks.

Riot said previously that Arena would be a mode that could come back in the future if players responded positively to it, and it seems players did indeed enjoy it enough to where it's being brought back. It's not going to be permanent, however -- Riot said in its latest announcement that the mode will "only be live for a limited run" before it disappears again.

What's New in League's Arena Mode?

One of the first changes is how friends can queue up together. Arena is played with teams of two, so two people could obviously queue up together previously, but now, you'll be able to queue up with groups of two, three, or four players with randoms filling out the remaining spots. If you've got enough friends and want to do a "private" Arena match, you can also queue up with a full squad of eight players.

A much more notable change deals with the Augments players acquire in the Arena mode which diversify builds and matchups. Over 60 new Augments have been added, Riot said, though a full list of them wasn't provided in the announcement. Alongside Augments, Cameos are the other feature that sets Arena apart from other game modes. These Cameos consist of semi-random Soul Fighter champions dropping in to use their abilities. Riot is bringing back the three favorites from the last iteration of Arena mode as Cameos -- Sett, Pyke, and Gwen -- and is adding two more with Sylas and Thresh joining the fray.

Arena is coming back soon! Check out an article I wrote on what you can expect in the new release: https://t.co/15GUqVjbwE

— Riot Maxw3ll (@ExasperatedDan) November 6, 2023

"Sylas will start the round by giving each combatant a random ultimate, Ult Spellbook style, that will override your non-flash summoner (which you then get back after casting the spell)," Riot said. "Meanwhile, Thresh will walk around the battlefield and periodically throw his lantern, providing a shield and an escape."

Those are the major changes in League's Arena mode with the full breakdown seen here. Arena is now playable on League's PBE servers and will be available in the live version of the game as part of Patch 12.23.