League of Legends’ Nexus Blitz Is Returning with New Map, Events, and Rewards

League of Legends’ chaotic Nexus Blitz game mode is coming back soon during the game’s big summer event, but it looks a bit different this time. Gone is the design of the original Nexus Blitz map replaced now by an Ionian-themed battleground. The concept of the game mode is still the same, however. Players will choose their champions and fight the other team to complete objectives just like they did back when the game mode was first in its alpha stage, but this time, you’ll have some new “events” to take part in as well as a ton of rewards that’ll affect how the rest of the game plays out.

Riot Games has said more than once it’d be bringing back Nexus Blitz, and with the game mode’s latest preview shared this week, it’s almost time for its return. It’ll spend a longer time than usual on the PBE before it goes live for everyone though, so if you’ve got access to the test servers, you can try it there before it’s live for everyone.

“As announced in our latest Riot Pls, Nexus Blitz is coming back as a temporary game mode for our upcoming summer event!” Riot said. “We’ve made quite a few changes to the mode since last time, ranging from a totally new look, minor gameplay updates, and some balance tweaks.”

Whether you’re new to Nexus Blitz or are just ready to return to the chaos, you’ll find everything you need to know about the mode below.

What Is Nexus Blitz?

Nexus Blitz was first introduced back in 2018 as an “experimental mode,” the first of its kind in League of Legends. The idea was to try out the game mode to see how it fit with players and whether or not it could become a permanent fixture in the game alongside things like the normal Summoner’s Rift playlists and the ARAM mode. The goal of destroying the enemy Nexus is still the same, but how players get there is much different. Occasional events that occur every match task players with achieving chaotic goals like battle royale-type fights and escorting an object to its destination. In turn, you get powerful rewards for completing these tasks that change the entire flow of battle.

Riot Games ultimately decided Nexus Blitz wasn’t fit to stay in League as a permanent mode, but it promised it would bring back the playlist eventually during special times.

When Can You Play Nexus Blitz?

If you’ve got access to the PBE servers, you can play Nexus Blitz right now. The game mode has gone live on the test servers to give players a chance to try it before it goes live for everyone else. Just know that if you do that, you’ll probably encounter some bugs or other weird happenings.

“This iteration of Nexus Blitz is still a work-in-progress, and our team is hard at work on final tuning and polish passes,” Riot said. “Expect there to be some bugs and art that isn’t fully complete.”

An exact release date for the mode’s return on live servers wasn’t given, but it’s scheduled to arrive as part of League’s summer event. It’ll have an “extended PBE run” before that though, so if you’re not planning on playing the PBE, you’ll have to wait for it to go live for everyone.

New Events

Nexus Blitz’s biggest draw is its events that totally go against the typical League formula. These events utilize everything from deathmatches to battle royale mechanics to create a new experience.

The events we know of so far can be found below, some of them updated from last time while others are totally new.

Nexus Blitz Events

• Bardle Royale (Classic): Fight for survival in the flaming circle of death while it closes in on a part of the map. The last surviving team wins.
• Bardle Royale (Paranoia): Fight for survival in the flaming circle BUT everyone is nearsighted, like you’re all being Nocturne ulted. The last surviving team wins.
• Bardle Royale (Juggernaut): Fight for survival in the flaming circle AND one random champion on each team gains a high amount of health and the On Fire! buff at the start of the event. (As a reminder, the On Fire! buff gives you bonus attack speed, adaptive power, and mana/energy regen, but makes you more vulnerable to damage). The last surviving team wins.
• URF Deathmatch: Every player goes into URF mode surrounded by a bunch of cheering minions! Defeat the enemy team in a best-of-three to win.
• Loot Teemo: A wandering Loot Teemo spawns randomly on the map. Hitting the Loot Teemo grants players gold. The team that last-hits Teemo wins the event.
• Loot Veigar: A wandering Loot Veigar spawns randomly on the map, using Dark Matter and Event Horizon while running away. Hitting the Loot Veigar grants players gold. The team that last-hits Veigar wins the event.
• Push the Cart (Classic): Escort the cart by standing near it to move it toward the nearest enemy structure to destroy it.
• Push the Cart (Attack / Defend): Race your opponents for who can blow up an enemy structure the fastest, except now both teams have a cart they can navigate!
• [NEW] Protect the Soraka: Two Soraka bots enter lane, but only one can leave (… cause one team is gonna destroy the other one). Beware of all the healing and bananas!
• [NEW] DPS Check: It’s like practice mode, but you need to out practice your opponent’s practice on the same Teemo dummy.

New Rewards

And then there’s the rewards players can earn from completing these events. You’ll get things like the cannon featured in URF modes that shoots champions across the map as well as the Poro King featured in his own game mode that assaults enemies and aids allies. One of the more unique rewards is something called a “Battle Sled” which lets players hop into a sled and plow into the enemy team.

All of the rewards we know of so far can be seen below.

Nexus Blitz Rewards

• Catapult of Champions: A cannon that launches your champion anywhere on the map appears in your base for the rest of the game. Upon landing, deal damage and push away nearby enemies.
• Blessing of Blitzcrank: Allied turrets, siege minions, and super minions have the ability to Rocket Grab nearby enemies for the rest of the game.
• Poro King: The Poro King spawns to aid your team in pushing forward and sieging enemy turrets, breathing fire on enemies and healing nearby allies periodically.
• Battle Sled: Players can jump aboard a sled from their base to nearly anywhere on the map. First person in the sled is in charge of where you go…
• Guardian Angels: Each member of the team gains a one-time Guardian Angel effect, lasting 90 seconds.
• Statikk Shock: Each player gains chain lightning zaps on their basic attacks for three minutes to help mow down waves and champions.
• F. Shields: Each member of the team gains a hefty shield until it is broken.
• Mega Cloud Drake: Team gets mega out-of-combat movement speed and CDR on their ultimate for three minutes.
• Mega Ocean Drake: Restores health and mana/energy when dealing damage for three minutes.
• [NEW] Elder Dragon: You can now execute enemies under a specific health threshold for a few minutes by the force of a BIG DRAGON.

New Map Concept Art

Lastly, there’s a new Nexus Blitz map to play on. You can hop into the PBE to see it for yourself, watch some other people play, or wait until it’s on live servers to see what it looks like. Until then, you can check out some of the concept art here.

New Map Concept Art (Cont’d)

New Map Concept Art (Cont’d)