League of Legends‘ new Curse of the Drowned event that turns ARAM’s Howling Abyss into Butcher’s Bridge will feature the new champion, Pyke, as the game mode’s announcer.
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The return of Butcher’s Bridge was announced earlier in the month with Riot Game saying that a host of ARAM changes would be implemented in an upcoming patch, one of which turns the map into the seldom-seen Bilgewater version of Howling Abyss. Pyke will serve as players’ announcer during the pirate-y ARAM battles with the video above from Skin Spotlights showcasing all the champion’s quotes during the event.
Since the new Bilgewater event is timed with Pyke’s release, it’s not much of a surprise that he’d be the announcer for the game mode. While Gangplank has previously narrated games on Butcher’s Bridge in the past, it was confirmed during the initial announcement that the pirate captain wouldn’t be returning this time. Riot said that they “originally had GP scheduled to do the announcements, but tragically, he was already on someone’s list,” the emphasis on “list” hinting at the collection of names Pyke has of those who betrayed him and left him to die. The official announcement didn’t indicate that Pyke would be the announcer, but with the way everything was coming together, it was largely expected that he’d be featured during the event.
Pyke will also be on Butcher’s Bridge in more way than one during the Curse of the Drowned event. Along with being the ARAM announce, he’ll also be free-to-play in the game mode when he’s released soon. This means that you’ll be able to play as Pyke if you’re lucky enough to get him in ARAM, perhaps even giving you a chance to try before you buy and take him into a real game.
Those who remember the first version of Butcher’s Bridge can also look forward to several changes made to the map. Riot Games said during the first announcement that some of the new tech made available to them is being implemented in this new version of Butcher’s Bridge.
“Butcher’s Bridge is several years old now, and we first made it without the benefits of our new map pipelines and tools,” Riot Games said. “We decided to overhaul both Butcher’s Bridge and the Howling Abyss, bringing them into the environment tech we first used on Project: Overcharge last year. The upgraded map uses our new lighting system, supports relative team colors, and is significantly easier to maintain.”
