League of Legends: Riot Confirms 10-Ban System's Imminent Release

If there were any doubts remaining about the promised implementation of the 10-ban system on the [...]

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(Photo: Riot Games)


If there were any doubts remaining about the promised implementation of the 10-ban system on the live servers, then they were put to rest today. Riot Games announced earlier today that the new system has been implemented on the PBE, and that it would be going live "shortly after" a brief testing period. The announcement has caused quite a bit of excitement, as the 10-ban system is one of the most anticipated features in the game at the moment. Why? Well, the extra bans are being distributed to the first and second pick players on each team, so when they finally go live it will allow every player on a team to ban a champion. Never ever want to play against Yasuo in ranked every again? Now you won't have to!

The new system seems to have a couple of interesting features, however. First of all, it appears to currently be possible for both teams to ban the same champions. In the interest of time, there's no longer a back-and-forth ban phase and both teams instead lock in their five bans simultaneously in a phase akin to the current "hover" phase where players show their teammates the champions that they wish to play. Apparently, this isn't a bug, it's a feature, and it seems likely that it will be making it to live with that functionality intact, which makes it possible for games to actually have fewer bans than they did previously.

The second interesting feature is that it's somewhat difficult to dodge a game during the ban phase. Unlike the pick phase, where you are dodging the game if you fail to lock in a champion, players won't be penalized for failing to lock in their bans as long as they make a selection at some point. For those of us that have accidentally dodged sure victories due to alt-tabbing out of the client before locking in, this change is a godsend, even if it only applies to a small part of champion select.

The following is the full text of Riot's announcement of the new feature:

"Hey guys! I hope you've had a chance to check out our new 10 bans feature on PBE. Check out the post for a quick recap of how it works! We want to test the feature for stability before it goes live in NA and then all regions shortly after. You can help us make sure everything's working as intended by queueing up and playing a few games on Summoner's Rift.
There are just a few things to note:

- We're still polishing up the feature, so there may be some missing sounds or rough visuals

- We may still adjust phase timers (e.g., ban phase duration) as we look at feedback

- It is intended that both teams can ban the same champ - we think this preserves agency (e.g., I don't want to play against Amumu) without adding a lot of additional complexity or time to champ select

- If you choose anything during ban phase, you shouldn't dodge, even if you don't lock it in or it's banned by someone else

We'd love your feedback on any issues you find while you're testing out the feature, and we'll see you on the Rift!"

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