League of Legends Season 2022 Is Bringing Dragon Changes, Reworked Runes, and More

Riot Games shared some of the first details about plans for League of Legends' 2022 Preseason period this week, plans that include changes to the game's dragon system, some updated runes, new items, and more. These changes encompass a number of different areas of League, but that's because there's no overarching "theme" with this next preseason compared to what we've seen from past seasonal updates like the Mythic Forge Update. Riot has instead chosen to strengthen some of the changes made in past preseason updates.

One of the most impactful-sounding changes builds on the Rise of the Elements update that allowed different Elemental Dragons to shape the terrain of Summoner's Rift based on the order they appeared. Riot said it plans to create "new terrain features" to better transform the map, and there was also mentions of changing how dragons empower champions. This indicates that the buffs dragons grant players will be altered, but we don't yet know how those will change and if the plans relate to individual Elemental Dragon buffs, Dragon Souls, or both.

Given that the Mythic Forge Update was the most recent preseason update, it makes sense that Riot would continue to work on that in the next preseason as well. The League developers said there are plans to add more Mythic options for support champions as well as better Legendary item options for mages, assassins, and tanks.

For those who've grown fond of the Keystone Runes in the Inspiration tree, it sounds like you'll be having to relearn some mechanics again in the future. The Inspiration runes have gone through some of the most changes compared to other runes including the total removal of Kleptomancy, and in the preseason period, the Keystones will again be changing. Riot said it plans to rework those Keystone Runes and to rebalance some of the secondary runes.

Outside of the core gameplay experience in League, players will also get a way to track their progression through a new system in addition to the ones already in place. League is getting Challenges in the 2022 Preseason which will allow players to earn experience and "Achievement Points" upon completion. It's unclear what those points go towards, but the example above was provided in a press release as a sample Challenge.

While we only know a broad overview of what's to come right now, Riot said it'll be talking more about the next preseason soon. A Quick Gameplay Thoughts post from Riot in September will address the preseason while October will bring more news as well as early PBE plans.