'League of Legends' Teases an URF-Themed Dragon

Riot Games is teasing something that combines two of League of Legends’ most powerful forces: [...]

By Tanner Dedmon

Riot Games is teasing something that combines two of League of Legends' most powerful forces: Dragons and Urf the Manatee.

Sharing an image on Twitter on Monday, League of Legends senior designer Riot Mortdog said it was time to get back to work and previewed one of the game's Dragons that's found in the Dragon Pit on the bottom half of the map. League of Legends has several Dragons players can conquer to claim different bonuses, but this one looks different from the rest. It mostly resembles the Elder Dragon, the biggest prize and most challenging force among the group of Dragons, but it's wearing what looks to be the same crown that Urf the Manatee wears, Urf being the mascot of the Ultra Rapid Fire (URF) game mode. The biggest giveaway is the spatula tail, that cooking instrument being a clear indicator of anything URF-related in League of Legends.

This teaser could mean several different things, but all of the possibilities are exciting. One theory is that this teaser could be previewing the return of the coveted URF game mode, the seldom-seen match type where everything's essentially turned up to 11. Players do more damage and have insanely low cooldowns in a mode where every champion is broken. Riot Games has said in the past, however, that the mode makes people less likely to return to normal League of Legends games once it's rotated out, so players should still temper their expectations regarding the potential return of the mode. There's another version of the game mode called ARURF that could return, a mode where the champions are randomized, but players have often lamented the fact that they can't play as their chosen characters in that mode.

Another possibility is that this Dragon will be an entirely new creature to do battle with in normal game modes. Riot Games said back in mid-2017 that it hoped to add another Dragon to the game at some point with the four lesser Dragons and the Elder Dragon already in the game then. League of Legends design director Riot meddler said back then that the Dragon would be a "potential next year thing" with 2018 in mind, so it could be that this is the Dragon Riot Games is hoping to implement. Cooldown reduction would be a likely buff the Dragon would offer given its Urf-like nature, but it's also worth noting that the wall behind it that denotes which Dragon is in the pit has multiple symbols, not just one.

More information on the curious League of Legends Dragon is expected to come from Riot Games later on.

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