LoL: News, Patch Notes, Weekly Sale, Champ Rotation (2025)

Quick Patch Highlights (25.S1.7) Buffs and Nerfs

It’s the new season, and you know what that means: A whole bunch of new changes have been introduced to the game! I’ll highlight the key changes below, but I’ll first briefly touch on the champion buffs and nerfs. As expected, League has focused on implementing other gameplay aspects in this patch, so not many champions have undergone adjustments.

Patch 25.S1.7 Champion Buffs

• Brand
• Ivern
• Olaf
• Shaco
• Shen
• Trundle
• Volibear

Patch 25.S1.7 Champion Nerfs (Aww…)

• Darius
• Gwen
• Lillia
• Lulu
• Naafiri

Patch 25.S1.7 Champion Adjustments

• Xerath
• Yone
• Yorick
• Singed

Most of the changes here are general tweaks to balance out champions that were affected after the latest gameplay updates. Champions like Darius and Gwen who benefited significantly from the changes are being taken down a notch to ensure they aren’t insta-locked in champ select every game. Ivern, on the other hand, has been given a nifty Q root duration increase — something he more than deserves considering how weak he currently is in the early game.

Yorick has undergone a pretty major adjustment in this patch, and it’s worth touching on this update briefly. His early game has improved significantly, his abilities have new rules, and he now has more means to fight outside of lane. He’s also undergone a few bug fixes to polish up his kit. In short, Yorick has essentially been reworked to allow for more skill expression and to have a shot at becoming a pocket pick in high elo play. It’s an interesting update and I can’t wait to see how he plays out in games.

LeBlanc’s visual update is also live this patch — so yep, that means you can expect to see updated models, animations, ability icons, splashes, and skins! Personally, I’m a huge fan of the changes. She looks absolutely stunning and truly gives off that femme fatale vibe. However… I’m not totally won over by the cape. It feels a bit lackluster and I honestly prefer the OG cape look; maybe it’ll win me over in time.

Your Shop is Live!

Your Shop is finally back and better than ever — a perfect treat just before payday! Your Shop allows each player to buy 6 unowned skins at a significantly discounted rate. The skins selected (and discounts offered) are personalized to each player; they’re usually based on your most frequently played champions over the past 20 games.

Your Shop offers are available until 16th April 2025.

Anti-Lane Swapping Update

Last patch, Riot implemented some new (and pretty controversial) measures to prevent lane swapping. These included strong income penalties if the game detected two non-jungles spending time together in the early laning phase. I won’t go into the nitty-gritty details — you can learn more about the old lane swapping penalties in the patch notes here.

However, I did find them very… very questionable. I understand they wanted to make pro play more exciting, but it felt like this was an extreme measure. Plus, it was punishing the general playerbase. Fortunately in this patch, Riot has made adjustments to alleviate the anti-lane swap penalties. This backtrack is for the best in my opinion — as Viktor taught us, not all progress is for the greater good!

Current Event Overview: Noxus Act: 2

Noxus Act 2 gets players to delve even deeper into the blood, sweat, and tears of Noxus, and there are plenty of rewards up for grabs too! As you progress through the event, you’ll unlock mystery icons, emotes, champion capsules, and even Hextech Chests. The exact amount of rewards you unlock (and the quality) depends on whether you pay for a premium pass. With a premium pass, you’ll have the opportunity to unlock the Grand Reckoning skins and even the exclusive Prestige Triumphant General Darius skin. There is a fair bit of grinding involved. However, most of the missions for this event are fairly easy and can be achieved by simply playing LoL.  

The Noxus Act 2 event runs until April 29th, so you still have plenty of time to get started on the missions.

Latest Skins to Hit the Shop

April Fools Skins

Looking to tilt your enemies? Then you’ll want to pick up one of these skins. They’re absolutely hilarious and packed full of bright colors and tilt-inducing sound effects. They’re truly the perfect pick-me-up in ranked games.

• Cat-in-the-Box Shaco: 1820 RP
• Glizzy Naafiri: 1350 RP
• Grill Master Braum: 1350 RP
• Pool Party Malphite: 1350 RP
• Urgot the Clogfather: 1350 RP

Battle Academia Skins

School’s out for summer… And it’s headed straight to the Rift instead! Jokes aside, the Battle Academia skin line is one of my personal favorites, and the latest skins in the line do not disappoint. They’re colorful and bold, packed with anime-esque, fantasy goodness, and will make you feel like you’re part of the Hero Academia universe. Plus, the attack animations are total eye candy!

• Battle Academia Kayn: 1350 RP
• Battle Academia Rakan: 1350 RP
• Battle Academia Xayah: 1350 RP

Latest Champion: Mel

The iconic legend from Arcane, Mel, is the next champion to hit the Rift! Unsurprisingly, her release was perfectly timed with Arcane season 2 (which you should definitely binge watch if you haven’t done so already).

I am so, so excited and happy that you can now play Mel in game. I love practically everything about this champion, from her stunning character design to her duelist-mage playstyle. Her kit is definitely going to take some time to master, but it is versatile and packed with plenty of utility and carry potential. I also seriously love the sound effects.

However, I will say that I am concerned about how “broken” she feels on release. I feel it may be a bit too overkill… And that usually means Riot will absolutely obliterate her and make her unplayable in the next few patches (if they live up to their reputation). I haven’t had a chance to properly experience her yet though, so I’ll hold my breath for now before I say anything further.

You can find an in-depth breakdown of her abilities right here.

Current Champion Rotation Pool

Owning every champion in the game is not an easy feat — unless you’re willing to fork out on RP or grind Blue Essence for hours on end. Luckily, Riot helps out us peasants with the champion rotation pool, a schedule of over 20 champions that are made available for everyone to play, regardless of whether you actually own them. 

As of April 13th, here are the champions that are currently free to play:

• Braum
• Camille
• Hwei
• Kog’Maw
• LeBlanc
• Maokai
• Neeko
• Nidalee
• Qiyana
• Renekton
• Riven
• Smolder
• Taric
• Thresh
• Udyr
• Vladimir
• Yorick
• Zac
• Zeri
• Zoe

I highly recommend taking the time to explore Braum if you haven’t done so already. He’s a support with an effective yet simple-to-master kit that can work well in practically any elo, and he’s fairly strong in the meta right now!

Weekly Sale (Skins and Champions)

Want to spruce up your main champion with a new, flashy skin? Then don’t fork out just yet; every week, Riot puts several skins on sale in the shop, with some skins even having a staggering 60% discount. 

As of April 13th, the current skins on sale are:

• Mecha Kingdoms Sett
• Cosmic Queen Ashe
• Lunar Eclipse Senna
• Warden Gragas
• Battle Bat Vayne
• Program Soraka
• King of Clubs Mordekaiser
• Crystal Rose Zyra
• Snow Moon Ahri
• Charred Maokai
• Street Demons Briar
• Chosen of the Wolf Kindred
• Earthrune Skarner
• Dark Star Sylas
• Pool Party Heimerdinger

Happy bargain hunting!

Several champions also go on sale every week, though I don’t recommend ever spending RP on a champion unless you’re desperate. They can all be unlocked with Blue Essence, the free in-game currency that you earn while playing matches.

That said, the current champions on sale are:

• Hwei
• Renata Glasc
• Taliyah
• Vi
• Akali

Ranked 2025 Season 1

Ranked 2025 Season 1 has officially hit the Rift! Here’s a quick overview of the main gameplay changes and ranked adjustments:

• Ranked will no longer have additional resets throughout the year
• Eligibility criteria for Victorious skins has changed; you now need to win 15 ranked matches to qualify
• The decay rate of accounts will stay and remains unchanged

I get scared whenever Riot makes changes to the ranked system, but all in all, I’m pretty happy with what they’ve done so far. I particularly love that there won’t be any additional resets throughout the year; you’ll actually be able to grind it out without all your hard work being undone at the end of each split!

What’s Coming Up in LoL

There’s a whole lot to look forward to over the next few months, with the most noteworthy being the introduction of thematic seasons instead of splits. Here’s a quick rundown of what you can expect to see coming to the Rift:

• A new Darkin-themed champion is set to hit the Rift soon, though so far, RIot hasn’t revealed much information about the champion’s playstyle, role, or abilities. I’ll update this as more details are released
• Riot is experimenting with a system known as TrueSkill2 to combat surfing and make the gameplay experience more enjoyable at all elos. Depending on how their testing goes, they may bring it to the Rift
• Continued improvements to the Mythic Shop to enhance its interface and make it more rewarding and accessible
• The Blue Essence Emporium is scheduled to run twice this year, the first returning in patch 25.07
• Your Shop will return five times this year, with a special “Legendary” Your Shop where you can unlock legendary skins for a significantly reduced price
• The Worlds Championship Final 2025 is set to be held in Chengdu, China
• Plenty of new skin releases, including new skin lines and the return of old favorites
• MacOS users will be upgraded from OpenGL graphics technology to Metal graphics