LoL Season 3 will also feature an experimental WASD control system, and a campaign by Riot targeting smurf accounts.
League of Legends (LoL) developer Riot Games has revealed that LoL Season 3 will kick off on 27 August with Patch 25.17, which will feature a visual update for Xin Zhao, the return of the PvE game mode Doom Bots, new cosmetics, and quality-of-life improvements. Season 3's story will also pull in the different narratives told through the previous seasons in ‘Spirit Blossom Beyond’ and ‘Welcome to Noxus’, with the champions LeBlanc, Yunara, Atakhan, and Xin Zhao set to play vital roles.
In addition, Season 3 will be the gameplay patch that the LoL World Championship 2025 will be played in. This year's Worlds will take place from October 14 to 9 November in three venues in China. The Worlds 2025 Anthem will also be released on 10 October, honoring and celebrating prolific players across the game's competitive history.
Here are all the major content updates coming with LoL Season 3:
Xin Zhao visual update
LoL Season 3 will see a full visual update for one of the game's most enduring champions in Xin Zhao, who was released all the way back in patch 1.0.0.96 on July 2010. The visual update gives the champion a much-needed overhaul that lets him fit in nicely alongside his more modern peers.
While Xin Zhao's gameplay remains unchanged with his visual update, all of his skins did receive changes. Improvements have been made to Commando and Imperial Xin Zhao (which will increase in RP from 520 to 750). Both legacy skins will be available at their original price until Patch 25.17, when the visual update goes live. Xin Zhao’s currently vaulted skins will also be made available during patches 25.17 and 25.18. In addition, Riot also revealed that a new Epic skin for Xin Zhao will be released later in Act 1.
Doom Bots return
The PvE game mode Doom Bots is back by popular demand, with a brand-new update to boot, in Patch 25.17. The overhauled Doom Bots mode now features a new difficulty mode, new curses, new bots and a new boss. The “Trials of Doom” include in-game challenges that will be introduced each patch with a unique objective for Doom Bots players to overcome.
Anti-smurf and quality-of-life updates
Riot is also finally starting to take action against smurf accounts in LoL Season 3. According to the developer, they are targeting smurf accounts engaged in "boosting–when someone else plays on another player’s account to climb to a higher rank–and hitchhiking–when a
higher-skilled player uses a fraudulent account to play with a lower-skilled player to artificially increase the lower-skilled player’s rank."
Actions will be taken against all offending parties in the case of multiple accounts being involved as well as those that are botted, sold, purchased, or shared. The developer also noted that “alternate accounts used in good faith” will not be affected by their anti-smurf campaign.
Riot added that their anti-smurfing efforts are powered by Vanguard’s improved detection capabilities and supported by player-submitted “Rank Manipulation” reports. The developer is also further expanding tests for True Skill 2, a new matchmaking system improving MMR accuracy and placement speed “to help improve game quality in the long run.”
LoL Season 3 will also feature an experimental WASD control system and other quality-of-life updates. According to Riot, the WASD control system will serve as “an optional alternative to traditional point-and-click controls in an effort to make controls more intuitive for new and returning players.” The developer also noted that both WASD and point-and-click control schemes will be monitored closely to ensure neither offers a competitive advantage.
WASD will be tested on PBE in a few patches before eventually being released to non-Ranked and eventually Ranked queues.
Quality-of-life changes coming in LoL Season 3 include individual timers for all jungle camps, and a more intuitive tracking method for Summoner spell usage in the death recap screen. Riot said that similar updates are also planned to be released later this year.
Cosmetics
New Prestige Skins for Sylas and Mel will be available through the Mythic Shop, while those for Jarvan IV and Zoe will be available through the Act 1 and Act 2 Passes, respectively. Machine Herald Viktor will also be released in Patch 25.19, and will be gifted for free to players with
Viktor Mastery Level 5+ as of 4 August. Some emotes and icons that were previously only earnable by completing past TFT Passes will return to the Mythic Shop.
Finally, Riot said that the 2024 Worlds Winner skins commemorating T1's win will come out in September.
