League of Legends' first ever themed season, Welcome to Noxus, is about to wrap up and Riot has announced Season 2: Spirit Blossom Beyond. The next season will bring changes to the Summoner's Rift map and general gameplay, a new champion, new Spirit Blossom skins, and a brand-new game mode titled Brawl.
Spirit Blossom is already a popular skin line and recurring theme in LoL, based around Ionian myths and folklore tied to the region's Spirit Blossom festivals. Riot announced the seasonal theme with a new cinematic titled Here, Tomorrow--an anime-style animation created in partnership with The Line--set to an original track by singer-songwriter Lilas Ikuta and composer Kevin Penkin.
The music video crosses between the "real" world of Ionia and its spirit-world counterpart, featuring a number of popular champions including Ashe, Nidalee, Lux, Shen, Irelia, and Morgana. The video focuses on Xin Zhao, who is shown returning to Ionia, and seems to reveal the season's new champion, Yunara. Xin Zhao's story will be explored throughout the season with the first of two motion comics arriving on May 14, and Riot has also said to expect an in-client metagame based on the season's story.
Once Season 2 launches on April 30, Spirit Blossom Beyond will take over Summoner's Rift with not just aesthetic changes, but also gameplay changes that will have an impact on the game's meta. In the new season, Atakhan will only have a single form called Thornbound Atakhan, rather than swapping between two forms. Void Grubs will now spawn later and only once per match, while the Rift Herald will now spawn at 15 minutes and will be easier to take down.
From the start of Season 2, only junglers will have access to the Smite summoner spell, which will be automatically assigned to players in that role. A number of other tweaks and tuning changes are coming in with the new season, which the devs have detailed in a recent dev blog.
The new season will also include a new 5v5 game mode called Brawl, which Riot describes as a "faster-paced, lower-stakes game mode" that puts the emphasis on combat. Brawl will feature a brand-new map based on Bandle City, and with no towers or other objectives to focus on, players will have to go head-to-head with each other to push their minions into the enemy base.
Unsurprisingly, the Spirit Blossom-themed season will also include a new handful of Spirit Blossom skins, a popular skin line that already features over 20 different champions. The champions in line for Spirit Blossom skins this time include Ashe, Irelia, Bard, Varus, Zyra, and Ivern. Prestige Spirit Blossom Lux and Spirit Blossom Ivern will be available to be earned on the paid battle pass. Riot has also revealed that Morgana has an Exalted skin on the way.
Spirit Blossom Beyond launches on April 30, taking the spotlight from the current Noxian-themed season. However the LoL universe will be returning to Noxus sooner or later, with the next Arcane spin-off show likely to revolve around that region. Arcane co-creator Christian Linke also said that the show would be exploring Ionia and Demacia with future series.
Source
Spirit Blossom is already a popular skin line and recurring theme in LoL, based around Ionian myths and folklore tied to the region's Spirit Blossom festivals. Riot announced the seasonal theme with a new cinematic titled Here, Tomorrow--an anime-style animation created in partnership with The Line--set to an original track by singer-songwriter Lilas Ikuta and composer Kevin Penkin.
The music video crosses between the "real" world of Ionia and its spirit-world counterpart, featuring a number of popular champions including Ashe, Nidalee, Lux, Shen, Irelia, and Morgana. The video focuses on Xin Zhao, who is shown returning to Ionia, and seems to reveal the season's new champion, Yunara. Xin Zhao's story will be explored throughout the season with the first of two motion comics arriving on May 14, and Riot has also said to expect an in-client metagame based on the season's story.
Once Season 2 launches on April 30, Spirit Blossom Beyond will take over Summoner's Rift with not just aesthetic changes, but also gameplay changes that will have an impact on the game's meta. In the new season, Atakhan will only have a single form called Thornbound Atakhan, rather than swapping between two forms. Void Grubs will now spawn later and only once per match, while the Rift Herald will now spawn at 15 minutes and will be easier to take down.
From the start of Season 2, only junglers will have access to the Smite summoner spell, which will be automatically assigned to players in that role. A number of other tweaks and tuning changes are coming in with the new season, which the devs have detailed in a recent dev blog.
The new season will also include a new 5v5 game mode called Brawl, which Riot describes as a "faster-paced, lower-stakes game mode" that puts the emphasis on combat. Brawl will feature a brand-new map based on Bandle City, and with no towers or other objectives to focus on, players will have to go head-to-head with each other to push their minions into the enemy base.
Unsurprisingly, the Spirit Blossom-themed season will also include a new handful of Spirit Blossom skins, a popular skin line that already features over 20 different champions. The champions in line for Spirit Blossom skins this time include Ashe, Irelia, Bard, Varus, Zyra, and Ivern. Prestige Spirit Blossom Lux and Spirit Blossom Ivern will be available to be earned on the paid battle pass. Riot has also revealed that Morgana has an Exalted skin on the way.
Spirit Blossom Beyond launches on April 30, taking the spotlight from the current Noxian-themed season. However the LoL universe will be returning to Noxus sooner or later, with the next Arcane spin-off show likely to revolve around that region. Arcane co-creator Christian Linke also said that the show would be exploring Ionia and Demacia with future series.
Source