Introduction
Season 16 brings a dramatic shift to League of Legends. With new role quests, major item updates, and map changes, Riot Games is redefining how every match plays out on the Rift.
Here’s an overview of the key changes you should know before jumping back into ranked.
Role Quests
Season 16 introduces role quests for every position on the Rift. Similar to the support item quest and jungle pet, other roles now receive unique objectives that reward them for performing well in their lane. The goal is to give top laners and ADCs more opportunities to impact the game, since these roles struggled to do so in the past.
Top Lane
Top laners gain quest progress by killing champions or minions and destroying turrets. Progress doubles when these actions happen in their assigned lane, and players also earn passive progress over time. Most top lane quests finish between 12 and 15 minutes depending on performance.
After completing the quest, top laners receive an additional Teleport summoner spell alongside their two chosen ones. This extra Teleport has a longer cooldown. If Teleport was already selected during champion select, it becomes empowered instead, granting a large shield that scales with max health after teleporting. In addition, completing the quest increases experience gain from all sources and removes the level cap of 18, allowing top laners to reach level 20.
Mid Lane
The mid lane rewards are more moderate compared to top lane or ADC. Upon completion, mid laners automatically receive free tier‑three boots, an empowered recall (similar to Baron buff) for the rest of the match, and increased movement speed while out of combat.
ADC
ADCs complete their quest by farming effectively and contributing in fights. Once finished, they earn 300 gold instantly, plus extra gold from minion kills, champion takedowns, and assists until the end of the game. They also unlock a seventh item slot dedicated to boots, while base critical damage across all champions rises from 175% to 200%.
Jungle
The jungle role remains strong but receives slight adjustments for balance. After finishing their quest, junglers gain +40 movement speed in the jungle and bonus gold and experience when killing large monsters. Clear speed is slowed slightly as pets now boost damage against monsters by 110% instead of 125%. Smite starts at 600 damage as usual but scales differently, increasing first to 1000 then 1400 instead of 900 then 1200.
Support
The support item quest stays largely unchanged but adds new utility rewards upon completion: one extra inventory slot exclusively for control wards and reduced ward cost (40 gold instead of 75). Support items now generate more passive gold per second, giving 9 per second instead of 5.
Map Changes
Season 16 brings several major updates to the Summoner’s Rift that change how objectives, minions, and towers work. Riot Games removed Atakhan and Feats of Strength, meaning players no longer have to collect roses across the map. Baron now spawns at minute 20 instead of 25, returning to its classic timing.
Epic monsters such as dragons and Baron are tougher than before with +15% durability scaling based on champion levels. They also grant increased comeback experience, so stealing one while behind gives your team more XP. Dragons in particular are tankier because the Ancient Grudge passive per stack rises from 7% to 15%. Grubs and Herald effects have also been slightly strengthened.
Faelights Vision Zones
The new Faelights appear at specific spots on the map. Placing wards inside these zones increases their vision range and reveals an extended area around them, adding more strategic depth to vision control.
Minion and Jungle Timers
Minions now spawn at 0:30 instead of 1:05. This change has several effects. Invades will either disappear completely or happen in a very different way than players are used to. It also means that matches overall become faster as players reach lanes and start farming much sooner.
Jungle camps spawn at 0:55 instead of 1:30.
The respawn rate for minions also scales over time:
- 0–14 minutes: unchanged (every 30 seconds)
- 14–30 minutes: every 25 seconds instead of 30
- After minute 30: every 20 seconds instead of 30
Cannon waves lose one melee minion after minute 15 and one caster minion after minute 30.
Tower Updates
Turret platings now exist on all turrets up to inhibitor towers, removing the previous time limit at minute 14. The new feature called Crystalline Overgrowth makes crystals accumulate on turrets over time; when attacked, these crystals are consumed to deal extra damage to the turret itself.
The rune mastery Demolish has changed as well. It now activates after three auto attacks and has a cooldown of 30 seconds. Nexus towers no longer regenerate back to full health once destroyed and instead recover only up to 40% of their maximum health.
Homeguard
The homeguard effect is stronger than before. During laning phase the homeguard effect lasts until your outermost tower, and later in mid game even up to the furthest pushed minion wave on your lane. These adjustments especially benefit split push champions.
New Items
Season 16 adds a full lineup of new items for every champion type. Assassins, mages, ADCs, tanks, bruisers, and enchanter supports all receive fresh options to fit their playstyle. In total there are 12 new items, including some returning from older seasons with reworked effects.
Detailed visuals and stats can be found in the official leak post by LeagueOfLeaks on X .
Mage Items
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Actualizer (3100g)
90 Ability Power • 300 Mana • 10 Ability Haste
Mana Made Real: For eight seconds your mana becomes empowered. During this time spells cost twice as much mana but deal increased ability damage, shielding, and healing while cooldowns progress thirty percent faster. -
Dusk and Dawn (3100g)
300 Health • 70 Ability Power • 20 Ability Haste • 25% Attack Speed
Spellblade: After using an ability your next attack deals bonus magic damage and applies on-hit effects one extra time.
Enchanter Items
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Bandlepipes (2000g)
200 Health • 15 Ability Haste • 20 Armor • 20 Magic Resist
Fanfare: Slowing or immobilizing an enemy grants Fanfare, giving +20 Move Speed. While active, you and nearby allies gain bonus Attack Speed. -
Whispering Circlet (2250g)
200 Health • 8% Heal and Shield Power • 75% Base Mana Regen • 300 Mana
Manaflow: Landing abilities grants max mana (doubled vs champions). Transforms into Diadem of Songs at +360 max mana. -
Diadem of Songs (2250g)
200 Health • 8% Heal and Shield Power • 1000 Mana • 100% Base Mana Regen
Harmony: Gain % Heal and Shield Power.
Consonance: While you or any ally healed or shielded recently is in combat with champions, heal the lowest health nearby ally each second.
Tank Items
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Protoplasm Harness (2500g)
600 Health • 15 Ability Haste
Lifeline: When taking damage below thirty percent health, you gain maximum health for five seconds, then heal over time. While regenerating, you grow fifteen percent larger, move ten percent faster, and gain twenty-five percent Tenacity.
Bruiser / Fighter Items
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Endless Hunger (3000g)
60 Attack Damage • 5% Omnivamp • 20% Tenacity
Famine: Gain Ability Haste.
Feast: When a champion damaged within three seconds dies, you gain fifteen percent Omnivamp for eight seconds.
Assassin Items
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Bastionbreaker (3200g)
55 Attack Damage • 22 Lethality • 15 Ability Haste
Shaped Charge: Dealing ability damage to a champion or epic monster adds bonus true damage.
Sabotage: Taking down a champion within three seconds of damaging them grants Sabotage for ninety seconds. During this time, your next attack against an epic monster or turret deals extra true damage over three seconds. -
Hextech Gunblade (3000g)
80 Ability Power • 40 Attack Damage • 10% Omnivamp
Lightning Bolt (Active): Shock the target enemy, dealing magic damage and slowing them by twenty-five percent for 1.5 seconds.
Marksman Items
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Fiendhunter Bolts (2650g)
40% Attack Speed • 25% Critical Strike Chance • 4% Move Speed
Night Vigil: Gain thirty Ultimate Ability Haste.
Opening Barrage: After casting your ultimate, your next three basic attacks gain fifty percent attack speed and critically strike for seventy-five percent normal crit damage for eight seconds. If an attack would already critically strike, it instead deals ten percent bonus true damage. -
Stormrazor (3000g)
50 Attack Damage • 20% Attack Speed • 25% Critical Strike Chance
Energized: Moving or attacking generates an energized hit.
Bolt: Your energized hit applies bonus magic damage and grants forty-five percent move speed for 1.5 seconds. -
Hexoptics C44 (2800g)
50 Attack Damage • 25% Critical Strike Chance
Magnification: Deal up to ten percent increased attack damage based on distance (max effect at 700 range).
Arcane Aim: When a damaged champion dies within three seconds, you gain one hundred additional attack range for six seconds.
System Changes
Season 16 updates several core systems outside of gameplay to make ranked matches smoother and fairer. Riot Games focused on improving champion select flow, autofill balance, and dodge penalties for high tier players.
Champion Select
Champion select is now 30 seconds faster than before thanks to reduced animations and shorter timers. This change speeds up queue times and helps players get into games more quickly without waiting through long pick phases.
Autofill Adjustments
The autofill system has been reworked to create more balanced teams. It now tries to keep the number of autofilled players equal on both sides while also matching them by role type. For example, if one team has an autofilled jungler, the other team will have an autofilled jungler as well. This keeps match impact fair across roles.
Aegis of Valor: A new feature rewards players who perform well even when they are autofilled. If you are autofilled and finish the game with a grade of C or higher, you earn double LP for a win. If you lose but still score C or higher, you lose no LP at all.
Dodge Penalties
Dodging no longer resets your autofill status. If you dodge because you were autofilled, you will still be filled again in your next champion select. For Master tier and above, dodging now counts as a full loss instead of only losing a small amount of LP.