All changes coming to LoL season 3 (2025)

League of Legends is heading toward its third season with Patch 25.17, converging past Noxus and Ionian storylines with characters such as LeBlanc, Atakhan, Xin Zhao, and Yunara playing crucial roles. 

While the Summoner’s Rift is returning to its base model, many other changes will be taking place in League. Here is a rundown of all the changes coming in season three.

Xin Zhao gets a fresh visual update

Xin Zhao is the latest League champion to get a complete visual overhaul in the Patch 25.17, and all of his skins will be changed to modern standards with new animations and models to bring him up to speed. His legacy skins are returning this patch, giving players a chance to get the vintage skins. 

The Seneschal of Demacia is also getting two of his old skins: Commando and Imperial Xin Zhao, and their prices will also go up from 520 to 750 RP because they’re getting completely changed. There are also a few quality-of-life changes where the developer is reducing the skill ceiling for players by adding a way to see live timers for jungle camps and summoner spells, reducing the need to use third-party applications. 

New way to move around in LoL 

Apart from the traditional point-and-click way to move your champions, the developer is experimenting with WASD movement controls to get newer players to enjoy MOBA and try League. While the veterans should stick to their traditional way of controlling their champions, newer players might find it easier to adapt to WASD controls to play the game.

While the developer discusses in the blog that some champions like Kalista were especially hard to play with WASD controls, and they should refine the system in PBE servers and non-ranked queues to finally bring them to the live servers’ ranked matches for everyone.

Doom Bots are making a return

Dooms Bots are back and they’re meaner than ever. The developer is acting on past feedback and experiences from game modes, and they’re adding the Trials of Doom. This time, the game adds new bots, a new boss, new curses that last longer, and new missions for players to enjoy the nostalgia. 

Smurfing and Matchmaking changes

Starting in Patch 25.18, the developer will begin cracking down on accounts involved in smurfing, including both boosting—when someone plays on another player’s account to raise their rank—and hitchhiking—when a higher-skilled player uses a fraudulent account to play with a lower-skilled player to artificially boost that player’s rank. 

In cases involving multiple accounts, penalties will be applied to all offending parties. Riot will also target accounts sold, purchased, or shared, with enforcement powered by Vanguard’s enhanced detection tools and supported by player-submitted Rank Manipulation reports. Alternate accounts used legitimately will remain unaffected.

Alongside these measures, Riot is expanding tests for True Skill 2, a revamped matchmaking system designed to improve MMR accuracy and speed up placements.

New upcoming cosmetics and esports updates

New Prestige skins for Sylas and Mel will arrive in the Mythic Shop, while Prestige versions of Jarvan IV and Zoe will be unlocked through the Act 1 and Act 2 Passes. The 2024 Worlds Championship skins celebrating T1’s victory will launch in September, and Machine Herald Viktor will debut in Patch 25.19, gifted free to players with Viktor Mastery Level 5 or higher as of Aug. 4. 

Several emotes and icons from past TFT Passes will return to the Mythic Shop, and a new Epic skin for Xin Zhao is set to release later in Act 1. Riot also confirmed that Exalted Viego has been delayed until next year to allow more development time. Worlds 2025 will take place in China this year, with the finals on Nov. 9 in Chengdu.