League of Legends Patch Notes – A Comprehensive Guide

League of Legends is one of the most popular and iconic game titles of the past decade. Aside from its incredibly intriguing lore and content published every year, the game has been able to stay refreshing thanks to its frequent patch updates. Throughout the years, Riot Games has been able to develop dynamic gameplay and constantly evolve the meta for all levels of play, from beginners to the top-level professional play.

With that in mind, let’s go over how patch notes work in League of Legends and why they are a key element to the game’s success.

Why League of Legends Patch Notes Matter

Patch notes in League of Legends serve several crucial purposes:

• Balance Updates – Riot Games adjusting champion abilities items, and several in-game systems to ensure that no strategy or pick is overly dominant at any given state of the year.
• Bug Fixes – Addressing technical issues that are negatively affecting gameplay or not working as intended.
• Adding new Content – Introducing new champions, skins, and in-game events.
• Meta Shifts – The combination of changes within one patch update or several patch notes define what we call the meta. Whenever new picks or new strategies emerge as more powerful, we usually refer to this change as meta shift.

Historical Impact of League of Legends Patch Notes

• Champion Diversity

Patches have continually adjusted champions to promote increasing diversity while making sure that no single pick becomes overpowered (OP). With the increasing number of champions being added to the game, Riot will face increasing difficulty in balancing things out across different levels of play.

• Itemization Evolution

Over the years, Riot has revamped the item system to enhance strategic depth. Mythic items were introduced in 2021, with the goal of diversifying champion builds and giving additional stats at every Legendary item completion. The results weren’t satisfying, and Riot was forced to remove them in the 2024 season.

• Competitive Balance

Patches play a key role not only for single players looking to climb the ranked ladder but also for players in the pro scene. Whenever the meta gets stale and teams go for the same picks in every series, Riot tries to buff up other champions or items with the goal of creating a meta shift.

Starting in 2025, though, the strategic part of the game will be taken up a notch, as Riot has decided to implement the Fearless Draft mode across all major competitions.

League of Legends Patch Notes in 2025 – Key Highlights

Going into 2025, Riot Games maintained its tradition of bringing major updates at the start of the new ranked season. Aside from the usual champion changes, the game devs have brought:

• A new theme for the Summoners’ Rift map, with Noxus as the core element.
• A new Epic jungle monster, called Atakhan, will spawn on the top or bot side of the map.
• Feats of Strengths: a new mechanic that will see the two teams receive a Blessing of Noxus (free Boots upgrade) upon completing two of the following three:
  • Earning First Blood
  • Destroying the First Turret of the game
  • Taking down the first three Epic monsters
• New Boots system: players will be able to evolve their Tier 2 boots into Tier 3, gaining even more stats and special effects.
• A new jungle plant that grants experience and adaptive force to all team members upon picked up.

These additions are subject to changes over the next updates if deemed too weak or powerful. That said, Riot has gotten increasingly better at balancing things out straight from the start.

League of Legends 2025 Patch Notes – Updated Schedule and Key Details

With the introduction of seasonal themes in 2025, Riot Games also introduced a new patching format, with each patch following the YEAR.SEASON.PATCH-NUMBER sequence.

Below you can find the planned schedule for 2025. Patches will typically be released on Tuesdays (Pacific Time), although Riot reserves the right to adjust dates if exceptions were to occur.

LoL Patch Notes Schedule for 2025

• Season 1:
  • 25.S1.1 – January 8, 2025 (Wednesday)
  • 25.S1.2 – January 22, 2025 (Wednesday)
  • 25.S1.3 – February 4, 2025
  • 25.S1.4 – February 19, 2025 (Wednesday)
  • 25.S1.5 – March 4, 2025
  • 25.S1.6 – March 18, 2025
  • 25.S1.7 – April 1, 2025
  • 25.S1.8 – April 15, 2025
• Season 2:
  • 25.S2.1 – April 29, 2025
  • 25.S2.2 – May 13, 2025
  • 25.S2.3 – May 27, 2025
  • 25.S2.4 – June 10, 2025
  • 25.S2.5 – June 24, 2025
  • 25.S2.6 – July 15, 2025
  • 25.S2.7 – July 29, 2025
  • 25.S2.8 – August 12, 2025
• Season 3:
  • 25.S3.1 – August 26, 2025
  • 25.S3.2 – September 9, 2025
  • 25.S3.3 – September 23, 2025
  • 25.S3.4 – October 7, 2025
  • 25.S3.5 – October 21, 2025
  • 25.S3.6 – November 4, 2025
  • 25.S3.7 – November 18, 2025
  • 25.S3.8 – December 9, 2025