Spirit Blossom Beyond is the theme for Season 2, and Riot Games has outlined the changes coming with it, including huge objective changes, a new 5v5 game mode, and more!
Season 2 brings Spirit Blossom Beyond, Ionia to the forefront
Riot Games has officially announced the theme for Season 2 of 2025, Spirit Blossom Beyond. Spirit Blossom is a skin line and a canonical festival held in Ionia, to celebrate the Spirit Realm. Just like for the Noxian season, we’ll be getting a new Ionian-themed Summoner’s Rift, events, mechanics, comics, and stories this season!
Firstly, Summoner’s Rift will be taking on a brand new Spirit Blossom-themed look, with a gorgeous new look for Season 2. The Spirit Blossom event brings an ethereal touch to the map, which I think looks even better than the Noxian-themed Summoner’s Rift from Season 1.
Season 2 brings Rift Herald, Void Grubs changes
Atakhan is getting simplified, with his two forms being consolidated into one single form, dubbed “Thornbound”. He’ll look the exact same as Ruinous Atakhan, but the effect will be slightly different. Now, the team that slays Atakhan will be granted all of the Blood Rose petals currently unclaimed on the map. At the same time as spawning lots of Blood Petals, all current, past, and future Blood Petals will be purified into Spirit Petals, which grant an additional 25% of the usual Blood Petal bonuses. The team also gets a Spiritual Purification ability, which slows and damages any nearby enemies upon enemy champion kill.
Atakhan Changes:
- Only one form, Thornbound. Ravenous Atakhan is removed.
- Thornbound Atakhan grants the roses from Voracious Atakhan, claims all the unclaimed roses on the map for the team who slew him, and purifies all of that team’s present, past, and future roses into Spirit Petals, which are 25% more effective than normal.
There are changes coming to the Void objectives as well. The two Void Grubs spawns are being consolidated into one single Void Grub spawn, which is being pushed back from the first Void Grubs spawn. This is meant to reduce the amount of lane swapping in pro meant to gain a number advantage in top side for Grubs. Rift Herald is moving her spawn to 15 minutes, and will make it easier for teams to avoid her damage.
Void Grub Changes:
- Void Grubs now only spawn one group of three Grubs, at 10:00.
- You only get Void Mites if you kill all three Grubs, and now you only gain 1 Void Mite for clearing all of the grubs, rather than 2 or 3.
Rift Herald Changes:
- Spawns at 15:00, rather than 14:00
- NO LONGER marks the unit she most recently auto-attacked, taking 50% reduced damage from that unit.
New role and inting detection changes
Junglers will automatically be assigned Smite during champion select, and only players assigned Jungle will be able to take it. Don’t worry, you can still swap roles with somebody else, so you’re not stuck auto-filling jungle if that happens. At the same time, players registered as Supports will automatically purchase World Atlas on spawn, and it will only be available for Support players. This is meant to crack down on certain types of trolling, making intentionally feeding easier to detect.
At the same time, Riot has been implementing a new Inting Detection system that will go in effect this season. Riot hasn’t detailed exactly how it functions, but says that it’s made to detect a lot more of the “soft-trolling” behaviors that have plagued League of Legends lobbies for a while. With so few details on its functions, the new system will need time in action before we make any judgements.
New 5v5 game mode: Brawl
There’s a new 5v5 mode coming to replace Arena’s temporary absence as well, titled Brawl. Brawl is a rotating game mode in which two teams of five players pick their champions and try to usher waves of minions into the enemy’s base. There are no secondary objectives, just a back-and-forth tug-of-war. Here’s a quick synopsis of Brawl, but make sure to check our full in-depth Brawl guide for the new game mode:
In Brawl, each team begins with 250 health. The first team to reduce the enemy team’s health to 0 wins. Kills deal 5 damage to the enemy team, Minon takedowns deal 1 damage while the enemy team is not low health, and each Minion that pushes all the way down the lane and makes it into the portal on the front of the enemy’s base also deals another 1 damage.
Brawl, like Arena, is meant to be a quick, goofy, and length-consistent mode that’s easier to squeeze in and less focus-intensive than Summoner’s Rift and Aram.
New champion, Yunara, confirmed
Riot Games also confirmed the arrival of a new champion in Season 2, a new support named Yunara who was glimpsed in the Spirit Blossom “Here, Tomorrow” cinematic. If you want the full breakdown, check our article dedicated to Yunara, which goes through her lore, leaks, and more.
Xin Zhao Motion Comic “Pilgrimage” releases May 14th
Riot Games has confirmed, just like the motion comics that told the story of LeBlanc, Vladimir, Atakhan, and Noxus in Season 1, that Xin Zhao will be the protagonist of this season, receiving his first motion comic on May 14th, titled “Pilgrimage”. As mentioned in our “Here, Tomorrow” lore breakdown article, it seems like Xin Zhao has been given leave by Jarvan IV to return home to Ionia in search of inner peace after the death of his king, who Xin Zhao had sworn his life to protect.
If the cinematic is to be trusted, Xin will be reckoning with the spirit realm, his past, and likely meeting the new champion, Yunara.
That’s everything we have confirmed about Season 2, Spirit Blossom Beyond, right now! Check back in as the season goes on for all the details you need to get every drop of content from Spirit Blossom Beyond.
