League of Legends Preseason 2021: Tracking All Known Changes

League of Legends Preseason 2021 has a ton of new changes planned that will shake up the game as we know it. Riot Games has announced updates to several areas of the game and has taken a vested interest in fixing several problems. Whether it be a new shop or behavioral updates, die hard fans should pay attention to what's happening in Preseason 2021.

While keeping up with all of these changes has been difficult, here is a running list of the known features coming to the game in the preseason!

League of Legends Preseason 2021: A Brand New Item Shop

In Preseason 2021, Riot Games announced that they will be revamping the UI for the in-game item shop. The brand new shop will focus more on guiding players through an informed decision making process on their builds rather than following an online guide or buying the same items every game.

The new shop will explain what each item is intended to do and show which champions it is generally used to counter. It will even take into account which champions are strong in your current game, and make recommendations to build against them effectively. This may be especially important, as several items will be getting tweaked or removed in the upcoming season, but more on that in a moment.

League of Legends Preseason 2021: New Items Galore

It's no secret that the contents of the item shop have been stale for a while. Builds have gotten stale--especially for ADCs--and one of the core decision-making elements of the game has been reduced to muscle memory.

Luckily, Riot Games has taken a vested interest in updating the items currently available in-game during the preseason. In a recent developer update, Safelocked estimated that one third of the game's items will remain the same, one third will receive changes, and one third will be removed and replaced with brand new items.

There will also be small updates such as new icons for many items and price changes.

League of Legends Preseason 2021: Mythic Items

Riot Games' biggest effort to shake up build paths will be the addition of a brand new class of items called Mythics. Players will only be allowed to wield one of these items per game, which forces some new and interesting decision making in the early stages of a build. These items reward players with powerful new effects and massive stat bonuses, depending on which Mythic Item they choose.

The point of these items is to make players decide what their win condition is, and create a build that allows them to effectively carry out that purpose. As an ADC, are you scared of being bursted down by the enemy Talon, or do you need to chew through their tank-riddled lineup? Either way, there's a Mythic Item that will help you achieve that purpose!

League of Legends Preseason 2021: The New Doctor

Ok--enough about items! After a barrage of new champions in recent months, Riot Games has a complete VGU on the docket for everyone's favorite purple mutant from Zaun--Dr. Mundo! The cleaver wielding brute feels outdated at the moment and is in dire need of updates to both his artwork and gameplay.

Dr. Mundo's model looks very old compared to new champions like Yone or Samira. Additionally, his gameplay is boring. He runs to headbutt a target while shaking off an absolute beating. The potential is there, but he needs a little love to make for a fun and enjoyable experience in 2021.

I would expect and update similar to what Pantheon received. He got a stunning new model while his core gameplay remained largely the same. They kept the major identity of Pantheon while making his abilities engaging in 2021.

League of Legends Preseason 2021: Brand New Troll Termination System

Finally, Riot Games has announced a full set of updates to their behavioral systems, which cover trolling, inting, and griefing in games. While Riot recently rolled out pre-game lobby reporting--which has largely been a success--they are now turning their focus to in-game behavior.

Updates to the automated detection systems have allowed Riot Games to find inting and griefing at double the rate they previously did. Also, Riot has been looking at stricter queue time penalties and LP penalties for these actions. This is a welcome change, and one that should have been coming for a while, however, it doesn't do anything to remedy the damage that these behaviors inflict on teammates.

That's where Riot Games has been focusing some of their energy in Season 11. They have announced fixes to early surrender vote that is designed to minimize the chances that you have to play a four versus five game. Additionally, they are pioneering ways to mitigate lost LP by a confirmed case of trolling.

There are some awesome changes coming to the game, and Season 11 figures to be one of League of Legends' biggest overhauls in years. Riot has proven that they are in touch with a lot of community complaints and are implementing interesting and innovative ways to remedy them. It will be exciting to see what else they come up with. Stay tuned, as we will update you every time Riot announces new planned content for Season 11.

Until then, enjoy your time on the rift!