League of Legends revamps ARAM map Howling Abyss with Hexgates & more

Big changes are coming to League of Legends’ ARAM mode when the new preseason update hits the PBE later today.

The All Random All Mid (ARAM) mode is one of the more beloved League of Legends game modes due to its unpredictability. In each game, the player is randomly assigned one champion to play and the traditional map is replaced with a single, narrow corridor.

Whereas Summoner’s Rift games are all about positioning, objective control, and gaining small advantages, games on Howling Abyss are all about teamfighting and raining down damage in an attempt to knock down the three towers, and then Nexus, in front of you.

ARAMs have largely been left unchanged since the mode was first introduced. But Riot have announced that Howling Abyss will be getting some drastic changes with the end of Season 12.

ARAM champion and system changes

Riot confirmed that they are looking to reduce some of the big points of frustration in ARAMs, namely the advantage that ranged champions have over melees.

This will be done by a combination of three major changes. Melee champions will gain bonus MR, the damage falloff will be greater the further away damage is dealt (it is currently a flat 15% reduction), and a reduction of omnivamp healing across the board. These changes should make it less punishing to play into a lot of ranged champions who can chip down the health of a melee champion.

In addition to these system-wide changes, Riot announced changes to several characters or classes of characters as seen below:

• Akali, Kennen, Lee Sin, and Zed gain 20% bonus Energy Regen on ARAM
• Akali, Ekko, Elise, Evelynn, Fizz, Kassadin, Katarina, Kayn, Kha’Zix, LeBlanc, Pyke, Qiyana, Rek’Sai, Rengar, Talon, and Zed gain 20% Tenacity on ARAM
• Ashe will receive -20 Ability Haste in ARAM

There may be more champion-specific buffs or nerfs during this new period of changes.

Howling Abyss gets a makeover

The ARAM map, Howling Abyss, is also getting some big changes. The look of Howling Abyss is getting an upgrade, but new mechanics are coming to ARAM, as well.

For instance, new Hexgates are being added to ARAM, which will allow players to teleport from their base to their outer-most standing tower beyond the inhibitor. This will allow players to return to the action quickly and even set up some flank opportunities.

New brush has been added to Howling Abyss for more surprise angles. Speaking of angles, when towers fall they will now leave debris behind, which will create new choke points to navigate during battle.

There are other nice quality of life changes coming, including updates to champion select so that players can thank whoever bought the Battle Boost and see if the champion they’re playing is eligible for a chest.

The team will also host the first ever ARAM clash event on December 10 and 11 to celebrate these changes.