/dev: Return of Nexus Blitz

As announced in our latest Riot Pls, Nexus Blitz is coming back as a temporary game mode for our upcoming summer event! We've made quite a few changes to the mode since last time, ranging from a totally new look, minor gameplay updates, and some balance tweaks.

It’s been a little while since the last run of Nexus Blitz, and with all the updates, we wanted to get it into your hands early so we can collect some feedback. If you decide to test Nexus Blitz during its extended PBE run, here are a few things to keep in mind:

• This iteration of Nexus Blitz is still a work-in-progress, and our team is hard at work on final tuning and polish passes. Expect there to be some bugs and art that isn’t fully complete.
• We’ll also be monitoring performance and potential impact to server loads to ensure a good experience once it’s live.

With that, let’s jump into the upcoming changes to Nexus Blitz!

As a Refresher…

Nexus Blitz was the first (and only) “experimental mode” we released, which was an approach where we invited players to test a game mode very early in development to help us determine if we should continue working on it. The first alpha of Nexus Blitz went out with work-in-progress art and gameplay that we then updated for its second run, based on your feedback. After seeing how players engaged with both runs of Nexus Blitz, we decided not to make it a permanent mode and instead bring it back occasionally as a part of future events.

We know this run of Nexus Blitz is long overdue, and we’re excited to finally bring back the rowdy, chaotic, fast-paced fun.

The Updates

Nexus Blitz's most noticeable change is its map—from here on out, it’ll permanently be set in an Ionian forest. We're still working on finalizing its name, but you can check out some of the concepts below!

We've also made some changes to the in-game events and the rewards you earn from winning them. You can expect the return of some old favorites (Battle Sled directly into the enemy team, anyone?) with improved gameplay clarity, plus some brand new events and rewards.

Here’s the complete list:

Events

• Bardle Royale (Classic): Fight for survival in the flaming circle of death while it closes in on a part of the map. The last surviving team wins.
• Bardle Royale (Paranoia): Fight for survival in the flaming circle BUT everyone is nearsighted, like you’re all being Nocturne ulted. The last surviving team wins.
• Bardle Royale (Juggernaut): Fight for survival in the flaming circle AND one random champion on each team gains a high amount of health and the On Fire! buff at the start of the event. (As a reminder, the On Fire! buff gives you bonus attack speed, adaptive power, and mana/energy regen, but makes you more vulnerable to damage). The last surviving team wins.
• URF Deathmatch: Every player goes into URF mode surrounded by a bunch of cheering minions! Defeat the enemy team in a best-of-three to win.
• Loot Teemo: A wandering Loot Teemo spawns randomly on the map. Hitting the Loot Teemo grants players gold. The team that last-hits Teemo wins the event.
• Loot Veigar: A wandering Loot Veigar spawns randomly on the map, using Dark Matter and Event Horizon while running away. Hitting the Loot Veigar grants players gold. The team that last-hits Veigar wins the event.
• Push the Cart (Classic): Escort the cart by standing near it to move it toward the nearest enemy structure to destroy it.
• Push the Cart (Attack / Defend): Race your opponents for who can blow up an enemy structure the fastest, except now both teams have a cart they can navigate!
• Prize Fight: Both teams square off in a series of rounds, paired in fights of 2v2 and 1v1
• King of the Hill: An area of the map is designated as "the hill". Hold the position and fend off the enemy team to claim victory.\Scuttle Racing: Two scuttles charge down a track (or scuttle down, I guess). One scuttle for each team, the first scuttle to reach the finish wins for their team!
• [NEW] Protect the Soraka: Two Soraka bots enter lane, but only one can leave (... cause one team is gonna destroy the other one). Beware of all the healing and bananas!
• [NEW] DPS Check: It’s like practice mode, but you need to out practice your opponent’s practice on the same Teemo dummy.

Rewards

• Catapult of Champions: A cannon that launches your champion anywhere on the map appears in your base for the rest of the game. Upon landing, deal damage and push away nearby enemies.
• Blessing of Blitzcrank: Allied turrets, siege minions, and super minions have the ability to Rocket Grab nearby enemies for the rest of the game.
• Poro King: The Poro King spawns to aid your team in pushing forward and sieging enemy turrets, breathing fire on enemies and healing nearby allies periodically.
• Battle Sled: Players can jump aboard a sled from their base to nearly anywhere on the map. First person in the sled is in charge of where you go…
• Guardian Angels: Each member of the team gains a one-time Guardian Angel effect, lasting 90 seconds.
• Statikk Shock: Each player gains chain lightning zaps on their basic attacks for three minutes to help mow down waves and champions.
• B.F. Shields: Each member of the team gains a hefty shield until it is broken.
• Cloud Soul: Team gets mega out-of-combat movement speed and CDR on their ultimate for three minutes.
• Ocean Soul: Restores health and mana/energy when dealing damage for three minutes.
• [NEW] Elder Dragon: You can now execute enemies under a specific health threshold for a few minutes by the force of a BIG DRAGON.

Similar to our other game modes (like ARAM and URF), we'll be making Nexus Blitz-specific balance changes throughout the event, so expect an initial list of balance adjustments closer to the live date in the patch notes.

See you in the forest!