/dev: Get Ready to Brawl

Hello gamers, we’re here to talk about our newest game mode coming in Patch 25.10, Brawl!

Brawl is designed to be a quick game mode where teams of five battle over a small area, killing each other and pushing minions into the enemy base to win. It’s a low-strategy, high-action, mode where games run about 10 minutes each. Think ARAM, but you get to pick your favorite champ, don’t have to worry about things like objectives or towers, and you can focus on the pure team death match vibes.

In this blog, we’re going to tell you a little more about how Brawl came to be and what you can expect when it arrives in 25.10.

Finding a Simpler Way into the Action

Summoner’s Rift requires a lot of knowledge of game mechanics, the mechanical skill to execute on that knowledge, and, on top of that, strategic knowledge—all before you can really comprehend why it’s great. It’s this complexity that makes League so compelling to play, even after thousands of hours.

But it’s not for everyone, and even people who love it sometimes want to chill out and just play a lower-stakes game. New players may also be looking for a lower-pressure way to have fun in League. ARAM fills that need for some, but for those who want to play a champ they love or just one they want to get better on, the all random aspect doesn’t serve them.

So, we thought about what kind of modes fill this space in other games—our closest parallel was Team Deathmatch in FPS titles. In those modes you can test your mechanics and enjoy the core gameplay without worrying too much about coordination or having to be the best. So we asked ourselves, “What could League’s version of Team Deathmatch look like?” This was the seed that created Brawl.

Enter, THE THUNDERDOME

Brawl was kicked off at Thunderdome, our internal “game jam” where devs get a week to pitch and prototype wild ideas. As it turns out, getting some really passionate League players in a room to cook something up for players can be just what the doctor ordered. Our multiplayer practice tool and turret indicators are other great examples of the types of things Rioters have been able to put together at Thunderdome to bring you a better League experience!

Our tiny group with a tight timeline created v1 of Brawl at one such Thunderdome—a small, focused game with a very specific goal: make a simple, action-focused League mode that brings veterans straight to the fun and invites new players to experience League combat and try out different champions. 

Brawl 101

So, let’s start with how you win. Each team begins with 250 health. The first team to reduce their opponent’s health to 0 is victorious. 

• Takedowns on enemy champions deals 5 damage to the enemy team.

• While the enemy team is not at low health, takedowns on enemy minions also deal 1 damage. 

• Pushing your minions into your opponent’s Bandle portal deals 1 damage each.

No Towers. No Nexus. Just fight, push, repeat. Each little win you get immediately damages the enemy team, and increases your progress towards winning the game. This helps keep Brawl action-packed, fun, and quick.

Brawl takes place in Bandle City, and just like the Yordles that live there, the map is on the small and wide side. It’s small enough to make getting back into the action much faster, but wide enough to allow for fights to happen in multiple places at once.

Let’s break down some key factors of Brawl starting with everyone’s favorite unsung heroes, Minions! No longer are minions meat shields that debuff towers, they’re the key to victory—each one you escort into your opponents’ Bandle Portal will get you that much closer to winning the game. Just make sure to protect them from the five opponents on the other team determined to hurt your precious minions.

Moving outward, you’ll find camps stationed on each side of “The Lane”, each with their own powerful buffs. These camps not only provide that buff and some gold, but they also make a wider array of champions and playstyles viable and help create more dynamic fights. Just make sure your enemy’s not sneaking a big wave past you and into your portal.

As we mentioned earlier, Brawl was made to be fast, and we didn’t make any exceptions when it came to scaling. You’ll get lots of gold over time just for existing, and even more from fighting and taking down enemies or camps.

When you want to spend your gold or heal from pesky poke champs, just Recall (or walk) back to base and you’ll have your shiny new items at the press of a button—no gray screen needed.

Finally, we wanted to make sure Brawl was a place for friends of all skill levels, and that means making it so it isn’t easy for one team to simply snowball to victory. If, for whatever unfathomable reason, your team is getting absolutely smashed, you’ll get a comeback buff to make sure you have a way back into the game, increasing your damage dealt and decreasing damage taken. The better team should still come out victorious, but falling behind isn’t nearly as fatal as it may be in other modes.

We’re excited for you to jump into Brawl. Modes like this represent a newer direction for us—smaller, faster experiments that focus on fun first, not perfect polish. Over the last few years, we’ve mostly shipped big, spectacle modes like Arena and Swarm, but Brawl’s different. It’s scrappy, it’s straightforward, and you might notice a few rough edges when it first releases.

We’re really excited to try a small experimental mode like this, and we’d really love to try more, but we can’t do that without all of you playing them, having fun, and letting us know how you feel about them.

Thanks so much for reading, and please let us know what you think about the mode! See you in The Bandlewood!