Legends of Runeterra 2021 Roadmap

The much-anticipated start-of-the-season livestream energized us with plenty of exciting announcements for games set in the Runeterra universe. A 50 minutes-long presentation by Riot introduced us to the content and features planned for 2021 across League of Legends, Wild Rift, Teamfight Tactics, and, of course, Legends of Runeterra. In this article, you’ll find all the reveals and teasers for LoR that will undoubtedly hype you up for this year!

• Shurima announced as the next region, arriving in March

The magnificent ancient land of Shurima will be the theme of the next set! It will introduce the namesake region into the game, bringing the number of regions in LoR to a total of nine.

Shurima was described to us as the “home to desert nomads who travel the sands, monsters hidden beneath, and the Ascended beings that rule from above”. It was also hinted that we’ll see this region captured in the age of its utmost power and flourish. It is an interesting and new angle because previously in Runeterra lore Shurima was most often pictured as a ‘fallen desert empire’.

In Legends of Runeterra, Shurima’s core mechanics as a region will include “seeking buried relics, predicting the future and tapping into the godlike power of the Ascended”.

The first expansion of the Shurima set will be called ‘Empires of the Ascended’, and it will be released in March. The second one will be called ‘Guardians of the Ancient’, and the third one – ‘Rise of the Underwolds’; they will be released in May and June respectively.

• Aphelios joins Targon in February as part of a first-ever ‘champion expansion‘

LoR developers have stated that in 2021 and going forward they intend to release more champions more often – in particular, as ‘champion expansions’ that would be placed outside of the standard bi-monthly card release cadence.

First such expansion is coming in February – at it will be themed around new Targon champion, Aphelios!

Aphelios is a combo-oriented champion centered around Nightfall keyword and Moon Weapons spell cards. Five of his Moon Weapons are all 2-cost Slow spells:

Calibrum

Deal 3 damage to a target follower.

Phase Severum or Gravitum.

Severum

Give an ally +1|+2 and Lifesteal this Round.

Phase Gravitum or Infernum.

Gravitum

Stun an enemy. If it’s a follower, Stun it again at the next Round Start.

Phase Infernum or Crescendum.

Infernum

Give an ally +2|+1 and Overwhelm this Round.

Phase Crescendum or Calibrum.

Crescendum

Summon a 2-cost follower from your deck. If it has Nightfall, activate it.

Phase Calibrum or Severum.

‘Phase’ is a new keyword that simply stands for ‘pick the new Moon Weapon to Aphelios’. Moon Weapons have the ability to ‘phase’ each other. ‘Phasing’ a weapon means putting it in a virtual ‘wishlist’, marking it as a weapon that you want to be created next. Whenever Aphelios’s ability that creates a ‘phased’ weapon triggers, you’ll get the very spell that you’ve wished for while casting your previous Moon Weapon card.

Aphelios’s champion spell card is a 2-mana Burst spell named ‘Gifts from Beyond’:

Choose a Moon Weapon to create in hand.

The Lunari marksman evokes his sister, Moon Seer Alune, that helps him providing with additional weapons.

• Champion mastery & new social features

This is the new progression system that allows you to show off your experience with your favorite champions. As you play games with each champion, you’ll level up your champion mastery, getting new cosmetic flair for your collection:

Additionally, in 2021 developers plan to add more mods and features that encourage the social enjoyment aspect of LoR. As part of that efforts, the first-ever Co-op Lab arrives next week in Patch 1.17, and Riot promised to share more news about other social features that are in development later in the year.

• The Ruined King event

Without making an official announcement, LoR Executive Producer Jeff Jew has still hinted heavily that this year League of Legends and Legends of Runeterra will have another crossover event, similar in its model to the last year’s Spirit Blossom festival.

This time it will be themed around Viego, The Ruined King – the new League of Legends champion that will be released later this year. During livestream, Riot showed off the new cinematic where we get a taste of how Runeterra will be shaped by Ruined King’s actions. Viego and the new wave of Harrowing led by him will be the focal point of storytelling in 2021 across all games set in the Runeterra universe.

• 2021 Roadmap

Legends of Runeterra official Twitter tied up all the announcements of today, releasing this roadmap as an infographics and laying out all the developers’ plans for the first half of 2021:

That’s all the news Riot have shared with us for LoR! Expect more announcements in the coming weeks with details about the Aphelios champion expansion and the Shurima set.

Next week, patch 1.17 hits live servers – it will contain the new Co-op Lab, but most likely no balance changes. Stay tuned for more news, guides, and articles – and enjoy Cosmic Creation season!