Some of League of Legends’ more popular items are getting new icons in the coming preseason.
These updates come as no surprise as during September lead gameplay designer for League Mark Yetter had shown off some of the updated looks for items, including B.F. Sword and Rabadon’s Deathcap.
Players can expect these updated icons to enter the live game with the updated item system Riot has been working on for the game. This preseason update will change the way items work including the introduction of specific goals for each class and a new ability “Haste” to replace the cooldown reduction system. On top of this, healing will change with the removal of unnecessary healing effects from some items, runes, and champion kits.
These updates will be applied to every item in the game, whether it be a full redesign of the icon, or a simple retouch and modernization of an item icon. There are five goals that these updates should hit for next year.
First, Riot wanted to make sure that the readability of each icon is clear to all players. This means that every item must have its own distinct silhouette and color palette so it is easily recognized in the shop, in a player’s inventory, or in the scoreboard.
The devs also wanted to ensure that each icon reflected the stats and gameplay of the item being portrayed—people should be able to ascertain what effect an item will have for a champion based off of the thematic sense given by the art.
Each icon has been updated to have Riot’s new, redefined art style, especially since many of the icons haven’t had a visual update since 2009. Familiarity is also a big focus for the artists, as Riot wants to make sure that each icon is still immediately recognizable by the player base.
Lastly, Riot has redesigned some items so that they can be used in other parts of the League lore—fans could see popular items make its way into various stories across Runeterra in the near-future.
These updates will be applied to every item in the game, whether it be a full redesign of the icon, or a simple retouch and modernization of an item icon. There are five goals that these updates should hit for next year.
It’s great to see that Riot has finally updated the long-overdue outdated visuals of League of Legends items. Abilities should be next.
