The Best League of Legends Featured Game Modes
League of Legends has added several game modes over the years that allow players to have fun and experiment with whenever players think, 'What if…', As diverse as these game modes are, they all have some variations that still stem from the original 'Classic' mode on Summoner's Rift that all its player base knows and loves.
All-Random All-Mid (ARAM)
ARAM is the only game mode that is always available (aside from 'Classic'). This game mode has the same objective of destroying the enemies' Nexus before they destroy yours. The twist of the game mode is that all Champions are randomly selected, and there is only one lane available ('mid'). ARAM is played on Howling Abyss with a fresh aesthetic and starts with every Champion at level three.
ARAM is the only game mode that is always available (aside from 'Classic'). This game mode has the same objective of destroying the enemies' Nexus before they destroy yours. The twist of the game mode is that all Champions are randomly selected, and there is only one lane available ('mid'). ARAM is played on Howling Abyss with a fresh aesthetic and starts with every Champion at level three.
With the average game time hovering just under twenty minutes, ARAM is a fantastic and fun game mode to play when you don't have enough time for a 'Classic' game or want to warm up before your play session! ARAM is not the best option for warming up because the Champion is randomly assigned, but it is the game mode known for having the most ‘try-hards’. The proof is ‘in the pudding’ for this fact because ARAM has its own Match-Making Rating (MMR) System!
The random selection of Champions and clustering of teams into one lane is what makes this game mode so fun and refreshing from game to game! With the added Summoner Spell of Mark/Dash, there are countless new interactions and ways to mess with your opponents in style! A fantastic example is with Zoe! When Zoe lands her Mark, she can use Paddle Star to the side of the map and recast it towards the marked enemy. After using Portal Jump and quickly activating Dash to launch the Paddle Star to hit the enemy, she will eventually return to her starting position without any risk from starting the Dash!
One for All
One for All is a limited-time game mode on Summoner's Rift, where the twist is all five players on each team will play the same Champion! The goal is still to destroy the enemies' Nexus first, and the games take roughly twenty-five minutes to conclude. In Champion Select, each player votes what Champion they want the team to play, and at the end of the timer, one of the League of Legends Champions voted will be randomly selected. If any single Champion is chosen two or three times out of five, the chance of it being selected is doubled or tripled, respectively. If a single Champion receives four or five votes, that Champion is automatically selected!
When One for All is available, players tend to flock in numbers to have fun with some crazy strategies! One for All is a limited-time game mode, so the MMR system for this game mode mirrors the 'Classic' mode MMR for classic games. As such, the games are not as competitive as ARAMs can be.
Some notable strategies to try out in One for All include Yuumis anchoring in a stack! Yasuos using their ultimate ability one after the other. Brand ultimates to bounce off other Brands. Blitzcrank's pull in a chain to get one large displacement! Vaynes' Silver Bolts are permanently activating the third auto bonus damage! All these champion combinations are unseen in traditional games and make One for All games a real treat!
Ultra-Rapid Fire (URF)
Ultra-Rapid Fire is also a limited-time game mode on Summoner's Rift with the same goal to end the game of destroying the enemy Nexus first. Unlike other game modes, Ultra-Rapid Fire has two versions available occasionally. The first is URF, where players will choose the Champion they will be playing in the game. The second is ARURF (All-Random Ultra-Rapid Fire), which randomly assigns Champions for players to play (similarly to ARAM). Both use MMR from regular games, but the random Champion Select in ARURF causes it to be taken less seriously than URF.
Ultra-Rapid Fire is also a limited-time game mode on Summoner's Rift with the same goal to end the game of destroying the enemy Nexus first. Unlike other game modes, Ultra-Rapid Fire has two versions available occasionally. The first is URF, where players will choose the Champion they will be playing in the game. The second is ARURF (All-Random Ultra-Rapid Fire), which randomly assigns Champions for players to play (similarly to ARAM). Both use MMR from regular games, but the random Champion Select in ARURF causes it to be taken less seriously than URF.
URF and ARURF are unique because all abilities are resourceless, and cooldowns are always 25% of their original cooldown. This game mode allows players to ultra-rapid fire their abilities, leading to some entertaining mechanical outplays and funny moments you wouldn't see anywhere else! Since the games average around twenty minutes, URF and ARURF games are an incredible way to spend your time!
The best ideas of Champions to play in URF are always going to be the ones that have high impact abilities with high costs because they are available more often! For example, Morgana can almost permanently keep an enemy snared with Dark Binding! Lux's Final Spark is available every ten seconds at level 16! An example of insane synergy is with Yuumi and Kassadin, where he can permanently Riftwalk around the Rift and be kept alive virtually forever with Yuumi anchored on him!
Ascension
Ascension is a newer limited-time game mode where the game's objective is instead to score 200 points first! By killing an enemy Champion, your team earns 1 point by killing an enemy Champion, while Ascended, your team earns 2 points. Capturing a Relic of Shurima gets your team 3 points. By killing an Ascended enemy Champion, or the Ancient Ascendant, your team earns 5 points. This game mode instead takes place on the old Dominion map.
The MMR system for this game mode also uses standard game MMR, so it is generally not taken seriously but just a fun way to spend some time with friends! By capturing the Relics around the map, teams will gain more vision to hunt down their enemies and kill the Xerath (Ancient Ascendant) in the middle of the map to acquire the Ascension buff! This buff will only go to one player that gets the last hit on the Ancient Ascendant and grants the user bonus damage, health, penetration stats, lower cooldowns, and negates mana and energy costs!
This game mode is enjoyable for players when they get the Ascension buff as they want to do their best not to die and forfeit the buff to their enemies! It's like a giant game of cat-and-mouse… but the mouse is the cat, and five mice are trying to kill the cat! It makes it a fun and refreshing dynamic when one Champion must survive and fight off their attackers, and their allies must do their best to keep them alive at all costs! Overall, this game mode tends to take roughly 25 minutes and is a blast when it's available!
Nexus Blitz
Nexus Blitz is the shortest limited-time game mode on the list as they generally last fifteen minutes and will take nineteen at most! This game mode involves standard 5-on-5 gameplay, but on the Twisted Treeline map, there are only two lanes and a neutral jungle area! Essentially, this game mode is Twisted Treeline with 5-on-5 instead of 3-on-3 and adds in a fun minigame every five minutes!
With each minigame, the winning team will unlock a random permanent buff to help them for the rest of the game! Ten different buffs are available to be acquired from twelve different minigames! All the minigames are unique in their way but are all extremely fun to partake in!
There aren't precise strategies involved in this game mode because the chosen minigames are at random, so Champions that are better at some things will be better at some minigames than others. The best Champions to pick overall are generally ones with good skirmishing power and a method of sustaining damage! After the allotted time of eighteen minutes, the game will enter overtime, where both team's Nexus' will stand up and walk towards each other to make them more vulnerable and lead to some CRAZY last-second victories!
Ultimate Spellbook
The final limited-time game mode on this list is Ultimate Spellbook. This game mode is the newest and is essentially the same as a 'Classic' game of League of Legends on Summoner's Rift… except for one change. Instead of having two Summoner Spells, you only get one. Instead of having the second Summoner Spell, players must choose one of three randomly chosen ultimate abilities from various Champions at the start of the game.
This feature leads to some excellent options and solo-wombo-combos that are unlike anything players have seen before! A perfect example is Malphite getting Command: Shockwave as the second ultimate ability! So, Malphite can use the Unstoppable Force-Command: Shockwave combo by himself! Countless combinations lead to some hilarious moments on the Rift! Perhaps the most enjoyed amongst the player base is Skarner being allowed to use Ekko’s Chronobreak! Skarner can use Impale on an enemy and then Chronobreak to the location he was four seconds ago… which, as Skarner, can be far!
This game mode uses normal game MMR and is played entirely for fun! Ultimate Spellbook games generally last anywhere between eighteen and twenty-two minutes on average! Although the ultimates you select from are randomized, leading some players to be disappointed in their options, its randomness makes it that much more exciting when you stumble into a combination of abilities that is game-breaking! It's not always the same-old set of champions dominating LoL pro gameplay that are chosen or are powerful.
Conclusion
Over the years, Riot Games have continually added new limited-time game modes that keep League of Legend's player base having fun and finding new combinations of abilities and mechanics that they never thought possible! The games on rotation keep things fresh and exciting every time players log in to see a new game mode available to explore!
Images Courtesy of Riot Games.