League of Legends: New Dawn has just been revealed, and the teaser trailer has a ton of new details that eagle-eyed players will be able to spot. Let’s dive right in!
Same Game, New Rift?
Before the teaser dropped, plenty of players expected a “League 2.” reveal at Worlds.
That’s not what this looks like. New Dawn feels closer to the 2014 Summoner’s Rift visual update. A new map, not a new game. We might get a few new champion models at launch. A full overhaul could come later. We’ll know more in January when Riot does the full reveal. The release is set for later in 2027.
You might have spotted this fight between two very familiar champions: Graves and Vayne. Both are still using their old models.
Speculation: Either those are placeholders in a new engine, or this is the same game on the same engine with a fresh map.
Revamped Summoner’s Rift
There’s so much to look at with the new Summoner’s Rift. These are just a few of the things that we noticed!
Minion Overhaul
Much more detail, new animations (including facial expressions!) Much better lighting on the minions as well!
Krugs Replaced
In the shot of Garen ulting Jhin, it appears to be taking place botlane on blue, between the first and second tower.
Krugs have been replaced with whatever this is. Its head looks kind of ant-like.
Botlane Overhaul
The gap between red and blue looks smaller. There’s a wall on the other side of the river bush, which looks like its bordering the new dragon pit.
The river also seems to have realtime reflections. In this shot you can see both champions and their abilities reflected back.
New Red Buff
The new red buff looks menacing! The wall leading to blue base seems to have been replaced by this crater.
Speculation: The meteor may be called down on champions walking through the crater while Red Buff is alive. The animation played in this shot seems to be Red Buff actively tracking Master Yi and calling the meteor down on him.
New Blue Buff
Blue Buff also got a makeover, though it’s a bit out-of-frame and hard to tell. We’ll have to wait for January to see this one!
New Gromp
Gromp is looking very high-poly!
New Dragon Pit, Dragon Variant
The new dragon pit seems to be centered in the middle of the river rather than the old layout where it was on blue side. The dragon itself is covered in feathers, seems to have entirely new animations, and might feature telegraphed attacks like Baron. More like a proper boss fight than a simple side objective.
And just like the current Dragon, the arena seems to change depending on the variant.
A New Void-Themed Beast
At the end of the teaser we get a close-up of this monster before the screen cuts to black.
Speculation: A new side objective, potentially a replacement for Rift Herald?
New Champion Models
This is mostly speculation. It’s unlikely that we’re getting new models, animations and vfx for all 160+ champions.
Riot took quite a bit of time showing cinematic close-ups of few of the champions in the beginning. We’re still unsure whether these are just cinematic models, or the new standard for champion models going forward.
New Animations. Models for Blitzcrank and Kha’Zix.
New Animations and Model for Garen, including this exaggerated ultimate animation.
New Leona Model, and a realtime reflection on the water! New Ult animation as well.
New Ashe and New Morgana models, as well as ult VFX.
New Master Yi Model
Speculation: Models seem to be affected by 3D lighting now. They also cast realtime reflections in the river. This is definitely a new engine, or they’ve seriously expanded the capabilities of the old engine.
Cinematic Champion Close-Ups
These could just be for the teaser cinematic, or they may be the new in-game models. When comparing the gameplay footage of the new Blitzcrank model to the close-up, they do seem to match, so this may just been an absurdly high new-quality standard for champions going forward.
Leona
Blitzcrank
Lux
Sett
Poppy
Ekko
Volibear
Ashe
Jhin
Ahri
New Abilities / Ability Modifications
It appeared in a few of the clips that some of the abilities were being affected by a new system, or perhaps the abilities have changed.
Morgana in one instance healed Ashe with her ultimate. Vayne was able to dash through a wall after ulting, and Leona’s ultimate was red for some reason.
Speculation: In the shot where Blitzcrank selects “GOD HAND”, it could be similar to keystones, or it could be a new ability modification system.
This teaser has been very exciting, and we’re looking forward to seeing what Riot has in store for us in January!