League of Legends Season 2 Spirit Blossom: Atakhan changes, New Game Mode, and more

After an unrelenting Noxian start to the year, League of Legends is ready to move on to the realm of Spirit Blossom for Season 2 of 2025. Set to bring a fresh new feel to the game, the new season has much in store for us.

In their latest Dev Update, Riot Games has revealed much of what's coming our way with the release of the Spirit Blossom season, including a rework of Atakhan, changes to Grubs and Rift Herald, a new game mode, and much more!

Summoner's Rift changes: Atakhan, Grubs, and Herald

One of the biggest issues that plagued the first season of the year was the addition of too many objectives to Summoner's Rift, leading to an "objective overload." For that reason, the arrival of Season 2 will bring large changes to objectives on the map in order steer gameplay away from that direction slightly.

New Thornbound Atakhan

The initial two forms of Atakhan proved problematic for the game, with frustration stemming mainly from how often Voracious Atakhan spawned. To fix this, Atakhan will only have one form in Season 2: Thornbound Atakhan.

Here's everything you need to know about the new Atakhan:

• Thornbound Atakhan will look and spawn just like Ruinous Atakahn did
• Will still grant Bloody Roses
• Team that secures Thornbound Atakhan will also receive all unclaimed Bloody Roses on the map
• All Bloody Petals are turned into Spirit Petals for the securing team:
  • Spirit Petals grant 25% increased effect
• New Spiritual Purification buff:
  • Damage and slow nearby enemy champions on champion kill

Though it's unclear just how powerful this new Spiritual Purification buff will be, securing Atakhan for your team just became more important than ever.

Securing Thornbound Atakhan will give your team a powerful advantage in Season 2. (Credit: Riot Games)

Grubs and Rift Herald changes

• Void Grubs will now spawn only a single time, which will be "a bit later in the game"
• Rift Herald spawn time has been moved to the 15-minute mark, down from 16 minutes in Season 1

"This should allow everyone to focus more on laning and ganking, rather than prioritizing early objectives."

More accurate Bounty System

During Season 1, it could often feel like you had a bounty even while your team was behind. This in mind, Riot Games is aiming to make the system more accurate, especially when it comes to Objective Bounties.

Griefing Detection Systems

With Season 2, League of Legends will receive improvements to its griefing detection systems, which aim to automatically detect and punish any players involved in softer forms of feeding or intentionally trolling in games. The system will even be able to detect players who simply run around the map without contributing to the team.

After much testing of this new system, Riot Games feels confident that the number of false positives will be very low, but work will be continuously put in wherever improvements are needed.

Success of the LP Refund System

The LP Refund System, which was introduced back in patch 25.06, has been a smashing success in League of Legends. Here are some numbers which illustrate the effectiveness of the system so far:

• Over 700,000 LP has been refunded
• More than 30,000 unique players have received an LP refund
• Roughly 24,000 cheaters have been removed from the game

The LP Refund system has been a smashing success for League of Legends. (Credit: Riot Games)

New game mode: Brawl

"We think it's important to consistently have ways to play League outside of standard Summoner's Rift."

Season 2 of League of Legends will launch with a brand new game mode called Brawl. A simpler, lower-staked version of the game, here's everything we know so far about Brawl:

• 5v5 game mode
• Set in Bandle City
• Players get to choose their champion
• Objective is to push your minions into the enemy base, while fighting enemy champions
• No towers, no major objectives
• Perfect for playing with friends of different skill levels
• Intended to be a non-stop action game mode

Brawl will be a way of playing some faster paced League of Legends. (Credit: Riot Games)

New in Season 2: Skins, Metagame, Champion, Hall of Legends

Additionally, Riot Games also revealed small bits of information regarding several other new tweaks we can expect with the arrival of the Spirit Blossom Season 2 to League of Legends. These include:

• Spirit Blossom skins:
  • Irelia, Ashe, Lux (Prestige), Zyra, Varus, Bard, and Ivern
• Additional "variety" skin: Pool Party Twitch 
• New champion Yunara will arrive in Act 2 of Season 2
• A new player will be inducted to the Hall of Legends in May
• New unannounced metagame will arrive in Act 2 of Season 2

Not much is known about Yunara yet other than her estimated time of arrival. (Credit: Riot Games)

Follow Strafe Esports for all the latest League news and our X account for the latest content and coverages. Also, stay tuned to Strafe YouTube for exclusive interviews, press conferences, and more.

Featured image credit: Riot Games

Read More: 

Spirit Blossom Beyond: League of Legends Season 2 is headed to Ionia

T1 Worlds 2024 skins champions revealed: Faker's skin tally soars

Faker Becomes First Player Ever to Reach Historic Milestone in the LCK