Butcher’s Bridge to return, alongside other ARAM changes

According to a new /dev blog by Riot Mort, Butcher’s Bridge is finally returning to ARAM. Patch 9.7 will bring back the beloved pirate-themed map, as well as some other experimental changes.

Riot will be using this time to test out potentially permanent changes to ARAM. After this event is over, the developers will go through and see what worked and what didn’t.

One big change coming through is the introduction of bans to ARAM. If you’re tired of going against Blitzcranks and Ahris — or maybe you’re tired of rolling Evelynn — you can ban out champions.

Riot is also going to tweak minions and champion damage to make sure that ARAM games don’t end up being 30 minutes long. Minions will spawn faster after 15 minutes, and they’ll get faster. Champions will start doing more damage to structures after 15 minutes as well.

Poke will also do a bit less damage, with any skill that travels over 900 units doing reduced damage when it fires over that length. This excludes ultimate and damage over time abilities, so don’t worry — Ezreal’s ultimate will still hurt a whole ton.

A new summoner spell will also be added to the game mode. Backtrack will give you a small shield and move you towards your fountain, so it’s perfect for getting out of sticky situations. Melee champions will travel further than ranged champions will.

Riot Games

There will also be new items, tweaks to runes, and specific balance to champions, similarly to how ARURF works.

ARAM has been a difficult game mode to balance, but it seems like Riot is taking the steps to make the game mode more enjoyable.