Hunt of the Blood Moon is League of Legends’ newest featured rotating game mode, and it’s a doozy. Two teams comprised entirely of assassins take to the Rift for a good old fashioned blood bath. So let’s explore some of the game mode’s unique mechanics, shall we?

The win condition

Hunt of the Blood Moon is a points-based mode, similar to something like Ascension or Dominion (if anyone even knows what that is anymore). Basically, the first team to secure 350 points for their side wins. Getting points is fairly straight forward and can be achieved in a few ways.

• Killing enemy champions — 5 points
• Killing roaming spirits in the enemy jungle — 3 points
• Killing the bad-ass Demon Herald — 25 points

Surrender @ 20

There is also a new bounty system. If you kill three champions (or three roaming spirits) before heading back to the fountain (either by dying or recalling), you will gain the Demon Brand buff. Demon Brand turns you invisible and makes you move real fast around the map. Demon Brand will expend itself on the first enemy hit, dealing 20% of their max health instantly. You have 45 seconds to do something with this buff, so make it count. Think of it like a satanic Dead Man’s Plate combined with a Rengar ultimate. Fun!

Other differences

Gold and experience in Hunt of the Blood Moon aren't things to worry about, and respawn timers are significantly reduced to maximize the fun (read: amount of times you can die in a 10 minute period). Lane minions have also been disabled, and turrets work a little differently than they do on normal Summoner’s Rift.

Turrets are impervious to damage, however, outer turrets are destroyed from the outset of the game and inner turrets go away six minutes into a match. The store has also been pared down dramatically, removing many items with defensive stats.

In Hunt of the Blood Moon, all players also have the Blood Pact buff up at all times. This gives your Summoner Spells 50% cooldown reduction, as well as giving you bonuses outside of combat such as ultimate CDR, increased movement speed, and mana regen.

The restricted champion pool

“Man, I can’t wait to just stealth run around the map and one shot people as Sion” - Pete Volk, Rift Herald Head Honcho

Silly Pete, didn’t I tell you Riot has restricted the champion pool for this game mode? That’s right, you can only pick one of the following 20 champions:

• Ahri
• Akali
• Camille
• Diana
• Ekko
• Elise
• Evelynn
• Fizz
• Kassadin
• Katarina
• Kennen
• Kha’Zix
• Leblanc
• Lee Sin
• Pantheon
• Rengar
• Shaco :(
• Talon
• Yasuo
• Zed

In case you are missing a lot of these champions, do not fear! Ahri, Akali, Diana, Elise, Katarina, Kennen, Lee Sin, Talon, Yasuo, and Zed are all free this week in celebration of the event.

How not to lose

Do not go so HAM that you forget dying is bad. Yes, you are playing an assassin, but keep your head about you. You need to be moving and roaming constantly; there is nothing to farm in lane, so farm champions instead.

Make sure you are hunting spirits, as well as carefully prowling the jungle. Keep in mind that enemies are incentivized to hunt in the jungle for spirits. Use this to your advantage. Maybe instead of killing that spirit right away, wait in a bush and use it as bait. Then again, be wary of your enemies doing the same to you.

The key to success in this mode is to make calculated choices. That might sound like a reduction in logic, but never underestimate that little voice in your head that says “you can 3v1.” You can’t, and if you can, the game is probably over already. Be smart, know when to dive in and when to bow out, and your team will surely claim the Blood Moon for their own.