New map, ‘Fame’, ‘Guests of Honor’ systems for LoL Arena in 2025

Rejoice, Arena players! The League of Legends Arena game mode is making a return soon with a ton of much-needed updates. A new map, reworked Koi Pond, and multiple systems are being added to keep LoL Arena exciting in 2025.

Since LoL Season 1 is all about Noxus, Arena will follow and move from the Rings of Wrath to the Grand Reckoning. Visually, the maps will no longer magically float in the air but instead be surrounded by an audience, gladiator-style. Gameplay-wise, this doesn't really mean much (apart from the new Noxus map, discussed below).

Koi Pond, the infamous Arena map, is getting a much-needed update after frustrating a significant chunk of players. The map is now getting "the Ring," terrain that wraps around the map to prevent players from being stuck in one of the islands. Blast Cones have also been removed, also to reduce frustration.

The Noxus-themed Arena map previously teased now has a name: the Reckoner Arena! The gimmick of this map is the several pillars that stand. These pillars are destructible and will leave behind a wall of rubble when they absorb enough damage. LoL devs have confirmed that the new terrain will not affect vision.

We can glean more details from the photo of the new Arena map. There are several patches of brush and three Power Flowers, so you can start prepping your strats for this map as early as now.

In true Noxian fashion, bravery and flexibility in battle are rewarded.

Five champions, randomly selected, will be highlighted as Crowd Favorites during champ select. Selecting one of the Crowd Favorites will award you with one free Stat Anvil at the start of the game.

For those truly brazen, Bravery will lock in a random champion. You will be rewarded with one free Stat Anvil and two Rerolls at the start of the game. You will not know which champion you got until you load into the game.

"We don’t expect everyone to opt for a Crowd Favorite or Bravery, but we hope that this will help Arena veterans find some more fun as they fight round after round, while also leaning into the adaptation and experimentation that’s so key to success in Arena," say LoL devs.

Cameos are being removed from LoL Arena and will be replaced by Guests of Honor. The Guests of Honor are famous Noxians and Reckoners who will add a new rule for the rest of the game.

Unlike Cameos, Guests of Honor are not randomized and are instead voted in by players in the lobby. Each game will have up to two Guests of Honor, depending on how far you progress.

Riot revealed that there are 22 Champions featured as Guests of Honor. "Our goal with Guests of Honor was to make it so each game feels unique and will push you to adapt, not only to your opponents, but to the evolving landscape," say LoL devs.

They also provided a sneak peek at some of these Guests of Honor:

When Arena goes live, there will be 14 Guests of Honor in the pool. Eight more will be added later in Act 2.

To give players more incentive to keep playing Arena, and for them to feel like they're progressing through something, the Fame system is being introduced. According to Riot, players normally stopped playing after hitting Gladiator, and were not satisfied with the competitive progression track.

The Fame system will be the primary way to progress through Arena. You can gain Fame depending on your placement in an Arena game, on top of the missions you can accomplish. Each champion will have three missions. and completing these will level up your Fame considerably quicker.

There are various rewards for unlocking Fame. For Here are the first few levels:

Riot stresses that they do not intend to provide more power by progressing Fame. The rewarded Augments are not stronger per se, just different.

At level 9, you get a Matchup Intro upgrade, seen below:

On top of this, Arena games will now count toward Champion Mastery. There will be Arena-specific missions for the battle pass, and you can continue your journey to the Arena God Challenge since your progress from the last Arena run will be retained.

The Gladiator rank is being removed due to "limited engagement" and overlap with the new Fame system.

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