Riot is changing the way Legends of Runeterra patches are released

Riot’s first patch for Legends of Runeterra since the launch of the game is going to be a pretty minor one, but it sets the stage for the game’s first post-launch balance patch (1.2) that will be arriving in two weeks. This week’s patch, 1.1, focuses mostly on bug fixes and expedition changes. 

First though, because Legends of Runeterra now features a mobile version, Riot says that they will be adjusting the timing of patches starting with the next patch, 1.2, in order “to make sure players get to play on new versions as simultaneously as possible, regardless of platform or location.” In other words, Riot says that they’ll “continue to patch on Tuesday ~10 AM PT, but you won’t actually see changes until 24 hours later.” 

Mondays will remain unchanged, as it will still be the day that Riot releases their patch notes. Things start to change on Tuesday, however, with Riot deploying a new client to PC and app stores. Riot says that this will be “client-only, with no visible changes,” and should be thought of “as the foundation for the new patch.”

At this point, players will essentially still be playing the previous version of the game “in almost all cases,” Riot says. Finally, a data-only update that actually enables the changes contained in the new patch will go live the following day on Wednesday. If players haven’t updated by then, they won’t be able to matchmake until they download the new version of the game. 

With that said, patch 1.1 will not be affected by this new release method and will go live on PC at 9:30 AM PT this Tuesday. The mobile version’s update will take “several hours” to show up, depending on location. The patch features a few changes to expeditions and an extensive list of bug fixes.   

Full patch notes can be found here.