ARAM: Mayhem will be receiving some fresh changes at the beginning of Season 2 Act 2 in Patch 26.12 (in approximately two weeks)!

Traits

Riot has expressed some regrets with the Trait subsystem of the ARAM: Mayhem Augments. In this past Season, they introduced "Traits," which were themed Augments that have a sort of stacking synergy between each other. If you got one of these Augments, and you managed to collect the others, you'd grow very powerful indeed. In this next update, Traits will be phased out to make room for different Augment types that should, hopefully, be just as fun.

The idea behind Traits was creating a system that would feel fresh, add extra depth to your Augment choice, and reward you for finding Augment combinations. It was also meant to be something simple and intuitive, to help players who weren't totally sure what sort of Augment combos they should be reaching for.

The unintended side-effects, however, were troublesome. For one, Traits encouraged both homogenized builds (the same sort of build no matter what champion you were playing) and homogenized games (at least one or more players going for the exact same build in the game). These side-effects made the game feel more stale than intended, and took focus off of champions and towards augmented builds; which is not what Mayhem was intended for.

There was a small balance issue as well. On their own Trait Augments weren't too different from a standard Augmen; if anything, they were a bit weaker. But, when paired with other Augments in the same theme, they outshone standard Augments by a lot. This led to a situation where a player may frustratingly not get to upgrade their Trait Augment, or a player without any Trait Augments would get outshined by someone who got lucky with their Trait Augments.

The Future of Traits

Despite the aforementioned issues, Traits were overall a beloved subsystem and won't be going away entirely. They will be reworked into Standalone Traits that will provide the same (though likely underturned) effects immediately, rather than only once paired with their friends. Stackasaurus, for example, will remain as an Augment that will immediately unlock your stack-scaling potential without things like Master of Duality, Phenomenal Evil, Steel Your Heart or anything else!

Augments

Now when it comes to Augments as a whole; why fix something that isn't broken? No reworks here, just more to come. Riot's goal with Patch 26.12 when it comes to Augments is related to a grievance listed with Traits. Augments were meant to enhance a particular champion fantasy. Bounce of the Poro King, for example, is a fun augment; but it doesn't meaningfully interact with any given champion.

Those sorts of Augments aren't going anywhere, but two types of Augments will be spotlighted in the next patch.

Ability Augments

Ability Augments are a brand new class of Augments. These will be similar to Augments such as Bread and Butter, and directly augment champion abilities in some way. These Augments will basically significantly enhance a single ability for a champion beyond altering their cooldown. Ideally, this will lead to a completely different gameplay experience from that of the champion originally.

One of these new Ability Augments is Multishot. On ability cast, you'll fire an additional projectile to up to two enemies in front of you. This will make abilities like Lux's Light Binding and Morgana's Dark Binding extra deadly!

Another example is the new Chain Reaction. With this, if you knock an enemy back and they collide with another champion, both enemies will suffer the C and take damage. They will also take more damage if they collide into structures or walls, and stay immobilised for longer.

Quest Augments

Quest Augments aren't new; but they will be getting more focus in Patch 26.12. 

One of the new Quest Augments coming soon is Quest: Tooth Fairy. This Augment will cause enemies to drop teeth when damaged within a short window, which, when picked up, grant you Lethality and Magic Pen. 

Another is Quest: Support Main. This will be a great pick for, you guessed it, support mains who maybe just want to support without feeling like they might be dragging their team down. This quest requires you to Heal and Shield your allies and, when completed, you'll start to grant your teammates additional Health Regen as a percentage of the value of your Heal or Shield on them. Basically, you'll become a homemade Warmog's Armor for your friends!

Balance Concerns

Riot was quick to address concerns about balance when it comes to the new Ability and Quest Augments. The goal of ARAM: Mayhem is to create a space that's always fun and fresh. Balance is important but secondary to a fun experience. Tuning is required to make sure that it's a fun experience (and not an RNG stomp fest each time) but it's not a strict state to maintain as it is in the classic League of Legends experience.

The core tenets for keeping ARAM: Mayhem balanced are:

– Every champion should feel as though they can work towards a strong build

– No champion should feel like they can ALWAYS achieve a strong build

– Strong builds shouldn't be the sole determinant in achieving victory

As long as these three tenets are observed, ARAM: Mayhem should be in a good balance spot!