Riot Games today announced the arrival of Spirit Blossom, a month-long festival that will span across three of their titles: League of Legends, Legends of Runeterra and Teamfight Tactics.
The event will run from today (July 22nd) to August 24th with new features, including a temporarily returning game mode (Nexus Blitz), a new narrative experience called Spirit Bonds, and a new skinline in League of Legends.
There will also be new personalisation items in Legends of Runeterra and Teamfight Tactics.
The initial inspiration for Spirit Blossom came from the idea of taking spiritual folklore and applying it to League. The story begins in Ionia during their Spirit Blossom festival. All Ionians wear festive attire and, with the help of Spirit Blossoms that only bloom for one week of the year, are able to briefly commune with their deceased loved ones’ spirits.
Spirit Blossom in League of Legends
In addition to the new skins, the return of Nexus Blitz, and Lillia, the newest champion to join the full roster (complete with a Scottish accent), League of Legends will unveil a new narrative experience called Spirit Bonds which will be made available in the game client.
In Spirit Bonds, Riot says players will ‘forge deeper relationships’ with champions from the Spirit Blossom skinline. Representing various folklore figures celebrated during Ionia’s Spirit Blossom festival, these spirits will take the player on narrative journeys to earn favour with them and earn rewards through missions.
As with the rest of the event, Spirit Bonds is heavily inspired by the anime space, taking special attention to how visual novels are crafted.
League champions who’ll be receiving Spirit Blossom skins are:
- Lillia
- Thresh
- Ahri
- Teemo
- Yasuo
- Vayne
- Riven
- Cassiopeia
- Kindred
Spirit Blossom in Legends of Runeterra
Players will have access to a series of limited-time items that can be unlocked by playing. There will also be an Event Pass in the store that adds other rewards to unlock.
New features include:
- New Lab: Bestow
- Choose one of six preconstructed Spirit Blossom decks
- Players start the game at 30 Health
- When a unit dies, its stats are conferred to a random unit in hand
- Epic Quests & Rewards
- Event path: play to progress
- Earn petals with daily wins, event quests, and Epic Quests
- Unlock exclusive Spirit Blossom rewards
- Event Pass
- Upgraded event path with premium cosmetic items
- Immediately unlock the new Kitt Guardian
- Play games to earn petals and unlock more rewards
Spirit Blossom in Teamfight Tactics
Players will be able to unlock new Little Legends variants for Featherknight, Hushtail and Melisma, inspired by Spirit Blossom, with a new pricing model that allows players to directly purchase one-star versions of them.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
