Arena Mode Pick/Ban Phase, Fights & Augments Explained
League of Legends Arena Mode: How to Play, Augments & More
The 2023 Summer Event in League of Legends – Soul Fighter – will be rolled out on 20th July and players are already excited about it. This event is going to be one of the largest summer events in League of Legends as well as for other Riot Games titles including Teamfight Tactics, Legends of Runettera, and Wild Rift. During this event, the much-anticipated 2v2v2v2 game mode also called Arena will be released. In essence, it is a team deathmatch-like (TDM) game mode that captures the essence of an anime tournament arc. Players fight in pairs against other teams and the last team standing wins the mode.
The Arena mode will be a cross between Teamfight Tactics (TFT) and League of Legends. You queue up for a game of Arena, then get through the ban phase, and then fight others in a series of multiple rounds. Each round will have a buy phase and a combat phase. Apart from this, there are also surprise cameos from Soul Fighters, said Riot Games.
Here’s all we know about the Arena mode in League of Legends and all the different Augments available for players.
Arena Mode: Pick/Ban Phase, Fights & Augments Explained
In the 2v2v2v2 Arena game mode, four pairs of players will fight one another over six rounds. Before the fight commences, players can choose items and upgrades and notably, there are no runes or summoner spells for this mode. Additionally, everyone starts at Level 3 and will level up throughout the rounds. For the first two buy phases, players get 1000 gold. When a player levels up, the amount they get to spend in the shop for items also increases each round. Once you have bought your boots and a starter item, you will start getting 3000 gold per buy phase.
Arena Store
Apart from the guaranteed gold in every non-Augment phase, players can also get extra gold in Arena mode. If you kill at least one enemy champion, you get 350 gold. Interestingly, you can spend 700 gold to buy a one-round boost using a new type of elixir called “Juices.”
In this game mode, just like in TFT, Augments are powerful abilities that change the way your champion is played. In certain buy phases, instead of receiving gold, players will each get three Augments to choose from, each providing a different powerful ability. These Augments are separated into three tiers: Silver, Gold, and Prismatic, and are available in the second and fifth rounds.
After the preparation phase, players are sent to one of four new arenas, where they will fight against a team to the death. Notably, there are four different maps featured in Arena mode and each one of them has different terrain and unique map aspects that will force players to switch up their playstyles.
Augments and their Effects
Riot Games said, “These Augments are designed to combine in interesting ways with champion kits, augmenting their fantasy and forcing players to adapt to some really crazy situations.”
Augments
There are over 100 Augments in Arena mode and here’s a detailed list of what they are and how they work:
Silver Augments & Effects
| Name | Effect |
|---|---|
| Red Buff | Gain permanent Red Buff |
| Hextech Soul | Gain soul |
| Cloud Soul | Gain soul |
| Chemtech Soul | Gain soul |
| Blue Buff | Gain a permanent Blue Buff |
| Ionic Spark | Enemies who use abilities near you take damage equal to 100 percent of the mana cost |
| Virtuous Cycle | Your heals grant extra shield and your shields grant extra healing |
| Vulnerability | Your item and damage over time effects can critically strike. Gain 20 percent crit chance. |
| Ice Cold | Your slowing effects reduce movement speed by an extra 100 |
| Sweet Tooth | Grants 50 gold on healing from a plant and the heal is increased by 50 percent |
| Electric Field | Casting a summoner spell damages all enemies within 450 range and grants you 10 percent movement speed for three seconds |
| Spontaneous Altruism | Every 10 seconds your next heal or shield ability is increased by 30 percent |
| Fast Starter | For the first 10 seconds each round, you have 40 ability haste and receive 15 percent less damage |
| Double-Edged Sword | You deal 20 percent more damage and take 10 percent more damage |
| Adaptive Consumer | AD and AP from items is converted to Adaptive Force |
| Ocean Soul | Gain the Ocean Soul, granting high health and mana regeneration after damaging enemies |
| Repulsor | When dropping below 60 or 30 percent health, nearby enemies are knocked back |
| Shadow Runner | After using a movement ability or leaving stealth, gain 300 movement speed for two seconds |
| Sonic Boom | Buffing, healing, or shielding an ally deals damage and slows enemies around them |
| Don’t Blink | Deal more damage to enemies the faster you are than them |
| Tormentor | Immobilizing enemies applies a burn that deals damage over time and applies on-hits |
| Typhoon | Attacks fire a bolt at an additional target that deals reduced damage and on-hits |
| Deft | Gain 40 percent attack speed |
| Erosion | Damaging enemies shreds two percent Armor and Magic Resist for four seconds, stacking up to 20 times |
| Evocation | Gain the Evocation Summoner Spell, which lets you channel to restore health and mana |
| Executioner | Deal 10 percent more damage to enemies below 50 percent health, and reset your basic abilities on takedown |
| Fallen Aegis | Start combat with a Black Shield that blocks magic damage for 15 seconds |
| Light ’em Up | Every fourth attack deals additional magic damage |
| First Aid Kit | Gain 25 percent heal and shield power |
| Frost Wraith | Every eight seconds, automatically root nearby enemies for one second |
| Guilty Pleasure | Immobilizing enemy champions restores five seconds max Health |
| Now You See Me | Gain the Houdini Summoner Spell, which teleports you back to the starting position of your last movement ability |
| Infernal Soul | Gain the Infernal Soul, dealing bonus damage when you hit enemies with abilities or attacks |
| Juice Box | Each round, you and your teammate get an additional juice for free |
| Midnight Express | Automatically throw a lantern to your ally every 12 seconds, which can be clicked to dash to you |
| Mind to Matter | Increase max health by half of your mana |
| Mountain Soul | Gain the Mountain Soul, gaining shield after being out of combat for a short time |
| Warmup Routine | Active Summoner: Channel to increase damage this combat, up to 30 percent |
| Buckle Up | Spawn a Battle Sled on round start |
| Blunt Force | Gain 10 percent Attack Damage |
| Witchful Thinking | Replace current items with random ones of a higher tier, and gain random items instead of gold during buy phase |
| Castle | Gain the Castle Summoner Spell, which allows you to swap places with your ally |
| Buff Buddies | You gain permanent Red and Blue Buffs |
| Contract Killer | Each round, mark an opponent to take 10 percent more damage and grant an extra 350 gold on death |
Gold Augments & Effects
| Augments | Effect |
|---|---|
| Apex Inventor | Gain 200 Item Haste. |
| Banner of Command | Active Spell: Increase your teammate's size and grant them 15% HP, AD, AP, and AS for 10s. |
| Willing Sacrifice | When your ally drops below 30% Health, trade some of your health for a Shield on your ally. |
| Cannon Fodder | You enter combat launching from a cannon. |
| Celestial Body | Gain 750 Health, but you deal 10% less damage. |
| With Haste | Gain Move Speed equal to double your Ability Haste. |
| Combo Master | Gain the Electrocute and Phase Rush Keystone Runes. |
| Soul Siphon | Gain 20% crit chance and 35% lifesteal on critical strikes. |
| Tank it or leave it | You can Critically Defend using your Crit Chance (max 60% chance), giving you a chance to reduce damage. Gain 20% Crit Chance. |
| Die Another Day | Gain the Die Another Day Summoner Spell. Die Another Day creates a zone where no unit can die for 4 seconds. |
| Dawnbringer's Resolve | Upon dropping below 50% health, heal for 30% max health over 3s. |
| Ethereal Weapon | Your Abilities apply on-hit effects. |
| From Beginning to End | Gain the First Strike and Dark Harvest Keystone Runes. |
| Extendo Arm | Automatically fire a Blitzcrank hook every 12 seconds at a nearby enemy champion. |
| It's Critical | Gain 40% Crit Chance. |
| Dive Bomber | Your team's first death each round explodes, dealing massive damage. |
| Lightning Strikes | Gain Attack Damage scaling with your Attack Speed. |
| Mythical | You can buy any number of Mythic Items. |
| Keystone Conjurer | Gain the Summon Aery and Arcane Comet Keystone Runes. |
| Outlaw's Grit | Your Movement Abilities grant you 15 Armor and Magic Resist. This stacks up to 5 times. |
| Perseverance | Gain hugely increased Health Regen, which is further increased while low on Health. |
| Phenomenal Evil | Permanently gain 1 Ability Power when you hit enemies with Abilities. |
| Rabble Rousing | Using an Ability heals you for 2% max Health. |
| Firebrand | Your Attacks apply an infinitely stacking Burn, dealing damage over time. |
| Recursion | Gain 45 Ability Haste. |
| Restless Restoration | You constantly heal (based on your max Health) while moving, increased by distance traveled. |
| Defensive Maneuvers | Gain the Defensive Maneuvers Summoner Spell. Defensive Maneuvers Casts both Summoner Barrier and Heal on you and your teammate. |
| Scoped Weapons | Gain 250 Attack Range, reduced to 150 for ranged characters. |
| Searing Dawn | Your Abilities mark enemies, causing them to take extra damage from your ally's next effect. |
| Shrink Ray | Your Attacks reduce an enemy's damage by 20% for 3 seconds. |
| OK Boomerang | Autocast: Every 7s fire a boomerang at a nearby enemy |
| The Brutalizer | Gain 25 Attack Damage, 10 Ability Haste, and 10 Lethality. |
| Thread the Needle | Gain 30% Armor Penetration and Magic Penetration. |
| Vanish | Gain the Vanish Summoner Spell. Vanish turns you Invisible. |
| Vengeance | Gain massively increased damage and Omnivamp while your partner is dead. |
| Unholy Grail | Damaging enemies with abilities stores 30% of the damage; your next heal or shield on an ally heals them for the stored amount. |
| Take the Wheel | Replace your current items with random ones of a higher tier. Gain random items instead of gold during the buy phase. |
| Momentous Strike | Generates bonus MS while moving. At max MS, Lee Sin kick the first enemy, you AA. |
| In Perfect Tempo | Autocast: Every 6s, cast Sona Q or Sona W at random. |
| Summoning Expert | Gain 200 Summoner Spell Haste. |
| Flicker | Autocast: At the start of combat and every 13 seconds, teleport to a random location within the arena and stealth for 1s. Your first stealth each round lasts 3.5s instead. |
| Feeling Lucky | Grants 2 random Silver augments. |
| Parry | Root yourself: For 1s, all incoming damage is reflected back to your attacker. |
| Nimble | Gain 30% Dodge Chance. |
| Allure of the Fox | Sniping an enemy charms them for 1s (8s cooldown). |
| Intimidating Aura | Enemies near you lose 25% Tenacity. |
| Assimilation | Gain 5% of all enemy primary stats on takedown. |
| Shadow Drafting | You are stealthed while standing behind your ally; taking damage disables this for 2s. |
| Twice as Nice | Your Per Round Augments activate an additional time, on round start gain 100g or 500xp at random (twice) (affects Blood pact, Castle, Dawnbringer's Resolve, Fallen Aegis, Kamikaze, Repulsor, Ultimate Backup). |
| Plating | Gain 75 Armor. |
| Runic Bulwark | Gain 75 Magic Resistance. |
| Vampirism | Gain 30% Spell Vamp. |
| Virtuoso's Flourish | Every 4th hit crits and deals bonus %missing health damage. |
Prismatic Augments & Effects
| Name | Effect |
|---|---|
| Accelerating Sorcery | Using an Ability grants seven Ability Haste, stacking infinitely |
| Back to Basics | Your Ultimate is sealed, but you gain 16 percent increased damage, healing, shielding and 40 AH |
| Blade Waltz | Gain the Blade Waltz Summoner Spell, making you untargetable while you dash at and damage enemies repeatedly |
| Slow Cooker | Every second, apply a stacking Burn to nearby enemy champions scaling with your Max Health stacking infinitely |
| Windspeaker’s Blessing | Your Healing and Shielding also increases the target’s Armor and Magic Resist for three seconds |
| Zhonya’s Epiphany | Gain the Zhonya’s Epiphany Summoner Spell, which puts you in Stasis for three seconds, rendering you Untargetable and Invulnerable for the duration but also unable to act, and resetting your basic ability cooldowns |
| Can’t Touch This | Casting your Ultimate also makes you Invulnerable for a short duration |
| Chauffeur | You are attached to your ally and gain 100 Ability Haste and 50 Attack Speed, while they gain 15 percent Move Speed |
| Circle of Death | Healing you do deals a portion of the value in Magic Damage to the nearest enemy champion |
| Courage of the Colossus | Gain a Shield scaling with max Health after Immobilizing an enemy champion |
| Eureka | Gain Ability Haste equal to 20 percent of your Ability Power |
| Feel the Burn | Gain the Feel the Burn Summoner Spell, casting Ignite and Exhaust on all nearby enemy champions |
| Goliath | Become large, gaining 30 percent Health and 30 percent Adaptive Force at the cost of 50 percent Attack Speed |
| Jeweled Gauntlet | Your Abilities can Critically Strike, and gain 20 percent Crit Chance |
| Mad Scientist | On round start, you grow large and gain Attack Damage and Health, or tiny and gain Ability Haste and Move Speed |
| Master of Duality | Your Attacks grant you stacking Ability Power and your Abilities grant you Attack Damage |
| Infernal Conduit | Your abilities apply a bleed dealing physical damage per second over five seconds. Bleed damage you deal refunds two percent of remaining cooldowns on your basic abilities |
| Mystic Punch | Your Attacks reduce your cooldowns by one second. |
| Omni-Soul | Gain three random Dragon Souls |
| Quantum Computing | Automatically slash in a circle around you, dealing bonus damage on the outer edge every 15 seconds. Your Automatic Augments are affected by Ability Haste |
| Spirit Link | 40 percent of damage dealt to your ally is redirected to you, and 40 percent of healing they receive is given to you as well. |
| Symphony of War | Gain the Lethal Tempo and Conqueror Keystone Runes |
| Tap Dancer | Your Attacks grant you 10 Move Speed, stacking infinitely. Gain AS equal to 10 percent of your MS |
| Earthwake | Your Movement Abilities leave behind a trail that detonates after one second |
| Thief’s Gloves | Gain random items each combat. Stats and damage from items is increased by 20 percent |
| Trueshot Prodigy | When you damage a champion from far away, fire a Trueshot Barrage at them |
| Ultimate Revolution | Once per round, refresh your Ultimate Ability after casting it |
| Wisdom of Ages | Gain one bonus level every other round, and an extra level per Augment round, and your max level is increased to 30 |
| Botanical Bully | Attacking a plant creates an explosion that deals 15 percent true damage to enemies within range and knocks them back slightly |
| Shitake Happens | Three deadly Teemo shrooms spawns randomly in the arena. Enemies and Allies can both trigger it. Your trap effects are increased by 50 percent |
| I’m the Juggernaut | Your movement speed is low and cannot be altered except by purchasing boots. Gain 50 percent size, 25 percent Health, Armor, Magic Resistance, and Tenacity |
| Summoner’s Roulette | After casting a Summoner Spell, gain a random new one that’s on cooldown for seven seconds |
| Hug of Death | Active Summoner: Suppress yourself and an enemy next to you, dealing heavy damage to both over the course of the channel |
| Dragon Trainer | Gain Nomsy to fight alongside you |
| Blood Brothers | Draven gains Darius passive and Darius gains Draven passive |
| Arbiter of Freedom | Immobilizing an enemy creates a 400 radius zone around you that reduces damage taken by 20 percent for allies within |
| Pass-a-Fist | Your ally’s attacks trigger your on-hit affects at reduced 50 percent damage |
| 4-Leaf Clover | Gain 40 percent Crit Chance and 30 percent Dodge Chance |
| Bombardment | Fire a barrage of cannon shots for the first 10s of combat before launching yourself from the last shot. |
| Combat Medic | Your auto-attacks deal halved damage. The other half is converted to healing split amongst you and your ally. Gain 10 percent AD and AS. |
(The Augments and their effects, seen in the above tables, have been sourced from Dot Esports and Sportskeeda)
What are Arena Cameos?
The Arena mode or the 2v2v2v2 game mode also features some brief appearances from champions in the Soul Fighter theme. These champions help mix up fights with their cameos.
Cameos feature the 10 champions that have Soul Fighter skins and they randomly choose a fight to affect. Each champion has their own unique mechanic to keep each fight interesting. “Lux sweeps the arena, ulting the first person she finds. Sett takes damage until he runs out of health before punching at the enemies of the team who last hit him. And Shaco? Well, he just runs around and does Shaco things,” noted Riot Games.
Cameos will bring in game-to-game variance, which Riot Games hopes will make Arena a fun mode to play.
Arena Cameos
For those of you who like competing in everything, there is good news. Arena mode will have its own ranking system and tiers. You can read more about League of Legends’ exclusive Wood rank here in this article.
Notably, the big Soul Fighter 2023 Summer Event is scheduled to kick off on 20th July with LoL Patch 13.14 and this is the same date as Naafiri’s release.
