As a constantly-expanding game, League of Legends often receives new drops of content that help keep the MOBA fresh, whether that be through new champions, new skins, updates to existing content, or, more recently, expansion of the game modes offered within the client.
Much of the League community has been adamant about Riot Games’ handling of the game’s selectable modes over the past several years. As of now, the only permanent modes available are the various queues of Summoner’s Rift and the randomness of quick ARAM games. Occasionally, event modes like URF and All For One are added to the game for limited durations, though major event modes like Star Guardian’s Invasion and Odyssey’s Extraction have never returned.
Yet there once was another permanent mode that completed the triplet alongside Summoner’s Rift and ARAM: Twisted Treeline, which acted as an option that combined both the quick pace of ARAM with the competition of draft from Summoner’s Rift. But Riot removed the mode in 2019 and it has since not been available in any capacity, with even less information regarding whether or not it will ever make an appearance in League once more.
What is Twisted Treeline in League of Legends?
Twisted Treeline was a permanent game mode that players could choose within the client alongside Summoner’s Rift and ARAM, as well as other rotating game modes that appeared alongside events. This featured a completely new map known as the “Twisted Treeline” that rested deep within the Shadow Isles and was accompanied by mechanics exclusive to it that have not yet appeared in any other game mode.
Gameplay involved two teams of three fighting to take down the opposing Nexus, much like how Summoner’s Rift is played. But this map was horizontal and much smaller than League’s premiere map, ultimately making Twisted Treeline a mode players indulged in if they wanted a quick yet competitive game.
But just like on Summoner’s Rift, there were various factors that blocked players from easily reaching the opposing Nexus—and others that made it much easier. Altars appeared in front of each team’s base that, when captured, granted bonuses like vision and health regeneration as well as additional gold. The Vilemaw also made its home above the map’s top lane, acting as an epic monster akin to the Baron Nashor that would grant plentiful buffs to the team that successfully defeated it.
Will Twisted Treeline return to League of Legends?
Twisted Treeline was retired in its entirety in 2019 and removed from the client, not appearing in any capacity since. Aspects of the game mode live on via small references in Legends of Runeterra, with even a few of Twisted Treeline’s exclusive items returning in the new Arena mode.
As of now, there is no indication that Twisted Treeline will be returning to League at any time in the near future. The mode had a very limited player base in the years leading up to its retirement, though since it was removed from the client, the League fan base has become much more vocal about the importance of the mode as an alternative permanent option. A similar reaction from the community ultimately led to the return of the popular Nexus Blitz rotating game mode after Riot had said it was not planned to return.
With such a positive response from the community to the Arena mode that debuted alongside 2023’s Soul Fighter event, it is possible that the idea of Twisted Treeline may be revitalized in some capacity, whether that be a one-to-one recreation of the mode or something else entirely. But, for now, Twisted Treeline simply lives on in the memories of League players, with its influence evident in the growing future of event modes.
