League of Legends Patch 25.23 Notes — Buffs, Nerfs, New Events, and More

The second-to-last patch of the year has officially arrived toLeague of Legends! It's a pretty huge one, as Riot Games is celebrating the one-year anniversary of Arcane, so we have a lot to cover in terms of content awaiting.

Here's everything you need to know about League of Legends patch 25.23!

New Champion

Zaahen, the Unsundered

Zaahen, the Unsundered has finally arrived toLeague of Legends after a short, one-week time in the PBE. The final champion of 2025 has launched, though Riot Games wanted to mention that his Eternals will be delayed until the next patch, 25.24, because, due to his secretive reveal up until the cinematic, the team was unable to gather data about the players and metrics.

We've covered Zaahen at length, so make sure you check out our article on his abilities linked here!

Winter Map

The Winter Map is back from a very long hiatus, as Riot Games has returned the highly requested change to the Summoner's Rift, bringing a bit of holiday cheer with it. It hasn't been announced when the Rift will return to its normal look, so you can expect it at least for the duration of this patch and the next (meaning the rest of the year).

 

Arcane Anniversary Pass

With the celebrations of the Arcane anniversary, Riot Games has brought the goodies to League of Legends in Patch 25.23. This mini-pass brings eight rewards, six of which are Arcane themed.

Here is the full list of eight rewards:

• Jinx Butterfly Icon
• Yelling Caitlyn / Vi Emote
• 500 Battle Pass XP
• Salad Cat Jinx Emote
• Robot Mask Icon
• 500 Battle Pass XP
• Guitar Heimerdinger Emote
• "Arcane Anomaly" Title

To get these, you'll need to play four games during Patch 25.23 to unlock each milestone (or only two if you're playing in a premade). You only have until the end of the patch to get the rewards, so don't miss out on playing the games.

Unvaulted Legacy Skins

Old skins have returned to League of Legends for a limited time, giving you the opportunity to pick up a slew of them. A big chunk of these are the Arcane ones from seasons 1 and 2. For Arcane, this means 15 skins have returned to the rotation for the duration of the anniversary celebrations.

Also available are the holiday skins celebrating the season. A large array of Snow Day and Christmas-themed skins have returned for seven weeks, meaning you can pick them up through the end of the year.

Essence Emporium Returns

The Essence Emporium is back, and will be around for a while! If you've been hoarding your Blue Essence, now is your opportunity to spend it all, including a brand-new Title added to the mix.

Nerfs

Now we can start checking out the balance changes of the week. Here are the champions that received a nerf during Patch 25.23:

• Ashe Bot (Iron to Challenger)
• Caitlyn Bot (Iron to Challenger)
• Hwei Mid (Iron to Challenger)
• Jinx Bot (Iron to Challenger)
• Kai'sa Bot (Iron to Challenger)
• Rek'sai Top (Emerald 2 to Pro)
• Vladimir Top (Iron to Challenger)

A lot of these nerfs are meant to target ADCs performing strongly to diversify picks towards the tail end of the season.

Buffs

For the buffs, Riot Games is trialing out diversifying the Jungle role by offering the opportunity for more Champions to off-role. This means that a lot of characters are getting extra damage dealt to monsters to make their clear more competitive, and see which ones stick better into a more welcoming Jungle meta.

A big portion of the buffs are also to diversify the botlane, much like the nerfs.

• Aatrox
• Ahri
• Ambessa
• Cho'gath
• Jayce
• Jhin
• Malphite
• Miss Fortune
• Ornn
• Riven
• Sion
• Skarner
• Swain
• Tristana
• Volibear
• Xayah
• Zeri

Adjustments

Adjustments aren't necessarily buffs or nerfs, but rather small reworks to some Champion identity sections to shift their gameplay elements slightly. You'll need to check out the patch notes to learn more, as these are too big to cover in an overview.

• Dr. Mundo
• Fizz
• Mel

Systems

Sunfire Aegis has received a slight rework to adapt its monster damage modifier, making it a stronger pick for tank junglers, as the item was consistently losing to Liandry's for those who could confidently build either. This change increases the damage from 1.6x to 2x.