Patch 25.24 Breakdown: Ranked Season 3 Ends, WASD Beta Expands, and Champ Select Gets Friendlier

The final patch of 2025 is live, and Patch 25.24 is more than just a standard balance update—it's a transitional moment for League of Legends. As we wrap up the year, Riot is delivering crucial updates on the ranked season finale, rolling out significant system changes, and making targeted tweaks to the champion roster. Whether you're grinding for your Victorious rewards or just curious about the new WASD features, this patch has something for everyone.

**The Ranked Season 3 Finale is Upon Us** Mark your calendars, summoners! The Summoner’s Rift Ranked Season for Season 3, 2025 will officially conclude on **January 7, 2026, at 23:59:59 local server time**. This date falls on the last day of the 15.24 patch cycle. Following tradition, ranked queues will go offline for approximately 12 hours for maintenance and preparation for the fresh start. **Season 1 of 2026 is scheduled to begin on January 8, 2026, at 12:00:00 (noon) local server time**, at which point LP and ranks will reset for the new competitive year.

This also signals the end of the entire 2025 ranked season. Your efforts throughout the year will be rewarded in Patch 26.1 with the **Victorious Draven** skin and chromas, plus exclusive accessories celebrating your highest achieved rank. The rewards lineup includes a special **Victorious Skin Border** (compatible with all three 2025 Victorious skins, provided you own them all), a **Season 2025 Ranked Emote**, and a **Season 2025 Ranked Icon**. Now's the time for those final, desperate climbs to secure the best rewards possible. More details on the 2026 season will arrive with the 26.1 patch notes.

**WASD Movement Beta Expands (With Some Caveats)** One of the most anticipated experimental features is taking a big step forward. The **WASD movement control scheme is launching in most unranked queues across all regions** with Patch 25.24. It's important to note that **Draft Pick and Ranked queues will NOT support WASD at this time**. The rollout will begin on the OCE server and gradually scale to all regions.

Because WASD is still in an active beta state, Riot is prepared to disable it for specific queues or champions if player experience is degraded. For this patch, **both Briar and Taliyah will have WASD disabled**. If you're playing a disabled champion or in a disabled queue, your controls will automatically revert to the standard point-and-click scheme. The queues where WASD *will* be enabled include Normals (Customs, Swiftplay, ARAM) and Game Modes (Arena, ARAM: Mayhem, ARURF).

The update also introduces new WASD features: a **Dynamic Camera** that follows your mouse (with adjustable speed settings), a **Scout Ahead Button** (middle mouse click) for free camera movement, and full **WASD Remapping** for custom keybinds. Riot will be gathering balance data from live servers to iterate on the experience before considering an expansion into Ranked, so be sure to report any bugs or feedback through Player Support.

**Champion Select Gets a Major Quality-of-Life Pass** Following a successful pilot program, two highly requested champion select changes are being fully released globally. First, **you can no longer ban a champion that one of your allies has hovered**. This simple change prevents accidental (or intentional) griefing and promotes better team coordination from the very first phase of the game.

Second, the **champion select timing improvements** tested in NA and OCE during Patch 25.23 are now rolling out to all regions. These adjustments speed up the overall process for Summoner’s Rift queues (Solo/Duo, Flex, and Normal Draft), getting you into the game faster without sacrificing strategic depth. Both updates received overwhelmingly positive feedback during the pilot phase, making this a welcome change for the entire player base.

**Champion Balance: Buffing the Brawlers** The balance changes in 25.24 are light but meaningful. **Braum** is receiving some love to help the mustachioed protector brawl more effectively. His base health is increasing from 610 to 630, giving him more early-game durability. More significantly, the damage on follow-up attacks from his passive, **Concussive Blows**, is being doubled from 20% to 40%. This should make him a much greater threat in extended trades and skirmishes, allowing him to truly punch his way to victory.

Meanwhile, **Dr. Mundo** is mentioned as a case of over-correction. Riot acknowledges that a previous bugfix was overestimated, and the compensation buff applied last patch ended up being too strong. While specific nerfs aren't detailed in these notes, it signals that the Madman of Zaun's power level is being monitored closely.

Patch 25.24 effectively serves as the bridge between the old year and the new. It's your last chance to cement your 2025 ranked legacy, a great opportunity to test drive the evolving WASD controls in a low-stakes environment, and a welcome upgrade to the sometimes-stressful champion select experience. As the servers prepare for reset and a new competitive dawn on January 8th, make these final weeks of Season 3 count!