Despite League of Legends having been around for years, the game has never featured full-team voice chat. Now, after 17 years, Riot Games is finally introducing it.
League of Legends is a game where split-second coordination can make a huge difference. Until now, however, its built-in voice chat has been limited to premade parties — players who queued for a match together. Starting with Patch 26.20, players in North America and Oceania will be able to talk to everyone assigned to their team.
Riot says that if the initial rollout goes well, additional regions could follow, including South Korea, Latin America, and Brazil. Brazil and Latin America operate as separate regions on League of Legends servers.
How well the feature ultimately works will largely depend on how Riot handles moderation. Whether it actually leads to better coordination or simply results in even more toxicity remains to be seen.
The company’s first safeguard against the latter is tied to the Honor system. Players will need to have Honor Level 3 or higher in order to speak, while everyone else will only be able to listen. For those unfamiliar with the system, Honor is League of Legends’ player behavior rating, which changes based on in-game conduct and post-match voting. Riot says it will continue refining the system so that it better reflects player behavior during matches.
Also in development are “voice skins” — voice effects that allow players to change how they sound in chat. Riot claims these effects will remain understandable even during chaotic team fights.
The company has not specified which voice skins will be available, but it would be reasonable to assume that some could be inspired by characters from the game. Riot also says the patch will introduce improved background noise cancellation, faster connection times, and greater overall stability.
Riot says the next phase of League of Legends will also lean heavily into music.
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