League of Legends: How to Play Nexus Blitz (Tips, Tricks, & Strategies)

After its two previous appearances in 2018 and 2020, the League of Legends game mode Nexus Blitz is back for another run in 2021. This quick-paced, chaotic game mode has been a fan favorite, so players are lucky to see its return this year.

Nexus Blitz is a game mode in which players must take the other team’s Nexus. Unlike Summoner’s Rift, Nexus Blitz has players fight in a variety of random mini-games that offer incredible buffs to the winning team. Here are all the mini-games in this year’s Nexus Blitz run, how to play them, and some strategies for winning.

How to Play Nexus Blitz

Nexus Blitz runs on a new map and encourages two players to jungle while three players lane. The map is much smaller than the usual Summoner’s Rift map, so traveling between lanes is much easier. On top of this, junglers also farm shared XP and gold.

Every three minutes, a new event will occur on the battlefield. Winning these events can grant buffs from access to a catapult, a battle sled every champion in the team can ride, a movement speed boost, or an insta-revive. There are 10 of these buffs total, and they are selected randomly.

The first minigame of the match is announced during champion selection, and each subsequent minigame is revealed 30 seconds before it starts. Here are all the minigames in Nexus Blitz currently, and how they work:

• Bardle Royale: A circle of flame closes in on a part of the map, and champions outside the boundary are dealt continuous true damage. Players can win by killing all the opposing team.
• URF Deathmatch: Everyone gets a buff that decreases mana and energy consumption by 100% (like the URF game mode). Both teams fight in a best of three round match to determine the winner.
• Loot Goblin: Players gain 100 armor and 100 magic resistance, as well as 200 base movement speed. The player’s team must defeat a Loot Teemo or a Loot Veigar on the map in order to win.
• Push the Cart: Players must escort their Cart towards the enemy base. The first Cart that reaches the enemy team’s turret will destroy it instantly.
• Prize Fight: Players are chosen (based on amounts of gold earned) to fight in two 2v2 matches, then a 1v1.
• King of the Hill: A control point appears randomly on the map, and standing uncontested in that area will increase a team’s capture progress. The team that fills the capture progress bar wins.
• Scuttle Racing: Two Rift Scuttlers (one for each team) race in a line across the map. Players can attack the enemy team’s Scuttler to stun it. The first Scuttler to reach the finish line wins.
• Protect the Soraka: Two Beginner Soraka bots will march through the top lane. Players must kill the enemy team’s Soraka bot to win.
• DPS Check: A Practice Dummy will spawn randomly on the map, and the team that deals the most damage to the dummy wins.
• Sudden Death: Nexus Blitz: This final event occurs at 18 minutes. Each team is recalled back to base as their Nexus begins to walk towards the enemy’s base. Players must destroy the enemy team’s Nexus to win.

While it may seem hard to keep track of all these events, the game will always reiterate its instructions, and they’re relatively easy to follow in-game.

During Nexus Blitz, players should congregate towards the center of the map before an event to ensure they’re as close as possible to whatever event spawns. Certain champions have abilities that can aid during certain minigames (for example, Poppy’s hammer can hit players out of the circle during Bard Royale). In relation, it’s important to note that many champions have had their damage dealt and damage is taken either buffed or nerfed to make the game mode fairer.

Finally, if players do well and go a certain period without dying, they’ll enter a special mode in which they set on fire and see an immense increase in their stats. However, this mode also increases damage taken and gifts a huge bounty to whoever kills a player in this mode.

Nexuz Blitz began along with the PROJECT: Bastion event on May 27, 2021. The game mode will remain player for the entirety of patch 11.11, and will see it’s way out on June 28, 2021. Thus, players who are interested should play the event as much as possible before its end!

League of Legends is available for Windows and MacOS.

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