LoL Preseason 14 New Infernal Dragon Rift and Infernal Cinders

With all of the hectic updates coming to Summoners Rift for Season 14 of League of Legends, we will also be getting a new mechanic in the form of gathering Infernal Cinders. Along with the massive map changes, item changes, and neutral objectives changes, we will also be getting a modified Infernal Rift.

Riot Games has released the upcoming update to the PBE so we will be examining it and reviewing the community feedback regarding this change. Let's get started!

League of Legends Preseason 14 Infernal Rift and Infernal Cinders

It seems that Riot Games is looking to implement a mechanic similar to Bard's chimes which by picking up occasionally spawning cinders will grant the player Ability Haste and a small amount of Movement Speed for a short period. There is no current cap as to how many cinders you can collect. Here is a rundown of what stats the cinders give:

• 2 Cinders = 1 Ability Haste
• 5 Cinders = 2 Ability Haste
  
• 12 cinders = 4 Ability Haste 
  
• 50 cinders = 15 Ability Haste
• 100 cinders = 30 Ability Haste
  

These cinders spawn once the Infernal Rift has appeared on the Rift so you won't be seeing them every game as the Infernal Dragon might not even spawn most of the games. The cinders spawn randomly as they can also appear in both bases, and every player can pick them up. The Ability Haste they provide is a flat number. You also start glowing upon collecting Infernal Cinders as the more you have, the more your champion will glow.

Upon dying, a player loses half of the cinder stacks, as the number is always rounded up so if you have 5 Cinders, you will lose 3 and keep the remaining 2. But if you have 40 Cinders, you lose 20 and the stacks are reset to 5.  Another thing to note is that allied and enemy champions can pick up these cinders, but they will not receive the Movement Speed buff.

The Infernal Rift will also display the Infernal Cinders on your minimap with small grey dots, but you will need to reveal the fog of war in order to confirm whether or not there is a cinder at that location currently. These cinders last 3 minutes once they spawn on the map.

Summary and Community Reactions

This change has been met with very mixed feelings, as many players feel this sort of mechanic is not suited for the game, and some believe that the cinders unnecessarily clutter the environment and affect the minimap vision too much.

All of the screenshots and information were taken from this video: