Twisted Treeline | What It Is and Why It Was Removed (2024)

Twisted Treeline was one of the best things in League of Legends, but it was removed by Riot.

If you’re new to League of Legends, then the term Twisted Treeline will not ring a bell. It’ll be a weird term you’ve heard before, but you won’t be able to make any specific associations with it. What is this treeline older players talk about? Where did it go, and why was it removed?

Today we’re going to be taking a look at Twisted Treeline, what this map was about and what eventually happened to it. So let’s dive into it.

• League of Legends Maps: A Fundamental Guide

The Early Days of Twisted Treeline

Twisted Treeline started off as a custom game mode in League of Legends when it first released back in 2009. It didn’t take long for the game mode to be added permanently. It got a normal game mode in 2010, a few months after the release of League of Legends.

This was a fairly popular game mode, and many players enjoyed the 3-vs-3 experience the game offered. The map was big, had a huge jungle, like on Summoner’s Rift and overall, it gave players a different way to experience their favorite champions.

• Players really enjoyed the OG Twisted Treeline, but they hate Master Yi, so delete him as well Riot!

In the original Twisted Treeline map, players could gain multiple buffs thanks to jungle monsters, and there was even a dragon in the middle of the map which could give teams huge benefits – and let’s be real dragon buffs only came into existence in 2015 for Summoner’s Rift. Not to mention, there were multiple brushes to place wards into, making it feel like a different version of Summoner’s Rift.

So, what changed and why did Twisted Treeline become so unpopular?

Twisted Treeline Remake

In 2012, Riot decided to remake the whole Twisted Treeline map. Gone was the multitude of monsters, replacing the top half monsters with a single one – Vilemaw – whom you might know from Elise’s lore.

• Pick up the best gaming mouse so you can win some games

Altars were also added, and players could basically capture altars in a ‘capture the flag’ style of gameplay. Riot had a third game mode ‘Dominion’ which seemed to inspire these altars that were added into Twisted Treeline.

The new map was also much smaller than the one before, which also annoyed players. Warding wasn’t available in the game either anymore.

Why Was the Twisted Treeline Map Remade?

Riot decided to upgrade the Twisted Treeline map in 2012 to bring it up to speed visually. Up until that point, the map had looked amateurish, which was why they updated the Twisted Treeline map to give it a modern look.

• There were a lot of fights on the new map, so it was key topick the best champions!

Also, the original map was pretty big, which meant there weren’t many fights on there, which made for long and boring games. Shrinking the map, meant that there would be more interaction between the six players on the field.

All that is good and dandy, but Riot failed at everything else in the map rework for Twisted Treeline.

Lack of Maintenance

After the rework, many players stopped playing Twisted Treeline. It became infested with leveling bots, and waiting for a single game could take over 15 minutes. The long wait, the awful in-game experience, it led to Riot completely forgetting and abandoning Twisted Treeline.

• Yuumi also doesn't need any maintenance.

The mode was barely updated, nothing was ever fixed, and players who enjoyed the 3-vs-3 game mode couldn’t stand it anymore. It was pure frustration. Sitting and waiting a solid 10-minutes for a game, only to have leveling bots infest the game and sucking all the fun out of it.

When Was Twisted Treeline Removed from the LoL Client?

Twisted Treeline was removed from the League of Legends client on November 19, 2019, with LoL Patch 9.23. Ahead of Season 10 in League of Legends, Riot decided to remove the game mode. Not even 1% of players played this game mode and Riot did not see this as a profitable addition to the League of Legends experience going forward.

Will Twisted Treeline Return as a Rotating Game Mode?

Since it’s removal, fans have asked to have the game mode back, at least as a rotating game mode, or to have the original Twisted Treeline included in the game as well.

• A moment of silence for Twisted Treeline... you'll be missed.

Until now, Riot has not mentioned adding Twisted Treeline back into the client, creating new rotating game modes like Unsealed Spellbook and creating a new and improved map for Nexus Blitz.

Will we ever get our much loved OG Twisted Treeline back? Give me my white and green buff Riot!