Snowdown Showdown

The Snowdown Showdown is a seasonal event to commemorate the Time of Snowdown. Riot Games introduces a few changes to the game and items that are only available in the world of Valoran. They also introduce a few cosmetic changes to the game such as themed skins and discounted runes.

Lore
The Time of Snowdown is a Special Celebration of the Valoran people to commemorate the passing of one year to the next.

For countless years, the citizens of Valoran have celebrated the end of the calendar year in numerous ways. Even while the Rune Wars raged their fiercest, most people still reserved time to celebrate the passing of one year into the next. Each city-state observes this holiday– known as the Time of Snowdown – in its own unique way. The yordles of Bandle City prioritize merriment and indulgence, throwing week-long banquets and feasting on roasted meats and sweet liquors. Demacia observes the Time of Snowdown with a strong sense of reverence, hosting grand ceremonies which commemorate the past year’s fallen heroes. Even the insidious Noxians honor the Snowdown with surprising gentility by offering clemency to select prisoners of non-violent crimes.

The people of Valoran venerate the Time of Snowdown with such devotion for reasons rooted in history of the world. Many parts of Runeterra have always suffered bitter, merciless winters; this is especially true on Valoran after the devastation wrought upon the world by the Rune Wars. Valoran’s inhabitants have historically ceased their political squabbles to band against the greater threat of nature run amok. Countless tales of yore recount instances of sworn enemies easing their hostilities with one another in order to share in lavish feasts or to allow soldiers a chance to return home briefly. In modern times, the League of Legends continues the ancient traditions by adopting the holiday as a time of revelry – both to celebrate the peace that the League brings to Valoran and as a way of giving back to the city-states that granted the League its unique position of power in the world. League embassies in each city-state are made open to the public, and feature three week festivals to which all are welcome. The Institute of War holds an exclusive month-long celebration, and invites distinguished guests from all across the continent. Special runes are forged and awarded to exemplary summoners. Great celebratory scrimmages are held in the Fields of Justice, culminating in an epic battle royale amongst the League's most powerful summoners.

The League calls this celebration the Snowdown Showdown.

Champion Skins


Snowdown Champion Skins, like Harrowing skins, have been released for a various League favorites since 2009. The first groups of these festive skins began as limited edition only - meaning once they left the store they were not coming back in the future. More recently Snowdown skins have been made Legacy, meaning after they leave the store at the end of the event there is a chance they might come back in the future for a limited time.

Limited Skins to Legacy
Due to League of Legends's dramatic increase in its community, the Snowdown Showdown skins that were originally released as limited edition were changed to Legacy skins in December 2013, and put back on sale during the year's holiday event. Riot stated that the "''... overwhelming player feedback has been that this creates an extremely negative experience for players who cannot acquire their favorite skin for their favorite champion. We believe that skins should be more about self-expression and fun than exclusivity, so we are rereleasing them in a limited way"

Veteran Player Compensation
As the value of exclusivity will lower in the process of bringing back the limited edition skins, Riot is giving compensation to the veteran players that originally bought the holiday skins in 2009 and 2010. They are gifting RP equal to the cost of the skins they purchased, giving Vintage treatment to the loading screen of those Snowdown skins as well as an giving those players an exclusive summoner icon. For more information please check out Riot's plan for vintage Limited Edition skins post.

Snowdown Showdown Skins

 * 2009 Snowdown Showdown (Legacy)
 * (only available from December 23 to December 27)
 * (only available from December 31 to January 3)
 * (only available from December 23 to December 27)
 * (only available from December 31 to January 3)
 * (only available from December 31 to January 3)
 * 2010 Snowdown Showdown (Legacy)
 * 2011 Snowdown Showdown (Legacy)


 * 2012 Snowdown Showdown (Legacy)


 * 2013 Snowdown Showdown (Legacy)


 * 2014 Snowdown Showdown

Features
Snowdown Showdown events in the past have included, but are not limited to:
 * Limited edition Holiday Runes
 * Some egg-nog tasty editions of your favorite in-game consumables
 * Merrily festive costumes for your minions
 * A cold, snow-covered version of Summoner's Rift (2009-2011)
 * Some festive summoner icons to show off to your friends and teammates
 * Cheerful ward skins for additional map vision
 * A joyful new login screen to get you in the mood
 * A Gifting feature (Only new purchases. Cannot gift Riot Points, skins, and champions which are already possessed.)

Items
The health and mana potions in the item store were replaced by the and. The effect of the potions were identical to their counterparts.

Map
The Snowdown Rift was replaced with the Winter Summoner's Rift, a seasonal variant that includes many holiday elements.

Runes
During the 2009 Snowdown Showdown, special holiday runes were released and they were only available from December 16 to January 6. Three of them were Tier 1.5, and three were Tier 2.5. During the 2010 and 2011 Snowdown Showdown, only 4 runes were released.
 * 2009 Snowdown Showdown
 * MarkCripplingCandyCane.png Mark of the Crippling Candy Cane (Tier 2.5, critical damage)
 * GlyphSpecialStocking.png Glyph of the Special Stocking (Tier 2.5, cooldown reduction)
 * SealElusiveSnowflake.png Seal of the Elusive Snowflake (Tier 2.5, dodge chance)
 * MarkYuletideTannenbaum.png Mark of the Yuletide Tannenbaum (Tier 1.5, critical chance)
 * GlyphGraciousGift.png Glyph of the Gracious Gift (Tier 1.5, AP per level)
 * SealStoutSnowman.png Seal of the Stout Snowman (Tier 1.5, HP per level)
 * 2010 and 2011 Snowdown ShowdownPaper toys for Snowdown 2013.jpg
 * GreaterQuintessenceofFrostyFortitude.png Greater Quintessence of Frosty Fortitude - Health
 * GreaterQuintessenceofSugarRush.png Greater Quintessence of Sugar Rush - Movement Speed
 * GreaterQuintessenceofthePiercingPresent.png Greater Quintessence of the Piercing Present - Magic Penetration
 * GreaterQuintessenceoftheDeadlyWreath.png Greater Quintessence of the Deadly Wreath - Armor Penetration

Summoner Icons
The Snowdown events from 2012 to 2014 introduced new Summoner Icons that a summoner could earn in celebration of the festive holiday.

Ward Skins
The Snowdown Showdown of 2012 found a welcome gift in League of Legends of two ward skins to celebrate the festive season. These skins were free throughout the duration of the event.

In 2013 the two ward skins returned for free use again for the duration of the event along with the new candycane ward. For a limited time, these three ward skins were also purchasable for 640 to add them permanently to your account.

Snowdown Showdown Mode
You’ve shot off five Final Sparks and achieved immortality through constant Chrono Shifts, but now it’s time for a Showdown.

For the next Featured Gameplay Mode, you’ll be able to duel it out with friends and foes alike on an icy battlefield that promises contests of epic proportions.

With three paths to an honorable victory, will you go full ham and draw first blood, wave clear your way to 100 CS or channel your inner Ziggs and demolish the turret before your opponent?

If you queue up with a buddy for the beatdowns, you’ll notice that you need two kills to earn the dubya, or the two of you can combine to hit that century CS mark.Sharpen your swords and ready your hextech revolvers. The Showdown approaches this Snowdown.

Legend of the Poro King
This year’s Snowdown brings with it our next featured game mode… and a legend. The “Legend of the Poro King”. We’ve dramatically changed what fights on the Howling Abyss will look like, so let’s get straight into the rules: Played on the Howling Abyss, Legend of the Poro King is a 5v5 Blind Draft game mode, where your goal is still to destroy the enemy team’s nexus. However, you’ll have some Poro companions with you (to throw at each other of course), be diving deep to make #bigplays and work together to summon some help from the legendary Poro King himself. New summoner spells

When playing the Legend of the Poro King, your regular summoner spells are replaced with two new ones, made just for the mode:

The Poro King
The Poro King is benevolent and will aid whichever team has summoned him. He can be dispelled, but only to return again when enough favour has been curried with him. As a tanky siege minion, he brings an impressive power boost to whichever team he’s aiding. His powers include:
 * Tanky siege minion with a LOT of health. Let him be your front line!
 * The Poro King absorbs all Poros within his range being thrown by the enemy team, making him a powerful pushing force.
 * The Poro King will heal nearby allied champions every 5 seconds for health and a smaller amount of mana based on the team’s average level.
 * Every 5 seconds, the Poro King will lob out Poros in an arc around him, dealing magic damage to enemies where they land.

Gallery
2009=

Themes
On top of all the new gleeful features, every year summoners are met with a new animated login screen. They usually showcase one or more of the year's new Snowdown skins and are backed with music fit for the holiday to set up the mood as everyone enters the game. 2011=

2012=

Log-In Screens
2010= 2011= 2012= 2013= 2014=

Winterfreuden Snowdown Showdown Snowdown Showdown