Butcher's Bridge
The Butcher's Bridge is an ARAM replacement for Howling Abyss. Each appearance is about two to four weeks. The first appearance was Bilgewater: Burning Tides, then Curse of the Drowned event in 2018 and another in 2019. Two of its appearances are paired with new gameplay changes and testing.
In lore, Butcher's Bridge is located inside Bilgewater and is a pathway leading towards the Temple of Nagakabouros.
Lore
Related Champions
Gangplank required aid from Illaoi.- Hecarim is a specter that attacked Bilgewater during the Harrowing and laid waste to the port of Grey Harbor.
- Illaoi is a temple priestess of Nagakabouros that defended Bilgewater against the Black Mist.
- Kalista is a specter that punishes betrayers in Bilgewater.
- Karthus is a specter that attacked a Bilgewater ship.
- Lucian defended Bilgewater against the Black Mist.
- Miss Fortune defended Bilgewater against the Black Mist.
- Olaf defended Bilgewater against the Black Mist.
- Tahm Kench is a glutton that preys on victims from Bilgewater.
- Thresh is a specter that attacked Bilgewater during the Harrowing.
History
Burning Tides
- For more details, see Burning Tides / The Reckoning
Burning Ship, Burning Tides.
I want everyone loyal to him brought to answer.
I want the heads of his lieutenants mounted on my wall.
Burn everything that bears his mark.
Miss Fortune [1]
For many of those fleeing justice, debt, or persecution, Bilgewater is a city of new beginnings. But for some, the past is something you can never escape. 
Tobias Twisted Fate, hired by an unknown benefactor was tasked to steal and return a Crimson-Coil dagger from one of Captain Gangplank's warehouses located in Rat Town's Slaughter Docks. Easily avoiding the detection of the Jagged Hooks gang, Twisted Fate managed to infiltrate the warehouse, only to be confronted by his old partner, 
Malcolm Graves.
Flamed with rage of his partners betrayal, Graves started shooting at at Tobias in an effort to settle the score with him. With Gangplank’s warehouse burning and with the pirate captain’s thugs swarming, the resolution of Graves’ and Twisted Fate’s long-simmering feud threatens to engulf the entire city in flames. Informed by the destruction of his warehouse, 
Gangplank set off the catch both of the perpetrators of this act.
Both Graves and Twisted Fate tried to flee from the wrath of the Pirate King but with no success. Gangplank tortured them until he tried to publicly execute them in front of the whole city for their misbehavior. Hearing the news of this event, Sarah Fortune plans set in motion and would confront Gangplank for the deaths of her parents. Graves managing to hide one of Twisted Fate's card, snatched during their previous fight around the city, from the pirate thugs, both he and TF managed to fight there way trough hoards of enemies before they escaped, but not until they set Gangplank's ship in flames.
Gangplank surviving the destruction of his ship.
While Twisted Fate and Graves have escaped, in the aftermath of the destruction of the Dead Pool, Gangplank’s spoils-filled warehouses have been plundered, and those who followed the dread pirate have forfeited their allegiance. Bilgewater devours itself as the streets ring with the shrieks of the desperate and the dying. A war started by the spread of three words: Gangplank is dead. Miss Fortune takes the opportunity to purge the city of anyone that was loyal to the dreaded pirate.
Despite receiving horrific injuries in the explosion, Gangplank survived. Having lost everything from the attack, Gangplank sought out the help from Illaoi. By passing Illaoi's test, he have deemed worthy at the eyes of her God. Sporting a multitude of fresh scars, and with a newly crafted metal arm to replace his amputated limb, he is now determined to rebuild his strength, reclaim what he sees as rightfully his, and ruthlessly punish all those who turned against him.
Shadow and Fortune
- For more details, see Shadow and Fortune / Shadow and Fortune.
With the fall of Gangplank, Bilgewater descends into chaos as old rivalries are settled in blood while gang warfare threatens to tear the city apart. Miss Fortune, the leading figure of this uprising, has systematically been removing all of Gangplank's former or continuing allies so as to assure her spot as the ruler of Bilgewater. During one of her excursions, she was stopped by a well known and respected priestess of the God Nagakabouros, 
Illaoi. She warned Sarah to stop her foolish behavior and prepare for the coming Harrowing which she has foreseen.
As a fisherman and a warrior of the Freljord, 
Olaf desired for worthy battles and even worthier deaths. The Krakenwyrm creature, one of his recent killings, was to be sold to one of many Bilgewater's slaughters.
Amidst the constant chaos of the city streets, the young Gun Templar known as 
Lucian was preparing for the Harrowing's arrival.
The Harrowing comes to Bilgewater (by Riot Artist Patrick Faulwetter)
During the next evening, the Harrowing arrived at Bilgewater and its surrounding area in an attempt to purge and rip the souls out of every single person within the city. Undead spirits flew across the night sky and shrouded the city in a dark mist of damned shrieking souls of the Shadow Isles. People fled, coward, or prayed to the Bearded Lady for the The Black Mist not to take them. With each citizen and living thing killed, a new undead arose. The carcass of the Krakenwyrm arose seemingly wanting to finish its fight with its slayer.
During that time, 
Thresh, the servant of the Black Mist had been seeking out new victims and souls for his collection. Unbeknownst to him, he was being hunted down by Lucian. Enraged by the presence of his wife's killer, Lucian swore to defeat the monster and finally rid the world of its torment. In the end, Thresh managed to escape his pursuer after a short and tense battle. As a parting gift of further torment, Thresh had conveyed that the soul of his wife, Senna, was still trapped inside his lantern. Lucian shocked and with a new burning passion for revenge and conclusion, would continue his purge of the undead while also seeking out to save the soul of his dead wife.
Olaf, Lucian, and Miss Fortune and her crew all meeting in the most weirdest of circumstances after a brawling fight with the undead which lead them to one another. Remembering the advice Illaoi gave her, Miss Fortune proposed that they head towards the Temple of Nagakabouros and to seek out the help of its priestess. When traversing the Butcher's Bridge, they were confronted at the temple's entrance by 
Hecarim, the Black Mist's main general. Separated and barely escaping with their lives, they managed to get inside the temple where some of the surviving citizens prayed with Illaoi for Nagakabouroses salvation.
As the mist and the enemy army poured into the temple, Illaoi, the Kraken Priestess with the help of her God able to fend of the advancing undead army and liberate Bilgewater from threat of the Harrowing.
Despite many losses, the city managed to live through the night. Miss Fortune and Lucian, now bestowed with a new goal and purpose, had parted their ways and assured each other luck. With Olaf surviving its second encounter with the undead Krakenwyrm, he had also parted Bilgewater, seeking out new challenges and worthy battles.
Wildlife
- The Land and coastal areas house an large assortment of astounding creatures, such as: Wharf Rats and
Scuttler Crabs.
- There are also more mundane creatures inhabiting the coastlines and docks such as seagulls.
- Various monsters from across Runeterra are shipped through the black market, trained extensively and sold as living commodities for entertainment, industrial use or simply as loyal underlings. The illegal trade is especially prevalent in a pirate haven such as Bilgewater. As is the principle in the black market trade, those who pay more Krakens undoubtedly get better monsters than those who pay less. Examples of these mercenary beasts are:
Ironbacks, 
Ocklepods, Plundercrabs, and Razorfins.
Ironbacks
Warf Rat, Ocklepod, Plundercrab, and Ironback.
- For more detail, see Ironback.
are squat bipedal creatures that resemble turtles or tortoises. Though not as tall as a human adult, they are far wider and more heavily-built. When domesticated and used for combat, they act as siege engines. Their stout strength can tear down whole structures with ease; and when outfitted with armor to complement their thick hide, they can endure the most grievous assaults.
Wharf Rat
A Warf Rat and her young.
- For more detail, see Razorfin.
Wharf Rats a terrifying blend of shark and rat commonly found on the docks of Bilgewater. These creatures are larger than dogs and are known to prey upon drunks and lone fishermen on moonless nights. They often travel in packs, and are easily capable of biting a man's leg off.
- In Bilgewater one can come across many astounding creatures brought from the dark and mysterious Guardian's Sea, such as: Dragon-Sharks, Sea Serpents, Giant Squid, Four-eyed Shark Creature and Kraken.
- There are also more mundane creatures inhabiting the sea, coastlines and docks such as: octopi, hammerhead sharks, devilfish, clams and fish.
Hammerhead Sharks
They are an ocean dwelling species of sharks native to the Guardian's Sea and Bilgewater. Their brown hide is rough, almost scale like. They head is in the shape of a hammer with two pairs of eyes and also have five fins for movement.
Giant Squid
Giant Squids are a deep-ocean dwelling species of squid native to the Guardian's Sea. They tend to be the size of a house, although some are said to grow even bigger, and can sometimes attack smaller ships. They are also usually hunted for either food or sport, the latter of which is just as dangerous as the former.
Krakens
Krakens are large serpent/octopi-like species that have been sighted in the Guardian's Sea. They possess a set of tentacles and five eyes, two pairs and one large one at the center of the forehead. The mythos behind this species is so well known on the Blue Flame Islands and that many structures in honor of this species were constructed by the original denizens of Bilgewater. Their image has been used for the currency of Bilgewater, know as Krakens Golden Krakens.
Ocklepods
- For more detail, see Ocklepod.
are crustacean-like creatures that magically hover above the ground unassisted. They either inhabit or have been outfitted with a metallic helm with submarine periscope jutting above, the creature's eyes peek through the helm and periscope. This creature is mostly used for intelligence-gathering and support roles as they are capable of magically shielding nearby allies as well as revealing distances. This is especially infuriating in attrition wars as the creature's telepathic sight could easily reveal an ambush and its shielding capability is able to see troops through the thickest of fires.
Plundercrabs
- For more detail, see Plundercrab.
are large crustaceans that wear cannon-mounted parapets as their shell. It is unknown whether they inhabit the said weaponry naturally, or are purposely outfitted. Used as living artillery pieces, they lay down cannon fire from afar. They seem very intelligent for an animal, as they can trained to pick out high-priority targets to focus fire upon.
Scuttle Crabs
- For more detail, see Rift Scuttler.
Scuttler Crabs or Rift Scuttlers live in the fresh waters of Valoran and can be found near the docks of Bilgewater and in Summoner's Rift. They are small green-shelled crustaceans with 3 pairs of legs and one pair of front claws. They sometimes bury themselves into the muck of the river to avoid predators and are known to either avoid or flee from dangers. To confer peaceful resolution (hence the elusive pacifist nickname) to the force that subdues it, it will grant them a boon: a persistent field around it that grants vision and magical speed to the aggressor and its allies. If corrupted by The Void, a Rift Scuttler turns into a 
Rift Herald.
Sea Serpent
Sea Serpents are a large species of ocean dwelling serpents native to the Guardian's Sea. They presents on the sea is so well known be the denizens of Bilgewater that their nations crest and Silver Serpents currency is a Sea Serpent. They can also be summoned by serpent callers. One account from the Harrowing records the might of these creatures, having halted the progress of the Black Mist before it reached Bilgewater, though the beast was slain in the process.Gameplay
Butcher's Bridge Minimap
The objective of Butcher's Bridge is simple – destroy the enemy nexus. In order to do this, champions must traverse down one path (or lane) in order to attack their enemy at their weakest points they can exploit. Both teams have their lane defended by numerous turrets; each turret grows in strength the closer it gets to its nexus and each turret must be eliminated in order to gain access to the next turret in that lane. Cooperating with fellow summoners is an absolute requirement for success, as it is easy for a champion to find themselves ambushed by enemies in the lanes of the Bridge.
Features
- The map is a Murder Bridge variant.
- The setting is an ancient temple built into the side of a mountain (red base) with a bridge leading to its entrance, which a huge city built up around. Even the bridge is mostly held together with wood.
- All in-game assets updated to be appropriate for Bilgewater's including: rotary cannon-turrets (i.e. they visually rotate to face their target), inhibitors, nexii, collapsing bridge assets, brush, health shrines, etc.
- Poros have been replaced with little land-piranha known as a Wharf Rat.
- Gregor is replaced with Bubbs, a little fellow who is funding a submarine expedition and wearing diving gear.
- Lyte is replaced with Finn, a stocky fisherman and his market stall of hauled merchandise.
- He alludes to a mysterious Her, a dangerous being of the seas. "If you ever see Her, you'll know why land's the place for you."
- A possibility, beside an unknown female yet to be revealed, is that he refers to Kalista, as she can traverse the ocean with the help of the Black Mist.
- A possibility, beside an unknown female yet to be revealed, is that he refers to
- He alludes to a mysterious Her, a dangerous being of the seas. "If you ever see Her, you'll know why land's the place for you."
- Background scenery now depicts a Bilgewater city including sharks in the river, moving ships, opening and shutting gates, hanging fish (and more curious monsters).
- Mark / Dash reskinned - You now throw an Orange and dash as a (rather large, compared to the snowball) pirate ship.
- In the V9.7 ARAM event, the summoner spell Backtrack and the item Mariner's Vengeance were available, it's unknown if these are to be a feature of the map in future Butcher's Bridge events.
- Main article: Butcher's Bridge/Quotes
The deep sea diver, Bubbs, and the fisherman, Finn, (i.e. the shopkeepers) enforce "limited shopping", preventing champions from purchasing items after they have left the fountain, until after they have been slain in combat. The point when the shop becomes inaccessible to them is represented by a unique animation - Bubbs jumps into his submersible and closes the hatch while Finn walks back into his curtained shelter.
Each shopkeeper has a collection of generic quotes as well as unique quotes for the Bilgewater, sea-based, Shadow Isles, and a fair number of
marksman champions, as well as special exceptions for 
Diana, 
Gragas, 
Heimerdinger and 
Udyr. They also make comments about the amount of gold you have and the amount of time spent at the shop. Their extensive list of quotes can be found in the linked page above.Trivia
- Butcher's Bridge was revealed during the Burning Tides event and had a significant role in the Shadow and Fortune event.
- Butcher's Bridge returned for patch V8.11 with the release of the latest champion, Pyke, and also on patch V9.7.
Building Butcher’s Bridge: the Bilgewater event
TLDR: Later this summer, we’ll launch our next event called Bilgewater: Burning Tides. As part of the event, the temporary Butcher’s Bridge ARAM map brings Bilgewater to life for the first time in game. Read on to learn more about the new map and the creative storm at Riot inspired by the possibilities in the teeming port city. [2]
Bilgewater: Burning Tides sails into port later this summer, but content from the event starts hitting PBE over the next few weeks. Consider this article a spoiler-free sneak peek, but you may want to avoid Bilgewater-related news until the event kicks off if you want to follow along with the story.
Bilgewater anchors the latest lore-inspired event after the Shadow Isles, the Freljord, and Shurima. Teams all over Riot felt it was pretty obvious the bustling port would make an awesome setting for an event for a while now. Narrative and world-building teams laid groundwork for an overlap of cultures and styles that’d scuff up the image of the place, and help the gritty black market come alive.
- WE'RE HEADING TO BILGEWATER
We ended up choosing Bilgewater when a dev team built a Bilgewater-style ARAM map from scratch during one of our Thunderdome hackathons. Everyone’s enthusiasm at seeing Bilgewater realized in-game drove the overarching thematic of the event. After the jolt of creativity sparked by Thunderdome, tons of teams across Riot banded together to deliver a Bilgewater experience with a wide swath of content--including a re-imagined evolution of that Thunderdome map.
- A NEW ARAM MAP
Butcher’s Bridge brings Bilgewater to life in game. In the new map, the original native culture of Bilgewater and the outside influence from across Runeterra meld together, showing off the stratified melting pot of races, cultures, and creeds.
We've incorporated blends of ancient and modern Bilgewater imagery on inhibitors, nexii, towers, and scattered around the bases. On one side, boat houses flank a temple door, and on the other side a giant ship hull sits ensconced, ringed by temple carvings on the sides of the cliffs. Rotating cannon turrets launch heavy artillery fire along with other small details designed to put you inside the pirate bay.
We're focusing on the visuals in this blog because the gameplay for ARAM isn’t changing at all; you’ll still experience the same frenetic all-random action. It’s just that now, given the nature of the slaughter-docks, you’ll be fighting on what is quite literally a murder bridge.
- TAKING ANOTHER LOOK
With the overall event goal to deliver an in-depth exploration of the world, we had to rethink exactly what it means to be a denizen of Bilgewater. Our explorations into the pirates, smugglers, and shanty-dwellers led us to an indigenous island society when it became clear the city had existed for centuries.
From those suggestions, artists evolved the architecture of the islands with vibrant colors, uniquely textured shapes, and decorative motifs. The native culture took on a bigger role in shaping the look of the environment, emphasizing the hunting and harvesting trade the indigenous peoples had made of sea monsters.
- SEA MONSTERS AND SEA-FARERS
The bustle and grind of a busy port betrays the wide variety of influences on the city. Between inverted Freljordian longships against the carved cliff-faces and the slow evolution of indigenous carvings and hints at other regions of the world, the depth in the narrative behind the streets and the culture finds new forms of expression.
- BUTCHER'S BRIDGE
As Runeterra’s biggest black market, keep your eyes peeled for clandestine, coded messages, illicit hextech pilfered from Piltover, and other easter eggs hidden amongst the shopkeepers’ wares and the assorted scattered items around the scene.
We're putting Butcher's Bridge through the wringer on PBE, and it’ll be moored up there just a little while since we still have some work left to make her seaworthy. One last note on the map: while Butcher’s Bridge is replacing Howling Abyss as your go-to destination for all-random assault during Bilgewater: Burning Tides, we’re still exploring post-event options.
Share your first impressions of the newest ARAM map and the upcoming event in the comments below or over on the boards. We’re excited to hear what you think, and can’t wait to join you for Bilgewater: Burning Tides, the next League of Legends event!Media
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See Also
References
| Islands | Bilgewater · Buhru |  |
|---|---|---|
| Locations | Bilgewater Bay · Butcher's Bridge · Grey Harbor | |
| Factions |  Bilgewater ·  Buhru ·  Jagged Hooks ·  Syrens |
Other Locations| Disputed Locations | Demacian Walls · Howling Marsh · Ionia City · Kaladoun · Lower Demacia · Marshes of Kaladoun · Mogron Pass · Paisfield · Plague Jungles · Urtistan · Urvash · Voodoo Lands · Westerley |  |
|---|---|---|
| Alternate Universe Locations | Cosmic Ruins · Crash Site · Institute of War · Magma Chamber · Proving Grounds · Substructure 43 · Summoner's Rift · Valoran City Park | |
| Game Locations | Butcher's Bridge · Cosmic Ruins · Crash Site · Crystal Scar · Howling Abyss · Institute of War · Magma Chamber · Proving Grounds · Substructure 43 · Summoner's Rift · Temple of Lily and Lotus · Twisted Treeline · Valoran City Park |