The preseason is always a time for big changes and experimentation in League of Legends, and Preseason 6 will be no exception. Today, Riot Games gave us a preview of the gameplay changes that are being worked on, and there will be more changes not directly related to gameplay that will be revealed soon as well. Here's a quick rundown of the main things that will be changing:

Updating Marksmen

• Aiming to have more diversity between Marksmen, so they each feel more unique to play
• Like the "Juggernaut" update targeted specific champions, Corki, Miss Fortune, Graves, Caitlyn, Kog’Maw, and Quinn will be looked at specifically for updates
• Looking to significantly update Marksmen items, giving more options for how the ADC wishes to play (solo/split-push, ability based, tower pushing, etc.)

Mastery changes

• Masteries will feature more focused, high-impact choices rather than many low-impact ones
• With each mastery tree, you can pick one out of threee Tier 1 masteries (low-impact), one out of three Tier 2 masteries (medium impact), and one of three Tier 3, or Keystone Masteries (high-impact)

Vision and support item changes

• All players will get free trinket upgrades
• Giving supports the option of upgrading tier 2 support items into strong tier 3 items, or efficient Sightstone upgrades
• Removing Stealth Wards from the shop, forcing teams to rely more on pink wards and wards from Sightstone
• Introducing ward "debris": You can now see where friendly and enemy wards have either expired or been destroyed

Starting items

• Attempting to introduce more diversity to starting item choices
• Doran's items intended to be "generalist" items that give decent, broad stats
• Introducing more specialized starting items, like the new AD item Cull, which gives fewer defensive stats than Doran's Blade, but gives bonus gold for killing a certain number of minions
• Health potions increased in cost, mana potions removed from the game
• There will be options for refillable potions, like the current Crystalline Flask
• Due to removal of mana potions, champion ability costs and mana regeneration stats will be re-considered

The Rift Herald

• Will occupy the Baron pit before Baron Nashor spawns, giving top laners a Dragon-like objective to fight over
• Will grant what appears to be a mini-Baron buff only to the Champion that kills the Rift Herald.
• More details here.

Source/Image Credit: Riot Games