League of Legends Season 2025 has just begun, introducing exciting changes like a new jungle monster, respawning turrets, and a battle pass. However, amongst these updates, one feature has drawn significant player criticism: Feats of Strength. Designed to reward early-game dominance with enhanced mid-to-late game advantages, the implementation of this system has left many players frustrated. Riot Games has acknowledged the issues and promised changes, though these won’t be immediate.
Feats of Strength grants one team upgraded boots, with a further upgrade option after completing two Legendary items. The three current Feats are first blood, destroying the first turret, and slaying three Epic jungle monsters. The first team to achieve two of these feats wins the challenge, permanently denying the opposing team access to these powerful Noxian boot upgrades.
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In theory, Feats of Strength should incentivize early-game strategy and promote teamwork. Players should coordinate pushes and ganks to secure the first turret, and the jungle monster requirement encourages objective-focused rotations and jungler synergy. These actions are already standard practice, but the controversy stems from the “First Blood” objective.
The problem with first blood as a Feat of Strength is readily apparent to anyone familiar with the current state of League games. With less emphasis on leashing and a rise in early invades, a single AFK teammate or an unlucky encounter can concede first blood – and a Feat of Strength – before minions even spawn. While frustrating in the past, this now grants the enemy team a significant advantage towards securing both Feats, severely impacting team morale and coordination.
“First blood being equivalent to these is absolutely ridiculous,” a Reddit user commented in a widely supported post. “It’s a coin flip, or goes to the successful invade. It is no where near the same significance or effort of the other two.”
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Fortunately, Riot Games is aware of the community’s concerns and plans to address the first blood issue. Lead gameplay designer Matt Leung-Harrison tweeted about the situation, confirming upcoming changes in patch 15.2 or 15.3. A micropatch addressing the impact of the Noxian boot rewards has already been deployed. He stated, “As mentioned, we’re closely monitoring and following Player feedback and trying to get things into a good spot tuning wise, before going after mechanics/systems changes.”
While the replacement for the first blood Feat remains unknown, many players have suggested something akin to the Epic monster challenge, requiring a certain number of champion kills rather than a single, often random first elimination. This change would reward proactive aggression and team play rather than early-game happenstance.
In conclusion, while the Feats of Strength system aims to enhance the League of Legends experience, the first blood objective has proven problematic. Riot’s responsiveness to player feedback and commitment to change offer hope for a more balanced and rewarding system in future patches.
