Understanding Objective Bounties in League of Legends
A new season, a new fresh start. This time we have a new feature in the Rift to play around with: Objective Bounties. Learn what they do and how to make the most out of them.
Every new season, the Riot team comes up with new ways to make League of Legends more engaging to keep players' interests alive. This year, apart from new item, champion, and runes updates, the focus is also on how to improve the gaming experience for the losing team. So they came up with a new bounty system that might be handy.
The Objective Bounty System has been available in the game since Patch 11.23, but if you still didn’t understand it today, I am going to give you some clarifications.
WHAT ARE THE OBJECTIVE BOUNTIES?
The system was designed especially for the losing team, to give them a chance for a comeback. I think we all have that kind of game when there is no hope, and you just want to surrender, but you have that one teammate who declined early surrender. The vote isn’t unanimous, so you have to wait until minute 15 for a general surrender. What happens then? You lose all your desire to play the match at all.
That’s when Objective Bounties come to help.
Multiple objects around the rift benefit from bounties: turrets, Dragons, Baron and Rift Herald. They are similar to the bounty you receive for shutting down enemies that have gained a lead. Usually, you receive an amount of gold, which can gradually scale up to 1000 bonus gold (the equivalent of 3 or more kills) according to how many kills, assists and impact to the game the enemy has. With Objective Bounties, instead of being put on a single champion’s head and paid only to one player, the bounty is equally split among the team. So, if you happened to have a bad start or misfortunate matchmaking and you lost the initial turret’s plating gold, now you have a chance to catch up.
When a team falls behind considerably, the objectives activate and are highlighted across the minimap.
This applies only to the objects still available in the game at the given moment. You can’t claim a bounty for destroyed turrets or previously killed Dragons.
Four factors determine when the objectives activate: XP lead, Gold lead, Dragon lead, and Turret lead. The game will automatically calculate the differences between the teams. The bounties will be active 15 seconds after a team falls below the threshold and will deactivate 15 seconds after the team manages to catch up.
You will notice a message in your chat box before the bounties spawn or disappear, and once they are up, each bounty will have a different health bar that indicates its bounty status.
In theory, this sounds convenient, but remember they are not meant to be easy to claim because both teams can see them and have access to them. They are designed to make your game more engaging and give you some hope, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to fight for them. In an August blog post, the developers explained they don’t want to unbalance the game by giving an advantage to a team that is clearly not as skilled as the other:
We don’t want to invalidate the big advantages caused by the skill gap. If you’re just that good and dominating your lane opponent and snowballing the game, that advantage shouldn’t just disappear altogether.
So, don’t be mad if you still lose the game even though you get most of the available bounties. Just accept that your enemy team played better than your team this time.
HOW ARE OBJECTIVE BOUNTIES CALCULATED?
Each objective that is still available for the losing team gains a bounty accordingly:
- Baron & Elder Dragon: 500 Gold
- Dragons & Rift Herald: 500 Gold
- Outer Turret: 250 Gold
- Inner Turret & Base Turret: 400 Gold
If the losing team doesn't improve but continues to fall behind, the bounties have a chance to increase by 60% and their available time is extended. That means Baron and Dragons can be worth almost 800 gold if you continue to lose. All of those changes are marked in the tab menu under each objective’s icon.
WHY ARE OBJECTIVE BOUNTIES IMPORTANT?
Objective Bounties help players that have a hard time on their lanes or as a team.
Like I previously said, imagine you had a bad start, and you lost the turret plating gold. Your enemies are pushy, they have more farm than you, and you barely have enough coins to finish your first item. What can you do? Sure, you can spam pings continuously until the jungle decides to show up, but if you are not strong enough, a gang won’t help that much. You still have another chance: try taking some Objective Bounties. If the enemy Outer Turret is still up, take advantage of your opponent’s recall and do your best to take down that turret. If you spot them on other lanes, you can also try that with the Inner Turret, but keep an eye on the mini-map in case they come back. The additional gold you receive might be just enough for an item that can boost your damage or can give you enough MR to survive against their mages.
At the same time, you're helping your whole team. Maybe you are not the only one that would appreciate some extra gold.
Let’s take another example. Let’s say you're in a situation when all of your lanes are lost for good. The chances to take down turrets in that stage of the game are quite low, but you notice that you have good synergy in team fights. Therefore, once the Objective Bounties activate, it might be a good idea to take the Dragon. Not only do you benefit from the Dragon’s Buff, but you also go back to base with some cash in your pockets. And since Dragons have big bounties over their heads, maybe now you can change the game a little bit. Also, if you have a split pusher in your team, like Nasus or Tryndamere, you can help them take some turrets. Keep the enemies busy enough in other lanes to allow your split pusher to do their thing.
But (and yes, there is a but) don’t rely exclusively on Objective Bounties. Remember that enemies can see them as well, so think strategically. Don’t just go for Dragon’s bounty if you have no idea where their Jungler is. If he jumps over the wall and steals the Dragon with Smite you lose the bounty and the Dragon Buff. The same applies to turrets. If you push too far without considering your teammates’ and enemies’ positions, you'll just end up dead and with no extra gold in your pockets. You just give them a free kill. So, even if you want that extra gold, you should take a step back, discuss the situation with your team and then decide your move. If you’re in a position where taking objectives is too risky you can try defending a little bit until you have a better opportunity.
CLOSING OUT
Objective Bounties are still new, and we can expect future updates and changes. On Reddit, this topic is still under debate. Some players happily claim they are a good addition to the game that can help you make up for your mistakes, while others consider we already have enough comeback mechanisms and possibilities like champion bounties, strategic team fights, stealing Dragons and Baron or freezing waves.
Time and players' experience will tell us if Objective Bounties are meant to stay or not.
