A small but welcome change

League of Legends has picked up another quality-of-life update, and this one is aimed squarely at making the game less awkward for newer players and anyone who would rather not perform finger gymnastics in the middle of a fight.

Riot Games has been steadily pushing the MOBA toward a more accessible, new player-friendly experience ahead of the much larger League Next overhaul planned for next year. The latest step arrives in LoL Patch 26.7, which adds a new setting called “Learn Spell On Cast.”

How the new setting works

When the option is enabled, players can press the key for an ability their champion has not learned yet, and the game will immediately learn that spell.

Normally, players would need to either:

  • Move the mouse to the bottom of the screen and click the arrow for the ability they want to level
  • Hold Ctrl and press the ability key to level it

Of those two, the Ctrl method is generally considered the better option because it keeps your hands on the controls and lets you upgrade a skill quickly during messy team fights. Riot has now made that process a little less clumsy by removing the need to hold Ctrl in the first place.

Why Riot is doing this

The change is clearly meant to help newer players, or simply players who are not especially interested in showing off mechanical precision while deciding whether they need an extra damage spell or an escape tool.

The practical upside is that players can now wait a moment during lane, see how a situation develops, and then react by casting the ability they want to learn once they hit level two. A small mercy, really. Just keep in mind that the unlearned ability will not cast on the first press.

One thing to watch out for

There is a catch, because of course there is.

The feature can also be used to put points into abilities you have already learned. That means if you are mashing buttons in the middle of a fight and level up at the wrong moment, you could accidentally spend points somewhere you did not intend.

That is especially worth remembering at the start of ARAM matches, where players begin with three skill points.

More changes are coming

This update is not the only major shift on Riot’s calendar. The company has also confirmed that voice chat is coming to League of Legends, which should be a fun addition for anyone who has ever heard a random teammate type in all caps.