The nightmare is back. Since its last appearance in 2016,
Doom Bots are finally returning to League of Legends with Patch 25.17, launching on
Wednesday, August 27, 2025. This time, Riot Games tried to make it even bigger, harder, and filled with fresh mechanics that push you and your team to the limit.
Doom Bots is Riot’s ultimate PvE survival mode. For 15 minutes, you and your allies must hold out against cursed, overpowered AI opponents. If you survive, the real challenge begins with a boss fight against Doom Boss Veigar himself.
What is Doom Bots?
Doom Bots is a rotating PvE game mode that transforms Summoner’s Rift into a nightmare survival arena. Unlike Summoner’s Rift or ARAM, there’s no laning or scaling at your own pace. Your only job is to survive 15 minutes of relentless bot aggression. Here’s what defines Doom Bots:
- 15 minutes of survival against ultra-aggressive AI champions.
- Mini-challenges every few minutes: complete them to earn bonus gold, fail them and the bots power up permanently.
- Final boss fight against Doom Boss Veigar: survive his three waves of AOE attacks and curses to claim victory.
And for those who can’t wait until release, Doom Bots are already live on Riot’s PBE client.
Doom Bots mini challenges
Throughout each match, Veigar will unleash random curses in the form of mini challenges. You’ll have just two minutes to complete them. Success gives your team a huge gold boost. Failure makes the Doom Bots stronger for the rest of the game. Here’s the full list of challenges you’ll encounter:
- Find Fiddlesticks – Identify and kill the real Fiddlesticks before time runs out.
- Defeat Karthus – Destroy two Life Crystals (at Baron and Dragon) before killing Karthus.
- Super Evil Portal Assault – Destroy Veigar’s portals before they summon enemies.
- King of the Hill – Control mid-lane longer than the Doom Bots.
- Tower Charge Down – Protect a shielded mid-lane tower.
- Target Dummy Duel – Out-damage the Doom Bots on jungle dummies.
- The Ghouls Arise – Clear gravesites before ghouls overrun your base.
- Doom Bot Power-Up – Destroy pumpkins before Veigar finishes powering up.
Doom Boss Veigar
If your team survives the 15-minute survival phase, you’ll be teleported back to your nexus arena for a wrestle with Doom Boss Veigar.
Veigar arrives in the base after 15 minutes of game and sets his sights on completely destroying it. Source: Riot Games.
The fight unfolds in three waves, each with unique mini-objectives and increasingly punishing AOE attacks. Strategy here is simple on paper but brutal in execution:
- Dodge everything – Veigar’s curses and circles cover massive zones and can one-shot you.
- Keep up consistent damage – letting Veigar heal or stall drags the fight out.
- Stay alive together – if no allies are alive to hit Veigar, he turns on your nexus.
Best Champions for Doom Bots – Tier List
Some champions thrive in Doom Bots thanks to sustain, AoE, or sheer carry potential. Based on early PBE gameplay, here’s the current Doom Bots tier list:
S+ Tier – Must-Picks
- Volibear – Tanky and relentless.
- Mordekaiser – Can isolate key bots.
- Jinx – Insane AoE scaling with gold boosts.
- Viego – Resets keep fights going.
- Darius – Bleeds bots dry and dunks hard.
S Tier – Strong and Reliable
Illaoi, Yunara, Sion, Varus, Mel, Sylas, Ziggs, Trundle, Vayne, Pantheon, Kayle, Twitch, Warwick, Dr. Mundo, Kled, Bel’Veth.
A Tier – Solid Picks, But Situational
Nasus, Ashe, Master Yi, Nautilus, Cho’Gath, Brand, Xin Zhao, Gnar, Cassiopeia, Swain, Ahri.
Sheep Esports Tier List for the Doom Bots mode. Sources: tiermaker.com.
These rankings will evolve as more players test the mode, but early trends suggest bruisers, juggernauts, and high-scaling ADCs are the most effective picks.
Tips to not get crushed
If you’re aiming to survive Doom Bots (and not just get crushed in 10 minutes), here are some tips:
- Prioritize challenges – the gold boosts are massive, and failing makes bots way harder.
- Draft sustain and AoE – champions that can clear waves while healing themselves shine.
- Save cooldowns for Veigar – the final fight is where your skills really matter.
- Stick together – split pushing doesn’t work here; survival depends on teamplay.
Header Photo Credit: Riot Games
