The Demon's Hand: A New Way to Play League of Legends
After more than 15 years of focusing on its core MOBA experience, League of Legends is expanding its gameplay offerings with The Demon's Hand—a fully featured card game that blends strategic thinking with the rich lore of Runeterra. This limited-time event marks Riot's first foray into seasonal mini-games within the League client itself.
According to the narrative backdrop, Atakhan is a powerful entity who was imprisoned for over 1,000 years before being freed by LeBlanc. Now rampaging across Runeterra and feeding on carnage, Atakhan eventually finds himself in a strange land facing a familiar opponent across a card table—where players will test their strategic might.
Card Battling Mechanics That Challenge Your Strategic Mind
The Demon's Hand isn't just a simple diversion—it's a fully realized card game with depth and strategic complexity. Players begin each match with health based on their progression and draw eight cards per round from a 52-card deck featuring four unique suits: Sun, Stone, Moon, and Fire.
Strategy comes into play as you're allowed to discard up to five cards three times per round, working to create powerful combinations that deal damage to your demonic opponent. The more complex your card combination, the more devastating the attack.
What Card Combinations Can You Play in The Demon's Hand?
The game features an impressive array of tactical options through various card combinations:
- Solo - A single high-value card
- Dyad - Two cards of the same number
- Dyad Set - Two sets of Dyads
- Triad - Three cards of the same number
- Tetrad - Four cards of the same number
- March - Five sequential number cards
- Horde - Five cards of the same suit
- Grand Warhost - Three cards of the same number and two cards of another same number
- Marching Horde - Five sequential cards of the same suit
- The Demon's Hand - Five highest-value cards of the same suit (the ultimate combination)
The Sigil System: Augment Your Power
What would a Riot Games creation be without progression and customization? The Demon's Hand introduces a Sigil system that allows players to purchase and store up to six power-ups that modify gameplay in various ways—enhancing damage, improving card draw mechanics, or adding special effects to your attacks.
While some Sigils can be purchased with in-game currency earned from battles, the most powerful Rare Sigils can only be unlocked by playing matches of League of Legends or completing special missions. These Rare Sigils aren't just powerful—they're your key to unlocking additional difficulty modes.
Three Difficulty Modes to Test Your Skills
The Demon's Hand offers three escalating difficulty levels:
- Story Mode - The default experience available to all players
- Hard Mode - Unlocked after collecting 8 Rare Sigils and completing Story Mode
- Demon Mode - The ultimate challenge, requiring 16 Rare Sigils and Hard Mode completion
Each difficulty level presents unique challenges and, more importantly, exclusive rewards for those skilled enough to overcome them.
Limited-Time Rewards for Demon Slayers
Riot is incentivizing participation with a series of exclusive rewards that can only be earned during this event:
- Complete Story Mode to earn a special Emote and 500 BXP (Battle Pass Experience)
- Conquer Hard Mode for an Illustrative Icon and 250 BXP
- Master Demon Mode to claim the Exclusive Demon's Hand Icon and 250 BXP
- Collect all 24 Rare Sigils to earn "The Demon's Hand" title and an additional 250 BXP
These rewards are exclusively available through The Demon's Hand mini-game, making them particularly valuable for collectors and completionists.
When Can You Play The Demon's Hand?
The Demon's Hand arrives with Patch 25.06 on March 19, 2025. As a seasonal mini-game, it will only be available for a limited time, so players looking to earn all the rewards should begin their card-battling journey as soon as the patch drops.
This innovative addition to League's gameplay offerings signals Riot's willingness to experiment with different game modes and experiences within their flagship title. If The Demon's Hand proves popular, we may see more seasonal mini-games in future patches, each with their own unique mechanics and rewards.
Will you be able to master the cards and claim victory against Atakhan? The table is set, and the demon awaits your challenge when Patch 25.06 launches on March 19, 2025.