The Land of Dawn is set for its most exciting transformation yet! Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) reveals this year's Project NEXT update on 17 September—to introduce unprecedented battlefield changes that not only refresh the game but also challenge players to rethink their strategies like never before.
Project NEXT is MLBB's yearly initiative designed to elevate the overall gaming experience through gameplay optimizations, build and hero revamps, and meta-balancing updates. This year, the campaign offers next-level battlefield experience through the Annual Map Change.
The Annual Map Change introduces four (4) new in-game maps that will shake up the gameplay. These maps will challenge players to rethink their lane strategies, hero selections, and everything they know about the Land of Dawn.
The first map, called Dangerous Grass, has dense grasses that cover the high ground and inner turrets, the Mid Lane, and the Lord's pit. These bushes create new ambush opportunities, allowing high-burst damage heroes like Eudora and Saber to hide, catch enemies off guard, and unleash their full combos for instant kills.
Once safe zones are now fraught with danger as the new map, Broken Walls, opens up new shortcuts across the battlefield. These paths provide mobility-based heroes—like Johnson—more opportunities to secure kills. Alternatively, it also offers less mobile heroes additional escape routes. Meanwhile, junglers can now enter the pit from behind to steal the Lord or Turtle.
Another new map option, Flying Cloud, helps players defend the higher ground faster than ever! Found near the base, the Flying Cloud platform can transport a newly-respawned hero by entering the flight state and hovering for five seconds beyond the higher ground. This new feature helps heroes to initiate a team fight or prevent minions from taking down the base turrets.
Lastly, the fourth version of the map features Expanding Rivers. The river's current has intensified, overflowing into nearby areas and boosting hero mobility for faster ganks and rotations. This feature is especially beneficial for heroes without dash skills, as the water flow provides extra speed to escape danger or quickly support allies during team fights.
"By reimagining the Land of Dawn, we aim to provide our players with the biggest in-game patch yet with new challenges to embrace. The latest patch with four different maps redefines how our players approach every battle, while ensuring that the game remains accessible to and enjoyed by everyone," said Arnold Xie, Lead Developer for MLBB at MOONTON Games.
Chaos arrives at the Shadow Abyss
The launch of Project NEXT 2025 will witness the arrival of Obsidia, the newest marksman emerging from the dark depths of the Shadow Abyss. The former sovereign of the bottomless pit of the Land of Dawn takes the spotlight in this year's most impactful in-game patch update yet.
Major revamps will also be introduced for select heroes from The Abyss, such as Alice, Dyrroth, and Thamuz.
