The Summoner's Rift is the most commonly used Field of Justice.

The map was given a graphical and technical update on May 23, 2012 and remade from scratch in November 12, 2014.

Lore

Summoner's Rift is located in a remote forest between Freljord, the Serpentine River, and the Ironspike Mountains. The Summoner’s Rift is one of a few locations in Valoran where magical energy is at its greatest concentration, making it a highly sought-after locale to pursue magical endeavors. The magical energy is so great that it has mutated the local wildlife. From giant frogs to two headed wolves as well as the residence of species of chameleons, horned rabbits and butterflies. This place has also attracted the presence of a  Dragon. The Rifts is surprised by the reemergence of  Baron Nashor, a large Serpent/Worm largely believed to be dead for centuries. It has his corruption affecting the land around him. Historically, the forest where the Rift resides was the site of several battles during Runeterra's various Rune Wars.  

Gameplay

The objective of Summoner's Rift is simple – destroy the enemy nexus. In order to do this, champions must traverse down one of three different paths (or lanes) in order to attack their enemy at their weakest points they can exploit. Both teams have their lanes defended by numerous turrets; each turret grows in strength the closer it gets to its respective nexus and each turret must be eliminated in order to gain access to the next turret in that lane. Cooperating with fellow summoners is an absolute requirement for success, as it is easy for a champion to find themselves ambushed by enemies in the lanes of the Rift.

In-Game Description

The oldest and most venerated Field of Justice is known as Summoner's Rift. This battleground is known for the constant conflicts fought between two opposing groups of Summoners. Traverse down on of three different paths in order to attack your enemy at their weakest point. Work with your allies to siege the enemy base and destroy their Headquarters.

Features

• 19000 unit distance from nexus obelisk to nexus obelisk (measured with  Caitlyn's  Ace in the Hole).
• Three lanes to fight your way to the enemy base.
• A forest populated by neutral monsters of varying degrees of toughness, the toughest of which provide buffs and/or gold for your whole team.
• Powerful turrets defend key areas on the map. You must confront these in addition to your enemies if you are to make headway toward victory.
• A map dividing river that lies in neutral territory, allowing for quick travel between lanes.
• Two bases at opposite corners of the map, populated by a shop, a nexus, two turrets to defend the nexus, and inhibitors that suppress the other team's minions.

Unique Shopkeepers

Summoner's Rift during its history had a total of four shopkeepers.

• The first one was a Manbacon. This is an infamous race that is living in Runeterra. Manbacionians usually set up shops in a small pack and they also like to smoke.^[1]. He sold some standard starting items like the Doran's Blade, the Doran's Ring, the Doran's Shield. He was selling his weaponry at both the Blue team and the Purple team bases.
• The second shopkeeper was an elderly male Yordle with a cart pulled by an animal resembling a big cat or a rabbit of an unknown species (PBE data mining posted here revealed it to be a "yonkey"). He replaced Doran and he was also present for both the Blue and the Purple bases.
• A pair of new shopkeepers replacing the previous vendor: in the Blue base there's an elderly female Yordle with a large animal resembling a Bantha from Star Wars and in the Red base there's an elderly mustached seal merchant attending his shop inside a large hot-air balloon that got punctured.

Versions

Summer Version

It is the default and first version released of the map.

Winter Version

A variant of the regular Summoner's Rift with a winter seasonal variants, designed for the 2009 Snowdown Showdown event. This version was a permanent option before it was replaced with the Autumn Version on November 2010. It was also available during the 2010 Snowdown Showdown, replacing the Autumn version temporarily and made a return for the 2011 Snowdown Showdown in December 2011. The Winter Version of the Summoner's Rift has a few differences:

• A mostly white background, because of the snow.
• Snow falling and covering the terrain.
• The River is frozen.

Autumn Version

The Autumn Version of Summoner's Rift was a special variant designed for the 2010 Harrowing Seasonal Event. It replaced the Winter Version as the secondary version available and renamed Autumn Version after a poll on November 2010. It was temporarily replaced again with the Winter Version for the 2010 Snowdown Showdown. The Autumn Version uses music from the Twisted Treeline.

• There are coffins at bottom right area of the map. These signify the "death" (cancellation) of several champions.

Development

Summoner’s Rift Update

May 23, 2012 brought graphical and technical updates to Summoner’s Rift. The updates brought players better aesthetics as well as improved overall graphical performance for players on lower settings. Some of the enhancements included:

• Better game performance at low and mid spec.
• Updated textures across Summoner’s Rift.
• Improved animations on many of the monsters, including the Ancient Golem, the Lizard Elder and, of course, Baron Nashor.
• A new, animated shopkeeper to service all of your champion’s item purchases.

Summoner’s Rift Evolves

On November 12, 2014 a new update to Summoner's Rift went live for use on the Team Builder queue and all bot modes. Then in November 19 the updated Summoner’s Rift was released for all queues, replacing the old one entirely. This time the update has been more heavier than the previous one, and the map was remade from scratch, changing the overall art style. From the minions, to the monsters, the structures, the decorations, the vegetation and even the music it was all completely remade. The new Summoner's Rift is in all respects a new map, made preserving the spirit and gameplay of the older Summoner’s Rift. The new elements are:

General

• A new handcrafted artistic style to Summoner’s Rift.
• Gameplay on the map is more readable than in the previous map. Making action the top priority on the screen rather than the environment.
• Cleaned up a lot of the terrain (so that the widths of the visuals match the width of the mesh).
  • This is particularly noticeable in Red-side jungle.
• Purple Team changed to Red Team.
• Red base features an owl and mage motif with curved linear shapes. Blue base is inspired by a stag and paladin theme with blockier shapes. Both of the owl and stag sigils meet in middle lane.
• Fog of war upgrade - fog is darker and the fade between fog and non-fog is now more abrupt/crisp (it's not a gradual fade).
• General bug fixes.
• Camera angle adjusted to be more similar to Howling Abyss (higher angled, less perspective).
  • This should make the difference between playing up and down less significant.
• Large and Epic Jungle monsters now show their current health value above their health bar.
• Bottom and top lane brushes are now centered between their respective towers (previously off-centered by ~450 units).
• Ambient critters have been added in the map.
• New minion and monster icons.
• New Kill indicators on screen (including a hexakill indicator).
• Updated look to minions, cannon minions and super minions.
  • Red minions wield axes while blue minions war hammers.
• Two new shopkeepers for both of the Bases.
• Each jungle quadrant has a unique theme. Blue buff jungle has a blue hue, while the Red jungle has a red hue. West jungle is more destroyed by the influence of Baron Nashor while the east one retains its more natural look. 
• New Summoner’s Rift music.

Jungle

• The  Ancient Golem and its  Lizard henchmen have been replaced with the  Blue Sentinel golem and two monolithic  Sentries.
• The  Golem and  Big Golem have been replaced by the  Krug and  Ancient Krug, respectively.
•  Wolf has been replaced by  Dire Murkwolf and  Murkwolves.
• The  Wraiths have been replaced with bird-like  Razorbeaks, led by a  Crimson Razorbeak.
• The  Wight has been replaced with the  Gromp, a walrus-frog hybrid.
• The  Lizard Elder camp is now inhabited by the  Red Brambleback, a fiery ent-like creature, and two  Cinderlings.
•  Dragon and  Baron Nashor have received Visual updates and kit reworks.
• A new passive monster has been added in the north and south parts of the river,  Rift Scuttler.

Trivia

Interactive Map

For an in-depth look at the map, go to this link.

Media

Places in Runeterra [edit]
Valoran	City-States	Bandle City Bilgewater Demacia Freljord Ionia Noxus Piltover Shurima Zaun
	Other Areas	Blue Flame Island Howling Marsh Icathia Ironspike Mountains Kalamanda Kumungu Lokfar Marshes of Kaladoun Mogron Pass Mount Targon Plague Jungles Serpentine River Shadow Isles The Great Barrier The Institute of War Urtistan Voodoo Lands
	Field of Justice	Crystal Scar Howling Abyss Magma Chamber Proving Grounds Summoner's Rift Twisted Treeline
Continents and Dimensions		The Glade Valoran The Void
Seas		Conqueror's Sea Guardian's Sea

References