Beauden Barrett will captain New Zealand for the first time in his 149th test after being retained at full-back in a much-changed side for Saturday's Nations Championship clash against Wales in Cardiff.
Richie Mo'unga, meanwhile, returns at flyhalf in one of eight changes to the starting XV that overwhelmed Scotland 43-21 November opener in Edinburgh last week as the All Blacks remained unbeaten in the inaugural Nations Championship following a trio of wins in July.
Mo'unga hasn't featured since the fourth test against South Africa in Baltimore in September, when New Zealand were beaten 43-28 as they suffered a 3-1 series defeat by the world champions.
A calf tear then ruled him out of the Bledisloe Cup clashes with Australia.
Mo'unga replaces the impressive Damian McKenzie, rested after a heavy workload.
The All Blacks have made 10 changes in total to their match-day 23 at Murrayfield, including two on the bench, as they look to keep key players fresh ahead of next week's clash with England and the subsequent finals weekend, also at Twickenham.
But even with a new-look side New Zealand will still be heavy favourites, having posted 34 successive wins over Wales since their last loss in this fixture back in 1953.
'MASSIVELY RESPECTED'
Veteran fullback Barrett, 35, takes over the captaincy from rested hooker Codie Taylor, having been preferred as skipper to his brother Scott, who led the All Blacks under former coach Scott Robertson.
"Beauden brings such valuable experience and is massively respected by us all," said current New Zealand coach Dave Rennie. "Captaining the All Blacks in a test is an honour that I know he doesn't take lightly."
Rennie, with teams looking to build ahead of next year's Rugby World Cup in Australia, added: "We have created good depth in this group and there is a lot of competition for places.
"We have selected a strong side with 783 caps."
Wales were far from convincing in a 28-21 win over Japan 28-21 last weekend but Rennie said: "Wales are a proud rugby nation and building nicely under Steve Tandy.
"We are well aware of the threat they pose and the challenge of playing in front of a passionate crowd at Principality Stadium."
But Wales coach Tandy, who recalled Taine Basham in place of injured No 8 Aaron Wainwright earlier Thursday, accepted his side would need a much-improved showed if they were to cause a huge shock on Saturday.
"We have to go up another level this weekend and be more ruthless," he said. "We have one of the best teams in the world coming. We want to be better and put in an 80-minute performance."
TEAMS (15-1)
Wales
Blair Murray; Louis Rees-Zammit, Eddie James, Max Llewellyn, Gabriel Hamer-Webb; Sam Costelow, Tomos Williams; Taine Basham, Jac Morgan, James Botham; Adam Beard, Dafydd Jenkins; Archie Griffin, Dewi Lake (capt), Nicky Smith
Replacements: Ryan Elias, Gareth Thomas, Dillon Lewis, Ben Carter, Taine Plumtree, Reuben Morgan-Williams, Dan Edwards, Louie Hennessey
Coach: Steve Tandy (WAL)
New Zealand
Beauden Barrett (capt); Fehi Fineanganofo, Quinn Tupaea, Anton Lienert-Brown, Josh Moorby; Richie Mo'unga, Cortez Ratima; Wallace Sititi, Peter Lakai, Anton Segner; Josh Lord, Scott Barrett; Fletcher Newell, Asafo Aumua, George Bower
Replacements: George Bell, Xavier Numia, Pasilio Tosi, Jamie Hannah, Ethan Blackadder, Leicester Fainga’anuku, Kyle Preston, Rieko Ioane
Coach: Dave Rennie (NZL)