League of Legends: Wild Rift, the mobile and console spinoff of League of Legends, will be resuming its closed beta test on the 8th of October 2020 after a three-day short break. The update will grant access to Japanese and Korean players for the first time, as well as opening up additional slots for new players in Southeast Asia.
If you’re thinking about trying out Wild Rift, be sure to read this guide before jumping into the game! Whether you’re a longtime fan of League of Legends, a Mobile Legends: Bang Bang player thinking about trying something new, or even someone who’s never played a MOBA before, here’s some of the key things you can expect.
For New Players
If you’ve never played a MOBA before, be prepared to face a slight learning curve as you get used to the game. Essentially, you pick from one of five roles—Top, Mid, Jungle, ADC, and Support—and work together with your team to take down the enemy’s Nexus (a glowing red structure located at the opposite end of the map), while also preventing the enemy from reaching your own.
While the game’s early tutorials barely scratch the surface when it comes to teaching newcomers how to play, Wild Rift’s Academy mission system does a fairly good job of encouraging players to learn the basics of each role. After completing all five missions, you should be able to find at least one or two roles that you feel comfortable playing. You’ll also be able to unlock 11 champions for free just by levelling up in-game, so you can easily find a few favourites to play as well.
Our advice for MOBA newbies who want to give Wild Rift a try? Do your homework by watching guides and gameplay footage—and don’t get discouraged by the learning curve.
For League of Legends Players
The primary concern for most League of Legends players will be in the controls of the game, as the shift from PC to mobile is extremely drastic to say the least. While the controls aren’t perfect for precision play on Wild Rift, League veterans will be pleased to know that there are various small tools given to players to increase their precision.
The first tool is a pair of dedicated buttons for targeting minions and towers. This allows the player to specifically target minions or towers even when an opponent champion is nearby, which will definitely be useful for a higher level of precision during play.
The second tool is a targeting option that allows players to target specific opponents during combat. This is especially useful for ranged champions since you’ll automatically aim for the nearest champion with the lowest HP if you do not set a specific target.
There’s also a surprising amount of active items that are retained from League of Legends to Wild Rift, which means the game will have the same amount of depth in itemization and efficient active item usage. In fact, there might be even more active items in Wild Rift than in League itself, which is even more surprising considering that most mobile MOBA games try to trim away the complexity of the genre to make it as easy to operate on a mobile phone as possible.
Overall, die-hard League players will be happy that their favourite aspects of the PC game are retained in Wild Rift.
For Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Players
The main difference between Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) and Wild Rift is in Wild Rift’s stricter laning system. Unlike in MLBB, champions in Wild Rift are mostly confined to a specific lane, with a fighter or tank in top lane, a mage in mid lane, a jungler roaming the map for ganks, and an ADC and a support in bottom lane. This is a stark contrast to MLBB’s popular 1-3-1 strategy, which places two fighters on either side of the map and three heroes in mid lane.
Players will also have to get used to Wild Rift’s larger map, which comes with a very different set of neutral monsters: four elemental dragons, the Rift Herald, and the Baron Nashor, just to name a few. The larger map also makes it harder to look over walls to spot enemies, as players will be encouraged to activate wards scattered across the map to gain key information about their enemies.
Finally, unlike MLBB and other mobile MOBAs such as Arena of Valor, which allow you to buy items at all times during the game, you will have to return to your home base to purchase items in Wild Rift. It definitely takes some getting used to, but it’s well worth it if you’re looking to change up your mobile MOBA experience.
For a more detailed breakdown on the differences between MLBB and Wild Rift, you can check out our Bahasa Malaysia guide here.
In conclusion, Wild Rift will definitely be a unique experience for MOBA players new and old alike. If this article piqued your interest in the game, be sure to head on over to the Google Play Store or the iOS App Store to pre-register for the closed beta test!
