5 Differences Between Wild Rift and League of Legends

With the Open Beta for Wild Rift starting next week, many new players will be playing Wild Rift for the first time. They come from several different games, ranging from other MOBA Mobile such as Mobile Legends and Arena of Valor, or PC MOBAs such as Dota 2 and of course League of Legends.

This article will cover the 5 differences between Wild Rift and League of Legends to point out the different areas that new summoners should know about. Readers who have never played Wild Rift before may also still have the old versions of Wild Rift in their minds. An example is the ward system, which has returned to being a put it anywhere system like in the PC version. Without further delay, here are 5 differences between Wild Rift and League of Legends.

Changes For Mobile

To be able to bring League of Legends gameplay to the mobile platform, Riot uses a dual stick control system. Other mobile MOBA players must be familiar with this system, where the left thumb controls the character, while the right thumb activates and directs skills. PC players will definitely have to adapt to this scheme to play Wild Rift.

In addition there is one more system implemented to make Wild Rift more mobile friendly, namely the Map that is reversed if the summoner plays on the red side. This system makes players more comfortable playing using dual sticks because important parts will still be visible on their screen, and not covered by hands.

Due to this change, bottom lane will become top lane and vice versa if playing on the red side. To ensure there is no confusion, Riot changed the terminology from bottom lane and top lane to dragon lane and baron lane, depending on which epic monster nest is closest to the lane.

Faster Game

Wild Rift is a mobile game, and as such the playtime of a single match had to be changed to suit the platform. One League game usually takes 30+ minutes to complete, while Wild Rift games now take 15-20 minutes. This is due to all the minor system changes that Riot has implemented.

Smaller map, level cap dropped to level 15, ultimate first level down to level 5, lower cooldown, and champions always get gold when minions die near them (albeit less than last hit).

In addition, the Baron’s spawn time is also faster, the turret does not have a plate so it is easier to destroy, and the Nexus does not have a turret that protects it but will attack itself. All these changes improve pace Wild Rift versus League.

Fewer Champions with Small Changes

Currently Wild Rift has 42 champions, with 7 new champions coming soon, compared to 150+ champions in the League. In addition, some of the Champions in Wild Rift received minor changes compared to their League version. One of the most notable changes is Ashe’s ultimate skill that can be controlled in direction, but that’s not all.

Vi’s Clink Shield skill has switched places with his passive, Blast Shield. Ultimate Lux now has global range. Safeguard Lee Sin doesn’t need units to make his jumps, giving him more opportunities to ‘Insec’.

Summoners arriving from the League will have to adapt to a shallower ‘champion pool’ and also learn all the minor differences in all Wild Rift champions.

Different Rune System

Like in League, Wild Rift has a free rune system that can be used in its entirety after a certain level. In Wild Rift, the last rune will be unlocked at level 10.

Wild Rift has 8 different keystones, and summoners can use any keystone they want. But not all of these keystones are also in the current version of League. Kleptomancy has been replaced in League, and Font of Life is just a secondary rune.

Unlike League, choosing secondary runes does not depend on the choice of keystone and second color. In Wild Rift, after selecting a keystone, the summoner will choose three keystones of three colors or path different.

So although the choice of each secondary rune slot is wider than League, summoners can only use 3 runes instead of 5 in League. Also, not all secondary rune Leagues come to Wild Rift (RIP Presence of Mind).

Fewer Items with Few Variations

Many items come to Wild Rift with the same effect and possibly newer icons. But not all League items can be used in Wild Rift, including some important items. Besides that Wild Rift only uses one activated items which serves as a shoe upgrade.

First of all, the types of important items that are not in Wild Rift are Support and Jungler items. There is no longer Spelltheif’s Edge or Relic Shield that support can use to increase their gold count. Riot hopes that the last hit system change will give them enough gold so the absence of these items won’t interfere with all support.

Jungers will feel the loss of the Skirmisher’s Saber and Stalker’s Blade with their added effect on Smite and the different enchantments they can build for these two items. Riot’s solution is to strengthen Smite by granting the user bonus XP from jungle monsters, lowering the cooldown of Smite (with all other summoner spells), and granting a Chilling or Challenging Smite upgrade for just killing four large monsters.

For activatable items, Wild Rift only has one and they can be obtained by upgrading champion shoes. Any boots is fine as long as they are Tier 2. Items in this category count as enchantments as for previous jungle items and include items such as Quicksilver Sash (Quicksilver Enchant) and Zhonya’s Hourglass (Stasis Enchant).

Finally, there are special Wild Rift items that were not in the previous League. Some of the items in this category are Awakened Soulstealer, Harmonic Echo, and Infinity Orb. The items that a League summoner would buy may or may not have been changed in Wild Rift, so they had to adapt and learn new build items.