The difference between Wild Rift and Mobile Legends

With the start of the closed beta for League of Legends: Wild Rift in various regions of Southeast Asia, many players will want to try this game. One of the biggest sources of players in Indonesia is from Mobile Legends, the game that now holds the title of the largest MOBA in Southeast Asia. The possibility of Wild Rift to beat Mobile Legends in terms of popularity is another topic. In this article we will discuss some of the differences between Wild Rift and Mobile Legends.

Before we get into this comparison, please listen to a history lesson. Before Wild Rift came to mobile, this game was already on PC in a slightly different form. In 2009, League was the new kid in the gaming world, and it wanted to beat its biggest rival game; Defense of the Ancients or DotA. Until now League and Dota are still being compared with League being marketed as Dota which is easier to learn and play.

This time the League in the form of Wild Rift will fight Mobile Legends. But Mobile Legends is not the same as Dota. Many of the mechanics in Mobile Legends are easier than Wild Rift objectively. What are these differences we will discuss now.

Role

In Mobile Legends, a role is a type of hero that gives an idea of how to use the hero. Hero Marksman usually attack from behind their friends. Assassin jumps back to kill low HP heroes. The tank protects his friends and attracts the enemy’s attention. All these hero roles can go to any lane without restrictions.

Unlike Mobile Legends, roles in Wild Rift indicate where the champion must go in the map during the game. These roles are Top, Jungle, Mid, Bottom (ACD), and Support. Due to camera changes in Wild Rift, Top Lane is called Baron Lane and Bottom Lane is called Dragon Lane.

Champions of different types can enter the same lane. For example Top / Baron Lane where players will play 1v1 which is usually entered by melee champions such as the Fighter or Tank class. But some marksman champions can enter this lane because they have certain skills.

Another example is Bottom / Dragon Lane, which is usually a champion marksman or also called ADC (Attack Damage Carry). The task of this role is to become the most powerful champion for late game. Champions of the Mage class are also sometimes used in this role.

This difference is because the champions in the League and Wild Rift have been balanced based on their roles. If there is a strong champion in a role that Riot doesn’t want, they will nerf part of that hero.

Emblems & Runes

In Mobile Legends, each hero can use one emblem. This emblem will provide different bonuses depending on the type of emblem used. The higher the level of the emblem used, the stronger the effect will be. Therefore, the emblem system in Mobile Legends is more profitable for players who have played for a long time.

League and Wild Rift use a similar system called Rune. Several years ago, Runes in League of Legends also had to be obtained and upgraded like the emblem system in Mobile Legends. But now League uses a Rune system that is given to all players for free without needing to be upgraded. With this, Rune level is not a problem against players who have played Wild Rift longer, only the opponent’s skill counts.

Vision

The view in Mobile Legends is not covered by anything. Players can see opponents around them clearly as long as they are not in the bush. There is not any fog of war, a mechanic that came from the beginning of the MOBA genre in Warcraft 3. This may be due to Moonton’s choice to lighten the burden of Mobile Legends on all devices that will be used to play it.

Wild Rift still brings mechanics fog of war from the PC version. Due to this players can only see enemies in a circle around their champion, friend champions, buildings, and around the base. Moreover, their view would also be obstructed by terrain and also bush like in Mobile Legends.

To give players more ways to find their opponents, Wild Rift has a ward system. Unlike in the PC League version, wards can only be placed in certain places. But the function is still the same; Gives a view to all players on the same team within a certain radius until the ward dies.

Last Hit

The last hit mechanic doesn’t exist in Mobile Legends. All heroes automatically gain gold and experience if they are near opposing minions when they die. Players don’t need to pay attention to who killed the minion as long as the minion died close enough to their hero.

For League, the last hit is very important because by getting the last attack that kills the minion, the champion will get bonus gold. When the minions are within range of the last hit, their HP bar will turn white. The next attack from the champion player will kill the minion and count as the last hit. If they don’t get the last hit, the player will only get the same gold as all the other friend champions who are standing close enough to the recently killed minion. But this is only a small amount compared to getting the last hit.

This mechanic is an additional thing for players to think about when in the laning phase. Players who can’t get the last hit will quickly fall behind compared to their opponents who get almost all of their last hits.

Items

In Mobile Legends and Wild Rift there are various items that are used to help certain roles in the game. These items are of different types from passive or have active skills and so on. Mobile Legends players can also buy their items anywhere on the map, while Wild Rift players must return to base (usually with a Recall) to be able to buy their items. Because of this limitation, Wild Rift players have to think more about the amount of gold when they want to return to base. Will they be safe and come back now, or can they kill 3 more minions to make the next item?

But ML has a unique item system in the form of Masks. An example is the Wooden Mask which is used to give XP and gold for roaming heroes. After that this mask can be upgraded to Shadow, Courage, or Awe Mask with their respective effects.

Meanwhile, Wild Rift does not have items like this. League has special items for Jungler and Support, but this type of item is not included in Wild Rift along with other items. Riot is trying to incorporate the effects of these items directly into the Support and Smite gameplay for Jungler.

Spells & Skills

Every Mobile Legends match, players can choose one spell to use in the game. In addition to the selected spell, players can use Regen to heal themselves and Recall to return to base.

Wild Rift also has spells, but as in the PC version in Wild Rift the player can choose 2 spells. Champions in Wild Rift can also use Recall, but do not have Regen.

In addition, champions in Wild Rift have 4 skills compared to 3 skills in Mobile Legends. Because of this the Wild Rift champions will have more options in their gameplay.

Conclusion

As you can see, Wild Rift has a lot more mechanics that complicate the player’s gameplay, which can be attributed to its origins from a PC game. Vision, last hit, warding, and so on.

Players from Mobile Legends may feel that these mechanics only make the game difficult without making it more exciting. On the other hand, Wild Rift players will feel that all these mechanics will provide more opportunities for players to show their skills and knowledge of Wild Rift.

What is your opinion? Is there another big difference that we forgot about?