

I just don’t have the time to invest in 40 minute games, I’m intimidated by the new champions and their learning curve, or I feel a little slow and stiff physically for a game with such a high skill ceiling.īut Wild Rift captures about 90% of what I enjoy about the PC version. I still like League of Legends, at least theoretically. I’ve also logged on less and less over the years. I saw the evolution of runes, survived release Xin Zhao, and played literally thousands of games. I remember when the lane designations were decided on by players, then formalized by Riot. I’m a long-time League of Legends player on PC, dating back to the game’s earliest days. Wild Rift isn’t just a good fit for new fans, however. On the PC, I’m very used to constantly moving the camera around the map and off my champion on Wild Rift, I stick with my champion and rely on the game’s minimap to see what’s going on elsewhere.Ī breakout camera will also pop up if I use certain abilities that exist outside of my vision range, which gives the game an enjoyable, live-sports-like feeling in the presentation. PC League asks me to constantly click on and manually select my targets, in fact, while Wild Rift focuses more on getting into position, activating my auto attack, and then choosing which targets to prioritize. Wild Rift, on the other hand, is more like a smooth walk to and fro - I’m just shifting my thumb back and forth instead of click-click-clicking my mouse. A good example is movement while playing on PC, I’m constantly clicking back and forth in my lane, like a player shifting weight from foot-to-foot during a really intense game of dodgeball. The meat and potatoes strategies feel roughly the same between the PC League of Legends and the mobile Wild Rift, but certain habits I’ve learned from the PC version are absent. The first thing Wild Rift does right is bypassing one of the most intimidating parts of League on PC by letting you know what your champion does, where they go, and most importantly, why you’re going there via screen prompts and guided arrows. That’s the simple elevator pitch, but adapting a game this intricate to play well on phones isn’t easy.

Wild Rift is the same basic game, but redesigned for mobile devices. A jungler floats around, trying to pick up kills where they can on unsuspecting enemies, while mage characters usually try to control the mid lane, and so on. Much like football, different roles take different positions on the field. Then, the two teams fight in a 5v5 matchup, with the ultimate goal being to destroy the enemy base, called the nexus. Players choose from a roster of champions who fill different roles. League of Legends on PC is incredibly dense and competitive, known for inspiring players to climb the ranked ladder or even to watch the best players compete in esports tournaments. League of Legends: Wild Rift feels too good to be true, especially for new or lapsed players.
