Wild Rift Beginners Guide: What you need to know before entering the Rift

The Open Beta of League of Legends: Wild Rift has arrived to the Americas, with many new and veteran players trying their luck in the Wild Rift.

So, to give you a hand, we will tell you everything you need to know about League of Legends: Wild Rift, in addition to its biggest differences compared to its PC counterpart.

Wild Rift: The basics

The main map of League of Legends is known as Summoner's Rift, a battlefield where players, called Summoners, can enter into five-on-five matches while controlling a Champion.

(Picture: Riot Games)

In total, there are currently 61 champions available in Wild Rift, while a few others will be added over time. Each of these have different abilities, attacks and aspects, giving you many options to approach each game.

At the beginning of every game you will be able to choose between five different roles, being divided into three combat lanes and some neutral zones, these being:

• Baron or Solo Lane
• Jungle
• Mid Lane
• Dragon or Duo Lane
• Support

Each of these have great importance within the game, so learning to play one of them efficiently is essential to help your allies achieve victory.

(Picture: Riot Games)

The objective of the game is simple: Together with your allies you must be able to destroy the entire enemy base and their cores, known as the Nexus.

However, to make your way towards this you will have to destroy the turrets distributed in each lane, so you will have to arm yourself with objects and runes that enhance your attacks.

(Picture: Riot Games)

The objects will vary depending on what role you have chosen, since they can give you more damage, lots of power for your physical or magical attacks, healings, make you more lethal, etc. To acquire these, you must collect gold by eliminating minions, enemies and monsters scattered throughout the map, and buy them through the game store.

Don't worry if you don't know which objects to choose from the beginning, as the game itself will give you some effective recommendations for any situation.

About the runes, these are improvements that you can grant to any champion in the selection phase, which can give you great advantages when choosing the right ones.

(Picture: Riot Games)

Once you have good objects and manage to advance through the map, you will be able to destroy more enemy turrets and opponents, and once you destroy the enemy Nexus, victory will be yours. Don't despair if you don't get it in your first few games, as this game is about constant learning.

Wild Rift: Differences between the PC version

If you are a veteran player or want to learn about the game, you will notice that the games are quite fast since these do not usually last more than 20 minutes.

However, this is not usually the case in the original version of League of Legends, where games can be longer than 40 or 50 minutes, causing many players to become stressed or frustrated both by the duration of these and the results after each game.

To alleviate this a bit, Riot Games has made several essential modifications to the mobile game, to make it a more enjoyable and a better dynamic experience regardless of whether or not you have experience in the game.

Smaller map, less structures

(Picture: Riot Games)

The main difference you'll find from the PC version is that the Rift map will be consistently smaller than the original, which translates into fewer structures across the map.

The inhibitors have disappeared and instead their minion control functionality will be combined with that of the base turrets. Likewise, the Nexus turrets will also not be available, however now the Nexus will be able to attack as if it were a tower, allowing the enemy advance to be controlled in a certain way.

Passive gold and turret plates

Being faster games, the time to collect gold to get items can be difficult to compensate. For this, players will receive more gold and experience per second than usual, allowing them to build their composition in less time and with bigger ease.

Also, the turret plates system will be implemented in the turrets of all levels, allowing more gold to be obtained from them.

Jungle changes

The jungle camps will remain in their same positions, with some monsters evolving in the course of the game, however the main change will come from the side of the summoner spell Smite, which now will not need an object to be empowered, but it will evolve over the course of the game.

By selecting Smite, you will receive less gold and experience from minions, but this will be offset by rewards when eliminating monsters and camps.

(Picture: Riot Games)

Another change will come with dragons, as only one of each element will appear in the entire game, with each of these giving a permanent advantage. The last Elemental Dragon to appear in the game will count as an Elder Dragon, granting a pretty strong upgrade for the entire team.

Baron Nashor and Rift Herald, along with their effects, will stay the same.

Mirrored map and Rankeds

(Picture: Riot Games)

On some occasions when you have to play on the red side of the map, it will be inverted to maintain a balance within the game, so you will have to visualize your line well at the beginning so as not to get confused. In any case, the game itself will notify you of this and your respective lane.

As for the Rankeds, to be able to access them you must reach level 10 and have at least 10 acquired champions. Unlike on PC, competitive seasons will only last 3 months. As rewards at the end of these, players will be able to receive various rewards, including the new exclusive Glorious skins.

The progression system also changed, having to obtain Victory Points to advance to the next division, so there are no promotions. However to reach another tier, you will still have to make it through the old-known system. Also, due to the current small roster, the champion ban system will not be implemented yet.

(Picture: Riot Games)

Store Economy

The in-game economy has also changed, as Blue Essence and RP have been replaced by Blue Motes and Wild Cores, being the main currencies to acquire champions, skins, and exclusive content.

(Picture: Riot Games)

A third currency has also been added to the game, called Poro Coins. These will allow you to acquire aesthetic elements for your profile, champions, or to be used within the game.

(Picture: Riot Games)

To conclude, unlike League of Legends events, Wild Rift events do not require purchasing an Event Pass, so players can enjoy all of these for free. A new Season Pass, known as the WIld Pass, will be introduced in the next few days, having lots of rewards depending how much you play the game.

And voila, this is all you need to know before embarking on your adventure through Wild Rift, whether you are an old acquaintance within this legendary MOBA, or its your first time stepping on the Rift.