League of Legends: Wild Rift is a pocket-sized portable version of the insanely popular MOBA of the same name, if you’ve played Valorant or the PC version of League of Legends before then chances are you know the developer of Wild Rift, Riot Games.
Just like any other MOBA, or Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, matches are objective based. In Wild Rift, you’re placed in a team with four other players and sent to a closed-off area called the Wild Rift. There, you have to work together with your teammates all the while making the most of the character you use to win against another five-player enemy team.
Getting Started
After installing the game on your mobile device and creating an account, you’ll have to install some more files on your device. It’s only after those extra files are downloaded and installed that you’ll be able to start the game.
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As soon as you create your account, you’ll finally be able to hop into the Wild Rift, which is the main map of the game. For the first couple of matches, you’ll be playing against bots to ensure you’re able to get a hang of things.
However, you’ll eventually complete the initial tutorial. When you do, you’ll be faced against actual players in the enemy team. Worry not though, because you’ll have four actual players as your teammates too.
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Every match will start with you first selecting a champion to play with. Now, there are around a hundred champions in the game, so you won’t be scrambling for choices any time soon.
All the champions are unique in their own ways. Their abilities, character designs, and play style are different, and because of this, we believe there’s a champion for everyone.
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If you like the type of games that have different and unique characters, check out our Marvel Future Fight beginner guide.
However, one thing to keep in mind is that you won’t have access to every single champion from the get-go. You’ll have to unlock them by either using a form of in-game currency called Wild Cores or getting them for free by progressing.
Wild Rift Controls
Whether you’re a League of Legends veteran or if it’s your first time playing a MOBA, the controls for Wild Rift will undoubtedly feel very new to you.
While it’s true that the on-screen controls are meant to be as easy to use as possible, knowing how to do specific actions can be tricky.
To put it simply, there are eight controls that you HAVE to know. Otherwise, you won’t be able to play the game as intended.
1. The first is, of course, movement. You can move by tapping the screen in the direction you want your character to go. Alternatively, you can also move by using the virtual analog stick on the bottom left of the screen.
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2. To perform a basic attack on an enemy, you only need to tap on the enemy or structure you want to target. Your character will then automatically start performing auto attacks on it until you tap somewhere else to make them stop.
3. There’s an icon with a blue arrow inside on the top right of the screen, followed by two other icons. Holding any of them will allow you to send pings on the map for your teammates to see. Pings can be used to communicate quickly with your teammates, such as if you want to alert them of danger or if you want them to push an objective.
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4. You’ll notice four circular icons located at the bottom right of the screen. These icons, when tapped, will make your character use one of four abilities depending on which icon you tapped.
If you see that the icon is greyed out and you haven’t used it yet, then you’ll have to unlock it first. When you level up, you’ll see a sign appear at the top of that icon, and tapping it will unlock it.
5. If you see an arrow sign appear on top of an ability icon, then that means you can level it up. Simply tap on the icon to level your ability up and make it more powerful.
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6. Below the mini-map on the left side of the screen, you’ll notice an icon representing how much gold you have. Tapping the icon will open the item shop that you can use to purchase items with gold to make your character stronger.
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7. Located near the bottom of the screen, just left of the bottom-most ability icon, will be two smaller icons. These icons can be tapped to use one of the two Summoner Spells you equip at the start of the match.
8. Finally, tapping the blue icon below the virtual analog stick will make your character recall and return to base. You regenerate health and mana when near your base, so you’ll most likely be recalling a lot.
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Understanding the Objective
With that being said, let us go through the actual objective of a typical Wild Rift match. As soon as you load into the Wild Rift, you’ll notice a structure with a crystal in your base. A quick look at the enemy’s base will reveal that they, too, will have a similar structure just of a different color.
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We’re sure most of you have already caught on by now. The main objective of the game is to destroy the enemy’s crystal structure (called the Nexus) while defending your own Nexus from the enemy team.
This is easier said than done though, as defending both nexus are several turrets. These turret structures deal massive damage to any member of the opposing team that comes close. Not to mention the enemy team members standing in your way too.
Therefore, players have to be smart about getting past the enemy champions and turrets to get to the opposing team’s nexus.
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Fortunately, several things in the game can make your mission easier. These things include:
- Your own turrets that will damage the enemy team.
- Small minion creatures that spawn for both teams. They can either be taken out for valuable gold and experience or used as a distraction to deal damage to the enemy turret without being targeted.
- Multiple Summoner Spells that you can use in specific situations, out of which you can equip two in a single match.
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- Items that can be bought using the gold you earn in the match.
- Various champion abilities that you can learn to make life easier.
- Other objectives that give you or your team buffs, like the Dragon (No, we don’t mean Shenron from Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle) and Baron.
- Of course, your teammates that you have to work with if you want to win.
- An in-game chat option that makes communicating easier.
Perhaps the most important factor in winning a match is working with your teammates. As it is with every MOBA, a single player cannot win a match alone.
Having friends that you can rely on is well and good, but you’ll most likely be working with strangers most of the time. So best to start working on your social skills.
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The in-game ping option is invaluable for communicating with strangers. Pinging objectives you want to push or spots that your teammates should look out for on the map is something you should make a habit of doing.
Strategy might be the keyword for this game, but there are more difficult-to-play games out there for sure. Just take Haunted Laia as an example.
Learning the Wild Rift’s Layout and Roles
The path to the enemy team’s Nexus is not a straight one. Well, unless you decide to go down the middle lane, in which case it will be a straight path.
The Wild Rift map has three lanes that you have to push down if you want to get to the enemy Nexus. Defending all three lanes will be three turrets for both teams.
In between all the lanes is what is referred to as the jungle area. This area has a bunch of neutral monsters that can be taken down for valuable experience and money.
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Additional map objectives also spawn in the jungle. There are dragons, the Rift Herald, both buffs, and the Baron. Defeating any one of these special monsters grants either the entire team or just the champion that defeated it a buff depending on which monster it was.
While there are three lanes on the map, there are five roles to play. One role has to be chosen by each member of the team for the team to be complete.
1. The first role is that of the top lane champion, also known as the solo lane. This role is perhaps the most isolated because it’s so far apart from the other lanes. The turrets in this lane also have a great deal of distance between them, making pushing this lane difficult.
2. Next comes the middle lane champion. This lane is the shortest because it’s a straight line connecting both teams’ bases. However, it’s also considered the most influential since it has quick access to the other lanes.
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3. The bottom lane champion, also known as dragon lane or ADC (attack damage carry), comes next. Located at the bottom half of the map, the ADC is usually joined by the support. This means it’s a two vs two here instead of one vs one.
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4. The support, as we mentioned above, usually joins the ADC in the bottom lane. Their job is to keep the other champions alive and to help them get kills. Support champions also have various abilities that help them accomplish their goals.
5. Finally, the last role in Wild Rift is that of the jungler. The jungle is what the space in between lanes is called, and the jungler champion roams that space.
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The jungler’s job is to defeat neutral monsters in the jungle to get stronger and to gank other lanes so they could help the other team members.
How to Unlock New Champions
The final thing we want to go through is unlocking new champions in Wild Rift. Well, you’ll find that this game is much more generous with giving away champions than its PC counterpart.
By getting through the tutorial, you’ll unlock at least one champion for every tutorial completed and mission completed.
Although you’ll be given a choice to choose one out of five champions at the very start of the game, you don’t have to stress over who you choose too much. This is because you’ll eventually unlock all of the offered champions and more as you go through the tutorial.
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To be more specific, by the time you reach level 10 you would have unlocked
- Garen
- Jinx
- Seraphine
- Ahri
- Blitzcrank
- Master Yi
- Ashe
- Annie
- Vi
- Nasus
- Lux
- Janna
While this is already a pretty big selection of free champions you can unlock, there’s more. The game also has a weekly free champion rotation system.
As the name suggests, this system makes it so certain champions are made completely free to play for the week. While the list is random every week, it allows players to play champions they otherwise might not have tried.
If you want to unlock a champion that isn’t given away for free permanently, however, then there are ways to do that as well.
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The first way is by using the first in-game currency of the game called Blue Motes. Blue Motes can be earned by completing matches, participating in events, leveling up, and even completing quests.
Once you collect enough Blue Motes, you can head on over to the in-game shop to purchase whatever champion you want.
Alternatively, you can use the premium in-game currency, Wild Cores, to purchase champions as well. However, the only way to get your hands on this currency is by using actual money, so many players might not use this method.
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There are ways to earn new champions by working for them too. For starters, certain events give you access to specific champions. Sometimes, Twitch drops allow you to unlock champions too if you link your Wild Rift account to your Twitch account and tune in to certain streams.
Finally, you can earn chests by progressing in the game. Some of these chests contain champion shards that can be used to unlock new champions. However, these methods are randomized and necessarily let you unlock the champion you specifically want.
Conclusion
We hope this guide was able to help you get a grasp of everything you need to start your journey into the Wild Rift. One final thing to keep in mind is that Wild Rift is a multiplayer game.
As it is with other multiplayer games too, the more you play and the more you practice, the better you’ll be at the game. Therefore, don’t be disheartened if you aren’t able to dominate matches straight from the get-go because that’s normal.
Keep playing matches and keep getting better until eventually you’re able to call yourself a true master of the Rift.
