Cover-Credits:
- In a Livestream today, Brian “Feralpony” Feeney, design director of Wild Rift talked about what Riot has in store for the mobile game’s fans in 2021.
- Riot will be expanding Wild Rift’s champion pool, game modes and the esports scene.
- Katarina and Rammus will be receiving some changes when being brought into Wild Rift.
Riot premiered its roadmap for the new year for many of its games including League of Legends, Legends of Runeterra, Teamfight Tactics, and Wild Rift. During the almost hour-long video, Brian “Feralpony” Feeney, design director of Wild Rift talked about what Riot has in store for the mobile game’s fans this year and it includes tonnes of new champions, events, and more. The latest event to go live on Wild Rift is the Tales of Runeterra.
Americas Will Get Wild Rift In March
Fans in North and South America have to wait just a little longer as Feeney confirmed that Riot is aiming to get the game out in the region in March 2021. While the closed and open beta for Wild Rift had launched in multiple Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Singapore last October, fans of the game in India and the Americas were getting impatient. Executive producer Michael Chow later explained that the delays were due to the global lockdowns. While the exact date hasn’t been announced, we know that the mobile game can be expected to come to North and South America just two months away. However, Indian fans may have to wait a little longer as Riot hasn’t disclosed a release date for that region yet. Riot is also looking at ways to let players unlock champions quicker.
Riot To Expand Wild Rift’s Champion Pool, Game modes, and Esports Scene
While there are currently over 50 champions in Wild Rift, Riot wants to bring more champions into the game as quickly as possible. Feeney said the developer is aiming at releasing an average of two new champions each month in 2021. This year’s Lunar Beast event, which will go live in February, will also feature a Miss Fortune skin unique to Wild Rift.
Other skin lines that will be making an appearance this year include High Noon, Pentakill, Head Hunter and Star Guardian.
The developer also confirmed that it was working on an ARAM (All Random, All Mid) mode for Wild Rift which will be available for testing this year. Riot Games wants to expand competitive play from League of Legends and VALORANT to its other IPs like Teamfight Tactics, Legends of Runeterra, and even Wild Rift.
The developer is looking to bring a new competitive structure for the mobile MOBA. “Like League PC, Wild Rift is wildly competitive, with the depth, complexity, and high-stakes moments that make for a great sport,” said John Needham, the head of global esports at Riot. “While it’s still incredibly early, we’re excited to bring our passion and dedication for esports to mobile.”
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Katarina And Rammus’ Kits Modified For Wild Rift
When the official social media pages of League of Legends posted a trailer for this Livestream, fans caught a glimpse of Katarina being played in Wild Rift. Feeney confirmed this in the Livestream saying Riot is looking to bring their ‘highest skill-cap champion thus far’ to Wild Rift in 2021. Katarina had to go through a small rework to adapt to the mobile game’s dual-stick controls. Compared to her PC counterpart, Katarina can now move slowly when she casts her ultimate which works well on mobile controls.
Sometime after Katarina, Riot will be releasing Rammus into the jungles of the mobile game. He also has gone through a small rework. Rammus now passively rolls and gains movement speed when out of combat while his new ultimate called Soaring Slam, lets him leap into the air and create tremors where he lands. The size of the tremors is based on his powerball speed. Riot also has an update planned for Dr Mundo sometime later this year.
