Wild Rift Patch 3.1 Preview: New Champions and Elemental Rift Update Revealed
The highly anticipated League of Legends (LoL): Wild Rift Patch 3.1 preview has finally arrived, revealing a host of exciting new content for players. The patch update will feature the two new champions Karma and Shen as well as the much-awaited Elemental Rift update which will add more varying challenges to matches. The Patch 3.1 preview also revealed the next ranked exclusive skin, Glorious Crimson Evelynn, which will be obtainable in the upcoming Wild Rift Ranked Season 5. A new set of Battle Pass rewards will also drop later in the Patch 3.1 update along with a ton of new skins and themed events.
New champions
The two new champions - Karma and Shen will be arriving within the patch cycle.
Karma is a flexible mage that can serve as a support or mid-laner depending on a player’s preference or playstyle.
Shen is a durable fighter that can teleport onto allies and provide them with shields. He is also great in team fights as a duelist or a tank.
According to the patch preview, fans can expect more champions to be released in 2022. The Executive Producer of Wild Rift, Alan Moore hinted, this year will be the “year of the edge lord,” probably hinting at the Darkin-themed champions such as Aatrox and Kayn. Fans will have to keep their eyes peeled for more updates.
Elemental Rift Update
The upcoming map rework will spice up matches as the Elemental Drakes will now terraform the map depending on which element they possess. This will allow each match to be varied based on which elemental drake was slain on the map, providing more challenges to players or teams.
With the arrival of the Elemental Rift update, the Cloud Drake will also bid its farewell as it will be removed from the list of Elemental Drakes that will spawn on the map.
New Items and mini-reworks
Two new items that fit well for fighter-type champions will be soon be added to the game.
The Divine Sunderer will amplify your next basic attack and heal you after casting an ability. This item works well on a lot of champions who rely on using abilities and basic attacks to deal damage.
The Hull Breaker will provide bonus stats when there are no allied champions nearby. Being near an ally will remove this buff. This item works well on Baron lane champions who usually play alone or prefer split pushing lanes.
A few mini-reworks for existing items will also be implemented for Fimbulwinter, Hextech Megadrive, Death’s Dance, and Solari Chargeblade.
Ranked Season 5 Update
The next ranked exclusive reward will be the Glorious Crimson Evelynn. A new feature will be added in the ranked rewards called Weapon Augment which changes Glorious Crimson Evelynn’s weapon design.
Battle Pass Reward
Letting go of the Hextech-themed skins, the upcoming Battle Pass will feature a new theme called Psychic Detective, starting with the champion Senna.
Quality of Life Update
A few small but very convenient features have been added to Wild Rift. In the upcoming update, if a player’s assigned role is Jungler, smite will be automatically selected as a summoner spell to prevent players from forgetting to switch spells before a match starts.
A new tab will also be added in the game so players can easily browse new patch notes, esports content, current and upcoming events, and more.
Upcoming Events
According to Alan Moore, the developers are aiming to release more events this year with very little downtime between each event as much as possible. Additionally, some of the upcoming events will be revisiting the previously released skin lines such as High Noon, Pool Party, Pulsefire, and “maybe further beyond.” Events for the regions - Zaun, Bilgewater, and Noxus may also be released within the patch cycle.
Wild Rift will also continue to collaborate with LoL PC to host more shared events such as the previously concluded Lunar New Year. The shared events will feature new skins, stories, and more.
New Skins
These skins will be released within the upcoming patch cycle;
Blood Moon Shen
Warden Karma
Pretty Kitty Rengar
Furyhorn Cosplay Veigar
Renektoy
Pajama Guardian Ezreal
Pajama Guardian Lux
Marauder Graves
Marauder Brand
With a ton of exciting new content to look forward to, the next patch preview will be revealed sometime in May, according to Alan Moore. In the meantime, players have a lot to look forward to with a ton of content to explore and enjoy in Wild Rift Patch 3.1.
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