League of Legends’ new game mode Swarm is now live and there are many in the community excited to try out the new gameplay mechanics that the bullet-heaven has to offer. The mode is the first in LoL history where you will get to control certain champions with “WASD”
Swarm’s objective is rather simple. You and a party of other players will need to fend off against incoming hordes. There will be mini-quests to complete while you are at it, and you will also be able to spend gold to upgrade your chosen champion.
The game mode might seem daunting at first with Riot also promising that you will die a lot very early on. So to help you get started on the right note, here is a guide on everything you need to know about the core gameplay mechanics in League of Legends’ swarm.
League of Legends Swarm beginners guide: All core gameplay mechanics explained
Here are all the core gameplay mechanics in League of Legends Swarm that you will need to familiarize yourself with:
1) Champion Abilities
Any champion that you play as in Swarm will have two unique abilities and a passive. These abilities will be bound to your E and R buttons with the former being the tactical skill and the latter being the ultimate.
Ultimates will have a much longer cooldown period, however, they can wipe out entire enemy hordes in an instant.
For example, Jinx’s passive is called Get Excited and you will be able to activate this when you kill 75 enemies. Once it procs, you can gain bonus movement speed and ability haste.
Jinx’s E is Fishbones which will let you throw out rockets in a cone in front of them and damage the first enemy hit. It will have a 7-second cooldown.
Her R, on the other hand, is Super Mega Death Rocket! She will pull out a massive rocket and deal massive damage in a large AoE. Her Ultimate will have a 45-second cooldown.
2) Champion Passive Stat bonus
During the start of a round or even in the middle of it, you will be able to apply Passive stats on the champion that you have chosen. You will initially get three slots which can then be maxed to six once you progress through the narrative.
Each of the passives that you slot can be leveled 5-times. Hence with more upgrades, you will have a much easier time clearing content.
3) Champion Weapons
Each champion will drop with their own unique weapons in League of Legends Swarm. However, you will be able to select 4 more in every match out of the available 20 options.
But do keep in mind that when you start the game mode, you will only have access to only 5 weapons by default. You will be able to unlock the rest as you keep completing more objectives.
Additionally, each weapon scales differently. Jinx’s Meow Meow scales with Duration, Crit, Damage, and Projective Count, and is evolved by Ability Haste.
4) Champion Weapon Evolution
Every unique weapon in Swarm is capable of evolving if you meet the right conditions for it. You can check the requirements by Hovering your cursor over the Weapon at the bottom of your screen. You will then see which passive you will need to enhance to evolve the weapon.
Moreover, if you press TAB, you will be able to bring up the menu screen, which will show a list of all the weapons and the Evolution Passives that you will need to meet for each.
For example, to evolve Jinx’s Meow Meow, you will need to click on the Duration Passive when you meet the conditions.
Here are the three requisites you will need to meet to evolve your weapons in League of Legends’ Swarm:
- Reach level 5 on the weapon by using it in matches.
- Have the correct Passive unlocked for the weapon.
- Pick up the access card which is a special item dropped by a Mini Boss.
Evolving your favorite weapon will help make it significantly more powerful than its base form, and let you have an easier time in matches.
