League of Legends Celebrates 10 Years with Massive Announcements

Riot Games is living up to its name, as League of Legends hits its ten-year anniversary. Apparently, Riot Games decided to take over the entire world. A mobile announcement, console, an animated series, Senna’s finally breaking free of Thresh’s lamp, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg! So I’m going to do my best to make sense of this mountain of news and put it together in a concise, easy-to-understand way. An honorable mention is “Project L”, the upcoming League of Legends fighting game. This was no big secret, to be frank. Back when Riot Games purchased Rising Thunder, we’ve been speculating on what would be done with it. Would they keep it as a robot 2D fighter? Of course not. It was always going to be a League of Legends fighting game. Why waste all that good lore? Let’s put it to use instead, and create a fighting game set in Summoners Rift. Now that’ll be interesting.

League of Legends:

Senna: League of Legends is ten years old, and they released a new video celebrating this and offered a sneak peek of what’s to come in 2020. This one’s a little long, but it serves as an overall announcement for everything we’re announcing and discussing today. Perhaps one of the most interesting announcements on the lore side of things is Senna. For those that do not know, Senna’s soul was trapped in Thresh’s lamp, and nothing has ever escaped. Well, apparently that’s going to change because Senna appears to be breaking free in some fashion or another. Not a lot about this is known yet, but you can check out this neat trailer before to tease the upcoming champion. I don’t think anyone should ever leave the lamp, but I think Senna is a popular-enough lore character. It will be interesting to see what they do with her.

Wild Rift: One of the major downsides to League of Legends, other than it having one of the most feral, undesirable, toxic communities I’ve ever been a part of, is that the games last too long. Playing a match that lasts an hour and a half, with people yelling and espousing slurs at one another does not make me want to dive right back in for another game. But what would, is if the games were a little shorter. League of Legends: Wild Rift is perhaps just that. Wild Rift is the same 5v5 Summoners Rift we’re all used to, but with 15-18 minute matches. The characters will play and act as you remember, but some of the abilities will cast a little different. This is to account for mobile and console gameplay. They’re redesigning it from the ground up for console and mobile, though mobile will be coming first. Their aim is to have it all over the world on mobile by the end of 2020, and the console iteration will come sometime after that. So if you want to play League, but don’t want to sit at your PC forever, now you will be able to take it on the go. It does look like players will have to purchase champions again, and not all of the skins will be coming to these platforms. We’ll have to see if it’s worth another investment. You can sign up for updates here.

Teamfight Tactics: This is one that I’m genuinely surprised didn’t happen at launch, especially with games like Chess Rush around to dominate the mobile market early. Teamfight Tactics is a mode within the League of Legends client, that lets you play an Auto Battler, like DOTA Underlords or the aforementioned Chess Rush. You pick a set of characters and position them to do battle against your opponents. TFT is arguably the prettiest of these, and has some truly bonkers combos and synergies from what I have read, and had friends tell me about. It’s not something I personally have delved into. But there are some major updates coming to Teamfight Tactics. One of the big ones is the addition of “Sets”. A few times a year, they will swap around some of the champions that are available, with their own Origins and Classes. Some of the mechanics will remain, but there will be new mechanics to explore, to constantly shake up the depth of the game. “Rise of the Elements” is the first Set, and is coming in three weeks. The other major change, Teamfight Tactics will come to iOS and Android in early 2020, with the beta coming later this year. Now that’s an interesting change, and I would be interested in playing TFT on my phone, instead of going into the League client. and you can sign up here.

Legends of Runeterra: What’s that, you say? You aren’t into Auto Battlers, and you don’t want to play traditional League on the go? Would you rather play a card game? Well, you’re in luck! Legends of Runeterra is a card game set in the League of Legends universe. There are 24 champions that will be available at launch and are key cards to build your deck around. Each has their own special abilities to make them stand out. Fan-favorites, and perhaps some new ones will appear. There will be six regions as well, each with their own unique playstyle. You can also combine cards from two other regions, to build the deck you want to run. It looks like a pretty fast-paced card game, and you can get a preview of it in the video above. You can also click this link to sign-up for a shot at getting access now. I do appreciate that they are going to use a Wildcard system, and they say they’ll have a variety of ways to unlock cards you want without random packs.

Origins Documentary and Arcane (Animated Series): I just wanted to mention these, because I think they’re neat. They don’t influence gameplay or offer something new, other than a new outlet to enjoy Riot Games: digital media. “Origins” is a documentary on Netflix, and other video platforms that offer a peek behind the scenes of the early days of League and tells their story in an expertly crafted way. “Arcane” tells the story of two of the iconic characters from League, and what ultimately tore them apart. It’ll be beautiful without a doubt. If there’s anything Riot can do, it’s animate some truly gorgeous visuals.