Wild Rift vs Arena of Valor

Mobile Games

October 20, 2024

Jordan Marney

You’re not left with many choices when deciding which mobile MOBA game to play. League of Legends Wild Rift and Arena of Valor are two of the most popular games. At first glance, it’s understandable that some believe they’re copies of one another, but that is far from the truth. Which game comes out on top of the Wild Rift vs Arena of Valor debate?

Are They The Same Game?

At the heart of things, they have similarities at the base level. They’re both 5v5 MOBAs with the objective of destroying the enemy base to achieve victory.

With League of Legends being the foundation for this style of MOBA, it’s difficult for Arena of Valor specifically not to be seen as a copy. But remember Tencent is the key developer group that helped release the game in 2016. Why is this important? Tencent is the parent company of Riot Games, the developer of League of Legends.

Wild Rift was released in October 2020, four years after Arena of Valor. It is the mobile version of League of Legends and serves as a fast-paced alternative to the classic game.

The Map

Wild Rift vs Arena of Valor map

Firstly, looking at the map, Summoners Rift and the classic map in Arena of Valor are very similar.

The minor tweaks come in the jungle with neutral objectives different from Wild Rift, which uses the classic Elemental Dragons and Baron Nashor from League of Legends. Both maps have three lanes with three towers each, connecting both teams’ bases.

How Do The Lanes Work?

The roles for both games work very similarly. The five players are divided between the three lanes, with one doing their work in the jungle. For simplicity, both games’ lanes will be called top, middle, and bottom to make it easier.

Top Lane typically consists of your tanks and bruisers, players who are good at soaking up damage and engaging in team fights.
The Jungle in both Wild Rift and Arena of Valor consists of assassins. These quick-burst characters can get around the map quickly and burst down jungle camps.
Middle Lane often consists of characters who do magic damage. It is one of the more important roles in both games. They have quick access to both side lanes and will help make up the numbers in neutral objective team fights.
The Bottom Lane consists of two champions, the marksman and the support. The marksman characters are auto-attack based and scale off of items, and they will do the most damage in the late game. The support characters help keep the carries alive with their abilities and can also provide healing, shields and vision for the team.

Main differences

These are some of the more noticeable differences:

Pace – Little to no last-hitting minions and playing the lane phase in Arena of Valor. The games put more emphasis on fighting and grouping. Wild Rift’s matches are influenced greatly by punishing mistakes, and warding/last hits is heavily emphasized.
Difference in game length. 10-12 mins per AoV game, 15-25 min games in WR.
Buying items – In Wild Rift you can buy new items only if you go back to base. In contrast, AoV allows players to buy items anywhere on the map, which gives already fed characters the ability to snowball even faster.
Wild Rift is much more balanced game, given that they have the same developer.
According to lots of people in the MOBA community, AoV has the upper hand in character looks and more interesting abilities.

Wild Rift vs Arena of Valor – What to play

Wild Rift is the closest for League of Legends players looking to have a one-to-one “copy” of their favorite MOBA, given it is the LoL mobile version. It has most of the champions you can play in League of Legends, along with their exact ability kit and many skins, more of which are being added to the game over time.

That doesn’t mean you would have difficulty learning Arena of Valor’s heroes, but if you consistently compare the two, then go with Wild Rift to avoid the headache.

Read next: Wild Rift vs Mobile Legends: Which is the better mobile MOBA?