Wild Rift 2.2 – Biggest patch yet shows commitment to game’s growth

LoL Esports
March 25, 2021
Jordan Ashley

Wild Rift has been gradually growing, becoming one of the biggest mobile esports games as well as a more polished title. Despite being in a Beta, the game is gradually turning into a more full mobile League of Legends experience.

The update brings new content to the game like positional queue and Wild Pass. While there are new items and champions, the new quality of life changes are going to really make a difference. Wild Rift is becoming a much fuller game, and each patch seems to make it a smoother experience.

Wild Rift Pass Jax

Looking forward to Wild Rift 2.2

Wild Rift 2.2 has been fully detailed in a development update. The update itself won’t hit the game until March 30th though.

The update is bringing new features to the game that will change the way it’s played. However, it is also bringing some of the usual new content, like champions and items. This is what you can expect.

The most impactful changes in Wild Rift 2.2

There are some big changes coming into WR that are going to take it a notch above all other mobile MOBAs. This particular patch has brought some key features to the title:

  • New Icons – Wild Rift’s item icons will be changed to match those in the full League of Legends.
  • Skins Added – A number of new skis have been added, including some exclusive to Wild Rift!
  • Attack Frame Changed
  • Ghost Reworked
  • Pings – New pings have been added, for enemy missing, group, and warded.
  • Deadzones – You can fine tune your deadzones for buttons.
  • 120hz – High end phones can now hit 120Hz.
  • Position Queue – You’re not going to be able to queue up by your position in-game, similar to Overwatch’s Role Queue.
  • Wild Pass – A Battle Pass style system is coming to Wild Rift with 2.2

The key takeaway from this patch is the showcase of developmental commitment by Riot Games towards the title. Those on the fence about Wild Rift being only a test title or an esports specific game can hold their tongue. The latest set of additions are designed toward attracting more then just the the esports crowds or the average League player. Wild Pass + game exclusives means Wild Rift is taking a form of its own, in line with League of Legends but with its own uniqueness.

Additionally, Riot is looking to balance ranked play with several tweaks to how ranked play is supposed to be played.

New Champions in Wild Rift 2.2

One of the biggest changes with any new Wild Rift update is the new champions. In the last patch, we saw a few new ones being added in. This time around there are some changes to how things are going to work. Riot is trying to add less human character in. Having largely done humans so far, Wild Rift 2.2 is bringing some monster characters into the game. These are the highlights of the new additions

  • Galio – Coming on April 1st. This is a Tank Champion.
  • Rammus – Coming on April 22. It is another Tank with unique abilities compared to the mainline game.
  • Kha’Zix – This Champion is coming May 6th, it is an Assassin.
  • Rengar – Coming May 6th, another tank.
  • Renekton – This champion is releasing May 12th. It is a Fighter.

We can expect all League of Legends champions to eventually make their way into Wild Rift eventually. The main question is if Wild Rift is allowed to then evolve on its own and create champions that are unique to the title, and also “finger friendly” to mobile users.

New Items

New Champions are largely what grabs attention. However, there are a number of new items coming to the game for Tank players:

  • Frozen Heart – This has 70 armor, 300 max mana, 20 ability haste, and Winter’s Caress is the passive ability. This reduced nearby enemies’ attack speed by 15%.
  • Force of Nature – The passive ability here is storm, which is 5% move speed and active is absorb. It gives move speed improvement and magi resistance for five seconds. You can stack this up to 5, giving 30 move speed and 20 magic resistance.
  • Sunfire Aegis – This has 500 HP and 15 Ability Haste. It deals magic damage and one percent health per second to nearby enemies. At ma stacks, it also burn attacks enemies.
  • Sheen – Sheen allows your attack after using an ability to deal bonus damage.
  • Sapphire Crystal – This is an early item that grants mana.

Most of the changes to items are bringing Wild Rift closer to League of Legends. We might eventually end up developing a similar meta to PC LoL into Wild Rift if the goal is to keep bringing the titles closer together.

ARAM

Aram is a new map and game mode coming to the game with Wild Rift 2.2. It is played on Howling Abyss, with only one lane. You use two randomly selected champions. However, you get two rerolls to help narrow things down. Games like around 12 minutes, and have a new summoner spell in player; mark or dash. It begins in April for a three day test, followed by a one month test.

Everyone that plays League of Legends knows ARAM. Those coming from Arena of Valor know Abyssal Clash, while Mobile Legends players have Brawl Mode. The idea and match mode is the same and should be easy to adapt to by any player moving onto Wild Rift.

Those are all of the major changes with Wild Rift 2.2. A lot of them are going to make the game feel quite a bit different for players, especially the battle pass and role queue. Players have largely be positive about the changes being made, with more features usually a good sign for a game’s future. Although content exclusive to the mobile game has caused some controversy among traditional LoL players Wild Rift is still developing, but every patch feels like a big leap forwards at the moment.

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