In our first patch of the new year, we say hello to 5 Yordle champions and a lineup of features like Party Finder, a new latency indicator, and more.
Our first patch of 2021 is here with some exciting changes, including a band(le) of new champions! We’re introducing some of Bandle City’s finest to the Rift: Corki, Kennen, Tristana, Lulu, and of course, Teemo. You can follow them on their adventures during our newest event, Yordle Expedition. We’ve also added some handy features like the Party Finder, a new latency indicator, and a slew of other gameplay improvements.
Finally, get ready to kick off the first official ranked season of Wild Rift and climb to Gold for a brand new reward: Glorious Tryndamere.
Say hello to the new year and Patch 2.0!
New Champions
Corki, The Daring Bombardier
Don’t be fooled by appearances because Corki is much more than just a magnificent mustache. Enamored with all things aircraft, the Daring Bombardier often ventures beyond Bandle City in pursuit of aerospace innovation found only in the inventive city of Piltover. He keeps a watchful eye on the sky for enemy bogies as the head of the Screaming Yipsnakes.
Kennen, The Heart of The Tempest
In the space between a lightning flash and a thunderboom, one yordle stands as the most senior member of the Kinkou Order. Dedicated to preserving the sacred balance that surges through Ionia, Kennen uses his centuries of knowledge to protect the world he’s come to love. But as the Heart of the Tempest, he also possesses the devastating power of the storm—and he’s not afraid to use it.
Tristana, The Yordle Gunner
The inhabitants of Bandle City are curious by nature, but few are lured by the promise of adventure in Runeterra quite like Tristana. Inspired by tales of epic battles and brave fighters, Tristana knew she was destined for a life of explosive action (often literally). With plenty of firepower in tow thanks to her trusty cannon Boomer, the Yordle Gunner seeks to become the stuff of legends.
Lulu, The Fae Sorceress
Reality is what you make of it—or at least what Lulu makes of it! The Fae Sorceress shapes the world to her whim as she travels Runeterra with her fairy friend, Pix. Through her magic, Lulu enchants and fantastifies everything around her, sometimes with disastrous, if well-meaning, consequences.
Teemo, The Swift Scout
Never underestimate the power of the Scout’s code! Any who make that mistake (and many who don’t) must contend with Teemo, one of Bandle City’s most formidable protectors. Though small in stature, the Swift Scout does not shrink in the face of big danger. Instead, he travels the world with boundless optimism and courage, seeking to earn every merit badge (and causing a little bit of mayhem on the way).
New Features
Party Finder
Tired of carrying solo? Party Finder makes it easier for players to get into premade games. Party owners can make their lobbies available to their Friends list or to the public (look in the top right corner of the lobby screen), and players can search for open lobbies to join (look in the bottom left corner of the homescreen). You can filter your search by lobby type, and Party Finder will recommend eligible groups based on your social connections and game preferences. Time to queue up!
Latency Indicators
No more latency indicator on the homepage! Turns out, it wasn’t accurate in showing the latency a player would actually experience in their games. So we’ve replaced it with a network indicator to show what kind of network you’re on (WiFi, 4G, etc.), plus a new in-game indicator of your actual ping during gameplay.
Social Sharing
Players can now save the end-of-game scoreboard, end-of-game personal performance, career most played champ, season rank, win streak, new champ acquired, new skin acquired, and leaderboard screens to their device camera roll or share straight to Facebook. Perfect for flexing after a 15/0 Zed game.
Map Description
If you want to get more familiar with the lay of the land (when you’re not trying to also farm minions and watch out for the enemy jungler), you can now explore the Wild Rift map in detail. Read up on jungle monsters, epic monsters, plants, and structures at your leisure.
Tutorial Optimization
Performance-improving tutorials can now be prompted based on a player’s gameplay. We also made some visual updates to the tutorial and first champion unlock screen.
Champion Mastery Emotes
The ultimate flex: Champion Mastery Emotes. Players can unlock a Champion Mastery Emote by reaching Mastery Level 5 with that champ. They can then equip and use it like any other in-game emote to “communicate.”
New Skins
Sad Robot Amumu
Urfrider Corki
Arcade Corki
Star Guardian Janna
Star Guardian Jinx
Arctic Ops Kennen
Star Guardian Lulu
Dragon Trainer Lulu
Star Guardian Lux
Cottontail Teemo
Guerilla Tristana
Arclight Varus
Little Devil Teemo
Little Demon Tristana
Wicked Lulu
Super Kennen
Star Guardian Ezreal
Free-To-Play Champion Rotation
1/7 – 1/13: Braum, Camille, Fizz, Graves, Jhin, Malphite, Orianna, Shyvana, Sona, Varus.
1/14 – 1/20: Akali, Alistar, Dr. Mundo, Draven, Jarvan IV, Miss Fortune, Soraka, Tryndamere, Xin Zhao, Zed.
Game Systems
Ping Replies
Now you can let your teammates know you heard them with ping replies.
Dragon/Baron Respawn Timers
Spawn timers for epic monsters (Dragon and Baron Nashor) now display on the scoreboard. We’ve also made some minimap UI improvements.
Scoreboard Logic
No screen peeking! Enemy information on the scoreboard now updates only after players gain vision of enemies instead of in constant real-time.
New Emotes Wheel
You can now open the emotes wheel by holding down on your champ instead of clicking into the communications panel.
System Message UI
System messages no longer block players’ view of their own champion (i.e. failed surrender vote messages won’t obstruct vision during gameplay). Phew!
Detailed Stats
In the stats tab of the scoreboard, players can now see a more detailed breakdown of key stats, including exactly how much damage reduction (in percentage) their armor and magic resistance items provide, as well as the conversion from ability haste to cooldown reduction.
Tower Prioritization
Towers now prioritize targeting super minions over siege minions. Gotta take down those supers first.
Season 1 Start
The first official ranked season of Wild Rift starts 8 January 2021! Which also means Season 0 ends soon. Players who participated in Season 0 will receive ranked rewards after the season ends (a participation icon for everyone and a player emblem for those who hit Gold and above). There will be a soft rank reset for Season 1, and Ranked mode will be unavailable for 3-4 hours while we transition between seasons.
We also have our first Glorious skin, Glorious Tryndamere, up for grabs for those who make it to Gold as well. They never stood a chance!
Events
We’ve added a whole bunch of stuff to League of Legends: Wild Rift, but it still feels like something is missing. Or someone? Perhaps this little someone (or someones) has been ‘missing’ on purpose, hiding in plain sight beneath homespun glamours or tucked away in a secret city.
But these someones, with their unfailing curiosity, can no longer resist Wild Rift’s call of adventure. Now they’re sprouting up like mushrooms across Runeterra’s greatest cities, bringing with them playful energy (and trouble) that can be electric, explosive, and even…purple?
Join us as we search high and low, leaving no Krug unturned in our quest to find Wild Rift’s latest champions. Pack your bag, polish your boots, and prepare your map for the great Yordle Expedition!
Other Notes
We’ve continued (and WILL continue) to tune the matchmaking system for better game quality and ranked experience.
The Leaderboard now updates every 10-15 minutes rather than every 24 hours.
We’ve made a few improvements to chat including better visual presentation for premade voice chat, improved Friends list filters, and some UX changes for social interactions.
