The expedition in Legends of Runeterra offers the best rewards aside from the weekly chest. We explain what this mode is, what rewards are available, and how you can improve to win.
What is the expedition? The expedition is one of the various game modes and is comparable to Arena (Hearthstone) or Draft formats (Magic).
The special thing about the mode is that you build a deck from a limited selection of specified cards. You do not play with your own deck like in “Constructed,” where there are various strong meta decks.
Instead, you have to make the best of what you have, which requires more experience and a bit of luck in card selection. You have the opportunity to win prizes three times a week, but you also have to pay an “entry”:
- 300 coins
- 3000 shards
- or one expedition token
Each subsequent expedition is then free but no longer brings rewards. You can earn the tokens, for example, from the weekly chest, if it has reached at least level 10. We have already explained how to quickly farm cards and experience here.
Expedition Rewards
What do I get for it? Once you have built a deck, it depends on how many victories you earn. You can accumulate up to seven victories, and the rewards increase with every win:
- You will always receive a champion card, even with 0 wins
- From the first win onwards, you will also receive shards, which increase
- With four to six or more wins, you will receive additional chests of increasing quality
- With seven wins, you will receive a champion card, 3500 shards, and a champion capsule
Additionally, you receive up to 2000 experience points for completion – more than in any other mode, even in the free runs. You have two chances to achieve seven wins in each run since you have two “trials”. The better of the two trials will then be counted at the end.
Unlike in, for example, Hearthstone, you do not get eliminated after three total losses. If you lose, you have another chance to win and continue. Only after two consecutive losses (or one loss in round 7) are you out.
YouTuber and Twitch streamer Cirouss has created a video on all the essentials of the expedition. If you want to see the guide with visuals and additional tips, we have embedded the video here for you:
Tips for Deck Building in the Expedition
How do I build a good deck? Since you only have a limited selection of cards in the expedition, you generally will not be able to build an optimized deck. While this is a disadvantage, it also applies to opponents.
In principle, you should try to build a deck that follows a specific theme, similar to constructed or in our strong beginner decks. Because Legends of Runeterra always offers you categories of cards.
In these categories, cards that usually fit your deck are listed. This makes it a bit easier to build a decent deck. However, there is no real “tier list.” Nevertheless, you should choose your cards based on a certain hierarchy.
What to consider when building your deck
The BREAD principle: Since Magic, there has been the so-called BREAD principle. This shows you the hierarchy by which you should choose cards to fill your deck. The individual letters stand for:
- Bombs – Cards that are inherently strong or can win a game on their own.
- Removal – Cards that take other cards out of the game (e.g., kills, direct damage, counterspells).
- Evasion – Cards that can only be blocked by specific other cards (keywords “Untargetable” and “Threatening”).
- Aggro – Cards that provide strong stats, especially high attack, for relatively low mana. They often have the drawback of being unable to block.
- Duds – Poor cards that you should not choose.
Cards often fall into a specific category. To know how strong they are and to assess their usefulness, you should learn them beforehand. Cirouss recommends going into the collection and randomly categorizing cards. This helps you learn as well as correctly assess the cards.
The mana curve: Partially more important than the BREAD principle is the mana curve. This describes how many cards in your deck cost how much mana. A balanced mana curve has some cheap (1-2 mana), some expensive (7-10 mana), and many cards that fluctuate in between (3-6 mana).
Depending on what kind of deck you are playing, the curve may shift a bit. Aggressive decks usually work with cheaper cards, control decks often with more expensive ones.
How to win the Expedition?
Tips for victory:
- First, gain experience in constructed until you know the cards and different deck archetypes.
- As a beginner: First build 4-5 decks that you think are strong and test them against players. This will help you learn synergies and misjudgments.
- For advanced players: Those who have already played Magic or Hearthstone can draw on prior knowledge and expertise in assessing cards.
- Preferably build mono-colored decks (only one region) – this generally strengthens synergy.
- Simple decks are usually stronger than combo decks.
- Save the expedition tokens. You can accumulate them and then use them when you have more understanding of the game. Otherwise, you might waste them.
A general tip: Stay relaxed. You do not have full control, and in the expedition, a lot of luck is required in card selection as well as in drawing cards. Even good players can sometimes exit the expedition with only three wins.
What to watch out for while playing: While you play the expedition, you will have the opportunity to adjust your deck after each victory. Either a card swap with another will be suggested or you can choose a new champion and additional cards.
Always pay attention during this selection that you do not take out important cards from the deck for seemingly stronger ones and do not fill your deck with cards that do not really fit. The decision of which cards you want and which ones you prefer not to have becomes more important with each victory.
Even if you lose, you can still improve the deck with another swap. However, this swap will then be deducted from the potential selection after round 6. Overall, you will always have the same number of swappable cards and champion choices.
The expedition in practice: If you want to see how all tips are applied in practice, Cirouss shows you in another video how he builds a deck for the expedition. If you are still unsure how to apply BREAD or find strong synergies, watch how he does it:
When is it worth it to start an expedition?
As soon as you are confident that you understand Legends of Runeterra and know the cards, you can essentially start. Just do not expect to become a master immediately.
You will probably only win a few matches from the first few tokens, but you will learn a lot about the expedition from this, which will help you in the further runs. Therefore, we recommend: Play as soon as you think you are ready. Only then will you learn.
By the way: Even if you can no longer receive rewards from the expedition, it is still worth playing. Because you still earn experience points and gather your own experiences. In this way, you will get cards for your constructed decks faster and increase the likelihood of performing better in the next expedition.
