The new PvE mode in League of Legends is reminiscent of popular games like Vampire Survivors. To help you get started in this new mode, we at MeinMMO have put together a beginner’s guide.
The new PvE mode Swarm, or Swarm, was released on July 17 together with the new champion Aurora. In this mode, which is very similar to popular hits like Vampire Survivors, you fight alone or with up to three friends against a massive horde of monsters.
Especially at the beginning, if you haven’t played similar titles before, the mode can quickly become overwhelming. We have compiled tips to help you get started in Swarm.
Use Your Abilities
This tip may initially sound very trivial, as it is obviously sensible to use your abilities E
and R
. However, what is important in Swarm is that you do not use your abilities in the same way as in League of Legends.
In LoL, you are probably used to using your abilities cautiously and not immediately when they are available again. In Swarm, it’s a bit different, and you should use your abilities frequently. Since there are cooldowns, it makes sense, at least for your ultimate ability, to use it when there is a larger mass of monsters around you.
Don’t Be Afraid of Damage
To win a round in LoL Swarm, you must survive for 15 minutes before facing the boss, which looks different depending on the map. During this time, you will inevitably take some damage. If you are playing solo, you need to act more cautiously, and especially walls can become a big problem. More on that later.
Still, particularly when you have unlocked the Healing upgrade, you continuously regenerate your health, so taking a bit of damage is not fatal. It only becomes problematic when you are surrounded by monsters.
In multiplayer, however, you can take the damage you have taken a bit more lightly. If you are overrun and defeated by the monsters, it is possible to be revived by a friend. You can even use this as a strategy to gain more experience points.
Spend Your Gold on Upgrades
In LoL Swarm, you primarily need gold to buy upgrades. There are a total of 15 upgrades that you can acquire:
- Damage: Multiplies damage
- Armor: Reduces incoming damage
- Maximum Health: Multiplies maximum health
- Healing: Restores health every second
- Movement Speed: Increases movement speed
- Pickup Radius: Increases the ERF and pickup range for gold
- Area Size: Increases the area size of some weapons
- Duration: Increases the duration of weapon and ability effects
- Critical Hit Chance: Increases the chance of critical hits for weapons that can critically hit
- Ability Speed: Reduces the cooldown of weapons and abilities
- Experience: Increases earned experience
- Projectiles: Increases the number of projectiles fired for firearms
- Gold: Increases the gold earned
- Bonus Duration: Increases the duration of Miss Fortune’s Battle-Bunny bonuses
- Anima Power: For each level, 1% damage, 1% movement speed, 1% ability speed, 1% pickup radius
Some upgrades will only unlock during the course of the game, but with each upgrade, you make the upcoming run easier for yourself. So it’s worth checking after each run if you can buy a new upgrade.
Destroy the Boxes on the Map
On each map, you usually find boxes in corners and against walls that you can destroy. Inside, there is always one of the following three things:
- Gold
- Healing
- Vacuum Orbs that suck up all the experience on the map
Especially the healing can save your life in critical moments, especially if you don’t have a passive ability that replenishes your health points. The vacuum orbs also give you a nice advantage and can sometimes allow you to skip several levels at once since a lot of experience points are inevitably left behind at the beginning.
Importantly, the boxes regenerate over time. So don’t hesitate to destroy the boxes early in the game and try to remember the spots where you can find healing.
Watch Out for Walls and Chokepoints
You will quickly get the hang of how to best navigate the map. At the beginning, it can be helpful to avoid chokepoints or not to circle around walls. Especially when your abilities are still on cooldown, this can quickly mean your end. However, you should not completely avoid these, as there are often boxes with gold or healing there.
Swarm is the new PvE mode of League of Legends, following a completely different gameplay principle than fans are used to from Riot Games. Overall, you can choose between 9 champions. In a tier list, we have listed the best champions for you: LoL Swarm: Tier List of the Best Champions
