Wild Rift VS LoL: Which Is The Better Game?

Many former League of Legends players are claiming that Wild Rift is better than League of Legends in every aspect. PC supremacists find it hard to believe that a mere mobile game can even compare to the superior graphics and gameplay that a computer game can offer. Even though the game is essentially the same in its core build, the debate between Wild Rift vs LoL has become so heated that players want to know which one should they focus their time more on.

Wild Rift vs LoL: Initial Thoughts

It’s undeniable that Wild Rift and LoL are two completely different games in terms of their controls, design, and graphics even though both are drawn out from the same concept. After all, Wild Rift is just a mobile version of League of Legends. However, players have been impressed by League of Legends: Wild Rift’s design since it got released saying that this version of the game offers a significantly better experience than playing in the PC version.

Broken Blades | Champion Trailer - League of Legends: Wild Rift
Which do you think is better between Wild Rift vs LoL?

Wild Rift vs LoL is an interesting debate for sure. Since the teams behind developing Wild Rift and League of Legends are different, Wild Rift will have the obvious advantage over LoL since the team took the best parts of the game and removed a lot of potential flaws to create a more compact version of the game. Using existing knowledge from League of Legends, is it enough for Wild Rift to establish itself as a superior game to its original, standing as its own separate title?

The Difference Between Wild Rift vs LoL

Both League of Legends and Wild Rift are multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games where players get to compete against another team to destroy the enemy Nexus or force them to surrender. League of Legends is the original version of both games that can only be played on PC. This version contains all updated versions including an elemental drake system, remastered cash shop, and a complete set of champions and skins ever since its release in 2009.

Wild Rift is a game made to extend the wonders of League of Legends to a wider audience by porting the game into the mobile platform. The game’s core mechanics and win conditions are essentially the same as the original League of Legends version, trying to keep it as close as the limited mobile version allows it to. Unlike League of Legends, Wild Rift doesn’t contain all of the updates and only features a portion of the champions and skins that are included in the original game. Other differences include:

1. Map Layout and Structures

The biggest and most noticeable difference between Wild Rift vs LoL is the layout of the map and the structures that are included. League of Legends and Wild Rift both contain a 3 lane system that includes the jungle, river, and bases. The jungle camps are similar and they contain the same types of jungle monsters with the neutral objectives also being the same. Both games also include 3 turrets in each lane and a Nexus that needs to be protected.

A map of LoL Wild Rift
Rescaled and resized

Wild Rift removed a lot of the contents in the map to reduce the amount of game time needed each game and also fit it into the mobile platform. Starting inside the base, both Nexus Turrets and all Inhibitors are removed, so super minions spawn after destroying the Inner Turrets, which don’t regenerate anymore. Jungle camps remain the same but the number of monsters in large camps have been cut down. In addition, the map no longer changes since the concept of Dragon Soul is non-existent.

2. Game Pace

League of Legends averages at 25 minutes per game. The earliest games mostly end at the 15-minute mark after a team surrenders. The latest a game can go on average is 50 minutes with a few games going even beyond that time if both teams have been playing a close, back and forth game. The lengthiness of the gameplay can be attributed to the size of the map and the importance being given to Macro play and the difficulty in sieging the enemy structures.

A 70-minute match between Nonshim RedForce and T1 in the LCK
That’s a long game!

Wild Rift averages 8-10 minutes per game. The earliest games mostly end at the 5-minute mark after a team surrenders. The latest a game can go on average is 15 minutes if both teams have been playing safe which can be quite rare. The shortness of the game can be attributed to the increased rate of gold and exp generation and the reduction of structures around the map. Objectives are also significantly easier to acquire in Wild Rift vs LoL.

3. Champion Abilities

Wild Rift tries to take the skills and abilities that each champion has in the original game and incorporates all of them into the new version. Each champion stays true to their kit with only a few modifications to scale with the resized map and champion models. There are some champions who have received completely revamped abilities like Ashe’s Enchanted Crystal Arrow being able to be controlled after being fired so that it’s easier to hit champions across the map.

Jinx's abilities in Wild Rift | Wild Rift vs LoL
Do we need to relearn their skills?

Another main difference in champion abilities is that most of the range and hitboxes of the champions have been modified so that it doesn’t take too large of a portion on the map. Because of the rescaling of the range and radius, a lot of abilities have become significantly harder to hit, which adds a new layer of difficulty to the game. Considering that the targeting system in the game uses screen-dragging, that simply adds to how difficult hitting abilities can be compared to League of Legends.

4. Ranked System

One of the most popular features in League of Legends that makes people so dedicated to playing it but at the same time hate it so much is the Ranked System that the game has. Wild Rift vs LoL’s ranked systems are completely different with the only similarities only being the Ranked Division. LoL uses the LP (League Point) system and a promotional series that requires players to win a majority of the games in a given set, depending on the promotion.

The Ranked Season in LoL Wild Rift | Wild Rift vs LoL
Are you ready for the climb?

Wild Rift uses Victory Points, which requires the player to fill up a gauge by winning games. The main difference in Wild Rift vs LoL is that the latter has Ranked Fortitude, which allows players to increase an additional rank if they are on a winning streak, playing well, or if they continue to play despite an AFK teammate. This system feels more rewarding for players that are actually playing good and doesn’t punish its players for having bad teammates that single-handedly lose games.

5. Esports Scene

The category that League of Legends obviously wins at is its Esports Scene since Wild Rift hasn’t had the chance to establish its own scene compared to the 11 years that LoL has had to build up its tournament base. The League of Legends Worlds Final is undoubtedly the biggest esports event in history with the production and viewership beating that of any other PC esports in existence. The most viewed League of Legends esports is Worlds 2019.

Suning fans cheering for their team in Worlds 2020
What a passionate crowd!

Wild Rift esports is obviously still in its development stage so the viewership and popularity is still on the lower side of things. There’s also the problem of living in League of Legends’ shadow so there are a lot of people who choose to ignore it. However, mobile esports are significantly more popular than PC esports with a good portion of the most viewed esports events online being mobile games, with Free Fire Worlds 2021 even beating LoL Worlds 2019 by 2 million more viewers!

6. The Meta

The concept of meta in both League of Legends and Wild Rift is extremely vague. There are some champions that seem really strong just because their kit is really simple and can be really impactful in low ELOs where players have a hard time doing things like dodging and predicting abilities. High ELO meta can also be really weird since even the most OP champions don’t really matter because most players are either one-tricks or simply adjusting to their role.

A comprehensive tier list from U.GG
U.GG’s Champion Tier List

In the context of professional play, meta is relevant but ranked and casual players probably don’t need to think about it too much. This applies in both League of Legends and Wild Rift. A good thing about both games is that the Riot Games balance team, which is separated per game, constantly watches the movement of which champions are good and bad so that they can get balanced out every time they release a new patch which really keeps the game healthy.

7. The Skins, Splash Arts, and In-game Models

Wild Rift is the clear winner when it comes to the aesthetics of the game because the game simply does everything better. A good example of a significant improvement in art is the Gothic Orianna, which looks so good in Wild Rift but is one of the Worst Skins in History when it comes to the original League of Legends. This means that the Wild Rift team really has increased appreciate when it comes to the aesthetic value of their characters.

Gothic Version of Orianna in LoL Wild Rift | Wild Rift vs LoL
Look at that improvement!

Aside from skin splash arts, the in-game models are also vastly superior to their LoL counterparts. Some skins in League of Legends look so plain and the skins even look so similar to each other because of the scale of the characters. Since character models in Wild Rift are scaled larger in relation to the environment and the camera angle allows players to look at the units better, the skins just look a lot better and unique in addition to the obvious tweaks that the Wild Rift team made to improve the aesthetics of each skin.

The Transition Between LoL and Wild Rift

If you’re a LoL player planning to try out Wild Rift, you probably won’t have a difficult time adjusting to the transition. The game is essentially a simplified version of League of Legends so everything that in this game is already something that you already know. The most difficult things that you need to learn would probably be itemization and adjusting to the rescaled range and radius of abilities, which both aren’t really big changes that will take time to learn.

The default LoL: Wild Rift Lobby
Do you think Wild Rift is better than classic?

It’s significantly harder to transition from Wild Rift to League of Legends. The only thing that you’ll be taking with you during the transition is the knowledge of the champion abilities but that might not apply to all of the units because Wild Rift changed some abilities. Transitioning from Wild Rift to League of Legends is essentially starting a new game so you’ll have to learn a lot of things that might take a while longer to do but at least you’ll do it with full familiarity of everything else.

The Ultimate Battle: Wild Rift vs LoL

When it comes to asking which is better between Wild Rift vs LoL, we’re unfortunately going to give you a really split answer. If you’re a competitive player that enjoys comprehensive gameplay and want to test your skills out, you’ll want to play classic League of Legends more. The game simply has more in-game mechanics and the aspects such as macro and teamplay are more emphasized compared to its mobile counterpart in Wild Rift.

If you enjoy LoL, in general, but want to avoid the stressful parts of playing such as long, dragged-out games and the need to constantly watch your micro and macro, you’d definitely enjoy Wild Rift a lot more. Wild Rift is generally better if you don’t have anything that ties you to the original game such as playing with friends or relating with esports news. Wild Rift offers the same experience as League of Legends without the bad parts that turn people off most of the time.

Is Wild Rift easy to play?

MOBA games, in general, require a lot of practice before you reach a decent level of gameplay that’s required for competitive play. However, Wild Rift is a simplified version of a MOBA game so you don’t have to spend as long to master the mechanics of this game.

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