Elemental Rift Overview

The time has come for us to say goodbye to our old Dragon friends, but don’t worry we’re bringing in some familiar Dragons with the official launch of Elemental Rift! With this update you’ll see the powerful Dragons completely transform the Rift and harness their power to slay your foes!

TL;DR:

• Elemental Rift is here to stay and will be officially taking over the Rift on July 14 at 00:01 UTC
• There will be four Dragons flying in: Infernal, Ocean, Mountain, Elder
• The Rift will transform after the first Dragon is slain
• Your team will now be granted a new powerful buff, Dragon Slayer
• Elder Dragon will spawn in at the nineteen minute mark.

DRAGON TRAINING

Elemental Rift was one of the most iconic gameplay updates in League PC. Not only did it replace the whole Dragon system, but it also brought changes to the whole Rift and gave teams new strategies and ways to not only play out their games, but close them.

We’ve known for a while that we wanted to create the Wild Rift version Elemental Rift so that we could provide you with those same game play opportunities, but we never wanted to just drag-n-drop these changes from League PC. We wanted to tailor this update to the specific needs and realities of Wild Rift! And in order to do that, we needed to put these Dragons through some rigorous training.

Before bringing anything new into Wild Rift, we do a lot of internal tests. Our designers and GAT (Game Analysis Team) try out many iterations to figure out what works, what doesn’t and of course make sure none of it breaks the game. Since we knew that Elemental Rift was going to be a much bigger update than the addition of something like new runes, we wanted to expand our internal tests to all of you, so we could get a sense of how things played out and hear your feedback.

Over the past few months you may have noticed that we talked a lot about Elemental Rift, but it was important to us to share all the changes and as much of the process as we could with you all.

In our first test we brought over a system that was pretty similar to what you see on League PC. The best of five system where the team who was able to slay three Dragons were able to gain the powerful Dragon soul. However; we heard a lot of feedback that souls were not showing up often and how much you all enjoyed the Rift changes and wanted to see them more. Some other feedback we heard was how it felt like there was some breathing room when we pushed Dragon and Rift Herald's spawn time back a little. We ended up bringing that change over a bit early to live, and really like how that change has allowed for you to make more strategic plays during the laning phase and early game.

With this feedback in mind we headed back to our Dragons nest and with each iteration Elemental Rift, we made tunings and adjustments to try and address these concerns. Throughout these tests, our main goal was to find a way to make the powerful buff these Dragons provided show up early enough to harness its power, while also making sure it wasn’t so stressful that Junglers felt like they had to make a to mad dash to Dragon the second it spawned or risk being at a huge disadvantage.

Which is why with Elemental Rifts official release, you will get the Dragon Slayer buff, instead of Dragon Soul. We know that Dragon Souls are a super important part of League PC, and it might be surprising to hear that we won’t be adding them to our version of Elemental Rift, but we think Dragon Slayer matches the goals we previously discussed.

In League PC, games can sometimes last 40 minutes or more and Souls are the key to helping your team close out those matches. But in Wild Rift, our games are shorter and faster paced so the Soul system wasn’t fitting in. This in addition to us seeing Souls taking too long to earn or not showing up at all or feeling too consequential when we made them shorter is why we are implementing Dragon Slayer. We believe that replacing Souls with these new updates will keep games quick, and free up room for you to have more strategic decision making around objective fights.

BREAKING THE SCALES

Dragon Slayer is a new buff that will reward you and your team for taking more Dragons over the course of a game. When you slay a Dragon, you’ll gain its Elemental buff. But, after slaying your second Dragon you’ll gain its Buff and be granted Dragon Slayer.

Dragon Slayer will multiply the power of all of your Elemental Buffs. The more Dragons you slay, the more powerful you and your team will grow over the course of the game.

Now, let us officially introduce you to the powerful Dragons who will be making their official debut on this new Rift:

INFERNAL DRAGON

Infernal is bringing the heat to Rift…even though he doesn’t quite enjoy spicy food. (We’re only judging you a little for that one Infernal.) Watch the Rift’s bushes burn to ash and walls melt away, when this Dragon takes over and slay them for their Ability Power and Attack Damage Elemental Buff. You’ll see your stats go up the first time you’re able to slay them and then with each stack of Dragon Slayer .

MOUNTAIN DRAGON

Would you buy a mud pie from Mountain? We would. You’ll have new terrain in the Jungle to explore and use to your advantage when Mountain joins the fray and takes over the Rift. Slaying them will also grant your team some extra Armor and Magic Resistance.

OCEAN DRAGON

What do you do with a green Dragon? Wait until it ripens. Ocean told us that one…now you know why they’ve got a dry sense of humor. Hide in the new brushes to surprise your foes or snag an extra honey fruit after that skirmish in the jungle once Ocean takes over. They’ll also grant you some extra health regeneration, so you can stay healthy in-between fights.

ELDER DRAGON

Elder Dragon is on the older side… he is the eldest of all the Dragons, so you’ll see them spawn in at the nineteen minute mark every game. If your team needs a super-powerful buff to secure the victory, you’ll want to be sure you slay them and snag its true damage and execution effects.

In addition to these Dragons, the Rift changes they bring with them will be happening after the first Dragon is slain, so you’ll be able to take advantage of all the new and unique gameplay opportunities earlier on. Or, if you’re like us, you’ll be able to relax and enjoy those rainy lo-fi beats Ocean brings even earlier.

FLYING OUT

That’s all from us for now, we’re going to go meet back up with our Dragon Trainers as our work is never 100% complete and we think there's still room to explore and opportunities to teach these Dragons a new trick or two. You can expect to hear back from us with additional tune-ups and changes in the future. Thank you for all your feedback and playing in each of our tests, we’ve enjoyed sharing this process with you and are so excited to finally make Elemental Rift official! As always, let us know what you think, good luck in your games, and we’ll see ya on the Rift!