Legends of Runeterra

Legends of Runeterra (abbreviated LoR) is a free-to-play digital collectible card game developed and published by Riot Games. It released on April 29, 2020 for Microsoft Windows, Android, and iOS.[3] The game was released in open beta for Microsoft Windows on January 24, 2020. It exists in the same universe as League of Legends, a multiplayer online battle arena game by Riot.

Legends of Runeterra
Developer(s)Riot Games
Publisher(s)Riot Games
Director(s)Andrew Yip[1]
Producer(s)Jeff Jew
SeriesLeague of Legends
EngineUnity[2]
Platform(s)
ReleaseJanuary 24, 2020 (beta)
April 29, 2020
Genre(s)Digital collectible card game
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Gameplay

Legends of Runeterra is played 1v1. Each player begins the match with a hand of four playing cards randomly selected from their card deck, a 20-health-point nexus, and zero mana. Before the match begins, each player also has the option to trade out any of the first four cards they drew for random different ones from their deck.

After this pre-game phase concludes, both players receive a mana gem, one player receives the attack token, and the other receives the defense token. Only the player with the attack token may attack during this round. After each round, the tokens switch between players, and each player draws a random card from their deck. As the number of rounds increases, so too does the number of mana gems each player receives, up to a maximum of 10. At the end of each round, any unused mana becomes spell mana, up to a maximum of three. This mana can only be used to cast spell cards.

To play cards, players must spend mana gems. Once played, unit cards (Champions and Followers) may be placed forward once more to either attack or defend with. When attacking, if no opposing card blocks, the card will hit the enemy player's nexus, dealing damage equal to its power stat. If the attacking card is defended against a blocking card, the two cards will clash, dealing their respective damage amounts to one another. Each card also has a health stat. If the damage received is greater than or equal to the health stat of the card, it is destroyed. Striking an enemy nexus with a card deals no damage to the attacking card. The objective of the game is to bring the opponent's nexus to zero health points.

Cards

Legends of Runeterra offers a variety of cards to allow each player to play games in their own unique way. A deck of cards must consist of exactly 40 cards, in which no more than 3 copies of each cards may be added. Additionally, a player can't add more than 6 Champion cards total in a deck.

There are three types of cards: Champions, Followers, and Spells.

Champion and Follower are lumped together as "units", cards which stay on the field and battle for the players. Champions are generally the most powerful cards in the game, and each has a unique criterion that, once met, will level-up the card to a more powerful version. Followers are normal units that have all the basic functions of a unit card, but don't level-up.

Spells are single-use cards that cause special effects when played, and then disappear. Spell cards come in three different "spell speed"; Slow, Fast and Burst. Slow spells can only be cast on an open game state, and can't be used in response to an opponent's move. Fast Spells can also be used in response to a Slow or other Fast spells. Burst Spells on the other hand, can also be used in response to Slow, Fast and other Burst Spells. Additionally, Burst Spells don't consume actions, so multiple Burst Spells can be used in a row, during a single chain.

The following are details that are present on each card.

Cost

All cards in the game come with a mana cost. The player must spend the amount of mana listed on the card in order to play the card. The maximum amount of mana a player can start the round with is 10 (13, if including the maximum 3 of stored spell mana).

Power & Health (Units only)

All unit cards in the game have their own Power and Health stats. Power is used to determine the amount of damage dealt to the enemy Nexus or blocking units. When a unit's Health reaches 0, it is destroyed and can no longer be used unless it's revived or recovered by an effect.

Regions

The following are possible card regions. A card only contains a single region. When creating a deck, cards can only be added from a maximum of two regions.

  • Demacia
  • Ionia
  • Piltover & Zaun
  • Freljord
  • Noxus
  • Shadow Isles
  • Bilgewater

Types

The following are possible card types. A card only contains a single type.

  • Unit
    • Champion
    • Follower
  • Spell
    • Slow
    • Fast
    • Burst

Artwork

Each card has an artwork that identifies them. When a Champion card levels-up, its artwork also changes. Additionally, clicking on the eye icon on a card's detail screen will reveal the full artwork of that card, alongside its illustrator and the card's flavor text.

Keyword

Keywords are special traits that appear on some cards. They usually provide special continuous effects.

  • Elusive (This unit can't be blocked, except by other Elusive units.)
  • Fearsome (This unit can't be blocked by units with 2 or lower Power.)
  • Overwhelm (This attacking unit deals excess damage dealt on the blocked unit to the enemy's Nexus.)
  • Challenger (The owner of this attacking unit can pick an opponent's unit for it to block.)
  • Vulnerable (The opponent of this unit's owner can pick this unit to block for an attack.)
  • Can't Attack (This unit can't attack.)
  • Can't Block (This unit can't block.)
  • Immobile (This unit can neither attack nor block.)
  • Tough (This unit takes 1 less damage from all sources.)
  • Quick Attack (This unit strikes before its blocker, instead of at the same time.)
  • Double Attack (This unit strikes twice; first before its blocker, and then at the same time.)
  • Regenerate (This unit recovers all of its health at the start of a round.)
  • Ephemeral (This unit dies after battling or at the end of a round.)
  • Deep (This unit has 3 more Power and Health when its owner have 15 or less cards in their deck.)

Special Unit Identifier

Certain unit have a special identifier that makes them work with certain cards that support that identifier.

  • Poro
  • Spider
  • Elite
  • Elnuk
  • Sea Monster

Rarities

The following are possible card rarities. A card only contains a single rarity. The higher the rarity, the more value a card has. The Champion rarity in particular is exclusive to the Champion units.

  • Champion
  • Epic
  • Rare
  • Common

For example, the card Absorb Soul[4] is from the region Shadow Isles, is a Spell card, is of Common rarity, and costs 1 Mana to play.

Development

The game came about because many of Riot's employees were fan of collectible card games and the company saw that developing such a game would fit in with Riot's philosophy of "building a game for core gamers who really want to go deep into a genre" [5] Riot brought in a group of pro-Magic: The Gathering players in to help test out the game before release, at least one of whom would be retained to help design the final game. [5]

The game is unusual in the genre as it does not make players purchase so called "blind decks" this was partly to let the developers change the metagame as they saw fit without having to worry about players who heavily invested in one particular deck losing interest if is no longer as powerful it once was. [6] Riot's goal thus was to have each set of cards have at least ten viable decks [6] At one point Riot considered not having packs for players to collect however testers reacted negatively to this. [5]

Legends of Runeterra was announced by Riot Games, and entered its first preview, on October 15, 2019, coinciding with the tenth anniversary of League of Legends.[7][8] Eurogamer noted that the timing was unusual given the position of the genre at the time given the failure of the similar Artifact as well as the waning audience for Blizard's Hearthstone. [5] Designer Steve Rubin noted " There definitely was a moment in development when we were seeing Artifact coming out and we were kind of thinking 'Oh, do we rush it out, or do we not?'" [5] Instead Riot took the latter approach hoping that the game's appeal would transcend that of the collectible card game market and attract new players. [5]

The initial preview lasted until October 20 and was only available to a small pool of players.[9] A second preview giving some players a look at "Expeditions", lasted from November 14 to 19, 2019.[10] Followed by an open beta on January 24 2020 [11]

The full launch of the game occurred on April 29, 2020, for both PC and smartphones. The release also brought the first expansion set in the game, Rising Tides.[12]

References
  1. Messner, Steven (January 31, 2020). "Legends of Runeterra's developers talk about balance, feedback, and what's after open beta". PC Gamer. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
  2. https://technology.riotgames.com/news/bringing-features-life-legends-runeterra
  3. "Legends Of Runeterra Has Officially Launched On PC And Mobile". GameSpot. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
  4. "Legends of Runeterra - Absorb Soul". LoR Scout. February 19, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  5. Tapsell, Chris. "Riot says ditching loot boxes will help Legends of Runeterra stand out from the CCG crowd". Eurogamer. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  6. Messner, Steve. "Legends of Runeterra's developers talk about balance, feedback, and what's after open beta". PC Gamer. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  7. Marshall, Cass (October 14, 2019). "Riot Games announces League of Legends card game Legends of Runeterra". Polygon. Retrieved October 15, 2019.
  8. Shea, Cam (October 15, 2019). "Legends of Runeterra: 40 Things You Need to Know About Riot's New Game". IGN. Retrieved October 15, 2019.
  9. "When does the current Legends of Runeterra preview patch end?". Dot Esports. October 19, 2019. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
  10. Brown, Fraser (November 13, 2019). "Legends of Runeterra Expeditions preview begins tomorrow". PC Gamer. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
  11. Chalk, Andy (January 12, 2020). "Legends of Runeterra, the League of Legends card game, begins open beta testing next week". PC Gamer. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
  12. "Legends of Runeterra 1.0 Patch Notes".
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