We give you the first tips to get started in Legends of Runeterra, the card game of Riot Games based on the lore of the successful League of Legends.
After seven days – eight for those who previously registered – with the open beta of Legends of Runeterra, it is still too early to learn more about the metagame. In fact, this trend should change when it is stable, but every day a new deck appears that seems tremendously powerful and will break the game, and within a few hours makes it the perfect counter for it. These sudden changes make even the veteran CCG player – collectible card game – feel somewhat disoriented in these first moments with the game of Riot Games, let alone the rookies who enter this game from the creators of the celebrated League of Legends We leave you a handful of practical tips so that the first hours do not become so uphill:
Complete all tutorials
It is a truism, but you have to play them yes or yes for several reasons. The first is to know the vicissitudes of Legends of Runeterra, since although we have previously played Hearthstone, Magic or Gwent, for example, Riot's game follows a radically different turn structure that we explained previously in this article published just a few days ago . Not only that, but distribution in turns of attack and defense make it even more different, to which we must add the keywords, which are perfectly detailed in these first tutorials that will also grant us the first rewards. Don't you think of competing directly without having passed through here, the one who warns is not a traitor …
How do weekly rewards work?
Unlike other similar card games, in Legends of Runeterra we do not have daily rewards simply for logging in, but rather will be for experience purposes, and have weekly cadence. The way to get this experience is very evident: playing games – obviously victory gives much more – and completing daily missions, something that is practically done alone, is a matter of time. Well, having said that, the maximum level we can reach is 13, which will grant us 3 chests of maximum level – Diamond, in this case – and an Expedition token, which becomes an alternative game mode to the usual Games with rank.
Then, in this tweet, the official Legends of Runeterra account made clear the rewards, as well as their content. The Capsules in turn can be achieved by leveling up the different regions of the game or playing the mentioned Expeditions.
Here you have the expedition experience tables and the updated chests and capsules content 😉
This could vary in the future (although we do not plan to do so) #LegendsOfRuneterra pic.twitter.com/4XsFoWqh1t
– Legends of Runeterra ES (@RuneterraES) January 28, 2020
Learn the keywords
Most Legends of Runeterra cards, how could it be otherwise, possess abilities that differentiate them from the rest, what we call keywords. Some of them will be familiar to us from other card games, such as Last Breath, others will be different but the effect on the table will be the same, such as Barrier – the equivalent to Divine Shield in Hearthstone – but others cause completely unprecedented effects on the board . These are especially those that have to be mastered to know when and how to play them, and that as we said before, we can learn in the tutorial. These are some of them:
- Overwhelm: the remaining damage to a unit is inflicted on the rival nexus.
- Stamina: 1 less of the indicated damage of units or spells is received.
- Stun: A stunned Follower card cannot attack or defend during the round.
- Frost: The attack value of a frosty unit is reduced to 0 during the round.
- Elusion: can only be blocked with another card with Elusion.
- Quick Hit: A unit with Quick Hit attacks as played, although this only occurs during the offensive phase.
- Aspirant: Aspirant cards can choose which enemy card blocks their attack.
- Regeneration: at the end of each phase, a card with Regeneration completely recovers its life points.
- Endeble: A card with Endeble dies automatically at the end of each phase.
- Fearful: a Fearful card can only be blocked by cards with 3 or more attacks.
Be patient
Rare is the game of Legends of Runeterra that is resolved in five minutes. Its structure of attack and defense phases gives it a peculiarity that makes the player need extra patience when putting his cards on the table. Example: we can play a card, but we may not want to attack or defend with it, since it is probably convenient for us to keep it alive for a more powerful combination afterwards and it rents us more not to block and take damage – or to pass an attack phase without inflict it – to risk our strategy well into the game.
In the same way, although we have already spent all our mana in an attack phase, it is convenient to wait to mount the offensive so that the rival player, who in this case blocks, has also spent his. Why? Very simple: if you have mana left, you can still save an ace in your sleeve that spoils all our attack and, in passing, the entire game. Never, absolutely never, should attack too soon.
Differences between regions
As usual, each of the Legends of Runeterra cards belongs to a faction, based on these, as we know, in the League of Legends lore. These are the features of the game and its peculiarities, all of them combinable although some make better synergies than others:
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Demacia: focused on boosting unit statistics and protecting them with Barrier.
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Freljord: Frost is your best weapon, being an ideal faction to play control decks.
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Ionia: very annoying, with many units with Quick Attack or Avoidance that makes them very difficult to control.
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Noxus: the one for aggressive players, does not bother to control the table and only matters direct damage to the rival Nexus.
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Piltover and Zaun: based on stealing cards, performing spells and causing altered states.
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Shadow Islands: good also to play control, with cards with Life Steal, Fear and Last Breath.
The best champions
Each deck consists of 40 cards, of which six can be champions. However, it is advisable not to have exactly six, since the strategy of the game is generally based on strengthening them, and it is difficult to establish a strategy based on so many champions. That is why we leave you all the champions of each region, indicating in bold some of the best:
- Ionia: Zed, Shen, Yasuo and Karma
- Noxus: Draven, Katarina, Vladimir and Darius
- Demacia: Lucian, Fiora, Lux and Garen
- Freljord: Anivia, Ashe, Braum and Tryndamere
- Piltover and Zaun: Teemo, Ezreal, Jinx and Heimerdinger
- Shadow Islands: Elise, Kalista, Thresh and Hecari
