Back in mid-June we had the first glimpse of Lol Swarm when Riot Games shared a massive League of Legends (LoL) update. Developers revealed a slew of information about changes coming to the esports world, but there was more than just news drops related to the competitive scene. Riot officially announced the upcoming release of a new LoL game mode called Swarm that should be familiar to all the “bullet heaven” enthusiasts out there.
For those of you who haven’t played hundreds of hours of games like Vampire Survivors, Halls of Torment, or Brotato, we’ll provide a full breakdown of this new-ish genre and all the information we could find about Lol’s Swarm.
LoL Swarm:
What Is Swarm and when will it be available?
Swarm is a brand-new PvE (player vs enemy) game mode. It is set to come to League of Legends on July 17 with the release of Patch 14.14. It will be part of the summer event so League fans seem to think the game mode will only be available for a few months. That said, maybe Riot will keep it around if Swarm proves to be popular with League players.
When the game mode arrives in LoL, you’ll be able to play it solo or in co-op with your friends. Swarm represents a major departure from your typical League gameplay, primarily because it removes the MOBA elements and instead delivers a “bullet heaven” experience for gamers.
What Is A Bullet Heaven Game?
A bullet heaven game is essentially the opposite of bullet hell. Whereas a bullet hell game has you weaving in and out of projectiles that flood the screen, bullet heavens task you with doing the complete inverse. In popular bullet heaven games like Vampire Survivors, you control a character’s movement around a level as you also auto-attack hordes of enemies and bosses, collect gems to level up, and earn currency.
Each character has a different starting weapon and specific abilities, all providing a lot of replayability if the gameplay loop grabs you. Plus, there are typically numerous new characters, maps, and weapons to unlock.
Many bullet heaven games (if not all of them) also incorporate rogue-like (or rogue-lite) elements into the gameplay. This means that every time your character dies, you will start the next run from scratch. However, many of these games also allow for certain upgrades that do carry over, such as Vampire Survivors letting you increase attributes like your health, attack power, and revives, among others, by spending the coins you earn on each run.
As of this writing, Riot has not revealed exactly how Swarm will incorporate bullet heaven elements into its gameplay. However, Riot did say that they wanted to emulate the more chill, casual style of these games while also reimagining how the champions would play in this context.
Are You Excited To Try LoL Swarm?
We may not have a release date for Swarm yet, but we’re definitely eager to try Riot’s take on a bullet heaven game. For one, how do they plan to change how the champions play? Does this mean they’ll get to try out different abilities that they normally don’t use? Also, will there be visually incredible weapon evolutions like those seen in Vampire Survivors?
As we wait for Riot to answer those questions—and more!—as we get closer to the release of Swarm, we have plenty of LoL tournaments to keep up with and watch. You can visit our League page to watch and bet on the latest CBLOL, LPL, and other league action.
Always practice Responsible Gambling and check out our latest promo offers and boosts. T&Cs apply. 18+ to play.