Riot is set to introduce Teamfight Tactics, a new strategy game mode inspired by Dota 2’s successful Auto Chess mode.
Teamfight Tactics uses League of Legends champions as game pieces on a board. Each round, players are given gold and an opportunity to draft more champions onto their side of the playing board.
Each champion has different strengths, weaknesses, and synergies. Once the drafting phase is over, each player’s team is poised to battle in an automated fight sequence. After the battle plays out, players earn more gold and are given the opportunity to buy more champions. Losing players take more damage in battle, and this cycle repeats until only one is left standing.
With a new game comes new in-client purchases. At release, avatars called Little Legends will be available for 750 RP. Little Legends take the helm during Teamfight Tactics, performing all emotes and animations. Additionally, your Little Legends avatar will appear on Howling Abyss, cheering you onto victory.
This game mode is Riot’s attempt at diversifying the existing game pool and expanding the League of Legends experience. Although it will be on the main client, Teamfight Tactics will be its own mainstay game with its own ranked ladder. It will be complete with developer blogs, patch notes, and its own planned meta game.
There is an obvious comparison to be drawn from Teamfight Tactics to Dota 2’s Auto Chess. Auto Chess has become incredibly popular since its release in January 2019. Riot noticed this surge in player interest from competitor Valve’s MOBA and saw an opportunity.
Even in the featured blog post discussing the new game mode, Riot acknowledges this source of inspiration and calls Teamfight Tactics a new game in the “auto-battler” genre, taking inspiration directly from Auto Chess. Similarly to Riot’s origins in League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics looks to be a hot competitor to a Valve product that Valve itself did not developer.
Teamfight Tactics is set to hit the League of Legends client on June 25.
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