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Wild Rift 3.1 preview: Elemental Rift, Shen, and Karma are coming

The Elemental Rift, Shen, and Karma are coming to Wild Rift in 3.1. (Photo: Riot Games)
The Elemental Rift, Shen, and Karma are coming to Wild Rift in 3.1. (Photo: Riot Games)

League of Legends: Wild Rift is taking a huge step forward with its largest gameplay overhaul yet with the arrival of the Elemental Rift in Patch 3.1.

Along with this major addition to the gameplay, we’re also expecting the arrival of two new champions, Shen and Karma.

Patch 3.1 will be released on 24 March, after developer Riot Games previously announced a break to make plans and re-evaluate where they would be headed next.

Here are the most important changes you can look forward to in League of Legends: Wild Rift Patch 3.1:

Elemental Rift

The Elemental Drakes will change soon change the Rift in 2022 (Photo: Riot Games)
The Elemental Drakes will change soon change the Rift in 2022 (Photo: Riot Games)

As promised by Riot during the Season 2022 opening, the Elemental Rift is coming to Wild Rift, and players can expect its first iteration in Patch 3.1.

The Elemental Rift is a feature that is currently available on the game's PC version. Slaying each dragon delivers a different bonus and killing enough dragons yields the Dragon Soul, a potent buff that matches one of the dragon's elements.

The Elemental Rift will still be in its testing stage in 3.1.

In the first testing, after players defeat the third dragon, the Dragon Soul will activate, which will grant three more buffs along with Dragon Soul.

The Infernal Dragon is changing. (Photo: Riot Games)
The Infernal Dragon is changing. (Photo: Riot Games)

Attack damage and ability power are increased by the Infernal Dragon, and with Infernal Soul, a circle of explosions appears around your abilities and strikes, inflicting additional adaptive damage to the target.

The Mountain Dragon increases your armor and magic resist, and the Mountain Soul grants a shield after not taking damage for a short while.

No one's going to ignore the Mountain Dragon this time. (Photo: Riot Games)
No one's going to ignore the Mountain Dragon this time. (Photo: Riot Games)

The Ocean Dragon replenishes health over time, whereas the Ocean Soul restores more health when inflicting damage to enemies.

The Ocean Dragon will have a sea of benefits with the Ocean Soul. (Photo: Riot Games)
The Ocean Dragon will have a sea of benefits with the Ocean Soul. (Photo: Riot Games)

The first two dragons spawn at random, and the rest of the dragons will fit the rift's element. When a new dragon is about to spawn, you'll know exactly which sort of dragon it is so you can get your team ready to battle for it, or switch to a different goal if it's not a good fit for your group.

The Cloud Dragon will be removed from Wild Rift because the developers felt that it “offered mostly hidden power that was hard to notice in-game, making it less interesting to play around and less enticing for objective-minded teams”. This is to make extra space for other elemental dragons to shine.

Dragons, Rift Heralds, and Barons will now also spawn later in the game, with Dragons also becoming easier to take.

This gives players the flexibility on how to play the early game, instead of rushing towards objectives right away.

Elder Dragon also gets a total revamp, “making it much closer to its League PC kin”.

In the event that a team manages to acquire the Dragon Soul, Elder Dragons will become available, which may deliver a game-ending true damage burn effect and execute adversaries when they reach low health. It definitely sounds like the time to fight if your squad manages to capture an Elder.

After the second dragon is slain in each game, the terrain substantially transforms, allowing for new gameplay chances that match the third dragon's element.

The Infernal Rift will open new pathways. (Photo: Riot Games)
The Infernal Rift will open new pathways. (Photo: Riot Games)

There are new avenues to the red and blue buff that are opened up by the Infernal Rift, which burns away brush. This can provide the winning side an edge with deep warding and aggressive invades, but it also means that the route back to base is significantly shorter.

The Mountain Rift creates additional jungle terrain as well as a defensive wall in front of the dragon pit. This Rift provides new flanking paths and methods to push your opponents into a bottleneck for an AoE explosion.

The Mountain Rift will give players new opportunities for flanks. (Photo: Riot Games)
The Mountain Rift will give players new opportunities for flanks. (Photo: Riot Games)

As the Ocean Rift expands throughout the landscape, more bush and Honeyfruit will appear. Players can use the brush for a strategic ambush, or to breathe a sigh of relief as they heal up for the next fight.

“We know there are many gameplay elements that players love about this map, and we aspire to keep the spirit of the Rift true for Wild Rift players,” said Alan Moore, Executive Producer of the Wild Rift team.

The Ocean Rift makes the Rift more colorful. Photo: Riot Games
The Ocean Rift makes the Rift more colorful. Photo: Riot Games

These new features will be tested in a separate queue for a limited period during patches 3.1 and 3.2.

This will give the devs time to test and fine-tune the new map before it completely replaces the current Wild Rift map in the next Preseason patch for 3.3.

New Champions

Shen, The Eye of Twilight

Solo Laners, are you ready for Shen, The Eye of Twilight? Photo: Riot Games
Solo Laners, are you ready for Shen, The Eye of Twilight? Photo: Riot Games

As we know from Wild Rift Season 2022, the Eye of Twilight is on its way.

According to Riot, Shen uses blades of steel and spirit, "to protect Ionia and its allies in the Baron Lane". He also comes with a Spirit Blade that follows him and provides him with greater damage and defense when he and his crew need it the most.

Shen isn't the stealthiest Kinkou, but he more than makes up for that with his defensive capabilities and crowd control abilities.

Shen can taunt the enemy team and use Spirit's Refuge to block basic strikes and take down enemy carriers. Shen also offers support from everywhere on the battlefield, thanks to his exceptional tankiness and ability to Stand United with friends.

Karma, The Enlightened One

Karma, The Enlightened One's updated kit sure looks interesting. Photo: Riot Games
Karma, The Enlightened One's updated kit sure looks interesting. Photo: Riot Games

Karma, the Enlightened One, can be played as either the support or midlaner by empowering her comrades and stifling her enemies. With Riot placing an increased focus on Karma's battle mage playstyle, there have been a few adjustments from her PC counterpart.

In Wild Rift, Karma's Mantra ultimate is now her passive. After casting a spell, Karma is given the chance to activate her next ability with three stacks of Karma. She receives a stack of Mantra for each spell she casts, and once she has three stacks, her next ability is empowered.

Inner Flame unleashes a burst of energy that deals damage and slows foes. When empowered, it emits a slow field that bursts a second time.

Focused Resolve may now tether up to two nearby champions. If such champions fail to leave tether range, they will be rooted for a limited period of time. When empowered, this ability creates an extra tether, forcing foes to scatter. If any of the tethers aren’t broken in time, the enemies get a mega-root for a longer period.

Inspire, Karma's third ability offers an ally a shield that increases movement speed. The shield can empower an extra close ally while under the influence of Mantra.

Finally, Karma’s brand new ultimate, Transcendent Embrace, forms a ring of spirit energy, dealing damage, slowing, and knocking enemies into the center if they’re caught on the edge.

“We want to give Karma more ways to control her enemies throughout the game, and Transcendent Embrace is the centerpiece of that playstyle,” Moore explained Karma's revamp for Wild Rift.

Potential New Champions for 2022

The developers also mentioned that while the year started off relatively quiet with the addition of “Peace, Harmony, and Fluffy Cats”, 2022 will be “the year of the Edge Lord”.

Moore discussed “revisiting the battle-scarred locations of Runeterra”, pointing out Zaun, Bilgewater, and Noxus as locations where the new champions may be coming from.

There are a handful of champions that we think fit the bill, but since it was only left at that, we can only take an educated guess.

We have a couple of Edge Lords already in League of Legends, with Darkin champions like Kayn and Aatrox, but Viego is another champ that can be classified as such.

The champions that can come out of Zaun are countless, but we’re thinking that Pyke, the Bloodharbor Ripper, can make an appearance on the mobile Rift.

Are you excited about the arrival of the Elemental Rift? And which LoL Champions do you want to see next? Join the conversation on Facebook or Twitter!

Anna is a freelance writer and photographer. She is a gamer who loves RPGs and platformers, and is a League of Legends geek. She's also a food enthusiast who loves a good cup of black coffee.

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