Wild Rift's 2.5 patch adds three new champions, guilds, and more

The 2.5 patch for League of Legends: Wild Rift comes almost a year after the game's release and the Wild Rift team have made sure that the community had a lot of things to look forward to in this update.

While there weren't any sweeping gameplay changes, players can look forward to three new champions, a few tweaks to the Jungle, a guild system, and ARAM (All Random, All Mid) mode as a permanent feature.

We don't want you to get lost through the changes, so read on to get to know about the biggest changes in Wild Rift's 2.5 patch:

New Champions

Fans can expect three new champions arriving to Wild Rift with the new patch: Veigar, Caitlyn, and Jayce.

First off is Veigar the Tiny Master of Evil, one of Valoran's most powerful sorcerers, a master of the magical black arts, and a corrupter of cosmic energy. In Wild Rift, he is a mage and will be a midlane support champion. Veigar will be released sometime within October.

In time for Arcane's Netflix release date, Caitlyn the Sheriff of Piltover will be released in November. Caitlyn will continue to be a marksman AD carry in Wild Rift and will deal high damage to enemies through her auto attacks with trap placement utility. Her signature ult Ace in the Hole will also be available.

Finally, there's Jayce the Defender of Tomorrow for the Baron lane. We're expecting this champ to be a bit special because of his two interchangeable weapons in the form of the Mercury Hammer and the Mercury Cannon. This means that he will be the first character with multiple skills on the same button, depending on which weapon he uses. We're expecting to see Jayce sometime in November as well.

Gameplay Updates

The new patch added a second Rift Herald, which will spawn later in the game and give more objectives to the Baron side of the map that will "encourage more team fights", according to game director Alan Moore. The Rift Herald can be captured twice before the Baron spawns.

Since this can also be taken solo, it allows room for additional individual carry power. Additionally, the Rift Herald will now do more damage to turrets, but will receive more damage when it headbutts them.

Adding a second Rift Herald means that there will be a delay in the Baron's initial spawn time, but the respawn time of the Baron will still be the same.

There are a few tweaks to the Jungle as well. Respawn time of non-buff camps has increased, and players can expect to receive more gold from these. This is to make "farming the jungle less hectic".

Guild System

One of the most important changes in 2.5 adds a Guild System to Wild Rift. This is very different from the Clubs feature that the League of Legends PC game used to have. Growth Lead Catarina Macedo said that "with Guilds, we're giving you a new way to progress together (with friends) and earn sweet rewards while doing it".

Players who are Level 9 and above who want to make a new guild need to use 400 Poro Coins or 200 Wild Cores, which is to prevent players from creating one on a whim.

Guild leaders can customise their Guild Name and Icon. These will appear on a guild member's profile page, matchmaking banner, and the leaderboards.

Once this is set up, leaders can invite their friends to the guild. Leaders can also appointed nominated officers who can also help to manage their guild and keep the environment friendly.

Riot Games built the guilds as spaces for members to communicate and catch up on the activity of other friends, including their open parties and social shares. Also, by playing with other guild members, players can earn extra Blue Motes and XP.

Guild vs Guild (GvG)

One of the most exciting additions to the Guild system is the Guild vs Guild (GvG) competition. To be victorious, your guild must amass more supplies than others, and the guild with the most supplies at the end of the week wins.

To earn supplies, guild members must complete four community missions, most of which will require you to play with other members of the guild.

At the beginning of the week, half of the guild members are "armed" while the others are "unarmed". This will encourage unarmed guild members to play or pair up with armed ones to gain exclusive rewards. For every additional armed player at the end of the week, there will be an increase in total supplies.

There's also a way for guilds to catch up to those ahead for the week by committing Sabotage. Every Friday, a guild with fewer supplies can sabotage other guilds. They can do this by playing with full teams of five guild members to complete the Sabotage mission. If your guild is targeted, you can similarly defend from Sabotage by playing games with five guild members at a time.

At the end of the week, scores are computed based on the supplies collected, with a bonus based on how many teams are "armed and ready". Then, the Sabotages are deducted from the overall score, and the guild with the highest score wins.

By winning, guilds can receive exclusive rewards such as Poro coins, bubbles, player emblems, new ways to customise the Guild, and more.

All Random, All Mid (ARAM)

ARAM is here to stay and will continue to be a permanent mode in Wild Rift. Because the games are shorter, this mode is a perfect way for players to test and practise their proficiency with each champion. Players can also expect Scryers Blooms to appear on the Howling Abyss soon as well.

New Wild Pass

Each patch will now introduce a new Wild Pass. In the upcoming one, gamers will be able to unlock Hexplorer Tristana. Furthermore, Riot will change the way prizes are displayed, making it easier for players to tell which Pass is free and which isn't. More rewards will be added to the Free Pass track as well.

Matchmaking

Wild Rift is making some "sizable changes" to matchmaking in Patch 2.5, according to Riot. A player's matchmaking rating will be used instead of rank to determine who they'll be put up with and against.

This should help to level the playing field and, as a result, make games more entertaining.

This also means that players may see a wider rank gap in their games. The lower-ranked player will have an icon on their screen card to indicate that they've been playing at a skill level above their rank.

New Skins, events, and other ppdates

What patch would be complete without some cool, brand new skins to look forward to?

For this month, new skins are coming with the launch of the Way of the Dragonmancer event. Fans can expect new skins in the form of Lagoon Dragon Kai'Sa, Eternal Dragon Brand, Storm Dragon Aurelion Sol, and more. There will also be other skins coming in the future, such as Divine Sword Irelia, Valiant Sword Riven and Splendid Staff Nami.

Aside from new screens, the artwork on share screens has also been given a visual upgrade. And, in terms of live gameplay, if you're a streamer, you can now share your gameplay on Twitch with a simple press of a button.

Finally, in celebration of the release of Arcane on Netflix and Tencent on 6 November, an Arcane-themed event is to be expected to be unveiled. More details on the event will be announced closer to the date.

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