Just as lane swapping was taking off as the most effective strategy in Wild Rift early game, Riot has decided to clamp down on it in patch 2.1b.
Riot is very clear that it is making these changes specifically to target competitive play. It does not believe that 2v1s at level one “is the most intuitive or healthy playstyle”, so in order to establish clear phases of the game, they are enforcing laning.
It’s doing this solely by increasing turret defenses.
- Na’Vi enters mobile esports with an all-Chinese Wild Rift pro team
- 5 pro tips to fly over the competition on Corki by Liyab’s Gambit
Previously, in the first three minutes of the game, all outer turrets had 50 bonus Armor and Magic Resist.
Turrets also gain additional defensive bonuses when there are multiple enemies nearby:
- 3 champions in total: 40 Armor/Magic Resist
- 4 champions in total: 80 Armor/Magic Resist
- 5 champions in total: 120 Armor/Magic Resist
In patch 2.1b, the bonus Armor and Magic Resist of turrets in the solo lanes have increased in the first three minutes.
- Solo (Baron) lane outer turret gains 90 bonus Armor/Magic Resist
- Mid lane outer turret gains 90 bonus Armor/Magic Resist
- Duo (Dragon) lane outer turret gains 40 bonus Armor/Magic Resist
When multiple enemies are nearby, they also receive much more defenses:
- 2 champions in total: 10 Armor/Magic Resist
- 3 champions in total: 100 Armor/Magic Resist
- 4 champions in total: 200 Armor/Magic Resist
- 5 champions in total: 300 Armor/Magic Resist
Note that the turret in the Dragon lane actually decreased by ten, from 50 to 40 bonus Armor and Magic Resist. To balance it out, Riot gave made it such that the 10 Armor and Magic Resist will only come into play when two enemy champions are present.
In all, this incentivizes players on both your team and the enemy team to stick to their standard duo lane.
As a disincentive to players who might still want to force out a lane swap, overwhelm the solo laner and vie for the first turret, Riot massively increased the turrets bonus defenses by more than 200% exponentially. The more enemy champions are present in the first three minutes, the more heavily fortified the solo lane turrets will be.
Read the full 2.1b patch notes here.
READ MORE: Lane swapping is the most effective strategy in pro Wild Rift right now
