LoL Swarm Character Unlock Guide
Swarm is going to be on the live servers in a few weeks at the time of writing this article. Swarm is a part of Riot’s Summer event, and in this game mode, you can play as a few different champions, alone or with friends. In this game mode, you face incoming mobs for 15 minutes and then a big battle boss, which is quite hard to play.
In this game mode, you can play 9 different champions. These champions are Jinx, Seraphine, Aurora, Illaoi, Leona, Xayah, Yasuo, Riven, and Briar. In this Mobalytics article, we will break down how to unlock each of these champions.
Before we begin, we’ve written a few different articles about Swarm, including articles a Beginners Guide to Swarm and a complete breakdown of Swarm. If you like these guides or want to see more, head over to the Mobalytics Blog for more content for LoL.
A quick disclaimer: The way to unlock these champions is based on the PBE quests and may differ from the live servers.
Starting Champions
When you first play Swarm, you get 2 beginner champions. These champions will be the ones that you will be playing the most with. You’ll learn the ropes of playing these champions. The first champion is one of League of Legends favorites- Jinx.
How to Unlock Jinx
Jinx is a free champion, and you unlock her for free. You do not need to do any grinding or missions to unlock her.
How to Unlock Seraphine
The second champion is entirely different to Jinx. This champion is a mage and is more of a utility-based champion. Seraphine is the second free champion in Swarm. You do not need complete any missions to unlock or play either Seraphine or Jinx.
I had a lot more fun playing Jinx compared to Seraphine, but I think if you’re playing with friends, then Seraphine would be better. Jinx is a better carry in the early maps (in my opinion).
Map Related Unlocks
In Swarm, there are a total of 4 different maps. You have to complete one map before unlocking the next one. After completing each map, you will unlock a new champion.
The first map is The Warehouse District. To complete this map, you need to defeat Rek’Sai who is the boss on this map. She spawns after the 15-minute mark. When you defeat her, you will unlock the second map.
How to Unlock Briar
The second map is called Outskirts. Once you complete this map and beat the final boss, Briar, you will unlock Briar. Briar is probably my least favorite champion to play so far, but she is still really good.
How to Unlock Yasuo
The next map is called Subterranean Lab. This map is quite fun but has a lot of choke points that can catch players out. To advance through this map, you need to beat the final boss, Bel’Veth. Beating her will unlock Yasuo.
The final map is called The Beachhead. Defeating the final boss, Aatrox, will unlock matchmaking island. Matchmaking Island is the final map, and you can then play the game on hard difficulty.
Shop and In-Game Quests
By just going through the storyline, you would’ve unlocked most of the champions. However, there are some “side quests” that unlock champions as well. You might be able to unlock some of these champions earlier in the game, but it depends on if they come up or not.
How to Unlock Leona
To unlock Leona, you need to upgrade Searing Shortbow to level 2. You can quite easily do this in an a run on the second or third map. Just play a round, and make sure you pick up each instance of Searing Shortbow, and then the next time you play you’ll have the option of playing Leona.
How to Unlock Illaoi
Another champion you can unlock is Illaoi which you can do by upgrading Radiant Field to level 4. Again, this is an easy one to do if you just focus on getting this one upgraded to unlock Illaoi.
Hard Mode
There are still 3 champions to collect, and these champions cannot be obtained until you’ve completed the main storyline. To unlock these champions, you must be playing on Hard Mode.
How to Unlock Aurora
To unlock Battle Bunny Aurora, you must defeat 25 mini-bosses in hard mode. This can be obtained quite easily. A few rounds on Hard Mode will allow you to unlock her.
How to Unlock Riven
For those who want to play Riven, you must defeat Rek’Sai on the Warehouse District map in Hard Mode.
How to Unlock Xayah
Finally, to unlock Battle Bat Xayah, you need to complete a total of 20 Bel’Veth missions/ trials.
As you can see, the Hard Mode unlocks additional characters, but unlocking them can be quite hard. Of course, as long as you have made the right purchases and spent your coins well, then it will be a lot easier to beat these missions.
In Conclusion
That about sums up our article on how to unlock every champion in Swarm. I don’t know if you can strategically get all these champions quickly, and I feel like there’s going to be quite a lot of downtime between unlocking most of these champions.
Don’t be too worried if you’re stuck on the two beginner champions for a while, as it isn’t very easy to start unlocking champions, especially if you play solo. With that in mind, keep playing and upgrading those stats, and you’ll see yourself completing maps in no time at all.
For more articles to help you on Swarm, head to the Mobalytics Blog.
