League of Legends Swarm Guide
Swarm is Riot’s major new game mode and is a part of their Summer Event. This game mode is a PvE Bullet Heaven type game mode, which you can play or with your friends. It is a short-ish game that lasts less than 20 minutes.
In this game mode, there are many different champions you can play. There are 8 in total, including some fan favorites such as Seraphine and Jinx. In this game, your goal is to hold off enemies for 15 minutes and then beat a boss to progress further. There is a total of 4 map, and if you complete 1 map, you can move to another.
Swarm is a blast to play, but it can be quite a challenge if you’re new to it. As a beginner, you might find yourself struggling at first. However, with the support and guidance of someone who has played a lot of Swarm and similar Bullet Heaven games, you can learn the ropes and improve your skills. I’ve compiled a list of strategies and tips to help you get started, so you can feel reassured and confident in your ability to learn and improve.
Here at Mobalytics, we have been creating a ton of content around Swarm. If you like this guide, then I would check out more articles like it over on the Mobalytics Blog.
1. Understand the Map’s Mechanics and Plan a Route
Each map has a different strategy and layout. What you do on one map may only sometimes work on a different map. However, the main idea remains- survive! Your goal is to pick up and destroy the boxes as often as possible to ensure you get the loot drops. But we will talk about those later on.
For instance, on the Outskirts map, you should play around the battery and pick it up whenever it spawns. You can then use it on the cannon to help you. However, you may want to delay giving the cannon the battery and wait for a mini-boss so it helps you kill it.
On the Subterranean Lab, you can play around the freeze zones which can be vital and save your life. You could pivot around that side of the map: switching between top and bot side whenever they’re up. By checking the map frequently, you can see which one is up and ready and which one isn’t.
On Beachhead, you can play towards the beach and have the cannons work in your favor to help kill the enemies. This is really good if you’re playing as a melee champion. Alternatively, you might want to play with Miss Fortune, who runs around the map, but I found more success on the beach.
2. Spam Your E
When you first start this game, naturally, you want to hold on to your abilities. You unlock your E and your Ultimate at levels 3 and 6. You can then upgrade them by taking different Augments as the game progresses.
When I first started, I didn’t want to use my E on Jinx as it felt essential, but that’s not necessarily the case. I think a good habit is to use your E as often as possible to help deal with big hoards of monsters. Definitely do not use it just to handle single monsters, but you should use it whenever you need to.
Depending on what champion you’re playing, you might need to be more cautious when using your E. For instance, Briar is a bit trickier and might not want to spam her E, but for champions like Jinx (who is the better starting champion), you could spam it.
Once you have played a lot and received major upgrades, you will know when you should and shouldn’t use your E or Ultimate.
3. Avoid Chokepoints and Walls
Something you’ll eventually learn by trial and error is how to position and move freely around the map. If you’re checking the map layout and know where the major chokepoints are, you should avoid those parts of the maps.
Similarly, it can be good to avoid hogging the walls all the time, especially when you have no abilities up, as it limits your movements and escape routes. But, pathing around walls could be suitable as you can pick up loot drops such as health potions.
Through trial and error, you’ll eventually get the hang of where you should and shouldn’t move around the map.
4. Check the Mini-Map
Following our previous tip, try to watch the mini-map somewhat often and understand the map layouts. I won’t drag this tip out, but it’s essential to understand the routes where things spawn and keep an eye on the minimap at all times.
First, checking the map to see when the mobs spawn is essential so you’re not in a sticky situation. You don’t want to be cornered in a rough part of the map and taken out because you have nowhere to go.
You also don’t want to waste your Ultimate ability and have that on cooldown, making it harder for you to kill them. As suggested, it is beneficial not to drag the giant monsters out. Taking them as soon as possible can help you as it drops a card and allows you to get a free upgrade.
5. Destroy the Boxes
You may see these random boxes spawn across the map. Usually, you’ll find them around the edges of the maps near the walls. If you destroy these boxes, you can get additional loot that is vital if you want to get to a high round.
You can find various things, such as coins, which will help you in the long run and help you get better upgrades in upcoming games, but the most important thing is to find health packs. These health packs can restore health and make or break a game.
My advice is to destroy these boxes and keep a mental note of where these health packs are so you can path toward them if you’re getting below 50%. The additional health will keep you alive. You can also pick up vacuum orbs that will pull all the XP you’ve not picked up towards you. If you’ve missed a lot of XP, picking up one can give you a ton of XP and quite a few levels!
Your goal will be to path around the map and actively look to destroy these boxes to ensure you get to a high level. If you ignore these health drops, you will not survive the game and will quickly melt if you get overwhelmed. They are the clutch you need to get ahead.
6. Spend Credits After Every Game
The final tip on our list is to spend your gold! Head over to the Upgrades section on the Swarm event section and spend those hard-earned points. As we said earlier, there is no perfect way to play this game, so you should buy things you think will increase your chances of winning.
Each player’s playstyle will differ. You may find more value in taking something different than what we suggest, and that is okay. However, if you prioritize damage, movement speed, area size, projectiles (etc) as your core path, then you will achieve a high level due to your insane damage output. The area size and projectile bonuses will help whenever you pick weapons and get weapon upgrades as you play.
In Conclusion
To finish this article, I just want to say that it is totally okay to die a lot in the game mode. I died way too many times before I was able to complete the first, second, and third levels solo, and I am still learning the ropes as I write this article. However, when this game comes out on the live servers, I will be a lot more prepared as I will be using all of my advice when I restart.
Honestly, this game mode is really fun and super re-playable. I haven’t been bored while playing it at all, and I have over 50 games on the PBE on it already. Do you have any other tips and tricks you would recommend for your fellow Summoners? Let us know in the comments below, and as always, for more Swarm articles, head over to the Mobalytics Blog.
