A beginner’s guide to LoL Swarm – Tips and tricks to get you started in LoL’s PvE mode

League of Legends Swarm is the newest PvE mode introduced by Riot Games. You and your friends are tasked with defending the planet from the Primordians. Along the way, you encounter new champions to unlock, enemies to take down, and eventually, the final boss.

Getting into a new mode can be scary. You may be unsure of what to do and feel a little overwhelmed. This guide will help you understand the entry point skills you need to get started in Swarm, from the new movement system to how the weapons work.

Moving your character in Swarm is completely different to traditional League of Legends. You use WASD to move your character while the mouse aims where your champion attacks. You have to think quickly as the game progresses because hordes of Primordians surround you from every direction. Precise movement gets you out of a jam as the difficulty accelerates.

Pressing the E or R button uses one of the champion’s two unique abilities. Pressing R uses the champion’s ultimate, a unique ability with a much longer cooldown than the E, which you use frequently. Make sure to have your mouse pointed in the direction you want for these abilities. Otherwise, your ability hits thin air.

You have to to level up to unlock your abilities. This requires XP, which drops when you kill an enemy in Swarm. In your first game, look for small blue spheres on the ground. Walking over them grants you XP, which you use to level your champion.

In the early portion of the game, level three unlocks your first ability, and reaching level six unlocks your ultimate. After each level-up, a new Augment is also unlocked. As a new player, getting into the habit of collecting the XP balls goes a long way. In my initial games, I was too concentrated on killing the enemies and not leveling up at the speed I should have been.

Augments are an essential part of Swarm, providing additional buffs to help you survive longer on the battlefield. Like in Teamfight Tactics, players are presented with multiple options. As mentioned above, these options appear every time you level up. These vary from weapons to different permanent statistical buffs. Visit our Augment tier list to find out which are the best.

Weapons are your best friend in Swarm. They’re used to take down enemies, and you’ll need them for the boss at the end of each map. Each champion has their unique weapon at the start of every map and four weapon slots. Each weapon has its own special power that is automatically used. Check out our Swarm weapons guide to find out what each weapon does. Through Augments, you can upgrade your weapon five times before it evolves into a better version of the same weapon.

As with League and TFT, build paths are essential for Swarm. Off the bat, you’re not expected to know the optimal build paths for your champions as a new player. Dot Esports has put together the best build for each champion in Swarm to help you out.

Now that you have your feet under the table, be sure to check out the rest of our League of Legends Swarm coverage for more in-depth guides on the newest PvE mode.