Whether you're trying ARAM for the first time or have logged countless hours on its League PC equivalent, there's a lot you're gonna want to know about League of Legends: Wild Rift's ARAM!
Starting with...
What is ARAM?
ARAM is a special game mode that means "All Random, All Mid." It shares a few key similarities with traditional Wild Rift: you'll still team up with four other players to try and destroy the enemy's Nexus, and you'll still earn account experience and champion mastery for your effort.
As for the differences, well… Read on!
Queuing Up
After you've tapped the Play button, you'll be prompted to select your game mode. See ARAM at the top of the screen? Great! Just give it a tap to start searching for a game.
Champ Select
Once a game is found, you and each member of your team are immediately assigned a random champion from a pool consisting of your owned champs, the current free rotation, and more!
We've included a whole bunch of extra champions for two reasons.
First, the extra variety ensures that you won't keep getting stuck with the same handful of champions each time. Part of ARAM's appeal is the opportunity to experience champs and playstyles you may otherwise never try, for which a healthy selection pool is key.
Second, it prevents players from creating an unfair advantage by stacking their account with champs who are strong in ARAM. Before you cry foul, we believe that every champ has a shot at making it big on Wild Rift! But ARAM's a poro of a different color. Its singular focus on chaotic team-fights and drawn-out sieges inevitably favors champions designed with those situations in mind. Giving every player a similar base roster is our way of leveling the playing field!
Just like the Blind Pick mode for Wild Rift, ARAM keeps the enemy team's composition a secret until the game begins. Unlike Wild Rift, ARAM makes sure that each champion only appears once per game. Mirror matches, begone!
Dynamic Champ Pools
Since we're rolling out ARAM on Wild Rift for the first time, we'll occasionally expand the champion pool. This lets us promote champion diversity, gather balance data, and maintain fairness across a variety of champion combinations. Thank you for bearing with us while we get things sorted!
Rerolls and the Bench
A random pick can be exciting, but there are also lots of reasons you may not want to play a certain champion. Maybe they don't work with your comp, or perhaps they're just not your style. Whatever your reasons, we have the answer: rerolls and the bench!
Every player can store up to two ARAM rerolls on their account, which will give you a new random pick from your champion pool while putting your current one on the bench. Once a champion hits the bench, they're up for grabs (provided they're already in your champion pool), so don't be surprised if somebody snaps up your old champ. After all, one player's 0-10 Katarina is another player's 10-0 Katarina!
And don't worry if you run out of rerolls! Every ARAM you play goes towards replenishing your supply, so simply keep queuing up to earn more.
Spells
ARAM has all the same Spells as Wild Rift, minus Smite and plus Clarity and Snowball!
Clarity restores a lot of mana to its user plus a smaller amount to all allies in range, making it the preferred pick for mana-hungry champions.
Snowball is the ultimate gap closer. To use it, just tap-and-hold, take aim, and release to hurl your frosty projectile the indicated distance. If it strikes an enemy (champions, minions, etc. If they have a health bar, you can hit them!), you can reactivate the spell to execute an untargetable dash to the marked unit. Think of it as a one-way ticket to glory!
Of course, if it seems like a one-way ticket to a grisly demise, you can opt not to reactivate the ability, which will then go on cooldown after a short time.
The Map
ARAM takes place on the Howling Abyss, a map that pares Wild Rift's vast and varied real estate into a single, inescapable lane of 5v5 madness. But just because it's smaller doesn't mean there's less going on! We've also added a few features to further spice up the proceedings:
Starting Level, Gold, and Experience Boosts
Every player begins at level 3 with 1,700 gold in ARAM, so be sure to learn a couple of abilities and stock up on items before charging into the fray.
But that's not the only experience boost ARAM has to offer! Shortly after the start of the game, your experience bar will gradually fill up at a set rate even if you're nowhere near slain minions/champions. So sit back, level up, and wait for the inevitable mayhem of multiple champions unlocking their ulties at the same time!
Fickle Fountain and Rejuvenating Relics
Purchase everything you need whenever you spawn at the shop, because once you leave, there's only one way to return: DEATH.
Sure, you can physically walk back, but you won't be able to purchase any items or get healed by the fountain (although its protective laser will still take care of any overbold interlopers). If you want to buy new items, you'll have to take a "fast back" courtesy of your own demise. Seriously—we've even disabled Recall to drive this point home.
In lieu of the fountain, we suggest you take advantage of the ARAM-exclusive Healing Relics dotted along the side of the map. These green glowing goodies restore a little health/mana/energy to the first champion to step on them, followed by another restorative AoE burst a few moments after. Just activate them with care! Allies outside of the indicated radius won't get any of the benefits, and the healing effects don't discriminate between friend and foe.
Manic Minions
In order to speed things along, ARAM minions gradually move faster as a game progresses.
| Game Time (minutes) | Minion Speed |
|---|---|
| 6 1/2 | +5 |
| 7 | +10 |
| 7 1/2 | +15 |
| 8 | +20 |
| 8 1/2 | +30 |
| 9 | +40 |
| 9 1/2 | +50 |
| 10 | +60 |
These speed buffs are applied to all minions on both sides upon reaching the designated time, even those that have already spawned.
Because why run it down mid when you can sprint?
Howling Abyss Buff
In ARAM, all champions come with a permanent Howling Abyss Buff that includes the following effects:
- Reduces Spell cooldowns by 40%
- Reduces all outgoing heals by 50% (self-heals not affected!)
- Increases magic resist for melee champions by 20
- Reduces damage received from distant sources by 15% for all units (champions and minions)
These small adjustments help accelerate each game while closing the gap between certain roles. Keep them in mind if you're looking at a team full of close-range champs or heavy healers!
tl;dr
Random champs! Fewer objectives! All-out brawls! ARAM's quick-and-crazy combat has something for everybody, so roll the dice and queue up!