Mobile Legends and League of Legends are two of the biggest franchises in the MOBA realm. With said, however, they do have similarities, as well as their differences, which gives them their own distinct characteristics. Read more to learn about the differences between the two MOBA titles.
The Internet has revolutionized government, business, healthcare, education, and even how we interact with each other. All the traditional communication constraints have been shattered, giving us a dizzyingly wide range of interaction possibilities. And in such an intricately connected world, many things (including video games) have gone viral in a split second.
Take League of Legends and Mobile Legends for example. When the games were first released in 2009 and 2016 respectively, they only managed to garner a few hundred users. Fast-forward to today, they’ve grown to become two of the most popular MOBA franchises of all time. In fact, you’ll hardly come across a gaming conversation without hearing League of Legends or Mobile Legends mentioned.
The continued commitment to improve these two MOBA titles by the respective game developers has led to the emergence of several industries, either looking to support or benefit from this gaming ecosystem. Industries that can help players that may be looking for the best game boosters to improve their levels for instance.
Following the announcement by Riot to rollout League of Legends: Wild Rift and consequent completion of the Alpha Test Phase, the game is already available in some regions. Considering Mobile Legends and League of Legends are the two biggest MOBA franchises, it begs the question: How far do these two MOBA titles drift or borrow from each other?
In this article, we are going to pit Mobile Legends against League of Legends: Wild Rift, strip them down to their DNA, and ultimately, unveil the distinct characteristics that set them apart.
But before we do that, let’s briefly crunch some numbers. Shall we?
Mobile Legends & League of Legends in Numbers
Since making a debut in 2009, LoL has seen astronomical growth. In 2018, for example, League of Legend’s World Championships had a peak of 205 million viewers, the highest number ever recorded viewership in a gaming tournament. So much so, that it even surpassed Superbowl and NBA finals.
And if a report released by Riot in 2020 is anything to go by, the game has managed to sustain this growth. In the report, Riot revealed that LoL had a monthly player count of 115 million unique gamers. This is a commendable number given that very few titles have managed to endure a marathon for such a period.
Source: Statista
Even more impressive is LoL’s revenue. According to a 2020 report by Statista, League of Legends generated $1.75 billion in revenues, which was a recovery from the $1.5 billion revenue dip in 2018.
Mobile Legend, on the other hand, has done a commendable job in attracting new players since it was first released in 2016. The game had an estimated monthly player count of 80 million, with the peak concurrent usage hitting 9.1 million users in February 2019.
In terms of revenue, the cumulative player spending more than doubled, jumping from $214.1 million in 2019 to reach $502.5 million in 2020.
Now that we have seen the overall performance of League of Legends, let’s tackle the elephant in the room.
Mobile Legends VS League of Legends (Main Differences)
Gameplay and Controls
One of the most prominent differences between Wild Rift and Mobile Legend is the gameplay. For starters, a single Wild Rift match lasts between 15 and 20 minutes, compared to Mobile Legend’s 10-12 minutes. Better yet, Wild Rift borrows some user experience aspects from its PC cousin by clearly displaying the 'solo’ and ‘duo' indicators on the lane when the game is beginning.
As for the roles, League of Legend: Wild Rift features five preset, beta-reliant roles compared to Mobile Legend’s dual forms. In the latter, however, the roles have relatively better flexibility, thanks to their reliance on the meta.
Also, unlike in Mobile Legends where you need to purchase the ruins and emblems, these features are free for everyone in LoL: Wild Rift, which makes the game beginner-friendly and fair for every player. Still, LoL: Wild Rift comes with almost twice as many controls compared to Mobile Legends.
Heroes and Champions
In Wild Rift, every champion is allocated a distinct role to play in a game, while heroes in Mobile Legends are free agents capable of playing anywhere. Along with that, all the respective champions in LoL: Wild Rift come with four unique abilities, two of which are default summoner spells. In Mobile Legends, on the other hand, every hero has three unique skills and one default battle spell.
At the time of writing this, League of Legends: Wild Rift had 59 champions, compared to Mobile Legend’s 103 heroes.
Graphics and Animations
In the graphics department, Wild Rift is heavily influenced by its PC cousin. On top of having incredibly clean map elements, team fights are crisp and clear and the monsters in the Jungle have better animations.
Unfortunately, this is not the case with Mobile Legends. The maps are slightly blurred, making it harder to see the battle. And thanks to its reliance on Poke and Burst skills, the damage effect and animation look less-realistic.
In-Game Items & Purchases
The number of active items in Wild Rift is undoubtedly higher than those of Mobile legends. This gives the former an upper-hand as it helps in improving the gameplay. And just like in the League of Legend PC version, you need to go back to base to purchase items by freezing the lane to prevent opponents from pushing the lane and destroying your turret.
When it comes to purchasing in-game items, Mobile Legends is inspired by most mobile MOBA titles, which let you buy items anywhere. With this functionality, you’re able to resuscitate your Hero before they die midway through a team fight.
Device Specs Requirements
Wild Rift’s graphics, character designs, and overall aesthetics make it storage memory intensive. As such, you need to have a phone with sufficient memory to be able to run this game. On the other hand, MLBB runs even on “limping-donkeys” aka low-spec phones, an element that has turned out to be its biggest advantage as it gives it a wider reach and easy playability.
Final Thoughts
There you have it! The top 5 main differences between Mobile Legends and League of Legends. If numbers are anything to go by, League of Legends is literally a Legend and the undisputed king. With that in mind, however, Mobile Legends managed to conquer the mobile market first, meaning it has better traction than LoL: Wild Rift. Whether Wild Rift will reach or surpass Mobile Legend’s performance in the mobile realm remains to be seen. Ultimately, it’s players like you who will help deliver the blows and decide who between the two becomes the undisputed king.
