Riot adds new LoL PvE game mode, Swarm

After six years, Riot Games is introducing a new PvE game mode in League of Legends. Swarm, which goes live in July, promises to deliver a fresh, cooperative gaming experience unlike anything seen before in the popular MOBA.

Swarm returns League players to the world of the Anima Squad skin line with a narrative-rich setting where humanity’s last bastion, Final City, stands against the Primordians. The sea-dwelling creatures—acting like the planet’s white blood cells, according to Riot—aim to wipe out humanity. The Anima Squad members will fight back with re-engineered Primordian technology in the hopes of saving the world.

In Swarm, players will use WASD controls to navigate—a first in League history. To fit the new mode, Riot had to reimagine champions, emphasizing movements to fit in with the strategy and teamwork needed to clear all levels of Swarm. Players engage in running battles, leveling up by defeating enemies, and exploring several dynamic maps filled with interactive elements and power-ups like a true bullet heaven survivor game.

But compared to other games from the same genre, Swarm is designed as a co-op experience, encouraging players to form teams of up to four instead of saving humanity solo. Matchmaking becomes available only after completing all the story-driven maps. Unlike typical survival games, though, Swarm is heavily narrative-driven, with story achievements unlocking narrative-related champions. The mode caters to solo and cooperative play, but playing with allies means fallen teammates can be revived while challenging Swarm in solo mode transforms it into a win-or-die situation.

In a first look behind closed doors, Riot’s designer and VFX artist Riot Sirhaian shared a few insights into Swarm’s development, revealing the PvE game mode began as his side experiment two years ago, inspired by survival games and the potential of League’s engine. Initially considered risky, the concept was eventually greenlit, evolving into the highly anticipated game mode set to premiere this July.