A new League of Legends game mode called Invasion has been revealed, a PvE experience that coincides with the release of five new Star Guardian skins.
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First being tested on the PBE, Invasion mode is a pretty distinct change from other game modes. Like the Doom Bots game mode, this pits five players against enemies, though this time they’ll come in waves instead of the way a normal game progresses. New maps will also host the Star Guardians as they fend off waves of enemies with a setting called Valoran City Park being revealed that’ll have its own announcer and Star Guardian-themed vibe.
Below is a helpful breakdown from the PBE post on the League boards of the new mode’s basics with an in-depth description of the specifics further down:
Players: 5
Map: Valoran City Park
Mode type: 5 player co-op battle
Win Condition: Defeat a series of invading space monsters, culminating in a large Boss Fight.
The New Star Guardians
First things first, jumping into the Invasion game mode wouldn’t be right without first introducing League’s newest Star Guardians.
Adding skins for some of League’s most popular champions as well as including the first male member of the Star Guardians, Ezreal, Syndra, Soraka, Ahri, and Miss Fortune are all receiving Star Guardian skins soon. They’ll be pricey like the other Star Guardian skins, but the quality of them makes them worth the spending. Ahri’s skin is a Legendary and will be priced at 1820 RP, but the other Star Guardian skins will run you 1350 RP.
Below are the assets for the new Star Guardian skins, each of the screenshots taken from the PBE courtesy of Surrender@20.
How The Invasion Game Mode Works
Playing as one of the Star Guardians, players will fight off waves of invading monsters that look a lot like other Void-type characters. Playing through seven waves of enemies that’ll appear in a variety of forms, players will be given gold and a level between each encounter before they choose to move on.
There are four major varieties that the mode’s encounters will come in, seen below, all described by Riot DefaultChar in the Invasion PBE post.
Survival
- Simply defeat all enemies: A wave will end as soon as the last enemy is slain.
- Enemies may come in multiple waves, so killing the last enemy is not guaranteed to immediately end the encounter.
Escape:
- Get yourself (and hopefully your teammates) to the escape point.
- As soon as one of your teammates reaches the escape point (helpfully marked by your lovely familiar assistants), your entire team will instantly win.
- Leaving the Star Guardian Protective Shield will cause you to begin taking damage. Damage taken will escalate rapidly the longer you’re outside, so be careful!
Defense:
- You and your team are trapped inside the Star Guardian Protective Shield. Hold back the attackers without leaving its confines.
- Combines the traits of both of the above: Defeat all enemies to progress, but leaving the shield will cause you to begin taking damage.
Boss:
- Defeat the enemy boss and restore peace to Valoran City (Park)!
The Enemies Of Invasion
With the game mode being a PvE experience, the enemies have to be plentiful and ferocious in order to make Invasion a challenge. To guarantee that there will be plenty of variety, 11 different monster variations have been created that threaten players in different ways with unique abilities and actions.
Based off of Void champions and creatures, the monsters have fitting names like “HUGE Big Stompy Monster” and “Grumpy Burrow Monster,” all of them leading up to the final enemy, “The Big One.”
The Big One
- Will fire projectiles in a spiral, devastating Guardians.
- Can be evaded by taking cover behind terrain.
- Will rush forward, gravely injuring Guardians.
- Will cause the ground to rupture, incapacitating Guardians.
- Will constantly summon allies who, as a rule, do bad things to Guardians.
- Not altogether fond of Guardians.
- Will periodically open his eye, which can be attacked for some bonus damage.
Other Invasion Details
While taking on these enemies, several perks will also be available for the Star Guardians to help them continue the noble fight against the invaders.
If an ally is downed, teammates can revive them by standing on a special marker for 2 seconds at which point they’ll be revived with a brief moment of invulnerability. Health packs will also be available – something that ARAM players will be accustomed to – but picking one up will restore health and mana to each member of the team.
A separate queue called Onslaught will also be available alongside the basic Invasion mode, one that is a bit more challenging than the original, a mode described as seen below.
Onslaught mode:
- Onslaught is the higher intensity version of the mode, and can be entered either after playing (not beating) Invasion once, or by queueing for Onslaught with a friend who’s already unlocked it.
- Unlike Invasion, which features two fixed rooms, Onslaught’s succession of rooms will be fully randomized within a set.
Several items have also been disabled in Invasion and Onslaught to prevent abusing their power, namely most of the gold-generating items. Lifesteal also won’t be as strong throughout the game mode, so don’t plan on surviving without the help of your teammates if you’re playing as a Star Guardian like Jinx or Ezreal.
The game mode will be tested on the PBE first before it goes live, so players will have plenty of time to offer feedback and practice their Star Guardian skills before fending off the invaders.
