League of Legends has shared a dev update outlining its plans to bring WASD controls to the game, in what has been called “the biggest change in the game’s history” by members of the community. LoL will be adding WASD “in the next few patches.”
Riot outlined their reasoning in the dev video, as well as the implementation and the intentions behind the change, stating that the intention is to capture new players who are not used to League’s idiosyncratic control scheme. As WASD is ubiquitous, the goal is to allow players to more easily transition into the game.
However, Riot were keen to emphasise that it did not see the new method as a replacement for the old control scheme, stating, “Our goal is to make WASD an awesome control scheme for those who want it, but no one should feel forced to switch control schemes just to stay competitive.” Therefore, the devs consider WASD as something to be “balanced,” like every other game mechanic.
Stating that WASD had already been through testing, but would start only in PvE, then unranked, and then move on to ranked if it was in the correct state. Noting the previous testing, they said, “We’ve been gathering tons of feedback from our internal feedback team, from brand new players, and from pro players at MSI.”
The devs outlined other features, including more customisability in the control scheme, and “dynamic locked camera,” an adapted version of the locked camera that allows players to move it slightly around their character with their mouse, giving them a better view of the battlefield.
IWDominate shares his thoughts on WASD in League of Legends
One such (ex) pro player to test the controls at MSI was Christian ‘IWDominate’ Rivera. IWD was co-streaming the event from the arena, where he witnessed esports betting sites favourite Gen.G defeating T1 to claim MSI once again.
He shared his thoughts on WASD on stream:
“I think that they will be OP at certain points of the game.” Specifically, Dom stated that WASD would be “broken” for ADC in the late game due to its ability to perfectly kite enemies without having to ever take your mouse off of them, but said that he thought that there was “not much value” in WASD controls in the early game when attack speed is lower.
However, he called it “pretty f**king weird” for laning due to the diagonal orientation of the map, and called juggling “horrible” with WASD controls. The LCS veteran said he tried jungle clears with T1’s Mun ‘Oner’ Hyeon-jun, but couldn’t beat a time of 3.35 due to the camp positioning, which means you have to “run in a zig-zag.”
Ultimately, concluding that, if possible, the optimal strategy would be to play in normal controls during the early game, then switch to WASD for late-game fights.
The camera mode will initially be only for WASD before the testing phase concludes, at which point it will be rolled out to all control schemes.
Keybinding and camera improvements – Can bind left-click without having to edit system files “for the first time in League’s history”.
Community reacts to WASD in LoL
Ever since the initial leak three months ago, the League community has speculated about the potential of WASD in the game. Some instantly identified it as potentially overpowered, while others were more measured and trusting of the devs to figure it out.
One reaction seems to be common in all community threads about the issue: “WASD is the biggest gameplay change Riot have ever made.” That’s a huge statement for a game which is approaching the age where it could buy itself a beer, but it’s also hard to argue against. WASD goes beyond introducing a new hero or a new mechanic to change how the game is played.
Auto-attacking, skillshots, and the ability to evade are all affected by the control scheme, and new players who do play with WASD will learn the game on those terms, with one Redditor stating, “Seems horrible. It’s either going to be mandatory for some champs or be a complete trap for new players. Balancing two control sets competitively is a pipe dream”
It seems for some, the trust in the devs remains strong, and for others, they believe it fundamentally changes the game too much and will be impossible to balance, but the announcement that it will only come to PvE initially, and that ranked and pro play implementations will only occur when it is in a state the devs deem acceptable should alleviate some of those fears.
Some were more derisory of the change, with one YouTube comment saying, “Okay, we have WASD, next update steering wheel support for SIONR?”
As a result of scepticism about the announcement, Game Director for League of Legends, Pu Liu took to Twitter/X, saying:
“Many of the takes expressing concerns around WASD call out legitimate things that we are watching out for… It’s a big addition to the game, and we would not be pursuing it if we did not have overwhelming information that it can make a big difference for new players checking League out.
“That said, we have been gathering feedback from players, content creators, and some of the best pros in the world to make sure WASD does not become mandatory for power maximizers. We are looking forward to getting your hands-on feedback and play data throughout PBE and when it hits unranked queues on Live, to make sure we strike the right balance between our control schemes moving forward.”
He added, “Please keep an open mind until you try it!”
For some members of the League community, it seems that keeping an open mind is easier said than done. That, of course, is understandable considering the nature of the change, but for Riot, the benefits may outweigh the risks.
Certainly, League may never be the same again after WASD, but whether that is a bad thing or a good thing remains to be seen. MoBAs are widely regarded as having a high barrier to entry for new players, who launch the game for the first time and are faced with hundreds of heroes, all with different optimal builds, playstyles, etc.
While League is regarded as more accessible than some of its competition, lowering that barrier to entry may be important for the long-term health of the game, but whether WASD can do that without hurting its existing fanbase will be the measure of its implementation.
Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.