Riot Games has today announced Soul Fighter, a six-week cross-game event ‘inspired by the adrenaline and competition of fighting games’.
In-game content will be coming to League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics (TFT), mobile title League of Legends: Wild Rift and Legends of Runeterra (LoR).
The most notable is the introduction of the previously announced League of Legends 2v2 LoL team deathmatch mode, which sees eight teams of two face off against one another.
The Soul Fighter event begins globally on Thursday July 20th 2023 and ends on Monday August 28th.
Soul Fighter is Riot Games’ tribute to the fighting game genre, ‘taking inspiration from the deep emotional resonance and unique character moments from fighting games and anime tournament arcs’, and will feature new game modes, skins and features.
A press release read: “The alternate universe that Soul Fighter takes place within immerses players in a colorful and diverse world where competitors fight to prove themselves through combat on the world’s biggest stage, the “Tournament of Souls.” The tournament is a competition hosted by the mysterious God’s Eye where fighters with extraordinary abilities battle it out until there is only one standing.”
“Arena, Soul Brawl and Tag Duel will let players experience League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics and Wild Rift, respectively, in new ways that we think bring something really fresh to the table.”
Andrei van Roon, Riot Games
“We’re really excited for the range of different experiences across the League of Legends ecosystem that make up the Soul Fighter event,” added Andrei van Roon, Head of League Studio.
“Arena, Soul Brawl and Tag Duel will let players experience League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics and Wild Rift, respectively, in new ways that we think bring something really fresh to the table. We can’t wait to see what players think once they get their hands on them.”
Players will get to experience all the action in the Soul Fighter event across four titles, plus a special broadcast, which we’ve outlined below.
League of Legends gets 2v2v2v2 Team Deathmatch Arena mode as part of Soul Fighter event
League of Legends is getting an all-new game mode, 12 new Soul Fighter skins, an in-client metagame experience, a brand new champion (see the Naafiri abilities here) and more.
New LoL Game Mode: Arena
Arena is a new game mode in League of Legends in which four teams of two players each fight one another in rotating combat rounds. After each round of combat, they will power up with unique Augments until only one team is left standing.
Each round consists of a Shop phase and a Combat phase. Players begin the game at level three and gain one then two levels, alternating, each round.
Combat takes place on four different battlefields which vary in size, terrain density, and theme.
There will be bans and duplicate champs on multiple teams allowed.
Champions from the Soul Fighter universe will make occasional Cameo appearances in matches to either players’ benefit or detriment.
LoL Arena Shop phase
Shop phases either offer players a selection of Augments or grant then enough gold to buy a new item, in the following order:
● Shop round 1: 1000 gold
● Shop round 2: New Augment
● Shop round 3: 1000 gold
● Shop round 4: 3000 gold
● Shop round 5: New Augment
● Shop round 6: 3000 gold
● (Repeat 4-6 until a victor is decided)
All boots and starter items cost 1000 gold, and all Legendaries and Mythics cost 3000 gold. Only completed items are available for purchase (no components). Items from Summoners Rift have be re-tuned (adjustments are highlighted with unique text in the item tooltips), and several new items have been added (indicated with a star in the shop).
Augments can be Silver, Gold, or Prismatic, and become increasingly powerful and unique in that order. Augment rarity is decided randomly each time, and all players are offered Augments of the same rarity. Players may choose to reroll their Augment selection to see three new augments twice per game. All players’ Augments can be seen on the scoreboard in the tab screen.
The shop phase ends after 45 seconds or 8 seconds after all players have made their purchases. Gold in excess of 1000 or 3000 can be used to purchase Juices, which are elixir-like combat boosts that last for one round of combat. Champions with gold-generating abilities like Twisted Fate’s passive have been modified to fit better into the mode. Additionally, champions with infinitely stacking abilities gain some stacks in this phase.
LoL Arena Combat Phase
Once the Shop phase ends, players are transported to a random battlefield to do combat. Matchups are determined in a random round robin order; you cannot play the same team again before playing all other teams, though the order may change each round robin. Your opponent will be indicated to you during the shop phase so you have time to prepare.
Teams start at 20 health and lose health when they lose a combat round. The penalty for losing starts at 2 and increases each round up to 8. While three teams remain, one team will be given a bye round.
Combat ends when both players on a single team die. Getting at least one takedown during a combat round earns your team 350 gold for Shop round. After combat is over, you may spectate another team’s combat by clicking on their mascot on the fly-out panel on the right of the screen. After all combats are over, the next round begins.
LoL Arena Combat Modifiers and Rules
New ‘Power Flowers’ are scattered throughout each battlefield. These attackable plants have three charges and grant substantial healing, shielding, and cooldown refund to their attacker. Their name is no joke – these are some potent plants – don’t let your opponent take them freely!
After 40 seconds into combat, a ring of fire will begin to constrict towards the center of the battlefield, shrinking every 10 seconds until the whole floor is ablaze. Champions caught in the fire take ramping percent max health true damage. Shield and healing still work in ring of fire.
LoL Arena Soul Fighter Champion Cameos
Starting in round 4, Soul Fighter Champions have a chance to join the battle in a Cameo. They are team-neutral and operate as battlefield hazards, altering the flow of battle. Many cast their signature damaging ability while others warp play in more unique ways. Here is a quick summary of each Cameo:
- Evelynn: Grants all players are camouflage
- Gwen: Occasionally protects the lowest health player with Hallowed Mist (W)
- Jhin: Casts Curtain Call (R), alternates shots on each player
- Lux: Rotates a laser tripwire, casting Final Spark (R) on any champion to trip it
- Naafiri: The pack patrols the arena, leaping on champions they come across
- Pyke: Occasionally casts Phantom Undertow (E) at the furthest player
- Samira: Combos off players crowd control; casts ultimate after doing so 6 times.
- Sett: Can be attacked; casts Haymaker (W) at the enemy of whoever last-hits
- Shaco: Continuously places jack-in-the-boxes (W) around the arena
- Viego: The first player to die instead becomes Viego for a time
Lastly, during combat, players gain increasing movement speed, slow resistance, and tenacity as they and/or their ally lose health (dead allies are counted as 0 health for this bonus). Additionally, players gain increasing tenacity the longer they are continuously crowd controlled.
LoL Arena Augment list
See the full augment list file for the LoL Arena 2v2v2v2 mode here.
Champion Launch in Soul Fighter patch:
Naafiri, the Hound of a Hundred Bites.
Soul Fighter LoL Skins:
- Samira (Ultimate)
- Viego (Legendary)
- Naafiri
- Shaco
- Pyke
- Sett
- Lux
- Jhin
- Gwen
- Evelynn
- Prestige Shaco
- Prestige Pyke
Soul Fighter 2023 Pass
In-Client Metagame Experience: Tournament of Souls (LoL Exclusive)
Tournament of Souls is a style-rating focused combo-battler that takes place in the client. Players will take on the role of Samira and gain Reputation by playing games of League, which in turn allows them to face new opponents and unlock new abilities for Samira to progress further in the tournament.
The objective of the tournament is to defeat all ten opponent champions and become its new champion. Players can claim rewards after each victory and can unlock the Story and Expert difficulty levels, each with differing levels of challenge for players of all levels of skill and time commitment.
TFT gets Soul Brawl game mode, new cosmetics and more
Teamfight Tactics, the auto-battler game, welcomes an all-new game mode and around-game narrative experience, along with new Tacticians, an Event Pass and the Tournament of Souls Mythic arena.
New Game Mode: Soul Brawl
Much like Fortune’s Favor during Lunar Gala at the start of this year, Soul Brawl is a temporary game mode coming to Teamfight Tactics as part of the Soul Fighter event.
This game mode takes place across two stages; Training phase, where players compete for Soul Power that will strengthen their Soul Crown and provide additional loot options, and Tournament phase, where players will be eliminated in a best-of-three bracket tournament.
ln-Client Narrative Experience (TFT Exclusive)
Alongside the game mode is the in-client narrative experience, The Choncc Dome. Here, Champions and Tacticians team up to prepare for the Tournament of Souls.
The Choncc Dome marks the first time a TFT in-client experience has been brought to mobile platforms, and the first time an Event has had an exclusive Pass+.
Cosmetics
- Tactician: Chibi Gwen
- Tactician: Chibi Soul Fighter Gwen (Mythic)
- Arena: Tournament of Souls Arena
- Soul Fighter Event Pass with New Rewards
‘Tag Duel’ game mode added to Wild Rift
League of Legends: Wild Rift, Riot Games’ made-for-mobile MOBA, features six new Soul Fighter skins, its own in-client narrative experience, and a completely new game mode designed exclusively for Wild Rift.
New Game Mode: Tag Duel
Tag Duel is a new game mode that pits players against each other in one-on-one combat. Each player will select three champions before entering combat, which can be seamlessly swapped between when off cooldown, leading to all sorts of combos previously only possible with teammates. The first player to reach four kills will emerge victorious.
Champion Launch:
Nilah the Joy Unbound
Soul Fighter skins:
- Nilah,
- Draven,
- Yasuo,
- Irelia
- Xin Zhao
- Draven (Special Edition)
Soul Fighter Event Pass
In-Client Narrative Experience (WR Exclusive)
Players will experience an original story set within the world of Soul Fighter, which is primarily told through the eyes of Draven and Yasuo as they battle in the Tournament of Souls and venture into the Lands Beyond.
Players will progress through a visual novel, which also features minigame combat that will test their speed and accuracy, by playing matches of Wild Rift. By progressing through the event, players will be rewarded with tokens, which can be spent on various items in the event shop, and unlock Arcade Mode.
In Arcane Mode, players will get to play through a series of minigames as their favorite Soul Fighter champion, earn an exclusive emote and more.
Legends of Runeterra Soul Fighter additions
Card game Legends of Runeterra brings a new event pass and cosmetics to the battlefield:
- Soul Fighter skins: Nidalee (Epic), Viego (Epic), Sett (Epic),Samira (Rare), Jhin (Rare), Gwen (Rare), Pyke (Rare) and Evelynn
- Soul Fighter Event Pass
- New Emotes & Cardbacks
Riot to donate a percentage of proceeds to charity
From August 1st to 28th, Riot will contribute 20% of proceeds from Soul Fighter Samira, the Soul Fighter Event Pass, and all related bundle sales in League of Legends to the Riot Games Social Impact Fund, a donor-advised fund account sponsored by ImpactAssets. Here’s everything that qualifies:
- Soul Fighter Samira (skin only)
- Unmatched Bounty Hunter Bundle
- Soul Fighter Event Pass
- Soul Fighter Event Pass Bundle
Soul Fighter: Fright Night broadcast will see 16 content creators do battle
In celebration of the Soul Fighter event, Riot Games is also proud to present Soul Fighter: Fight Night, a broadcast experience featuring 16 content creators who will compete both in- and out-of-game for the chance to win the title of Fight Night Champion. The event will be hosted in Los Angeles, California, and livestreamed on Twitch on Monday, July 17 at 6:00PM PT. Stay tuned for more details on Riot Games’ official channels.
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
