Starting today, League of Legends players can access the game’s new PVE (player-vs-environment) game mode, known as ‘Swarm | Operation: Anima Squad’.
Anima Squad is ‘an alternate universe where cybernetic, animal-themed warriors serve as humanity’s last hope against the nefarious Primordian forces’, through the PVE game mode, Riot describes.
The new mode, launching on July 17th 2024 and run until August 19th, features bullet heaven survivor gameplay. It goes live at 3pm UTC in EUW, EUN, RU, MEA and TR regions, and 6pm UTC for all other regions.
It allows parties of up to four players to battle waves of Primordian forces. Whether players win or lose, each run promises to help players become stronger the next time around.
Players can grab up to three of their friends and choose from a roster of elite Anima Squad members. With a WASD control scheme, players will run around in a brand new map, Final City, mowing down enemies, completing missions and surviving as long as they can.
As the battle unfolds, players can unlock and upgrade weapons and new Anima Squad members to help defeat the swarms of enemies, to mix up their strategy.
Players can work to permanently strengthen themselves, match by match, by purchasing power ups with gold earned in each game. These power ups grant permanent buffs to give the team an edge in future field operations, so players can progress further in each match.
A blurb from a press release reads: “From the rising seas, ancient life emerges. Primordians–the planet’s white blood cells–harbingers of the next evolution event. Their prime directive: extinguish humanity. The Primordian threat has pushed civilization to the brink.
“For years, tribes of survivors hid in the darkness, resigned to annihilation. Out of the ashes of our world, Final City was born and Anima Squad, Final City’s elite task force of superpowered warriors armed with re-engineered Primordian technology, leads the dawn of a new human resistance, fighting for organic life.”
Skins in LoL PVE mode ‘Swarm | Operation Anima Squad’
In terms of skins, there’s Battle Dove Seraphine, Primordian Aatrox, and more.
The following skins will be available:
- Battle Dove Seraphine (Legendary)
- Prestige Cyber Cat Yuumi (Prestige)
- Cyber Cat Yuumi
- Battle Bunny Aurora
- Battle Bat Xayah
- Primordian Rek’Sai
- Primordian Bel’Veth
- Admiral Battle Bunny Miss Fortune (Mythic Variant)
A second round of Anima Squad skins will drop during the next patch, midway through the event:
- Primordian Aatrox (Legendary)
- Prestige Battle Lion Leona (Prestige)
- Battle Lion Leona
- Battle Wolf Yasuo
- Primordian Briar
- Battle Bear Illaoi
Related article: New LoL champion Aurora drops in patch 14.14, abilities listed
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.
