We’re either about to enter into one of the most drastic changes League of Legends has ever faced, or perhaps it may pass over and be forgotten like many features added over its 16-year lifespan. WASD is arguably one of those changes that completely change how players enjoy League of Legends, almost as drastic as the rune system rework, or perhaps crafting giving free-to-play players the ability to obtain skins.

It’s ambitious, given League players have played, honed, and perfected mouse movement for close to a decade and a half, but there’s plenty of strong reasons for its introduction, and a lot of potential upsides that we’d like to discuss within this article.

What is WASD?

It’s the ability to move with the W/A/S/D keys, a familiar control scheme that is often the default in many games. In League, you’ll be able to control your champion directionally, giving you the ability to move without needing your mouse.

So Why Is Riot Adding This?

WASD opens a lot of neat changes that break open a lot of the entry barrier for the basics of League, where players who aren’t familiar with the mouse movement setup often move awkwardly and perhaps slowly. Perhaps it might be exactly what helps you bring a new player into League of Legends (although as the joke goes, don’t play League of Legends from someone who’s played thousands of hours in the game and still plays).

For existing players, it might become preferable especially when playing champions who can take advantage of the change of movement. One example is marksman champions, who may find it easier to kite and orbwalk (moving in a circular way to dodge abilities and break aggro from minions). You may find it can be particularly strong on certain mages like Cassiopeia, who now have free reign aiming with their skills and having an easier time moving between their spell casts.

In general, it’s a different way of playing the game that might make it as exciting as playing a new game mode or champion. At worst, you may never end up using WASD and simply stick to the standard mouse movement, but perhaps it may be a step towards revitalizing League of Legends for other players.

The Potential Problems?

Let’s be real here, there is definitely a crowd who believes that it may very well be a competitive advantage to play WASD over the mouse keys, as arguably you’ll have finer control over your champion in a much easier form to trickily dodge skill shots. You’ll hear outcries over competitive integrity, elitism over mouse-movement players who believe it’s a handicap lowering the value of their effort, and perhaps even buggy interactions that make certain champions better with WASD.

Or perhaps, they may simply call it not League of Legends and somehow that’ll be an argument, I guess. But at the end of the day, for Riot Games, what matters is both getting new players into the game, and retaining their players, so it’s a delicate balance that they’re trying to hit. I mean, look below at them individually having high-rank players test every single champion with feedback.

Source: /Dev: WASD CONTROLS ARE ON THE WAY – Riot Games

Looking at this early feedback screenshot, you may notice a comment from a Masters player on Zyra mentioning WASD felt better and more precise. The mention of more precise control over plant placement might give an edge to more dedicated Zyra players who may find that advantage significant enough to switch over.

Across the board, there’s a noticeable mention of improved kiting on Kayle, who definitely benefits from ease of movement as she tends to build a pretty high attack speed which not every player manages well. Others like Graves and Twisted Fate have various bugs or awkward movements, which inevitably we’ll encounter on live when every player tests the changes. Perhaps even a game-changing advantage or bug with a different control scheme that drastically raises the power level of a champion is possible.

As for the whole competitive aspect of WASD’s introduction, it’s really a bit pointless in the grand scheme of Riot’s goal to increase accessibility to the game. While competitiveness is what draws many players into League, a lot of players are lost at the entry of the game due to the overwhelming burden of knowledge. This kind of change isn’t targeted towards competitive play (although they likely are monitoring it to make sure it isn’t a drastic advantage).

I think it’s also fair to assume that early on, pro players and high-level players on the ladder aren’t immediately jumping into WASD. It’ll be fairly gradual, because many of these players are longtime veterans who won’t easily break out of the habit of mouse movement. More than likely, the bulk of players using WASD will be newer ones first picking up the game, who have yet to form habits that are hard to break after.

In terms of certain champions raising in power level from WASD, it’s inevitable that some may find the control schemes stronger, or that some wild bugs may occur. But League is on a two-week cycle, with a history of immediate hotfixes (I mean, look at Teamfight Tactics which has a B-patch, a C-Patch, a D-Patch...). One of the strongest points of League is the continuous patch changes that keep the game fresh and enjoyable. The team more than likely will individually adjust champion advantages without necessarily changing the balance.

But What If a Champion Gets Nerfed Because They’re Stronger in WASD That Also Affects Me Playing It with Mouse-Movement?

Truthfully, I don’t have a clear way to say that this won’t happen, because not many things are sacred in League of Legends except maybe don’t chase Singed. But we should try to keep an open mind and expect that people will discover advantages from WASD, and more likely than not the main players of those champions will try to play it the most optimally (even if it means switching to WASD).

It’s something that will inevitably affect players in a way that feels really bad, because your champion that you like to play is nerfed because of not numbers, but something that you might never use and is functionally out of the game’s typical balance sphere of stats and effects.

Basically, expect that it’ll likely be a major shakeup.

When Is It Coming to the Live Game?

As of this article being written, there is no clear date yet, but you can currently test it out on the PBE server. You can immediately jump into the PBE and try it out to get an early edge.

So What Do We Have to Look Forward To?

Some really silly videos of Nunu and Sion drivebys, a lot more Kalista players, and mostly silliness in the first weeks as players do inevitably silly things trying to learn the control scheme. Try your best not to flame your teammates doing poorly, they may be simply the pioneer of WASD movement.

Jokes aside, I think the entry barrier for League of Legends is about to open up quite significantly. While League is an old and aging game that anecdotally is seen as an internet boomer game by younger kids, maybe it’ll be easier to get the ones who first try out the game hooked into the gameplay. It’s a lot to ask for and inevitably will need more than simply a potentially familiar control scheme, but for people who want to see the game live for a long time, it should be an overall positive feature that might even bring some of your friends into League of Legends.