In League of Legends, Summoner's Rift is all about growing your individual champion through laning or jungling. However, Nexus Blitz is all about coordinating with your team in constant team-fights and fun mini-games. Riot Games, the studio behind League of Legends, are no strangers to shaking up the classic MOBA formula. Besides the classic Summoner's Rift game mode, Riot has also introduced All Random All Mid and Team Fight Tactics.
The latest additional game mode is the highly requested Nexus Blitz, which is kind of a mix of both ARAM and Summoner's Rift. This isn't the first time this game mode has appeared, but its back with a new map and some other fun changes. Unfortunately, the game mode isn't here to stay and is only in beta mode. It seems Riot Games wants to reserve Nexus Blitz for occasional events and is currently looking for player on the fledgling mode. Currently, Nexus Blitz still has the same base objective as both ARAM and Summoner's Rift, but every few minutes there is a mini-game event that both teams participate in. The team that wins the event gets a random bonus of some sort to benefit their team. So if you need a game mode to relax with after some intense ranked matches, stay tuned and this guide will show you how to play Nexus Blitz.
How to play Nexus Blitz in League of Legends
Nexus Blitz is currently available for all players above level 10 in the Public Beta Environment. To find a game of Nexus Blitz, simply click the play button on the top left corner of the launcher and navigate to the PVP tab. In the PVP tab, select Nexus Blitz and then confirm your selection at the bottom of the launcher. You will need to select your preferred roles before queuing, but once you have done that you are ready to search for a game of Nexus Blitz.
In Nexus Blitz you are able to pick a champion for yourself and one champion to ban the enemy team from picking. Good bans include those who do a lot of AOE damage such as Katarina and Miss Fortune. On the other hand, try to pick Champions that excel in AOE because you will be in team-fights almost constantly. A good choice for beginners may be Garen, who gets stronger with each fight. Each team also requires two junglers, but the laning/jungling phase is incredibly short so Champions are still best picked in regards to their fighting ability. The laning phase is short because of the map's design and also because of the mini-game events every few minutes. Unlike the classic three-lane map in Summoner's Rift, Nexus Blitz's map is horizontal and only has a middle and bot lane with the top dedicated to jungling. The map is also pretty tight which puts players in close proximity with the enemy. When most players are getting level 5 or 6, the countdown to the first mini-game will start and the game begins to devolve into constant team-fighting chaos. After this point, junglers leave the jungle and begin to help push middle lane since events occur frequently and often in the middle lane.
In general, players' regular builds will still work just fine in Nexus Blitz as it is easy to acquire gold. You still receive gold for last hitting minions, but you also receive a small amount of gold for just being near a minion when it dies. Plus, when the fighting starts you will be rolling in the gold from kills and assists. In of strong builds, A lot of players are picking AP carries and focusing on building a lot of AP and Cooldown reduction since a few of the events are just straight-up brawls where you will need to deal as much damage as quickly as possible. Although games generally last 15 - 20 minutes because of how quickly you accumulate gold, it is more than possible to six-slot your Champion due to all the gold coming in. Another reason why games only last 15 - 20 minutes is that the game will enter a sudden death mode where your Nexus will literally begin walking towards the other and vice versa. The shortness of the game mode is definitely part of the reason it was so highly requested. Nexus Blitz is a great way to take a short break from ranked while still practicing your team coordination and fighting with fun events.
Nexus Blitz's Mini-Game Events in League of Legends
The key to winning Nexus Blitz is to focus on winning the events as they happen and then using the benefits to push the objectives in-between events. The mini-game events are team-based, except for in the Prize Fight event where 1v1 battles take place, so work together with your team to succeed. Veteran players will be glad to see old mini-games returning such as King of the Hill, where the two teams vie for control over a small designated zone on the map and Push the Cart, an event where teams must escort a cart to a structure by standing near it. Some of the less self-explanatory events include Bardle Royal, URF Deathmatch, Loot Teemo, Loot Veigar, Scuttle Racing, Protect the Soraka, and DPS Check.
Bardle Royale is of course a pun on the extremely popular Battle Royale genre. In Nexus Blitz there are 3 different variations of Bardle Royale. The first variation is classic where a ring of fire encloses on an area of the map, the two teams must battle it out until only one team is left standing. The second variation is Paranoia, where both teams must still fight in the enclosing circle, but all players are nearsighted for the duration of the event. The last variation is Juggernaut. One random Champion on each team is selected to have extra health and be On Fire! for the duration of the event. These two players receive bonuses to attack speed, adaptive power, and mana regeneration but are more vulnerable to damage. In all three variations, teamwork is key, but in Juggernaut especially you will have to focus the enemy juggernaut as a team before you can pick off the rest.
URF Deathmatch is a mode where you're surrounded by minions and your cooldowns are decreased by 80% and there are no ability costs. In this ring of minions, teams must battle it out in a best of 3 match. If you get this event, you're going to be glad you built for Ability Power because you can spam your high-damage abilities like there is no tomorrow. Coordination can be implemented here, but the event will most likely determine which player has the strongest build at that point in the game.
Loot Teemo and Loot Veigar are essentially the same events, but Veigar will use Dark Matter and Event Horizon to run away. The objective of both events is to damage and then eventually last-hit the Teemo or Veigar that has spawned randomly on the map. The winning team is the one that last-hits Teemo or Veigar so keep in mind the amount of damage you do is not important. Each hit on Teemo or Veigar grants that player gold, but that extra gold is not going to be as beneficial as winning the event and receiving the reward effect.
In Scuttle Racing, two Scuttles spawn in the middle lane, one for each team, and they stroll casually in a uniform line to the bottom of the map. The key to this game mode is that the scuttles are susceptible to abilities so use slows and stuns on the enemy scuttle while defending your team's with powerful damaging abilities.
in Protect the Soraka, two Soraka AI bots spawn and proceed to the same lane, but the objective is to of course destroy your opponent's Soraka while preserving your own. Similar to Scuttle Racing, both Sorakas are susceptible to abilities, but instead, you will want to use crowd control abilities on the enemy Champions to prevent them from getting close enough to heal and protect their Soraka bot.
DPS Check is a very basic game mode in which a practice dummy spawns on the map and both teams must simultaneously deal damage to the dummy. The team that does the most damage to the Teemo dummy wins. This game mode is tricky because both teams must worry about damaging the dummy while also damaging the other team. The key is to not waste low damage crowd control abilities on the dummy and instead use them to keep the enemy away. stunning or silencing the enemy for a few seconds while your ADC goes to town on the dummy is the quickest way to secure a victory in this event. Also, to use auto attacks on the dummy whenever you can since each hit counts.
Nexus Blitz's Rewards/Bonuses in League of Legends
In Nexus Blitz, there are quite a few rewards and they don't seem event specific. Therefore, we'll just briefly cover the ones that you would cross your fingers and hope to get for winning an event.
When playing Nexus Blitz, it's easy to forget that the main objective is still to destroy the enemy Nexus. Therefore, the Poro King reward is a really good reward to receive. The Poro King helps your team push lane and destroy turrets by tanking damage, healing allies periodically, and breathing fire on your enemies.
In Nexus Blitz you're going to be constantly dealing damage and receiving damage. The Ocean Soul reward ensures that every trade is in your favor because it allows you to restore health and mana when dealing damage to the enemy. The effect only lasts 3 minutes, but that is plenty of time to decimate your opponents with your superior sustain.
Battle Sled and Catapult of Champions offer your team insane mobility and initiation for the duration of the game. Both rewards allow Champions to quickly go to nearly any spot on the map and deal damage there. The Battle Sled allows players to jump in and then ride until they crash into an opponent or turret. It will then deal damage and all players inside the sled are brought out to fight. The Catapult of Champions is similar, but only one Champion can use it at a time and when that Champion lands, they will deal damage in an AOE and push away nearby enemies. Both rewards are great for initiating fights and disrupting the enemy position.
Overall, Nexus Blitz is a fun game mode that is only out for a limited time so try it out and take a break from regular ranked Summoner's Rift. Just to use teamwork and win events so you can push objectives before your Nexus gets impatient and takes matters into its own hands.
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