
Picture by Michal Konkol through Riot Video games
Think about flashing together with your foot.
League of Legends will introduce WASD motion controls in a future patch, with the intent of revitalizing the sport’s core mechanics and making it extra accessible for conventional PC players who wish to transition to the MOBA style.
Whereas League gamers should wait a bit longer to attempt it themselves when it hits the PBE, a number of esports professionals and fashionable streamers, together with Caedrel, examined the characteristic throughout MSI 2025 in Canada.

“You’ll be able to kite very simply as an AD carry. If you happen to play on WASD, you’ve already bought Grasp to Grandmaster-level spacing,” Caedrel mentioned throughout a livestream, explaining that gamers can maintain the A and S motion keys whereas right-clicking enemies to take care of optimum distance. He additionally revealed that he had sure his Q skill to the left mouse button, giving gamers extra context on how skill keybindings may work with the brand new management scheme.
Whereas AD carries felt “highly effective” to play due to how simple skillshots had been to land, the streamer mentioned there additionally appeared to be a stage of purpose help tied to participant motion. He pointed to Ezreal’s EQ combo for example, the place the Prodigal Explorer blinks ahead to shut the hole and hits the goal, which felt considerably choreographed.
The developer talked about in its WASD controls weblog that it is going to be monitoring the characteristic carefully to make sure it stays balanced and that neither management scheme provides a aggressive benefit over the opposite. There’s an opportunity it would even be eliminated earlier than it hits the PBE server.
In fact, WASD controls include a couple of downsides as effectively. Caedrel mentioned that since WASD motion solely permits gamers to maneuver in eight instructions, jungle clearings could be slower than typical. Jungle clears are all about pace and maximizing time to stage up and assist the workforce safe an early benefit, so in its present kind, WASD may not be the popular selection for junglers. Additionally it is troublesome to examine the map, particularly whereas utilizing the F keys, forcing the participant to lock their digital camera, lowering their map consciousness.
He additionally urged that “foot pedals” could possibly be an choice for gamers who wish to bind a particular button or summoner spell, releasing up extra keys on the keyboard. One other concept he proposed was for the developer to adapt WASD controls to work extra naturally with the mouse for skill-based champions like Kalista, including better directional motion and doubtlessly fixing the sluggish jungle clear difficulty to make the system more practical.
Caedrel is the proprietor of the Los Ratones workforce, a squad stuffed with veterans from the League esports scene, who’re competing within the NLC and EUM tournaments.