League of Legends: Clash of Fates Preview

click to enlarge

League of Legends: Clash of Fates is a session based fantasy multiplayer, which you probably won't be familiar with if you haven't played Defense of the Ancients. Defense of the Ancients is a Warcraft III mod that has charmed and currently entertains a community of millions of online fanatics. Still, Defense of the Ancients is a narrow experience that isn't officially supported. Defense of the Ancients has been a one map experience from its beginning and there haven't been any additions to it. There's also no statistical tracking or any additional reasons to spend the time playing it.

League of Legends: Clash of Fates on the other hand, is a full-fledged commercial title intended to entertain. Created by a developmental team that includes Steve Feak, the designer of Defense of the Ancients Allstars, and Tom Cadwell, former Warcraft III play balance lead. Clash of Fates will include persistent statistical tracking, avatar creation, a broad range of maps, and other fun and interesting features to support the overall experience.

The team based multiplayer experience allows you to control a single champion as an army of "creeps" fights a war of attrition and players attempt to destroy an opponent's defense tower. Below you will learn about three champions of this magical MMO's line-up of talented and skilled quarterbacks.

click to enlarge

Master Yi the Bladesman has been studying "The Way of the Blade" during the last thousand years and this has only increased his passion for his chosen art. He is the oldest known living human on Valoran, yet to look at him, you would swear he couldn't have been walking for more than thirty years. A champion of the highest skill level and ability, Master Yi is a deadly assassin you don't want to face in the arena of League of Legends: Clash of Fates. The only clue that Master Yi has attacked you is usually the hiss of his blade after it has cleaved the air in two.

Master Yi has a nice selection of abilities that are interesting and extremely engaging to use. Master Yi has the ability to ignore all of his target's armor during his attacks, but using this ability slightly decreases the speed of his attacks. He can even meditate for a few minutes and restore his stamina and health. Master Yi can also teleport to a location next to a target and strike it with the fury of his blade. This ability allows him to strike five targets in succession and he can even use his double strike ability in combination with this ability.

click to enlarge

Teemo the Swift Scout is a unique champion who has personality to match his skills. As Captain of the Bantam City Scouts, he is tasked with managing the local soap-box competitions, indoctrinating new members to the scout's pledge, and judging the yearly eating contest. Teemo is also responsible for defending the city of Bandle and the yordle homeland from all dangers. Teemo is also a noted author and has published a best selling title, Accuracy by Volume, in which is talks about the virtues of yordle military strategy.

Teemo has a number of useful and entertaining skills he can use during play. These include poisonous darts that do damage every second that can be stacked with subsequent hits. The ability to increase his movement rate by a significant portion, operate as the team's forward scout, and another dart attack that hinders the vision of targets, in addition to its normal damage.

click to enlarge

Jax the Grandmaster at Arms is the top tournament fighter in the history of League of Legends: Clash of Fates, and a champion feared by all. Jax was so successful in defeating his opponents that he was eventually banned from tournament arena combat by the Institute of War. The uproar by his fans and concerned individuals around the League of Legends resulted in a petition being passed around that lead to the Institute of War removing the ban on Jax fighting in the arena. Stating that they made a mistake and that a fighters prowess in combat should never be a reason to keep any competitor from fighting in the arena, the Institute of War backtracked on their early pronouncement, only with a small limitation on the weapons that Jax would be able to use during arena combat. Jax would be able to take part in arena combat, only with a list of weapons that the Institute of War deems safe. At the moment this list includes a handy fishing rod, lamp post, a turkey's foot, and a wooden spoon. Jax sounds like a good character for World of Warcraft.

Jax has a number of abilities, all of them interesting and useful in eliminating opponents during combat. Jax can cleave multiple opponents with a single slash of his weapon and then stack the damage in subsequent attacks. He can leap into combat and immediately strike an opponent just before the battle is about to begin. Jax also has an ability that allows him to dodge incoming attacks that stuns nearby opponents when he's successful in dodging. He can use his mana to increase his attack speed with each successive attack and the ability to use just about anything as a death dealing weapon.