Riot Games has recently announced the addition of Teamfight Tactics – a new League of Legends game mode that possesses a couple of chess-related elements. For fans of DOTA, it’s a game mode that’s reminiscent of Dota Auto Chess.

What happens in this new game mode?

In Teamfight Tactics, players will earn gold and use gold to buy new characters, before placing them strategically on the battlefield. As one might expect, Teamfight Tactics will be featuring League of Legends champions, items and abilities – though we’re not sure if all of the champions in League of Legends are going to be included from the get-go.

Once the fight starts, players will have no influence on how their characters move and attack. When the fight ends, players will take damage depending on the number of enemy units still alive on the board. Of course, the last team standing wins.

Artist’s depiction of the game board. / Riot Games

Unlike in chess, though, Teamfight Tactics’ game board is hexagonal-shaped. There are no rules regarding where champions are to be positioned, either, so players can place their units wherever they like.

When asked about the new game mode, this is what Teamfight Tactics product manager Richard Henkel had to say: “Players have expressed a tremendous amount of interest in the autobattler genre, and we hope League of Legends fans are excited to see the game’s signature art, style and deep gameplay come to life in this new mode.”

Based on what has been said about this Teamfight Tactics, it looks like it’ll be a fixed alternative mode of playing League of Legends (like ARAM) rather than a seasonal game mode (like Hexakill or Ultra-Rapid Fire). Whatever it is, we’re looking forward to seeing how it fares!

Teamfight Tactics will be released on June 25, alongside patch 9.13. It’ll also be up for beta testing (which you can access if you have a Public Beta Environment account) by the end of this week, if you’re that eager to try it out.

A sleepless cryptid with a sweet tooth, who spends most of her free time on the internet. Sheryl loves binge-watching shows on Netflix, Persona 5's Joker, arcades, and all her emotional support K-Pop boys.