Electric Nightmares

Our four part series about generative AI and its use in video games

If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Legends of Runeterra guide: tips and tricks for beginners

Become the legend

Legends of Runeterra is now out of beta and there's some new stuff to entice players back. A new region by the name of Bilgewater introduces pirates and sea monsters, as well as some new keywords to the rest of the Runeterra regions. The game offers something for everyone, whether that is the competitive nature of building constructed decks or the unique drafting experience that is Expeditions. There's a lot of things to learn about the game, even if you're a Magic the Gathering veteran or have sunk many hours into Hearthstone.

Legends of Runeterra guide

This Legends of Runeterra guide will go over the steps needed to play the game, as well as provide beginner's tips and tricks to help get you going. You'll also find links to the rest of our guides for the game, including the best decks.

Legends of Runeterra guide contents

Runeterra guide

How to install Legends of Runeterra

The Legends of Runeterra beta requires that you have signed up for it. In addition, if you pre-registered for the beta, you will get the Moonstruck Poro avatar. To access Legends of Runeterra, you'll need to acquire a League of Legends account, which you can do so by creating one via their website. Once you've signed up and signed in, you'll be able to download and install the client.

Once you've installed it, log into your account and the game's executable will appear. You may need to wait until Riot approves of your account, so use this time to look at our How to Play Legends of Runeterra guide. It'll give you a heads up on everything the game has to offer. Additionally, you can check our dedicated guides on Runeterra keywords and How Runeterra rounds work.

Once you're in, you can begin to look at creating your own decks, or maybe just look at our Runeterra best decks guide and import some really good decks to unlock.

Cover image for YouTube video

Legends of Runeterra tips

Finally, here are the best Legends of Runeterra tips to get you started when it comes to building decks, when you are playing the game, gaining XP fast, and even Expeditions mode. More tips will be added over the course of the next few months, so keep checking back for new tips and tricks. You can also check out the tips video above courtesy of Games Clips & Tips.

Legends of Runeterra decks

Deckbuilding

  • 1. When coming up with decks, certain regions tend to have some synergy with other regions. The pre-constructed decks you unlock are a good start in working this out, but it's important to experiment with combinations.
  • 2. Test your constructed deck against the AI before going into online battles. This will enable you to work out where the failings with your deck are and adjust accordingly.
  • 3. Cards are purchased via packs that are bought with crystals. Crystals are the in-game currency you get when you play online matches. You'll also get wildcards from packs that can be used to make specific cards.
  • 4. When using Wildcards, try to make the deck with cards that you have already unlocked first before spending Wildcards to complete the deck.
  • 5. I highly recommend looking at our Runeterra vault guide for tips to get rewards quickly, as rewards unlock cards for free.

Runeterra attacking

Playing Legends of Runeterra

  • 6. Don't just slap everything onto the battlefield when attacking. You may want to keep back some units that may have effects that rely on it being alive.
  • 7. If the opponent has spell mana and cards in their hand, be wary of potential hidden spells that could disrupt your plans.
  • 8. Cards are usually hidden, but if you've returned one to a player's hand or is otherwise revealed, it stays revealed.
  • 9. On the far left-hand side of the screen is a log of all the actions in the previous round. This is so you can have a grasp of what was played and work out what might still be in the opponent's hand. This is shown on the top left of the screen.
  • 10. You can pick up multiple units to drag onto the battlefield. From what we've seen, you click and drag over the multiple units to pick them up in a batch, then release them onto the battlefield to attack.
  • 11. Your Nexus is a resource. Sacrificing some Nexus life total to enable units that won't survive a defence attempt to gain that extra bit of damage is good in certain cases.
  • 12. You may be running the same decks as your opponents, some found in our Runeterra best decks guide. Study how better players play as they may time casting certain spells during key moments that turn the tide of the game.

Runeterra vault XP

Getting extra experience for more Runeterra cards

  • 12. Make sure to complete as all the tutorials. You'll get invaluable experience that goes towards your rewards, netting you more cards for free.
  • 13. When you've completed all the tutorials, play some games against the AI for even more free experience by completing daily quests.
  • 14. Don't like a daily quest? You can click the Reroll button on the top left of the daily quests menu.
  • 15. Experience goes towards the Weekly Vault. Every level up increases the value of your card rewards when it unlocks every Tuesday.
  • 16. You can purchase Wildcards and a Starter Bundle for premium currency, but you can only get a limited amount of Wildcards daily. Work out if you need the Wildcards in the first place, then only buy what you need for decks.

Runeterra expeditions

Expedition tips

  • 17. When you are drafting in an Expedition, try to keep a note of which cards you have drafted and then work out which cards have the most synergy with them.
  • 18. You can have more than three copies of any one particular card in a draft deck. This is not possible in a standard constructed deck, so if you see a fourth Glimpse Beyond, don't be afraid to take it.
  • 19. Since draft decks are more random than constructed ones, nobody can predict what you have in your hand if you leave some mana behind.
  • 20. If you are just not feeling the deck you are playing, try to work out which cards are the culprits. You are able to trade certain cards after certain matches, so if you know ahead which ones are bad, that makes the trade choice easier.
  • 21. Even if you're not confident at winning game seven, give it a go anyway. You do get two runs in Expeditions, so there's not a great deal to lose.
  • 22. Some cards are indeed better than others for drafting. Look at our Runeterra Expeditions guide to see which ones, but also study how other better players use their drafted cards. It may help you win later games.

And those are all of our Runeterra tips. Thanks for reading this guide. There's no doubt that the game will change dramatically as the months progress, so be sure to consult our other Runeterra guides below for up-to-date tips, deck lists, and other key information.

Legends of Runeterra guides links

Rock Paper Shotgun is the home of PC gaming

Sign in and join us on our journey to discover strange and compelling PC games.

In this article
Related topics
About the Author
Dave Irwin avatar

Dave Irwin

Former Guides Writer

Dave was a guides writer for Rock Paper Shotgun from 2018-2020. He previously worked as a freelancer for TheSixthAxis, Tech Advisor and Kotaku, producing hundreds of guides to help people get better at their favourite games. He now writes guides for PCGamesN.

Comments