Riot Games is making its own League of Legends Auto Chess game

Today, Riot Games unveiled Teamfight Tactics, a new League of Legends game mode heavily inspired by Dota Auto Chess. Teamfight Tactics will feature League of Legends champions, items, and abilities.

In the mode, players earn and use gold to buy new characters, and place them on the battlefield strategically. But when the fight starts, players have no influence on how their pieces move and attack. When the fight is over, players take damage depending on how many enemy units are still alive on their board. The last team standing wins.

“We believe in making big commitments to our players and fans, from updating the game every two weeks to creating seasonal events and game modes,” said Teamfight Tactics product manager, Richard Henkel. “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.”

Image: Riot Games

While much of Teamfight Tactics is reminiscent of Auto Chess, Riot has opted to change a few features. Instead of a traditional chess board, the Teamfight Tactics game board is hexagonal. Players can still strategically place their units depending on the champion’s strengths and weakness.

The biggest change is in the combat phase, where players will battle each other directly instead of sending copies. In Teamfight Tactics, players will take or deal damage every round. Riot is also charging players gold for bench spots — meaning players need to invest in space if they want to upgrade. The newest feature is Shared Draft, where players can select from a pool of free heroes every couple of rounds. Eventually, lower health players will get to go first to help them get back in the game.

Riot will release Teamfight Tactics on June 25, alongside patch 9.13. Players with a Public Beta Environment account can try the mode later this week. All Teamfight Tactics players will need the League of Legends launcher and a League of Legends account to play once the mode is live.