Swarm is a great way to develop fancy footwork for League of Legends as the enemies just keep on coming. If you want to live in the late game, you will need all the passive slots you can get. Here’s how to unlock passives and link weapon evolutions in League of Legends.
How To Unlock More Passive Slots in LoL Swarm
To unlock more Passive Slots in League of Legends, you need to complete objectives in Normal, Hard, and Expert mode. You begin the game with three passives, and unlocking the fourth requires you to get three different passives in one game. You will then unlock the next passive by getting access to Hard mode and the final one by getting access to Expert mode.
What Are Passives in Swarm?
Passives are bonuses that you do not need to activate in any way after you get access to them. When you pick a passive, it will take a slot, and when all slots are filled, you will not be offered any new passives. You will be offered further versions of the passive that you have, as they can level up the effectiveness by choosing it several times.
All passives also have a knock-on effect of being tied to a weapon evolution. This means if you get the weapon to full rank, and get your passive high enough, you will get an improved version of the weapon that might do additional damage, area of effect, or different firing patterns.
You will also find that the champion’s signature weapons are tied to specific passives for their evolutions. It is a good idea to build into these passives and aim for passive-appropriate weapons for that champion as well. For example, Armor and Max Health on Leona will help with Iceblast Armor, her Shield Slam, and Radiant Field, which are all excellent options for her.
| Passive | How to unlock | Effect | Associated Weapon Evolutions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ability Haste | Upgrade Blade-O-Rang to level 2. | Decrease weapon AND ability cooldowns. | Lioness’s Lament, UwU Blaster, Meow Meow (Jinx) |
| Area Size | Take out 15 Elites. | Increase some weapon areas, but not all. | Ani-Mines, Searing Shortbow |
| Armor | Default. | Increase damage reduction. | Iceblast Armor, Shield Slam (Leona) |
| Critical Chance | Upgrade Vortex Glove to level 4. | Increase crit chance of weapons that can actually crit. | Battle Bunny Crossbow, Bunny Mega Blast, Steel Tempest (Yasuo) |
| Damage | Default | Increase overall damage. | Anti-Shark Sea Mine, Final City Transit, |
| Duration | Get Illaoi to Level 25. | Increase weapon AND ability effect durations. | Gatling Bunny-Guns, T.I.B.B.E.R.S, Tentacle Slam (Illaoi) |
| EXP | Destroy 200 boxes. | Increase experience per experience orb. | The Annihilator, Guiding Hex (Aurora) |
| Health Regen | Survive for 5 minutes. | Improved per second health regen. | Cyclonic Slicers, Vortex Glove, |
| Max Health | Default. | Increase overall Maximum Health. | Radiant Field, Statikk Sword, Pillory Swipe (Briar) |
| Move Speed | Reach level 10 on a character. | Increase overall move speed. | Blade-o-Rang, Paw Print Poisoner, Bunny Hop (Riven) |
| Pickup Radius | Pick up 5 vacuum orbs. | Increase pick-up area for gold/exp orbs. | YuumiBot, Winged Dagger (Xayah) |
| Projectile Count | Evolve any weapon. | Increase number of projectiles fired by relevant weapons. | Echoing Blades, Sound Wave (Seraphine) |
| Gain 25 Gold | Default. | Get 25 Gold instantly. | |
| Heal 25% Health | Default. | Instantly heal for 25% of your health. |
Picking the right passives and linked weapons can be hugely important in League of Legends, and while some might feel attractive, they may just be dragging you away from the best playstyle and build for a certain character. Ultimately, Swarm is about trying to put out as much damage as possible, and avoiding weapon evolutions will make the latter rounds very difficult.
It’s a good idea to focus on stats for signature weapons but also quickly decide on a core weapon when a good one comes your way and then continue to build into this as time goes on. Don’t forget you can also use your rerolls to try to ensure you get the picks that you want. The most important thing to remember is that once those passive slots are full, you are locked in and will ONLY get further picks from that small pool; there is no way to change your passive once they are all locked in.
Finally, do not confuse the passives you pick up in a game with the upgrades that you buy for your characters in the main menu, despite them giving similar improvements to stats. The upgrades you purchase with gold are flat increases that you carry through each run. The passives are based on what you actively choose during a run.
Swarm mode is available to play now in League of Legends.
Published: Jul 24, 2024 09:26 am