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5 Mobile MOBA Games We Love
226K View2022-07-01
Written by @Jay Hunter
Edited by @cheddar
If you’ve ever played a MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) game, then you know the pull of the genre: having a great time strategizing with others, obsessing over collecting skins for your favorite characters, and of course, trash talking anyone that breathes. But if you’ve never dabbled in this intimidating genre before, you shouldn’t let the hardcore credentials dissuade you from diving in. Alongside complex gameplay systems, colorful characters, intense multiplayer rivalries, and an always-shifting meta, MOBA games are also actually very fun.
While MOBAs began as a genre that could seemingly only work on PC, spinning out of Warcraft III’s “Defense of the Ancients” mod and becoming mainstream with hits like League of Legends and Dota 2, it has since made a successful transition to mobile platforms. 2014’s Vainglory was the first breakout mobile MOBA—a cutting-edge game of its time featuring a smaller map and team sizes compared to its PC forebears—and that was only eight years ago. Since then, we’ve gotten Brawl Stars, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, and an array of other wonderful choices to enjoy. And even as you read this, phone-based MOBA games are still emerging every year.
If we listed every MOBA available on mobile platforms, though, you’d have to tape your eyes open for any hope of finishing that very long article. In this collection, we’ll only cover the best mobile MOBA games to kick start your journey. Whether you’re a newer player approaching the genre for the first time or a veteran who’s spent years of dedication honing your skills, these games can keep you in the arena for dozens or even hundreds of hours to come.
We’re starting this collection off strong with the mobile port of the most widely known (and most widely played) MOBA game, Riot Games’s League of Legends. As the first official port of this massive PC title—League reportedly entertains an insane 180 million players per month—Wild Rift sticks with a lot of the details that made its big brother so successful. Wild Rift has fewer playable champions and some exclusive cosmetics and events, but for the most part it is just as enjoyable, deep, and full of character as its desktop sibling.
League of Legends: Wild Rift is a five-versus-five MOBA featuring eighty-six playable champions from the Runeterra universe. You battle other players using attainable champions, slowly farm up gold to build your item composition, and work with your teammates to destroy the enemy Nexus. With seasonal events, collectible cosmetics for your profile and champions, guilds, and an almost infinite number of loadouts to craft and climb the ranked leaderboard, Wild Rift is the type of game you can get lost in, only to realize you’re still playing “just one more match” well after midnight.
As one of the more well-polished MOBA games out there, Wild Rift serves as the perfect opportunity for newcomers to try something more traditional and classic. With seemingly endless champion combinations, eye-popping visuals, and smooth mechanics that are easy to learn, this is a great way to learn what the genre is all about and why it’s so easy to get invested.
• FOG
This might look like we’re cheating, but FOG is technically a MOBA. It just happens to be a MOBA combined with a battle royale game. FOG is a rare example of taking the MOBA genre’s isometric view, farming mechanics, and loadout preselections, and mixing it with free-for-all gameplay and a sandbox experience. If short-lived fantasy battle royale game Spellbreak (rest in peace) had a spin-off battle arena mode, FOG would fit that mold quite nicely. Rather than playing on a bigger team like most MOBAs, FOG allows you to queue in as solo, duo, or trio squads, like many battle royales.
Instead of champions like Wild Rift, FOG features classes that have unique abilities. You’ll always have the same character, but you can choose to equip different classes before each match. It’s totally up to you how you start your battles, but one thing stays the same: winning the war in FOG requires you to be the last one standing.
FOG’s definitely an enjoyable game, but it might not be for everyone. It’s undoubtedly more than just a MOBA, and also more than just a battle royale; it’s an amalgam of many elements that most gamers aren’t used to experiencing all at once. But even if it’s not your thing, FOG’s worth trying if you love loot-shoot-and-slash gameplay and customizing your combat experience.
If you’re looking for something less traditional like FOG, but still a full-on MOBA, Nintendo’s Pokémon Unite might be the game for you. This game is sort of like the fanciest take on basketball we’ve ever seen blended with an intense match of capture the flag. Don’t worry if you’re not a fan of traditional sports, though. This is still a MOBA; you’ll still get to pwn your enemies—and strategize with your teammates—you’ll just have to shoot a few hoops here and there in the process if you hope to win the game.
Pokémon Unite is a five-versus-five tactical MOBA featuring thirty-six obtainable Pokémon to play. You must collect Aeos Energy by taking down Pokémon NPCs across a two-lane map or defeating your opponents. However, don’t hold on to your Aeos Energy for too long. The objective is to dunk your energy into goal points throughout the lanes. The first team to capture every goal area or score the most points once the timer ends is victorious.
Best of all, though, there are adorable cosmetics for each Pokémon. What’s a MOBA without great character skins, right? But have you ever seen Pikachu dressed up in a suit, tie, and ornamental hat? Well, if you haven’t, it’s the cutest thing in the entire world. It also makes gameplay seem a little goofier and funnier, which can be nice for less hardcore MOBA players.
Besides all the crazy outfits you can choose for your Pokémon, the game features a casual mode for less serious matches and ranked play for more competitive players. Given Pokémon Unite’s relatively small roster size (compared to other MOBAs), you may be worried about matches getting stale. However, there are many compositions to pull off with your friends, as well as upgrade choices to mix up the game’s speed. It’ll be a plenty long journey of discovery if you really want “to be the very best.”
At a glance, Extraordinary Ones is probably the most bizarre-looking MOBA in this collection. This game prides itself on anime-style visuals and character designs, even going so far as to have some heroes who resemble animals, robots, and otherworldly aliens. One of the heroes even looks just like Saitama from One-Punch Man.
Extraordinary Ones features a cast of characters with special powers who are also students and professors. This school-meets-superhero theme is basically the entire setup for the game. Anime fans will also recognize it as sharing a lot in common with the My Hero Academia, an extremely popular anime that Extraordinary Ones actually did a collaboration with shortly after its global launch. Seemingly borrowed elements aside, this concept works perfectly for a character-filled MOBA title.
Developed by NetEase, Extraordinary Ones features ninety-three heroes to collect and gameplay that’s pretty comparable to every other traditional MOBA. The only two major distinctions are that there are items you can pick up from defeated NPCs across the map which provide one-time abilities—and the fact that the entire battlefield looks like a private Japanese high school campus.
For anime fanatics, Extraordinary Ones is an excellent choice for an introduction to MOBAs. It has everything you’d want from a standard battle arena and more. The only problem you’re liable to run into is trouble actually entering matches because you just can’t decide on which of the game’s many cool characters to play.
We started this list off strong, but let’s end even stronger. Arena of Valor is the westernized version of Honor of Kings developed by Tencent and TiMi Studio. Honor of Kings was actually released in China years before League of Legends: Wild Rift, after League of Legends developer Riot Games rejected an offer to create a mobile version of its game. This choice led directly to the creation of Honor of Kings, now the most prominent and highest-grossing mobile MOBA in history.
Arena of Valor is a five-versus-five MOBA featuring 111 heroes to attain—including Batman and several other superpowered choices from a collaboration between Tencent and DC Comics. The game has seasons, events, cosmetics, and pretty much all the features you’ll find across every active MOBA. Arena of Valor is less about bringing new and surprising tweaks to the MOBA formula and more focused on perfecting everything you’d want in a battle arena. Even more than League of Legends: Wild Rift, this title truly epitomizes the genre wholeheartedly.
The one weakness that Arena of Valor has to overcome is its fairly generic visual style. It doesn’t look too far off from much sketchier titles like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, a game that was notably sued by Riot Games and later by Tencent due to its blatant copying from League of Legends.
While it may not be a blatant clone in the same way as Mobile Legends, Arena of Valor has a dull, flat visual design which isn’t the most appealing. Players who can get past initial disinterest in the game’s look, though, will discover an extremely well-polished title with gameplay that handily surpasses its visuals. It’s arguably one of the most refined MOBAs available on any platform, including PC, and we’d easily recommend it to anyone wanting to see the best of what classic MOBA gameplay has to offer.
Curiously, though, Arena of Valor may face surprising competition in the future: Honor of Kings itself! Developers Level Infinite and TiMi Studio announced last month that they will be localizing Honor of Kings and bringing it to a global audience by the end of this year. The teams also confirmed that they will continue supporting Arena of Valor with its own separate track of updates, new heroes, events, and so on. A strange twist, no doubt, but we’re certainly curious to get our hands on an English version of Honor of Kings.
💬 That’s our collection, but we’d love to know what MOBA games you love! Leave a comment telling us your favorite MOBA title on any platform, and if there’s any you’d like us to try in the future.
We have another screenshot challenge for you this week! Find your soul-role right here and comment down below what you got. Plus points if you have any characters from any MOBA games which also have the role.
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12 Best 5v5 MOBA Games To Play For Android/iOS in 2023 | BEST MOBA Games For Mobile!
MOBAs are one of the greatest genre to keep gamers addicted for a long period of time, and that is no surprise due to the fact that MOBA Games are one of the most fun, competitive games out there.
So for today's video, we're taking a look of 12 BEST Multiplayer Online Battle Arena Games (MOBA) to play in 2023 with your friends on Android & iOS devices!
If you want more new mobile games discoveries? Make sure you leave a like on this video and subscribe🔔as I upload this type of videos regularly on the channel💪
Plyzon6K2023-01-11
Best MOBA games for Android/IOS
MOBA is the genre of games that won't bore you with any P2W or Story mode. Pure skills is what moba wants from you!
What's a MOBA ?
Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) is a subgenre of strategy video games in which two teams of players compete against each other on a predefined battlefield. Each player controls a single character with a set of distinctive abilities that improve over the course of a game and which contribute to the team's overall strategy. The typical ultimate objective is for each team to destroy their opponents' main structure, located at the opposite corner of the battlefield.
Kaush Emboar X2K2022-07-28
More then just a MOBA, Mobile legends: Bang Bang, a humble review.
Introduction:
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, released in 2016 for Android, is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game that has taken the mobile gaming world by storm. Developed and published by Moonton, the game quickly gained popularity for its engaging gameplay and vibrant visuals.
Graphics and Visuals:
The game boasts high-quality graphics, showcasing detailed character models and visually stunning battle arenas. The art style is dynamic, combining vibrant colors with intricate design elements, contributing to an immersive and visually appealing gaming experience.
Reborn0911K2024-01-09
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Vainglory will always be peak mobile MOBA in my heart Fun characters, beautiful graphics, smooth controls and a overall blast. Game is still technically playable but it's a shadow of its former glory :(
2022-07-02
Author likedTrust me, if it was still in its former glory, it would be instantly at the top of this list. It was literally the best mobile MOBA of its generation and it's so sad to see the game flop. I totally agree with you too! May Vainglory rest in our hearts.
2022-07-02
Extraordinary Ones was a great game, it could have been famous rn if devs gave it a chance, but sadly they focused on other games.
2022-07-01
Author likedI agree. It doesn't feel like they hit the mark with its launch. I also wish they continued developing events, and other features and hopefully promoting or marketing the game better. There are not a lot of great anime-inspired games like Extraordinary Ones. And if it was done right then it'd probably be even bigger than it is now.
2022-07-02
Wild Rift is the clear choice *for me*
2022-07-02
Author likedSee you on the rift!
2022-07-02